The sky outside the window was a blur of motion, trees and rooftops rushing past. A seatbelt hugged his chest tightly. Lin Fang shifted slightly, groggy, trying to understand what was happening until his gaze flicked to the front.

Zhi Yan was in the driver's seat, her eyes glued to the road. Beside her sat Li Liu, leaning slightly toward the center console, tapping on her comm-band as if sending updates. Both of them stiffened the moment he stirred.

"What the…" Lin Fang muttered, his voice hoarse. "Where are we?"

The car swerved slightly as Zhi Yan gasped, hitting the brakes slightly to slow down the car.

She turned around halfway, her face lit up with relief. "You're awake. Thank heavens… oh my god, I was starting to think…."

"Wait, wait," Lin Fang raised his hand groggily. "What's going on? Why am I… in your car?"

Li Liu also let out a relieved sigh and leaned back in her seat. "Long story short. We came to check on you to talk about something. You didn't answer when we knocked. Eventually, we opened the door… and found you unconscious, lying on the bed like you had just dropped dead. You didn't even respond to calls, water, or even slaps."

Lin Fang blinked. "I… what?"

Zhi Yan added, still breathless. "Even tried lifting you. But you weren't even twitching. We thought it was something that happened in the Spirit Valley in the morning, and you might be affected. So… we're taking you to the hospital."

"Wait… what? I'm fine," Lin Fang sat up straighter, adjusting the seatbelt. "I seriously am. I think I just… slept really deeply."

"One doesn't sleep that deeply, Lin Fang," Zhi Yan said firmly with her hands back on the steering wheel. "Anyway, sit tight. We are just a few minutes away."

Lin Fang opened his mouth to protest again, but then, from the edge of his vision, he noticed a glowing bar at the top-right of his system interface, still dormant in standby mode.

He frowned and thought, Open Notifications.

At once, the translucent interface slid into view.

Ding!

[First Training session completed.]

[+5% Cold Resistance (Passive)]

[New Passive Skill: Adaptation]

"Uhhh… what?"

His eyes widened as a new screen popped up.

New Side Quest Unlocked!

[Defeat the Guardian of Snow Villa Mountain: Frost Bear King

Reward: Snow Villa Mountain, Frost Bear Egg Token (Epic Grade), Twin Daggers of Xuanwu]

"Sh*t…" Lin Fang exhaled, barely above a whisper.

"Huh?" Li Liu turned in her seat. "What happened?"

Zhi Yan glanced at him through the rearview mirror.

"Nothing, nothing," Lin Fang quickly forced a smile, brushing it off. "I just… remembered something stupid from the dream."

Zhi Yan narrowed her eyes, but she didn't say anything. With a quiet nod, she faced forward again and resumed driving.

Lin Fang leaned back in his seat, releasing a slow breath as he closed the notification panel. "Seriously? I have to go to that place again? And even defeat that bear? Nah, I have enough monsters to sell. Forget it."

As the city blocks passed by in a blur, Lin Fang checked that his monster summons were automatically resting in the pet inventory. Once he confirmed it, he exhaled quietly and leaned back.

Meanwhile, at Xiao Family Estate;

Jiang Feng's grip on his chopsticks tightened until a faint crack echoed out; one of them had snapped in half. His face twisted for a fleeting moment. "Tenant…?" he muttered, barely audible. "I thought he was just a friend. Now, they live together under the same roof?"

Xiao Yun, his mother and the master of the villa, glanced at him from across the table, frowning. "Jiang Fei, what's with that expression? You've known Zhi Yan since you were children. Stop overreacting."

Jiang Fei didn't respond. He stared down at his plate, but he wasn't seeing food.

"Does he truly have that much potential that Master Li Chengfeng is interested in taking him in as a disciple? Mother, is he an innate soul?" he finally asked.

Madam Xiao tilted her head. "That's what Li Chengfeng said. The fact that one of the three Spirit Valley Kings is bonded to him indeed confirms it…" She trailed off as her voice turned uncertain. "If that young man really bonded with that evil spirit…"

Jiang Fei shot to his feet, his chair scraping harshly against the floor. "I'll handle it."

