Keeping silent on the rooftop, Wang Ling quietly listened to Wei Zhi and Loopy Toad’s conversation.

　　The man and the dog vigilantly searched every room in this house; it was a round, small-scale military factory with a lot of machinery and equipment. A lot of LYBs would typically be lying in wait in a place like this.

　　In the end, this was a shooting survival game. If you could survive until the end, there was nothing to be ashamed of even if you won without killing anyone. Thus, in this game, top and regular players had their own play styles.

　　Top players staked everything on their marksmanship, while regular players relied on their wits; principles or whatnot didn’t exist in this game.

　　Because the building Wang Ling was currently in was in the center of the safe zone, Loopy Toad and Wei Zhi were especially careful as they searched the house. It had obviously already been looted by other people, and as long as there was no one else hiding here, it would definitely be the most advantageous position in the current safe zone.

　　The only place to shoot at this building from was the crane, but it was already outside of range after the circle’s contraction, so this unpredictable factor could basically be eliminated.

　　Wei Zhi and Loopy Toad’s characters moved with their backs against each other as they finished searching the first and second floor; now only the third floor and the roof were left.

　　“Brother Dog, are you really going to leave in a bit?” Wei Zhi really felt that it hadn’t been long enough.

　　Two game rounds, even if they were quality rounds ¹ , at the most only took one and a half hours, which actually wasn’t enough time to enjoy playing to the fullest.

　　“Brother Dog, how about… I talk directly to your master?” At that moment, Wei Zhi suggested that Loopy Toad come clean; it was better to talk the situation over.

　　As a professional pet trainer, there were a lot of times when the relationship between a pet trainer and a spirit beast wasn’t like that between an owner and a pet. To Wei Zhi, an outstanding pet trainer should treat the spirit beast they had formed a contract with as a friend. This could only be beneficial in the long run, and was also a technique for enhancing rapport.

　　A lot of times, a spirit beast’s personality would indirectly reflect its master’s personality.

　　Looking at Loopy Toad’s personality, Wei Zhi felt that its master should be a relatively open-minded and outgoing person.

　　Actually, these bright words seemed incompatible with Wang Ling, but there was actually nothing wrong with what Wei Zhi had said — although Wang Ling didn’t open his mouth to speak, he at least had an active mind!

　　“No no no, it’s still better for me to go back…” Loopy Toad still felt a little fear; for some reason, as he moved his character from the first floor to the second floor, and then to the third floor, the feeling that it was being stared at by little Master Ling became stronger, as if he was gazing at Loopy Side on the side and listening to it speak!

　　“Alright then.” Wei Zhi flattened his lips and didn’t insist. Originally, he hadn’t intended to play games today, but he had been swept up by Loopy Toad’s momentum and in the end, his interest had been roused. Now that Loopy Toad had suddenly said it would be leaving shortly, he was disappointed.

　　Wei Zhi realized that he really did like Loopy Toad!

　　Although he was now already under immense pressure from insufficient spirit beast rations, even moonlighting as a spellmaster for spirit beasts, after his encounters with Loop Toad, Wei Zhi still desired in his heart to raise a dog!

　　Seeing Wei Zhi’s taciturn expression next to it, Loopy Toad suddenly said, “Worst comes to worst, we can look for an opportunity to connect online again. I bought a computer.”

　　Wei Zhi was stunned. “How did you get the money…”

　　Loopy Toad: “It was a business transaction with a compatriot.”

　　Wei Zhi: “…”

　　Wang Ling was startled at this reply. But very quickly he thought of a possibility; he felt that Loopy Toad’s source of income was most likely Little Silver. He remembered a chat with Grenade-Throwing Senior Immortal when the other man had brought up the issue of Little Silver’s living situation. That was because Little Silver ate a lot every day and always ordered take-out in bulk – Grenade-Throwing Senior Immortal had thus directly transferred one million into Little Silver’s card.

