Beast Taming: My System is Bugged

Meanwhile, in an ordinary home in Lanqi City, a middle-aged Beastmaster named Mr. Zhao had just finished watching the entire live stream.

He was an amateur enthusiast with some knowledge of Arrays. His study held a treasured collection of several Basic Array Maps, and he kept a supply of common materials like Spirit-Guiding Powder and Stabilizing Spirit Sand on hand.

His son, Xiaolei, was a high school senior. The day before yesterday, he and his classmates had attended an event by the "Friends of Nature" and brought home a Cyan Vine Demon Pet.

For the past two days, Xiaolei had been engrossed in Cultivation, following the complimentary Cyan Pine Unmoving Technique Cultivation Manual and was now inseparable from his newly contracted Pet Beast.

At first, Mr. Zhao thought Gu Ming was being paranoid. He even suspected the young academic star might be too rash, prone to making shocking statements for attention.

But after the live stream ended, he sat alone in the living room, and the more he thought about it, the more unsettled he felt.

The reason was simple—safety is no small matter.

Especially when it concerned his own child’s future, and even his mental well-being, any potential risk warranted vigilance.

It wasn’t that he was convinced the "Friends of Nature" had malicious intentions, but as a parent, he couldn’t afford to overlook even the slightest possibility of danger.

As long as a rumor concerned his child’s safety, he had to verify it himself, even if there was only a one-in-ten-thousand chance of it being true.

Besides, given Gu Ming’s current status as an academic star who published in top journals, the risks he took by making such a public accusation were far greater than an ordinary person making baseless claims.

If his claims were ultimately proven to be baseless, his academic reputation would suffer a devastating blow, and even his past research might come under scrutiny.

For Gu Ming to make such a bold assertion, it was likely not without reason.

Thinking of this, Gu Ming’s final words about "ritual residue" felt like a sharp thorn digging deep into Mr. Zhao’s heart.

’It’s better to believe it’s true than to assume it’s false...’

He muttered to himself, the intense worry finally overpowering his initial skepticism and dismissiveness.

He got up, went into his study, and took out his stored Spirit-Guiding Powder and a smooth Sensing Stone Plate, then returned to the center of the living room.

Following the simplified diagram Gu Ming had shown on the live stream, he held his breath and focused, dipping his fingertip into the faintly glowing powder and carefully tracing the pattern of the Ritual Synesthesia Inspection Array onto the stone plate.

He strived for precision with every stroke, channeling his Spiritual Technique as much as he could to infuse his own Spiritual Power into the Array.

Although the Array’s structure was simple, he knew that any Array involving the spiritual plane allowed for no carelessness.

After a long while, he finished drawing the Array, drenched in sweat.

Even for a simple inspection Array, the cost was considerable. Gu Ming’s Array was not as simple as it looked on the surface.

Only after finishing it did he sense that in order to trace the synesthetic residue across a distance, the Array incorporated a highly consumptive Spiritual Resonance Array.

Spiritual Resonance Arrays were not uncommon on the market; they were a common tool for Array Beastmasters. However, this Array’s resonance method and internal logic were extremely powerful, far beyond the comprehension of an amateur like him.

Realizing this, he became even more convinced that Gu Ming was serious.

’Could it be?’

’No, I hope it’s not true.’

’Even though Gu Ming is a top scholar with immense academic authority, I hope he’s wrong this time.’

"Xiaolei, come out for a moment. Dad needs to run a check on you."

He called towards his son’s room.

Inside, Xiaolei was having a blast playing with his newly contracted Cyan Vine Demon Pet.

The emerald-green vine was affectionately wrapped around his wrist, its leaves swaying gently with his movements, making cheerful RUSTLING sounds.

Hearing his father’s call, he grumbled with some reluctance:

"What is it, Dad? I’m bonding with Xiaqing right now!"

Seeing his son dawdling, Mr. Zhao shook his head. With a mental command, he summoned his old partner, a Mountain-Moving Ape that stood over two and a half meters tall.

The giant ape emerged, beat its chest, and roughly pushed open the bedroom door.

After a commotion of shouts from inside, the Mountain-Moving Ape walked out, carrying Xiaolei to the living room in its broad palm.

"It’s just a small check. It’ll be quick."

Mr. Zhao placated his slightly disgruntled son, motioning for him to stand in the center of the Stone Plate Array.

Although the boy was unhappy about it, he didn’t ask any more questions and stepped onto the plate to cooperate with the inspection.

Mr. Zhao took a deep breath, hovered his palm over the Array, and slowly infused a thread of gentle Spiritual Power into it.

The Array’s pattern lit up line by line, followed by dozens of Runes glowing one after another.

Zhao Lei, still playing with his Cyan Vine, finally noticed the light emanating from below.

"Huh? What’s this?"

He pricked up his ears, as if hearing an extremely faint ripple, one that carried an indescribably ancient and desolate aura.

But when this invisible ripple touched Xiaolei, who was standing in the Array Hub, something unexpected happened!

Using his own crude yet focused Spiritual Perception, Mr. Zhao clearly "heard" a distant cry that seemed to travel across endless space and time, echoing directly in the depths of his soul!

The sound was ethereal and sacred, yet so cold it was devoid of any emotion a living being should have. It was like the reverberation of some ancient will!

Mr. Zhao froze, subconsciously wondering if he had made a mistake.

But when he focused his mind and perceived it again, the clear cry of an ancient deer—one that belonged to no known Pet Beast—once more pierced his Sea of Consciousness!

This time, he could clearly feel the residual aura of a colossal Ancient Divine Deer Ancestral Spirit on his own son.

In contrast, the Cyan Vine itself had no ritual aura.

"Th-this... How could this be..." He couldn’t understand. His son had never come into contact with an Ancient Divine Deer Ancestral Spirit.

An Ancestral Spirit and a physical Pet Beast were two completely different things. An ordinary person might not know the difference, but as a Beastmaster, Mr. Zhao understood it perfectly.

’This is definitely ritual residue, but I didn’t sense anything at the time.’

’I have no idea when they did it.’

’The implications were terrifying!’

A look of horror instantly spread across his face. He stumbled back a step, bumping into the coffee table behind him without even noticing, his face deathly pale.

He might not have understood profound theories of Spiritual Mechanics, but the Perception that directly impacted his soul, along with his instincts as a Beastmaster, were all screaming at him—everything Gu Ming had said was true!

He scrambled to cut off the supply of Spiritual Power, and the Array’s light quickly dimmed.

Looking at his son and the Cyan Vine Demon Pet still playing obliviously on his wrist, a tempest raged in Mr. Zhao’s heart.

Without a moment’s hesitation, he immediately picked up his phone, which was recording nearby, and spoke into the camera.

A phone couldn’t record Spiritual Fluctuations, of course.

But he had captured the scene on video, and Mr. Zhao had a modest reputation in the local community.

’This is too important,’ he thought. ’If I can just wake up a group of people and we all speak out together, we can get the word out.’

’God Gu can’t be left to carry this burden alone!’

With that, he posted it directly to the most active local Beastmaster community in Lanqi City.

The title was exceptionally eye-catching, filled with unconcealed panic and conviction:

[This is bad! I performed the check Gu Ming described, and I actually detected unknown ritual residue on my son!]

This was like dropping a lit match into a boiling pot of oil, instantly igniting the already turbulent undercurrents of public opinion.

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