Monster Pet Evolution

When Gao Peng returned to the mountain villa, the first thing he saw was a yellow bundle of feathers hurtling towards him. He was immediately flattened to the ground by an excited Goldie.

Gao Peng glared at the duck. “Do you still want your dried fish?!”

Goldie nodded furiously. “Yes!” it said excitedly.

Gao Peng got to his feet and brushed the dust off his pants, muttering irritably, “Come with me.”

He then called Stripey over and got on its back. Along with Goldie, all three of them left the mountain villa. Ever since the match’s results had been announced, Goldie had been in a constant state of excitement.

Ever since it had been a little duckling, Goldie had understood the fundamental fact of life that anything that was inside its bag belonged solely to it. By this logic, all the insects that could be found in the mountains didn’t belong to it, as they could be eaten by other monsters at any time.

When they came to a halt outside the redemption center, Gao Peng said to Goldie, “We won’t be going in with you. The lottery ticket was bought with your familiar identification card. Only you can go in and redeem the prize.”

Goldie looked at Gao Peng curiously. “Quack?”

“It’s your prize. Go in and get it yourself. I’m not coming with you,” said Gao Peng, making it as simple as possible for the duck to understand.

…

Normally, people would wear masks over their faces, and sometimes even animal costumes, to hide their identities as they redeemed prizes in the redemption center.

Incidentally, Goldie, who was just as tall as an average human being and always put on its yellow coat when it went out, looked just like any other person who wanted to redeem their lottery tickets.

There weren’t a lot of people in the redemption center at that moment.

A couple of workers rushed towards Goldie when they saw it enter the place.

“Good day. Are you here to redeem your prize?”

“Quack.”

“Sir, please speak up.”

“Quack.”

“…”

“Security, security!” One of the workers began calling for security.

Bang. Goldie slammed its lottery ticket on the counter, puffed up its chest, and glared down at the workers.

“Er…” Upon realizing that he had been about to make the greatest mistake of his career, the worker immediately bowed and apologized to Goldie.

“Sorry for the misunderstanding, sir. I’ll need to see your identification card first, please,” said the worker politely.

After rummaging in its bag for a while, Goldie pulled out its identification card and pressed it into the worker’s hand. The worker was caught off guard by how heavy the duck’s wing felt. He took a closer look at the card. It read, “First generation familiar identification card. Name: Adamantine Duck. Registration no.: 5811919.”

The worker was speechless.

Is this a prank? he thought. Why are you showing me an identification card for a familiar?

“I’m sorry, I need to see your identification card…”

“Quack!” said Goldie, impatiently waving a wing at him.

There was a moment of silence between the two of them. Soon, the worker realized that before him stood an actual duck, not a person wearing a costume.

After much fuss, Goldie was finally allowed to redeem the prize.

Familiars who gambled were rare, but not altogether nonexistent. Like humans, they too were prone to developing bad gambling habits.

“How did it go? Did you get the money?” asked Gao Peng while glancing at Goldie’s bulging sling bag.

Goldie slapped its wing over its bag. “Mine!”

“All right, I know it’s yours,” said Gao Peng, patting Goldie’s head. “Besides, I’m earning way more than what you have right now. I don’t need to steal from you.”

While giving Gao Peng a perfunctory quack, Goldie opened the bag and stared greedily at the stacks of money in it. It had never seen so much money in its life.

After dinner, Gao Peng sat on the sofa and watched a show on television to kill some time. Just then, Goldie clambered up on the sofa and began massaging Gao Peng’s shoulders submissively with its wings.

“What is it, Goldie?”

“Gao Peng, you’re the most handsome, featherless thing I’ve ever seen in my whole life,” said Goldie.

Gao Peng chuckled and patted Goldie’s wings. “Try to keep that to yourself. It’d be bad form to have you openly praise my good looks outside.”

Goldie continued massaging Gao Peng’s shoulders. After a while, Goldie asked, “Gao Peng, do you have any intel on the next match?”

“Of course I do. Wait, are you thinking about buying another lottery ticket?” asked Gao Peng, looking at the duck out of the corner of his eye.

Goldie nodded excitedly.

“Gambling’s not good, you know,” said Gao Peng, shaking his head. “I just let you place that bet for fun. You’d better not get yourself addicted to gambling.”

“No, of course not,” said Goldie firmly.

“All right then. Get some sleep. And don’t start getting any funny ideas inside that head of yours,” said Gao Peng, gently patting Goldie’s head. Just then, his phone rang. He answered it immediately.

“Hello… Yes, this is Gao Peng speaking.”

“Zheng Xiao? Yes, I know him. He’s one of the Huaxia region’s more promising contestants. Sure, I can make time to have a meal with him after his match.” Gao Peng hung up with a faint smile on his face. It had been Zheng Xiao’s father on the phone. Judging from his tone, the man seemed to have a great deal of respect for him. He also sounded like he sincerely wanted his son to build a good rapport with Gao Peng.

