Beast Taming: My System is Bugged

In the hours after the livestream ended, Lanqi City’s local Beastmaster forum was thrown into complete chaos.

That post by Mr. Zhao was like a huge boulder dropped into a calm lake, causing massive ripples.

Although the residual fluctuations from the ritual couldn’t be transmitted over the internet, Mr. Zhao was well-known locally, which greatly increased the post’s credibility.

As more people successfully verified the claims, the number of those speaking out gradually increased.

Panic began to spread at an astonishing speed.

"My god! I tested my daughter too! It’s very faint, but there really is an echo of that ancient ritual!"

"Location: Fengqi District. We’re affected! My kid just received a Pet Beast from ’Friends of Nature’ last week!"

"What do we do?! What on earth is this thing? Will it affect my child’s future Cultivation?"

"@Beastmaster Administration Bureau, the authorities need to come out and give us an explanation! Is this a new type of mental pollution?"

The post was shared frantically, quickly spreading beyond the local forum. Short-video platforms picked up the story and pushed it to their users, causing it to go viral and public attention to skyrocket.

On the local trending list, hashtags like #FriendsOfNatureCharityScandal and #GodGusRitualInspectionArray shot into the top ten one after another.

Parents who had originally dismissed it as a joke, or those who lacked the ability for Array Formation, began scrambling to find Array Beastmasters to help them perform checks, attempting the simple Ritual Synesthesia Inspection Array.

Although the success rate varied depending on individual skill, more and more reports emerged like an avalanche, converging into a wave of public opinion that could not be ignored.

However, at almost the same time,

a powerful and organized counterforce also began to surface online.

First, a batch of accounts verified as senior Beastmasters and education experts began to post intensively:

"Beware of those with ulterior motives using parental anxiety to create panic!

"Claiming a simple Array can diagnose ’ritual contamination’ is in itself an extremely unscientific and irresponsible act!"

"The Cyan Pine Unmoving Technique is a nationally recognized Cultivation Technique. Its powerful spirit, unmoving like a pine, builds a person’s foundation. It is not something that can be recklessly judged by some shallow upstart!"

"While Gu Ming is a rising academic star, he is young, after all, and inevitably eager for success.

"Using an unverified ’Brain Array’ and alarmist conclusions to chase clout is truly unbecoming of a student from a top institution."

Immediately after, several online media outlets with close ties to Friends of Nature published "exclusive reports" with sensational headlines:

—"Debunking Pseudoscience or a Battle for Profit? A Deep Dive into the Tangled Web Connecting Gu Ming, His Team, and the Promotion of a New Cultivation Technique"

The report insinuated that Gu Ming was attacking the old version of the technique to clear the way for a new version of the "Cyan Pine" Cultivation Technique his team had developed, all for the sake of massive commercial profits.

The article also subtly pointed out Gu Ming’s connections to the Ruan Family’s nationwide industries, such as Cultivation Techniques and Visualization Images, suggesting a potential business partnership.

However, whether due to the Ruan Family’s powerful influence or some other reason, these media articles attacking Gu Ming for promoting the New Technique were taken down and vanished from the internet in less than half an hour.

Gu Ming paid little attention to any of this.

In fact, after filming the livestream, he went home for the New Year and carried on with his life as usual.

He knew that releasing the livestream would cause a huge uproar.

’Online public opinion is black and white, full of trolls—a world of Chaos in the truest sense.’

’Reading too many comments will fry your brain. There are so many contradictory arguments, and very few are actually worth reading.’

He only needed to ask the Ruan Family for their take every so often to get the general gist of the online situation.

During the day, he would work for three or four hours at the local community shop, helping with the initial training or basic education of new Pet Beasts.

By now, the Friends of Nature organization had completely fallen out with the local community shops and would no longer source Pet Beasts from them.

Additionally, Gu Ming learned from Ruan Taibai that Friends of Nature had originally planned to hold over a dozen new Pet Beast giveaway events during the New Year—one each day.

But now, thanks to Gu Ming’s disruption, the events had been put on hold.

The rest of the time, Gu Ming remained immersed in his Cultivation.

It was as if the online uproar had nothing to do with him.

On the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, Gu Ming came to work at the shop and heard Ruan Taibai call him over.

"God Gu, Friends of Nature’s official account has responded. They’re going head-to-head with you," Ruan Taibai said, a laugh of exasperation escaping him.

He hadn’t known about it at first.

After Gu Ming’s bombshell announcement, he had even asked Gu Ming to confirm whether it was true.

Afterward, of course, he was firmly on Gu Ming’s side.

After all, it was easy enough to verify. Any Beastmaster with a sound moral compass could sense the malicious intent behind their actions.

A large charitable organization holding giveaway events in cities across the country during the New Year, yet they just had to pair it with a nationwide General Knowledge Ceremony to implant the imagery of the Cyan Pine Unmoving Technique.

’What could that possibly mean?’

’A normal Cultivation Technique that anyone can learn, but it has to be paired with a "buff" from a nationwide ritual? It’s hard not to suspect something fishy is going on.’

"Let me see." Gu Ming took the phone to look at the post on their official account.

It was a meticulously edited video released by Friends of Nature.

In the video, several children who had previously received donated Pet Beasts and were practicing the Cyan Pine Unmoving Technique were shown interacting with their pets in specific natural environments, guided by Friends of Nature volunteers.

The imagery was beautiful. The children’s smiles were radiant, the plants around them seemed greener than usual, and there was even a faint halo effect.

The accompanying text read:

"A true blessing comes from a deep connection with nature.

The whisper of the Ancient Divine Deer is the wisdom of the ancestors, a pure blessing.

It brings the soul closer to the earth and allows life to shine with its inherent brilliance.

Please don’t let panic and misunderstanding blind you to the beauty that is waiting to be discovered."

They cleverly redefined the "ritual residue" as a mark of nature’s blessing and twisted Gu Ming’s exposé into a desecration of traditional wisdom and the path of nature.

The comments section was a stream of praise and staunch support—all of it whitewashing, the typical astroturfed rhetoric designed to create an echo chamber.

This barrage of PR moves made it seem as if Friends of Nature had been successfully whitewashed.

However, anyone who watched Gu Ming’s video and the verification videos from various parents would see that the skeptics were still in the majority, demanding a thorough investigation into Friends of Nature and expressing concern for their children’s safety.

There were very few casual supporters of Friends of Nature; you had to scroll through hundreds of comments just to find a dozen or so positive ones.

At the official level, a response soon followed.

The complaint hotline for the Lanqi City Beastmaster Administration Bureau was overwhelmed with calls, forcing them to issue a brief announcement.

It stated that they "are closely monitoring the recent online controversy, have begun to investigate the situation, and urge the public to remain calm and await the results of the official investigation."

This official announcement was then reposted by the national bureau’s official account, signifying that Gu Ming’s actions had not only ignited public opinion across the entire city but had also captured the attention of the whole nation.

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