Under the cover of night, amidst the passionate strains of a violin, Qiao Sang and the Crown Meow locked eyes, like a fated encounter.
The next second.
With a flick of its tail, the Crown Meow left.
Qiao Sang: "!!!"
"Ya Bao! Chase it!"
Qiao Sang leaped up, flipping onto Ya Bao's back in a stylish pose.
"Ya!"
Hearing its Beast Tamer's words, Ya Bao instinctively exerted force with its four limbs to start sprinting. However, the moment its front left limb stepped forward, it seemed to remember something and pulled back.
"Ya?"
Who were we chasing again?
Qiao Sang: "..."
"That little short-legged thing walking ahead! The one wearing a bag!" Qiao Sang shouted, pointing toward the Crown Meow, which was nearly out of sight with its elegant stride.
"Ya!"
Ya Bao let out a cry, indicating that the target was locked.
Its limbs bent slightly, and its right hind leg plowed the ground twice.
Seeing this, the Little Treasure Ghost quickly floated above its Beast Tamer's head, one paw holding an unfinished grilled sausage and the other clutching Qiao Sang's hair tightly.
"Xun xun!"
The instant the Little Treasure Ghost was ready, Ya Bao transformed into a blur and vanished from the spot.
Leaving only a little girl standing alone in the wind with a face full of question marks.
By the time the young father found the little girl, he discovered her staring motionlessly in a certain direction.
"Didn't I tell you not to run around? How did you end up here?" The young father rubbed his daughter's hair and asked in a raspy voice.
The little girl snapped back to her senses and looked up happily. "Daddy, I just saw a Flame Listening Hound!"
Recalling his own recent experience, the young father's mouth twitched. "Are you sure you didn't mistake it for something else?"
The little girl countered, "Of course not! I even touched it!"
"Is that so?" The young father took his daughter's tender little hand and said, "Then let's go home and tell Mommy about it."
On the plaza, the figures of one large and one small walked away together.
"Daddy, when I grow up, I want to be a Beast Tamer too!"
"Okay."
"I want to contract a Fire Fang Dog and evolve it into a Flame Listening Hound!"
"Okay."
"Daddy, are you done with your big business?"
"..."
"Are we going to buy the Flame Listening Hound model right now?"
"..."
...
In the night wind, the Crown Meow ran in front while Ya Bao chased behind.
In terms of pure speed, it should have been caught very quickly.
However, the Crown Meow was small and agile, and it constantly loved to run into narrow areas with obstacles, resulting in the slightly larger Ya Bao failing to catch up even after five minutes of chasing.
Sitting on Ya Bao's back, Qiao Sang felt the passion of speed and the headache on her scalp, her adrenaline continuing to surge.
Along the way, it wasn't that she hadn't thought about having Ya Bao use a skill; the first thing that came to mind was using Telekinesis for control.
But after Ya Bao used Telekinesis, not only did its speed slow down, but its accuracy was worse than usual.
Qiao Sang instantly realized that for a pet to release a skill, it had to concentrate its mental strength and internal energy, which was difficult to achieve while sprinting.
Physical attack skills were fine since they moved the body along with the attack, but special attack skills did not work.
This was why most pets stood in place to release skills during competition battles.
Using Teleport to chase didn't work either. With Ya Bao's current entry-level Teleport, it couldn't carry a person. If she insisted on using it, she feared she would have an intimate encounter with the ground.
Fortunately, she had more than one pet...
Seeing the Crown Meow run into another alley, Qiao Sang immediately shouted, "Little Treasure, block it!"
"Xun!"
The Little Treasure Ghost, holding the now-cold half-piece of grilled sausage, instantly vanished from Qiao Sang's head.
As the weight on her scalp lightened, Qiao Sang's mood improved significantly.
When she reached the mouth of the alley and saw the Crown Meow—dressed as a Hammer Meow—blocked inside by the Little Treasure Ghost, her mood improved even further.
"Little brat, keep running now," Qiao Sang grinned, uttering a classic villain line.
