Beast Taming: My System is Bugged

Furthermore, it possessed the traits of "Life Solidification" and "Pet Beast Dissociation," two sides of the same ability system. Future researchers would name this Skill "Natural Return."

The essence of this Skill is a "forced morphological regression," reverse-engineering complex life forms back to a primitive, stagnant state of natural matter.

This was considered a degraded version or a precursor Skill to the core ability of the "Thousand-Beard Ancient Tree."

Future researchers confirmed that all Pet Beasts distributed by the "Friends of Nature," once tainted by the ritual’s aura, were equivalent to being implanted with an extremely faint wisp of "Ancient Tree Breath."

This wisp of breath was like a dormant seed.

It was normally harmless and could even slightly promote a Pet Beast’s growth.

But once the mother entity required it, or when the ultimate ritual, "Silent Assimilation," was activated...

...these "seeds" would instantly awaken, forcibly hyper-catalyzing the body, overloading its abilities, and causing its consciousness to run rampant.

The host Beastmasters connected to them would also be greatly affected, their emotions becoming extreme.

"Two hundred thousand mobile, active nodes..."

Gu Ming muttered, a chill running down his spine.

The scale of it far exceeded his initial imagination.

The information from the future mentioned that the "Thousand-Beard Ancient Tree’s" Talent, the "Root Network," grew extremely slowly.

But through distributed parasitism via these blessed Pet Beasts, it achieved an exponential expansion of its Perception and energy absorption.

Every host who joyfully received a "blessing" was unknowingly feeding this massive shadow with their own spirit and their Pet Beast.

Elder Huo was unaware of this highly confidential information. Only Gu Ming, through his system’s ability, knew in advance about the core Pet Beast ability of the Friends of Nature organization.

When the "Silent Assimilation" Domain unfolded, and two hundred thousand nodes across the country responded simultaneously, it would be enough to trigger a massive wave of Demonization in a short time.

And the Slicer Lin Yan, Mr. Tree himself, was not the key. He was just one of thousands of Demonized slices—an avatar. His Pet Beasts had all been infected and could be controlled and made to disappear by the mother entity at any moment.

Although Gu Ming knew about the Pet Beast Skills behind Lin Yan, this knowledge had no source of evidence, nor was there a record of how he obtained it.

It wasn’t appropriate to just throw it out there for everyone to study and formulate countermeasures.

At the same time, releasing the information could provoke the other side into unleashing their ultimate move.

So he had to consider it carefully. At the very least, he needed to fabricate a plausible process for how he acquired this knowledge before considering his next move.

...

In Zhou Capital South District, at an open-air teahouse suspended three hundred meters in the sky.

In the distance, the shadow of the Super Giant Sky Airport slanted down, dividing the city into four quadrants.

To the left was a steel jungle glittering with neon lights; to the right, a dim and crowded shantytown.

Flying Pets zipped between the skylines, occasionally crying out due to congestion.

After returning to Zhou Capital, Elder Huo went to this teahouse almost immediately. He sat across from two old friends, the fragrant aroma of tea wafting between them.

"That organization, the Friends of Nature," said Elder Xu of the Array Society, lifting his teacup.

"They recently applied for three ’Ancient Ecological Restoration Zones’ in the Southwest. The locations are quite a coincidence—all of them are on Ancient Battlefield Ruins."

Elder Xiao from the Ancient Books Institute pushed up his glasses.

"Last week, they bought several scroll fragments of the *Great Wilderness Beast Manual* from an overseas auction, claiming they wanted to build a ’Rare Species Document Library’."

Elder Huo gazed at a flying Giant Whale slowly descending in the distance, silent for a moment.

"They have branches in other countries too," he said slowly. "It’s all charitable research. Their books are clean, and their reputation is excellent."

"Too clean," Elder Xu said, tapping the table lightly.

"And too much of a coincidence," Elder Xiao added.

The three of them said no more, simply drinking their tea in silence.

The shadow of the flying whale passed over the teahouse, bringing a momentary chill to the conversation suspended in mid-air.

In this city filled with cyberpunk scenery, some questions, like the tea leaves swirling in their cups, had yet to settle.

...

「Early morning, in the community shop.」

When Gu Ming pushed the door open, Ruan Taibai was wiping the counter with a soft cloth. He looked up at the sound, and his eyes instantly lit up.

"God Gu!"

On the other side of the counter, Old Chen, sent by the Array Association, put down his teacup. He nodded at Gu Ming and said, "Is yesterday’s business concluded?"

"Yes." Gu Ming took off his jacket and hung it up. "The Beastmaster Administration Bureau confirmed it. The clues from the temporary residence and the energy residue from the forum site share the same origin."

Ruan Taibai had already deftly brewed a fresh cup of tea and brought it over, his voice filled with irrepressible admiration.

"God Gu, that Magic you used in the square yesterday to reveal the Ancient Divine Deer... my master at home later told me privately that even he might not have been able to see through that kind of disguise at first glance."

Gu Ming accepted the teacup.

"I just happened to have studied the relevant counter-Spells."

He looked at Old Chen. "What does the Association plan to do?"

Old Chen’s expression turned serious.

"Elder Huo’s instructions are clear—we must thoroughly investigate that temporary residence."

"The Friends of Nature may have vanished, but the places where they were active might still hold things we haven’t discovered."

He paused. "We plan to form a private investigation team locally. I’ll be leading it, and we need a consultant who has Mastery in Array detection."

Gu Ming’s gaze swept over the sleeping cubs on the shelves. He didn’t answer immediately. This matter concerned him, but organizing personnel was outside his area of expertise.

Ruan Taibai stood behind the counter, his fingers unconsciously tracing the edge of the ledger. He said in a low voice:

"God Gu, if you go... can I tag along and learn a thing or two? I’m familiar with that area, and I’ve met Mr. Tree a few times."

Old Chen looked at Gu Ming.

"Gu, Elder Huo has personally vouched for your abilities."

"Besides, you were the only one at the forum who had close contact with ’that entity’."

The shop was silent for a few seconds, with only the faint sound of a Snow Cloud Fox’s tail sweeping across the floor.

"When does it start?" Gu Ming asked.

"This afternoon."

Old Chen put down his teacup.

"The investigation team will have seven people. You’re the Array consultant, and Ruan Taibai will be the guide and handle logistics."

"The others are all Five-star Beastmasters from local families."

Gu Ming understood.

Although Elder Huo had initiated this and had the Array Association contact him...

...when it came to the actual operation, the list was filled with people from various major local families.

’It makes sense,’ he thought. ’This matter has wide-ranging implications, so it’s inevitable that local powers would want to get involved.’

He nodded.

Since they were willing to let a Four-star Beastmaster like him participate, it was the perfect opportunity to go to the scene and see it for himself.

In terms of professional investigation skills, he might not be a match for those Five-star experts.

But he had information from a "future" perspective. Perhaps he could notice things that others would overlook.

Just as he agreed, the system interface quietly updated:

[You have joined the civilian investigation team "Origin Trace."]

[The core members of this investigation team all personally experienced the Demon War 32 years ago and have conducted in-depth research on the Slicer, Mr. Tree.]

[The local site has completed its comprehensive survey. External detection permissions have been opened, and civilian experts are flocking to it.]

[You have been invited to join this team due to your direct confrontation with the "Slicer."]

A flicker of emotion crossed Gu Ming’s eyes.

’Looks like I’ll have a chance to leech some more future information after all.’

"When do we leave?" he asked.

"Three o’clock this afternoon," Old Chen said, standing up. "We’ll gather at the entrance of the local Array Association."

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