Chapter 35: Remember to Be Gentle

"Ya!"

The Fire-Fang Dog let out a depressed bark and slumped back into its seat, taking a heavy gulp of milk to soothe its wounded heart.

Once it finished drinking, Qiao Sang tactfully handed it another bottle, adding comfortingly, "It's okay. We'll face the Long-Eared Cat in a bit. You can just take your revenge for Little Chubby Pigeon then."

Although the Long-Eared Cat was so cute it almost tugged at her heartstrings, Qiao Sang didn't soften. After all, the thought of a 50-point score made her heart turn to steel.

"Ya!"

Hearing this, the Fire-Fang Dog sat upright again and nodded vigorously. It would do it!

The third match was very clean and decisive, though the result was somewhat unexpected for Qiao Sang.

As a pet with both Poison and Flying types, the Zongtai Bee's mouth stinger and tail stinger both carried toxicity. The difference was that the mouth stinger required close contact to pierce, while the tail stinger could be released from a distance.

Logically, the Zongtai Bee was fast enough that it only needed to maintain distance with the Short-Tailed Snake and use its tail stinger; sooner or later, it would hit the snake's body.

However, the Zongtai Bee chose to use its mouth stinger instead.

The venom inside the Short-Tailed Snake was actually more potent than the venom produced by the Zongtai Bee's mouth stinger. Before the snake could even react to the sting, the Zongtai Bee fainted on its own.

One might say the Zongtai Bee was too stupid, but it was merely following its Beast Tamer's command. The command "Poison Sting" had been issued by the Zongtai Bee's tamer.

Qiao Sang found herself speechless. A mouth stinger is a poison sting, and a tail stinger is a poison sting—if you're going to give a command, at least be clear. Truly a rookie tamer.

After the battle for the top six concluded, the next stage was a three-way battle among the losers to eliminate one person and advance two.

Perhaps because the previous round had ended too quickly, Qiao Sang felt that Lu Liangye's commanding was somewhat emotional. Even though he could have ended the match directly with a high-offense skill like Water Gun when the opponent was exhausted, he instead chose to use a Water Bubble to obscure the vision first, then had the Water-Ring Salmo charge in.

Qiao Sang didn't understand. When the opponent is already down, what's the point of obscuring vision? Besides, the Water-Ring Salmo had no legs, only a tail; where would it get explosive power on land? That final blow was more of a bump than a "violent charge"...

Aside from Lu Liangye, a boy named Hu Cheng also made it into the top five. The final first place would be selected from among the winners of the top-six round.

...

"Qiao Sang, Zheng Yining, Li Yang—the three of you will take turns battling. The first to win two matches will be the first place winner of this special recruitment," Sun Boyi announced.

Qin Wen brought out the familiar wooden box again. "Only two of the slips inside have numbers. Candidates who draw a blank slip will have a bye for this round."

Qiao Sang was lucky enough not to get a bye. She flipped her slip over; it was the number 1. Drawing three 1s in a row felt like a sign from the heavens that she was destined for first place!

Qiao Sang was full of fighting spirit, while Zheng Yining, who drew the other 1, possessed the willpower of a salted fish. Her scores usually hovered around 560; without this special recruitment, she certainly wouldn't have made it into Shengshui Middle School based on academic scores alone. Now that she had a spot through recruitment, she didn't need to take first place to secure her future.

"Big Boss Qiao, remember to be gentle later," Zheng Yining joked. Since she couldn't win anyway, she might as well act soft before the match to make her loss more dignified.

Qiao Sang glanced at the Fire-Fang Dog, which was stretching its limbs to warm up, and replied, "...I'll try my best."

Lu Liangye, overhearing the conversation, was displeased. He walked up to Qiao Sang, his face contorted as if he were constipated. "I... I believe you can win, but you can't be careless. You must attack with full strength from the start to avoid any accidents."

He had lost so miserably to Qiao Sang, not even lasting two rounds. If Qiao Sang played around for several rounds against this Zheng Yining, where would his dignity go?!

Looking at his awkward and somewhat tsundere face, Qiao Sang smiled. "Thanks for the reminder. I know."

Zheng Yining: "...?"

The two stood at their designated positions.

The Long-Eared Cat elegantly licked its paw. The Fire-Fang Dog, meanwhile, stared intently at the cat, its hind legs constantly digging into the ground as if it were about to pounce at any second.

This posture looked familiar...

Qiao Sang remembered. Wasn't this the exact stance the Thunder-Horned Rhino took in that video that scared the Fire-Fang Dog the first time it watched TV, causing it to learn Spark?

Before she could think deeper, Sun Boyi gave the command to start the battle.

Qiao Sang quickly adjusted her state and commanded, "Tackle!"

Since the Fire-Fang Dog's posture was already set for a charge, Qiao Sang chose to follow its lead. It seemed that building rapport and acting "weak" before a match actually worked.

Zheng Yining was quite satisfied with Big Boss Qiao's command. A tackle right at the start rarely succeeds; Big Boss Qiao was clearly going easy on her. If she had been treated like the battle with Lu Liangye, where the attack commands were given without warning, how would she have reacted?

"Dodge," Zheng Yining commanded.

"Dodge" was a god-tier skill. No matter what the opponent's skill was, as long as it wasn't a locking skill or a wide-area attack, "dodge" was never a wrong move. This was something Zheng Yining had learned from TV dramas.

The Long-Eared Cat elegantly ran two steps to the side, only to be clumsily sent flying by the impact.

It couldn't dodge...

"That Fire-Fang Dog seems much faster than before?" Zheng Guoping said in surprise.

"Perhaps it wasn't using its full strength in the first two rounds," Qin Wen replied.

Liu Yao watched the battle from the side without speaking.

"Long Ears!" Zheng Yining cried out her pet's name.

The Long-Eared Cat was a Normal-type pet, standing out among junior pets for its appearance and agility. The area was wide open, and the cat wasn't even injured—how could it be hit by such a plain tackle?!

The Long-Eared Cat looked a bit disheveled, but it stood up with its usual elegance. In the next second—

*Bang!*

Before it could even steady itself, it was sent flying again.

"Long Ears!"

Qiao Sang felt a bit bad watching the scene. The Fire-Fang Dog rushed in the moment the cat stood up, and as soon as it stood up again, it charged again. It repeated this four or five times, like a bullfight, and the Long-Eared Cat was the red cloth...

"I forfeit!" Zheng Yining raised her hand and shouted after the cat fell for the fifth time.

"I declare the winner—Qiao Sang," Sun Boyi announced.

Little Chubby Pigeon and its tamer hadn't left yet. Hearing the result, the Fire-Fang Dog happily ran toward Little Chubby Pigeon to celebrate, but the pigeon was startled and flapped its wings to fly onto its tamer's shoulder.

That guy was just too scary!

The Fire-Fang Dog was heartbroken; its budding friendship had been shattered just like that. It walked up to Qiao Sang.

"Ya~"

Qiao Sang knelt down and picked it up. The Fire-Fang Dog buried its head against her. Its own tamer was still the best.

"This Fire-Fang Dog has great potential. When you go back, give it a bath every day using three stalks of Vitality Grass, two catties of Soothing Powder, seven taels of Fire-Transforming Nitrate, and six taels of Red Honey. If you persist for half a month, you might see excellent results," a deep voice sounded nearby.

Qiao Sang turned to look; it was one of the four teachers.

"This is the Vice Principal of Shengshui Middle School. He is an A-rank Breeder. You can't go wrong by listening to him," Zheng Guoping introduced.