In Shanghai, a young man walked out of the airport. Beside him followed a little girl, along with a half-human-height pink-blue qilin and two dazzling young dragons.
Such an unusual combination, however, did not attract any attention.
Travelers carried their luggage and all kinds of Pet Beasts, passing by calmly. They didn't even spare them a second glance, as if they simply didn't exist.
"Pretty impressive, little qilin."
Jiang Xing looked full of admiration.
After the Dragon Gate Tournament, the Rainbow Dragon Hatchling had completely taken the internet by storm—its fame had even spread overseas.
Along with it, Jiang Xing had also become, in the eyes of people across various regions, a highly promising rising researcher.
Under such circumstances, if Jiang Xing went out without any disguise, strutting openly, it would be very easy for others to recognize him and turn him into the center of attention… not to mention that he had the Rainbow Dragon Hatchling with him.
But under the Auspicious Cloud Qilin's [Invisibility] move, their presence was greatly diminished. They successfully slipped through the crowd, practically playing the role of "assassins" for a moment.
As expected of a psychic-type divine beast at the Demi-God Level—utterly outrageous.
"Ah-li~" (Easy~)
The Auspicious Cloud Qilin let out a smug cry. It relied on this move for a living, and had long since mastered it to perfection.
If it weren't for the fact that Dr. Xu's Pet Beast had been too strong, too close, and that it had gotten a bit carried away at the time… Jiang Xing alone would never have been able to break through its invisibility.
"So this is Shanghai—there are so many Pet Beasts I've never seen before!"
Li Lingyin raised her head, looking at the various Pet Beasts carried by travelers outside the airport, her eyes dazzled—
After the worldline shift, Shanghai's status remained extremely high. It was still one of the top Beast Taming cities in China.
Not only was the Beast Taming atmosphere here at its peak, it was also one of the starting points of the China Beast Tamer Alliance. Many Beast Tamers from different countries chose Shanghai as their first stop when traveling in China or participating in battle tournaments.
On top of that, the Shanghai Evolution Conference was about to be held, attracting visitors from nearby countries.
Because of this, one could see many rare Pet Beasts in China—unique species belonging to other regions—which were highly eye-catching.
Jiang Xing also took a few extra glances before stepping forward. "Let's go. First, we'll stop by the craftsman house and check how the equipment production is going."
"There are still four days before the Evolution Conference—we have plenty of time to visit the sights."
"Mm!" Li Lingyin nodded excitedly, jogging to keep up beside her teacher.
Perhaps children in the Beast Taming world matured earlier. Although Li Lingyin was very lively, she didn't have the mischievous tendencies typical of troublesome kids. She was obedient and sensible.
Over the past half month of research, she had provided Jiang Xing with quite a bit of help—she could be considered a capable assistant.
Unfortunately, once this conference ended, she would leave the research institute and become a "traveling Red," beginning her own journey as a Beast Tamer.
While Jiang Xing offered his blessings, he also felt a bit regretful.
It's easy to go from frugality to luxury, but hard to go from luxury back to frugality.
Without his little assistant, his workload would double. If he added a few more research topics on top of that, he would truly be stretched too thin to manage everything.
'I need to put recruiting assistants on the agenda.'
Assistants in a Pet Beast research institute didn't necessarily have to be humans—they could also be Pet Beasts.
They possessed considerable intelligence as well. Some psychic-type Pet Beasts even had computational abilities that surpassed humans.
Moreover, human assistants weren't as stable. Once they learned and grew, they might resign and strike out on their own. As a result, many research institutes preferred to use Pet Beasts as research assistants.
In fact, Jiang Xing had brought Li Lingyin, the little qilin, and the dragon hatchlings along to attend the conference and travel, while borrowing an Antique Puppet from Dr. Xu to temporarily manage the institute.
That undead-type Antique Puppet's ability to take care of other Pet Beasts was even slightly better than Jiang Xing's.
Which made him feel both embarrassed—and deeply envious.
However, that was a helper-type Pet Beast raised by Dr. Xu over many years. It wasn't something he could replicate.
If Jiang Xing wanted to use Pet Beasts as assistants, he would have to select and raise them himself from scratch.
He planned to take advantage of this conference trip to explore Shanghai—home to a rich variety of Pet Beasts—and see if he could find something suitable.
…
When Jiang Xing followed the address given by Master Jian and took the subway to the location of the craftsman house, he froze on the spot—
The Pet Beast craftsman house he had imagined should have been a mysterious little shop full of charm, hidden in a quiet alley within a bustling city. From the outside, it would look plain and unremarkable, but in truth, it would be a place hidden in plain sight—only those qualified would know its secrets.
How masterful that would be!
However…
What appeared before him was a massive building near the city center, fifty or sixty stories tall, standing out like a crane among chickens. The opaque glass covering its exterior shimmered faintly with golden light under the sun.
At the base was an enormous entrance resembling that of a shopping mall. At every moment, many Beast Tamers with their Pet Beasts were entering and leaving. Above it hung a sign reading [Jian Family Craftsman House - Entrance No.1], alongside various promotional banners like "XX equipment newly released, the perfect choice for X-type battles"…
Just this single skyscraper—how many billions would it be worth?
So the Jian Family Craftsman House was the name of a company, not a building!?
The huge gap between imagination and reality made Jiang Xing pause for a moment. Only then did he take out his phone and send a message to Master Jian, saying he had arrived at the entrance.
Master Jian quickly replied: [Do you have a flying Pet Beast?]
[Yes,] Jiang Xing answered, glancing at the Auspicious Cloud Qilin.
As the qilin's long-term meal provider, he had already experienced riding it through the air—it was extremely comfortable.
The little qilin didn't mind such things either… although Jiang Xing said it had already "paid," it still felt guilty eating and drinking for free every day without doing anything.
Helping Jiang Xing with some tasks made it feel more justified when eating.
At this moment, Jiang Xing followed Master Jian's instructions. Together with Li Lingyin, they sat on the little qilin's back and soared into the air, arriving at the rooftop landing platform of the Jian Family Craftsman House.
Under the guidance of staff, they passed through an internal rooftop corridor and entered the building, where they met Master Jian—
The master herself matched Jiang Xing's expectations: an elderly woman with silver hair, gentle in demeanor, dressed in a simple embroidered traditional outfit, with little in the way of jewelry.
Beside her stood a young girl. If they were seen on the street, they would look no different from a grandmother taking care of a child.
When Master Jian saw Jiang Xing, her gaze was immediately drawn to the Auspicious Cloud Qilin beside him.
Although Old Xu had already explained things to her, seeing the legendary qilin following a young man with her own eyes still left her astonished.
Fortunately, having lived for so many years and witnessed many incredible things, she quickly regained her composure.
"Some of the equipment you ordered hasn't been completed yet… but the most important part—the outfit—is already finished."
"Would you like to try it on first?"
"Thank you."
"Guoguo, go fetch the Beast Taming outfit from the storage room."
The little girl ran into the room and soon came back, carrying a stack of clothes.
Seeing the black-and-white outfit in her arms, Jiang Xing's eyes lit up with anticipation.
After envying Senior Su for so long, he finally had a custom outfit of his own!
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