---
At this moment, Ye Bai's eyes were as striking as a wave of pink eye.
But after a few seconds, the blood-red hue faded, returning to their usual deep black.
Instinctively, he reached for the ancient jade hanging on his chest—a Ye family heirloom.
"Damn it, where did my ancestral jade go?!"
The rope tied to it was as thick as a hemp stalk—there's no way it could've been stolen.
Considering the strange change in his eyes just now, Ye Bai quickly connected the dots: the heart-shaped ancient jade might be the legendary Exquisite Heart with Seven Apertures.
Though he didn't fully understand the treasure's grade, he speculated that it was at least legendary-level.
"This priceless treasure... has finally landed in my hands!"
Ye Bai's heart pounded with excitement. A chill surged from his chest to his eyes. The soreness he had felt earlier while using the Eye of Insight vanished instantly.
"No wonder... Li Weiyang was always so cautious when using the Eye of Insight."
"This must be like those ninja eyes—if you overuse them, you go blind."
"Looks like it's a matter of pupil power... and the need to replenish it."
"Still, the Yanguo Alliance has systems for managing awakened Eye of Insight users. They must have countermeasures."
"The talent is extremely rare, but I heard that Duan Tao, president of Imperial University, also awakened it."
"He's been researching it for years—he probably developed medicine to ease the eye strain."
Ye Bai muttered to himself.
He glanced over at the Lightning Cat in the cardboard box. The tiny creature was curled in a corner, trembling. Its fur clung to its body, slick with amniotic fluid, and its eyes hadn't opened yet.
"We'll keep the Lightning Cat in the breeding house for now."
"Da Hui, although this little one was abandoned, there's nothing seriously wrong with it. We'll find a suitable Beastmaster to adopt it."
"I've already uploaded its information during the physical checkup. If someone comes to adopt it, don't be sad."
Da Hui's expression fell slightly upon hearing that. He cradled the Lightning Cat carefully, as if it were a precious treasure.
He loved rescuing and returning abandoned beasts to the breeding house—especially furry ones like this.
This Lightning Cat clearly stole his heart.
Ye Bai couldn't bear to see Da Hui so down. He patted his shoulder gently.
"Don't worry, Da Hui. We'll find someone dependable."
"I've got a good feeling about it."
"Oh, right! Let me introduce my new partner—my freshly contracted beast, the Thousand-Change Silkworm."
A radiant, jade-white, one-meter-long silkworm emerged from Ye Bai's pet space.
"Thousand-Change Silkworm, meet Da Hui. He's like family to me. The rest are all shop pets."
Ye Bai had no intention of hiding the Thousand-Change Silkworm. If he had, people might've thought he was scheming.
Still, out of habit, Ye Bai used the Eye of Insight on it.
> [Beast Name: Thousand-Change Silkworm]
Level: Lv2 (First Tier, Level 2)
Skills: Charge, Spinning, Harden
Evolution Path: Thousand-Change Silkworm ???
"That's strange. Its evolution path leads back to... itself?"
"Even the Lightning Cat has two potential evolutions!"
"A rare beast like this should have more than one path... right?"
"Could I have a defective version of the Eye of Insight? But that's impossible—my system said it was a 100% copy."
"I'll need to visit the library and look up the talent in detail."
"I have to understand the limitations before word spreads."
Everyone talked about how amazing the Eye of Insight was... but so far, Ye Bai wasn't impressed.
His own intelligence system was more useful—it even knew about the university president's baldness!
The Thousand-Change Silkworm, energetic and curious after its nap, gazed at the other beasts like an inquisitive baby.
It didn't take long before it made friends with the shop pets. Despite its enthusiasm, it had a hint of social awkwardness. Da Hui smiled at the scene, enjoying the lively atmosphere of the breeding house.
Ye Bai's shop focused on honest sales. All pets were registered with transparent descriptions, including their flaws.
He believed pet beasts and Beastmasters needed to be compatible. If not, he wouldn't allow the pet to leave.
The shop's most popular beast was the Sunflower, a wood-type plant beast that resembled a giant sunflower.
It required minimal care—just sunlight and water. Its leaves were a core ingredient in the shop's explosive potion, and its nectar was considered a rare tonic.
A sunflower the size of a millstone stood in Ye Bai's yard. It was the shop's only second-tier pet beast, and all other sunflowers were its offspring.
---
That Night
Just after midnight, lines of text began scrolling on Ye Bai's panel:
Daily Intelligence Update
1. Research shows that placing a Sun Stone at the roots of a Sunflower may cause it to evolve into a Sunflower King. The higher the quality of the Sun Stone, the greater the chance.
2. At 5:45 PM today, a scratch card worth 10 yuan won a million-dollar prize at Lottery Station No. 24785.
3. Gray Night Totoro has an evolutionary path. Research suggests it requires thunder-type natural materials—like Thunder Core and Thunder Origin—to evolve into a Thunder Totoro.
4. A peak Level 3 Zhupolong in Jiaying City plans to undergo Dragonization in three months, activating its dragon bloodline to evolve into a Level 4 dragon.
5. At the Longteng Auction House, someone found a palm-sized Sun Crystal inside an ore scrap.
---
As expected, the information system refreshed every day at midnight.
Ye Bai's eyes focused on items 2 and 3.
The lottery win could help him with his current money issues.
More importantly, the third item offered a solution for Big Gray's evolution.
Lately, Big Gray had grown increasingly lethargic, sleeping around 12 hours a day.
Yet medical equipment couldn't detect anything wrong.
Ye Bai had a gut feeling something was off. Remembering that Big Gray had escaped from a private research facility, he suspected there was more to his condition.
Some pet beasts enter long sleep cycles to conserve energy when nearing the end of their lives.
Big Gray was more than a pet—he was family. Ye Bai couldn't bear to see him suffer.
That's why he was so determined to acquire the Eye of Insight: to uncover the truth behind Big Gray's condition.
But for some reason, the Eye of Insight didn't work on Big Gray.
In Ye Bai's vision, Big Gray was cloaked in mist—unreadable.
When he tried to push through, it was like staring into the sun. His vision went dark, and he was temporarily blinded.
He didn't know whether the fifth-tier treasure Seed of Life had helped Big Gray's condition at all.
Still, he was hopeful. At Shenshan High, resource boxes were distributed in order of academic rank—and Ye Bai had ranked first last semester.
That meant his chance of getting Box No. 38 was very high.