Beast Taming Begins with the Inner Circle of Pets

Chapter 165 What is true?

Although Meng Wenbin acknowledged her talent, he stated that regarding the Glass Horned Deer and the dragon egg, he would only grant her the spirit pet once she officially joined the research institute and signed a "contract of servitude."

The eldest one... if it can be sent out, almost the entire research institute will set off firecrackers to celebrate.

No matter how much Lin Manman expressed her willingness to sign a "contract of servitude" on the spot, Meng Wenbin coldly and ruthlessly refused.

He insisted on publicly accepting her as his apprentice before letting her join the research institute.

After much deliberation, Lin Manman could only conclude that the current Spirit Beast Research Institute might not be entirely under Meng Wenbin's control.

The reason he allowed her to join as his disciple was to give her an extra layer of protection.

Whether it was Lin Manman's imagination or not, ever since she told Meng Wenbin about being able to contract two more spirit beasts...

Meng Wenbin seemed to hesitate several times before speaking to her.

However, she was later kept busy by Gao Zhixian and had no time to care about these things.

Even after she rode back home in Meng Wenbin's Feilong that evening, he didn't say anything more.

After being tormented by Gao Zhixian and the boss at the research institute all day, Lin Manman planned to go to the training ground behind the villa after dinner to get revenge for the suffering she had endured that day. Just then, she ran into Lin Ruochen training with Hu Niu.

Just now, when they were eating, Ms. Qin mentioned that Lin Ruochen and Hu Niu had been training here all day, and even their meals were delivered to them.

Lin Manman slowly approached with great interest, wanting to see how her brother trained Tiger Girl.

But when she saw what was happening on the training field, she was shocked.

Lin Ruochen stood straight in the center of the training field, while Hu Niu was lying prostrate on the ground, seemingly trembling slightly.

Lin Ruochen had her back to Lin Manman at the moment, so she couldn't see the other's expression, but her heart was pounding wildly, and she subconsciously felt that something was wrong with the scene.

She didn't have time to think about anything else and quickly ran forward to check on Lin Ruochen's condition.

Lin Ruochen noticed her approach and looked at her. The moment he saw her, a smile appeared on his handsome face, which had been expressionless.

"Oh, it's Manman. You're back already? Hmm? It's so late already? No wonder you're so hungry."

He seemed to only then realize that it was getting dark.

The moment Lin Manman appeared, Tiger Girl quietly hid behind her, her eyes filled with fear as she looked at Lin Ruochen.

A bad feeling crossed Lin Manman's mind, and she carefully observed Lin Ruochen's expression.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Lin Ruochen was also confused when he saw Lin Manman looking at him with a serious expression.

"Brother... what were you doing just now?"

Lin Ruochen thought for a moment, "Accompanying Tiger Girl in training. Although Tiger Girl won't have bad thoughts under the control of the restriction, she's also unwilling to cooperate with training."

"So I was thinking about how to make it more obedient, and then I got distracted..."

Lin Manman glanced at Tiger Girl, who no longer possessed the arrogant demeanor she had shown the night before.

Tiger Girl's talent is mind reading, but even if she could read Lin Ruochen's bad thoughts, it wouldn't be enough to frighten her like this, given her level four strength.

Clearly, something else had happened in between, but the look on Lin Ruochen's face didn't seem like he was lying. He didn't seem to realize what had just happened between him and Hu Niu.

Lin Manman's heart sank more and more as she thought about it.

"Brother, you haven't eaten yet, have you? Why don't you go back and eat first? Tiger Girl can stay here and train with my spirit pet." Lin Manman wanted to send Lin Ruochen away so she could find out what happened from Tiger Girl.

Lin Ruochen seemed oblivious to anything amiss, and after a moment's thought, nodded in agreement.

"That's good. Perhaps by staying with your spirit pet, it will be able to accept its identity as a spirit pet more quickly."

Watching Lin Ruochen turn and leave, Lin Manman used the system to observe him, but found nothing amiss.

However, she did recall a similar situation in her previous life, where there was a mental illness called dissociative identity disorder.

It means that two or more different personalities have formed in a person's body. These personalities are unaware of each other's existence, and the accompanying symptoms are confusion and hallucinations.

Since Lin Ruochen woke up, Lin Manman has noticed him spacing out more than once, and these symptoms seem to match up...

But it shouldn't be like this... Lin Ruochen's primary profession is a mage, and he's a level four mage.

