Astral Pet Store (WN)

“What is going on?” Su Ping shouted as he went over.

The titled battle pet warriors turned around and greeted Su Ping with respect. Someone murmured, “Mr. Su is here. Thank god.” “Let’s see what Mr. Su thinks.”

“Sure.”

The titled battle pet warriors quietly made way for Su Ping as he approached them. “Mr. Su.”

Some elders of the Qin family and the family heads of both the Lius and the Zhous went to greet Su Ping. Liu Tianzong gazed at Su Ping with complicated emotions.

Back in the day, their pet store had competed against Su Ping’s while resorting to underhanded means to tarnish his store’s reputation. As he thought of what he had done, Liu Tianzong had to admit… he could not believe he had ever done that.

That had to be one of the most daring moments in his entire life.

The good thing was that Su Ping only requested half of the Liu family’s wealth. Otherwise, the young Su Ping-a man with legendary rank combat strength—could simply say the word and the Liu family would disappear without leaving a trace; even if some of their members managed to escape, they would soon realize how they would never be able to see the light of day again.

Legendary battle pet warriors established the rules on the Blue Planet!

“What are you talking about? Why do all of you seem so worried?” said Su Ping after taking a glance.

Liu Tianzong came back to his senses and produced a forced smile. “Mr. Su, we are talking about relocating. The Tower issued the list this morning, but the Longjiang Base City is not part of the Xing-Jing Defense Line. The Tower hopes that Longjiang can be merged with the Shuanglong Base City…”

Su Ping raised his eyebrows. “Are you sure about that? We have Qin Duhuang here. Why are they relocating a base city when there’s a legendary battle pet warrior stationed here?”

That relocation didn’t simply mean that people would stay somewhere else till the strike ended and then return.

After all the people left the base city, the wild beasts would then arrive and occupy the base city. No one would be able to come back.

Each base city had its customs and culture; all of it would be lost with the relocation.

Su Ping also knew that relocation was not possible for him.

His store was there.

He didn’t want to leave Longjiang. That was a Class B base city and he had lived in a poor community where the streets were old and the buildings were aged. However, those mottled walls and the humidity in the air were a part of him.

That was his home. It was shabby but beautiful.

Liu Tianzong forced a smile. “Qin is a legendary battle pet warrior but he didn’t join the Tower. We heard that the legendary battle pet warriors in the Tower have formed different parties and things have become quite complicated. The Tower claimed that Longjiang’s geographic location wasn’t suitable to be used as a defense line; we could become a weak link for everyone. I have to say, this isn’t entirely unreasonable; however, we can make up for that flaw with Qin Duhuang. The Tower is just making excuses…” Su Ping frowned. “What did Qin Duhuang

say?”

“He went to the Xing-Jing Defense Line’s head office and hasn’t returned yet.” An elder of the Qin family sighed.

“Xie Jinshui is also making calls. He’s trying to work something out using his connections, in order to have Longjiang added in the defense line. If the Xing-Jing Defense Line excludes us, no other defense line would accept us, since we would become a liability for them.”

The family head of the Zhou family heaved a sigh and added, “I had thought that we would certainly be part of the defense line, considering there’s Qin Duhuang and Mr. Su. I cannot believe they’re telling us to relocate. This is…”

Outrageous!

Zhou Tainlin wanted to hurl out some verbal abuse, but he had already done so earlier, when he first heard the news.

He no longer had the urge to spew curses. He was merely anxious to find a way to add their base city in the defense line.

Otherwise… all the base city’s residents would have to relocate or they would be facing the strike alone.

Relocation could be detrimental, especially to the major families. All of their territories were in Longjiang. All the fixed assets would become worthless once they left. All their estates and businesses would have to be given up. They could only take some cash and part of their family assets with them.

But… Any major family considered fixed assets as the most important part!

One could only have so much money!

Su Ping pulled a long face. Qin Duhuang had briefed him about the defense line.

He didn’t understand anything about the geographic location. He wasn’t concerned about such an issue.

Still, he trusted Qin Duhuang’s judgement. Longjiang would be treated as part of the defense line, unless the base city’s location was too remote.