"Ya ya!"
Ya Bao's mouth curled into the same villainous expression as Qiao Sang's.
Meanwhile, the Little Treasure Ghost took the opportunity to take a bite of its unfinished sausage.
"Crown..." Caught in the middle, the Crown Meow helplessly used its paw to take off the bag hanging from its neck and pushed it forward.
Qiao Sang's expression froze, and she couldn't help but complain, "If someone saw this reaction, they'd think I was robbing you."
"Crown?" The Crown Meow blinked.
*Wasn't that the case?*
Qiao Sang couldn't understand its words and continued talking to itself, "You were walking just fine, why did you suddenly run?"
"Crown..."
The Crown Meow curled its lip. If she hadn't chased it, would it have run?
Qiao Sang continued, "Come with me. Your Beast Tamer is looking for you; I'll take you back."
"Crown..."
The Crown Meow hesitated for a moment, then shook its head.
Although Qiao Sang didn't understand its meaning, she at least understood the gesture.
"Why? Just because they make you practice farting?" Qiao Sang asked, puzzled.
It was fine not to mention it, but once mentioned, the Crown Meow felt distressed.
"Crown! Crown!" The Crown Meow's expression became serious as it began to argue its case.
Qiao Sang remained silent for two seconds and said, "Ya Bao, translate this."
"Ya."
"Ya ya," Ya Bao translated earnestly.
While Ya Bao was translating, the Crown Meow noticed the Little Treasure Ghost beside them, who was focused on eating its sausage.
Its eyes darted. It forcefully threw the bag in its paw in front of Qiao Sang to block her vision, then turned its head, and its eyes quickly flashed with blue light.
The grilled sausage in the Little Treasure Ghost's paw was caught off guard and was yanked toward the ground by an invisible force.
"Xun!"
Terrified, the Little Treasure Ghost quickly looked down and extended a short toe to use Telekinesis.
Fortunately, the Telekinesis was timely, and the sausage was frozen about one centimeter above the ground.
"Xun..."
The Little Treasure Ghost looked down at the sausage and breathed a sigh of relief.
But at that moment, the Crown Meow leaped up, using its amazing jumping power to jump directly onto the Little Treasure Ghost's head. It used its front paw to pluck off the ring, then pushed off with its hind legs, leaping upward and stepping through the air to escape toward the sky.
The Little Treasure Ghost felt its head lighten and instinctively reached up with its paw.
"XUN!!!"
The next second, a scream echoed through the entire alley.
At the same time, the grilled sausage fell to the ground.
"Xun xun!"
The Little Treasure Ghost turned and looked up with an extremely angry gaze at the Crown Meow that had dropped its sausage and stolen its ring.
"Crown."
Feeling the Little Treasure Ghost's gaze, the Crown Meow turned and gave an elegant smile, then unhurriedly tossed the ring onto the ground about five meters away from the Little Treasure Ghost.
After catching the bag flying toward her, Qiao Sang saw the scene of the Crown Meow running toward the sky with the Little Treasure Ghost's ring.
She was a bit dazed at first.
But the Crown Meow's subsequent action of throwing the ring instantly made her understand its intention.
In the Crown Meow's view, Ya Bao was simply a Fire-type pet; the only one who could chase it into the sky was the Little Treasure Ghost. Therefore, as long as it used the ring to stall the Little Treasure Ghost, it could escape successfully.
Brilliant... if the timing weren't so bad, Qiao Sang would have almost applauded it.
Unfortunately, the Crown Meow didn't guess that Ya Bao also possessed Psychic-type attributes.
"Ya Bao, use Tele—"
Qiao Sang's voice stopped abruptly. Her expression went blank, and she subconsciously swallowed as she watched the scene before her.
Under the moonlight, all the visible shadows in the alley twisted, as if coming to life. Strands of pitch-blackness extended from them like black silk, shooting straight toward a shadow on the wall.
The black silk yanked hard, and the Crown Meow in mid-air was dragged by an invisible force, pulled directly back down to the ground.
"Crown?!!"