Chapter 5: Work
“Dog’s Home.”
Looking at the signboard with three bold characters in front of him, Zhou Ming knew this was where he worked.
Because the pet shop mainly sold pet dogs, the owner simply named it “Dog’s Home.”
“Morning, Brother Wang.”
As he stepped into the hundred-square-meter hall, Zhou Ming saw that the shop’s veterinarian, Wang Lei, had already arrived early. He was a bit surprised, since Wang Lei was usually the last to show up.
However, Zhou Ming didn’t ask much and simply greeted him casually.
“Mm.”
Lifting his head to respond, the bespectacled Wang Lei—whose gold-rimmed glasses glinted faintly—returned to reading his newspaper.
Although Wang Lei was just an ordinary person, his identity, status, and income as a veterinarian were far above those of Zhou Ming and the others.
Seeing that Wang Lei didn’t want to talk, Zhou Ming didn’t force the conversation. He just prepared to start his day’s work.
His job was simple—cleaning up excrement, doing general cleaning, and feeding the pet dogs in the store.
“Morning, Zhou Ming! Had breakfast yet?”
Just as Zhou Ming picked up his tools to start cleaning, he saw Manager Wu coming down from the attic, holding a stack of promotional flyers in her hand.
“Morning, Sister Wu. I already ate before coming.”
Hearing her greeting, Zhou Ming replied with a smile.
During the two years his predecessor had worked at Dog’s Home, Sister Wu had taken good care of him and never showed any discrimination because of his background.
“That’s good. Be quick with your work today—the boss is coming by to inspect.”
“Got it, Sister Wu.”
After hearing her kind reminder, Zhou Ming immediately understood why Wang Lei had come in so early today.
Not long after Sister Wu left, the other staff members all arrived.
There was the sales clerk He Rui, who handled customer reception, and Wang Lei’s assistant, Guo Yong. The freckled He Rui and the crew-cut Guo Yong were the only couple in the store.
Then came the three groomers—Sister Cao, Sister Sun, and Brother Li, with Brother Li being responsible for medium and large dogs.
Including Zhou Ming, who handled the dirty and tiring work, that made up all the staff at Dog’s Home.
Once everyone had arrived and exchanged greetings, they each began their day’s work.
Because Zhou Ming usually focused all his attention on the path of the Beast Tamer, his relationship with the others wasn’t close—they were merely coworkers under the same roof.
Normally, Zhou Ming just silently did his own work and never got involved in store matters. At most, Sister Wu would ask him to help distribute flyers.
To Zhou Ming, this arrangement suited him just fine. He was naturally introverted and preferred avoiding trouble.
Although this was Zhou Ming’s first day officially working at Dog’s Home, with the help of his inherited memories, he didn’t cause any trouble and the day passed as calmly as usual.
The only noteworthy event was when the boss brought his ten-year-old son to pick out a large dog as a birthday gift, while also inspecting the store’s condition.
The boss was a nearly forty-year-old man, rather plain-looking, but Zhou Ming didn’t dare underestimate him. He was an Apprentice Beast Tamer who controlled an adult Ironfang Dog.
In his predecessor’s memory, Zhou Ming had once seen that Ironfang Dog—it stood about one and a half meters tall, its powerful frame capable of explosive strength. Its claws and fangs could easily tear through ordinary iron plates.
Without high-powered firearms, any ordinary person facing an Ironfang Dog was courting death.
Time slowly passed in the monotony of work. By nightfall, the noisy pet market finally closed, returning to silence.
Occasionally, a few howls broke the quiet, stirring other pets to join in chorus.
After finishing dinner provided by the store and cleaning up the last of his duties, Zhou Ming began his walk back to his small rented room.
“A boring and dull job. Fortunately, I’ve condensed my Spiritual Seed—otherwise, I wouldn’t know how much longer I could endure this life.”
Lying on his musty bed, Zhou Ming finally allowed himself to relax.
At this moment, he felt no dissatisfaction toward the juvenile Spiritual Seed within his Spiritual Sea.
After a short rest, Zhou Ming picked up a small paper box beside him. Inside was a common white mouse.
He had bought it at the pet market on his way home. Since he was familiar with the sellers there, the white mouse only cost him a little over ten Union Coins—essentially at cost price.
Zhou Ming had chosen to use the pet mouse to test his Spiritual Seed because mice were gentle by nature. Their resistance against the implantation of a Spiritual Seed was much weaker.
He intended to gauge what kind of small animal he could currently control by assessing the difficulty of implanting the Spiritual Seed.
Indeed, Zhou Ming was very self-aware. He didn’t dare hope for anything larger than a small creature.
Aside from success rates, his wallet also couldn’t handle anything more expensive.
Following the knowledge in his memory, a grain-sized Spiritual Seed floated out from his glabella and drifted toward the mouse in his hand.
“Squeak… squeak…”
As soon as the Spiritual Seed entered the mouse’s brain, the mouse began to struggle violently, as if resisting its fate.
Unfortunately, Zhou Ming’s luck wasn’t so bad as to lose to a mouse. In just a few moments, the mouse quieted down.
Zhou Ming could suddenly sense an invisible thread connecting himself to the mouse in his hand. Through pure instinct, he realized that he could control the mouse’s life and death at will.
When he opened his clenched right hand, the mouse didn’t try to flee. Instead, it curiously studied the human before it.
“Come down.”
Although the mouse couldn’t understand his words, through that invisible spiritual thread, it instantly grasped Zhou Ming’s intent and climbed down obediently.
For the first time, Zhou Ming experienced the joy of being a Beast Tamer. He gave command after command, and when he eventually switched to communicating through intent, the mouse still responded perfectly. That was when Zhou Ming understood—spoken orders were merely habit.
What truly conveyed a Beast Tamer’s will to his beast was the meaning transmitted through the spiritual link.
Seeing the exhausted mouse collapse on the floor, Zhou Ming stopped further tests. He still needed this mouse for future experiments and didn’t want it dying prematurely.
He filled a worn cup with some water, added a few bread crumbs, and let his tamed mouse eat to regain its strength.
Zhou Ming didn’t bother watching over it. After all, the creature’s fate was already decided—there was no need to invest unnecessary emotion.
Seeing it was getting late, Zhou Ming picked up a towel and washbasin from the shelf, preparing to wash up and sleep.
In the following days, Zhou Ming continued his dull routine of working and returning home, conducting experiment after experiment with his Spiritual Seed each night.
Half a month later, he finally gathered sufficient data about his Spiritual Seed, ready to proceed with his next plan.