“These spirit beast insects…”
After fighting alongside humans and killing all the interstellar multi-legged insects and mutant insects, Qin Sang noticed that the spirit beast insects did not scatter in all directions, nor did they return to the Loess Secret Realm.
This scene struck many as unusual. It also sparked a glimmer of hope in many hearts.
“Little Gold, are your fellow countrymen willing to form contracts with humans…”
Having eaten, drunk, and beaten the enemy, Little Gold was now lazily leaning against Qin Sang’s leg. Hearing Qin Sang’s question, it wobbled its head, looking utterly clueless.
Qin Sang: …
She turned to look at Xu Lin beside her. Not far from him, there was also a spirit beast insect—a strikingly beautiful large butterfly.
It stood three meters tall, with a wingspan of about five meters. At the moment, it was hovering in midair not far from Xu Lin, looking down at him from above. Its multicolored wings shimmered brilliantly in the sunlight.
This gorgeous spirit beast butterfly had fought side by side with Xu Lin, killing countless interstellar multi-legged insects and mutant bugs.
“Can you communicate with it?”
Hearing Qin Sang’s question, Xu Lin smiled and nodded, then shook his head.
“At the start of the battle, there was no way to communicate. But as we fought together longer, we developed a tacit understanding. After that, I felt like I could understand its intentions. But it’s not yet at the level you mentioned—where you can hear each other’s voices in your mind.”
Xu Lin knew the specifics of contracting a spirit beast. One of them was direct mental communication with the beast. He hadn’t reached that level yet. However, by watching the large butterfly’s movements now, he could tell what it wanted to do.
That feeling was actually quite nice.
Qin Sang: “Then as long as it’s willing to actively sign a contract with you, it should work out.”
Having such a beautiful spirit beast made Qin Sang a little envious.
Little Gold, who had been lounging lazily, sensed Qin Sang’s thoughts through their contract. It immediately jumped up onto Qin Sang’s arm. Qin Sang could only awkwardly reach out and catch it, flicking its head with her finger.
“You’re the prettiest, alright!”
Little Gold let out a few proud, childish hums. Then it declared arrogantly, “I’m stronger than the big butterfly.”
“Yes, yes, you’re the strongest!”
Qin Sang wasn’t lying. In fact, over the days of continuous fighting, she had seen many varieties of spirit beast insects. But Little Gold was the only golden ant of its kind. Its lethality was also the most formidable. It really could take down an interstellar multi-legged insect in one bite. Its only drawback was that it was still a baby, with a mouth not big enough. Otherwise, no matter how many interstellar insects came, they wouldn’t be a match for its formidable teeth.
Over on Xu Lin’s side, seeing Qin Sang and Little Gold’s interaction, he looked up again at the beautiful large butterfly. After a moment’s thought, he took several energy cores from interstellar insects out of his spatial storage and said to the butterfly:
“Thank you for fighting alongside me all these days. This is a small token of my appreciation—I hope you like it. If possible, would you be willing to form a contract with me?”
His words were quite plain and sincere, drawing the attention of everyone around.
Qin Sang also noticed Xu Lin’s actions. Holding Little Gold tightly, she looked over at him, hoping in her heart that this time Xu Lin would succeed.
The battles of the past days had proven enough that only spirit beasts could defeat the interstellar insect race.
Perhaps because of Xu Lin’s sincerity, or perhaps because of their days of fighting side by side, the magnificent butterfly in midair slowly descended.
Seeing this, the people nearby gasped. Many instinctively turned to look their way. Some even ran over, wanting to witness the soon-to-be significant moment.
When Xu Lin saw the butterfly land, he stepped forward actively and extended his left hand toward it.
The butterfly, over three meters tall, stood before Xu Lin, who was over 1.8 meters, giving an overwhelming sense of scale.
Yet this massive creature, upon seeing Xu Lin’s outstretched hand, slowly lowered its head and pierced his left index finger with its sharp mouthparts.
At that single action, the onlookers gasped again.
At the same time, two enormous arrays appeared beneath Xu Lin and the large butterfly respectively. Unlike the golden light that had shone when Little Gold contracted with Qin Sang, this time the arrays emitted a hopeful green glow.
Two beams of green light shot up into the sky—such a spectacle that it startled even people and spirit beasts farther away.
This scene was also broadcast live into countless households via the livestream.
It was the first time people truly realized what it meant to contract a spirit beast.
As for Xu Lin, the one at the center of it all, surrounded by the green light, he suddenly felt a green forest appearing inside his body. He immediately realized that his spirit beast space had manifested. And as soon as the space was opened, the beautiful large butterfly before him vanished on the spot and reappeared inside the spirit beast space.
A delighted smile spread across Xu Lin’s face. At the same time, he said to the butterfly gracefully dancing inside the spirit beast space:
“Hello, I’m Xu Lin. From now on, we’ll be good partners fighting side by side.”
In response came a cool, clear female voice.
Xu Lin: “From now on, I’ll call you Leng Cui.”
—
“Oh my god! Th-this… this means the contract succeeded, right?”
While Xu Lin was communicating with Leng Cui, the crowd around him erupted. Many people were discussing spirit beast contracts and spirit beast spaces. The butterfly vanishing on the spot—wasn’t that exactly the legendary entering of a spirit beast space?