　　So Little Silver did have money, but as for why he and Loopy Toad had made a business deal, that was something Wang Ling needed to verify later.

　　Wang Ling had in fact come up with a lot of possibilities, and had felt that this was the most logical one since he knew that Little Silver and Loopy Toad had added each other as friends; when they had done so, Loopy Toad had even teased Little Silver a bit by showing off its leg.

　　Huaxiu nation’s mobile pay system was currently the most developed in the world and it was very convenient to transfer money online; it also amply accounted for why Loopy Toad had so much money.

　　Curious, Wei Zhi asked intently, “Then did you also spend money on that martial art?”

　　“Of course not, sale of this art is forbidden. A friend of mine gave it to me.” Loopy Toad shook its head; the spirit techniques and spells that Little Silver had given to it were already out of print and couldn’t be purchased anywhere.

　　That Basic Dog Skills volume in particular, which was probably the spirit technique which the holy Dog clan had been famous for back then, was something which Dog Saint had personally researched and which was very suitable for dogs to learn!

　　The third floor of the military factory was very wide, and the two of them chatted as they searched the rooms, completely unaware that Wang Ling was eavesdropping from the rooftop.

　　“So you’ve learned them all?” asked Wei Zhi again.

　　“No… I’m still studying them.”

　　Loopy Toad gave a sigh. “How can it be so easy?”

　　“Were you triggered after coming back from that Demon Hunters Association town the last time? I don’t remember you cultivating any spirit techniques before.”

　　Loopy Toad: “…”

　　Speaking on this topic, Loopy Toad was suddenly struck with sorrow.

　　It wasn’t that it didn’t know spirit techniques! It was that it couldn’t use them! All the arts and spirit techniques of the Sky-Swallowing Toad clan were currently stored in its brain, but none of them were suitable for Loopy Toad apart from the Space Swallowing Spell and Tongue Technique.

　　Loopy Toad felt it was like switching from a magician to a warrior halfway through a game, when you couldn’t use all your equipment and skills anymore.

　　Every spirit beast had its own traits, and there was no such thing as a close-combat warrior magician in the spirit beast circle.

　　“I’ve been fully concentrated on cultivating this art, but for my own protection, I still need to learn two moves.”

　　Loopy Toad groaned before saying, “I’m learning all this for the sake of my tribe!”

　　It sounded like a joke and Wei Zhi didn’t think too much about it, but it made Wang Ling think of something.

　　For the tribe?

　　Wang Ling suddenly thought he understood.

　　He thought of the first edition blueprint of the Gate Between Worlds which Daoist Guang had given to Loopy Toad, and coupled with its unusual behavior…

　　Wang Ling was now certain that whatever Loopy Toad was hiding, it most likely had to do with the Gate Between Worlds, or more precisely, it was something important that had to do with the Toad clan inside the Gate.

　　At this thought, Wang Ling directly exited the game.

　　“Brother Ling, you quit playing?” Grenade-Throwing Senior Immortal was stupefied.

　　“Mm.” Wang Ling nodded his head.

　　He had more or less guessed the ins and outs of the matter, so there was no need for him to continue playing, since his initial aim had been to pick out what Loopy Toad was hiding from him.

　　He sat in his chair and cupped his chin in contemplation for a while as he sorted out what he had just learned.

　　After about five minutes…

　　Grenade-Throwing Senior Immortal suddenly noticed something strange.

　　Grenade-Throwing Senior Immortal: “Huh? Brother Ling, it doesn’t look like your character logged off…”

　　Wang Ling: “???”

　　Grenade-Throwing Senior Immortal hadn’t exited the game, and he switched his view to Wang Ling’s character, whose body was unexpectedly halfway stuck in a nook.

　　He guessed that this was a bug created as a result of Wang Ling directly exiting the game.

　　If this was the case, no one would be able to discover Wang Ling at all!

　　“Holy shit, Brother Ling, we’re going to eat chicken!”

　　Grenade-Throwing Senior Immortal was stunned… even this was freaking possible?!