"Cluck, cluck!"
The big hen rose from the ground, looking refreshed, but the white egg she had been incubating had actually disappeared.
Jiang Hao froze. What was going on?
Could that egg be nothing like what I thought, but a passive skill instead? Hen and Eggs in Ruin? What the heck?
He hurriedly checked his beast pet's information panel and allocated its attribute and skill points while he was at it.
Beast pet owner: Jiang Hao Beast pet: Ice Crystal Phoenix (hen) Realm: Body Tempering (level 15) Rapport: 65 (decreases with hunger) Combat power: 151 Attribute points: 0 Skill points: 0 Strength: 61 Stamina: 1 Defense: 1 Agility: 16 Critical hit rate: 0 Precision strike: 0 Skills: Hen and Eggs in Ruin (passive), Fireball (level 1.75) Hen and Eggs in Ruin: Passive skill. Triggers a counterattack when the beast pet is threatened, randomly launching a skill that can hit the enemy with pinpoint accuracy.
Holy shit, this passive even comes with GPS targeting! We're about to take flight! Awesome!
Jiang Hao was just about to continue playing when someone suddenly dragged his thoughts back to reality.
"Hao, what are you spacing out for? Aren't you going home?"
It was Chubby's voice.
Jiang Hao looked up. Almost everyone had left the classroom.
"Let's go."
At the school gates.
Wen Ruxue watched Jiang Hao and Chubby walk away, chatting and laughing. She wanted to follow them, but a tall, short-haired beauty beside her hooked an arm around her shoulders.
The beauty stood a full head taller than Wen Ruxue. With exquisite features and an aloof, noble air, she drew plenty of attention even when she stood casually.
"Senior Gongsun, let go of me." Wen Ruxue seemed deeply averse to the beauty's touch.
The beauty's name was Gongsun Qianxue, and she was an extreme control freak. Little rabbits like Wen Ruxue were precisely her favorites.
Make no mistake-she simply liked controlling other people.
She and Wen Ruxue had known each other since childhood, and their families lived in the same city district. The Gongsun Lineage was one of the foremost great Lineages in Primordial City and controlled its largest Young Beast Breeding Base.
"If you dare chase after him, I'll make sure the whole academy knows he contracted a chicken by tomorrow. Try me!"
Wen Ruxue: ...
"Be good and come eat Snow Spirit Fish with me. Our hotel happens to have one today. Apparently, they went to enormous trouble to catch it from Snow Spirit Lake in the Primordial Mountain Range. Miss this chance, and who knows how long you'll have to wait for another."
After dinner, Jiang Hao paced indecisively outside Liao Yunxiao's study.
Should I go in?
If I do, I might get a savage beating.
If I don't, I won't have anything to stake on the bet. Penniless as I am, there's no way I can produce a rare beast crystal.
"What are you skulking around outside for? If you need something, come in and say it."
Just then, Liao Yunxiao's displeased voice came from inside.
Since she had noticed him, staying outside clearly wasn't an option.
Jiang Hao pushed the door open, shamelessly squeezed out a smile, and called sweetly, "Second Sister!"
That "Second Sister" made Liao Yunxiao shudder. Goosebumps rose all over her, and her anger shot straight up.
"Speak properly. You only call me Second Sister when you want something. Don't think I don't know what you call me behind my back."
Not a good start!
"Okay, Sis. Could you lend me a rare beast crystal?"
Liao Yunxiao stared at Jiang Hao and asked a question she already knew the answer to. "What do you want a rare beast crystal for?"
"For that bet of yours?"
"Why did I send you to the War Academy? It wasn't so you could fool around with your classmates! Instead of studying properly at your age, you've learned none of what you should and somehow learned to fight over girls. Aren't you something!"
"And that's not even the worst of it. Song Jie's beast pet is a High-Grade Iron-Arm Mantis! Its Golden Body Realm strength puts it in the top ten of your entire year. And yours? A big hen? It isn't even a combat pet! How are you supposed to compete with him? Charging ahead when you know it's impossible-are you an idiot?"
