Cao Yan was not at all worried whether Eggy could escape from the cave salamander’s pursuit or not.
Although Eggy was only at stage-two, it had the rare dark and shadow attributes. It would not be difficult for it to escape in the dark forest, even if its opponent was an elite demon beast.
Cao Yan had searched the Pet Trainer Association’s library for books on shadow attributes, but he could not find any. When he asked the fake system, its reply was vague and only briefly explained how the shadow attribute came about. It said that organisms born on the shadowy side would have this unique attribute and could blend into the darkness and shadows, as well as consume reality.
Cao Yan did not really understand what it all meant, but he knew that having the shadow attribute made it easy for Eggy to hide. It was also the best attribute to have when it came to playing hide-and-seek.
At that moment, Cao Yan glanced at the demon wolf. It had its tail right between its legs.
“Your mission has not ended. I will let you go when you’ve completed it.”
When the demon wolf saw Cao Yan talking to it, it inched forward cautiously, as though it was afraid that its master would get angry.
The demon wolf walked in front, acting as a pathfinder, while Cao Yan followed behind it as they left the pool.
After around 10 minutes, the demon wolf was on a tree, acting as a sentinel.
Cao Yan, with his fear of heights, unwillingly climbed up a tree again. He squatted on a branch and looked out into the distance with the help of the moonlight.
What he saw worried him. In the distance, trees were falling in an area. The ground shook, rising and falling like waves. It was all topped by a thunderous crash that could be heard clearly even though Cao Yan was far away.
It was as though there was a large magnitude earthquake in that area.
There were even whirlwinds in the sky… What exactly was going on?
He could sense Eggy there.
Cao Yan observed for a while more. However, his worries were slowly dispelled because he had figured out what happened.
That was the direction of the Qingyun Bird’s nest, which Eggy had previously shown him. Cao Yan was guessing that Eggy had lured the cave salamander to that bird’s territory.
Such a huge commotion could only happen when two elite demon beasts met each other.
Not long later, Cao Yan could sense Eggy approaching. It seemed like it was really fine.
Cao Yan came down from the tree, and soon after, a shadow came drifting over from the darkness. It rapidly transformed into Eggy.
The events transpired pretty much like how Cao Yan had guessed. Eggy had led the cave salamander all the way to the Qingyun Bird’s territory. Although elite demon beasts were highly intelligent, they still could not be compared to humans.
The cave salamander was repeatedly provoked by Eggy, and to make matters worse, the spider web sticking on it had dark attributes, which was corroding its body.
Because of that, the cave salamander went hysterical and was hot on Eggy’s heels.
In the end, Eggy swung quickly on its spider silk. With the cave salamander right behind it, the two dashed into the Qingyun Bird’s territory.
The Qingyun Bird had just laid its eggs a few days ago, so it was very protective of its young. The moment it sensed its territory being invaded, it flew out of its nest, bringing pools of whirlwinds with it towards Eggy and the cave salamander.
At that moment, Eggy activated its shadow attribute and disappeared silently.
On the other side, the two new mother demon beasts started attacking each other.
Eggy hid by the side, hoping that while the two elite demon beasts were busy duking it out, it could sneak a few eggs from the Qingyun Bird’s nest.
When Cao Yan sent a command to tell Eggy to retreat, it was still hiding by the battleground, thinking of stealing the eggs.
The Qingyun Bird and the cave salamander had been neighbors for very long and would often get into fights with each other. However, they would never go all out. After their battles, they would go back to being neighbors.
Eggy watched for a while and realized that both parties were not putting in much effort in the fight. Hence, it could not find a chance to sneak into the nest, so it eventually rushed back.
The time when the cave salamander and the Qingyun Bird were fighting, as usual, would be the best window to retreat. If they were to wait until the cave salamander returned to its cave and realized that a burglary had happened, it would definitely risk its life to fight against Eggy and Cao Yan.
The two thieves retreated quickly after meeting up.
Only then did Cao Yan remove the spiritual bridge with the demon wolf. It fled as quickly as it could after surviving the ordeal.
More than an hour later, at a particular area in the Everlasting Forest.
Cao Yan leaned against a tree as he vomited. While making their escape, in order to ensure their speed and secrecy, Eggy had stuck Cao Yan to itself while swinging in the air. They went up and down like a rollercoaster ride, causing Cao Yan to throw up.
He finally understood how tough it was to be a spider. Just overcoming the dizziness was a huge obstacle to him.
Eggy hid far away from Cao Yan, showing his disdain.
When Cao Yan entered the cave, he had discovered three cave salamander eggs. He took two and left one behind.
That way, the cave salamander would not go hysterical for losing all its eggs and start chasing them everywhere.
Leaving an egg behind was akin to leaving some hope behind.
Cold-blooded organisms like the cave salamander might give birth to a lot at one go, but once its beastling hatched, it would only choose to focus on rearing the strongest of the batch. The others would be driven out of the nest to fend for themselves. For many organisms, life was ruthless. They would have to go through the tough competition of the survival of the fittest the moment they were born.
Cao Yan did not feel guilty at all for taking two eggs. In fact, it was like making a decision for the cave salamander. With only one egg left, it would have no choice but to rear that one egg.
It was late at night, and it had been 12 hours since Cao Yan entered the forest.
Although the two eggs he had stolen were already in the demon balls, so their scent would not be left behind, Cao Yan still felt unsafe staying in the forest. The cave salamander might come searching for them. He decided to make the best of the time he had and complete the mission as soon as possible. That way, he could leave once the time was up.
The long night passed in a flash.
At around 5 am, it started raining again.
Cao Yan was squatting under a huge tree. The rainwater trickled down his hoodie and along his face. It was a little cold. During the past four hours, he had worked with Eggy to smoothly capture two more stage-two demon beasts with the beating method they had used on the Ground Armor Beast.
One of the two demon beasts was a multi-colored bird. Its feather coat was full of colors, and it had a beautiful crown on its head. It was a gorgeous avian demon beast.
Eggy crawled up to its nest while it was sleeping and kicked it, together with the nest, down. The spider even climbed into the nest to take a look, but there were no eggs.
The other demon beast was a large feline beast, the patterned tiger. They used the same method to capture it easily.
When the day was about to break, Cao Yan took a short nap under the tree. Once the rain stopped, they started looking for the fifth demon beast to complete their mission. After more than two hours of searching, they finally settled on a dinosaur!
To be exact, it was a demon beast that resembled a dinosaur, a Thundersaur. It might sound intimidating but it was actually only a stage-two demon beast. However, it was enormous and looked similar to a ceratop during the Jurassic period.
“Congratulations, you have captured 5/5 demon beasts within the stipulated time (Ground Armor Beast, Forest Leopard, Multi-colored Bird, Patterned Tiger, Thundersaur). 100 points have been awarded for accomplishing the mission.”
At around noon, after Cao Yan caught his fifth demon beast, the system notification appeared in his vision.
The timer counted down to zero just at the same moment.
Cao Yan was exhausted after staying awake for 24 hours. He could finally go back to make up for some lost sleep after completing the mission.