I've never heard of a mage who cultivates spiritual power getting a mental illness...

Unable to figure it out, she gave up on thinking about it alone and summoned all her spirit pets.

Then they surrounded Tiger Girl.

"Tiger Girl, don't be afraid, I have something to ask you." Lin Manman squatted down and looked at Tiger Girl who was lying on the ground.

Pipi, who looked somewhat dazed, had already begun to use her talent for mental pollution on Hu Niu under her subtle prompting.

With the interference of mental pollution, Tiger Girl's emotions quickly calmed down, and she finally got up from the ground and changed to a squatting position.

Before asking any questions, Lin Manman specifically instructed Ruyi to give the eldest dog two candies, just in case it opened its mouth and caused trouble.

"Tiger Girl, what did you just discover? Why do you look so scared?" Lin Manman's voice softened.

After Tiger Girl was frightened, the mental pollution from Pipi also had a deeper impact on her.

"Awooo..."

Xiao Qi spontaneously flew to Lin Manman's side to act as a translator, "Waaah..."

"Awooo, awooo!"

"Waaah, waaaah!"

After understanding what Xiao Qi meant, Lin Manman's brows gradually furrowed. According to Hu Niu, she and Lin Ruochen had a disagreement during training.

Tiger Girl refused to obey Lin Ruochen's commands and they were locked in a stalemate. However, a very powerful soul fluctuation suddenly emanated from Lin Ruochen and was transmitted to the depths of her soul through the contract.

It felt as if its soul was being stared at by something terrifying, something before which its soul was completely out of its control.

Lin Manman's inner speculation thus shifted from personality split to another terrifying conjecture.

There seems to be such a plot in some novels from my past life, where one person's soul is replaced by another person, which seems to be called possession.

However, possession should not leave behind the original person's soul, but based on her time with Lin Ruochen, she is certain that he is indeed her biological brother.

Even if possession allows one to read the original owner's memories, it is impossible to perfectly replicate every detail.

Both of these hypotheses have some points of agreement, but neither is entirely plausible.

She couldn't figure it out, so she handed the spirit pets over to Honey Badger and Silver Moon, and left Tiger Girl with the boss.

To make the eldest dog obedient, I not only showered it with compliments, but also promised to take it to buy a new flavor of dessert the next day.

There was no other way; this was the only one present who had the strength to go toe-to-toe with Tiger Girl, and it was smart enough to notice anything amiss immediately.

After settling the spirit pets, Lin Manman quietly slipped back to the manor and sneaked through the back door to Meng Wenbin's study on the second floor.

At this time, he usually either handles official business here or cultivates his spiritual practice.

"Teacher, may I come in?" Lin Manman gently knocked on the door.

She only opened the door and went in after Meng Wenbin told her to come in.

"What's wrong? Is there a problem with your pet training?" Meng Wenbin put down the documents in his hand and looked at her.

Lin Manman organized her thoughts and told Meng Wenbin everything she had just seen and what she had speculated about.

"Teacher... is my brother in danger?"

After listening quietly to her finish speaking, Meng Wenbin calmly said, "Your speculation is very interesting, but don't worry. Your brother's mental state is very stable, and there is no possibility of him having a mental illness."

"However, his soul power is indeed not very stable. It is probably because the energy of the life spring water you used was too strong, and he has not yet fully absorbed the medicinal power."

"You mentioned that his spirit pet felt like its soul was being controlled. Could it be that he unintentionally unleashed his innate ability?"

Lin Ruochen awakened his second profession and his second talent, Soul Control, but he has not been able to use it successfully, whether because his soul power is not yet fully stable or because the talent is too powerful.

Lin Manman thought about it along these lines and it seemed that this was indeed the most likely possibility.

Because the energy of the diluted Fountain of Life was too domineering, her brother's soul power remained unstable and fluctuating for a long time because it had not been fully absorbed.

His unstable soul power may also be the reason why he is unable to unleash his second talent normally.

What she witnessed today was most likely a chance occurrence when he unleashed his innate ability while he was lost in thought.

As for the result... it was obviously a failure; Tiger Girl showed absolutely no signs of being controlled.

And the culprit behind this outcome... is probably... possibly... it seems to be her?!

This is awkward...

Hopefully, her brother hasn't realized what happened yet!

Thank you so much to reader 20240817130839453 for the monthly ticket! Also, a little heads-up: read this chapter carefully, considering both the title and the content. *facepalm*

(End of this chapter)