The layered canopy blocked the moonlight, plunging the forest into darkness.
Before its beast master could even speak, Light Fang proactively smiled, baring its softly glowing teeth to light up the surroundings and dispel the darkness.
Qiao Sang felt the stillness around her and unconsciously let out a sigh.
"What's wrong?" Ogav asked.
She didn't know how things were going on Pirite's side. Sohow, she felt like she hadn't been of any help at all in the search for Adinishi... Qiao Sang shook her head and said,
"Nothing. Just wondering how things are going over there."
Ogav reassured her, "Don't worry. It's just one Steel Armor Emperor Beast. My teacher is an A-rank beast master, he can handle it."
An A-rank beast master... Definitely stronger than Teacher Pirite... Qiao Sang tensed up at that thought, but then quickly exhaled and tried to relax.
From what she could tell so far, their goals didn't seem to conflict.
And judging by the noise earlier, Adinishi seed to have disappeared. Now, there was no sign of it at all, so there was no need to treat others as enemies.
Thinking this, Qiao Sang found the man in front of her a little more agreeable and asked, "So what now? Do we wait here, or go look for Adinishi?"
Ogav was just about to answer when the Famu Moth beside them suddenly shrieked: "Fa fa!"
Qiao Sang jumped and turned in concern.
"What's wrong?"
The Famu Moth belonged to Teacher Pirite. It hadn't been injured or anything, why the sudden scream? Could sothing have happened to Pirite's side?
"Fa fa..."
Famu Moth stared at the human it was instructed to protect, looking close to tears.
[It lost Adinishi!]
It really wanted to say that, but rembering that this was supposed to be a secret operation, and that it needed to hide the truth from the human, it could only shake its head to indicate "nothing's wrong."
"Yap."
Yabao translated faithfully.
Sothing definitely happened... Qiao Sang's expression turned grave with a hint of worry.
If sothing happened to Teacher Pirite, she wasn't strong enough to help anyway. The Famu Moth probably knew that and said nothing to keep her from worrying.
"Do you want to go help Teacher Pirite?" Qiao Sang asked.
"Fa fa."
Famu Moth didn't understand why this human suddenly brought that up. It shook its head to say no, if its beast master needed it, he would summon it himself.
"Yap." Yabao translated again.
True... Qiao Sang thought that made sense, and her worry eased a little.
"Did sothing happen?" Ogav, who had witnessed their exchange, asked.
"It's fine." Qiao Sang replied.
"Then why did it suddenly scream?" Ogav sounded curious.
"Probably sothing happened on my teacher's side, but it looks like he can handle it." Qiao Sang explained.
Ogav glanced at Famu Moth and frowned.
"Maybe we should let it go help. Just one Steel Armor Emperor Beast wouldn't be enough to make it sense danger to its beast master."
He paused, his eyes lighting up as he guessed,
"Could it be that they've encountered Adinishi again?"
"Fa fa..."
Famu Moth froze.
Did it actually forget Adinishi there?!
"Maybe you really should let Famu Moth go help." Ogav suggested again.
"Fa fa..."
Famu Moth looked toward the human it was instructed to protect, waiting for her response.
Qiao Sang thought for a mont and said, "No need. Your teacher is still there. And from what we saw earlier, there were three Emperor-level beasts fighting, Adinishi probably isn't a match."
After saying that, she turned to Ogav.
"If Adinishi is there, shouldn't we head back now?"
Ogav was silent for a second, then casually replied, "No need. We wouldn't be of much help even if we went now. Let's wait a bit before returning. Besides, I'm just guessing, it might not even be there. We should look around on our own first."
Qiao Sang had no objections.
The two of them began moving through the dense forest.
After about ten minutes, Qiao Sang hesitantly said, "This seems like the direction out of the forest?"
Ogav responded, "Yeah, I noticed that too. But it's fine, since we're just searching randomly right now. If we can't find anything, we can just use space travel to return to them."
Qiao Sang thought it over and agreed, it made sense.
They continued forward.
Ti passed silently.
The view ahead gradually opened up. The vegetation beca sparser.
The night sky was clear, with only a ring around the edges lit by the moon hanging high above.
Not far ahead lay a field of ruins, closer still were patches of wild weeds.
Not a sound could be heard. Though it was the sa place as before, without the singing and dancing of the pet beasts, an eerie, unspeakable atmosphere settled over everything.
"We've made it out." Qiao Sang said as she recognized the familiar scene.
Ogav kept walking forward, then suddenly asked, "Do you want to contract Adinishi?"
Why ask that all of a sudden...? Qiao Sang recalled his earlier comnt and mimicked it: "I don't have any extra contract pages."
"True. A genius like you probably wouldn't risk brain domain damage to dissolve a contract." Ogav said, stopping to look back at her.
Half his face was in shadow, the other in moonlight, sohow a little terrifying.
"Then does your teacher want to contract it?" Ogav asked.
Qiao Sang was puzzled.
"Why are you asking that now?"
"I was just wondering, if we all wanted to contract Adinishi, then who should it belong to?" Ogav said lightly.
Qiao Sang frowned slightly.
"Isn't that a bit premature? We haven't even found Adinishi yet."
Ogav calmly observed the black-haired girl's expression. Seeing no sign of deceit, he suddenly turned to Little Treasure and asked, "If sothing enters the Ghost Ring King's ring, will it notice?"
"Xun xun..."
Little Treasure stiffened even more.
Dude, your topic shift is way too abrupt... Qiao Sang grumbled inwardly. Then she thought of sothing, and her heart began to race.
He'd suddenly asked about contracting Adinishi...
