Astral Pet Store (WN)

Boom!

Rows of annihilating cannons were firing like a storm. There was no sound dispersion in vacuum, yet the outbursts and explosions made the spaceships shake, which was deafening to their passengers.

Most of the locust-like beasts were hit by the barrage. The cannons were so powerful that some beasts were skinned, while others were shattered.

However, even more beasts came rushing like a tsunami.

The human attack continued. More beasts perished, but their swarm was still getting closer at a considerable speed; those who were merely enjoying the show dropped their smiles and became nervous.

Many spaceships sent out distress signals as they tried to jump away from that disaster. The space station was already in chaos by then.

Inside one of the spaceships—a guard asked his lord, "My lord, are we going to lend a hand?"

The lord was a brawny middle-aged man who mastered a galaxy; this was a clear indicator that he was a Star Lord dominator.

"Don't overstep their boundaries; this is their personal business," replied the middle-aged man with indifference, as he was unwilling to help. That wasn't his galaxy, anyway. He had only gone there as part of a business trip. To help would mean to fight the beasts which were clearly in the Star State, seeing that they were traversing through space with their naked bodies.

He didn't want to get involved in such trouble even though he was a Star Lord himself.

The guard was stunned for a moment, then fell silent afterwards.

Warships sailed out of the space station. They were part of the local garrison; they had protected the space station from wandering beasts countless times.

A chaotic battle unfolded at a distance, once the warships sailed out. The warships were firing, and Star State battle pet warriors charged forth.

The brutal encounter was taking place right in front of the passengers who were on the spaceships nearby.

"I hope they'll be fine," said one of the onlookers, with hands put together to pray.

Some, however, were more concerned about the guards' performance, wishing they were able to deal with the beasts.

Soon, the beasts crawled onto the warships and tore them apart, while the battle pet warriors were also surrounded and swallowed soon after. Not even their screams could be spread in the vacuum.

It was a ghastly sight for a lot of people, which gave them goosebumps.

"Damn it, why are there so many of them?"

On one of the spaceships—Macron felt desperate as he watched the troops collapse. The most frightening thing was, there seemed to be more beasts than there were in his hometown.

"Is our space station going to fall too?" asked a kid, upset and suspicious.

"Enough with the nonsense!" someone instantly criticized him, but his own face was absolutely pale, too.

The space station sent out alarms at that moment. The signal towers all over the space station were emitting red lights, symbolizing a top-tier alert. Many drones immediately flew out, and a defensive energy field was activated. Distress signals were also transmitted; the dazzling red light looked like blood on people's faces.

Right when anxiety and desperation reigned, an eternal light glowed from the depths of the universe and flew by.

That was a particle cannon round, which caused a gigantic hole in the cluster of beasts!

The formerly desperate onlookers were left dumbfounded by the unexpected scene.

Then, they saw a spaceship flying right towards the beasts, showing no intention of stopping.

A black shield was activated by the spaceship once it approached the beasts, enshrouding it whole. All the beasts that made contact with the shield were reduced to ashes.

The ferocious beasts thawed like snow as the spaceship plowed them. Only the creatures by the edges were able to flee from the catastrophe.

"Why did a beast tide come to this place?"

Inside the spaceship—Su Ping was quite surprised by the event.

Yun Mu was standing next to him, with a transparent ceiling above their heads, which allowed them to see the vast space. She said softly, "Maybe some of the wandering beasts happened to reach this area."

Su Ping nodded. He then looked at the debris in the battlefield and gave a slight head shake. There would have been even greater casualties if he hadn't returned in time.

"There's not even a Star State warrior in this spaceship. It would be too dangerous if they run into Star State beasts."

Yun Mu was amused by what he said. "Star Lords are too important to defend a space station, not to mention that this is an unimportant one. The important space stations which lead to the corners of the universe may be supervised by Ascendants. And there aren't that many Star State beasts…"

The alarms in the space station stopped while Su Ping and Yun Mu talked. The passengers of all the spaceships looked at the newcomer in shock. The spaceship crushed a beast tide on its own?

Many people found it hard to believe their eyes; the escaping beasts were escaping..

They had fallen into hell moments before, but then they saw heaven.

"What's that spaceship? It's terrifying!"

"There must be a bigshot iside that spaceship!"

Many people wondered who was aboard the ship.

"We're saved!"

Macron collapsed on his chair, tired yet flashing a smile full of delight, as if he would have personally taken part in a great battle.

His closeby children were also cheering excitedly.

Katherine's eyes glittered as she looked at the spaceship in astonishment. There was no doubt in her mind: She had no doubt that the owner of that vessel was certainly an esteemed person.

Order was restored on the spaceship, as the beasts dispersed. A fleet was deployed to clear the debris. One of the fleet's spaceships flew over to Su Ping's and sent a request for communication.

Su Ping chose to accept the call after hearing the spaceship's notification.

A hologram was soon projected on the spaceship. She was a short-haired woman in armor, who was quite surprised to see Su Ping. She obviously didn't expect that the owner of the spaceship would be that young. She quickly overcame her surprise and respectfully said, "I'm the director of the Olm Space Station. Thank you for helping us. I was wondering if there was a way we could return the favor."

"To easily talk about reciprocating makes the favors cheap," replied Su Ping with a smile.

The woman was a bit stunned by his response; she quickly apologized to him.

"It wasn't a big deal. No need to return the favor. Just clean the battlefield and prepare a funeral for the deceased heroes. By the way, I'm going to the Rainbow Planetary System. Please complete the paperwork for me." Su Ping chuckled.