“Do you have a map? I need to see something,” Su Ping said.

An elder of the Qin family said at once, “Yes. Mr. Su, this way please.”

They went into the building’s lobby and placed a sand table. That lobby was originally used to display some of the ceramics, rare pet feathers and shells that the Qin family had collected over the years. It was no longer an exhibition hall; the sand table, plus a map of the Subcontinent District and the world were the only things on display.

“Here’s the Longjiang Base City.” A Qin family elder pointed at the map.

Su Ping looked. He saw a place next to a mountain range and there was a small flag with the word “Longjiang” written on it.

“Mr. Su, we…”

The Qin family elder thought about giving Su Ping an introduction but the latter signaled him to stop.

No one said anything.

Su Ping saw the locations of the base cities on the sand table, as well as the Dragon Spine Forest and the North Pass Mountain; the two which flanked the base city’s landscape.

There were over a dozen base cities built around the area; twelve of them were close to the North Pass Mountain, including Longjiang which was the closest to the mountain and further away from the Dragon Spine Forest.

However, by looking at the big picture, the distance between Longjiang and the Dragon Spine Forest was insignificant. The Longjiang Base City was in no way a weak link.

“Can you contact Xie Jinshui?” Su Ping asked.

Liu Tianzong shook his head. “Xie Jinshui is busy calling everyone he knows. You will have to go to the city hall.”

Su Ping nodded. “I’ll do that.”

He left right away.

The others looked at each other. Someone whispered, “Is Mr. Su thinking about personally going to the Tower to beg for help?”.

“Begging to the Tower? Mr. Su once went there to beat them up. Do you honestly think Mr. Su would go and beg the Tower over this?” “The Tower knows that the Longjiang Base City has Mr. Su, but they’re not including us in the defense line. They’re clearly doing this on purpose; they wouldn’t relent even if Mr. Su went to beg.”

“I don’t know. Maybe they’re trying to embarrass Mr. Su in order to force him to crawl over to them.”

“These are special times. Mr. Su cannot beat them up again. If he were to hurt or kill legendary battle pet warriors again, he would be fighting against the entire human society. We cannot have an internal strife at this moment.”

“Why can’t he? We didn’t start it, the Tower did, talking nonsense about geographic location, weak links and what not. What the hell? We are not fools. They can’t even fool the general public with this.”

“I really cannot understand the Tower. Longjiang has two legendary battle pet warriors and still we have to relocate. How the hell did they come up with such a stupid decision?”

“They’re just doing this on purpose. Mr. Su shamed them before, so they are trying to get back at us.”

“No wonder Mr. Su doesn’t approve of the Tower. I thought legendary battle pet warriors were indifferent to fame and wealth. But… they’re just like us.”

“Hush. You cannot say that. This isn’t something we should think about. If they knew…”

They looked at each other. Although still angry, they stopped talking.

Indeed.

Su Ping was able to rattle the Tower because he had the ability and the courage!

On the other hand, they themselves weren’t legendary battle pet warriors. Apart from the Qin family, none of the other families had legendary battle pet warriors. If their complaints were to be made public, the Tower could easily destroy their families.

Those were the plights of the weak.

They were furious, but unable to even complain about it.

City hall.

Everyone at the city hall knew Su Ping from his pictures. They would bow to him with respect and no one stopped him.

When Su Ping found Xie Jinshui, the latter was making a call while standing by his office window.

“Ji, please, we’ve known each other for years. Could just please relay my message? I will go and thank you in person after this ends.

“You know about us. The Longjiang Base City is not a Class C settlement. We are not Class A, either, but we have legendary battle pet warriors!

“Ji! Hello?

IIII

The call ended.

Su Ping pushed the door open and went in.

Xie Jinshui turned around with a start. He produced a forced smile after Su Ping’s unexpected appearance. “Mr. Su, how long have you been here?”

“Just a second,” Su Ping said calmly, “I’ve been briefed of the situation. Is someone deliberately creating trouble for us?”

After seeing the sand table, Su Ping had then found out that the reason for excluding Longjiang from the defense line was utterly irrational.

The Longjiang Base City’s circumstances were not valid for it to be ignored!

