Beast Taming: Starting From Zero

Qiao Sang tapped on the touchscreen of her computer, opening her private messages.

[User A]: Are you from Shengshui High School? How do you know so much?

[User B]: What's your price? How about 10 GB of resources?

[User C]: What do you want?

[User D]: I just wish I had money!

[User E]: I’ll give you three free water shrimp spa sessions, deal?

Qiao Sang scrolled for a while but didn’t see anything that caught her interest.

Turns out making money isn’t that easy...

Just as she was about to close the chat interface, a message on one of the open threads caught her attention:

Qiao Sang immediately replied:

[Qiao Sang]: Deal!

One hundred coins was still money! A no-cost transaction like this? No way she’d say no.

With a few clicks, Qiao Sang finalized the deal. Soon after, she received a notification confirming a transfer of 100 Alliance Coins.

Encouraged by her first successful sale, Qiao Sang’s patience was renewed, and she began combing through the rest of her private messages. Surprisingly, there were more offers than she expected.

Though most weren’t high bids, when added together, the earnings were enough to buy a bottle of E-grade energy recovery fluid.

For the first time, Qiao Sang experienced the joy of milking the small fish.

Her phone continued buzzing with notifications. Curious, she picked it up to check and was stunned.

What’s going on? Why is everyone tagging me?!

Opening her messages, she was bombarded with concerns:

[Bai Yunmiao]: Genius Qiao! Did you get selected for the senior high team? Someone’s selling your information online!

[Shi Gaofeng]: Your info got leaked!

[Zheng Guoping]: Your spot on the senior team is out. Come back to the junior team!

[Wang Yao]: Someone’s selling your data. Don’t worry, though. I’m betting it’s one of our own. I’ll find them. Selling you equals selling out our school, I won’t let them get away with it!

Reading Wang Yao’s message, Qiao Sang felt compelled to calm her down. She replied:

[Qiao Sang]: It’s just my information; no need to escalate this to a school-level betrayal.

Wang Yao responded instantly:

[Wang Yao]: You’re our school’s crown jewel! Selling you is like selling our pride! Whoever did this has no sense of school honor!

Qiao Sang scratched her nose awkwardly. Just as she was about to confess she was the one who sold the info, she remembered the two boys who had mistaken her identity earlier that day.

Maybe there is someone else leaking my info, she thought, typing back:

[Qiao Sang]: Don’t you have tasks today? Where’d you even get a phone in school

Wang Yao fell silent.

---

The next morning, Qiao Sang navigated to a nearby gold recycling shop, riding on Yabao.

“Xun~”

“Xum~”

On the way, Little Treasure held onto a small pair of golden gloves, his face filled with reluctance.

These are great! Do we really have to sell them?

At first, Qiao Sang laughed and explained how money was more important. However, Little Treasure kept complaining until she finally said:

"If you’re so reluctant, why not sell your gloves instead?"

She was bluffing, of course. Her gloves were custom-made solid gold, while Little Treasure’s were fake gold gloves bought online, they wouldn’t fetch much.

But Little Treasure immediately placed his gloves in front of her without hesitation.

Reluctant? Not at all!

Qiao Sang was speechless.

---

The gold shop was tucked away in an alley. Prime locations were reserved for pet-related businesses these days; a gold shop in a prime spot would only lose money.

Entering the shop, Qiao Sang asked, "Do you buy gold gloves?"

The shop owner, a woman brushing her White Sand Fox’s fur, glanced at her. “Got proof of authenticity?”

“Got it.” Qiao Sang pulled out her ID card and placed it on the glass counter.

The shop owner briefly scanned the card before pausing at the birthdate.

Fifteen years old?

I’d be a fool not to squeeze a good deal out of this kid.

The shop owner smiled slyly as she stroked her fox. “Gold’s at 345 per gram today. Want to sell?”

Qiao Sang narrowed her eyes. “This isn’t a legitimate gold shop, is it?”

“Kid, what nonsense are you spouting? I’ve got a license!” The shop owner retorted.

“Legitimate shops adjust prices based on the international gold rate. Today’s rate is 412 per gram.” Qiao Sang calmly replied.

The shop owner froze, stunned.

She looked up today’s gold rate?!

Trying to recover, she said, “Well, I need to make a profit too, don’t I?”

Just then, the White Sand Fox glanced at Yabao.

“Yap!”

Yabao bared his sharp teeth.

What now? You wanna fight?

“Shaa!”

The White Sand Fox whimpered, retreating behind its owner.

Panicking, the shop owner tried to placate Qiao Sang. “Fine! I’ll pay today’s rate!”

---

Twenty minutes later, Qiao Sang left the shop with 206,000 Alliance Coins.

Checking her account balance, she couldn’t help but marvel: Liu Qijia’s dad, what a generous man!

“Xun!”

Invisible beside her, Little Treasure looked down at his fake gold gloves with renewed determination.

I’ll take good care of these, they’re worth a lot!

---

Over the next few days, as the National Campus Beast Mastering League approached, Qiao Sang’s forum thread only grew in popularity.

Particularly heated were the Shengshui High School students arguing in the comments. And when other schools confirmed the thread’s claims, its credibility skyrocketed.

This led to Qiao Sang making small fortunes daily from selling information.

“Yap!”

“Buy!”

“Xun~”

“Buy!”

“Lu.”

“Buy!”

In just a few days, Yabao and Lubao maintained their figures due to training, but Little Treasure grew visibly rounder.

“You can’t go on like this.” Qiao Sang said. “The league’s coming up, and your weight will slow you down.”

“Xun~”

Little Treasure patted his round belly, teleported across the room, and wiggled a stubby finger.

Not a chance, I can teleport!

Qiao Sang sighed.

Just then, her phone rang. It was the vice principal.

“Two days from now is the National Campus Beast Mastering League’s preliminaries. Be at Training Field No. 1 tomorrow at 8:30 a.m. sharp.” Came his voice.