Tianwu City, Zhao Manor.
At this moment, in the small courtyard behind the kitchen, a young man in white robes was flailing his arms and legs.
His movements caused a swarm of flies around him to buzz around frantically.
Upon closer inspection, one would notice that the young man’s eyes were a grayish-white, devoid of life.
Evidently, he was born with a disability, blind in both eyes.
“Quick, look! Our Zhao Manor’s eldest young master is here to catch flies again today.”
“Tsk tsk, a blind man catching flies, what a bizarre sight.”
“Or how about we bet on how many days it’ll take him to catch a single fly?”
The chefs watching openly mocked him.
In this world where martial arts reigned supreme, ordinary people were already considered inferior, let alone a blind man.
But as the onlookers scoffed, the young man suddenly stretched out his hand.
Whether by luck or by his acute hearing allowing him to pinpoint its direction, he directly caught a fly.
“Bing! Congratulations, Host, for catching a fly! The God-tier Animal Evolution System has been successfully activated!”
Hearing the synthesized electronic voice in his head, Lin Ling was secretly startled, then felt hot tears welling up in his eyes.
As a member of the vast army of transmigrators, Lin Ling naturally knew what a ‘system’ was.
Although the system’s arrival was eighteen years late, given his current predicament, it was nothing short of a godsend.
To activate, it required him to personally catch a living animal.
That was why he had chosen the kitchen, as it had the most flies to catch.
He had been exhausted for three days, and mocked for three days.
But now, he had finally completed the task.
“Bing! Detected: Host has caught a fly. Would you like to make it a pet?”
Lin Ling instinctively thought, “Yes.”
“Congratulations, Host, you have acquired a pet. You may now name it.”
“Kung Fu Little Fly.”
Hearing this, Lin Ling’s heart stirred. Recalling a certain sci-fi movie from his previous life, he immediately thought to himself.
“Bing! Pet naming complete.”
The system’s voice rang out, and simultaneously, a data interface immediately appeared in Lin Ling’s mind.
[Kung Fu Little Fly]
Designation: 001
Owner: Lin Ling
Combat Power: 1
Lifespan: Fifty days
Skills: None
Evolvable: All body parts
From the information on the system interface, Lin Ling more or less understood the functions of this animal evolution system.
Its main purpose was to enhance the combat power of animals for his own use.
This function was divided into two types.
The first type was ‘Full Body Enhancement’.
It could enhance all parts of an animal.
There were also four levels in total, divided into Basic, Intermediate, Advanced, and King-tier.
The higher the level, the more money was required, with each successive level costing ten times more.
For example, basic evolution required ten thousand taels of gold, while intermediate evolution needed one hundred thousand taels!
The second type was called ‘Level-Up Enhancement’.
It was primarily divided into seven stages: D, C, B, A, S, SS, SSS.
Simply put, this was a system ability that could help animals level up and transform.
When a rooster leveled up to SSS, it had a very high probability of transforming into a divine-beast-grade fire phoenix!
However, this type of leveling up was considerably expensive.
Each level-up required at least one hundred thousand taels.
Subsequent levels also multiplied in cost by ten times the previous value.
Moreover, this 'Full Body Enhancement' type first needs to reach king-tier to satisfy the conditions for promotion.
For example, from D-tier to C-tier.
A pet must reach the D-tier's king-tier enhancement sequence to be able to evolve to C-tier.
"So that's how it is!"
After fully understanding the system's functions, Lâm Lăng had a sudden realization, and was also a little excited.
In the future, if he enhances a large number of mythical beast-tier animals, wouldn't he be able to roam freely in this world?!
However, soon, Lâm Lăng realized a crucial problem.
That is, he currently didn't have a penny to his name, so where would he get the money to evolve them!
"Bing, it's detected that this is the Host's first time binding a pet. Congratulations on receiving a newbie gift pack. Do you accept?"
Hearing the system's prompt, Lâm Lăng immediately, without hesitation, thought to himself: "Accept."
