Bai Qianshuang nodded lightly.
"Chuan, since it doesn’t seem malicious, keeping a dog might not be a bad idea." Luo Xi had always been fond of pets, though she was a bit troubled by its size.
"It is a bit big, isn’t it?"
"Big" was an understatement—this thing wouldn’t even fit in the house. Its head alone was larger than the doorframe.
"Let’s hand it over to the Alliance for handling. We can’t keep it at home." Just as Ye Chuan was about to contact Wang Yanran to have the dog transported away, a familiar floating cube drifted out, emitting a weak voice.
"Hmm? What’s going on? Why is there such a huge monster at the door? No wonder the energy detector picked up fluctuations."
"Qianshuang picked it up." Recognizing Ke Ning’s voice coming from the cube, Ye Chuan briefly explained the situation.
"Interesting. Let it stay. I’ll use it as a test subject."
"You want to keep it too?" Ye Chuan was surprised.
Now, it seemed like everyone in the house was in favor of keeping it. Ye Chuan’s gaze shifted to Lan Xiaoke, who blinked innocently before raising her hand with a mischievous grin, singing in a playful tone,
"Yo yo, let it stay~"
"You guys…" Ye Chuan could only shake his head.
No way. Absolutely not.
Meanwhile, the massive black Shiba Inu in front of them panted heavily, wagging its tail so vigorously that the wind it generated even rustled the clothes drying on the balcony nearby.
It just smelled awful.
"There is a way," Ke Ning’s voice came from the cube again as it floated in front of Ye Chuan. "Ye Chuan, hold out your hand."
Hold out his hand?
Ye Chuan extended his palm, and the cube emitted a beam of particle light, materializing a flashlight-shaped device in his hand.
"Is this… a flashlight?" Ye Chuan was taken aback.
[Item: Shrinking Light
Effect: Can shrink any object
Usage Count: 1
1]
Huh?
This seemed like a pretty neat gadget.
"Stand three meters away from the target, aim at its center, and activate the device. Hold still and don’t move." Ke Ning’s instructions continued to come from the cube—she hadn’t even bothered to show herself, letting the cube handle everything.
Three meters…
Ye Chuan took a few steps back while Luo Xi and the others watched in confusion.
"Bzzz—" He switched on the device, and a beam of light shot from the flashlight, striking the dog.
Within seconds, the enormous canine began visibly shrinking before their eyes!
"It’s getting smaller?!" Luo Xi gasped, covering her mouth. Even though she had witnessed plenty of strange things lately, watching a giant black Shiba Inu shrink down was still a shock.
Soon, the once seven-to-eight-meter-tall beast was reduced to less than half a meter—now a perfectly normal-sized dog.
"Woof!" The now-regular-sized black Shiba seemed perfectly comfortable with its new form. It barked once before trotting over to rub against Bai Qianshuang’s legs.
"It really shrank…" Bai Qianshuang bent down slightly, gently stroking the dog’s fur.
"Such warm fur. Even the hunters under our sect’s protection couldn’t bring back pelts this fine."
The black Shiba seemed to understand her words, trembling slightly before moving over to Luo Xi.
"Chuan, can we keep it?!" Luo Xi lifted the dog excitedly, then turned to Ye Chuan with hopeful eyes.
"It’s still a monster of unknown origin. We should investigate it first," Ye Chuan said.
Initially, he had only agreed because Ke Ning wanted it for research. But now that it was so small and its aura wasn’t particularly strong, keeping it wouldn’t be an issue.
If anything went wrong, they still had Lan Xiaoke to handle it.
Close the door, release Xiaoke.
Let’s see who’s the real top dog.
But what intrigued Ye Chuan the most was the device in his hand.
The Shrinking Light!
"Ke Ning, do you have more treasures like this?" Ye Chuan was now brimming with anticipation for Ke Ning’s gadgets. If he wasn’t afraid of breaking the cube, he’d have tried replicating one for himself.
"I don’t understand. What do you mean?"
"This shrinking device—do you have more?" Ye Chuan asked.
"Oh…" Ke Ning had initially thought Ye Chuan was interested in the cube itself. Upon realizing he was only asking about the gadget, she replied dismissively, "That’s just a little toy I made. You can have it if you want."
"But it’s a one-time-use item, right?"
"Right. Since it’s useless now, you can take it."
Ye Chuan: "..."
That didn’t sound right.
"Shouldn’t you give me a working one?"
"Hah~ What a greedy man." The cube wobbled slightly, and Ye Chuan could almost picture Ke Ning yawning, utterly uninterested.
"I can recharge it, but you’ll have to agree to a condition."
"Oh? Really?"
"Mhm. We’ll talk later."
The cube emitted a glow before floating away.
With the Shrinking Light matter temporarily settled, Ye Chuan felt reassured knowing Ke Ning could recharge it. He was quite fond of these Doraemon-esque gadgets—each one had its own unique uses.
"Woof!" The black Shiba trotted over and nuzzled against Ye Chuan’s leg.
"You’re not shy at all, are you?" Ye Chuan could tell this dog wasn’t lacking in intelligence, though its appearance was no different from an ordinary dog.
"Grandma Lilith, what kind of monster is this?" Ye Chuan tried calling out in his mind.
Having an elder at home was like having a treasure.
—No, having a treasure at home was like having an elder.
Especially a loli elder.
Lilith didn’t respond. Whether she was asleep or deliberately ignoring him was unclear.
"Well, since Qianshuang picked it up, why don’t you give it a name?" Ye Chuan turned to Bai Qianshuang.
"Me?" Bai Qianshuang’s gaze fell on the black Shiba. After a moment, she spoke.
"Black Dog."
"Yeah, what name do you want to give this black dog?"
"Black Dog." Bai Qianshuang had already given her answer.
"That’s a bit too casual, isn’t it?" Ye Chuan’s lips twitched. "Isn’t it a little plain?"
"Plain…" Bai Qianshuang pondered for a few seconds.
"Then name it Black Abyss."
"Such a drastic jump?!"
"Miss Luo, what do you think?" Ye Chuan turned to Luo Xi for input.
"Fortune!"
"Ah, truly unoriginal. Next." Ye Chuan looked at Lan Xiaoke.
"Kebab!" Lan Xiaoke raised her hand.
[Black Dog] [Black Abyss] [Fortune] [Kebab]
"Alright, these are the four options. Which one do you like?" Ye Chuan asked the black dog.
The dog barked once before trotting back to Bai Qianshuang’s side.
"Black Dog?"
It immediately shook its head.
"Black Abyss?"
The dog nodded.
"Are you even worthy of such a domineering name?" Ye Chuan said skeptically.
Black Dog: "?"
Weren’t you the one who told me to choose?