The woman understood by his response that he wasn't expecting anything in return. She thanked him sincerely, and then completed the paperwork as requested.

I was granted a tier-7 identity after the contest ended. I think it'll give me the privilege to cut in line. Su Ping suddenly felt relaxed as he saw the long queue of warships ahead of him; waiting in line was more tiresome than fighting beasts in his perspective.

The paperwork for Su Ping's jump was soon completed.

The short-haired woman almost shook when she saw that Su Ping had a tier-7 identity. That was usually the clearance given to Ascendants. The young man is an Ascendant!

She nervously completed the paperwork for Su Ping, then opened a special channel so he could pass through.

"That spaceship is taking the level-1 special channel. The bigshot on board is truly extraordinary. He's either an Ascendant or someone who has made great contributions!"

"Are you jealous? He deserves to take the level-1 channel after saving us all!"

"You're right."

Some warships turned on their lights at that moment; many others followed suit. Such beacons usually worked as identifiers. All of them were turned on as a way to thank Su Ping and bid him farewell.

"They're thanking you," said Yun Mu with a smile once she noticed this.

Su Ping also smiled after seeing their gesture. He then asked the spaceship's AI to also turn their lights on as a response.

The people on the other spaceships were surprised to see Su Ping's response. They didn't expect the bigshot to be as approachable.

Su Ping's spaceship reached the star gate and was ready for the jump.

An infinite burst of light was gathered in front of the spaceship as the jump initiated, establishing a space-time channel. There was a spaceport before them when the light was gone. Beyond said port was a planetary system composed of seventeen planets and a star at the center.

"This is the Rainbow Planetary System. It does look like a rainbow…" Su Ping noticed that the planets had different colors, producing the rainbow effect which inspired the name.

Su Ping then saw Rhea at the very edge of the planetary system.

"I'm back…"

There was eagerness in Su Ping's eyes.

…

On Rhea.

A certain district in Woffett City—

The street was already crowded. Countless people were queuing in front of a store.

"Don't push or cut in line."

A tall and pretty girl standing by the store's entrance was maintaining order.

"Miss Tang, can you accept a few more pets today? I've waited for days," someone at the rear of the queue begged the girl.

Tang Ruyan looked at the person who had just talked. Even before she said anything, the guy before him said, "Just days? I've waited for almost a week!"

The groveling person immediately fell silent.

Someone further ahead, however, turned around and said, "You think one week is long? I've waited for half a month!"

"I…"

Tang Ruyan raised her hands and said, "Be quiet and obedient if you don't want to wait for a longer time."

It was then that a young man in white clothes, followed by a brawny middle-aged man, flew over from the end of the queue. He waved a paper fan in his hand as he said with a smile, "Miss, could I have my pets trained first? I can pay double the money."

There were incensed responses upon hearing his request. Some rolled their eyes and shouted, "You think you can do anything because you have money?"

"Yes, I can do anything because I have money," responded the young man with a smile.

"Damn it…" They gritted their teeth, but they realized that his identity was definitely honorable; no one complained afterwards.

The young man then looked at Tang Ruyan with a smile. Seeing how cold and uninterested she was, he asked in surprise, "What do you think, miss?"

"No matter how rich you are, you have to wait in line if you want your pets trained," said Tang Ruyan coldly.

The young man frowned and said, "I can pay three times the normal price, or any number you name; it isn't easy for me to come here. I heard that you can't train many pets every day. I don't have time to wait in line."

"Not even ten times the normal price would do." Tang Ruyan looked at him and continued, "This is the rule. Don't make me repeat it."

"…" The young man was rendered speechless.

"Watch your manners!" said the brawny man accompanying the young scion, as he stepped up with a daunting attitude, "You're just a receptionist. Has your boss not taught you how to receive guests? Are you really qualified to decide whether or not to serve a guest?"

Tang Ruyan was unfazed by his outburst; it was obvious that it wasn't the first time she had been in such a situation. "This is exactly what our boss commanded. I advise you not to bring trouble to yourself."

"How bold!" said the brawny man as he suddenly took action, determined to capture Tang Ruyan.

But right at that moment—a pressuring force swept out of the store and suppressed the brawny man, forcing him to fall on his knees while still in midair. His bones were cracking, and there was blood on his lips.

The brawny man's eyes widened with fear. What terrified him was not the pain he felt, but the ominous aura coming from the store, which was even scarier than a Star Lord's.

"Uncle Wei!"

The young man's expression became stern, realizing that something was wrong.

Some of the people in line were surprised by such a development, while others merely looked on. They mocked the poor sod. "They dare to cause trouble here? Their accent seems foreign; they should have known better!"

"He's just a Star State warrior, and yet he dares to go wild? I remember seeing an overbearing Star Lord once, but he was beaten up, and he ended up vomiting blood in the end."

"This is the fifth time I've waited in line. There's been troublemakers every single time. How interesting!"

"There are too many arrogant people. They think they're strong enough to do anything they want."

Everybody joined in the whispering.

Those not in the know were really confused. Even a Star Lord vomited blood after causing trouble?

After overhearing those conversations, the now pale brawny man said in fear, "S-Senior, spare my life. I didn't mean to insult you. I was wrong!" He continuously kowtowed after pleading.

The young man in white also fell to his knees with a pale face.

Tang Ruyan rolled her eyes and said, "You should have listened to my suggestion. All right, you may leave."

The sky above them suddenly became dark after she spoke, wreathing the entire street in shadows.