Raising Exotic Beasts

Compared to personally experiencing the unique features of each mythical beast in Qinmeng, directly entering the sales event to view them is clearly a simpler way to engage with them.

With the return of cargo ships bound for the Qin-Meng region, the market in Western Capital selling genetic research materials has reopened.

Exploring the Qin-Meng ruins usually takes a long time, often half a year or a year, while the Scarlet Alliance State's ships to Qin-Meng make a trip every half month.

While exploring Qinmeng may seem like a long process, the round trip alone takes nearly a month, and most of the remaining time is spent on things like hunting exotic beasts, wilderness survival, and finding transportation. The actual hunting time is actually not that long.

If you happen to encounter a group hunting event at the right time, then you've come into good luck.

Luo Gaogao and his group's first hunt wasn't very long, but they encountered Ren Wuyang, Zhu Shengnan's, and other teams and had a very good haul.

Looking at the information about the second-generation rich kid's backyard, Zhang Xuezhou gained a general understanding.

He followed Zhang Manqian into a special farmers' market in Western Capital.

"I bought the materials from a middleman last time. They made at least a million yuan off us with just one resale," Zhang Manqian complained. "They make money so easily!"

"It's not easy to earn money!"

Zhang Xuezhou shook his head.

The farmers' market he entered was closed for maintenance and disinfection, and there were patrol personnel on duty at the street entrance. Many unrelated personnel had already been evacuated, and the time limit was three days.

But in the market, every stall was filled with alloy cages, each containing a strange beast of various shapes.

These strange beasts were either listless, struggling in their death throes, roaring angrily, or emitting sounds that warned strangers to stay away.

Just like the chicken coops displayed in farmers' markets, exotic beasts receive the same treatment.

Different alloy cages of varying thicknesses were used to house the different mythical beasts.

"These strange beasts became extremely agitated and exhibited various forms of discomfort after being away from Qin Meng, making them very difficult to keep alive. Beasts that had been dead for a longer period showed signs of decay and were of little use; improper care could easily result in a loss of investment!"

Zhang Xuezhou pointed to a reindeer in the alloy cage that was repeatedly ramming the cage with a long antler on its head. As he thought about it, he inexplicably remembered the Soul-Stirring Beast Control Technique of the Beast Taming Sect.

This strange reindeer clearly hated every human in its range, possessing an immense level of hatred, making it a suitable candidate for the "Beast Control Technique" of bewitching the soul.

The temporary cultivation technique was obviously a bit rushed, and Zhang Xuezhou only had a superficial understanding of this technique, but using this strange beast to test his skills was quite good.

"Hey bro? Want to buy?"

There weren't too many people coming and going in the farmers' market, but Zhang Xuezhou spent almost half an hour squatting outside the alloy cage watching the reindeer, which somewhat hindered others from doing business.

Several elderly men peeked around for a moment, then had to wait at the back.

These people were clearly interested in the strange reindeer.

Reindeer are adept at running and are agile. Those who possess these genes have excellent potential for development in running endurance and dexterous combat skills.

Of course, compared to some other more unique exotic beasts, the reindeer's genes are inferior, so this kind of exotic beast doesn't sell for a high price, and the missing half of its antler further reduces its value.

Zhang Manqian thought Zhang Xuezhou was eager to find a cheap reindeer to study, but this time Zhang Xuezhou was spending money too slowly.

She noticed the awkward expression on the face of the person in charge of the stall, who was afraid to speak up and offend anyone, and whispered a reminder to Zhang Xuezhou.

"Ah!"

Reminded by Zhang Manqian, Zhang Xuezhou finally snapped out of his trance by the beast-controlling technique.

He pointed at the reindeer and gazed at them intently.

"Come, hate me," Zhang Xuezhou recited.

"Brother?"

"It hates many people, and I'm just one of them!"

Zhang Xuezhou felt a little disappointed.

He barely managed to set off with the Soul-Stirring Beast Control Technique. So far, he has cast the spell three times, but none of them have been successful.

Although his Soul-Stirring Beast Control Technique was slow to cast, had a short range, and was relatively weak, the reindeer's rank was not high, even lower than some low-level Demon Beast.

Zhang Xuezhou glanced at the reindeer with a disgruntled expression, then looked at the few old men watching the commotion nearby, and quickly slipped to a different spot.

