After leaving the dean's office, Gu Yuexi walked along a path on campus. Her expression was as cold and unapproachable as ever, but through their Blood Covenant link, Chu Sheng could faintly sense that her mood... wasn't quite so calm.
Then again, anyone in her shoes would be in a bad mood.
But Chu Sheng had no time to worry about her mood right now.
He was in his "private suite," excitedly studying his newly evolved body.
'This proboscis of mine... Tsk tsk, I bet I could use it as a needle now.'
Chu Sheng maneuvered his long, thick proboscis and poked the inner wall of the plastic box.
THUNK! It sounded like poking plastic with a toothpick, and with quite a bit of force.
'And my size! I'm three or four times bigger. My six legs are like little steel bars, just brimming with power!'
"System, what's the level of my physical condition right now?" Chu Sheng asked in his mind.
[Ding! The Host's current body strength can easily kill ten of your pre-evolution counterparts by ramming into them! Your maximum flight Speed can reach 20 kilometers per hour! Your proboscis can easily pierce three-centimeter-thick pigskin!]
'Holy shit! I'm that strong?'
'Damn, I can even pierce pigskin?'
Chu Sheng was floored. This Level 2 proboscis was practically a divine artifact!
'Forget sucking human blood—I can probably take a couple of sips from most animals now!'
'Awesome! This is so awesome!'
Chu Sheng excitedly flapped his wings inside the box, wishing he could fly out right now and find a pig to test his strength on.
BUZZZZZZ—!
The sound of his buzzing wings was several decibels louder than before, like a small drone.
"Settle down."
Gu Yuexi's cold voice, tinged with impatience, came through their Spiritual Link.
Chu Sheng sulked but finally quieted down.
'Fine. When you live under someone else's roof, you have to lower your head.'
'After all, she's my meal ticket.'
Gu Yuexi was also slightly surprised. 'I feel like this mosquito has gotten a little bigger... Could it be because it absorbed my Qi Blood?'
'But even if it's a bit bigger, it's still less than two centimeters long...'
'Still tiny. A complete joke. Useless.'
Chu Sheng: "..."
'A joke? Fine, call me a joke.'
'But why do you have to call me *small*?!'
Soon, Gu Yuexi led him to the far end of an academic building. This was the Beast Taming Department's territory.
Unlike the atmosphere over at the Martial Arts Department, which was thick with the scent of sweat and hormones, this place was clearly much more "lively."
All sorts of strange animal calls rose and fell one after another, and the air was filled with a scent... much like a zoo.
Gu Yuexi finally stopped at the door of "Beast Taming Class Eight."
'Class Eight... The worst one?'
Chu Sheng pieced together the situation from Gu Yuexi's thoughts.
'But whether it's the worst class or not doesn't have much to do with me.'
'Right now, all I want to know is if this so-called Beast Taming Class has a lot of... walking blood bags?'
Gu Yuexi pushed the door open and walked in.
The noisy classroom fell silent in an instant as dozens of pairs of eyes swiveled in her direction.
After all, Gu Yuexi's reputation as the "Flower Vase Beauty" was quite famous throughout the school; almost everyone knew who she was.
Chu Sheng peered curiously through a crack in the plastic box, taking in the scene.
The classroom was much larger than a typical one. Beside each student's seat was an empty space specifically reserved for their Contracted Beast.
At that moment, those empty spaces were occupied by all sorts of "animals"—some lying down, some resting, some standing.
A fox with a flaming tail was yawning lazily.
A wild boar covered in rock-like armor was grunting and pawing at the ground.
A three-eyed crow tilted its head, staring curiously at Gu Yuexi with all three of its eyes.
Chu Sheng was dazzled by the sight. At the same time, his Passive Skill, [Blood Food Tracking], allowed him to clearly perceive information about these creatures.
[Blazing Fox, Low Level Bloodline, First-Grade Early Stage Demon Beast...]
[Rock Boar, Low Level Bloodline, First-Grade Early Stage Demon Beast...]
[Three-Eyed Crow, Low Level Bloodline, First-Grade Middle Stage Demon Beast...]
'Holy cow, they're all Demon Beasts?'
Chu Sheng was a little surprised.
He had assumed that in the worst class, there would at least be a few students who had contracted with ordinary cats or dogs.
He never expected that even the weakest among them would be a Low Level Bloodline Demon Beast!
'Looks like the bar for becoming a Beast Tamer in this world is higher than I thought.'
At the front of the class, a young, rather lethargic-looking male teacher's expression grew complicated when he saw Gu Yuexi. He had obviously been informed ahead of time. With a sigh, he said, "You must be Gu Yuexi, the transfer from the Martial Arts Department, right? Welcome, welcome. Just find an empty seat."
"A transfer from the Martial Arts Department?"
"Doesn't she have terrible Martial Arts Talent? Why'd she suddenly transfer to our Beast Taming Department?"
"Did she contract with some powerful Demon Beast?"
The class immediately burst into discussion, all of them staring at her with curiosity.
Gu Yuexi ignored their chatter and walked straight toward an empty seat in the last row.
"Wait a moment, Gu Yuexi."
A rather handsome boy in the front row suddenly stood up. Beside him lay a lizard the size of a small calf, its body covered in cyan scales.
"According to the rules of the Beast Taming Department, a new student has to show everyone their Contracted Beast, right?" the boy said with a smile, his tone tinged with good-natured curiosity.
The others chimed in in agreement.
"Yeah, yeah, let us see!"
"The School Beauty's Contracted Beast must be beautiful too, right? Is it something like a Nine-tailed Spirit Fox?"
The teacher at the front of the classroom also watched with a smile, making no move to intervene.
This was an unwritten tradition in the Beast Taming Classes: everyone would get to know each other's Contracted Beasts to facilitate future exchanges and learning.
Gu Yuexi stopped in her tracks and fell silent for a moment.
Under the expectant gazes of the entire class, she turned around without a change in expression and placed the unremarkable plastic takeout container on the teacher's desk.
"..."
"???"
The entire classroom once again fell into a deathly silence.
A look of utter confusion was written on everyone's faces.
What's going on?
Where was the Contracted Beast? Why did she bring a takeout container up here?
Could her Contracted Beast be...
One of the bolder students craned his neck to peek into the container. His expression immediately became one of someone who had just seen a ghost.
"A... a mosquito?"
His voice trembled with uncertainty.
"What? A mosquito? You must have seen it wrong, right?"
"Holy crap, it looks... it really looks like a mosquito! And it's huge!"
"No way! She contracted a mosquito? Has she gone insane?!"
"I didn't hear that right, did I? What on earth was she thinking?"
After a moment of silence, the entire classroom erupted into chaos.
Everyone stared at Gu Yuexi as if she were a lunatic.
They had imagined countless possibilities. They had even considered that Gu Yuexi might not have a Contracted Beast at all and was just here to skate by.
But they never in their wildest dreams imagined that Gu Yuexi's Contracted Beast would be a mosquito!
This wasn't just outrageous; it was utterly absurd!
The young teacher's smile froze on his face. He rubbed his eyes and leaned closer to inspect the container. When he confirmed that it really was a mosquito inside, the corner of his mouth twitched uncontrollably.
He opened his mouth as if to say something, but in the end, all that came out was a sigh.
'This child... What a pity.'