Chapter 59

Chapter 60: We Agreed to Be Dogs Together, and You Secretly Evolved?

The Contract Beasts suddenly got restless, and everyone noticed fast.

Their Contract Masters were the most shocked. When they saw their beasts stop listening, they ran after them and pulled with all their strength. One owner shouted: “Lao Liu, stop running! Come back with me!” Another begged: “Hold it in! You can’t eat people! They really don’t taste good!” A third cried out: “Crap, you big guy, I can’t hold you anymore! Somebody help!”

Even though the owners used all their strength, the Flame Hounds still broke free without mercy. They kept diving toward A Tu, each howl louder than the last.

They were furious. They thought: [We agreed to be dogs together, and you secretly pulled off Evolution?] [Fine, you evolved, but you didn’t take us with you?]

Several Contract Beasts planted their paws on A Tu, sniffing him up and down, trying to find clues.

A Beast Taming Teacher rushed over at the noise. He saw a rolling, growling pile of Flame Hounds and blurted: “What’s going on? Why are the Contract Beasts fighting a Flame Hound?” He squinted, then frowned: “Wait… this Flame Hound looks familiar. Is that A Tu?”

He looked over to Qian Qi without thinking. Qian Qi paused for two seconds, then said calmly: “If I say these are A Tu’s old flames and they haven’t seen him in a while, so they got teary and want to do something exciting, would you believe me?”

The Beast Taming Teacher stared: “…?” [Yeah, right. I don’t believe that at all.] [They are all males. How would that even work?]

He snapped a quick order: “You there, separate them now. If this keeps up, a student might get hurt!”

The Beast Tamer students almost cried: “Teacher, we can’t hold them…” After a Beast Contract, a Contract Beast will follow attack commands and, under the Contract Master’s orders, won’t hurt humans. But outside those orders, it all depends on the beast’s self-control.

The teacher clicked his tongue. He couldn’t solve this and was about to fetch Old Master Li when the Flame Hound called “Lao Liu” pushed his nose to A Tu’s belly.

Flame Hounds have sharp noses. Lao Liu instantly caught a strong scent of an unfamiliar human from a spot they consider a weak point. A heavy human scent there meant only one thing: A Tu had already submitted completely to that person.

[Oh, so you’re a dog who throws yourself at someone? You haven’t even formed a Beast Contract with her, and you’re already devoted?]

The Contract Beasts snorted at A Tu all together, full of scorn.

A Tu couldn’t stand that. He lifted his muzzle-covered mouth and howled: “If you’ve got guts, don’t go to her for body Evolution. Stay a low-level E minus Magi Hound forever!”

The Contract Beasts froze. [What? The secret to Evolution is that human?]

Beasts with Beast Contracts are a little smarter than their wild kind. They know the difference between humans and food. Hearing a human could help a Flame Hound evolve, they widened their eyes in shock.

[Who was it? Who helped Old Nine evolve?]

They raised their heads and sniffed the air. Following the scent trail, they locked onto Qian Qi, who was holding a leash.

[It’s her. She did it.]

Joy flashed across their eyes in a very human way, and they sprinted toward Qian Qi.

Qian Qi was opening her Light-Brain to record a field-beast video when she froze: “…?” She muttered, half warning and half habit: “What are you doing? Don’t come over. When I discipline a dog, I never care who the owner is.”

She hid her palm behind her back, and her slapping hand started itching to move.

The Beast Taming Teacher thought the beasts were about to attack and lifted his arm to strike first. The students grabbed him in a panic and begged: “Teacher, easy! Don’t kill them! We worked so hard to form these Beast Contracts!”

“Hey now, Little Jiang, no rush,” Old Master Li drawled as he strolled over and gently pressed the teacher’s arm down.

Seeing Old Master Li, the teacher finally relaxed. If Old Master Li said not to rush, then there was no rush. Everyone knew he managed the whole Magibeast storeroom and understood magibeasts better than anyone. He could even walk more than a dozen D grade Magibeasts at the same time.

Even so, the teacher gulped. [Is Qian Qi really going to be okay? She’s just an ordinary person. And those are several E grade Magi Hounds.]

The teacher and the students stared at Qian Qi, tense and silent.

Right in front of her, the Contract Beasts hit the brakes. Because they had worked with humans before, they knew humans were easy to knock over. They didn’t pounce. Instead, they circled her, pacing in a ring.

One murmured in beast-speak: “This is the scent.” Another agreed: “A strong, earthy smell.” A third added: “She has Old Nine’s fur on her.”

After confirming something among themselves, they lowered their heads, rubbed against Qian Qi, and sniffed her clothes. One even raised a paw and poked her back. Lao Liu, especially, wagged like a puppy. With his huge fangs, he carefully tugged at the tip of her coat.

Qian Qi blinked: “…?” “What are you doing? What is this supposed to be?”

Lao Liu’s Contract Master, Liu Sheng, explained: “He’s asking you for help.”

After contracting the Flame Hound, Liu Sheng often played dog-training videos for it, including how to beg for things. But Lao Liu had never begged. Except once, when they passed a stall selling Fire Qilin Fruit, it dropped its magibeast pride, wagged its tail, and tugged his coat. He had been so excited that he bought the flashy fruit on the spot.

Qian Qi scratched her head, puzzled: “Asking me for help?” She thought, then stopped mid-thought. “Wait. Could it be…?”

Chapter 1 of the Dog-Petting Guide flashed into her mind.

[Qian Qi’s brain started storming.]
[Qian Qi understood.]
[She really understood!]

Qian Qi snapped at thin air: “Hey, dog System, stop doing voice-overs without permission.”

She waved the System away, annoyed, but she had indeed figured it out. She had cleaned all these Flame Hounds’ behinds before, so she knew the male-to-female ratio very well. Out of more than twenty Flame Hounds, only two were female. If a male wanted their favor, he needed flexible and creative moves to stand out from the pack.

A Tu’s showy brag just now had told the Contract Beasts exactly how to stand out.

Qian Qi couldn’t help sighing in awe: “No wonder the Dog-Petting Guide cost two million. It fits real life this well.”

Since that was the case, she thought, maybe she could use this to train the Flame Hounds.

A perfect plan formed in her mind in an instant.