Chapter Six: The Drifting Beast

Evolution means that a Digimon’s strength becomes greater than before, but at this moment, Zhao Jie didn’t want Black Ball to evolve at all—he wasn’t prepared for this evolution in the slightest. What’s more, if it evolved along another branch, his WarGreymon, his Omnimon would all be for naught. Just the thought of it made Zhao Jie feel as if the world had gone completely dark.

He truly couldn’t understand why Black Ball had accumulated enough energy to evolve to the second stage of the In-Training phase just by eating a little—well, a lot—of junk food.

“Wasn’t it said that In-Training Digimon in their first stage need to consume large amounts of food rich in digital energy to evolve?” Liu Cheng stared blankly at the Black Ball, now shrouded in the light of evolution, unable to make sense of it.

This wasn’t what he’d heard at all!

Noticing Liu Cheng’s strange gaze, Zhao Jie wanted to say, “I, Zhao Jie, am not cheating!”

But after thinking for a moment, Zhao Jie realized what had happened. Black Ball must have stored up quite a bit of energy while in that small digital secret realm—this was the only plausible explanation. Zhao Jie refused to believe junk food could be responsible. If ordinary food could provide Digimon with the energy to evolve, food infused with digital energy wouldn’t be so expensive.

The evolution light lasted for about two minutes before fading away. In its place stood a Digimon with a pale pink body, two long ears, and a pair of adorably large eyes. Now before Zhao Jie and Liu Cheng was Rolling Ball.

Rolling Ball! It was Rolling Ball! Zhao Jie let out a breath of relief. If it had evolved along the Armadillomon branch, he’d have been ready to jump off a building.

“Eh|ू･ω･`).”

Rolling Ball looked at itself in surprise, and when it saw Zhao Jie watching, it leaped happily into his arms.

Has its physical strength improved as well? Zhao Jie hugged Rolling Ball and silently recalled the scene of it jumping just now.

But that was only natural—evolving to the second stage of the In-Training phase, it would be strange if there were no changes.

“Click!”

“Click!”

Good things come in pairs. Right after Black Ball evolved into Rolling Ball, Liu Cheng’s Digiegg began to crack again. After a few breaths, a white Digimon, somewhat resembling a jellyfish, wriggled out from the egg.

“Ha.”

The little creature struggled out of the egg, then began biting the shell, mouthful by mouthful. Wisps of pale white vapor seeped into its body, which grew larger from its original egg size.

“Eh(✪ω✪)”

Rolling Ball, held in Yang Dong’s arms, watched the little one munching on its eggshell, its eyes wide in anticipation—it looked delicious!

“Which little one is that? You can’t go snatching it, Rolling Ball.” Yang Dong saw Rolling Ball’s gaze and knew this little glutton’s appetite hadn’t changed.

A Digiegg is the greatest tonic for a newly born Digimon—this was mentioned in last night’s precautions. If Rolling Ball ate it, it would be making a mortal enemy.

Just the thought of it was terrifying.

“Eh(ಥ_ಥ).”

Rolling Ball watched the little one eat with relish, tears of envy welling in its eyes.

“Give this to Rolling Ball.” Hearing Zhao Jie’s words, Liu Cheng hurriedly pulled a pack of Little Raccoon crispy noodles from his small stash and handed it over, terrified that Rolling Ball might run off and cause trouble.

“Ehヽ(ー_ー)ノ.”

Rolling Ball glanced at the eggshell, then at the crispy noodles in front of it, and sighed deeply from the bottom of its heart.

Ah, this is tasteless as wax!

“If you don’t want it, I’ll eat it!” At Zhao Jie’s words, Rolling Ball leapt up, grabbed the crispy noodles, and—somehow—managed to open the packaging and bite into the snack.

Ah! Delicious.

Zhao Jie: ………

Forget it, don’t get angry. At least it’s my Digimon.

Perhaps sensing a would-be food thief behind it, the newborn quickly finished gnawing the eggshell, patted its now-round little belly, and floated toward Liu Cheng.

“Ha.”

It greeted Liu Cheng and then settled on his shoulder, falling asleep.

“Is this a Poyomon?” Zhao Jie scrutinized the Digimon on Liu Cheng’s shoulder and finally confirmed the species of this In-Training Digimon.

There was no helping it—there were far more Digimon in the real world than in the anime, and many species had never appeared in his memory.

For example, the famous Digital King, Matt’s Penguin Kingmon, was a complete blind spot in his knowledge.

“Poyomon isn’t bad. If I recall correctly, it has two evolution paths—one into Bukamon and one into Tokomon. The latter, especially, can evolve into an Angel-type Digimon.”

Although Angel-type Digimon can only defeat Demon-type Digimon, their looks are second to none, and with the Three Great Archangels, their strength can’t be underestimated. Angel-type Digimon have great potential.

“What a pity.”

If it could evolve into Gabumon, how wonderful would that be? If this were a Nyaromon, Zhao Jie would have his Rolling Ball get close to it. If, by chance, something more than friendship happened, his Omnimon might finally become reality.

But alas, it’s a Poyomon.

Liu Cheng had no idea what Zhao Jie was plotting, but he felt a sudden chill, as if something bad were about to happen.

Soon, he noticed Rolling Ball had finished the crispy noodles and was staring at him with plaintive eyes.

“This is the last pack—I really have no more.” With a heavy heart, he handed over his final pack of crispy noodles to Rolling Ball. That was his last reserve; he’d never expected Zhao Jie’s Digimon to have such an appetite.

“Old Liu, I’m really sorry—Rolling Ball has eaten so much of your stuff. Name your price and I’ll pay you back.” Yang Dong gave Rolling Ball a glare, feeling a bit embarrassed.

“Don’t be so polite—we’re brothers!” Liu Cheng looked at Zhao Jie in mild annoyance; talking about money between brothers was just vulgar.

“How about this—when the semester starts, I’ll treat you to a meal!” Yang Dong offered a compromise.

“Fine, fine, we’ll talk about it then.” Liu Cheng nodded perfunctorily. He knew Zhao Jie’s personality—if he didn’t agree, his best friend would never let it go.

He’d witnessed this stubbornness back in middle school. In their first year, when an older student bullied him, Zhao Jie stormed into the classroom for revenge and spent three days lurking around, only letting it go after the bully apologized.

From that moment on, Liu Cheng decided to treat Zhao Jie as a brother—just like family.