Soon, it floated along a direction as if it had sensed something.
Qiao Sang followed Xiao Xunbao through the bustling crowd to a waiting area that was filled with people sitting on public benches.
Almost everyone looked weary.
Even though a Spectral-type Pet that they had never seen before appeared nearby, everyone only gave it a glance before continuing to immerse themselves in their own worlds.
"Xun Xun."
Xiao Xunbao opened its eyes, showing a serious expression, and picked up the Emotional Energy collection bottle that its own Beast Tamer had handed to it earlier.
Then, with a gentle sniff, an invisible energy flowed out from the top of each person’s head, converging towards Xiao Xunbao’s direction.
Just as the energy was about to be sucked into its nostrils, Xiao Xunbao circulated energy within its body, making the invisible energy change directions and enter the bottle instead.
Qiao Sang watched intently as the people sitting on the benches appeared dazed when their energy was drained, then as if they remembered something, either checked the time or started chatting with relatives beside them.
So this is the reaction after negative energy is absorbed... As she was thinking this, she saw Xiao Xunbao had already started to sniff around and float towards another direction, so she quickly followed.
Meanwhile.
At the Augustus Competition Institute.
The audience watching the live stream couldn’t help but start discussing among themselves.
"This isn’t good, right? Absorbing the emotional energy of so many people at once, it’s easy to mistakenly absorb positive energy."
"They’re at the hospital, definitely all negative emotions."
"Not necessarily, I was pretty happy when I was there while my wife was giving birth."
"I was also quite happy the time I accompanied my friend to the hospital because he had hemorrhoids."
"I’m kind of tempted to report her."
"Don’t, it’s just your guess that they might absorb the wrong energy. I’ve never seen this kind of Spectral Pet before, and I want to see more."
Qiao Sang was completely unaware that Xiao Xunbao’s eager absorption of a crowd’s emotional energy had sparked such discussion among the audience. At the moment, she was standing three meters away from a certain department.
The door of the department was wide open with many people gathered at the entrance.
There was quite a commotion inside, and even someone with ordinary hearing could hear everything clearly.
"Smack!"
The sound of slamming on the table rang out, followed by an angry man’s roar, "What are you slamming the table for? How is it my fault that there are so many people for a follow-up? I’ve been waiting for two hours! You didn’t ask me a single question when I came in! Not looking at the X-rays, just prescribing medication! Have you even stated what’s wrong with my mom?!"
And then another older voice followed:
"I am the doctor! Are you questioning my professionalism?"
"Xun Xun~"
Xiao Xunbao showed an excited face, about to float over to absorb, when Qiao Sang stopped it:
"Wait."
"Xun Xun?"
Xiao Xunbao turned with a puzzled expression.
"Invisible this time," Qiao Sang said.
"Xun Xun~"
Xiao Xunbao made a sound, and right after, its figure vanished.
Half a minute later, the man’s voice suddenly became subdued:
"Doctor, I just want to know what’s wrong with my mom."
The older voice also softened:
"Your mother has come into contact with a Poison Splatter Scorpion, its breath is poisonous, causing irritation to your mother’s respiratory tract..."
"Xun Xun~"
As she listened, Xiao Xunbao, shaking the bottle in its hand, floated by.
"Let’s continue," Qiao Sang said.
"Xun Xun~"
Xiao Xunbao made a sound, then sniffed left, then right.
There were people with negative emotions everywhere in the hospital, including the obstetrics and gynecology department.
Qiao Sang stood at the door, listening to a pregnant woman arguing with her family inside.
"I told you I want a painless birth!"
"Don’t worry, I’ve already told the doctor that we want a painless procedure," her relative said reassuringly.
"Bullshit! I’ve seen the order form, what you call ’painless’ is just giving me an epidural, I still have to go through hours of labor to deliver, what I want is to find a Westie for fetal therapy! Let it separate the baby painlessly for me!" The pregnant woman sounded very angry.
Fetal therapy Westie... Qiao Sang, standing by the door and listening to the conversation, involuntarily thought of the information about that Pet Beast.
This species was quite popular among women on Chao Su Star, with almost every obstetrics and gynecology department in the Upper and Middle Districts owning one. It was said that during childbirth, as long as the Westie’s belly was pressed against the woman’s, the baby would move from the woman’s womb into the Westie, then get birthed through the Westie’s mouth.
The whole process was painless and did not cause any harm to the woman.
However, many families disagreed with the use of Westies for childbirth, saying that no child should be born through a Pet Beast’s body.
Xiao Xunbao, still invisible, floated inside.
A minute later, it floated out.
It seems there were indeed many negative emotions, taking so long to absorb... Qiao Sang thought to herself.
In the following hour, Xiao Xunbao hardly rested. After absorbing one person’s negative energy, it would always instantly find another.
With this rate of absorption, advancing to the top three didn’t seem difficult... Qiao Sang leaned against the wall, watching Xiao Xunbao absorb another batch of negative energy into the bottle while she pondered.
At that moment, a piercing cry rose from downstairs.
"Ah, such a pitiable man, to lose two children all at once."
"What about their mother? Why isn’t she visible?"
"I know this guy; he’s a corporate executive of a public company, already divorced from his wife. He had custody of the two kids. Life is so unpredictable, who would have thought something like this would happen."
"What was that Spectral-type Pet saying just now?"
"It said that the man only has a little bit of fear-based negative emotion," another viewer with a Spectral-type Pet remarked.
There was a sudden silence among the spectators.
A few seconds later, a voice broke the quiet:
"Under normal circumstances, if you lost two children, would you feel fear?"
"...I guess so," someone nearby said uncertainly.
"There might be fear, but not just fear," another spectator added. "Something is off with this man."
"Could it be that the Spectral-type Pet got it wrong?"
"Let’s wait for contestant 113 to come back and check if there was a mistake in the energy absorbed by her Spectral-type Pet, then we’ll know if it sensed correctly."
...
At Fredbert Comprehensive Hospital.
Crying like this, only feeling a tiny bit of fear? Is that possible? Normal? Qiao Sang pondered for a moment, then dialed the emergency number and relayed the middle-aged man’s situation to the operator.
"You’re saying that because your Spectral-type Pet only sensed fear, you think something is wrong with the man?" the operator confirmed.
Qiao Sang hummed in agreement: "It’s not normal to only have this kind of emotion in such a situation."
"Is there a possibility that there’s an issue with your pet?" the operator asked with a hint of impatience. "Somebody has just lost a pair of twins, and you’re suspecting them. Miss, allow me to remind you not to make a thoughtless emergency call based on mere speculation."
After speaking, the call was disconnected.
Qiao Sang calmly put away her phone.
This was indeed only her speculation; besides calling the authorities, there was little else she could do.
"Continue," Qiao Sang said.
"Xun Xun~"
Xiao Xunbao nodded its head and skillfully wiggled its nose.
Suddenly, a masked medical staff member approached and said:
"We do not allow the absorption of Emotional Energy in the hospital, please put away your pet."
Qiao Sang stared at the person’s exposed eyes, smiled, and asked, "Number 98?"
The medical staff member hesitated for a moment, then chuckled sheepishly:
"I didn’t expect you to recognize me."
With that, she took off her mask; it was the familiar black-haired woman from backstage.
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