Beast Taming: My System is Bugged

3:00 PM. The side entrance of the Lanqi City Array Association.

When Gu Ming arrived, Old Chen and Ruan Taibai were speaking with five other people.

The five of them had calm and sharp auras; they were the Five-star Beastmasters from the various major families that Old Chen had mentioned.

Their faces held traces of cautious doubt, but they broke into smiles when their gazes swept over Gu Ming.

"Gu Ming, come over and meet everyone."

Old Chen called out, then proceeded to introduce three Five-star Beastmasters who specialized in different areas of investigation.

They exchanged nods, and the atmosphere was polite yet enthusiastic.

Everyone in Lanqi City knew of Gu Ming’s academic standing, and no one dared to show him disrespect.

The other two, Old Chen vaguely referred to as "observers sent from above."

A man and a woman, their temperaments were so quiet as to be almost cold. They only gave Gu Ming a slight nod without further interaction, seemingly unfazed by his academic prestige.

"Everyone, you all basically understand the situation."

Old Chen cleared his throat, his expression grave.

"At the site in the West Suburb, the association conducted a joint operation and combed through the area seven times. We used professional scouting Pet Beasts, Energy Field scans, and material residue analysis..."

"We used every method at our disposal, digging three feet deep, so to speak. Any obvious and valuable clues should have already been filed."

Lin Beastmaster frowned and interjected:

"Elder Chen, since they’ve already searched so thoroughly, won’t we just be..."

"Wasting our time?"

Old Chen finished his sentence and shook his head. "They searched for what was ’obvious,’ following standard procedures and existing cognitive frameworks.

"Those of you here today... some of you are skilled at perceiving extremely faint energy inertia, some have family-inherited Secret Techniques that can detect the residue of specific ’traces,’ and..."

He glanced at the two silent "observers."

"...we also have comrades with special experience and perspectives. Even if a clue seems worthless, it’s possible that we will be the ones to find it."

This explanation was relatively more acceptable.

The Five-star experts’ expressions relaxed slightly. After all, no one wanted to admit their efforts would be in vain.

The convoy set off, heading for the sealed-off, abandoned eco-plantation in the West Suburb.

Just as Old Chen had said, the scene was bizarrely empty, as if it had been "over-cleaned."

Inside the cordon, the ground was dotted with orderly excavation pits for sampling, as well as impressions and markings left by various instruments.

The doors and windows of several dilapidated buildings gaped open. They were completely empty inside—even moderately sized debris had been cleared away.

The air held the lingering smell of disinfectant and some kind of energy purifier, almost overpowering the natural scent of the earth.

The three Five-star Beastmasters immediately got to work.

Lin Beastmaster summoned a Pet Beast shaped like a Pangolin with scales that shimmered with a metallic luster, ordering it to burrow into the bottom of several of the deeper sampling pits to use its Perception.

Wang Beastmaster had her Water Element Spirit disperse into a mist that filled the buildings, capturing any subtle memories held within the water molecules.

Zhou Beastmaster shared the vision of a sharp-eyed goshawk, examining the entire area from high above for "scars" in the energy flow.

Their work was diligent and professional, but as time passed, their brows furrowed ever more tightly.

Lin Beastmaster was the first to shake his head.

"The energy inertia in the lower layers of the soil is extremely weak and chaotic. It’s been severely disrupted by multiple investigations and purifications, making it impossible to extract any useful directional information."

Wang Beastmaster and Zhou Beastmaster also reported one after another that their methods were yielding little result here. All their findings were essentially consistent with the official report, offering nothing new.

The man held a device resembling an old-fashioned film camera and scanned it slowly in different directions. Its screen displayed a constantly scrolling energy spectrogram that Gu Ming couldn’t understand.

The woman, meanwhile, used tweezers to very carefully collect nearly invisible dust samples from corners and cracks in the bricks, placing them in special sealed boxes. It all looked quite mysterious.

However, as time went on, the look of expectation on everyone’s faces was gradually replaced by confusion and disappointment.

Gu Ming, accompanied by Cyan Treasure, Ah Kun, and Ah Ji, strolled casually around the area. His calm gaze swept over every inch of the seemingly ordinary ground, mottled walls, and decaying wood.

He wasn’t particularly concerned with the others’ progress or conclusions.

His focus was split in two:

One half was anchored to the constantly refreshing barrage of comments from the system in his mind.

The other half, like the most precise scanner, was personally inspecting the scene that had been combed over repeatedly.

Although the officials had already "dug three feet deep," leaving no obvious clues, there were still minute traces being keenly picked up by certain individuals through the special perspective of the "future" civilian investigation team connected to his system.

