Unspoken Longing

Jiang Xing had chosen to make the Spirit-Guarding Dog's existence public precisely to help Pet Beasts and Beast Tamers with deep bonds reunite.

Naturally, he agreed to Champion Chang's request without hesitation.

With that connection, coupled with the importance of the Death Secret Realm itself, his funding application was swiftly approved—

This time, the five hundred million in funding contained no cash at all, only resources.

That had been Jiang Xing's own request.

He had not applied for research funding to cash out and enjoy himself, but to nurture Pet Beasts and nourish the Secret Realm.

Even if they gave him cash, he would only use it to buy all kinds of Pet Beast resources.

He might as well apply for resources directly. He could obtain everything at cost price, including precious resource fruits that had extremely low yields, were difficult to preserve, and were priceless despite being in demand, cutting out the middlemen entirely.

If the various resources from that five hundred million in funding were calculated at market price, even one billion might not have been enough to buy them all.

After obtaining such an enormous batch of resources, Jiang Xing did not hold back. The Berry Blender ran at overload, and together with the Jiang's Secret Recipe he prepared by hand, he held a massive Pet Beast feast by the lake.

Once every Pet Beast had eaten its fill, their bellies round and full,

Jiang Xing slept for a while. The exhaustion from staying up several nights in a row to rush out his proposal faded considerably. Rejuvenated, he threw himself back into his research with renewed enthusiasm—

First, he needed to spend most of his time building a bond with the Ugly Water Chickens.

Ugly Water Chickens were naturally starved of affection. As long as someone could ignore their ugly appearance and treat them normally, their favorability would rise quickly.

Combined with the Affinity Beast Taming Suit and the Pet Beast items he had brought back from Magic City that could increase Affinity, this change was amplified even further.

Almost every day, Jiang Xing could record new data.

Second, he needed to set aside time to diligently study the learning materials Master Jian had given him and teach himself craftsman knowledge.

After all, he would be researching Pokémon items in the future. The earlier he learned craftsman knowledge, the better.

In any case, his research institute lacked everything except resources.

Especially item materials. If he secretly plucked a tuft of fur from the Little Qilin, he could practice item crafting several times.

Probably not many craftsman apprentices had such luxurious training conditions.

Whenever he encountered a problem he could not understand, he could even message Master Jian directly and ask for help.

Master Jian seemed delighted that "Dr. Xu's prized student was not researching Pet Beasts, but instead came to learn how to become a craftsman from her."

As a result, she answered his questions extremely seriously. She even enthusiastically invited Jiang Xing to transfer to Magic City and attend classes at the Craftsman House directly, saying that his Talent was excellent and that he would definitely become a master craftsman in the future...

Jiang Xing pretended not to understand her hint.

He merely wanted to work part-time as an item craftsman. He had no intention of betraying his master's school.

Besides that, he also had to study the Death Secret Realm and analyze the makeup of its special environment, Death Divine Power, and other factors.

"I can barely keep up."

"Without little Ling Yin, and with the Antique Puppet having returned to my teacher's side..."

"With only two research projects, I'm already running myself ragged. I have no time at all to nurture the Rainbow Dragon Cub, I can't continue researching the Golden-Veined Koi, the Giant Magnet Monster I was promised hasn't even shown me a Little Magnet Ball, and the equipment Dr. Al sent is still gathering dust in the room. I haven't even turned it on..."

Even with Jiang Xing's physique greatly enhanced by wearing the Power Bracer for a long time, such an intense work environment still left him looking haggard, as though he had not slept for days.

Well, he really had barely slept. He was mainly relying on energy drinks to keep himself going.

After all, whenever Jiang Xing thought of the trusting gazes of the Ugly Water Chickens, or of those Howl Dogs and police officers who fought on the front lines, gave of themselves, and died heroic deaths, he found it difficult to sleep.

All he wanted was to finish the research as soon as possible and produce results that would satisfy them.

So he consciously reduced his sleeping time.

Over time, he became like this.

Just like now—

Under Chang Feng's arrangements, two haggard police officers arrived at the research institute carrying a box.

The moment they saw Jiang Xing, they were dumbfounded.

From Chang Feng's description, Jiang Xing was a young and promising, energetic, handsome rising researcher.

Yet the person before them was a weary young man in a white lab coat, with heavy dark circles beneath his eyes.

