The Space Gate opened wide, and the greedy snake had completed its mission and vanished into the sky above the residential area.
Under the "care and concern" of the uncles and aunties in the neighborhood, a fighter jet finally arrived above the residential community, marking the long-overdue arrival of the West City Defense Team.
As the saying goes, justice may be delayed, but it will never be absent.
This era seemed to suffer from this exact problem at times.
A middle-aged man in shining Silver Battle Armor leapt down from the fighter jet.
After landing, he glanced at the charred corpse of the monster, then began inquiring about the events that had transpired.
Once he understood the situation, the man walked up to Qin Shou, a trace of admiration gleaming in his eyes.
"Impressive. So young yet with such a strong sense of duty to fight for the people. And being capable of cultivating a Dragon Beast—your future is limitless!"
"Speaking of fighting for the people, you guys in the Guard Team are the ones who truly work the hardest," Qin Shou replied politely with a smile.
The man looked surprised; he couldn't quite tell whether this teenager in front of him was being sincere or sarcastic.
Interesting…
"Hahaha, kids these days sure love to speak their minds," he chuckled, and then instructed his colleagues who had come down from the fighter jet to handle the monster's remains, assess the damages, and inspect the defensive breaches.
Finally, he awarded Qin Shou with 100,000 Federation Coins as a token of appreciation.
When the notification of the deposit came through, Qin Shou's smile became genuinely cheerful.
...
Under the Federation's arrangements, the entire neighborhood was relocated to temporary housing.
Because of their role in killing the Pangolin Beast, Qin Shou's family was placed in the most comfortable area.
His parents were quite pleased and didn't bother delving too deeply into the matter of the Dragon Beast.
Qin Shou had always exhibited a maturity far beyond his years, never giving them much cause for worry. By now, they had become accustomed to staying out of his affairs.
Especially Qin Guofang—for some reason, there were times when he even treated Qin Shou as if he were an equal, like a close brother.
This feeling was truly bizarre.
...
The next day.
As usual, Qin Shou arrived at school and was promptly greeted by a torrent of words from Long Xia.
"Lao Qin, you secretly cultivated a Dragon Beast and didn't even tell me? That's seriously not cool!" said Long Xia with a wounded expression.
Qin Shou responded in an even tone, "Well, you never asked."
Long Xia was momentarily at a loss for words, then leaned closer and grinned. "Hahaha, Brother Qin, I heard from Little Fatty in Class E that your Dragon Beast is insanely powerful. How about letting me extract its gene to try cultivating one myself…?"
Qin Shou immediately waved off the suggestion, exasperated. "Stop right there. Let you extract its gene? You might as well ask me to cut my Dragon Beast's life in half!"
Extracting Monster Genes was extraordinarily difficult—it wasn't as simple as shedding some blood or cutting off a piece of flesh to succeed.
The Beast Breeding Genes sold on the gene supermarket were obtained through the outright slaughter of monsters.
Of course, if the gene extraction was successful, a single monster's genes could be divided into several parts for sale.
Long Xia, however, was merely joking and hadn't seriously expected much.
But Qin Shou suddenly thought of something and broke into a smile. "While I can't let you extract the Dragon Beast Gene, your Killing Wolf has decent potential and probably good room for improvement."
Long Xia lit up with excitement. "Lao Qin, are you suggesting you'd improve my Killing Wolf's genes?"
Qin Shou clapped Long Xia on the shoulder, saying generously, "Of course! We're best friends, aren't we?"
And as friends, borrowing your Killing Wolf for some trials shouldn't be too much to ask, right?
...
"Dear students, in three days, the school will host a Beast Cultivation Battle Tournament. The first prize is the Merfolk Gene. Those who wish to participate, please come to my office to register," the teacher announced as the class ended, then left the room.
"Merfolk?" Qin Shou's expression shifted slightly.
Nearby, Long Xia noticed and teased, "What? Tempted?"
Qin Shou nodded. "Indeed, Merfolk Genes are rarely seen on the market. The last time one appeared was three years ago."
Long Xia laughed heartily. "If you're tempted, why not act on it? With those freaks from Class A absent, your Dragon Beast can definitely secure first place and bring glory to our Class D!"
"Yeah, Qin Shou, the honor of Class D depends on you!"
"That's right, sign up already!"
The classmates chimed in one after another, urging him.
The story of Qin Shou breeding a Dragon Beast and defeating a Danger Level 8 Pangolin Beast had now begun to spread.
The students of Class D had already come to see Qin Shou as their class's representative.
After all, the best achievement in Class D was someone managing to breed a Danger Level 7 Beast—and even that was just a Red Rabbit Horse with weak combat capabilities.
Apart from running fast, it had no other redeeming qualities.
...
After school, Qin Shou returned to the temporary housing area and happened to run into Aunt Sun, who was coming back from grocery shopping.
"Haha, Xiao Qin, just finished school? Perfect timing. My boy is also in the Breeding Beast System. Could you find time to come over and tutor him a bit?" Aunt Sun said warmly.
Qin Shou kept his usual polite smile and replied, "I don't know what kind of Beast your son is cultivating. If it's not one of the types I specialize in, I might not be able to help much."
Aunt Sun waved her hand dismissively. "No worries, no worries. My boy is raising a Sharp-Horned Armored Beast—it won't give you any trouble."
Qin Shou's smile froze for a moment. The Sharp-Horned Armored Beast, also known as the Dung Beetle Beast.
This was a Beast that wasn't particularly hard to breed but had… unique characteristics.
Its greatest advantage was that it was easy to feed—it was perfectly content with, well, you know what.
Its biggest flaw? It loved rolling in waste, as if exploring the meaning of life itself.
Aunt Sun's son was definitely… something else!
...
After finally declining Aunt Sun's invitation, Qin Shou reached the entrance of his home, only to spot the vibrant Lin Xiaomei waiting there.
"Lin Xiaomei, what are you doing at my house?" Qin Shou asked.
Lin Xiaomei quickly signaled for him to lower his voice, whispering, "Shh, don't let Uncle Qin know I'm here looking for you."
Qin Shou immediately understood her concern. With his father's personality, he'd definitely start lecturing at length about "securing the children's happiness" again.
Smirking, he asked in a low voice, "What do you need me for?"
Lin Xiaomei whispered, "It's like this—about a week ago, some classmates and I went outside the city to hunt monsters, and we accidentally discovered the nest of a Black Ape Beast.
That Black Ape Beast is a Danger Level 8, and I can't take it down alone. So I teamed up with two classmates to try bringing it down together."
At this, her expression showed a trace of hesitation.
"But after facing the Pangolin Beast yesterday, I realized just how terrifying Danger Level 8 monsters really are.
I'm worried that the three of us won't be enough, so I wanted to ask if you'd be interested in helping."
Qin Shou chuckled. So that was it.
"Of course, I'm interested. Let me know the time and place, and I'll definitely be there!"
Lin Xiaomei beamed with joy. "Great! Wishing us a successful collaboration in advance. I'll be going now. Bye-bye!"
With that, she glanced warily at the front door before tiptoeing and hurriedly running off.
Qin Shou watched her leave with an amused smile. That little brat…
...
Later that night, in his room.
Qin Shou skillfully opened the interface and fused the Pangolin Beast Gene into the greedy snake model, clicking the "synthesize" button.
"Ding! Synthesis requires 160 Synthesis Points. Insufficient points, synthesis failed."
Qin Shou raised an eyebrow. It looked like Lin Xiaomei's invitation to hunt monsters outside the city had come at just the right time.
After all, one of the ways to earn Synthesis Points was by hunting monsters.