After Qin’s father finished speaking, he noticed Qin Sang’s somewhat peculiar expression and asked directly, “What’s wrong, Sang Sang?”
Qin Sang didn’t hide it and said quietly, “My two spaces merged into one.”
The moment those words landed, Qin’s father immediately understood. Yes—his daughter’s space had gained a patch of yellow earth after she contracted with Little Gold. At the time, both he and his wife had been stunned. After all, the space passed down through their ancestors had suddenly expanded—of course that would shock them.
“But… but…” Qin’s father trailed off, his mind racing to figure out why there was a difference.
Qin Sang nodded but didn’t voice her thoughts aloud. The only possibility that came to mind was that the Roasted Goose Space was fundamentally different from ordinary storage spaces.
As for how exactly it was different—she didn’t know yet. But the fact that her parents’ spaces, which seemed as common as wholesale goods, were indeed unusual was clear enough.
Thinking this over, Qin Sang said directly, “Dad, Mom—if you have any important supplies in your storage spaces, it’s better to temporarily keep them with me.”
She had a feeling that the spaces formed by dripping blood onto jade items weren’t entirely secure.
But Qin’s father said, “Sang Sang, I just tried it—the spirit beast space can store items too.”
His expression was visibly excited as he spoke.
Qin Sang: She hadn’t known that. Since her space had already merged, there was no need to test anything. Now, hearing that her father’s spirit beast space could store items, even more thoughts began swirling in her mind.
“Dad, can your spirit beast space take in the mutant aloe vera?”
Qin’s father nodded, then fell silent.
It was clear he was communicating with the mutant aloe vera.
Sure enough, within two minutes, the large mutant aloe vera in front of them vanished from sight.
Qin’s mother immediately rushed over and patted down Qin’s father, as if inspecting him for changes.
Qin Sang smiled at the sight.
It was then that Xu Lin, who had been waiting in the distance, walked over. “That’s truly incredible!”
Qin Sang had noticed Xu Lin’s presence earlier, which was why she’d only mentioned the space merging briefly and in a very low voice. Now that he’d come over, she dropped the topic entirely. The matter of the Roasted Goose Space was known only to her parents and herself.
Smiling at Xu Lin, she replied, “Yeah. Even though the beast-tamer world sounds dangerous, it somehow feels like these mutant creatures that become spirit beasts are quite endearing.”
She then asked Xu Lin why he’d come back at this hour.
Xu Lin: “They’ve transferred quite a few people from all over the country, so my workload has eased up for now. I came back for a day’s rest.”
Hearing that, Qin’s mother immediately chimed in, “Come on, come on, let’s head inside. We’re having American ginseng soup today—I’ll get you a bowl to try.”
Watching her mother enthusiastically drag Xu Lin into the house, Qin Sang took the opportunity to quietly ask her father more about the spirit beast space.
After all, her situation was unique. She needed to gather more intel from her father about how an ordinary person’s spirit beast space worked.
Qin’s father quickly shared everything he’d discovered.
Qin Sang was both stunned and pleasantly surprised.
It turned out that an ordinary spirit beast space could house the contracted spirit beast. Her father’s mutant aloe vera, for instance, had taken root in the spirit beast space’s soil to absorb nutrients.
As for other supplies—they could indeed be stored in the spirit beast space. The space functioned like a small, independent world, just extremely tiny. So yes, it could store items, but it couldn’t preserve freshness.
Also, humans couldn’t enter the spirit beast space. Neither could they grow plants, even though her father’s spirit beast space had a patch of soil.
By the time the two of them got back inside, Qin Sang immediately shut the door, took a live chicken out of her space, and had her father test it.
The moment the chicken entered the spirit beast space, it dropped dead.
All of this pointed to one conclusion: aside from the contracted spirit beast, no other living creature could enter the spirit beast space—they would die upon entry.
Another takeaway: the spirit beast space could be used as a regular storage space, but it couldn’t preserve freshness.
After compiling all these details, Qin Sang was quite satisfied. She turned around and wrote everything down, then stepped out of her room and handed the notes to Xu Lin, who had just finished eating.
After reading through them, Xu Lin found the spirit beast space truly fascinating—and grew even more eager to contract a spirit beast himself.
Seeing this, Qin Sang smiled and said, “How about we take advantage of your day off and go find a suitable mutant animal for you to contract?”
Xu Lin’s face lit up with surprise. “That sounds great!”
With that decided, the two of them spread out a map and began picking their destination for the next day.
—
The following morning, after breakfast, Qin Sang and Xu Lin set out. Her parents had both said they wouldn’t join—they wanted to stay in the village and get familiar with the mutant aloe vera’s abilities. So it was just the two of them heading out.
They didn’t take a four-wheeled vehicle this time—each rode an electric scooter.
The sun was still blazing, the temperatures still soaring. But neither of them needed specialized heat-protection gear anymore to walk under the scorching sun.
The only issue was the scooters themselves—the batteries overheated after a stretch of riding due to the extreme heat.
“The Academy of Sciences is already developing a new type of solar-powered electric vehicle. It won’t be such a hassle to go out during the day once those are ready.”
While they stopped to let the scooters cool down, Xu Lin shared some of the Academy’s recent research breakthroughs.
