But how could a Pet Beast from the manor have gotten to his door? The Pet Beast management at Hongqiao Manor seemed a bit too lax.
’Something’s not right.’ As Li Qian considered this, he quickly realized what was off. Normally, even a humanoid Pet Beast was still a Pet Beast; it would have at least some bestial features.
But this humanoid Pet Beast outside his window had no bestial features whatsoever—at least, not that he could see from its silhouette.
Puzzled, Li Qian didn’t hesitate. Driven by curiosity, he got straight out of bed and walked over.
Fortunately, he wasn’t in the habit of sleeping naked, or he would have had to waste time getting dressed.
He had only taken a few steps when the situation changed—the figure outside the window suddenly vanished. This only confirmed for Li Qian that there had definitely been a person or a humanoid Pet Beast outside his window, not just the shadow of some object.
The figure’s sudden disappearance only made Li Qian more curious. He abruptly quickened his pace, covering the distance to the door in a matter of seconds with long strides.
CREAK!
Without a hint of hesitation, he threw open the door. His gaze swept the area, and he quickly caught a fleeting glimpse of a figure rounding a corner not far away.
’What kind of Pet Beast could it be?’
Seeing the fleeting figure, Li Qian paused to think for a second. The next moment, his mind was made up. Wasting no time, he gathered his strength and quickly gave chase.
Whether it was a person or a humanoid Pet Beast, appearing at his door in the dead of night couldn’t be without purpose.
Li Qian wanted to see why it—or he, or she—had come.
Thanks to the feedback from the evolution, as well as the scattered contract feedback from his two Pet Beasts’ subsequent increases in power, Li Qian’s physical condition was quite strong. He was, at the very least, outstanding among Beast Masters of the same Power Level.
So, it didn’t take him long to catch up to the humanoid figure. Of course, this was also largely because while the figure seemed ethereal and ghostly, it wasn’t actually moving very fast.
The humanoid figure continued toward the northeast corner with Li Qian trailing behind, a huge question mark hanging in his mind.
’What a coincidence. The northeast corner is exactly where the small cove is. Just last night, I witnessed a Golden Pearl Bud evolve into a Tidal Sea Spirit right there.’
’This figure is also heading for the northeast corner. Could it be one of the humanoid Water-type Pet Beasts from the cove?’
"This just gets more and more curious," he muttered. Without hesitation, he sped up again, tailing the figure stealthily.
Not far ahead, the strange figure continued on. Its pace wasn’t particularly fast, but it wasn’t slow either. Li Qian kept tailing it, steadily closing the distance between them.
"Huh?" As he closed the distance, he quickly noticed something strange. The figure moving forward gave him an incredibly familiar feeling.
Without hesitating, he picked up his pace again, closing the gap a little more. This time, he finally got a clear look—or rather, he could finally tell who it was.
"Is that Sun Ruirui?!" Li Qian couldn’t help but exclaim in astonishment once he could roughly identify the figure running ahead.
He truly hadn’t expected Sun Ruirui to pull a stunt like this in the middle of the night. What kind of sneaky game was she playing?
Li Qian was baffled. He hesitated for a moment, slowing his pace, but quickly started following her again.
He had already followed her this far; there was no reason to turn back now. Besides, he wanted to see what exactly Sun Ruirui was doing, or rather, what she was trying to accomplish.
Maintaining his cover, he continued to follow her and soon arrived at their destination. As he had expected, it was the small cove in the northeast corner.
"So it really is this place... What are you planning to do now?" Li Qian murmured in confusion, watching Sun Ruirui’s destination.
As he murmured, Sun Ruirui suddenly turned to the side for an instant, and Li Qian noticed something unusual. ’Wait, her eyes...’
At this moment, her eyes were incredibly strange; they were actually emitting a faint blue glow. Seeing this, Li Qian immediately fell into deep thought.
Considering the girl’s bizarre state, he already had a few theories. He suspected there was likely something wrong with Sun Ruirui, either physically or with her Spirit.
This was definitely not her normal state. It was as if she had lost her soul; her movements were mechanical, like a human puppet.
"Soul-loss syndrome? No, it doesn’t quite look like that." Li Qian couldn’t help but frown as he continued to watch Sun Ruirui, who had stopped and was now standing silently at the edge of the small cove. "What in the world is going on here?"
Faced with this situation, Li Qian didn’t make any rash moves. Instead, he remained hidden nearby, watching in silence.
As he watched, Sun Ruirui began to move again. Facing the sea, she suddenly spread her arms wide.
She held her arms out level and tilted her head slightly upward. Her movements were very strange. Seeing this, Li Qian’s brow furrowed even deeper. He could see that now, it wasn’t just her eyes—blue light had begun to seep from all seven of the girl’s facial orifices.
The blue light grew brighter and brighter until it nearly enveloped Sun Ruirui’s entire body. Instinct told Li Qian that this was not a good sign.
THUMP, THUMP, THUMP...
Just as Li Qian was growing worried, unsure of what to do, the situation changed again. All across the small cove, plumes of water suddenly erupted.
From within the spray, Pet Beasts burst from the water’s surface, some even crawling directly up onto the beach. There were many Pet Beasts: Pearl Buds, Golden Pearl Buds, Moonlight Fish, Blood Corals, Ironclaw Crabs...
The sight of so many Water-type Pet Beasts appearing at once was both puzzling and unbelievable to Li Qian.
Without a doubt, this spectacle had to be related to Sun Ruirui’s bizarre state. What he found even more incomprehensible, however, was that after emerging from the water, the Water-type Pet Beasts didn’t go on a rampage. Instead, they arranged themselves in an orderly manner and prostrated themselves around Sun Ruirui, like subjects meeting their queen.
SPLASH!
Such a bizarre scene was already completely beyond Li Qian’s comprehension. But this wasn’t even the most outlandish part. Because with a great splashing sound, Ah Hai, the Tidal Sea Spirit from last night’s evolution, emerged once more.
Unlike the other Pet Beasts, this Emperor Level Tidal Sea Spirit didn’t approach Sun Ruirui directly after appearing. It wasn’t drawn to the blue light on her body—or perhaps it was simply resisting the attraction.
It looked at Sun Ruirui and stared for a moment, then glanced toward the spot where Li Qian was hiding.
Li Qian wasn’t the least bit surprised that the Tidal Sea Spirit, Ah Hai, had discovered his hiding spot. After all, given its Level and power, it would have been stranger if it *hadn’t* noticed him.