Extraordinary Creatures in the Village

The next day,

"Anyway, that's roughly the situation. For the next few days, you don't need to do anything else. Just focus on meditating."

"Mm, but the rescue station needs to keep two people on duty at all times. There'll probably be quite a few emergencies during this period."

"Yang Song and Dong Rong will start today."

"The sooner you become Beast Tamers, the more attention you'll receive from higher up."

"If I can join the Beast Taming Academy, maybe I'll benefit from it too."

"One last thing: don't rush to tell your relatives and friends. Wait for instructions from higher up."

As Chen Yuan walked out of the meeting room, the leaders' remarks still echoed in his mind while his colleagues beside him continued discussing the matter.

"Damn, those people online really guessed it. It really is the Spiritual Tide!" Zhang Hao, who had started working the same year as Chen Yuan, looked excited, his eyes filled with anticipation.

"Become a Beast Tamer through meditation, then form a contract with an Extraordinary Creature. It doesn't sound that difficult," another colleague said.

"I told you, the cow at my place has grown two or three times bigger recently, and it looks completely different too. So it evolved into an Extraordinary Creature."

"Old Wang, then you'd better hurry up and become a Beast Tamer, then contract that cow of yours."

"True, true. I'm heading home to meditate."

After chatting for a while, the eager crowd pushed open the door and left one after another.

"Brother Yuan, you're not heading home to meditate?" Zhang Hao asked when he saw Chen Yuan still standing there.

Chen Yuan smiled. "I'm heading back right away."

Zhang Hao nodded, then lowered his voice. "Brother Yuan, I heard you caught a Fire-Spitting Little Bird two days ago. Looks like that was an Extraordinary Creature."

Chen Yuan nodded. "That's right."

Zhang Hao swept a glance around from the corner of his eye and lowered his voice further. "That little bird probably isn't ordinary. Hurry up and contract it, lest something happen."

Chen Yuan smiled. "All right. You should hurry too."

After exchanging a few more words, Zhang Hao hurried out of the rescue station, and Chen Yuan left shortly afterward.

"First, they disclosed the information to Xiang Wenhao's teachers, then to their students, then the students' relatives. Now it's our turn, the grassroots officials."

"It makes sense. With the Spiritual Tide and changes to the world, if they announced it to all of society from the start, it would probably cause chaos."

"Taking things step by step is the best solution."

Over the past two days, Chen Yuan had also been gathering information from foreign websites. He found that the officials of every country remained silent, allowing the public to speculate as they pleased.

With those thoughts passing through his mind, he headed toward the eastern side of the village.

Xuanhe Village had been especially lively these past two days. Some villagers were battling wits with their livestock that had begun evolving, some were busy cutting away weeds with sickles, while others followed the Village Chief on patrol around the village.

Wild animals had been breaking into the village from time to time over the past two days—sometimes giant snakes several meters long, sometimes furious wild boars. The Village Chief had no choice but to bring along some strong villagers and lead a pack of Chinese Rural Dogs to patrol the surroundings.

One of the Chinese Rural Dogs in the pack had successfully evolved into a Condensing Wind Hound, and it was even larger than Cola.

This Condensing Wind Hound was the village's dog king. It often led a pack of dogs through every corner of Xuanhe Village. They ruled the countryside, becoming every passerby's nightmare.

After passing through the village roads, Chen Yuan soon arrived in front of a two-story house. He called toward the pigsty behind the house.

"Uncle Zhao, has your pig eaten?"

After a while,

A middle-aged man wearing a straw hat, cheap work clothes, and rain boots hurried out. A weary smile spread across his face. "It has, it has."

At that point, he pursed his lips, his expression somewhat strange. "Its appetite is just a little frightening."

"It's a good thing if it can eat." Chen Yuan nodded. "Can I go in and take a look?"

"Of course, of course." Uncle Zhao stepped aside and led Chen Yuan into the pigsty.

There was no need to mention the smell of the pigsty, but Chen Yuan did not pay it much mind. He merely looked ahead—the pigsty was divided into two sections. In the left corner, four ordinary domestic pigs huddled together. On the right stood an especially massive Extraordinary Creature, its body covered in a gray keratinous layer resembling steel, its slender tail like a long whip.

Chen Yuan made a rough estimate. This domestic pig was at least one meter tall and over two meters long. Paired with those pitch-black eyes, it gave off an intense sense of oppression.

"It ate over ten kilos of feed today, plus three Watermelons." Uncle Zhao's voice sounded beside him, his gaze filled with resentment.

"At this rate, it'll eat me broke sooner or later."

Chen Yuan reassured him, "It's fine. Looking like this, maybe it can sell for a higher price."

"Perhaps." Uncle Zhao sighed.

"Uncle Zhao, can I observe it up close?"

"That would be for the best."

Hearing that, Chen Yuan opened the iron gate and entered the pigsty. He quietly walked behind the pig and slowly extended his right hand.

Compared to the other domestic pigs, this one was very clean and did not have an unpleasant odor, so Chen Yuan could reach out without any psychological resistance.

The pig clearly did not notice the hand extending behind it. It kept its head lowered as it gnawed on a Watermelon on the ground, eating in a crude and unsightly manner while occasionally making snorting sounds.

Chen Yuan successfully touched that gray skin resembling steel.

First time collecting Gray-Armored Mountain Pig, Origin Points +1

Race: Gray-Armored Mountain Pig

Attribute: Earth

Level: 1 (First Tier)

Favorability: 10

Skill: Earth Stomp (Basic 0.1/3)+

Quality: Ordinary

Conditions to advance to Elite Quality: Insufficient Origin Points (2.1/5)

After saying goodbye to Uncle Zhao, Chen Yuan went to Aunt Liu's house and touched the fully evolved Youyou Sheep, gaining another Origin Point.

Afterward, Chen Yuan went to the home of the colleague who claimed his cow had evolved. He touched the Boba Cow and gained one Origin Point.

With that, Chen Yuan's Origin Points rose directly to 4.1. He was only one Origin Point away from unlocking the advancement method.

Unfortunately, Chen Yuan searched the village for quite a while longer but failed to find another Extraordinary Creature. Instead, he encountered several animals that were still evolving.

"Don't be impatient. It's only the second day," Chen Yuan secretly told himself.

With that thought in mind, Chen Yuan returned to his farm at sunset.

"Chitter, chitter."

Squinting, he suddenly spotted the Steel-headed Earth Rat from yesterday panting as it reclaimed the wasteland. At times it burrowed into the soil, and at times it leaped back out.

After it finished working for a while, it scampered beneath a large tree to cool off. Chen Weiyi, who had been waiting there for a long time, handed it a piece of Watermelon.

Man and pet looked at each other and smiled, then lowered their heads to eat Watermelon in unspoken accord.

The sunset's afterglow fell over them, and the shadows it outlined reflected in Chen Yuan's eyes.

Chen Yuan smiled.

Maybe the Spiritual Tide isn't such a bad thing, he thought.

Over the past two days, conflicts between people and Extraordinary Creatures had broken out frequently in various places. Some people had even been injured because of them, greatly fueling public resentment toward Extraordinary Creatures.

Yet in many corners, in many unknown places, people and Extraordinary Creatures lived together warmly.