Little stories of pet beasts, Lin Yuan's choice (please vote with monthly tickets)

One of the two university students in the newspaper looked strikingly similar to Chen Xuanbai.

Lin Yuan looked it over another two or three times and confirmed it.

Chen Xuanbai had studied [Little Black Cats] in university and had been saved by one himself. It made sense that his research and theoretical expertise concerning them ran deepest.

Lin Yuan was simply curious whether his current, color-changed [Shadow Witch Cat] had anything to do with the heroic [Little Black Cat] in the newspaper.

There were no other similar cases of [Little Black Cats] saving people.

There was, however, one that had saved a painting, which also depicted many [Little Black Cats].

Another had saved a [Little Black Cat] plush toy.

And one [Little Black Cat] had survived a flood, appearing before the crowd with a little black cat swim ring clamped in its mouth.

There were plenty of other cases, too.

All of them showed that Little Black Cats were more likely to become [survivors] in natural disasters and human-caused calamities.

For some reason, thinking of Little Shadow's personality, the first thought that came to Lin Yuan was—Who were these [Little Black Cats] really trying to save?

What exactly drove their survival instincts?

That was what intrigued Lin Yuan most at present.

As for the [Illusion Dream Butterfly] research topic, what interested Lin Yuan was an aspect he had never encountered before.

Their dreams.

Over the past few days, Liu Xing had sent him quite a few messages, mostly about his pet beasts. Naturally, Zizi accounted for the lion's share.

He mentioned something—Zizi had become particularly fond of sleeping lately.

He had initially assumed that Zizi was simply eating too well and needed sleep to digest it all. But after using an energy detector, he discovered that the energy fluctuations around Zizi during sleep were nothing like those of a sleeping pet beast.

Zizi seemed to be constructing dreams, all of them pleasant ones.

Lin Yuan did not know what Zizi dreamed about.

But after reading several of the cases Chen Xuanbai had provided, he had a few ideas.

As the saying went, what filled your thoughts by day filled your dreams by night.

Those words found their fullest expression in [Illusion Dream Butterflies].

The defining feature of [Illusion Dream Butterflies] was their [illusion spirit] trait. Once that trait advanced, they could even transform into combat-type pet beasts, producing surprising results in battle.

But that still required a consistent cultivation method and direction.

At present, Beast Tamers contracted with this type of pet beast essentially trained them in only one direction—having them imagine themselves as invincible butterfly war gods.

Once they had accumulated enough and their [illusion spirit] trait broke through, their chances of evolving into [Illusion Dream War Butterflies] increased dramatically.

Most of the cases Chen Xuanbai provided, however, concerned [Illusion Dream Butterflies] that had remained unable to evolve.

One [Illusion Dream Butterfly] had kept vigil day and night after its Beast Tamer fell into a vegetative state.

When its Beast Tamer slept, it slept too.

Then one day, the Beast Tamer, who should never have been able to wake again, miraculously regained consciousness.

Not only that, but this [Illusion Dream Butterfly] had also become a butterfly with healing abilities. Unfortunately, it could no longer evolve, or it would surely have stirred considerable public discussion.

Another [Illusion Dream Butterfly] was very fond of incense, and its owner bought it all sorts of aromatic materials.

Later, this Beast Tamer discovered that whenever the [Illusion Dream Butterfly] rested alongside him, he could smell different fragrances—even when he had not lit any incense at all.

There were quite a few interesting incidents like these.

Lin Yuan summed them up. All the events that defied common sense had occurred while the [Illusion Dream Butterflies] were asleep—

One abused [Illusion Dream Butterfly] caused everyone nearby to fall into nightmares whenever it slept. Its Beast Tamer considered it a curse and treated it even worse. The cycle continued, leaving both human and butterfly trapped in miserable lives.

Another [Illusion Dream Butterfly] had a large appetite and often went hungry. Whenever it slept, its Beast Tamer would feel bloated and frequently get up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom.

That was also why Chen Xuanbai had classified this topic under social psychology.

When Lin Yuan read these cases, the first thing that occurred to him was that no hidden path had existed when he first saw Zizi.

But when he saw Zizi for the second time a few days ago, a question mark had appeared under hidden paths.

That had to be connected to all the sleeping Zizi had been doing lately.

A bold idea suddenly came to Lin Yuan. Could pet beasts like [Illusion Dream Butterflies] develop all sorts of evolutionary paths depending on how they were raised?

Perhaps those paths had simply gone unexplored because all the current Beast Tamers wanted them to become [Illusion Dream War Butterflies].

Not every butterfly was eager to fight.

One could even say that butterflies, by their very nature, might have gentler dispositions.

That made him very interested in this topic as well.

Yet the topic he found hardest to forget was still the one about [Courier Birds].

"The plight of Courier Birds—can the hierarchy of pet-beast discrimination created by the social division of labor be changed?"

In truth, ever since taking over the pet food shop, he had gained some understanding of the plight of Courier Birds.