Madam Xiao's brows lifted. "Handle what exactly?"

"I'll meet him again," Jiang Fei said calmly, too calmly. "You know, talk face to face. If he's a threat… We'll nip it in the bud before it grows into a full tree."

His mother narrowed her eyes at him at that comment. "This isn't a competition over Zhi Yan, Feng'er. If he truly bonded with that spirit and he is in control and not the evil spirit, then you should do everything to bring him to our side, not go and suppress him."

He looked at her and his expression turned ugly, "Bring him to our side? That's not some divine spirit, Mother. That's an evil spirit king. How many hunters and tamers have managed to retain sanity after bonding with a spirit king? You can count them on your hand."

Madam Xiao Yun frowned as she stabbed the table with the chopsticks, "Feng'er, I warn you. Don't cause a situation that will force me to ground you. Unless Lin Fang is proven to be either a criminal or a member of a dark guild, you cannot hurt him. Just because one has the potential to be evil doesn't make them evil."

Jiang Feng pushed away the bowl and put away the chopsticks, not intending to finish the rest of the meal. "Don't worry, mother. I will not bring any trouble to the Xiao Family. You can be assured of that."

And with that, he walked off with his eyes gleaming with wounded pride. "Lin Fang…"

Later that evening, at a hotel in Longjiang City, Southern Yan;

Steam clung to the bathroom mirror as Shang Wei stepped out in a fresh bathrobe, toweling his damp hair. His room was quiet, save for the faint hum of city noise beyond the glass.

On the bed, a baby luminous panda dozed, curled up like a ball of fluff.

As Shang Wei passed by, the panda stirred, opened its eyes, and clumsily climbed down the blanket. It stood on its hind legs and lifted its arms in a sleepy gesture like a child.

Shang Wei couldn't help but chuckle at its adorableness. "Pandas are supposed to be solitary, but I got a clingy one."

Scooping it up with practiced ease, he walked over to the desk and flipped open his laptop. With the baby panda curled in his lap, he navigated to NovaMart, opening his bookmarks.

There were a few seller names, but only one with no verification badge. It's Fang Fang Pets. He clicked on it.

The baby panda curled itself on his lap, continuing its nap. Meanwhile, he was focused on the screen. "Let's see how many Pandas you put up for sale, Mister."

In fact, Shang Wei was the sole buyer of Lin Fang's items, monopolizing the purchases.

During the past week, he was the one who bought the Panda eggs for 15k credits and sold them at a much higher price. Even when they were put at 25k credits, he still purchased all four of them and sold them for double the price to his acquaintances, a couple of them at Peking City and the other two in Longjiang City, while on his business trip. And now, he is ready to purchase again.

But to his surprise, there was only one Luminous Panda, Blazing Panda, Terran Panda, and Electra Panda being put for sale, just as before.

However, they weren't the only ones.

Apart from those four, there are two more types of Panda eggs in the list. Hydro Pandas and Shadow Pandas

"Uhh… Seriously? Six types of Panda Eggs? What kind of experimental breeding center did this owner have? Moreover, the prices are once again raised, this time directly to 40,000 credits. Ugh… I guess he might have caught up to my actions. But I won't make much money out of these. Hmm… what to do…"

As he clicked on the items one after another, the details were displayed on the computer screen.

"Hmm… all of them have the same potential, just their elements are different. Well, I made like 300,000 in profits just by reselling them so far, but if I buy them at 40k each, I can only gain like 5k on one, it doesn't seem that viable for reselling anymore… Hmm… wait a second…"

A sudden thought came to his head, and his eyes lit up. "Before, I only thought of reselling them, separately to different clients, but there are six types of pandas here. I can market it as a Panda Tamer, selling all to one client, for a higher price, like a package. Before that, I need to somehow find a way to contact this seller. He definitely has a breeding facility or atleast knows someone with one."