Instinct

5:30 p.m.

37th Pet Beast High School let out.

At 5:33 p.m., groups of two or three students walked out of the school gates arm in arm.

"Are we competing here?" A slightly deep voice rang out.

After reading for nearly an hour, Qiao Sang finally got her first inquiry.

She looked up to see a huge, burly man standing before her. A snake pet beast as thick as a fist and earthy yellow in color coiled up from his waist to his neck, where its triangular head emerged.

It was a Long Tail Snake, the evolved form of the Short Tail Snake.

Qiao Sang took two looks, then pulled out a pen from her backpack and silently added a few words to the paper.

Intermediate pet beasts and below only.

The big man clicked his tongue. Without saying anything else, he turned and left.

After the first came the second. Before long, someone else approached.

This time, it was a sunny-looking boy. He scratched his head in front of Qiao Sang, looking a little embarrassed. "If I win, I don't want money. Can I trade it for your contact information?"

"Sure," Qiao Sang readily agreed.

Not having to pay was even better. Altogether, she only had 532 Alliance Coins, enough to lose only a few matches. She still had to save some for the trip home.

A Hedgehog Head stood beside the boy, wearing the expression of someone watching drama unfold. He was clearly the boy's friend.

"Let's fight over there." Hedgehog Head pointed at a poplar tree in Nanhe Park.

They were currently at the entrance to Nanhe Park. With school just letting out, people were constantly passing by, making it unsuitable for a battle.

Qiao Sang followed his finger with her gaze and nodded.

The three arrived beneath the poplar tree. The spot was secluded, with no one visible within about twenty meters.

"I'll be the referee," Hedgehog Head volunteered.

Qiao Sang naturally had no objections.

The boy formed a summoning hand seal. Beneath a white star array, a round-bodied, brown Little Chubby Dove about eighty centimeters tall appeared on the ground.

Ordinary Little Chubby Doves stood around sixty centimeters tall. This one had clearly been raised well.

"Jiang Liu, you don't mind letting the girl attack first, right?" Hedgehog Head asked.

Different matches had different rules. Some decided before the match who would attack first, while in others, it did not matter who made the first move.

"Of course." Jiang Liu spread his hands.

As the referee, Hedgehog Head chose Qiao Sang to go first. Qiao Sang did not stand on ceremony. "Fire Fang Dog, use Spark."

"Fang!"

Fire Fang Dog leaped out of Qiao Sang's arms, its gaze instantly sharpening. It opened its mouth and unleashed a red-orange flame the size of a baby's fist.

Faced with the sudden attack, Jiang Liu gave no command. Little Chubby Dove remained calm, hopping twice to the left just as the Spark was about to hit it, neatly dodging the attack.

Little Chubby Doves were widely known for being slow, and this one would not be fast either. Its reaction speed was simply good. It had avoided the attack with the smallest possible movement, so it had probably received targeted training.

Qiao Sang analyzed the situation, but her commands did not stop. "Take Down."

Fire Fang Dog charged forward, all four limbs driving hard.

"Fly up and use Howl," Jiang Liu gave his first command.

Little Chubby Dove flapped its pair of short wings and rose into the air.

Fire Fang Dog had not been trained, so its attack speed was not fast. Little Chubby Dove was already airborne when its charge had only made it halfway across the distance.

"Coo!"

Howl was a fairly ordinary skill. It could not directly inflict damage in battle, only barely disrupt an opponent for a moment.

The sound was merely a little grating to Qiao Sang, but Fire Fang Dog's movements stalled, and its speed slowed slightly.

"Air Strike." Jiang Liu immediately followed with another command.

Air Strike was an exclusive skill of Flying Type pet beasts, similar to the charges used by ground-based pet beasts. The difference was that Take Down relied solely on the pet beast's limbs and physical strength, whereas Air Strike could also use the movement of the air to generate an impact far greater than an ordinary charge.

Little Chubby Dove drew its wings back. Air currents swirled around it with a whistling roar as it shot straight toward Fire Fang Dog.

Seeing Little Chubby Dove barreling toward it, Fire Fang Dog instinctively wanted to dodge.

"Don't move!" Qiao Sang commanded at that moment.

Getting hit by Air Strike would definitely hurt badly, but upon hearing Qiao Sang's command, Fire Fang Dog forcibly controlled its body and chose to obey her.

That was ridiculous!

Hedgehog Head stared at the battle, his eyes widening involuntarily.

Both Qiao Sang's command and Fire Fang Dog's response struck him as utterly ridiculous.

Never mind the command itself—was a Fire Fang Dog really this obedient?!

It would have been one thing if it were her second or third contracted pet beast, but this was clearly a novice Pet Beast Master's first pet beast.

You could not find even one novice Pet Beast Master out of a thousand who dared to contract a Fire Type pet beast first. Their school had more than three thousand students, yet only two people had dared to make a Fire Type pet beast their first contract.

Fire Type pet beasts were ill-tempered and hard to discipline.

How on earth had she made a Fire Type pet beast obediently stand still and take a beating?!

If they had not still been in the middle of a battle, Hedgehog Head would have wanted to run over and properly ask this formidable girl for advice.

"Now, jump!"

Qiao Sang watched the situation calmly. Just as Little Chubby Dove was about to hit Fire Fang Dog, she gave the command.

Fire Fang Dog did not hesitate. The very next second after Qiao Sang gave the order, it sprang upward.

Jiang Liu froze at the sight before him.

How did this Fire Fang Dog...

How did it jump onto Little Chubby Dove's back?!

"Fire Fang, attack its wing!" Qiao Sang gave her next command while her opponent had yet to react.

Fire Fang Dog bared its sharp teeth, and flames immediately surged over them. It bit down mercilessly on Little Chubby Dove's right wing.

"Coo!!!"

Little Chubby Dove let out an agonized cry. After that shriek, its body crashed heavily to the ground.

"Fatty!" Jiang Liu cried out.

Fire Fang Dog jumped down from Fat Domestic Pigeon. It turned to look at Qiao Sang, excitement shining in its eyes.

"Finish it. Spark," Qiao Sang said calmly.

Fire Fang Dog quickly turned back.

Under the Spark attack, still the size of a baby's fist, Little Chubby Dove whimpered and fainted.

The surroundings fell silent.

About five seconds passed.

"Miss Badass... I mean, classmate, what's your name?" Hedgehog Head asked awkwardly.

"My name is Qiao Sang," she answered.

"Qiao Sang wins," Hedgehog Head announced the final result.

Jiang Liu silently recalled Little Chubby Dove into his Pet Beast Codex.

"How did you judge the timing for Fire Fang Dog to jump onto Little Chubby Dove's back?" Jiang Liu walked over, his expression complicated.

The girl before him looked younger than he was, yet her battle sense was so strong.

At Air Strike's speed, the timing for the jump was not easy to calculate.

If Fire Fang Dog had jumped only when Little Chubby Dove was close, it would definitely have been too late. It had to account for Little Chubby Dove's charging speed.

And Fire Fang Dog, too—if it had hesitated for even half a second, it never would have made it onto Little Chubby Dove's back.

Everything had depended on trust in the Pet Beast Master and her commands.

Qiao Sang answered seriously, "Instinct."

Jiang Liu: "..."