In this world of beast taming, it was perfectly normal for pet beasts to take on different roles in society.

[Courier Birds] delivered packages, [Construction Ducks] and [Cement Dogs] were the first choices for construction crews, and [Lucky Babies] were the first choices for hospital nurses...

Different occupations naturally led to differences in social standing.

But at the very bottom of this "hierarchy of discrimination" were pet beasts that performed certain jobs in society yet had no evolutionary paths whatsoever.

[Courier Birds] were one such example.

They were important. Without this link in the chain, parcel and freight deliveries throughout the Chenlong Kingdom would suffer.

They were also dedicated to their work. [Courier Birds] were a truly remarkable species—devotion to their jobs was an invariable part of their personalities.

If the day came when they could no longer deliver packages, they would actually become depressed.

They were overlooked. Everyone saw them every day, yet no one gave them a second thought.

Their numbers were enormous, too—nationwide statistics showed that, apart from rodent and insect pet beasts, they were the easiest ranked pet beasts to breed.

Chen Xuanbai had provided only three real-life cases.

Every one of them gave Lin Yuan food for thought.

The first [Courier Bird] was a veteran among its cohort. Besides doing its regular work every day, it also trained the newcomers on its team.

It taught them how to adjust their daily routines, how to stock up on water and food before work, and how to quickly locate their assigned destinations.

Then retirement arrived, and its life changed overnight. A [Courier Bird]'s working life ranged from five to ten years. This one had worked a full ten years before realizing it could no longer keep flying.

The week after its retirement was also the last week of its life.

In the deserted night, it flew to the shops it had once frequented, plucked out a feather with its beak, and left it at the entrance before flying to the next destination.

Its body was found where it used to teach the young [Courier Birds] every day. Half its feathers were gone, yet it still stood proudly on the ground, as though sheer strength of character kept it from falling.

The incident had caused quite a stir at the time, and many people had been moved by this [Courier Bird].

But as time passed, the fact that they could not evolve ultimately swept away the feelings a single story had stirred in people's hearts.

Life went on as before.

The other two cases carried much the same tragic note.

One concerned a [Courier Bird] contracted to a human.

Even after forming the contract, it still wanted to fly out and deliver goods every day. The instinct ran in its blood.

Its Beast Tamer had no choice but to arrange regular daily deliveries between his own home, his paternal grandparents' home, his parents' home, and his maternal grandparents' home.

After several years of deliveries, both sets of grandparents had passed away, but it kept delivering.

Rain or shine, it never stopped, still making deliveries to those two empty homes.

Later, new residents moved into the houses. Because it disturbed them, its Beast Tamer had no choice but to confine it.

What happened afterward was unknown.

That news story had also sparked a series of public discussions at the time.

Afterward, even fewer people dared to form contracts with Courier Birds.

The last case surprised even Lin Yuan when he read it.

It was titled "The story of Grandma and the Courier Bird."

He skimmed a few lines and realized that it seemed to match a plotline in the novel he had been reading recently.

This [Courier Bird] was entirely ordinary.

The grandmother, named Chen Fengli, ran a traditional herbal medicine shop with her family. It was one of this [Courier Bird]'s regular delivery stops.

Chen Fengli treated it very well, giving it food and water whenever it came.

At first, this [Courier Bird] strictly adhered to its professional code and avoided excessive contact with customers.

Then one day, Chen Fengli poured out her troubles to it—she told it that Grandma was seriously ill and would be gone in another two years.

From then on, whenever it came to deliver packages, it brought along some inexplicable medicinal herbs.

Later, someone discovered that these herbs really were more than weeds picked from the roadside. Some were even quite difficult to obtain.

Only then did people realize that, over the five years it had delivered goods for Grandma Chen, this [Courier Bird] had somehow learned to identify certain medicinal herbs, their growing habits, and their medicinal effects.

The report ended there, with no follow-up.

Lin Yuan did not know whether the subjects of this story were the same as the characters in his novel. Nor did he know what had ultimately happened to Grandma, much less how that Courier Bird had managed to find fresh medicinal herbs every day.

But after reading those three stories, he felt strangely empty inside.

Over the past few days, the bird collecting goods from his shop had always been that young [Courier Bird]. The older [Courier Bird] he had known for two or three years might have fallen ill, or perhaps it had retired.

Whatever the case, it seemed unable to keep working.

The plight of pet beasts at the bottom of society, created by this division of labor, was unfolding so tangibly right beside him that it stirred an inexplicable desire to investigate.

To discover something, to change something—that had been his original reason for pursuing scientific research in his previous life.

Why couldn't it be the same in this life?

As he was thinking, Chen Xuanbai pushed the door open and walked in.

"Well, Lin Yuan, have you decided which topic you want to work on?" Chen Xuanbai sounded even more tired. Apparently, his afternoon teaching load had been heavy.

"Yes, sir. I've made my choice."

He pointed to the [Courier Bird] topic.