"This week's winning numbers are 03, 06, 18, 23, 25, 27, the last number is 08... let's repeat, 03, 06..."
Listening to the sweet voice on the radio, Shao Zifeng looked at the numbers again in disbelief.
He couldn't help but sigh.
Sure enough.
The main trend of lottery winnings didn't change, but one number did. That tiny change caused a seven-figure jackpot to shrink to four figures instantly.
Shao Zifeng put down the lottery ticket, feeling a bit depressed. Even though he was mentally prepared, he couldn't help but feel disappointed.
Hmm.
Looking on the bright side.
He still had a three-thousand-yuan prize, enough to cover two months of living expenses.
Coming back to life and getting two months of living expenses as a bonus.
How thoughtful.
After some mental adjustment, Shao Zifeng prepared to check the lizards he didn't get to examine yesterday.
Who knows, maybe there would be a pleasant surprise waiting for him.
[Name]: Green Long-tailed Iguana (Juvenile)
...
[Family]: Iguana
...
[Description]: In the wild, survival itself would be an issue.
After placing the green long-tailed iguana back into the acrylic drawer and tagging it as a waste of money, Shao Zifeng turned to the next one.
[Name]: Leopard Gecko
...
After placing the last lizard back into the drawer, Shao Zifeng sighed helplessly.
But thinking about it again, it made sense. After all, this batch was somebody else's discarded ones; finding one with great potential here would be bizarre.
Among the dozens of reptiles in the snake cabinet, only the round spot viper hatched from an egg could be considered a true mutant creature.
With this thought, Shao Zifeng glanced at the round spot viper discreetly, a bit guilty.
Selling it would be good; his kidney had a shadow because of this guy.
Hmm?
At that moment, Shao Zifeng's gaze accidentally swept past the fish tank in the corner, reminding him that there was still a little waste of money he hadn't identified.
Not only had he not identified it, but he had also forgotten to feed it.
Perhaps because he endured a night of high latency, Shao Zifeng wasn't in a hurry to identify it.
He took down a plastic box, tweezers, a small brush, and a towel from the snake cabinet and sat down on the floor in front of the fish tank.
Seeing Shao Zifeng approaching, the South African armadillo lizard inside stepped back fearfully.
"Little guy, come, let's do some exfoliation first." With that, he reached into the tank to grab the little creature.
The South African armadillo lizard panicked even more, immediately biting its tail and curling into a ball.
Shao Zifeng's hand paused, and he felt a moment of dizziness. His memories drifted far away as if seeing a young boy curled up on the ground clutching his head.
Shaking his head to dispel those memories, Shao Zifeng sighed.
His expression gradually softened, and he gently picked up the ball, brushing its scales softly with the small brush. "You little heartless creature, I feed you and put a roof over your head, yet you fear me..."
The armadillo lizard lay in his warm palm, feeling the comfortable sensation on its scales, and gradually relaxed its body.
It lifted its head, its big, dark eyes looking at Shao Zifeng in bewilderment.
Just as Shao Zifeng was about to say something, a light blue screen unfolded before his eyes, with lines of dark blue text appearing on it.
[Name]: South African Armadillo Lizard
[Growth]: Juvenile
[State]: Healthy, Hungry, Bloodline Ancestor
[Power]: First Level
[Phylum]: Chordate
[Class]: Reptile
[Order]: Squamata
[Family]: Agamidae
[Attribute]: Fire
[Potential]: ★☆☆☆☆
[Talent]: Dry Aura: A child of fire elements, it attracts the weak fire elements around it, affecting the immediate area. This talent can grow with the creature's power.
[Skills]: Defense, Fiery Breath
[Description]: It contains a trace of dragon blood within, but in its current weak state, even as a lighter, it lacks wind resistance.
Shao Zifeng's hand trembled, and he stared at the information, completely stunned.
Five-star potential.
It turned out to be a five-star potential mutant creature, and it was the legendary bloodline ancestor evolution.
Though he wasn't sure if there was a higher potential than five stars in this world, he'd learned over the past two days how rare it was to encounter a high-potential mutant creature.
Among the dozens of reptiles in the snake cabinet, only one three-star round spot viper was found.
Even with artificial breeding intervention, the chance was excessively low.
Moreover, through his memories, Shao Zifeng knew the most precious thing about this armadillo lizard wasn't its potential but the bloodline ancestor evolution displayed in the status.
That was bloodline ancestor evolution.
As powerful as the great Xia, it possessed only twelve bloodline ancestor evolutions, collectively known as the twelve pillar beasts of the country.
Watching the South African armadillo lizard in his hand, Shao Zifeng's expression flickered indecisively.
The little creature seemed startled again.
Σ(°△°|||)︴
It bit its tail quickly, once more curling into a ball.
From the long tail, a pair of cautious dark eyes peeked at Shao Zifeng.