She unleashed a torrent of scolding straight at his head.
Half an hour later.
Jiang Hao returned to his room, utterly dejected.
The outcome was exactly what he had expected.
Forget it. I'd better hurry up and strengthen my beast pet. When the time comes, I'll make that heartless, venom-tongued she-rex see me in a whole new light.
The she-rex was a dead end, and his eldest brother wasn't home. It seemed he would have to find a way himself. Sure enough, trying to reap without sowing was no way forward.
This time, when Jiang Hao entered the simulation game, he specifically hunted bosses that dropped loot. They offered fast leveling, too, though wearing them down took a little longer.
Over the course of the night, he ground the Green Demonling boss to death three times. Not only did the big hen reach level 21 and successfully enter the Qi Condensation Realm, but he also reached level 20 himself. The Green Demonling boss didn't drop as much loot as it had the first time, but the usable items included level-16 Fine Radiant War Boots and a level-20 Fine Nine Luminaries Thunder Guard.
Together with his previous level-18 Top-Grade Long Saber and level-15 Fine Ringmail Armor, it was like trading a bird gun for a cannon.
But there was no sign of the skill book he wanted most.
When Jiang Hao got up the next morning, he shook off the previous night's dejection and appeared in the main living room looking refreshed.
"Good morning, Father, Xiao En, Susu." For once, he actually greeted everyone.
Everyone's eyes turned to Liao Yunxiao at the same time, moving back and forth between her and Jiang Hao.
Dragon Venerable said, "Hao, why aren't you greeting your second sister?"
"Oh, I didn't see her. Morning, Second Sister." His tone was flat.
Liao Yunxiao glanced at him as though to say, Little brat, I'm right here and you can't see me? Who are you trying to needle?
"Father, I'm planning to visit Wuji City this weekend."
Dragon Venerable asked, "What are you going somewhere so far away for?"
Jiang Hao tried to act as casual as possible. "I've arranged an outing with some friends. Don't worry, Father. I'm an adult now. I know my limits."
Dragon Venerable asked no further questions.
But Liao Yunxiao, sitting opposite him, knitted her brows. Others might not know Jiang Hao's intentions, but she could guess a thing or two. The brat had certainly grown bold.
Jiang Hao finished breakfast in a few bites, said goodbye, and left for school.
Once Jiang Hao was gone, Dragon Venerable asked Liao Yunxiao, "Yunxiao, do you know what Hao is going to Wuji City for?"
"Yes, Father. What else but a rare beast crystal?" She then explained Jiang Hao's bet with his classmate.
"Nonsense!"
After a pause, Dragon Venerable added, "Yunxiao, follow him when the time comes and keep an eye on him. Let him suffer a little, but don't let him lose his life on Wu Ji Mountain."
"I know. Don't worry, Father. I didn't stop him at school because I wanted to see what tricks he could pull off. The National Beast Pet Tournament is coming up soon. This is a good opportunity to let him gain some experience beforehand."
Luo Su chimed in from the side, surprised. "Second Sister, you want Third Brother to enter the beast pet tournament? With that big hen of his?"
"Don't you think that little brat has secrets? How did he turn a chick into a big hen overnight? Besides, knowing your third brother's personality, would he have agreed to someone else's bet without something to rely on?"
After listening, Luo Su gave her a thumbs-up and praised her. "That's our Second Sister! Looks like Third Brother's unspeakable secrets are about to be exposed. Poor Third Brother."
The moment Jiang Hao stepped through the school gates, he sensed something strange about the atmosphere.
Students passing him either pointed at him or whispered among themselves, occasionally letting out odd bursts of laughter.
Completely baffled, Jiang Hao touched his face and muttered, "Have I gotten even more handsome, to the point that everyone knows about it now? Sure enough, being too handsome is a burden. Sigh!"
He entered the classroom bearing that invincible handsomeness.
Strange looks immediately converged on him. His classmates' stares made his scalp prickle-skepticism, disdain, mockery, anticipation of a good show. Every kind was there.