This was quite normal, seeing that Gao Peng had revealed to the world not too long ago his identity as heir to the Southern Sky Group and a genius monster trainer who would turn nineteen in a month.

Naturally, there was no shortage of people who wanted to get on Gao Peng’s good side.

Gao Peng remembered Zheng Xiao as a tall, gangly young man who didn’t speak much and was always glued to his cell phone in a corner.

Saying that Zheng Xiao was a promising contestant was a bit of an exaggeration. He was, at best, mediocre as a monster trainer. However, given that he had managed to make it to the tournament’s second round, Gao Peng had to admit that he could still be nurtured into an outstanding trainer.

Goldie was still looking at him unblinkingly when he hung up. “What are you still standing there for? Go to sleep.”

Goldie begrudgingly waddled back to its room. It turned restlessly in its bed and looked at the moon outside its window the whole night. This was the first time it had experienced insomnia…

The next day, Gao Peng went back to the stadium.

Goldie came out of its room with two heavy bags under its eyes and looked for Stripey around the villa.

“Stripey, I need your help.”

Stripey turned away from its elementary math homework. “Chirrup?”

“You’re the most educated familiar I know,” said Goldie.

Stripey’s legs tapped excitedly on the ground when it heard the duck’s praise.

Then it looked curiously at Goldie. The duck had rarely talked to anyone when it first joined the team. Like Dumby, it had always preferred to sit in a corner and stare at nothing in particular.

Why is it so talkative now? Stripey wondered.

However, there was truth to Goldie’s words. Stripey was indeed the only educated familiar on Gao Peng’s team.

It silently thanked Gao Peng for letting it learn so much.

“What kind of help?” In an effort to imitate Gao Peng’s dignified posture, Stripey raised its upper body slightly and folded its front legs together.

“Help me write, ‘All-in on Zheng Xiao.'” said Goldie as it placed a wooden board before Stripey. Last night, Gao Peng had said that Zheng Xiao was a promising contestant. Only a fool wouldn’t bet on him!

Stripey narrowed its eyes at the duck. “Are you going to bet on him?”

“What? No, I’m just a duck. Why would I bet on a human being?” said Goldie nervously.

“Hmph. If Gao Peng finds out about this, leave me out of it,” said Stripey.

“All right, I will,” said Goldie, thumping its chest with its wing. “I’ll treat you to some dried fish when I win!”

Stripey began scratching out the words on the wooden board with one of its legs, sending bits of wood flying all over the place.

In the afternoon, a feathery yellow figure entered the Happy Betting Shop and threw a wooden board on the ground. “Quack!”

Brother Chen widened his eyes at Goldie. You again.

The duck had left a deep impression on him.

Yesterday, it had bet on Zhang Yi’s ten-minute victory, which had actually happened! Brother Chen had been completely taken aback by this. He still remembered that the payout percentage was 97 to 1. That’s a lot of money, he had found himself thinking back then.

He had also become curious about Goldie’s mysterious master. He or she must have been quite the gambling expert to be able to foresee such an outcome.

Brother Chen picked up the wooden board. All-in on Zheng Xiao?

He looked at the second round’s schedule. The fourteenth match of the second round was between the Huaxia region’s Zheng Xiao and Great Britain’s Benoit.

The payout ratio was 1:6, which meant that the betting shop didn’t think that Zheng Xiao had a great chance at winning.

Brother Chen couldn’t help but respect Goldie’s master for taking on such odds.

Goldie placed all of its money on the counter. “Quack!” it said, waving its lottery ticket at Brother Chen. It was now feeling light on its feet, as if it was standing on cotton.

Hmph, I don’t need your stupid intel, Gao Peng. I can make lots of money on my own! it thought.

Goldie went back home, feeling like it was now the richest duck on the planet.

When Gao Peng came back home in the evening, Goldie waddled to him and showed him the lottery ticket. “Gao Peng, look at this. How much money can I make with this?”

“What?” Stunned, Gao Peng snatched the lottery ticket from Goldie’s wing.

Gao Peng’s face twitched when he read what was written on it. “Did you buy this?”

“Yes!” said Goldie happily.

Gao Peng sighed and looked at Goldie sympathetically. “Why did you spend all your winnings on Zheng Xiao… Are you really that daft?”

“What?” said Goldie in confusion.

“I’m sorry, but you won’t be getting a cent back,” said Gao Peng, patting Goldie’s wings consolingly.

“What did you say? I lost?!” said Goldie, its eyes widening in surprise.

“Zheng Xiao lost his match this afternoon. You spent all your money for nothing,” said Gao Peng, shaking his head. “No dried fish for you.”

He left Goldie standing at the entrance, alone and despondent.