Warmth

Under Gong Cheng's lead, Du Yu arrived at the cafeteria on the east side of the dormitory building.

As if smelling the aroma of the food, Little Fox, who was curled up in Du Yu's hand, couldn't help but stick her head out and sniff.

"Go get some fire elemental pet rations." Gong Cheng reached for Little Fox and sat down on the dining chair. "I want Pop-Tarts. Say I want them."

"Okay." Du Yu hurried to the dining table to negotiate with the chef.

On the buffet-style long table were a variety of pet rations. It could be seen that the neatly arranged red bean cakes on the iron plate were probably fire-type pet rations.

"Coming~ I'll get a fire tung fruit biscuit."

Uncle Chef walked back with a bowl of sandwich biscuits and pointed at the QR code pasted on the side of the kitchen counter. "High-level fire-element pet food, 388 yuan!"

For a moment, Du Yu froze in place.

Previously, the teacher had said that this training was free. However, it was obvious that the red bean cakes on the iron plate were free. The single high-level rations had to be calculated separately.

Du Yu looked embarrassed. "Teacher Gong asked me to."

"Really?" Uncle Chef looked up. Gong Cheng waved his hand without looking up.

"Alright, take it away." Uncle Chef smiled and handed the porcelain bowl to Du Yu. "These are cheaper than the ones sold outside. The school gave us a lot of subsidies. If your demon pet likes to eat it, remember to stock up before you leave!"

Du Yu nodded, not daring to speak. He picked up the porcelain bowl and left. As he counted the number of sandwiched biscuits in the porcelain bowl, he couldn't help but feel his heart ache.

There were only eight sandwiched biscuits in the bowl. They were about the size of coins!

'Forty-eight and a half dollars each?'

Du Yu's emotions were a little complicated. When he returned to the dining table, Teacher Gong was still holding Little Fox's big tail and studying it carefully.

"Sob~" Little Fire Fox looked pitiful as she looked up at Du Yu. Her fox eyes were filled with grievance, but she couldn't escape Gong Cheng's claws.

"Interesting." Gong Cheng carried Little Fox by her big tail and passed her Du Yu's arms.

"Woo~" Little Fire Fox curled up in Du Yu's arms aggrievedly. She didn't even look at the small biscuits and kept rubbing against Du Yu's palm.

Gong Cheng got up and walked to the dining table. When he returned, he was holding a bowl of hot milk. He placed it beside the biscuits. "Feed it."

'Want me to wiggle and soak as well?'

With that thought in mind, Du Yu did the same.

He twisted open the small biscuit. The red jam inside was crystal clear. 'Is this what they call fire tung jam?'

As Du Yu soaked a biscuit in hot milk, he said, "Thank you, Teacher."

"Me want, too." Little Scorcher voice suddenly sounded.

"I remember, Little Scorcher. When Coach leaves, I'll secretly let you eat it, okay?" Du Yu tried to communicate in his mind.

"Oh," Little Scorcher replied softly, as if it was a pity, but she was also obedient and didn't say anything else.

Across the table, Gong Cheng said, "Your little fire fox isn't ordinary."

"Ah," Du Yu said, regaining his composure.

Gong Cheng said, "This little fire fox should be a mutated multi-colored demon pet. Do you know anything about multi-colored demon pets?"

Du Yu naturally knew how special his demon pet was. Little Scorcher had helped him choose it. He restrained his emotions and nodded gently. "Yes, I know."

Gong Cheng pointed at Little Fire Fox's big tail and gestured at the small tuft of fiery red fur. "You have to nurture it well. This Little Fire Fox is very spiritual and tenacious.

From its point of view, it's fighting against the heavens, against itself, against the laws of nature."

Du Yu said, "Oh?"

Gong Cheng said, "Among demon pets, there are always some special existences. The difference in color is just the appearance.

The real difference was that heterochromatic breeds always had a few aspects that were far superior to ordinary breeds.

It could be endurance, or strength, or agility, or other attributes. It might even be outstanding in all aspects."

Gong Cheng sighed in his heart, musing that the child was extremely lucky, and continued, "We both know in our hearts that it's impossible for the Demon Academy to give a variant to a newbie like you.

Therefore, when it reached your hands, it was definitely just an ordinary demon pet. And after signing the contract and having your help, the little fire fox is trying its best to transform."

Du Yu gently stroked the tuft of fiery red fur and nodded.

"Wuu," Little Fox whined, one of her little paws gently stepping on the small biscuit sandwich in the bowl.

She looked like she was saying, "Hurry up and serve me."

Sensing something, Du picked up a biscuit and soaked it in warm milk again.

A gentle smile spread across Du Yu's face as he watched Little Fox swallow the warm biscuit.

Gong Cheng said solemnly, "There aren't many postnatal mutated demon pets, but there are some. It's just that the probability of success in the end is very low. But even if there's a chance, you have to try your best!

From now on, you have to absorb as much of Little Fox as possible into your body and nourish it to grow. In addition, you have to ensure that Little Fox eats high-level fire-type pet rations.

It would naturally be better if it could have the assistance of rare and exotic fruits of the fire element."

Hearing this, Du Yu nodded silently.

Money… money!!!

It was killing Du Yu!

Gong Cheng continued, "The free pet food provided by the canteen is low-level. Take this meal as my treat. In the future, you need to buy this kind of sandwiched biscuit. It's more conducive to Little Fire Fox's growth. Don't delay it."

"Yes… yes." Du Yu's face was stiff as he nodded slightly.

"Why? Is the living allowance not enough?" Gong Cheng was not satisfied with Du Yu's reaction. "It's true that there's a lot of spending on demon taming, but this is the initial investment stage. We can't be stingy.

