Beast Taming: My System is Bugged

After several months, he was once again breathing in the slightly humid air of his hometown. He watched the loose crowds of people dragging their luggage, chatting and laughing as they left the station.

An indescribable sense of peace welled up in Gu Ming’s heart.

Unlike the constant, tense competition of the Zhou Capital, where everyone on campus was striving to master the latest and most cutting-edge Beast Taming techniques, the pressure was extraordinarily high.

Here, everything seemed slow and familiar, as if time itself had hit the slow-motion button.

Just walking down the street, Gu Ming felt he could breathe much more easily.

’Strange,’ Gu Ming mused to himself. ’Is the pressure in the Capital really that intense?’

As Gu Ming pondered this, two figures suddenly came running toward him.

"Gu Ming!"

Mrs. Gu had been waiting outside the station for a while.

Upon seeing her son, her eyes reddened slightly. She hurried forward, took his hand, and looked him up and down.

"You’ve gotten thinner. Have you just been studying at university and not eating properly?"

Mr. Gu was more composed. He clapped his son firmly on the shoulder, his eyes filled with pride.

"It’s good to have you back!

"We watched the livestream at home. Good lad! You’ve made our family proud!"

As Mr. Gu spoke, his and Mrs. Gu’s Pet Beasts appeared beside them.

The Hidden Mist Butterfly flickered its wings and landed on Gu Ming’s shoulder, affectionately rubbing against his cheek.

The Black and White Long-Armed Ape beat its chest with both hands, letting out a series of joyous cries.

Just then, after Mr. and Mrs. Gu finished hugging Gu Ming and let go, they noticed a petite girl standing behind him.

She was wearing a goose-yellow down jacket, cradling a Tri-color Pupa in her arms. At her feet was a Sunflower Seed-eating Hamster that had grown to waist height, and a Star Spirit was hiding behind her.

It was none other than Gu Ming’s classmate, Lu You.

Lu You’s face was flushed, and she kept her head down, not daring to look at anyone, the very picture of shyness.

Mr. and Mrs. Gu exchanged a glance, then walked forward with a smile to greet her.

"You must be Lu You, right?

"Haha, we haven’t seen you in half a year. You’ve gotten so much prettier and cuter!"

This "prettier and cuter" compliment made the socially anxious Lu You wave her hands and back away repeatedly.

Seeing this, Mrs. Gu took the initiative and gently took her small hand.

"It’s the New Year, and you’re already here.

"Why don’t you come to our house for a meal before you go?"

Lu You wanted to refuse.

But under Mrs. Gu’s enthusiastic persuasion—and since she was already here during the New Year—she ultimately couldn’t turn down such an invitation. She blushed, nodded, and agreed.

...

Back at the residential complex, Gu Ming and the others hadn’t even entered their building yet.

On the path through the complex, neighbors, both familiar and unfamiliar, came over one after another to greet them.

"Gu Ming’s back! Wow, we saw you on TV, you were so impressive!"

"That giant whale is your Pet Beast, right? It’s incredible!"

"I heard it leaped the Dragon Gate in the Sea of-stars?

"Could I bring my little one over to visit you sometime? I’d like to ask for some pointers on the cultivation strategy for the Fish Leaping the Dragon Gate in the Sea of-stars..."

"Everyone, my son just got back. Please don’t bombard him with questions about Pet Beast cultivation. Let us have a proper New Year."

Mrs. Gu stepped forward with a stern expression. At the same time, she secretly had her Hidden Mist Butterfly use Mental Suggestion.

A few seconds later, this dispelled the hopes of the many people who had been planning to pay Gu Ming to tutor their high-school-aged children.

Gu Ming smiled and waved at them, watching the neighbors return to their own homes.

Seeing how enthusiastic everyone was, the string inside him that had been pulled taut by the league competition and his cultivation gradually loosened amidst the neighbors’ simple yet earnest greetings.

This feeling of being surrounded by ordinary, mundane matters was rare at university.

Sure, there were plenty of fans at school who admired his academic achievements and would mob him, making it hard to move.

But compared to the neighbors in his complex, the pressure they created felt like child’s play; he felt no stress at all.

At the very least, now that he was back here, Gu Ming truly felt the sensation of being "home."

「At home.」

Mrs. Gu had prepared a table full of his favorite dishes, the aroma filling the air.

At the dinner table, the conversation naturally revolved around Gu Ming’s life at university and his competitions.

