With her head down, Bai Meiyue finished her meal in silence. She wanted to speak to her mother but unfortunately, she knew that her mother wouldn't talk to her even if she was to confess the truth. She finished her meal and quietly got up from the chair before heading back to her room.
However, the second she stepped inside the room, a sudden chilly breeze wafted over, making Bai Meiyue shiver. She looked down at the floor, which was covered in ice and was stupefied. What happened? Did she not close the window or did someone break it? But after a second thought, she realised that it was impossible.
The windows of her room were perfectly sealed, as Bai Meiyue knew that in the apocalypse the size of mosquitoes would turn as big as an eagle. Thus, she deliberately sealed off the windows of the penthouse. Forget about the giant mosquitoes; even an ability user would have a hard time breaking it, so how was it possible for a sudden breeze to break it?
It must be something else.
Bai Meiyue frowned and looked around the room warily. At first she didn't notice anything amiss but that was until she noticed Ciyi's cage. The once steady cage was broken into pieces, with metal and scraps scattered all over the floor. Noticing the pieces of the cage, Bai Meiyue immediately walked over to investigate.
She was worried that someone or something snuck inside her room to hurt the poor thing but that was until she touched the bars of the cage. The freezing metal still had lingering spiritual energy. Her eyes widened sharply as she whipped her head behind her, wanting to check the entire mess in the room.
Because she was worried earlier, she didn't notice it but now that she was staring at the frozen ice, she realised that there was indeed some mana frozen inside of the ice shards.
"...Ciyi?" Bai Meiyue called out the name of the little thing. Though she had a sick suspicion of what went down, Bai Meiyue still suppressed that particular feeling and turned to look around the room carefully.
When she didn't hear a response, she once again called the little pup. "Ciyi!"
This time around there was a soft whimper and Bai Meiyue turned to look in the direction from where the sound came from. Realising that it was coming from underneath the bed. She crouched down and found the little pup hiding under the bed with her ears pressed at the back.
When Bai Meiyue saw that the little pup was doing alright, she heaved a sigh of relief. She patted the space in front of her and called out, "Alright, you little naughty girl. Come out now."
Ciyi eyed Bai Meiyue warily and whimpered.
Bai Meiyue was about to pull her out when she heard the pup speak.
That's right. Ciyi actually spoke!
At first Bai Meiyue didn't understand what was going on. She blinked her eyes and questioned in a soft voice, "Ciyi, what did you say just now?"
The little pup repeated, which left Bai Meiyue shell-shocked. Though Bai Meiyue had seen a lot of things in the apocalyptic world, she had never seen a speaking dog before. As far as she knew, there was no such thing in her past life.
She blinked her eyes and looked at Ciyi before saying, "You —you talked?"
"I talked?" Ciyi raised her head and looked at Bai Meiyue with shock in her eyes. However, a second later the little pup realised that she indeed talked and even understood what Bai Meiyue was saying to her.
She was so shocked that she didn't even think twice before crawling out of the bed and rushing towards Bai Meiyue. With her tail wagging, she said to Bai Meiyue, "I can finally talk with you, master."
"That's right, you can." Bai Meiyue blinked her eyes and looked at the little pup who was jumping around her and questioned in a calm voice, "Do you know how you did it?" though she was panicking inwardly, she still tried to calm herself down without showing any signs of panic on her face.
It wasn't her fault. After facing all kinds of things in the post-apocalyptic world, she was just used to accepting such weird happenings.
Ciyi paused. She tipped her head slightly up and then replied with an honest voice, "I ate the glowy thing."
"That's right, the glowy red thing." Ciyi nodded and turned to look around the room. Though she was a special pup, she was still a pup, and her attention span was not long.
It took a while for Bai Meiyue to realize what Ciyi was talking about. She blinked her eyes and searched around in the space pocket and sure enough, she didn't find the core that she took out from the mutated dog.
So— if the beasts were given the core of mutated animals, would they turn sentient?
Bai Meiyue was certain that there was a 50-50 chance of either of the two things happening. Just like how humans would either turn into zombies or ability users after being bitten by the zombie, animals too might turn into a mutated beast or a sentient being.
"What are you thinking, master?" Ciyi raised her little head and looked at Bai Meiyue who crouched down and said to her, "Nothing."
She stared at the little pup before saying to her, "Don't try to speak in front of others. If you do, then I am worried that someone with bad intentions would try to hurt you."
Though Bai Meiyue was really excited after finding out the use of the beast core, she was also worried. Ciyi was one of a kind at the moment; if someone heard her speak, Bai Meiyue was certain that they would not let go of her.
"Don't worry, Master. I know that humans are bad," Ciyi agreed with a low whimper. Only then did Bai Meiyue remember that Ciyi didn't have a good owner before she was thrown in the pet shop after three days of purchase.