Yes—despite all the crises outside, research at the Academy had never stalled. In fact, the harsher the living conditions grew, the more resources were poured into scientific development.
In the three-plus months since the apocalypse began, more scientific advancements had emerged than in the previous three years combined.
Qin Sang was very interested in all this. She figured her large stash of points would finally have somewhere worthwhile to go.
During their casual conversation, mutant insects would occasionally attack.
By now, any mutant insect that appeared was essentially a second-evolution one. They were still lethal, but for Qin Sang and Xu Lin, they were no longer much of a threat.
Qin Sang didn’t even need to lift a finger—Xu Lin handled them all with his laser weapon.
“If it weren’t for those fissures, humanity might have wiped out these insects pretty soon…” Xu Lin sighed.
Qin Sang tilted her chin toward the direction of the stone gate. “Without those fissures, that stone gate wouldn’t have appeared either.”
Last night, she’d asked Grandpa Goose and learned the fundamental difference between the interstellar Zerg and the spirit beast insects.
That difference lay in the nature of the energy within their bodies.
The interstellar Zerg’s energy was violent and chaotic, while the spirit beast insects’ energy was gentle and harmonious.
This much was also evident from the interstellar Zerg energy cores they’d obtained. Qin Sang had studied them—humans absorbed them with very low efficiency. In contrast, spirit beasts absorbed them as easily as eating or drinking.
Of course, that wasn’t just due to the volatile energy—there was also the fact that humans were simply too fragile.
Xu Lin: “Let’s not get too close to the stone gate. Let’s go a little further ahead and see.”
Qin Sang nodded. Neither of them actually wanted to join the crowds around the stone gate. Right now, elite teams from across the country were gathered there. They could squeeze in, sure, but they’d also become targets—mostly in the subtle, behind-the-scenes kind of way.
Especially Qin Sang, as the very first person to contract a spirit beast—her comms had been blown up with messages. She had no intention of being that obvious target.
So, after letting the electric scooters cool down, they rode for about another half hour before stopping.
They were now roughly thirty to forty kilometers from the stone gate. From here, the gate looked like a tiny speck in the distance.
“Let’s try around here.”
They chose this spot because both could sense a number of insects underground nearby.
Since there were no spirit beast insects from the Yellow Earth World in the immediate area, they figured that if they dug up a bunch of native mutant insects, the spirit beast insects would naturally be drawn over.
Without any hesitation, the two got to work.
After storing their scooters in their spaces, Qin Sang and Xu Lin each took out an energy core with the most concentrated energy and began channeling the energy outward.
Energy was what all living creatures sought.
Sure enough, they didn’t have to wait long—maybe just a few minutes—before the ground began to tremble.
Qin Sang immediately warned: “Be careful.”
Xu Lin: “You too.”
With that, Xu Lin switched his laser sword to attack mode with his free hand.
The moment the words left their mouths, a massive head burst out of the earth—white body, black eyes, a familiar species category. After a moment’s thought, Qin Sang summoned Little Gold.
“Sang Sang, Sang Sang—are we fighting?”
Seeing Little Gold waving its tiny fists the moment it emerged from the space, Qin Sang chuckled. “Are these your relatives?”
Little Gold was momentarily confused. Then it turned around and saw over a dozen giant termites burrowing out of the soil, each nearly three meters long.
“Stinky Sang Sang—those are NOT my relatives!”
To Little Gold, every insect was food—including those from the Yellow Earth World. It just preferred ones with higher energy content.
Qin Sang picked up on that thought but didn’t find it surprising. The law of the jungle was the law of the jungle. Even among spirit beasts, consuming each other wasn’t uncommon.
Still, she kept teasing Little Gold: “Really not relatives? You look a little alike, you know.”
Little Gold was hopping mad. “Stinky Sang Sang!”
But despite its indignant cries, it moved incredibly fast—launching itself straight onto the lead mutant termite. Opening its tiny mouth—tiny, at least, compared to the termite—it bit down with a crunch and snapped the termite’s neck clean off.
Xu Lin: … Looks like there’s no room for me to step in.
Even as he thought that, his hands moved swiftly, slashing away with his laser sword.
Qin Sang didn’t even bother joining in. She just kept watch on the perimeter, ready to respond if any insects ambushed them.
Over ten minutes later, every mutant termite that had surfaced—and those that hadn’t—were all dead. But not a single spirit beast insect had been drawn over.
Qin Sang felt a bit helpless.
Xu Lin: “It’s okay. Let’s keep at it.”
They tried the same tactic again, searching nearby for more mutant insects. This time they found a nest of mutant red fire ants.
These were far more lethal than mutant termites. This time, Qin Sang helped Xu Lin by providing cover fire. With Little Gold’s help, they killed over twenty mutant fire ants in total.
All the energy cores were dug out and piled up together—but still, no spirit beast insects were attracted.
Qin Sang began to wonder if they were just unlucky.
“Let’s take a break and eat first…”
In truth, it wasn’t just them having a rough time. None of the people surrounding the stone gate had succeeded either. Some even started grumbling inwardly, suspecting that the whole “beast-tamer world” thing was fake.
A portion of these skeptics simply gave up altogether.
Of course, they’d soon regret that decision. One moment of giving up would lead to a lifetime of regret.
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