Seeing this scene, Shao Zifeng's memories were stirred once again. His head began to ache suddenly, as if something was breaking free.
Taking a deep breath, Shao Zifeng endured the waves of dizziness in his mind and forced a strained smile.
But the little creature seemed even more scared, curling into a tiny ball, its eyes hidden beneath its long tail.
Shao Zifeng's smile stiffened on his face. Shaking his head, he hoped to wake himself up.
He admitted that seeing the creature's potential had tempted him.
Suddenly, an unprecedented ambition emerged in his heart; he wanted to become a Combat Training Master.
But thinking of his mother alone at home and his own family background, he hesitated.
His mother devoted her entire life to him, fearing he would suffer, and coldly refused suggestions from relatives to remarry.
Facing bullying students, his mother even set aside the dignity of being a teacher to shout at them like a madwoman.
In this world, though Combat Training Masters held high status, they also faced great risks.
He was afraid.
Afraid that if something happened to him, it would leave his mother all alone.
Moreover.
His father, the deserter he'd never met.
Because of him, he and his mother suffered endless insults and humiliation...
"Ah!"
At this thought, a sudden sharp pain struck Shao Zifeng's head. He clutched his head with both hands, gasping heavily as he collapsed to the ground.
Deep within his heart, something seemed to break free, countless childhood memories surfacing, from another timeline and this one.
In both sets of memories, different faces did the same things to him—mocking, insulting, beating, and teasing.
The memories slowly merged, and Shao Zifeng's vision turned black as he lost consciousness.
...
"The coward's son is also a coward. Get up."
The frail boy was shoved out of the corridor and fell into a puddle. The pouring rain instantly drenched him.
Crack!
A bolt of lightning cut through the darkness, illuminating the scene and the boy's face.
His pale face held a smile, wet hair clinging to his forehead, with rainwater streaming down like a waterfall along his features.
The white shirt had some muddy stains, but the rain quickly washed them away.
The boy's smile seemed to infuriate the shadows in the corridor, twisting them into grotesque shapes like demons.
"Still dare to smile? Smash him to death."
"Beat him!"
A chaotic cry arose.
A sharp stone spun across the boy's forehead, leaving a trail of red that the rain washed onto his white shirt, leaving faint marks.
This seemed like a clarion call.
The shadows swelled and twisted even more, letting out piercing laughter.
"Trash, trash, your father is trash, and so are you!"
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Rocks flew through the rain, hitting the boy's body. He hugged his head and curled up, enduring the pounding pain.
But his face still wore that difficult smile.
Because his mother said, to be a man standing tall.
A man must spill blood but not tears.
The shadows' laughter and insults echoed in his ears, growing increasingly distant.
The wind subsided, and the rain stopped. At some point, all the surrounding noise vanished.
The swelling shadows slowly merged, spreading madly as if to devour everything.
Kneeling in the darkness, the boy's shoulders occasionally twitched, blood from his hair mixing with the rainwater, dripping onto the encroaching darkness and creating ripples.
"Do you hate?"
"Aren't you angry!"
"Let it out, vent all your humiliation and anger."
The tempting voice continually sounded in his ears. The boy lifted his head, confused, gazing into the darkness, slowly extending his thin, pale arm.
...
Shao Zifeng lay on the ground, clutching his head tightly, whimpering in pain. Invisible ripples emanated from his body, spreading negative emotions.
The South African armadillo lizard watched Shao Zifeng blankly. As the invisible ripples passed over it, it seemed to feel the man's pain, a destructive impulse rising in its heart.
The snakes in the cabinet became frantically agitated, hissing loudly.
No!
Not like this.
The armadillo lizard shook its little head, uneasy at the thought of the man causing such feelings.
He's not like this, not at all!
Since it was born and had a conscious mind, this strange two-legged creature had appeared in its world every day.
Feeding it.
Holding it in his arms, using strange things to wash its scales, though its timid nature always made it curl into a ball.
But it felt really comfortable.
So in its heart, Shao Zifeng was the gentlest person.
The invisible ripples grew denser, and the snakes in the cabinet turned red-eyed, constantly crashing into the acrylic panels.
The armadillo lizard was affected too.
But the feeling it sensed was one of wanting to cry.
To its young mind, the small fish tank and the room outside were its entire world.
In this world, a bipedal creature fed it and a bunch of legless creatures every day.
The little guy couldn't understand complex things.
It didn't know what emotions were.
But right now, it felt really uncomfortable, a mist forming in its dark eyes.
Gathering into droplets, they slid from the gaps in its scales.
Sizzle.
The droplets evaporated, disappearing into the air, a sensation it had never experienced before.
'You haven't fed me yet, how can you sleep?'
The little creature suddenly raised its head, letting out a tender roar of a young beast.
"Whee! Whee!"
Buzz!
The invisible ripples suddenly stopped spreading and swiftly retracted back into Shao Zifeng's body.