Make it clear to your parents that when your strength grows a little, you'll be able to rely on yourself. When you reach the level of a demon tamer master, you can earn money to support your family."

'A demon tamer master?'

Demon tamer disciple → demon tamer scholar→ demon tamer master.

So, he needs to reach the third level?

The two stages of disciple and scholar were both stages where one laid the foundation and strengthened one's physical fitness and elemental resistance in all aspects.

After reaching the third level, demon tamer master, Du Yu could condense the demonic aura and summon the elemental demon soldiers out of thin air.

This also meant that Du Yu could make and sell novice demon weapons for money.

It was beautiful to think about, but that day seemed very far away…

"Your little firefox works very hard. Don't let it down," Gong Cheng said earnestly. He patted Du Yu's shoulder gently, stood up, and walked out of the canteen.

Du Yu's heart ached even more as he watched Little Fire Fox eat elegantly and squint happily.

"Why are you sad? Is it because of me?" Little Scorcher's voice sounded in Du Yu's head. "I'm not eating anymore. Don't be sad, okay?"

Du Yu hastily picked up a biscuit. "No, not because of you."

Little Scorcher said, "Then why are you sad? Let me help you, okay?"

Under the contract, Little Fire Fox also sensed something. She turned her head curiously and saw Du Yu's complicated expression. Then she poked her head over.

"Wuu~" There was comfort in her coquettish voice. Her pink tongue gently licked Du Yu's face, leaving a faint milky fragrance.

"Thank you." Du Yu was filled with emotion as he secretly threw a small biscuit into his mouth.

Fox blinked, but she wasn't protecting her food.

In her mind, she thought it was only natural that the biscuits should be shared with her owner when they were so delicious.

If it were a human witnessing this, they would probably look at Du Yu strangely when they saw him fighting with the demon pets for pet food…

After all, demon pet rations were made for demon pets and with fixed ingredients. If demon tamers ate them, although they wouldn't die from eating them, they would have very little effect.

After eating the biscuit, Du Yu's expression was also extremely interesting!

The biscuits were normal biscuits, but the sandwich-fiery marmalade was abnormally sour. It was simply lemons that were countless times thicker!

Du Yu grimaced as tears welled up in his eyes.

"Oh ~ happy ~" As the biscuit entered his stomach, Little Scorcher's satisfied voice sounded in his mind.

Du Yu leaned his elbow on the dining table and hung his head. After a while, he picked up the hot milk at the side and drank it all.

Little Firefox: ???

She tilted her head and looked at Du Yu, her little head full of big questions.

"Sorry, sorry," Du said, sticking out his tongue. He casually picked up a biscuit and handed it to the little fox.

Little Fox took a step forward and howled, happily swallowing the sandwich cookie.

At the same time, a figure rushed in. "Second Brother!"

Du Yu lowered his head and wiped the tears from his eyes. "You didn't win," he whispered.

"Hmph!" Li Mengnan slapped Du Yu's shoulder. "I didn't lose either!"

Which was true enough.

Li Mengnan sat down and forced Du Yu to the side of the bench. She asked softly, "What did Teacher Gong tell you… Eh? What's wrong?

How old are you? Why are you still crying?"

Du Yu turned his head to the side. "Teacher Gong discovered the red fur on Shal's tail. He said that Shal is fighting against fate and trying to transform into a variant."

"Huh?" Li Mengnan immediately shifted his attention and hurriedly picked up Little Fox's big tail to take a closer look.

Although the fiery red fur was less than the size of a finger, it was indeed different from usual.

"Really!" Li Mengnan was extremely excited. "That's great! You have to nurture him well. Did Teacher Gong say anything to note down?"

Du Yu said, "Teacher asked me to absorb as much of Shal into my body as possible and nourish her growth with my body."

"Then why don't you put away Shal?" Despite his words, Li Mengnan still held Little Fox's tail lovingly.

Du Yu nodded. "Wait for Shal to finish eating."

In his line of sight, Shal popped her head into the porcelain bowl and pulled out a biscuit sandwich.

Li Mengnan looked at the few biscuits left in the bowl and immediately stood up to walk towards the kitchen counter. "It's not enough. I'll order more."

"Hey, Li Mengnan!"

Du Yu obviously couldn't stop the energetic Long-legged Scholar. After a while, he heard the Chef's high-pitched voice again. "High-level pet rations, one each for fire and wind. A total of 776. Just scan the code."

"Isn't it free?" Li Mengnan was slightly surprised and turned to look at the table at the back.

Uncle Chef smiled. "Don't worry, we don't have special treatment. Teacher Gong bought that child's pet food. If you want free pet food, there's some over there."

"I see." Li Mengnan nodded. Seeing that the price was a little painful, she finally gritted her teeth and scanned the QR code to pay.

It seemed that she needed to contact her dad to support her.

Li Mengnan came from a divorced family. She had not seen her father since fourth grade.

However, every time she secretly asked her father for pocket money behind her mother's back, her father would be quite generous. In that case, her father should be doing well?

Li Mengnan picked up two bowls of pet food and seemed to understand why Du Yu was crying.

Was it because of self-blame, guilt?

Shal was trying her best to fight fate, but he didn't have the ability to take care of her?

Li thought about it and walked back.

Thinking back to yesterday outside the hospital supermarket, just a couple of dollars of produce, and Du Yu still stubbornly said that he wanted to return the money.

She sat beside Du Yu, picked up a small cookie, and held it to Fox's mouth. "I'm sure you can defeat fate and become a heterochromatic species."

Eat well and grow fast. All will be well.'

Hearing this, Du Yu turned to look at Li Mengnan.

In his impression, she was crazy and wasn't suited to such warm words.