The "future civilian experts" backing Gu Ming were either great masters whose own Power had reached the level of Six and Seven-stars, or they possessed rare Pet Beasts with extremely special Attributes and unique tracking and investigation abilities.

In the present day, every single one of their Pet Beasts would be considered a "masterpiece" that one could only hope to encounter by chance, never seek out.

As he walked, Gu Ming stopped in a corner.

The ground beneath his feet had been completely turned over, leaving only a layer of slightly darker, compacted black soil exposed to the air. It was completely unremarkable.

However, it was this very patch of ordinary soil that had triggered a strong "reaction" from a master and their Pet Beast in the Future Perspective discussion.

A comment scrolled past:

"Investigation Team 3’s Tong Youni has locked onto trace remnants of the Ancient Divine Deer’s droppings. It is initiating the Soul-Chasing Ceremony to trace its recent movements."

Gu Ming had heard of the Soul-Chasing Ceremony before.

It was an extremely profound and ancient Secret Technique that could use a specific medium to summon the residual Spiritual echoes of a related target for a brief "interrogation."

A Pet Beast performing this technique could then interpret the vague information carried by these Spiritual echoes.

To wield such Power, a Pet Beast needed to possess both the "Mystery" Attribute and a "Prophecy"-type Talent.

Either ability was rare on its own; possessing both was a one-in-ten-thousand occurrence.

Gu Ming took note of this, but as far as he could see, the scene was so clean there wasn’t even a decent-sized pebble, let alone the "droppings" mentioned in the comments.

Suddenly, the section on the Demon Suppression Spell he had studied at lightning speed a few days ago surfaced from the depths of his memory.

The essence of the Decurse Technique that Cyan Treasure had mastered was to invoke the Light of True Wisdom, washing away falsehood to reveal the true nature of things.

It was perfectly suited for breaking through disguises and revealing hidden essences.

’Perhaps... this is the perfect time to try it.’ A flash of inspiration struck Gu Ming like lightning.

"Cyan Treasure," he called out softly. "Use the Demon Suppression Spell to illuminate this spot."

Cyan Treasure raised its small head, and a solemn glimmer appeared in its glass-like eyes.

"Demons and wraiths, sins in hiding."

Gu Ming began the incantation in a clear human voice, each syllable seeming to strike against an invisible barrier.

Simultaneously, a profound serpent tongue resonated on the mental plane.

"With a sovereign will, I command you: be revealed!"

Once the incantation was complete, a pure, gentle radiance suddenly flowed from the gaps between Cyan Treasure’s scales. It spread out softly, suffusing the black soil beneath and the surrounding air.

The official cleanup had been nothing short of thorough; there was practically no "disguise" or "Concealment" in the conventional sense.

However, the Light of True Wisdom had another wonderful use: it could illuminate the deep imprints of things that had "existed."

Even if the trace itself had vanished, the "aura trail" it had once adhered to could be briefly revealed under the light.

Sure enough, where the light flowed over the ordinary black soil, a few minuscule and barely perceptible spots began to faintly emanate an unusual aura—one so faint it seemed ready to dissipate in the wind.

The aura was turbid and ancient, carrying a hint of rotting vegetation and stagnant Spiritual Qi. It vaguely matched the description of "droppings residue" from the comments.

Gu Ming’s gaze sharpened, and he immediately took out a pair of specialized gloves and a sealed sampling bag from his utility pouch.

He crouched down and, with extreme caution, used tweezers to collect the soil from those faintly glowing spots, along with a small patch of the earth beneath, sealing them in the bag.

Spiritual Power flowed between his fingers as he carefully examined it with his Perception. The sample itself had no active Energy Fluctuation; it was like a dead object.

But the fleeting glimpse of the "manifested aura" was enough to prove its extraordinariness.

He stood up, turned to the team members who were still busy nearby, held up the sealed bag, and announced loudly:

"Everyone, I’ve found something over here. I’ve collected a special soil sample. Its texture and residual aura are a bit unusual."

"Does anyone have connections to a top-tier testing facility where we can get this analyzed?"

As he spoke, Gu Ming thought that this was very likely the droppings of the Ancient Divine Deer.

And its bloodline was related to the Ancient Forest Deer species from a previous era.

An ordinary testing lab probably wouldn’t be able to produce the results he wanted.

Gu Ming didn’t want to slow things down. It would be best to get it right in one go, lead everyone to the Ancient Forest Deer bloodline, and push the investigation forward.

Therefore, it would be best for a university with archaeological expertise to perform the analysis.

With that, Gu Ming thought of Red Moon University, which was renowned for its archaeology program.

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