Jiang You sat cross-legged on a large boulder, a pink cat resting in her lap. She listlessly stroked its fur while watching Xie Heng and his team. Together with their soul beasts, they successfully hunted down a Swift Wind Leopard.
After killing one, they immediately moved on to the next.
The materials from a mutant beast’s body were all excellent for cultivating soul beasts.
Behind Jiang You, a Swift Wind Leopard was closing in without a sound.
She summoned her Red-eyed Pink Cat. Petting its head, she whispered, "Go on."
The Red-eyed Pink Cat nuzzled her palm, then leaped backward in a flash.
The Swift Wind Leopard was just gathering its strength to pounce on Jiang You when its whole body was suddenly swept by a strange breeze.
The mutant beast fell into a deep sleep and collapsed.
The Red-eyed Pink Cat strode gracefully to the Swift Wind Leopard and lifted a paw. In the next instant, the Swift Wind Leopard died without a sound. It was quickly stored in a Space Ring, vanishing from the spot.
The Red-eyed Pink Cat leaped back, a Space Ring in its mouth, and dropped it into Jiang You’s palm.
Jiang You stroked its head, her lips curling into a faint smile. "Good kitty."
Over on the other side, Lin Zhi had only glanced over by chance, but what he saw sent a shock through him.
’It takes a few of us to corner and kill one Swift Wind Leopard, but she finished one all by herself?’
Even hypnotic or Charm-type soul beasts could typically only mesmerize a mutant beast for an instant, and there was always a risk of failure. It was especially difficult to succeed when the mutant beast was on high alert.
’But she had just killed a mutant beast with such ease.’
’But... isn’t Jiang You just a Healer?’
Although there were cases of people having two soul beasts—one for healing and one for combat—it was difficult to develop both simultaneously. You could usually only focus on one.
"Lin Zhi, what are you spacing out for!" Xie Heng’s expression soured when he saw Lin Zhi staring at Jiang You.
"Nothing, nothing!" Lin Zhi quickly turned back and replied.
"Lin Zhi, hurry up and help!" Xu Wen shouted, having nearly been sent flying by a Swift Wind Leopard.
"Okay!" Lin Zhi pushed his thoughts aside and rejoined the hunt for the Swift Wind Leopard.
Jiang You glanced at Lin Zhi. ’Don’t tell me he saw that?’
’So what if he did? He has no proof. No one would believe him even if he said something.’
「The Secret Realm came to an end.」
The group emerged from the Secret Realm.
Jiang You stormed off in a huff. "I’m going to the Xie Family to call off the engagement right now!"
Xie Heng chased after her and grabbed her hand, patiently explaining, "We were short on time. If we’d wasted any more, we wouldn’t have had time to hunt the Swift Wind Leopards."
Jiang You shook off his hand and kept walking, ignoring him.
Xie Heng followed behind her, trying to placate her with a cold expression on his face.
Lin Zhi stared after them for a long moment.
"Lin Zhi, what’s with you? You haven’t actually fallen for the captain’s fiancée, have you?" Xu Wen slapped Lin Zhi on the back.
Lin Zhi snapped out of it, his lips twitching. "What nonsense are you talking about? Of course not."
"Then why do you keep staring at our captain’s fiancée?" Xu Wen eyed him suspiciously.
Lin Zhi frowned and said, "It’s because..."
He trailed off, stopping halfway through his sentence.
"Because of what?" Li Xiang walked over too. "The captain’s fiancée is definitely good-looking, but she’s got a bit of a temper."
For some reason, the image of the girl’s delicate, beautiful face—like a radiant begonia—flashed in Lin Zhi’s mind. He found himself saying, "I’m a fat guy. Even if I did like her, she would never like me back. I’m self-aware enough to know that."
"What’s that supposed to mean? You actually have a thing for her?" Li Xiang’s eyes went wide.
Lin Zhi came to his senses and quickly retorted, "A thing for her, my ass! I just meant she’s pretty, nothing else! Stop twisting my words, you two, and shut up already!"
The three of them left, still roughhousing and joking around.
Meanwhile, Jiang You had also completed her mission and couldn’t be bothered to deal with Xie Heng anymore.
But the guy just kept following her.
"Why are you following me!" Jiang You finally turned around to face Xie Heng, her patience wearing thin.
"You want to call off the engagement?" Xie Heng stared at her, his face cold.
Jiang You finally understood why he had been following her.
"I’m going back to wash up. I’m filthy," Jiang You explained impatiently.
’Besides, an alliance between our two families isn’t something I can just cancel on a whim. He knows that perfectly well, so why did he chase me down to ask?’
Jiang You guessed that after the last time she’d made a scene about canceling the engagement in front of their elders, Xie Heng probably didn’t want her to cause such a huge fuss again.
For some reason, the tension in Xie Heng’s heart eased slightly, though his expression remained as cold as ever. He glanced at the smudge of dirt on Jiang You’s face and said, "Fine."
Jiang You was finally free of her mission target and headed back.
After washing up, she remembered the task the research team had given her.
Jiang You pulled up her terminal’s projection and started to grind.
As she organized the data, she actually started to see a pattern.
It was Xi Cheng’s hypothesis: absorbing an Alien Beast Soul required a medium.
And this data was from experiments on various combinations of mediums.
Jiang You took the dead Swift Wind Leopard out of her Space Ring.
Above the corpse of the all-yellow leopard floated a transparent Beast Soul.
The Beast Soul was already very faint, on the verge of disappearing.
Jiang You crouched down and reached out to touch it, but her hand passed right through the soul body. It was like touching air—there was nothing there.
From the plot, she knew that she was supposed to wait until Xi Cheng and the female lead developed a reagent together. Only by dripping the reagent onto the soul body, followed by a drop of her own blood, could one absorb a Beast Soul.
That reagent was the medium.
Jiang You wasn’t expecting to be able to absorb a Beast Soul with her bare hands. She was just idly poking at the transparent Beast Soul. Unlike their own soul beasts, which could be touched, these Alien Beast Souls were like air.
Suddenly, the yellow Beast Soul began to distort.
Jiang You’s eyelid twitched. Before she could react, she felt a warmth in her palm, as if some suction force was pulling the yellow Swift Wind Leopard’s Beast Soul into it.
She tried to move her hand but couldn’t.
When she could finally move her hand again, she stumbled back several steps. She grabbed her right hand, staring at her palm and then at the spot where the Beast Soul had vanished.
She was completely shocked and bewildered.
’What just happened?’
BURP! A distinct burping sound rang out.
Jiang You whipped her head around and saw the little Red-eyed Cat sitting beside her shoulder.
The Red-eyed Cat seemed to notice her gaze. It turned to look at her and nuzzled its soft head against her chin.
"Did you eat that Beast Soul?" Jiang You asked the little cat.
The Red-eyed Cat nodded.
Jiang You picked up the little cat and examined it from all sides. Besides its red eyes, how was it any different?
But Jiang You could sense that, in addition to its Charm ability, it had suddenly gained a speed-related ability.
Soon, Jiang You noticed that the insides of its ears had turned red. At some point, it had transformed into the Second-level Form of the Charming Cat and gained a new skill: the Devouring Ability.
"Excellent, excellent." Jiang You gently patted its head. "This new ability from your Second-level Form is insanely overpowered. But why is it so different from other Charm-type soul beasts?"