"Congratulations, Host Lâm Lăng, you have received one free king-tier animal enhancement."
"Congratulations, Host Lâm Lăng, you have received one free animal level-up."
"Please select the pet to evolve."
In an instant, a shimmering interface gradually appeared in Lâm Lăng's mind, with five small squares.
The first square displayed the image of a small black fly.
The other four squares were empty, which probably meant he could still capture four more pets.
Lâm Lăng directly tapped on the image of the fly.
"Bing, enhancement successful. Kung Fu Little Fly has been comprehensively strengthened."
In an instant, Lâm Lăng discovered that Kung Fu Little Fly's stats interface had changed quite a bit.
Whether it was speed, strength, senses, or intelligence, all were enhanced to extremely high levels.
For example, combat power, which was 1 before, now directly soared to 1000.
But its lifespan was still fifty days.
Evidently, this type of enhancement could not increase the pet's lifespan.
Next was the level-up.
"Bing, level-up successful. Congratulations, Kung Fu Little Fly has leveled up to C-tier and has also gained a special skill, Blood Blade Scythe Legs."
Immediately after, Lâm Lăng was overjoyed to discover that the image of the fly in the square had suddenly changed.
The originally small and thin fly seemed to have transformed into a bodybuilder, its body rippling with muscles. Its six legs also became robust and powerful, its claws like scythes, emitting a sharp metallic gleam.
Most importantly, its lifespan, from the original fifty days, had directly increased to five hundred days!
Lâm Lăng couldn't help but take a deep breath.
This level-up function was truly amazing!
Lâm Lăng tried to open his hand!
He saw that the little fly didn't immediately fly away. Instead, it obediently perched on his palm, as if waiting for a command.
"Huh? This is!"
In a moment of bewilderment, Lâm Lăng was surprised to find that his vision was no longer a patch of darkness; he could sense light and objects around him.
But the angle of vision didn't come from his own eyes, but from his hand.
That was the position of Kung Fu Little Fly.
Could it be that I can use a god's-eye view and share the scenes that Kung Fu Little Fly sees?!
At this thought, Lâm Lăng's emotions immediately surged.
He felt even more that this God-tier animal evolution system was entirely tailor-made for him.
"Hmph, what a letdown. He caught it so quickly; our bet has become worthless."
"A blind man can actually catch a fly – that's truly unprecedented."
Seeing Lin Lang actually catch a fly, the chefs were somewhat surprised, but their words still carried a strong sense of ridicule.
At this moment, Lin Lang, relying on Gongfu Xiaodang's vision, clearly saw the chefs' appearances.
A group of big-eared, big-faced men, their faces slick with grease.
In Zhao Manor, chefs were considered relatively low-ranking support staff, yet even so, these men showed no respect whatsoever to him, the young master-in-law.
He hailed from Lin Manor – one of the city's three great families – and thus came from a prominent background. However, born blind, he had been disregarded by his family since childhood.
Half a year ago, in a marriage alliance for mutual benefit between the families, he became a live-in son-in-law at Zhao Manor, enduring endless humiliation.
Though he had a beautiful and charming wife, and they shared a room, they had to sleep separately every night.
One on the bed, one on the floor – a treatment worse than that of Zhao Manor's servants.
Lin Lang paid no mind to the chefs' taunts, simply turning and walking out of the courtyard.
Buzz ——!
Gongfu Xiaodang circled once in mid-air, then landed on Lin Lang's shoulder.
"Xiao Li."
Seeing Lin Lang about to leave, the portly head chef in charge signaled to the apprentice beside him.
The apprentice understood and nodded, immediately approaching Lin Lang with a sinister expression, sticking out his foot, intending to trip Lin Lang head over heels.
Through Gongfu Xiaodang's vision, Lin Lang saw everything unfold.
Over the past half year, ever since he became a live-in son-in-law at Zhao Manor, he didn't know who he had offended, but people constantly came to stir up trouble.
Especially those chefs – they frequently tampered with his food. Truly wicked!