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“Ah!!!”
Maiya's scream echoed through the room.
The little girl stood frozen in place, as if paralyzed by fear.
The sudden and overwhelming sight before them sent a chilling sensation rushing from Qiao Sang’s feet to her head, making goosebumps rise all over her body.
Inside the walls, densely packed white pet beasts were pressed tightly together, motionless, resembling taxidermy specins. It was a nightmarish sight for anyone with trypophobia.
“Yap yap?”
At that mont, Yabao walked in from outside and looked at the pet beasts inside the walls with a puzzled expression.
“What is this?” Qiao Sang finally found her voice after hearing Yabao speak.
Maiya’s legs had gone completely weak. With a trembling, tear-choked voice, she said:
“Sca… Scale Moths. These are Scale Moths.”
So, these were Scale Moths. It seed that what Mura Monster said was true…
The Scale Moths inside the walls were utterly still, which helped Qiao Sang regain her composure. Then, a thought struck her, and she asked,
“Are the Scale Moths hibernating?”
Through her studies, she had learned that so pet beasts had a habit of hibernation, so in sumr, so in winter, and so even alternated between one year awake and one year asleep.
“They should be hibernating.” Maya also realized, but the fear in her eyes did not lessen in the slightest.
She wasn’t a Beast master. Her understanding of wild pet beasts ca from personal encounters, gossip, or online news.
She didn’t know the exact hibernation patterns of Scale Moths, but she had heard before that they were social creatures that preferred dark, damp environnts.
If you found one wild Scale Moth, there were bound to be hundreds or even thousands more in the area.
Last year, she had read a news article online about Scale Moths. In 24th District, a hoowner sold a house at a price far below the market rate to a newlywed couple.
The couple often posted short videos online about their daily life and had shared this purchase online.
At the ti, many people expressed envy, though so netizens suspected that sothing was wrong with the house, otherwise, why would the owner take such a huge loss?
Three days after their video was posted, a sudden storm with hail struck 24th District.
The house the couple had bought collapsed, and from inside, tens of thousands of Scale Moths sward out, completely burying the couple underneath.
Investigations later revealed that the house's roof, walls, pillars, and structural materials had long been eaten away by Scale Moths, turning the place into their nesting ground.
Maiya had never imagined sothing like this would happen to her.
The thought that her ho was infested with Scale Moths and could collapse at any mont made her feel like breaking down.
Mura Monster must have been here for the Scale Moths. Perhaps everything it had done before was to lure them out or to make the mission client discover them.
But with Nada Pong interfering, it had failed… Was Nada Pong unaware of the Scale Moths, or did he know and deliberately obstruct things?
Qiao Sang quickly connected the dots and said, “No matter what state the Scale Moths are in, staying here with so many of them is dangerous. You should move out as soon as possible and either call the police or find another Beast master to handle this. I’ll take Mula Monster with now.”
Her task was to drive away Mura Monster, Scale Moths were outside the mission’s scope.
Just one damaged section of the wall revealed so many of them. Who knew how many more were hidden inside? Qiao Sang had no intention of getting involved in this ss.
“I understand.” Maya forced a smile.
“I won’t see you off then. I need to pack my things imdiately.”
Although the child in front of her was a Beast master, Scale Moths were mid-tier pet beasts. A few wouldn’t be an issue, but facing this many was beyond what an ordinary Beast master could handle.
She never even considered asking this child to deal with the problem for her.
Qiao Sang didn’t waste ti and turned to leave.
Then, she suddenly rembered sothing. Looking at Little Treasure, she gestured with her eyes toward Nada Pong and his unconscious grass-type pet beast.
“Take them with us too.”
Nada Pong was a Beast master. If his pet beast woke up before him and saw its unconscious master, the mission client and her daughter might be in danger. It was safer to take them along… Qiao Sang thought cautiously.
"Xun~"
Little Treasure twitched his short toes, and his shadow expanded and split, quickly binding Nada Pong and his grass-type pet beast.
Mura Monster remained silent.
Ever since the Scale Moths were discovered, it had beco eerily still, as if its mission was complete. Only occasionally did it glance at the little girl with reluctance.
Unfortunately, the little girl’s attention was entirely on the Scale Moths, unaware of this.
Seeing that Little Treasure had secured everything, Qiao Sang opened the door wide to make it easier for Little Treasure to exit.
As Qiao Sang opened the door, a beam of sunlight stread inside, landing directly on the Scale Moths within the walls.
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anwhile.
“Pfft!”
At a café, Qu Zhuo spat out his coffee as he stared at the surveillance feed.
Ignoring the stains on his clothes, he bolted from his seat and ran toward the door.
“Sir! Your laptop!” A waiter called after him.
Already summoning his flying-type pet beast, Qu Zhuo quickly patted its back, urging, “Turn around! Turn around!”
His flying pet made a sharp 90-degree turn.
Once he retrieved his laptop and was back on his pet beast, he stared at the screen with a grim expression.
Scale Moths, mid-tier bug-type pet beasts that thrived in dark, damp places. If left in the dark, they could sleep for years, even decades, only waking when they were about to evolve.
But once exposed to sunlight, they would wake imdiately.
And if one woke up, they would all wake up.
The Scale Moths Qiao Sang had encountered were already in hibernation, which ant there had to be at least a thousand of them.
Because their numbers had reached over a thousand, the colony felt safe enough to hibernate.
A thousand Scale Moths were far beyond what a D-rank Beast master could handle.
Moreover, Qiao Sang wasn’t alone, beside her were two ordinary people who weren’t Beast masters at all…
Qu Zhuo’s heart grew heavier with worry.
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Sunlight shone onto the Scale Moths inside the walls.
One of them twitched its antennae and slowly opened its eyes.
Just as Qiao Sang was stepping out of the house, an inexplicable sense of unease surged in her heart.
She turned her head and her eyes widened in shock.
The Scale Moths, which had looked like lifeless specins monts ago, were now flapping their wings, swarming outward.
The mission client, still holding her daughter, faced Qiao Sang and waved goodbye, completely unaware of the danger behind her.
“Little Treasure! Get them out of here!” Overwhelming shock filled Qiao Sang’s voice as she shouted urgently.
"Xun!"
Little Treasure's eyes glowed blue.
In the next second, Maiya and the little girl vanished from sight.
An uncountable number of Scale Moths surged out from the house-
Engulfing Qiao Sang.
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