Chapter 56: The Flame Hound: How Am I Supposed to Show My Face in the Dog World Anymore!

The fangs of the Flame Dogs were enormous, easily as thick as half an adult man's forearm, which meant an ordinary small toothbrush was clearly inadequate for scrubbing them.

Besides, she had already checked the school supermarket, and the toilets brushes in this world were damn expensive!

A single one actually cost a whopping 8 credits!

Therefore, she had no choice but to head to the back mountain, chop off a piece of wood, and craft one with her own hands~

"Well, since it's for your use anyway, self-produced and self-marketed is so much more cost-effective."

Taking advantage of its unguarded moment, Qian Qi plucked a tuft of fur from the Flame Dog and said with a grin, "Right?"

"Awooo?"

Suddenly feeling a chilly patch on its body, the Flame Dog turned its head, saw a bald spot on its hide, and looked with terrified eyes at Qian Qi, who was once again reaching out her demonic hand.

Flame Dog: !!!

Are you trying to kill me?! Why are you plucking my fur?! How am I supposed to fit in with the dog pack looking this ugly from now on?!

Before long, the human and the dog in the room were in a chaotic uproar—one frantically scrambling on all fours, dodging the demonic claws in absolute panic, while the other chased behind with a hideous grin, wildly and maniacally pulling out fur. The scene was a chaotic symphony of miserable shrieks and excited cackles.

A flurry of dog fur drifted across the room and landed right on the nose of Liu Wangda, who was standing at the doorway with his jaw dropped in shock, causing him to sneeze uncontrollably.

Holy crap, this junior student was way too hardcore!

Where on earth did Uncle Li dig up such a freak of nature?

However...

Trembling with apprehension, Liu Wangda opened his optical computer and sent the video of Qian Qi plucking fur to Uncle Li.

[Prosperous and Thriving Today]: Uncle Li, this won't result in a pay deduction for me, right?

[Old Li Loves Walking Magical Beasts]: Hahahahaha——

Liu Wangda: ???

Wait, what does "hahahaha" mean? Is my pay getting docked or not?!

After nearly an hour of tossing and turning, Qian Qi finally finished making the dog-fur toothbrush.

"Mhm, simply gorgeous~" Qian Qi doted on this red-furred toothbrush, unable to put it down. She raised her eyes to compliment the Flame Dog, but upon catching sight of its patchy, half-bald body, she guiltily swallowed her words of praise.

"Ahem, I did all this entirely for the sake of your dental health, so you need to be understanding about it~"

Indignant and grieving, the Flame Dog spat a glob of saliva at her—clearly a bad habit it had picked up from a certain human.

Qian Qi didn't get angry. She poured some cleaner onto the toothbrush, planted her foot on the Flame Dog's jaw, and channelled the spirit of a lumberjack sawing wood, huffing and puffing as she began scrubbing its yellowish fangs.

Ten minutes later, Qian Qi extended her middle finger and flicked one of the Flame Dog's pearly-white, gleaming little fangs, declaring with satisfaction, "Tsk~ Spotless~"

***

The Flame Dog, whose teeth were practically sent flying by Qian Qi's flick: "..."

"Our little Baldy can finally go out and show off those pearly whites of yours~" Qian Qi cupped the Flame Dog's massive face, kneading and rubbing it fiercely a few times before saying, "Alright, time for me to get back to cleaning the rooms~"

Leaving Room No. 1, Qian Qi turned and headed to Room No. 24 right across the hall.

Before the Flame Dog in Room No. 24 could even react, she raised her hand and slapped it right across the face.

Flame Dog No. 24: ???

Hold on? Why hit me? I wasn't even planning to attack you!

Grieving and wronged, Flame Dog No. 24 shrank into the corner, its orange-red eyes staring fixedly at Qian Qi as she diligently cleaned up the feces. In truth, it didn't want to eat her at all.

Because while fighting with the Flame Dog in Room No. 1, she had kicked over a bucket of water, and with leftover feces still on the floor, a good deal of foul muddy water had splashed onto her.

And although they looked like dogs, they were different from mutts that ate shit.

Food contaminated with feces—especially when it was contaminated with the feces of their own kind—was something they simply could not bring themselves to bite into...

Did Qian Qi know this? Of course Qian Qi knew.

Did that stop her from smacking them, though? Not at all.

