When he walked out of the Contract Room, since Director Zhao had left early, the transfer process was temporarily stalled, and Shao Zifeng didn't look for him again. He had some lunch in the school cafeteria and then returned to his rental house.
In the rental house, Shao Zifeng held a small watering can and added some water to the snake and lizard cages.
He took out a corn snake, and the gentle little creature nervously slithered between his fingers, which caught Qiuqiu's attention.
Qiuqiu climbed down from Shao Zifeng's shoulder onto his hand, curiously sniffing the corn snake, which remained motionless in fright.
Qiuqiu reached out a little paw and tapped the corn snake's head, making it even more scared, trembling as it coiled around Shao Zifeng's fingers.
Qiuqiu's vanity was greatly satisfied. It raised its little head and glanced at the house cat in the corner.
Qiuqiu jumped off Shao Zifeng's arm and went to play with its long knife handle.
The mutated house cat in the corner was still sleeping. The water in the bowl in front of it had decreased, indicating it had woken up in between, although its state still showed serious injuries, its breathing had become more stable.
After finishing all this, Shao Zifeng sat at the computer desk and extended his fair, slender right hand.
"Hiss~"
A fist-sized ball of flame burned and floated above Shao Zifeng's palm. Its temperature was slightly higher than ordinary flames, slightly distorting the surrounding space.
Qiuqiu, who was immersed in the joy of playing with the knife handle, felt the presence of the flame, opened its eyes to look at Shao Zifeng, and nodded in satisfaction.
"As expected of my Dandan!"
Shao Zifeng controlled the flame to slowly descend and land in his palm. The flame instantly spread, engulfing his entire hand, yet it didn't feel scorching at all, rather like wearing a warm glove on a winter's day.
Shao Zifeng controlled it, trying to expand the flame's coverage area, only to realize that covering his entire hand was already his limit. He shook his hand to extinguish the flame and began to recall what had happened in the Contract Room earlier.
At the moment he and Qiuqiu completed the contract, he felt a gentle force transmitting into his body through the contract with Qiuqiu. He felt the soreness from intense exercise slowly disappear under the soothing power.
Then his spiritual power began to surge. Unlike the initial enhancement of his physique, under the influence of the surging spiritual power, he clearly perceived everything happening in the Contract Room, and those people were recording his physical data.
Due to his lack of control over the surging spiritual activity, external instruments showed extremely high peaks and low troughs. Fortunately, before the third characteristic of the "Bonding reaction" strengthened, with Qiuqiu's help, he gradually controlled his spiritual power, keeping the fire element isolated outside, thus not revealing that he already mastered the fire elemental energy.
Although he did not expose himself in front of Chen Yixin and others, it also resulted in him having a half-baked understanding of the "Bonding reaction."
Shao Zifeng took out his phone, hesitated for a moment after entering the unlock password, and then opened the app with the X icon.
The interface inside was still as simple as ever. After briefly browsing various functions, Shao Zifeng found "AskHu" and entered "Bonding reaction" in the search bar.
After scrolling down the screen, he found quite a few related questions and randomly clicked on one.
"I have a friend who experienced some sort of 'Bonding reaction' during the contract. Could any experts tell me what that is?"
"Thanks for the invite. Currently at White Eagle, just got off the plane. At the airport café, I ordered a cup of 'Panama Esmeralda Geisha coffee,' waiting for my friend holding a major position at the White House to discuss the future of the international market... We have high hopes for the Daxia investment market. Right, what was your question again? 'Bonding reaction,' huh? Coincidentally, we just talked about 'Bonding reaction' during our chat. I can only say, it is a very common phenomenon. Every kid who contracts a pet beast in the White Eagle Federation experiences a 'Bonding reaction.' There is nothing worth making a fuss about."
"Which major group's heir are you? 'Bonding reaction' is very common? Why don't you show me a reaction with your face?"
"+1, please show me a reaction with your face to let us see. People from small places have never seen such things."
...
Shao Zifeng looked at the string of nonsense replies below and searched again, finally finding out what "Bonding reaction" means from a question asked a few years ago.
"Thanks for the invite. First of all, it is very rare for a Combat Training Master to experience the 'Bonding reaction.' If you experience a 'Bonding reaction' during your first contract, congrats, you've hit the jackpot. It will give you some of the abilities of your contracted pet beast, such as enhanced physique, increased spiritual power, and even some of the pet beast's abilities."
"Of course, if you think this means you can reach the top in one step, you are very mistaken. Not to mention whether the pet beast with which you experienced the 'Bonding reaction' has mastered elemental attributes. Even if it has mastered elemental attributes, you might not necessarily acquire them. Even if you do... though I would be very envious, after all, humans are not pet beasts. Even if you acquire a pet beast's abilities, you cannot learn their skills."
"Various national research institutions have conducted studies on Combat Training Masters who acquired elemental control abilities through the 'Bonding reaction.' The results are not satisfactory. Attaching abilities to long-range weapons, aside from the fact that it would damage the weapon material, the attached elemental energy swiftly dissipates when it leaves the Combat Training Master's range."
"Attempts have been made to use close-combat cold weapons to attach elemental power, but unfortunately, those cold weapons either melt into molten iron or shatter into powder. Let alone battles, would you not be afraid of destroying your own weapons?"
"Finally, don't lose hope. There are recent rumors that the country is making great efforts to develop new materials to conduct elemental energy. Perhaps in several years, humans can use various flamboyant effects in combat. In conclusion, personal strength might slightly improve, but it won't reach the strength of a second-order pet beast. That's all."
Shao Zifeng noted the time, five years ago. He wondered whether the so-called energy-conducting new materials have been developed over these years. Even if they were... if their displayed value didn't justify the investment, it would be hard for them to come into existence.
Shao Zifeng searched for new materials-related questions on "AskHu" again, but aside from some vague rumors, it was mostly experts boasting... it was unbearable to look at.
Placing the phone on the table, Shao Zifeng began to consider his future plans. Now he legally possessed the identity of a Combat Training Master, and besides that, he also had an underground identity. In terms of pet beasts, Qiuqiu was too special. This time he deliberately played weak; even if Qiuqiu didn't participate in battles in the future, others would likely think Qiuqiu had been abandoned.
In such a situation, he still needed a pet beast that could openly be seen.
Qiuqiu was already at the second order and close to its first evolution. After evolution, the ancestral reversion evolution of Qiuqiu would likely look very different from the Fire Lizard, it could then be used as the pet beast of "Cangfeng."
There was also the shadow of an unknown criminal organization looming over him recently. Shao Zifeng had twice disrupted their plans, albeit unintentionally, he could only hope they hadn't noticed him.
As he thought about it, Shao Zifeng's attention shifted back to pet beasts. What kind of pet beast should he choose?
...
"Husband, take care of yourself out there. The child and I will be waiting for you at home," Sun Xiaoyuan looked at Pei Yong, who was carrying a suitcase, with some reluctance.
"Wife, it's just a few days' trip. Don't worry, I will definitely be back before the child is born." Pei Yong took a step forward, embracing his wife, feeling her tremble slightly in his arms, he secretly clenched his fist.
He must come back alive.