Chapter 202: Shadow Step
Chapter 202: Shadow Step
Under the solemn oath of its Beastmaster, Mucosnail once again set off towards Room 1705.
As it neared the Courtyard, it cautiously peered out from the corner of the wall.
Sure enough, the dozen or so giant creatures that had appeared earlier in the morning were nowhere to be seen.
"Sniff Sniff"
Mucosnail relaxed and turned its attention to the pond nearby.
Meanwhile, Treasure Seeker removed its Virtual Helmet, looking dejected.
It had been forced offline again...
"Xun..."
Treasure Seeker pouted and glanced at the sleeping Qiao Sang and Fangy.
With nothing to play with and no one to play with, it was so boring...
It seemed the only option was to practice Hypnosis on a few ants.
Treasure Seeker was a creature of action. With that thought, it quietly slipped out of the room, gliding through the air.
As it drifted into the Courtyard, it saw a Bug-type familiar crawling towards the pond.
Treasure Seeker's eyes lit up, and it immediately perked up.
This was the first time it had seen a familiar that wasn't asleep at home in the middle of the night.
"Xun!"
Treasure Seeker vanished on the spot.
The next second, it appeared in front of the unfamiliar Bug-type familiar, grinning widely with a friendly smile.
"Xun Xun!"
Mucosnail, hearing the sound and feeling the shadow looming over it, was filled with terror. Its eyes widened, and cold sweat broke out on its body.
After a moment, it mustered the courage to lift its head.
"Tie Tie!!!"
Seeing the Ghost Familiar in front of it with a gaping maw, Mucosnail trembled, let out a high-pitched wail, closed its eyes, and fainted dead away.
"Xun?"
Treasure Seeker tilted its head, confused.
Before it could figure out why the other familiar had fainted, it saw a faint white light emanating from the Bug-type familiar.
Treasure Seeker was very familiar with this light.
It was the same light that appeared when its Beastmaster stored Fangy in the Beastmaster Codex.
Almost instinctively, Treasure Seeker extended one of its short toes, connecting the shadow on its toe to Mucosnail's shadow.
The white light disappeared.
Mucosnail remained on the spot.
Outside Room 1705, the Bulky Guard, crouched under the Palm Tree, was frozen in the summoning gesture, its scalp tingling and every hair on its body standing on end.
Damn!
What's going on?!
Why can't I summon it back?!
...
Qiao Sang woke up due to difficulty breathing.
As soon as she opened her eyes, she saw Treasure Seeker's face right in front of her.
All her sleepiness vanished in an instant.
"Why did you pinch my nose?" Qiao Sang sat up, rubbing her eyes, and asked, a bit annoyed.
She felt that if she kept getting scared like this, she would eventually suffer from severe insomnia.
"Xun!"
"Xun Xun!"
Treasure Seeker held the still unconscious Bug-type familiar in its paws and presented it to its Beastmaster.
Qiao Sang was taken aback for a moment. She leaned in and saw a familiar she had never seen before.
"Are you saying someone sent it to our home?" Qiao Sang furrowed her brows and asked.
"Xun Xun!"
Treasure Seeker nodded vigorously.
Qiao Sang suddenly thought of something and sprang out of bed, put on her shoes, turned on the lights, and went to the desk to rummage through her bag in one smooth motion.
When she saw that her various cards and the small amount of cash in her wallet were still there, she breathed a sigh of relief.
Thank goodness, everything was still there...
If her cards were lost, getting replacements would be a minor inconvenience, but if someone used her ID card to summon a Phantom Water Sprite for a Transformation and impersonate her to verify other cards, it would be a significant problem.
Although the current card verification process was strict, with iris recognition, the Traits and Skills of familiars were so varied that it was hard to predict what methods someone might use to steal her identity.
"Where did you see it?" Qiao Sang asked as she got back into bed.
"Xun xun."
Treasure Seeker pointed in the direction of the door.
The courtyard?
Qiao Sang was taken aback. Was there anything valuable in the courtyard?
Or had someone just entered and been caught by Treasure Seeker before they could do anything?
Qiao Sang felt a sense of impending danger. Beastmasters usually held themselves to a high standard, and those who would sneak into someone else's home were rarely good people.
Now, the real fear was not just that the intruder was a bad person, but that they were a Beastmaster with unknown origins.
Qiao Sang thought for a moment, then opened her mobile phone and took a photo of the unconscious Bug-type familiar. She searched online for information.
She quickly learned about the familiar.
Mucosnail, a low-level Water-type Companion Beast from the Ancient Fog Region, with an evolution limit of only advanced. It was not particularly notable among familiars, but many people still chose to bond with it.
The reason? It could help with drinking.
To be more precise, its breathing pores could absorb alcohol from a human’s body through skin contact.
For those with a low alcohol tolerance or an allergy to alcohol, this ability was a real blessing during social gatherings.
Qiao Sang wasn't particularly interested in this ability. Her gaze lingered on the words "Ancient Fog Region."
To be honest, encountering someone from the Ancient Fog Region in the neighborhood could be a coincidence, but having a familiar from the Ancient Fog Region sneak into her home in the middle of the night was definitely not a coincidence.
It was targeting Aquariana... Qiao Sang immediately came to this conclusion.
After all, it was rare to encounter a familiar from a different region in one's own area. The probability of seeing a familiar from another region on the street was akin to bumping into an ex, a rare occurrence that could be a topic of conversation online.
"Can you maintain your Shadow Control?" Qiao Sang asked Treasure Seeker.
"Xun... xun!"
Treasure Seeker looked at the shadow connecting her to the Mucosnail, tilted her head, and then nodded, indicating that it wasn't a problem.
Shadow Control not only allowed her to control the target with shadows but also had the same ability as the Shadow Step Trait.
The Shadow Step Trait was one of the most feared Traits among all Traits. It could prevent non-Ghost Familiars without the Shadow Step Trait from escaping.
It was also the bane of Teleport.
With the Mucosnail under control by Shadow Control, which had the same ability as Shadow Step but was even more powerful, it couldn't be summoned back.
Qiao Sang was impressed that Treasure Seeker could maintain such an Advanced Skill for so long.
It seemed that even among Advanced Skills, some could be sustained for extended periods by reducing energy output, though their effects would be weaker. However, other Skills couldn't be sustained for long at all.
For example, Fangy's Mars Rain. Even though Fangy was now an Intermediate Familiar, the energy required to cast it multiple times in a row was too much.
Should she call the police... Qiao Sang looked at the unconscious Mucosnail and thought about it again.
Having a Beastmaster's familiar sneak into someone's home in the middle of the night was reason enough to call the police.
If she did, she could use the Mucosnail to track down its Beastmaster.
But if the intruder revealed the existence of Aquariana, the Patrol Team would surely take Aquariana away.
(End of Chapter)
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