Qian Qi practiced the "carrot and stick" method of education: when a child was obedient, she offered a carrot; when disobedient, she used the stick. By balancing gentleness with sternness, a child's education could truly succeed.

After all, that was precisely how the director mother had raised her when she was little.

Just look at how upright and morally sound she turned out today!

She was a living, breathing role model!

Proudly posing with hands on her hips.jpg.

After finishing the room cleaning, Qian Qi raised her toothbrush, intending to scrub the fangs of the Flame Dog in Room No. 24 as well to maintain its dental health.

Who would have thought that the moment the toothbrush bristles touched its fangs, the Flame Dog from Room No. 1 would suddenly leap up, biting frantically at the vertical iron bars of the gate while baring its sharp teeth and letting out an angry, ferocious growl at Qian Qi!

How could you use my fur to brush another dog's teeth!

That's my fur! That's my toothbrush!

I forbid it—!

Qian Qi glanced at the manic Flame Dog and mercilessly withdrew her gaze.

She assumed the Flame Dog was furious out of a sense of injustice—wondering why she only plucked its fur and not the fur of the other dogs.

But there was nothing she could do about it.

She had only made one such brush, so she would just have to temporarily spare the other dogs for now.

***

"Don't worry, I'm very fair. Once this brush wears out, it'll naturally be their turn. Wait, how often are human toothbrushes supposed to be replaced again? Humans seem to change theirs every three months, but what about magical beasts? I feel like once a week..."

Qian Qi muttered softly under her breath, causing the Flame Dog beneath her feet to shudder involuntarily.

Strange, why did it suddenly have such an ominous premonition?

After finishing her work and clocking out, Uncle Li, who was waiting for her at the entrance, smiled and said he had something to discuss with her. Kkj

"Little Qian, tomorrow afternoon at three, the beast-taming freshmen have a practical beast-taming class. They'll be trying to train the Flame Dogs in the beast plaza. I'm short-handed over here, would you like to come and help out?"

Qian Qi's eyes lit up, and she hurriedly nodded in agreement. She had never seen how beastmasters trained Flame Dogs before; since such a great opportunity presented itself, she certainly wouldn't let it slip by.

Tomorrow, she would definitely learn plenty of ways to build a deep bond with the Flame Dogs!

At the mere thought of this, Qian Qi couldn't help but bubble with excitement.

***

After leaving the magical beast storage warehouse, Qian Qi set off for the back mountain plantation. Midway, she received a payment notification alert.

Immediately afterward, Chen Tong's call came through.

"Qian Qi—Eastern Thousand Cavalry is you, isn't it! You damn well better delete that thread right now!"

As soon as the call connected, Chen Tong's furious voice nearly punctured Qian Qi's eardrums. She could practically picture Chen Tong jumping up and down in rage on the other end like a clown.

She dug into her ear and replied with a nonchalant swagger, "What are you talking about? Whatever Eastern Thousand Cavalry did, what does that have to do with me, Qian Qi?"

Chen Tong was so angry he felt like grinding his back teeth to dust. He had merely taken a leave of absence to go home and take care of some personal business, only to return and find that the campus forum topic—"#Mind-Blowing! A Certain Famous Senior Student from the Beast-Taming Department Owes Big Boss Qian Qi 5 Million in Massive Debt, and Resorted to Selling Himself to Pay It Back?#"—had surpassed the previous hemostatic potion topic to claim the number one spot on the trending list.

Right now, virtually the entire school thought he had actually "sold his body"!

The worst part was that people were damn well asking him how much he charged for a night!

"I've transferred fifty thousand credits to your account, you better delete that thread right this second!" Finished speaking, Chen Tong, too furious to utter another word, slammed the phone down with a loud *bang*.

"Tsk, what's the rush?" Qian Qi shook her head helplessly with a sigh, "Days apart, and Senior Chen's temper is only getting more and more volatile..."

Clearly, in the past, he used to lower his voice and whisper seductively right against her ear, telling her to just wait and see~

Oh well, next time she got the chance, she should kindly sell him a few packs of chrysanthemum tea to calm his nerves and lower his internal heat~

Humming a cheerful little tune, Qian Qi went off to the back mountain to tend to her precious magical plants.

Due to a crash of the writing software, today's second chapter is delayed until 11:00 PM~ [Kowtows]