Under the solemn oath of its own Beast Tamer, the Water Slug set off once again toward Room 1705.
As it approached the courtyard, it cautiously peeked its head out from the corner of the wall.
Sure enough, the dozen or so giant creatures from the morning were nowhere to be seen.
"Titi~"
Relieved, the Water Slug looked toward the nearby pool.
Meanwhile, the Little Treasure-Hunting Ghost took off its virtual helmet, looking depressed.
It had been forced offline again...
"Xun..."
The Little Treasure-Hunting Ghost curled its lip and turned to glance at the fast-asleep Qiao Sang and Yabao.
There was nothing to play with and no one to play with it; it was so boring...
It seemed the only option was to find a few ants to practice its hypnosis on.
The Little Treasure-Hunting Ghost was a creature of action. With that thought, it drifted leisurely through the door and floated outside.
By the time it reached the courtyard, it happened to see a Bug-type pet crawling toward the pool.
The Little Treasure-Hunting Ghost's eyes lit up, and it suddenly perked up.
This was the first time it had seen a pet awake at home in the middle of the night.
"Xun!"
The Little Treasure-Hunting Ghost vanished on the spot.
The next second, it appeared in front of the unfamiliar Bug-type pet with a wide, friendly grin.
"Xun xun!"
Hearing the voice and feeling the shadow looming over its head, the Water Slug's expression turned to terror. Its eyes snapped wide open, and cold sweat broke out uncontrollably across its body.
After a moment, it summoned the courage to lift its head.
"TITI!!!"
Seeing the Ghost-type pet before it revealing a blood-red maw, the Water Slug shuddered violently, let out a high-decibel wail, closed its eyes, and completely fainted.
"Xun?"
The Little Treasure-Hunting Ghost tilted its head in confusion.
Before it could figure out why the other party had suddenly fainted, it saw a faint white light rising from the Bug-type pet.
The Little Treasure-Hunting Ghost was all too familiar with this light.
It was the same light that appeared whenever its Beast Tamer recalled Yabao into the Beast Codex.
Almost instinctively, the Little Treasure-Hunting Ghost extended a short toe, connecting the shadow on its toe to the Water Slug's shadow.
The white light vanished.
The Water Slug remained in place.
Outside Room 1705, the chubby security guard crouching under the palm tree remained frozen in his summoning gesture. His scalp tingled, and every single hair on his body stood on end.
Holy crap!
What's going on?!
Why can't I summon it back?!
...
Qiao Sang woke up because she was having trouble breathing.
The moment she opened her eyes, she saw the large face of the Little Treasure-Hunting Ghost staring right at her.
Her sleepiness was instantly sent flying.
"Why are you pinching my nose?" Qiao Sang sat up, rubbed her eyes, and said somewhat gloomily.
She felt that if she were startled like this a few more times, she would suffer a nervous breakdown sooner or later.
"Xun!"
"Xun xun!"
The Little Treasure-Hunting Ghost grabbed the still-unconscious Bug-type pet with both paws and held it up before its Beast Tamer for her to see.
Qiao Sang paused, leaned in for a closer look, and discovered it was a pet she had never seen before.
"Are you saying someone sent it into our home?" Qiao Sang asked, her brow furrowing slightly.
"Xun xun!"
The Little Treasure-Hunting Ghost nodded vigorously.
Suddenly remembering something, Qiao Sang sprang out of bed, put on her shoes, turned on the light, and went to her desk to check her bag in one fluid motion.
When she saw that the various cards and the small amount of cash in her wallet were still there, she breathed a sigh of relief.
Fortunately, everything was still here...
If the cards were lost, replacing them was a minor issue. However, if someone used the photo on her information card during the lost period to find a Phantom Water Baby to transform and impersonate her to pass the facial recognition for other cards, it would be very troublesome.
Although current card identity verification was quite rigorous and included iris recognition, there were so many strange characteristics and skills among pets; who knew what methods others would use to steal an identity.
"Where did you see it?" Qiao Sang asked, returning to the bed.
"Xun xun."
The Little Treasure-Hunting Ghost pointed toward the door.
The courtyard?
Qiao Sang paused. Was there anything valuable in the courtyard?
Or had the intruder been caught by the Little Treasure-Hunting Ghost the moment they entered, before they could even act?
A sense of crisis rose in Qiao Sang's heart. Most Beast Tamers maintained a certain level of dignity; any Beast Tamer who acted like a thief sneaking into someone else's home would not be a good person.
Nowadays, one didn't fear a bad person being bad, but rather a bad person who was also a Beast Tamer with an unknown background.
Qiao Sang thought for a while, opened her phone, took a photo of the unconscious Bug-type pet, and searched for it online.
She quickly learned the information about this pet.
Water Slug, a low-level Water-type pet from the Ancient Mist region. Its evolution limit only reached the High level. It was unremarkable among many pets, but quite a few people in business were willing to contract it.
The sole reason was that it could help with drinking alcohol.
Rather than "helping" drink, to be precise, its respiratory pores could draw alcohol from a human body into its own through skin contact.
In terms of social networking, it was practically a godsend for people with low alcohol tolerance or alcohol allergies.
Qiao Sang wasn't very interested in this ability; her gaze lingered on the words "Ancient Mist region" for a moment.
To be honest, meeting someone from the Ancient Mist region in the residential complex could be called a coincidence, but having a pet from the Ancient Mist region sneak into her home in the dead of night was definitely not that simple.
*This is because of Shui Lu-Yana...* Qiao Sang immediately made the judgment.
One must know that it was rare for pets not belonging to a specific region to appear in that region. The probability of encountering a pet from another region on the street was comparable to running into a first love—the kind of thing you could post online to chat about.
"Can your Dark Shadow Control hold on a bit longer?" Qiao Sang asked, looking at the Little Treasure-Hunting Ghost.
"Xun... xun!"
The Little Treasure-Hunting Ghost looked at the shadow connecting it to the Water Slug, tilted its head first, and then nodded, indicating it wasn't a big problem.
Besides using shadows to control the opponent, Dark Shadow Control also possessed the same ability as the Shadow Step characteristic.
Shadow Step was a characteristic feared among all others; it could leave non-Ghost-type pets that did not possess Shadow Step in a state where they were unable to escape.
It was the natural enemy of teleportation.
Since the Water Slug was held by Dark Shadow Control—which had the same ability as Shadow Step but was even more powerful—it naturally could not be summoned back.
Qiao Sang hadn't expected that the Little Treasure-Hunting Ghost could maintain a high-level skill like Dark Shadow Control for such a long time.
She mused that among high-level skills, some could be maintained for a long time by reducing energy output, though the effect would be weaker, while others could not.
For example, Yabao's Spark Rain; even though Yabao was now a Mid-level pet, it couldn't cast it several times in a row based on the energy in its body.
*Should I call the police...* Qiao Sang looked at the unconscious Water Slug and thought about this problem.
A Beast Tamer's pet running into someone else's home in the middle of the night was reason enough to call the police.
If she reported it, with the Water Slug in hand, she could follow the trail to find its Beast Tamer.
But if the opponent revealed the existence of Shui Lu-Yana, the patrol team would definitely take Shui Lu-Yana away.