Someone Is Looking for You

"By the way, Big Legs..." Fang Sisi wanted to say something else.

"Can you not call me Big Legs?" Qiao Sang cut her off.

"Then should I call you Pretty Legs?" Fang Sisi asked.

Qiao Sang: "..."

Under Qiao Sang's death glare, Fang Sisi finally changed the subject. "Qiao Sang, have you already contracted a pet beast?"

No newly awakened Pet Tamer could resist the urge to contract a pet beast immediately.

Qiao Sang nodded without denying it.

"Then you..."

Just as Fang Sisi was about to continue, the classroom suddenly fell silent, as if someone had hit the mute button.

Looking up, they saw that the homeroom teacher had arrived...

The next second, Fang Sisi's face went pale.

Oh no, oh no! She hadn't finished copying her homework!

"We'll gather on the school field in five minutes." After saying that, the homeroom teacher glanced in Qiao Sang's direction.

More than 4,000 students and over 300 faculty members from Wencheng Middle School had gathered on the school field, forming a vast sea of people.

"Why is the whole school here?" Standing behind her, Fang Sisi poked Qiao Sang with a finger.

"No idea," Qiao Sang said.

Junior Three was in the final sprinting stage, so they basically never held morning assemblies together with the Junior One and Junior Two students. Even when the school required everyone to assemble, there would always be one or two classes exempted.

Qiao Sang looked up at the podium and found that all the school's higher-ups, including the principal, vice principal, and director of academic affairs, were present. Such a grand gathering was rarely seen at ordinary morning assemblies.

Principal Chen Yongfeng was onstage delivering the same old speech. Every morning assembly, he said the same few things over and over, without a shred of originality.

Qiao Sang was bored stiff and didn't take in a single word from the podium.

More than ten minutes later, thunderous applause erupted beside her. Qiao Sang instinctively joined in clapping.

A petite figure walked from the Junior Three Department to the podium.

"Respected teachers, dear students, hello, everyone. I am Dai Shushu of Grade 9 Class 9. It is my great honor..."

What she had thought was an ordinary morning assembly turned out to be Dai Shushu's personal commendation ceremony.

Qiao Sang had never interacted with Dai Shushu, but after hearing others talk about her so often, she knew a thing or two.

Dai Shushu came from a poor family. She was the only student receiving the school's financial aid, had ranked first in her grade throughout all three years of middle school, and had later been recommended directly to Pet Beast High School after awakening on her own. She was the quintessential inspirational success story.

"What good is being recommended? With a family like hers, can she afford a pet beast?" a boy standing to the right sneered.

"Neither of her parents is a Pet Tamer. Who knows how they managed to have a child who awakened on her own?" someone murmured.

Qiao Sang was somewhat surprised. As Pet Tamer society developed, humanity had long realized that children born to two Pet Tamers were more likely to become Pet Tamers themselves.

The higher a Pet Tamer's rank, the more likely they were to have children with high talent.

Conversely, if both parents were ordinary people, their child's chance of becoming a Pet Tamer was only 2%.

If children born to ordinary people still had even the slightest chance of becoming Pet Tamers, then the odds of one awakening on their own were practically nonexistent.

Qiao Sang grew interested and listened carefully to the speech.

"Being recommended to Saint Water High School this time was not only due to my own efforts, but also inseparable from my teachers..."

Qiao Sang's eyelashes trembled.

They had both awakened on their own. Now that Saint Water High School had entered the equation, it was hard for Qiao Sang not to compare herself to Dai Shushu.

The comparison left her feeling stifled, and she lost interest in the rest of the speech.

Back in the classroom, Qiao Sang devoted herself wholeheartedly to her books.

As a middle school student nearing the High School Entrance Exam, she had long since finished learning the required courses. The main focus now was reviewing and doing practice papers.

More than 3,000 years ago, disaster descended from the heavens. Super disasters such as earthquakes, hurricanes, and volcanic eruptions plunged the entire world into an apocalyptic atmosphere. Which Pet Tamer stopped this catastrophe?

A. Chen Jiading

B. Sen Xiaoman

C. Wang Wenyu

D. Wang Yao

Qiao Sang had seen quite a few history questions like this over the past few days. The calamity from more than 3,000 years ago had not been a natural disaster, but a man-made one.

It had been a disaster created by Wang Yao using his pet beasts. As an SS-rank Pet Tamer, he had fully possessed the ability to alter nature.

As the Pet Beast Codex awakened more times, once a Pet Tamer reached D-rank, they would receive a certain degree of feedback from their pet beasts, affecting both lifespan and physique.

As their rank increased, the feedback grew stronger and stronger.

Unless they were attacked directly, it was difficult for them to be harmed even by the aftermath.

Relying on the physique of an SS-rank Pet Tamer, Wang Yao had forcibly broken through the Alliance's encirclement and killed 223 Pet Tamers in return, including 11 S-rank Pet Tamers.

Every S-rank Pet Tamer represented at least a century of effort. The Alliance had suffered devastating losses.

Later, only when SS-rank Pet Tamer Wang Wenyu returned from Flame Sky Star was Wang Yao subdued. However, five pet beasts that had always accompanied Wang Wenyu died in that battle.

From then on, Wang Wenyu withdrew from the world.

If one failed to read the question carefully, it was easy to choose D.

This question had appeared on the last mock exam. Qiao Sang hadn't picked D because she misread it, but because she had used the three-long-one-short rule.

Looking at the question, she changed her previous answer.

"Qiao Sang, someone's looking for you," called a female classmate sitting near the door.

Qiao Sang looked up. A girl in a faded school uniform smiled at her from the doorway.

"It's Dai Shushu. When did you get to know her?" Fang Sisi asked in surprise.

Dai Shushu was a prominent figure at school, so naturally she drew the attention of their classmates. One by one, they all turned to look.

"I don't know her either." Qiao Sang was just as confused.

She walked out.

"What do you need me for?" Qiao Sang asked, her face full of puzzlement.

She was certain that Qiao Sang's former self had no connection to Dai Shushu either. One was an academic genius and the other an academic underachiever, and they weren't even in the same class. With graduation approaching, she couldn't imagine what the other girl could possibly want from her.

"I'm apologizing on behalf of my mother for what happened last time," Dai Shushu said.

She had the delicate looks of a little white flower. Coupled with her malnourished appearance, she looked frail and soft, as though a gust of wind might carry her away.

"What happened?" Qiao Sang raised an eyebrow.

"Didn't Auntie tell you? Last Friday, my mother said some unpleasant things to Auntie. There were teachers all around at the time, so I couldn't get a word in. Was Auntie all right when she went home?" Dai Shushu asked in a soft voice.

Qiao Sang fell silent for a moment, then asked, "What did your mother say?"

Dai Shushu showed an apologetic expression. "Just some harsh things. My mother didn't mean it, and Auntie said some things too." She paused. "It was just that the teachers saw they were about to start fighting and had Auntie leave directly. I felt a little bad about it."

Qiao Sang said expressionlessly, "What does it have to do with you that the teachers told my mother to leave?"

Dai Shushu tucked her hair behind her ear. "If it hadn't been for me, the teachers wouldn't have told Auntie to leave."

"I see." Qiao Sang asked again, "What exactly did your mother say?"

Dai Shushu lowered her head. She was already half a head shorter than Qiao Sang, and once she lowered it, her expression could no longer be seen.

"My mother said your poor grades were because you had no father to discipline you. She said you only awakened on your own because of dumb luck, and that Auntie was so fierce that it was no wonder she got divorced."

She raised her head, looking utterly innocent. "So, did you really awaken on your own?"