"You're probably researching the psychological changes of these alien beasts," an old man chuckled. "These beasts have very simple emotions: longing, hatred, rage, cold-bloodedness, or fear. It's difficult to find other emotions among them. And to stimulate these emotions, you need to use certain methods, such as whipping, electric shocks, or injections!"

"Emotions can indeed guide changes in the genes of alien beasts, but this research direction is a bit off-track. Are such courses already offered in universities?" another old man said.

"It's not too obscure, after all, some of the sequencers who underwent genetic modification experienced personality changes, and some of them weren't even aware of these effects!"

"The ultimate goal of all research is to serve humanity. While in-depth research on the psychological changes of these alien beasts is not far off, shifting the focus to how to avoid the personality changes resulting from genetic modification is a long-term endeavor and will undoubtedly generate significant scientific value!"

"That's right!"

"Old Wang was farsighted!"

The four old men discussed among themselves, each offering their own flattery.

On a whim, Zhang Xuezhou rubbed a small stone between his fingers. Once he had attracted the reindeer's attention by making a face, he flicked the stone through the gap.

The moment Zhang Xuezhou struck the reindeer, he saw it violently charge in his direction.

The dull thud of the antlers striking each other startled the four old men, causing them to involuntarily take two steps back.

"It's still a bit agitated. If you need it, we can turn on the electrical stimulation to calm it down temporarily," the stall manager quickly said.

"Wait... wait!"

After unleashing the fossil spell on the deer, Zhang Xuezhou felt the reindeer's short temper flare up instantly, and it now deeply hated him.

This made him quickly wave his hand, and then he muttered something under his breath.

"My brother must have taken a liking to this reindeer; he's seeing if he's destined to be with it," Zhang Manqian explained forcefully.

"Fate? Doesn't it mean that if a laboratory lacks the corresponding varieties, they just purchase them?" The old man named Mr. Wang asked doubtfully.

"Our lab only cares about fate," Zhang Manqian said. "Good fate leads to the development of high-quality blood serum; bad fate results in inferior products!"

"This theory... makes some sense!"

Old Wang pondered the young people's theories. He initially wanted to refute these heartfelt words, but ultimately felt that having more likable connections wasn't a bad thing.

Regardless of how good the experiment was, at least it makes me feel better.

When things are pleasing to the eye, doing things becomes more enjoyable, and doing things comfortably can indeed maintain a higher success rate in experiments.

This led him to discuss the matter with Zhang Manqian for several minutes.

Only after Zhang Xuezhou back did he come to his senses and look over.

"What? Is there some kind of destiny with this thing?"

Previously, the reindeer seemed intent on killing Zhang Xuezhou with its antlers, but within minutes, all the hostility in its eyes vanished, and it began to bellow softly at Zhang Xuezhou.

Zhang Xuezhou took a few steps back, grabbed a handful of grass from the stall, threw it into the metal cage, and pointed at it. The reindeer immediately lowered its head and started munching on the grass.

Old Wang found what he saw quite strange.

"If you find some exotic beasts that you're destined to raise, wouldn't you be able to take living creatures whenever you want to use them?"

Old Wang felt that this connection could eventually translate into wealth.

Once the returning ships arrive at the shore, the many exotic beasts will be transported to Western Capital or other major cities as soon as possible for quick sale, ensuring that they are still alive when they reach the sellers.

Unsold exotic beasts are then kept as pets, but the results are not satisfactory.

Even when fed, many of the strange beasts do not eat; their life functions are maintained primarily through forced injections and other methods.

The reason why Zhang Manqian paid a million yuan more from the middleman is that this kind of breeding not only carries the risk of the animal dying, but also has extremely high breeding costs.

However, if the beasts could obediently nibble on some grass to survive, the cost would undoubtedly be as low as it could possibly be.

If they can be properly cared for, perhaps for ten days, half a month, or even longer, and if there is a shortage of the corresponding exotic beasts on the market, some laboratories will have to pay extra to purchase them.

"You have a really good business sense!"

Zhang Xuezhou had considered a plan to hunt large numbers of strange beasts from the Qin Meng Ruins to make a fortune, and even had a team prepared to explore the area in the future.

But this Mr. Wang gave a good suggestion.

If he can raise exotic beasts normally, he can indeed work in this industry. After all, the North Rehe Research Institute raises thousands of black-spotted chickens and wouldn't mind raising more other creatures.