Some quick-thinking individuals immediately followed Xu Lin’s example, pulling out all their possessions from their spatial storage and trying to communicate with the spirit beast insects they had fought alongside.
And so, one after another, lights of different colors began to appear. One intricate, magnificent array after another overlapped on the ground.
Seeing this, Qin Sang felt completely at ease.
The more people who contracted spirit beasts, the safer humanity would be in the future.
Just then, something bumped against her foot. Without even looking down, she knew it was Little Tabby returning.
Little Tabby had grown to the size of an ordinary house cat after its previous evolution. After days of continuous fighting, the little thing was exhausted, but it had eaten quite a few energy cores. It had been munching on insect corpses just a moment ago, and now it seemed to be full.
What’s more, to her delight, the little one had grown even bigger—now about the size of an adult Corgi. From its size and the energy field it radiated, Qin Sang knew Little Tabby had undergone a second evolution.
She thought for a moment, sent Little Gold back to her spirit beast space, crouched down, and rubbed Little Tabby’s head. “Little one, want to contract with me?”
Little Tabby’s already large cat eyes grew even wider at the question.
Needless to say, it was definitely willing.
But Qin Sang didn’t plan to contract with Little Tabby right there—it would draw too much attention. With so many people around, she was already conspicuous enough as the first person in the world to contract a spirit beast insect. From now on, she needed to keep a low profile as much as possible. Contracting Little Tabby would have to wait until she got home.
As for Little Grass Seed, which was also full and lounging on her hair, Qin Sang decided to let it absorb more energy before setting a date for its contract.
——
By this time, Xu Lin had familiarized himself with his spirit beast space and summoned the butterfly Leng Cui out again. He then brought her over to Qin Sang.
Qin Sang greatly admired such a beautiful butterfly. She directly took an energy core from an interstellar insect out of her spatial storage and offered it to Leng Cui.
Leng Cui took it and sent it straight into her spirit beast space. If it had been Little Gold, it would have crunched away on the spot.
This cool, composed spirit beast actually matched Da Linzi quite well in a way. He often had that aloof demeanor too.
“I wonder how the village is doing? Did Uncle Village Chief, Fa Ge, and Second Auntie manage to contract any spirit beasts?”
Qin Sang looked at the lights and arrays appearing around her, then gazed into the distance at similar scenes flashing intermittently, and couldn’t help saying to Xu Lin.
Xu Lin was equally pleased to see this unfolding. Hearing Qin Sang’s words, he said, “They’ll definitely succeed. Everyone who contracted a spirit beast this time had been fighting alongside their spirit beast insect over the past few days.”
This pattern hadn’t gone unnoticed by just Qin Sang and Xu Lin—many others had observed it too.
Clearly, fighting side by side with spirit beasts and building a rapport was necessary before a contract could be formed.
This discovery left some who had cowered from battle filled with regret.
Naturally, Qin Sang applauded this.
If those overly selfish and cowardly individuals did contract spirit beasts, the beasts would merely become tools of war. And the spirit beasts clearly wanted partners who would fight alongside them.
However, not all combatants succeeded in contracting spirit beasts.
Qin Sang noticed a scrawny, weasel-faced man not far away. No matter how hard he tried to communicate, the spirit beast ant completely ignored him and even looked ready to bolt.
This was quite rare.
Their area was a combat zone—the most intense place for killing insects. Insect corpses were piled everywhere. Even now, after many had successfully contracted spirit beasts, they immediately resumed clearing the insect carcasses.
“What’s up with that guy?” Qin Sang asked, eyeing the weasel-faced man with interest.
Xu Lin directly inquired with nearby officials. When he came back with the information, his expression was hard to describe.
Qin Sang raised an eyebrow at the sight.
Xu Lin waved his hand in exasperation. “This guy may be at the center of the battle, but he either hides behind his teammates or, when the spirit beast ant appears, hides directly behind it…”
The answer left Qin Sang speechless.
He’d managed to coast along even in the thick of the combat zone. And with such cowardice, he was clearly there with ulterior motives.
Sure enough, officials soon dragged the weasel-faced man away. The spirit beast ant, meanwhile, ambled around casually, looking utterly unconcerned.
Case closed. Using a spirit beast insect as a shield—no wonder the insect wanted nothing to do with him.
And since he’d been taken away by the authorities, it probably wouldn’t be long before they found out if he’d come to the battlefield to take advantage.
Just as Qin Sang and Xu Lin were preparing to head home, they heard that the weasel-faced man had indeed come to the battlefield to steal spoils. Disgusting.
The combatants were fighting for their lives and had no time to gather loot. Trash like him took advantage of that to steal.
And there were apparently quite a few such people in the combat zone. If they hadn’t all been scorned by the spirit beast insects, they might have gotten away with it. After all, there were too many people and too many corpses—both human and insect—in the battle zone.
If they quietly stashed insect corpses into their spatial storage, no one might have noticed.
But now someone had noticed, and these people were quickly rounded up one by one.
Qin Sang didn’t follow up on what happened next. She was eager to return to the village with Xu Lin to see how things were there. She hoped the situation wasn’t too bad.
And as it turned out, the village’s situation wasn’t bad at all.
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