Chapter 60: Scam Call
The Regional Tournament. As the name suggests, it is the largest competition within a given region.
Take the Yuhua region, where they are located, for instance. It comprises 11 provinces.
The city they are currently in, Hanggang City, is just one of the 12 prefecture-level cities in Zhehai Province, one of those 11 provinces.
There are two conditions for participating in the Regional Tournament.
First, participants must be under the age of 40 and have been certified by the Alliance as having reached the level of a C-rank Beastmaster.
This doesn't mean that all participants in the Regional Tournament are C-rank Beastmasters under 40.
Rather, these are just the minimum age and rank requirements.
While there is an age limit, the rank requirement is only a lower bound.
Second, participants must obtain qualification from the Beastmaster Center in their provincial capital.
Obtaining this qualification is quite tricky.
You have to pass qualification exams in every prefecture-level city in your province within a year.
Take Zhehai Province, for example. Each of the 12 prefecture-level cities has a specialized department within the local Beastmaster Center that conducts qualification exams.
The content of these exams varies, and each examiner has their own standards for evaluation.
If you're lucky and get a lenient examiner, they might just ask you to catch a thief to pass.
If you're unlucky and face a strict examiner, they might ask you to steal an egg from a dragon-type extraordinary creature.
Zhehai Province is relatively manageable with just 12 prefecture-level cities. On average, you have about a month to complete the exam in each city.
However, neighboring Yongwu Province has 18 prefecture-level cities, leaving only about 20 days to complete the exam in each city, something a regular Beastmaster can hardly accomplish.
In short, any Beastmaster who can pass all the provincial exams within a year is no ordinary person.
San Duo, who participated in this year's Yuhua Regional Tournament and achieved a respectable rank, publicly stated that he looks forward to encountering Qiao Sang in future Regional Tournaments.
This was an extremely high endorsement of her.
The livestream's chat exploded instantly.
[Is San Duo serious?]
[Am I about to witness the rise of a superstar?]
[No doubt about it, she's really strong.]
[Even if she qualifies for the Regional Tournament, San Duo would be over 40 by then.]
[The previous comment is savage, but I like it.]
[Tomorrow's headlines are set.]
In the guest area:
"This Qiao Sang may be young, but she seems very seasoned in battle."
"That retreat after the decoy move was brilliant. She didn't even have to give a command, it was clearly a pre-planned strategy."
"And that Fire Fang Dog, their coordination is so seamless that you'd never guess they had only recently formed a contract."
"What do you think about getting her to do a livestream?" The young female guest who had been silent until now spoke up.
"Livestream? What for? Sure, there's some buzz now, but after she loses the next match, people will forget."
"What do you think of Fire Fang Dog wearing sunglasses?" The young female guest asked
"Pretty cool." A guest beside her praised.
"I just opened an online shop selling sunglasses. If I invite her to do a livestream now, or more accurately, invite Fire Fang Dog to do a livestream, what do you think?" The young female guest continued.
Everyone's eyes turned to Fire Fang Dog, who was wearing a pair of purple triangular sunglasses in the arena.
"Feels... like it could work." The guest beside her hesitated before answering.
Qiao Sang had just returned to the stands with Fire Fang when Bai Yunmiao pulled out a pen and a pink, flower-bordered A4 paper from her shoulder bag, excitedly handing it to her. "Genius Qiao, sign this for me!"
"How do you have everything in that bag?" Qiao Sang couldn't help but complain.
"Hehe, the pen and paper were actually for San Duo, but I didn't get the chance to use them." Bai Yunmiao admitted, a bit embarrassed.
Qiao Sang: ...
"Were your parents arguing really just an excuse to come here?" Qiao Sang asked suspiciously.
"Why else would they call you Genius Qiao? You guessed it so quickly." Bai Yunmiao replied, her face turning red.
"I recently became a fan of San Duo, and when I heard he was a guest at the Bai Xin Tournament, I came."
Qiao Sang: ...
So she entered the competition just for someone else...
"Enough about that, Genius Qiao, sign this for me. Since San Duo said what he did, if you enter the Regional Tournament someday, this autograph could be worth something. I need to get it now while I can." Bai Yunmiao said, shoving the pen and paper toward her.
Qiao Sang didn't hesitate, taking the pen and just about to sign when she suddenly paused and looked up.
"How many sheets of paper did you bring? If I sign now, will you have paper left if you meet San Duo?"
Bai Yunmiao froze for a moment, then sheepishly withdrew the pen and paper, chuckling, "Haha, I forgot. I only brought this one sheet."
Qiao Sang: ...
After watching a full day of matches, Qiao Sang went home to review.
Dragon-type pets truly lived up to their reputation. If she hadn't secured an early advantage, the match would have been much tougher, given Little Dragon's attack and defense.
She had underestimated Little Dragon's defense today, thinking that Fire Fang Dog's Fire Fang would be enough to end the match.
If Little Dragon had used Iron Head to shake off Fire Fang Dog and then created distance instead of head-butting the ground, the match could have gone on much longer.
In the end, Fire Fang Dog's attack power just wasn't enough.
The remaining contestants all had intermediate-level pets, and she wouldn't have much of an advantage against any of them, meaning she would have to rely on tactics.
The three Beastmasters who owned two intermediate-level pets each had all successfully advanced after yesterday's research. If she faced any of them, tactics alone might not be enough to win.
Sometimes, sheer power can't be compensated for by strategy.
If she got lucky tomorrow and didn't face one of those three, she might still have a chance at a higher rank. Otherwise...
The nudging on her leg pulled Qiao Sang out of her thoughts.
She looked down to see Fire Fang Sog holding her phone in its mouth, nudging her with its paw.
The phone, still clutched in Fire Fang Dog's mouth, was lit up and vibrating, causing the fur on its face to quiver with each buzz.
It turned out someone was calling.
Qiao Sang suppressed a laugh and took the phone to see an unknown number.
She swiped right, ending the call.
A second later, the phone buzzed again.
It was the same number.
Without hesitation, Qiao Sang ended the call once more.
She didn't have a habit of answering calls from unknown numbers.
But the screen lit up again the moment she hung up.
Qiao Sang frowned slightly and answered.
"Is this Miss Qiao Sang?" A young woman's voice came from the other end.
"Yes, who's this?"
"I'm someone who sees great potential in you. Interested in a business deal worth tens of thousands? I'm currently at—"
Qiao Sang quickly pulled the phone away from her ear, hung up, and blocked the number.
Definitely a scam call.
Trying to trick her—what a joke.
In her previous life, she had been hardened by society. There's no way she could be fooled so easily.
Meanwhile, in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows on the 37th floor of the Yijian Building.
A young woman stared blankly at her phone, which had been hung up and now wouldn't connect.
Where did things go wrong...?