"That girl with the surname Jiang is really impressive too! Her arrays were just whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—it was dazzling to watch."

Mr. Gu commented, clicking his tongue.

"But in the end, our Gu Ming won!"

Mrs. Gu said, her face beaming with shared glory. "And that Little Black Cat! That final move, where its whole body lit up like a little sun—how did it do that?"

Gu Ming was about to open his mouth to explain.

But Mrs. Gu turned her head and started chatting with Lu You instead, asking how Ah Ji’s Blazing Light Fist was executed.

Lu You had been sitting at the table with her head down, quietly picking at her food and eating in silence.

She wasn’t good at conversation to begin with, especially during someone else’s happy family dinner. She couldn’t get a word in, as if she were just an outsider.

However, Mrs. Gu deliberately directed the conversation to her. Lu You was stunned for a moment, but then she subconsciously drew on her existing knowledge to answer Mrs. Gu’s question.

Although she was socially anxious, when it came to academic topics like Pet Beast skills, she always had a steady stream of ideas and wasn’t at a complete loss for words.

Mrs. Gu was also intentionally steering some of the topics toward Lu You to keep her from feeling left out at the table.

Furthermore, the questions were all academic, which, given Lu You’s breadth of knowledge, were much easier for her to answer.

Before long, Lu You’s social anxiety visibly subsided. The cute, nervous look she had when she first entered Gu Ming’s house, where she didn’t dare look at anything, was gone.

Even so, her behavior was still irresistibly amusing.

’Why is Mom paying so much attention to Lu You?’ Gu Ming wondered, taking it all in with a strange feeling.

The thought spun around in Gu Ming’s mind, giving him a momentary, strange impression.

"Gu Ming, who are you staring at so intently?"

Suddenly, Mr. Gu’s voice came from across the table.

"Ah, no one. I was just thinking..."

"Haha, no need to explain. I get it."

With that, both Mr. and Mrs. Gu started laughing.

"Ugh, what do you get...?" Gu Ming said, speechless.

His words made Lu You’s previously relaxed face turn beet red with embarrassment again.

...

「The next day.」

Gu Ming took some specialty products he’d bought in the Capital and went to visit his high school homeroom teacher, Teacher Ling.

Teacher Ling was delighted to see him and chatted with him for a long time before sighing with emotion.

"I knew back then that you were destined for great things, but I never expected you to make a name for yourself on the national stage so quickly.

"If Teacher Zhang knew, he would be very pleased as well."

At the mention of Teacher Zhang, the atmosphere grew slightly heavy.

The same Teacher Zhang who had looked out for Gu Ming was now trapped in the distant Cloud Country, with no news of his whereabouts, leaving only a faint sense of worry and concern.

"I hope Teacher Zhang is safe."

Gu Ming said softly, burying the thought deep in his heart.

The next few days felt as if he were soaking in lukewarm honey water.

He visited relatives and friends, accepting wave after wave of congratulations and curious questions.

He accompanied his parents to the New Year’s market, soaking in the thick holiday atmosphere in the familiar streets.

Some children from the community even ran up to him, timidly asking if they could see "the big flying fish from TV."

Although he was still keeping up with his cultivation, he spent most of his days with his family.

’Cultivation is a more productive use of my time,’ Gu Ming figured, ’but it won’t hurt to relax once in a while.’

Gu Ming nearly lost himself in this simple, pure daily life, so full of worldly charm.

Like any other university student home for the holidays, he enjoyed the rare leisure time, completely relaxed his mind, and even started planning a short trip to take his parents on during the New Year.

In the system’s historical diary pop-ups, each day was described calmly: "Sunny," "Cloudy," "All is calm," "A quiet night," and so on.

However, on the eve of New Year’s Eve.

The weather pop-up for this day showed a different description.

"New Year’s Eve approaches. The storm is coming. The air of Lanqi City is no longer tranquil."

At that moment, Gu Ming was sitting in the living room with his family, watching the pre-show for the Beastmaster New Year’s Gala on TV and discussing the menu for tomorrow’s New Year’s Eve dinner.

Gu Ming’s communicator rang.

It was a familiar number—Ruan Jing.

His benefactor, the one who used to work at the small community shop and had secured him a position at the Capital Cultivation Method Company.

And, in the eyes of the system, a so-called Elder Level figure from a Hidden Sect.

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