Beast Taming: Starting From Zero

After experiencing so many scenes, Little Treasure clearly knew that none of this was real.

He lay on the hospital bed, listening to a person who looked just like his Beast Master talk a lot, most of which he didn’t understand.

After a while, Little Treasure got hungry and, out of habit, reached up to take off the ring.

But when he touched, the ring was gone.

"Lamp..."

Little Treasure pouted.

"You\'re hungry, aren’t you?" The person, who looked just like Qiao Sang, took a black fruit from a nearby basket and handed it over.

"Here, your favorite Shadow Candle Fruit."

"Lamp."

Little Treasure took it uncontrollably and started eating.

He sighed inwardly. He wanted milk, not this pitch-black thing.

"You\'re so grown up, yet you\'re still making a mess."

The person, who looked like Qiao Sang, laughed, taking a tissue to wipe the juice from Little Treasure’s mouth.

Little Treasure froze for a moment. For the first time, he saw a glimpse of his Beast Master in this human.

Time in the dream passed quickly. It seemed like no time had passed before this person had grown old.

Little Treasure looked at the human in front of him, now with white hair and wrinkled skin, and couldn’t believe this was the same person who had once looked like his Beast Master.

She lay quietly in bed, her eyes half-closed, her face pale and bloodless, tubes inserted all over her body.

Little Treasure felt an unfamiliar panic, a panic that was no longer manipulated by the dream but belonged entirely to himself.

He didn’t know how long had passed when the person in bed opened her eyes.

She opened her mouth, her voice faint, "Spirit, take Nannan out for a walk. She rarely visits, accompany her for me."

"Lamp..."

"I\'m fine, aren\'t there so many people here with me?" The person in bed smiled, suddenly seeming full of energy.

"Grandma, I won’t go. I\'ll stay here with you." A clear voice rang from behind.

"It doesn’t smell good here. I’ll be up soon, and we’ll go home. You can take a short walk, and when you get back, we’ll be able to leave." The person in bed spoke.

Little Treasure, without control, turned his head and saw several people standing behind, one of whom looked about the same age as his Beast Master.

Just as Little Treasure was about to leave, the person in bed called out to it, "Wait."

Little Treasure turned back.

"Have fun." The person in bed smiled softly.

But Little Treasure felt uneasy.

Because he saw again the shadow of his Beast Master in her, but his Beast Master would never be like this, always looking as if she had no strength left.

---

The scene shifted again.

Little Treasure\'s eyes lit up at the sight of the bustling night market. He wanted to explore, but his body wasn’t under his control.

"Spirit, will Grandma be okay?" The girl beside it murmured.

"Lamp."

The girl didn’t understand his response and continued speaking to herself.

"She\'ll be fine. Grandma is a Beast Master. Everyone says Beast Masters are strong and live long lives. My classmate’s grandpa is 133 years old and still in good health. He even came to the parent-teacher meeting not long ago."

"My dad said that when Grandma was younger, she participated in competitions and went to mysterious realms. If she hadn’t met Grandpa, she probably would have joined the regional tournament and become a great professional Beast Master."

"Lamp."

Suddenly, Little Treasure found he couldn’t move.

The girl didn’t notice and kept walking ahead.

"Grandma didn’t seem like someone obsessed with love. Was Grandpa really that handsome when he was young? No way, my dad is so ugly and says he inherited that from Grandpa. Luckily, I got the good genes."

"This is all Dad\'s fault. He was crying when we arrived, making me think Grandma was in serious trouble."

Her voice grew fainter.

"But Grandma lying in that hospital bed is pretty scary, with all those tubes attached. But she said she’ll be up soon and we’ll go home, so she should be fine."

"If something were really wrong, Spirit, as her contracted beast, you’d definitely sense it, right..."

Little Treasure remained in place.

People passed by, but everyone seemed to avoid getting too close to him.

Uncontrollably, he looked up, and a large screen on a distant building was showing a Beast Master competition.

Why wouldn’t she make it?

Little Treasure thought.

He felt like only a short time had passed, and she had already grown old.

Even though he wasn’t her contracted beast, he could feel it. As fellow ghost-type extraordinary creatures, he could probably sense the deathly aura from her body.

It was so intense, it seemed as if she would disappear from this world at any moment.

Little Treasure started trembling uncontrollably, his heart racing, limbs cold.

These weren’t his feelings.

In the next moment, he uncontrollably turned back, the lights around him dimming as he passed, then returning to normal afterward.

Little Treasure saw that person again.

She lay in bed with her eyes closed, the man beside her with red-rimmed eyes.

"Mom, let Nannan and Spirit come to see you one last time."

The person in bed barely moved her eyelids, then, with great effort, opened them and glared at the man.

She moved her lips but no sound came out.

Little Treasure floated in front of her, but the people beside her didn’t react, as if they couldn’t see him.

The person in bed froze, as if she sensed something.

At that moment, Little Treasure, uncontrollably, reached into his own body...

"Don’t..."

In a daze, Little Treasure seemed to hear someone speaking.

---

Xiying Neighborhood.

"Ghost Lamp, stop struggling. With me here, you won’t escape. Once the sun rises, you’ll be taken to see your Beast Master." Qiao Sang said as she picked up the Ghost Lamp, which had barely crawled any distance.

Yabao was useless; She had to rely on herself.

Qiao Sang placed the Ghost Lamp beside Yabao, positioning herself behind it, avoiding eye contact to prevent being affected.

"Lamp..."

The Ghost Lamp struggled forward with its arms.

It had never encountered such an annoying human! Talking nonstop, from the beginning until now, her mouth hadn’t stopped!

Nothing like the people who avoided it.

The Ghost Lamp paused, then resumed crawling forward.

Qiao Sang mercilessly pulled it back.

"It’s only 2 a.m. If you keep misbehaving, I’ll take you upstairs right now instead of waiting until dawn. You wouldn’t want to disturb that elderly woman in the middle of the night, would you?"

The Ghost Lamp froze.

At that moment, Little Treasure slowly opened his eyes. When he saw the familiar person in front of him, his eyes reddened, and he rushed over.

"Xun!"

"Xunxun!"

Qiao Sang was startled.

"What\'s wrong? Did you have a nightmare?"

"Xunxun..."

Little Treasure’s tears fell in large drops.

Qiao Sang was shocked, not expecting the hypnotic spell to be so powerful. It seemed she would need Little Treasure to practice this skill more in the future...

Seeing this, the Ghost Lamp took the chance to crawl forward.

"I told you to stop struggling." Qiao Sang, quick as ever, grabbed it again.

Ghost Lamp: ...

"Xunxun..."

Little Treasure sobbed twice, then stopped crying.

He turned and floated in front of the Ghost Lamp, staring at it intently, before pulling out his friendship milk.

The Ghost Lamp stared blankly at the milk in front of it.

Qiao Sang took a sharp breath from the side, completely caught off guard by how terrifying the hypnotic spell’s power was!

"Xunxun."

"Xun~"

"Lamp!"

"Xunxun..."

"Lamp..."

Little Treasure and the Ghost Lamp communicated intensely.

After half an hour of this back-and-forth, the Ghost Lamp lay on the ground, eyes blank, utterly defeated.

Little Treasure floated over to Qiao Sang and nodded.

Qiao Sang was stunned.

-----