She hadn't expected to encounter two rare pets in such a short amount of time, considering how seldom they were usually seen.
She wondered if that lost Crowned Meow had been found yet...
"Let's head back," Qiao Sang said, shaking off her thoughts and turning to the Little Treasure Ghost.
The Little Treasure Ghost, its mouth full of food, couldn't speak and could only look at its beast tamer with pitiful eyes.
"Do you want to play a bit longer?" Qiao Sang asked.
The Little Treasure Ghost nodded vigorously.
"Then we'll stay a while longer," Qiao Sang said, checking the time on her phone.
It was only 20:34; for many people, the nightlife had only just begun.
"Xun~"
The Little Treasure Ghost swallowed the grilled sausage in its mouth and happily floated in a circle around its beast tamer.
Then, sipping on milk tea, it began to wiggle its backside to the rhythm of the music.
Seeing the Little Treasure Ghost's decent sense of rhythm, Qiao Sang praised, "Nice wiggling."
"Xun~"
The Little Treasure Ghost wiggled even more enthusiastically.
Qiao Sang couldn't help but chuckle.
Training every day was tedious; it felt good to relax occasionally.
However, the one who trained the hardest had to be Ya Bao. Maybe she should summon Ya Bao to relax as well...
Just as Qiao Sang was hesitating, a young father nearby crouched down and placed his phone in front of his daughter, asking in a low voice, "Do you think it looks like this Crowned Meow?"
The little girl was about five or six years old with ear-length short hair. She looked at the photo saved on the phone, then at the Crowned Meow ahead, and shouted, "Yes!"
The young father was startled and quickly covered his daughter's mouth.
Seeing that no one was paying attention to them, the young father breathed a sigh of relief. His face then lit up with joy, and he said with suppressed excitement, "Thanks to you pestering me to come out and play, our family is about to strike it rich!"
"Why?" the little girl asked.
"I'll tell you when we get home." The young father rubbed his daughter's hair and whispered, "Daddy has to go do something big. Things might get a bit chaotic, so don't run around. If you're good, I'll buy you that Fire-Fang Dog model you like when we get home."
The little girl's round eyes blinked. "I want the Flame-Listening Hound one."
"Deal!" the young father said generously.
Once he rescued that Crowned Meow, forget a Flame-Listening Hound model—he could buy a real Fire-Fang Dog and let it evolve into a Flame-Listening Hound!
The young father looked at the Crowned Meow enjoying the violin performance to his front-left, his eyes filled with determination.
200,000 for providing information, 1 million for escorting it home; even a fool would know which one to choose.
He formed hand seals. Although he was now a father, his chuunibyou spirit lived on.
"Desert-Tail Fox, it's time for us to dispense justice!"
At the same time, after a moment of deliberation, Qiao Sang summoned Ya Bao.
Beneath a grey star-array, a magnificent white-and-red figure instantly drew the attention of most people nearby.
"Mommy, what pet is that?"
"I think it's called some kind of Flame..."
"Flame-Listening Hound," a person nearby finished for her.
"Right, it's a Flame-Listening Hound!"
"A Flame-Listening Hound! I think there's only one in our Hanggang right now, right?"
"I see it! The girl with the ponytail next to it is its beast tamer. Should we go over and take a photo?"
"Sure... wait! Why is there a Treasure Ghost next to it?!"
"Maybe... maybe we shouldn't go..."
"Ya!"
As soon as Ya Bao appeared, it let out an excited cry.
It quickly realized that many people around were staring at it, so it promptly lifted its head and adjusted its posture.
"Ya Bao, I bought you milk tea and a grilled sausage. See if you like them," Qiao Sang said, inserting a straw into the milk tea.
"Ya ya!"
Ya Bao's eyes lit up, and instantly forgetting its image, it sat half-way on the ground and nodded happily.
"Xun~"
The Little Treasure Ghost held up the bamboo skewer left over from its grilled sausage to its beast tamer, indicating that it wanted more.
"I have them, I have them," Qiao Sang smiled and handed the treats to them respectively.
"Big sister, is that Flame-Listening Hound yours?" Just then, a childish voice sounded from the side.
Qiao Sang looked toward the voice and found a little sprout of a girl, about five or six years old.
"Yes, it is," Qiao Sang answered.
The little girl said excitedly, "Can I pet it?"
"Ya Bao?" Qiao Sang asked with her eyes.
"Ya."
Ya Bao immediately understood its beast tamer's meaning and nodded, indicating it was fine.
"It says you can," Qiao Sang looked at the little girl and smiled.
The little girl reached out her fair, tender little hand and carefully petted it, looking completely satisfied.
Seeing that there was no adult accompanying her, Qiao Sang asked, "Where are your parents?"
"My mommy went to play mahjong, and my daddy went to do something big," the little girl answered.
Qiao Sang was puzzled. "Then who brought you here?"
"My daddy," the little girl said.
Qiao Sang paused. "What 'big thing' did your daddy go to do?"
The little girl pointed to the taller of the two people currently arguing not far away and poured out everything she knew
"That's my daddy. I don't know what he's doing, he just said our family is about to strike it rich, and that he'll buy me a Flame-Listening Hound model when we get home."
Qiao Sang stared in the direction the little girl pointed for a long while, her mind racing. She quickly realized what the girl's father was trying to do.
Impossible, absolutely impossible!
Qiao Sang felt a surge of panic.
That Crowned Meow couldn't possibly be the lost one! She couldn't be so unlucky as to miss out on 200,000 and then immediately miss out on 1 million...
Unwilling to believe this fact, she pricked up her ears to listen to the commotion.
Fortunately, the arguing voices were loud enough, and the bystanders had gone quiet to watch the drama, leaving only the sound of the violin as background music.
"Are you out of your mind?!"
"You're the one who's out of your mind!"
"If you're not crazy, why the hell did you have your Desert-Tail Fox attack me for no reason!"
"You beast trafficker! You dare be so arrogant after kidnapping someone's Crowned Meow! I've already called the police; just wait until you're rotting in jail!"
"Are you fucking stupid?! Open your dog eyes and look closely! This is a Strike-Iron Meow! Not a Crowned Meow!"
"Iron iron..." The Strike-Iron Meow nodded beside him.
The sound emitted by the "Crowned Meow" left the young father stunned in place.
It took a long time before he found his voice. "You... you're bullshitting! How could a Strike-Iron Meow look like this?"
"Do you even know what cosplay is?! You can't even tell a Strike-Iron Meow from a Crowned Meow and yet you're trying to catch a trafficker? This is hilarious!"
"..."
So it wasn't a Crowned Meow... Qiao Sang's mood improved instantly, and her lips curled into a grin.
Strike-Iron Meows and Crowned Meows were similar in size; if one really put effort into the disguise, it was quite easy to confuse them.
During the day it was fine, as subtle differences could be seen, but at night, if one didn't get close and look carefully, it was indeed hard to tell the difference.
"Big sister, there's a pet that keeps looking over here. Does it know you?" the little girl asked, pointing in a certain direction.
Qiao Sang looked in that direction and instinctively shook her head. "No... holy shit!"
A massive head, short limbs, and a hooked tail—although it looked like a Strike-Iron Meow, the bag hanging from its neck was exactly the same model as the one the Crowned Meow had last night!
Seeing Qiao Sang's dazed expression, the little girl called out, "Big sister?"
"I'm rich..." Qiao Sang murmured.
Little girl: "???"
(End of Chapter)