Chapter 4: Base
“Forget it. A youth version of a Beast Tamer is still a Beast Tamer. With my current condition, I can’t even hope for that version if I develop normally.”
Sitting dazedly on the bed, Zhou Ming fell silent for a moment before he had no choice but to accept the reality before him.
Given his current circumstances, it was impossible for him to obtain the resources needed to properly condense a Spiritual Seed. Yet, at least in theory, he had already become a Beast Tamer.
Since he couldn’t control any Ferocious Beasts for now, Zhou Ming planned to test what level of ordinary animals he could tame.
There was a difference between rats and sparrows compared to cats and dogs. If he could manage to tame a cat or dog as his beasts, then at least in the early stages, he could rely on quantity to make up for quality.
However...
“Can I even afford to feed them?”
The moment that thought arose, a string of colorful curses echoed once again in the dim, shabby room.
“Ding——”
An alarm bell suddenly interrupted Zhou Ming.
“Work time already?”
Getting up, he walked to his worn-out desk and pulled open the darkened curtains. A beam of sunlight was breaking over the horizon — a new day had come.
“My new beginning.”
No matter what, the Spiritual Seed in his mind had given him a new path. At the very least, he wouldn’t become an insignificant ordinary person.
Opening the window, the cool morning air rushed into his lungs, refreshing his mind.
He began putting on his work uniform, ready to leave for work on time. After all, he hadn’t yet figured out his current condition or what kinds of animals he could control.
Moreover, he still didn’t have a concrete plan, and his life depended on the job he currently had.
“Not bad.”
Looking at the mirror hanging on the wall, Zhou Ming nodded in satisfaction at his reflection.
Though he didn’t have sword-like brows or a starry gaze, and couldn’t be called graceful, he was still decent enough.
At eighteen years old, standing at a straight height of 1.8 meters, with a slightly thin build and messy black hair, he could barely score himself an eighty-five.
If he managed to improve his physique and refine his demeanor, he might even reach ninety someday.
After admiring his reflection, Zhou Ming grabbed his towel and toothbrush, preparing to wash up at the public bath. The room he rented had no kitchen or bathroom.
“Xiao Zhou, up so early for work?”
As soon as he left his room, he entered a dim corridor lined with rows of doors on both sides.
Hearing someone greet him, Zhou Ming turned and saw it was Sister Lin from next door.
She wore a faded white nightgown and held a chamber pot in her hands as she greeted him.
“Yes, afraid of being late. I’ll go wash up first, Sister Lin.”
Lifting the towel and toothbrush slightly, Zhou Ming didn’t continue chatting.
The woman was already married. Though her looks were ordinary, her plump figure and mature charm at around thirty made him wary of drawing any unnecessary misunderstandings.
From the memories of his predecessor, he knew Sister Lin’s husband was notoriously jealous and kept a close watch on his wife.
Walking along the passage for twenty or thirty meters, he reached a spacious communal area for bathing and toilets.
By the time Zhou Ming arrived, several people were already washing up. Recognizing the familiar faces, he greeted them briefly from memory before beginning his own morning routine.
After tidying up, Zhou Ming left the building where he lived.
Turning back, he saw the five-story concrete structure of the dilapidated neighborhood — the place where his predecessor had lived for two years after leaving the welfare home.
Ever since the Beast Taming Calendar began, population had become an important resource. So even though his predecessor was an orphan, the government had still assigned him a relief apartment after he left the welfare home.
If he got married and had children in the future, and still hadn’t found better housing, he could apply for a two-bedroom apartment in this same neighborhood.
Leaving the community, Zhou Ming bought his usual breakfast at a roadside stall and waited for the tram to go to work. By now, people heading to work were starting to fill the streets.
Taking advantage of the free time, Zhou Ming looked around at the somewhat unfamiliar environment.
There were no skyscrapers or tall buildings nearby. The highest ones were only five or six stories tall, and even the tallest structures he could recall from his predecessor’s memory only reached seven.
The reason was that this base didn’t have an anti-air defense shield.
After the humans on Blue Star established the Blue Star Alliance, due to the threats posed by Ferocious Beasts and other races, human civilization began to live in enclosed bases.
These bases were divided into four levels — small, medium, large, and giant.
Small bases mainly focused on resource gathering and early warnings against Ferocious Beast tides — such as mining sites, lumber mills, or factories.
Medium bases were where most humans lived. The Qinshan Base, where Zhou Ming was located, housed three to four hundred thousand residents.
Because medium bases lacked anti-air shields, buildings couldn’t be built too tall, otherwise they might attract flying Ferocious Beasts. The resulting collapses could cause more casualties than the beasts themselves.
Large bases generally had populations exceeding one million, powerful Beast Tamers, and top-tier facilities including anti-air shields.
As for the only giant base, that was the Dawn Base, headquarters of the Blue Star Alliance. It housed tens of millions of people and was guarded by the strongest human Beast Tamers — the Legendary Saints.
Dawn Base was the dream destination of every human on Blue Star, though not everyone had the chance to go there.
“Ding-dong.”
The tram for Route Seven arrived. With oil extraction becoming increasingly difficult, the cheapest energy now was electricity — a single nuclear power plant could sustain a base.
As the tram started, the scenery outside the window overlapped with the remnants of Zhou Ming’s inherited memories.
This was the first time he had truly seen this world with his own eyes.
From what he observed, the Qinshan Base was comparable to a small county town from his previous life.
Due to the Doomsday Era, the technological level of human society on Blue Star was still largely at an archaeological stage.
Moreover, the emergence of the Beast Taming Cultivation System had drawn away many talented individuals. It would take a long time before civilization could return to what it had been before the Doomsday Era.
“The pet market stop has arrived. Passengers getting off, please do so now.”
The tram’s broadcast snapped Zhou Ming out of his thoughts. To avoid missing his stop, he called out to the driver and hurriedly got off the tram.
His workplace was a pet shop inside the market ahead — a job he had only gotten thanks to help from the welfare home.
After the rise of Beast Tamers, many ordinary people who couldn’t become tamers still wanted to raise pets to fulfill their inner desires.
If his predecessor hadn’t pursued the path of a Beast Tamer, the salary from that job would have been enough for a decent life, at least with proper furniture and appliances.
But to condense the Spiritual Seed, his predecessor had spent everything — leaving him to live in such poor conditions.
Zhou Ming couldn’t really say that his predecessor had made the wrong choice. After all, who would willingly remain ordinary?