"Mr. Jiang? Shouldn't you get some rest?"

"It's fine." Jiang Xing yawned and downed a bottle of energy drink. "Those of us in research stay up for a few nights all the time. I'll just sleep later."

Since he had decided to grind, he would grind all the way.

Once the Spirit-Guarding Dog research project reached a temporary stopping point, he could free up his hands to prepare assistants for the research institute.

Besides, Jiang Xing could see the anticipation and unease in the eyes of the two officers.

He did not want to disappoint them.

"Their partners are in the box, right?"

"That's right." The two officers hurriedly set down the box and opened it, revealing the dog corpses inside.

Just as legends claimed that eminent monks possessed spiritual power and their bodies would not decay after death, Pet Beasts decayed relatively slowly after dying due to the lingering Transcendental power within them. Only after that power completely dissipated would their bodies rapidly turn to bones.

These two Howl Dogs had died not long ago, and their bodies were preserved quite well.

At the sight of them, the two officers' faces turned pale with grief.

"A few days ago, I was patrolling the countryside when I discovered a ferocious Pet Beast had left the forest and attacked the villagers... My Howl Dog sacrificed itself to protect them."

"I was chasing a fugitive when my Howl Dog was bitten in a vital spot by a Terror Rat while protecting me."

Jiang Xing took out a handheld detector and examined the residual energy on the dog corpses—

According to Necromancy Type theory, many Necro Pet Beasts were born from residual energy within corpses.

If the energy in a corpse completely dissipated, the chance of revival would become minuscule.

These two corpses were well preserved and full of energy. The probability of revival was high.

After confirming that, Jiang Xing closed the box and brought them into the Death Secret Realm, beginning his attempt to revive the Howl Dogs.

However, whether he guided death energy into the dog corpses, left them for several days to await divine power contamination, or invested resources to heighten their energy response,

the corpses of the two Howl Dogs showed no sign of revival at all.

When he asked the Spirit-Guarding Dog in the courtyard, it did not know the reason either.

In its memories, it had simply closed its eyes, and when it opened them again, it had already become what it was now.

When it woke up, the Secret Realm had been completely empty, proving that no external force had participated in its revival.

This brought the research to a standstill—

Clearly, the Spirit-Guarding Dog, as an "otherworldly Howl Dog" in life, was not exactly the same as the "Pet Beast Howl Dogs" born on Blue Star.

Its revival process could not simply be used as a formula and applied wholesale.

"Where exactly is the problem?"

Jiang Xing racked his brains and returned to the research institute, where he consulted papers and knowledge related to the Necromancy Type.

As his knowledge reserves grew, he suddenly had an inspiration while nurturing the Ugly Water Chickens—

Intimacy?

No, not Intimacy.

It was [Emotion].

Many Undead Type Pet Beasts were not only born from negative energy, but also from intense emotions.

Resentment, unwillingness, loneliness, pain, longing, attachment...

These extreme Emotional Energies formed the selves of Undead Type Pet Beasts and became their obsessions.

In other words, while a death environment was a patch of yin land, not every corpse could become a zombie. Only top-tier vengeful spirits filled to the brim with obsession could revive on their own.

Those two Howl Dogs seemingly lacked that qualification. The Emotional Energy left in their corpses was not intense enough and gradually dissipated. Their remaining power was like loose sand, without a "core" to gather around, so they naturally could not revive.

Therefore, if he wanted to awaken them, he first had to awaken their emotions!

This was merely Jiang Xing's sudden inspiration. It might not be correct.

But that was fine. He would know after trying.

He brought the two officers into the Death Secret Realm and told them—

"The environmental factors are complete, and the energy conditions have been met. The reason they still have not revived is because they lack the most important thing—"

"A heart that wants to awaken."

"If you want them to return, you must personally take part. Use your spiritual bond to let them feel your call and your longing!"

"You must become their 'heart'!"

Those words sounded somewhat idealistic, but the two officers believed them without hesitation.

They placed their hands on the box and, through their already shattered contract, used their damaged spirits to desperately convey their longing to their former partners.

They longed for them to return to their sides, longed to see them again, and longed to say the words they had never had the chance to say... thank you.

Standing nearby, Jiang Xing vaguely sensed a burst of spiritual fluctuations.

The next moment, white light bloomed!