12 Resonance

The Bloodsiphon Tarantula's jaw continued to close in, and it was moments away from chomping on Shao Zifeng's head.

At that moment, the ball of flame that had been protected in Shao Zifeng's hands suddenly vibrated violently and swelled into a massive, blazing fireball.

The Bloodsiphon Tarantula managed to stop in time, and the inertia that carried its massive frame caused its claws to draw sparks on the ground. It used its forelimbs to guard its head as it slowly took a few steps back.

The blazing fireball disappeared as fast as it appeared and rapidly shrank back into the armadillo lizard's body after a few moments.

The alley fell back into darkness again, and it felt like it was darker than before.

Rat tat tat...

Without the threat of the fire, the Bloodsiphon Tarantula opened its mouth and charged over again.

In the darkness, a pair of radiant eyes suddenly opened, and two orbs of flames burned within the pupils.

The little guy nudged Shao Zifeng with its head before it pulled away from his embrace, shooting at the Bloodsiphon Tarantula like a bullet.

The frenzied Bloodsiphon Tarantula saw the little guy coming at him, and it was excited. It swallowed the little guy whole and instantly clamped down its fangs, preventing the little guy from escaping.

Seeing this, a conniving arc formed on Shao Zifeng's lips.

A trace of panic flashed past the originally manic eyes of the Bloodsiphon Tarantula as bursts of flames shot out from the gaps between its sharp fangs.

Then, its head and abdomen bulged hideously like an overinflated balloon.

It was in so much pain that it looked up to the sky and cried as it tried to spit the little guy out. However, it was too late. The moment it opened its mouth, a blaze of fire blasted out of its mouth like a beam, and its eight eyes simultaneously exploded one by one as tiny flames shot out of them.

The Bloodsiphon Tarantula's abdomen swelled to the extreme, and its tail suddenly exploded as a thick pillar of flames was unleashed from its rear, sweeping across the alley.

Soon after, the atmosphere in the alley became calm again. Only the sound of crackling and burning alongside the stench of charred flesh marked the ferocity of the battle.

Shao Zifeng caught the little guy jumping at him and held it in his hand. He stared at the bare armadillo lizard gently before he laughed out loud.

The armadillo lizard had wanted to look for Shao Zifeng so that it could act like a baby. With sparkling eyes and its emotions already boiling, it was dumbstruck by Shao Zifeng's laughter.

It scratched its head with its little paw in a jittery manner, and the little guy instantly froze.

Something was not right about the sensation.

The little guy held its little paws before its eyes, and they were bare.

Then, it touched other spots with its trembling claws.

It was bald, totally bald.

The little guy immediately lost all spirit as it collapsed into Shao Zifeng's hands. Its eyes were blank, and it resembled a totally wasted lizard.

○|￣|_

Shao Zifeng ignored the overly dramatic little guy as the light spots rotated at the edge of his eyes.

Name: South African armadillo lizard

Growth: Infancy

Status: Light injury, atavistic bloodline

Strength: Level 2

...

Potential: ★☆☆☆☆

Talent: Parch. The darling of the fire element. Faintly attracts the fire element around its body. Able to affect a small area. This talent will grow as it grows stronger.

Skills: Defense, Flame Breath, Flame Manipulation

Description: Atavistic bloodline activated. Its proud draconic bloodline will not recognize cowardly kin because weakness is not a reason for cowardice. Only by having the courage to face challenges will the bloodline be activated.

Its strength had been upgraded to Level 2, and it had learned the Flame Manipulation skill. Even the fatal injuries it had suffered before were fully healed. It looked like that was the benefit of the draconic bloodline's activation.

After Shao Zifeng learned that the little guy was not in any serious trouble, he breathed a sigh of relief. A moment of silence later, he looked at his left hand.

Upon careful inspection, the light spots did not move. Immediately, something seemed to manifest in Shao Zifeng's mind as he closed his eyes and tried hard to perceive it.

"Ahhh, I'm so angry. My beautiful scales have all been shattered. Tsk tsk, I'm not pretty anymore." After a while, a familiar consciousness took form. Of course, Shao Zifeng translated it as that of the little guy.

The moment he sensed this consciousness, Shao Zifeng promptly opened his eyes and looked at his left hand again.

The light spots started to slowly rotate before they increased in speed.

Name: Human

Growth: Growing

Status: Minor injuries

Strength: Unknown

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Mammal

Order: Primate

Family: Hominidae

Attribute: Unknown

Potential: Unknown

Talent: Resonance. Even when apart, your hearts are connected. When your emotions affect others, you will also be affected by the emotions of others.

Description: Lucky bastard.

Sure enough, when he saw the talent description, the inexplicable emotional influence from before could now be explained.

The previous battle had also benefited from this talent. When his emotions resonated and synced with that of the little guy, they could understand each other's inner thoughts. The charge into the Bloodsiphon Tarantula's mouth was just an accidental idea he had formulated. Following the idea's inception, the little guy charged forward with grim determination.

The Bloodsiphon Tarantula's carcass had been burned to an empty shell, yet it still maintained its powerful posture. Several burning fragments lay scattered around the scene.

Sensing that his body had almost recovered, Shao Zifeng put the little guy, which was playing dead, back into his pocket.

He then prepared to leave.

The battle earlier had caused quite a commotion. Ordinary people might not have dared to approach, but they might have notified the officials to come over and investigate.

It was a location in the old city, and under normal circumstances, the officials would not arrive that quickly. Nevertheless, staying there would be courting trouble. One needed to know that using unregistered pet beasts in battle was not a small crime.

Furthermore, judging from the Bloodsiphon Tarantula's description, someone had very likely released it into the wild.

Thinking of the news he saw in the morning, Shao Zifeng limped away while he supported himself on the wall with one hand.

...

Shortly after Shao Zifeng left, two figures, one tall and one short, appeared before the Bloodsiphon Tarantula's carcass.

"We're too late," the tall person said in a hoarse voice after a moment of silence.

"It's just a test subject. We've only lost some time," the short one replied indifferently, with a female voice.

"The Daxia officials are becoming even more stringent in their search for us. We don't have much time to waste." The tall man paused for a moment and continued, "Daxia's Mutant Administration Department (MAD) has been lured by someone else to Dongcheng. So who was the one that destroyed our experimental subject? Get your Blood Mastiff to sniff that person out."

The short woman shrugged, then drew her finger across the void.

A translucent crack appeared before them, and a long-haired black mastiff that was half the size of a man rushed out of it. The mastiff excitedly circled its owner twice, wagging its tail non-stop.

The woman rubbed the Blood Mastiff's head affectionately. "Xiaohua, remember the scents here and find all of the people who have been here recently."

The Blood Mastiff licked the woman's hand as it raised its head and twitched its nose, sniffing the residual scents there.

Boom!

At that moment, a ball of fire exploded not far from the Blood Mastiff, knocking it over.

The Blood Mastiff slammed heavily onto the ground and struggled to get up, trying several times without success.

"MAD? Impossible. Aren't you guys in Dongcheng?!" The woman quickly ran to the Blood Mastiff as she looked around for something.

The tall man summoned his pet beast as well and took a defensive stance.

...

Atop a building not far away, a tall figure watched the two people in the alley. The figure's white coat fluttered in the night breeze, as he pushed the frame of his glasses, the reflection in the lens flashed past.

The man sneered, "Get rid of them."

Boom!!

Flames rose up and brightly lit half of the night sky in the old city.