Xie Jinshui wished he could say something but stopped on second thought. He shook his head and replied, “I don’t know. Qin went there to find out; the Tower should show him some respect. Although, I still wonder if he is going to come back with good news.”

“The Tower is managing the Xing-Jing Defense Line, right? How many legendary battle pet warriors are in charge? Who is the leader?” Su Ping asked.

He could think of one legendary battle pet warrior from the Tower with whom he shared a deep seated hatred with.

Yun Tianchen.

If Yuan Tianchen was the one behind it all, Su Ping would no longer show mercy.

Even though Su Ping kept a calm face, Xie Jinshui’s experience as a mayor allowed him to immediately notice Su Ping’s killing intent. Startled by it, he said at once, “Mr. Su, this has to be some sort of misunderstanding; do not give in to impulse. If you fight the Tower, you will be putting yourself against all of humanity. The Tower represents justice at this time, and justice always wins!”

“It’s not that justice always wins. It is the surviving party that wins.”

Su Ping snorted. “I won’t deal with them for now. They are scum, but the public are innocent. The Tower’s members are rotten, but they’ll have to fight to protect the base cities and this is their sole value.”

Xie Jinshui was relieved. “I’m glad to hear that. I trust that you’ll be a man of your word, Mr. Su.”

“I am. You don’t have to warn me.”

“No, no, that’s not what I meant, Mr. Su.” Xie Jinshui waved his hands at once. He was about to continue when his phone rang. “Qin Duhuang. He must be back already.” Xie Jinshui looked glad.

He answered the call without hesitation.

“I failed.”

He heard two words that took away all his delight and hope.

Su Ping heard that as well. He narrowed his eyes.

Xie Jinshui became absent-minded. He stood in a daze for a moment, not even noticing that Qin Duhuang had hung up. After a moment passed, he came back to his senses and saw that the call had indeed ended. He produced a forced smile and said to Su Ping, “Mr. Su, why don’t you go back home? I have to make some calls. I have some old schoolmates I can contact, and I know that my wife’s family has some connections. I will call them…”

After looking at the forced smile, Su Ping said, “You don’t have to find anyone. Since the defense line does not want us, we will simply defend ourselves.”

Xie Jinshui was surprised. “This strike is not a common one. I heard that there’s a major problem at the Deep Caves. According to some ancient and confidential records, I know that the wild beasts contained within are much more intimidating than the ones we’ve seen in the barren areas. The former are heartless; there must be over a hundred beast kings in the Deep Caves!”

“You don’t have to guess,” Su Ping said, “There are probably over a thousand beast kings, but they’re scattered around the world. The Subcontinent District only has to deal with a hundred or two, and Longjiang will merely have to fight dozens of them.”

“Over a thousand?” Xie Jinshui was so stunned that he almost dropped his phone.

He curled his lips and turned pale. “We? Dozens?”

He looked desperate.

Dozens of beast kings! How terrifying!

They were enough to flatten the Longjiang Base City!

They had Su Ping and Qin Duhuang in Longjiang but the base city was not a small place. If they were posted at the east side, the west side would be left unattended. If the beasts came from different directions… there would be nothing that Su Ping could do!

“Don’t worry. I am here,” Su Ping said to the trembling mayor. I am here!

The three words boosted Xie Jinshui’s confidence.

He gazed at Su Ping and said with a heavy mind, “Mr. Su, I don’t know the extent of what you can accomplish, but I understand that you’re better than those at the Void State. Still, dozens of beast kings… Can we do this?” “I will open my store for business, and I will call some friends for help. I have given a look at the sand table; I can guard one side and Qin Duhuang can guard another. The other sides can be protected by my battle pets,” Su Ping said.

“But…”

“No buts. Let’s do this!” Su Ping cut Xie Jinshui off.

Xie Jinshui was inspired by Su Ping’s determination. He took a deep breath and the worry on his mind finally vanished. “You are right. Let’s do this!”

“No one was willing to help us, no matter how I begged. Those bastards. I knew that begging wouldn’t work and I’m done with begging!

“Relying on them is worse than relying on ourselves. Damn it, we will do this!!”