Chapter 48
Chapter 48: Want to Know What Happens Next? Pay Up, Qian Qi!
“Tongtong,” Qian Qi said gravely, “have you realized something very serious?”
Her little face was so solemn it looked like she was about to deliver a major thesis.
The System panel waited patiently. “What?”
“The senior who helped Chen Tong try to kill me,” Qian Qi said, seething with righteous outrage, “had a contract beast!”
The System panel blinked. “So?”
“So?!” Qian Qi tightened her grip on the burlap sack, stepped forward, and stabbed a finger at the unconscious Beast-Taming Department senior on the ground. “Open your eyes and look! Even trash like him has a contract beast. But me—a chosen transmigrator, stunning and unmatched, and owner of the universe’s strongest cheat, System—I don’t have one!”
She hit the last words like a courtroom closing argument. “Is that reasonable?”
It was not reasonable.
“My noble, lofty, all-knowing System Lord,” Qian Qi declared, one hand pressed dramatically to her chest, “I understand. This is your test!”
“You’re waiting for the right moment. Once you confirm I have the talent to make you money, you’ll bestow upon me the great beast-taming talent!”
She slid forward and dropped to one knee, raising the System panel above her head with both hands like an offering. Her voice trembled with reverence. “That moment is now! Come! Bless me with your wisdom! Make me your most loyal believer—and I will offer you the brightest, shiniest money in the world!”
“Come on!”
“My beast-taming talent!”
“Come on!”
“My contract beast!”
The System panel fell silent.
Qian Qi’s fingers tightened around the sack ever so slightly.
If System didn’t have it—or refused to give it—she was going to put it in the sack, stomp it a few times, and toss it into a ditch.
A long beat passed, the two of them locked in a quiet mental tug-of-war.
Finally, the System panel flashed a line.
“Actually, anyone can tame beasts.”
If the experts of the world saw that sentence, it would spark an uproar. Ever since beast tamers appeared, it had been accepted truth that only people with beast-taming talent could contract a magic beast.
But Qian Qi didn’t know any of that. All she knew was her System was ridiculously capable. Aside from being expensive, it seemed to know everything.
“So how do I contract a magic beast?” she asked eagerly, eyes shining.
Weapons were nice, sure, but real power came from your own fists. Without absolute defense and a heavy punch, all the fancy tricks were just noise.
And without absolute defense and a heavy punch, a contract beast was basically the eternal god.
The System panel lit up. “Make the magic beast voluntarily submit the contract request.”
In the quiet night, the pale words glowed softly. No one could’ve guessed that on an ordinary evening like this, a method that would reshape humanity’s fate was being introduced so casually.
The System panel continued. “The lower a magic beast’s rank, the more vicious and bloodthirsty it is. It sees a person and feels the urge to kill. The higher its rank, the smarter it is—and the less willing it is to submit to humans.”
Which meant no magic beast wanted to contract a human willingly. Who would let their food become their master?
“If I told you to treat a slab of pork on a chopping board as your master,” the System panel went on, “fight and kill for it every day, and risk dying for it—would you agree?”
No one with a functioning brain would.
“So,” the System panel concluded, “for an ordinary person to make a magic beast lower its head, there are only two methods.”
A pause.
Then a new line flashed, bright and smug.
“Want to know what happens next? Pay up, Qian Qi.”
Qian Qi stared. “?”
Then: “???”
Then: “Seriously?”
“System,” she said slowly, wearing the expression of someone betrayed by a close friend, “what kind of relationship do we have? You’re charging me for a question like this?”
The System panel flickered. “Sleepy. Going to bed.”
“Don’t!” Qian Qi instantly folded—no, she was merely being wise and adaptable. She hugged the panel like it could physically escape. “Fine. How much?”
The System panel went quiet again.
Qian Qi’s alarm bells started screaming. “System! Don’t calculate! That’s the money I just earned! You’re not trying to take all of it, are you? I have to eat too!”
The System panel—actively calculating how much she’d made today and how much it could siphon—finally replied, “Don’t be so stingy. This is a method that lets an ordinary person tame beasts. Expensive is normal.”
It wasn’t as if it had introduced defense fruit to her for a measly hundred out of charity. That had been an investment.
After reserving funds for her transfer fees, the System panel added sweetly, “I’ll knock off a zero for you. One million, and I’ll reveal a secret that only you in the entire world will know.”
Qian Qi ground her teeth. “Knock off another one. One hundred thousand.”
“Deal,” the System panel flashed instantly. “Pay.”
Qian Qi went still.
It agreed that fast?
It didn’t even haggle?
Suspicion hit her like cold water. “You’re not scamming me, are you? You won’t take the money and run?”
The System panel pulsed innocently. “How could I? We’re so close. A little discount is normal. We’ll be seeing each other a lot. Trust me. Hmm?”
Qian Qi: …
Half doubting, half resigned, she transferred one hundred thousand.
The System panel accepted and immediately delivered. “First method: play the long game. Build a bond. Stay with a magic beast for a long time. If it truly recognizes you and relies on you, it may voluntarily initiate a contract request.”
It sounded impossible on its face. Just “stay with a magic beast for a long time” was a nightmare for any ordinary person.
Magic beasts ate people.
Qian Qi didn’t bother pretending to be impressed. “Second method.”
The System panel beamed. “Second method: we’ll talk about it later.”
Qian Qi’s stare turned lethal.
The System panel cheerfully added, “To save you money, I suggest you go to the Magic Beast Storage Room and shovel poop for the magic beasts first.”
Qian Qi: …
Qian Qi: “?”
Shovel… what?
The next morning, Qian Qi jolted upright like she’d been stabbed awake.
She’d dreamed she shoveled three tons of magic beast poop—and that Chen Tong, desperate to avoid their bet, leapt into a sewage pit and drowned.
Her fragile young soul took psychic damage.
She opened the campus forum and hammered out a brand-new topic at lightning speed:
#Eye-Wrecking Shock!
A famous senior from the Magic Beast Department owes Qian Qi, the big shot, five million—and to repay it, he actually went and “did this”?
Whew.
Instant emotional healing.
Qian Qi didn’t even wait to see if anyone clicked. She shut her lightbrain, washed up, and strapped on her Old One gear, fully ready for war.
Starting today, she was going to infiltrate the Beast-Taming Department.
And the first step?
Gatekeeper Grandpa Sun.