“Mom, I’m back.”
“How come you’re so early today?”
“There haven’t been many customers recently.”
“Oh. Wash your hands, I’ll heat up your meal.”
Su Ping went to wash his hands and returned to sit at the table.
While waiting, he was wondering if he should let the family know that he had awakened as a battle pet warrior.
After all, fire couldn’t be wrapped up in paper. It was only a matter of time before his sister and mother found out about him.
Soon, some hot dishes were delivered to Su Ping.
Su Ping was surprised, since he saw some meat in the dishes. “She skipped dinner?”
Judging by the astral power vortices upstairs, Su Ping knew that his sister had been home for a good while. However, there was meat in the dishes left for him. What a miracle!
Li Qingru was happy that he would think of his little sister. “She already had dinner. This is another share I saved for you.”
Su Ping understood.
No wonder…
“Mom.” Su Ping hesitated for a moment, ready to spill the beans about his awakening.
“Mom,” someone said at the staircase.
Su Ping’s words were stuck in his throat.
Then, someone hurried down the stairs and went to the dinner table. She sounded surprised as she asked, “Mom, didn’t I finish all the dishes? Where did this come from?”
Su Ping curled his lips. “She finished them all…”
“How cruel!”
Li Qingru said, “I cooked some more.”
Su Lingyue pouted after she heard the answer, but she regained calmness soon enough. She stared at him coldly and asked, “Why are you back home so early today? The store should be open at this hour.”
Su Ping talked back grumpily, “What’s it to you?”
“What?”
Su Lingyue raised her eyebrows?
“How dare you talk to me like this?”
“What gave you the courage?”
She sat down casually and threw out a remark, “It’s been a long time since I did some exercise.”
Su Ping pretended not to have noticed the hostility in those words. He just replied with curiosity, “Haven’t you been participating in contests? How could you not exercise? Are you saying that you’re cowering at the back and shouting while the pets do all the work for you?”
The table trembled.
The iron spoon held by Su Lingyue was bent a little bit.
“Hmm. Interesting.”
She smiled, showing her teeth.
She stretched out her fingers and the iron spoon in her hand was straightened at once.
“Hmm.” Su Ping grinned as well.
He grinned and ate at the same time.
Su Lingyue looked at him with a smile for a while. Then, she looked away and said to Li Qingru, “Mom, I’ll take a shower now.”
“Sure. The water heater should be ready now.” Li Qingru nodded. “Go ahead. I’ll have your clothes ready in a moment.”
“Thanks, mom.”
Su Ping quickly finished the last bits of his dinner as Su Lingyue was leaving. Making the most of the time while trouble was away, Su Ping mentioned after some thought, “Mom, I have some errands to run tonight. I need to go away and may come back late.”
Su Ping knew that he probably couldn’t return home that night, even though he claimed he would be back late.
However, he had to act first and report later so that he could leave the house.
“Errands? What errands?” Li Qingru was surprised.
Su Ping had prepared an excuse for this. “It’s about the pet store. A customer asked me to drop by for some home service…”
Li Qingru was relieved since it was something related to the store. She gave her permission. “Then take care and come back early.”
“Sure.”
Su Ping lingered at the table for a while, so that he wouldn’t appear to be in a hurry. Then, before his sister came out from her shower, he took off in case she would disrupt his plan.
…
…
A black SUV was parked under the shade of some trees on a remote street.
Two figures were leaning against the door, one of them smoking.
“Brother Fan, is this guy as strong as you described? He can break your arm easily. He must be as good as our team leader, right?” the man smoking asked in curiosity.
The other young man wearing a black t-shirt and ripped jeans replied, “Possibly. Anyway, the man is a genius. He is quite young. I think he can become a battle pet warrior with titles in the future.”
The smoking man sounded amazed as he replied, “Are you serious? Is he that good?”
Fan Yujing shrugged. Who could foretell the future?
At the moment, Fan Yujing looked from the corner of his eye. He said at once, “He’s here.”
The two men looked over. From the other end of the street came a slim man wearing casual clothes.
While he was approaching, the man who was smoking was sizing the former up and down as well. Just like Fan Yujing had mentioned, this man was young. But he was suppressing his aura; the smoking man could not tell how strong this young man was.
“Sorry for making you wait.”
Su Ping could see the black SUV parked under the tree from a distance, Fan Yujing who was standing in front of the car and another unfamiliar man with profound astral powers. Su Ping supposed that the other man was Fan Yujing’s teammate.
“We’ve only been here for a short while.”
Fan Yujing smiled. He was surprised; Su Ping didn’t seem to be carrying any weapons, but he didn’t ask him about it.
The most powerful weapon a battle pet warrior could have was the pet itself. As for firearms, there was no lack of such items in their explorers’ base but few would use them.
“Mr. Su, this is my teammate, Li Ying,” Fan Yujing introduced the man who was smoking to Su Ping.
That man put out his cigar and gave Su Ping a friendly greeting, “Nice to meet you. I’ve heard so much about you.”
“Nice to meet you.”
Su Ping went directly to his question after this exchange of pleasantries, “What’s the current situation over there? Is it daytime yet?”
Fan Yujing appeared to be in a bitter mood. He heaved a sigh and said, “Not yet.”
Su Ping frowned but he had been expecting this. “Let’s go.”
“Sure.”
Fan Yujing opened the side door for Su Ping.
Su Ping said, “I call shotgun.”
With that said, he went to the front passenger seat.
Fan Yujing didn’t mind. He sat in the driver’s seat, then started the SUV and dashed out after Li Ying sat down as well.
“Mr. Su, I heard that you run a pet store. Your pets must be powerful.”
Li Yi took the initiative to start the conversation. He was also trying to probe Su Ping. Li Ying trusted Fan Yujing, but exploring an unclaimed territory was not a joking matter. One careless decision and people could die.
Su Ping looked at Li Ying through the rearview mirror. “If you say so.”
Li Ying smiled. “Mr. Su, you’re quite the modest one. Can I ask your name?”
“Su Ping.”
While driving, Fan Yujing finally came to know Su Ping’s full name. He committed it to memory.
“Brother Su, I think you’re in your early twenties. Usually people at this age are still studying in the academy. Brother Su, did you graduate early?” Li Ying posed another question curiously.
Almost all the battle pet warriors were trained in schools. Alternative ways to train battle pet warriors were quite rare.
Su Ping only replied with a smile.
Su Ping was avoiding the question but Li Ying was unwilling to let go. He pressed Su Ping on this topic, “Brother Su, I heard from Brother Fan that you broke his arm. Is that true? Brother Su, are you an advanced battle pet warrior?”
Su Ping frowned. He was only on a quest. He didn’t wish to be grilled like this.
While sitting on the side, Fan Yujing could tell that Su Ping was unhappy. He tried to break the ice, “Brother Su, our explorers’ base is kind of far away. You can take a nap if you’re tied.”
Su Ping rolled his eyes at him. “Why would I go and explore with you if I were tired?”
“Talk to me about the exploration,” Su Ping said, “I’ve never been on one and want to know more.”
Fan Yujing found that surprising. Why has Su Ping never gone to any exploration given his strength? If so, why did he notice the importance of the time difference?
Anyways, since Su Ping had posed this question, Fan Yujing could not doubt him. He explained to him, “The space fracture found this time is in unclaimed territory No.38 outside Longjinag Base City. Our team is temporarily stationed at the explorer’s base there.”