Then brought up Little Treasure's ring...
Why ask those two things?
Could he have seen sothing enter Little Treasure's ring?
Could that sothing be Adinishi...?
At that thought, Qiao Sang couldn't help but glance toward where Little Treasure stood.
Little Treasure blinked.
Qiao Sang: !!!
Holy crap! Sothing really did enter Little Treasure's ring!
She knew Little Treasure way too well!
Even if he didn't say anything, she could tell exactly what he ant just from his facial expressions.
At that mont, Qiao Sang's mind started racing.
Sothing had entered Little Treasure's ring. Based on his usual behavior, he should have imdiately yanked the intruder out and tossed it away in disgust.
But now he was doing nothing.
Combining that with Ogav's earlier question and Little Treasure's reaction, she could say with 90% certainty, it was Adinishi that had entered the ring!
Ogav looked at her face and smiled: "Looks like you've realized it, Adinishi went into the Ghost Ring King's ring."
Stay calm. Famu Moth was still here. The guy was just a B-rank beast master, not a real threat. Judging by his actions, he must have seen Adinishi enter the ring but said nothing at the ti. Instead, he had Light Fang use spatial shift to take them away from that A-rank beast master, Rushumar.
He clearly had ulterior motives... Could it be that he wants to contract Adinishi for himself?
Qiao Sang quickly analyzed his intentions, then instinctively turned to why Adinishi might've entered Little Treasure's ring.
During the siege earlier, it was right after Pirite's Nyudikaka joined the fray that Adinishi vanished.
Famu Moth had been nearby at the ti. As an Emperor-level pet, it should've sensed any foreign beast aura right away.
But it hadn't reacted at all.
Thinking back, even though the Steel Armor Emperor Beast was strong, there were already four Emperor-level pets summoned, Pirite and that A-rank Rushumar had brought them out.
Even when fighting Adinishi directly, Pirite hadn't told her to leave. But now, faced with a possibly weaker opponent like the Steel Armor Emperor Beast, he suddenly told her to go?
That was not normal.
But if he knew Adinishi was with her, then it made sense.
Teacher Pirite didn't want Adinishi to fall into soone else's hands...
As for why Adinishi went into Little Treasure's ring... Qiao Sang kept pondering while putting on a confused expression: "Adinishi went into the Ghost Ring King's ring? Are you joking? My Ghost Ring King's absorption grade is only C, it can't take in living things."
"Xun xun!"
With his beast master covering for him, Little Treasure imdiately ramped up the acting, nodding fervently to confirm her words.
Ogav continued talking as if he didn't hear the denial: "You know, I have a Wenluga. It gives a keen sense of sll, I can pick up on pet scents within a hundred ters. When Adinishi appeared next to you, I caught the scent."
He looked straight at her, eyes turning sharp: "We can work together. You don't need to be so defensive. You guys ca for Adinishi, right? Otherwise, how could the Ghost Ring King just happen to be there when Adinishi showed up?"
"Your goal was probably just to have it predict the next evolution site for your pets. After all, your contract pages are full, and your teacher is from Blue Star. Contracting a beast from another planet would be extrely troubleso, he must know that. Oh, and if you're wondering how I know he's from Blue Star-"
I wasn't going to ask... Qiao Sang muttered inwardly.
Ogav went on: "It's obvious. Both of his Emperor-level pets are from Blue Star. A Yulianton teacher wouldn't be raising two off-world pets to the Emperor level."
"I saw your interview. You're a student from the Imperial Beast University, only here in Yulianton as an exchange student."
"With your talent, it's not surprising that your University sent a teacher just for you."
Damn... the guy's analysis is pretty sharp. Qiao Sang, wary as she was, had to admit she was impressed.
After all that rambling, Ogav finally got to the point: "I have a way to make Adinishi fall asleep the mont it cos out of the ring."
"Once I contract it, I'll have it predict your pet's next evolution site."
So he was planning to contract Adinishi himself... Qiao Sang flatly denied: "I already told you, the Ghost Ring King's ring can't take in living creatures."
"Sigh..." The sigh echoed in the still air. After his mont of helplessness, Ogav's eyes turned vicious: "I thought we could work together."
Healing Light from Ice Aipalu was indeed a god-tier move, but he wasn't terminally ill. Qiao Sang, being from Blue Star, no matter how gifted, would eventually return ho. Compared to that, contracting Adinishi was far more tempting.
"Move that moth." He ordered.
The mont he spoke, Light Fang teleported behind Famu Moth, its eyes glowing blue, and the two vanished on the spot.
To teleport a target far away, the pet casting the skill must go with it...
He thinks that just by moving Famu Moth away, he can control ? Qiao Sang's face darkened as she stood still, watching him.
Even if he couldn't get along with her, contracting Adinishi was all he needed... Ogav's eyes glittered with twisted excitent as he began forming hand signs.
Then, he heard her voice: "Move him."
"Xun xun!"
Followed by the Ghost Ring King's voice.
The next second, his vision went dark.
When the light returned, the scenery around him had completely changed.
Ogav: !!!
---
"Faster, keep moving!" Qiao Sang urged, phone in hand and eyes fixed on the GPS.
Little Treasure repeatedly used spatial shift, heading straight for the airport.
Twenty minutes later.
On a rooftop, Qiao Sang stood, still holding her phone.
[Teacher Pirite, I'm sorry. I've been targeted. I have to leave first. When you see this ssage, I'll already be on my way to the airport. Otherwise, once that A-rank beast master nad Rushumar finds out Adinishi is with , he'll definitely co and force to hand it over.]
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