He returned to his seat, where Chubby was already sitting. As he put down his schoolbag, Jiang Hao asked quietly, "What's wrong with everyone?"
Chubby didn't even dare speak loudly. He cautiously asked Jiang Hao, "Hao, is your beast pet really a hen?"
"How did you know?"
Jiang Hao was shocked.
Chubby took a crumpled sheet of A4 paper from his drawer and handed it to him.
The headline on the paper was striking, printed in bold.
"The chicken raised by the War Academy"
Beneath it was a picture of him feeding the big hen on the rooftop. Beside the picture, his identity had been specifically labeled: Jiang Hao, Year Two, Class Two student (academic failure).
There was also a passage underneath.
"The greatest disgrace since the War Academy's founding. The War Academy-as its name tells you-is a place that trains warriors and combat pets, one of the Shenzhou Kingdom's most valued training grounds for talent. Yet this sacred place has produced a piece of chicken shit, a utterly useless beast pet that doesn't even qualify as a working pet. This tarnishes our school and insults its students. I don't know how he got into the school, but trash like this should get the hell out as soon as possible."
As the paper said, the War Academy was a place where the Shenzhou Kingdom nurtured and built up its reserve of talent. Otherwise, it would never have brought in a Transcendent Master like Liao Yunxiao to serve as a teacher and instruct students on developing their combat pets' potential.
The vast majority admitted to the War Academy were heaven's favored children. Why the vast majority? Because the rest were people like Jiang Hao, who got in through connections.
Even Chubby, an academic failure just like him, had contracted a Mid-Grade Brown Bear (defense type).
Having a chicken as a beast pet had never been a big deal, but now that everyone knew and was making a joke of it, he found it hard to accept. He even felt humiliated, as though someone was deliberately degrading him.
Jiang Hao gritted his teeth. "Do you know who did this?"
Chubby looked sympathetic. "No. I saw it on the noticeboard by the school gates when I arrived and tore it down. But it's already spread throughout the school."
Once his anger passed, Jiang Hao calmed down. Other people's mouths belonged to them; he had no say over them and no way to control them.
"Chicken Bro! Hahaha, that name fits him perfectly. We'll call him Chicken Bro from now on."
"Just thinking about him sleeping with a hen in his arms-that image is too much to imagine! Hahaha!"
"Jie, a chicken actually dared to bet against you! I'm betting you'll win. Fifty low-grade beast crystals. How about it?"
"That works. Anyone else placing bets? Hurry up if you are. I'll be the banker."
"I'll put down ten crystals on Jie winning."
"I'm betting too..."
The unrestrained mocking laughter of Song Jie and several other boys rang through the classroom.
Chubby couldn't stomach it. He immediately stood up to demand an explanation from them.
But Jiang Hao caught him. Glancing at Song Jie and the others, he said quietly, "Chubby, go place a bet too. Bet on me winning. Put down as many beast crystals as you have."
Chubby shuddered and asked uncertainly, "Hao, are you serious?"
That was clearly a sign that he didn't believe in him.
Jiang Hao grew angry.
"Then consider it a loan to me. Are you going or not?"
Seeing how determined he was, Chubby gritted his teeth. "Fine. We'll split it half and half. Winning or losing doesn't matter. We're doing this to stand up for ourselves."
"You're a true brother. Go!"
When Chubby returned after placing his bet, Jiang Hao remembered something and asked him about it.
"Chubby, I'm planning to go to the Wuji Mountains and see if I can hunt down a rare demonic beast. If I can't come up with a rare beast crystal, you know what'll happen."
"Are you crazy? You'd dare go somewhere that dangerous?"
His voice suddenly rose, drawing the other students' attention.
"What are you getting worked up for? I only want to try my luck on the outskirts. I never said I was going deep inside."
"Okay, then I'll go with you. My Pang Dudu has strong defenses. If we run into danger, he can buy us time to escape."
Jiang Hao was instantly moved beyond words. He had originally brought it up with an ulterior motive, but now that Chubby had agreed without hesitation to accompany him into danger, he instead felt an indescribable guilt.
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