Starting With Contract Pets
chapter-104

"Let's follow him quietly."

Su Bai whispered to the cub.

A young man whom they had been following for a while was in front of them. Su Bai had already determined him as no threat to them.

After walking for a while, he suddenly shouted, "Buddy, now!"

"Howl!"

In an instant, a domain of thirty meters unfolded, and a thick vine instantly tied the young man and his high-level servant.

"Don't kill me, don't kill me… I have nothing…"

This sudden scene scared the man half to death, and he started pleading for his life.

Soon, Su Bai, who was presently wearing a hat, a mask, and a pair of sunglasses, revealed himself. "Stop shouting; I wanna ask you something. The surrounding area is empty, so it won't work even if you shout."

"Okay, okay." The young man nodded without hesitation.

"Do you know the market over there?" he asked.

"Yes, I do. It's a market built by the Card Queen, Wei Ya, and it's called the Bloodthirsty Vine Bazaar. The whole bazaar was built on one of her mid-level monarchs, the Bloodthirsty Vine. The order is almost the same as those outside, and you won't have to worry about your life after entering five hundred meters of the bazaar.

"Many things are sold in that market, some unobtainable in the markets outside. Some human slaves and blood pets are exclusively available here. It's best to use blood soul stones and spirit crystals for transactions; cash will have a big premium.

"There's also the Scarlet Hunter Trade Union, where you can pick up quests and spend money to find some maps of ruins. That's all I know."

The youth quickly revealed.

Su Bai nodded and asked again, "What about the wilderness? Anything unusual about it?"

"The wilderness is saturated with treasures and some special relics. There might be some skill jades, various treasures, and some unique pets.

"There are also blood pets which are stronger at night.

"Normal blood pets don't have consciousness and will attack upon seeing other non-blood pets. That's why everyone usually carries a blood-related item with them or uses concealment skills.

"There's a legend that some special blood pets will be born here every once in a while. Normal blood pets can't break through to the monarch level, but those special blood pets have the potential to do so. If you obtain such a pet, you can join the Scarlet Hunter Trade Union and have the opportunity to enter the Twelve Dragon Slayers organization.

"Also, some treasures containing bloodline power, such as blood source mines, are available here. The other materials are no different from outside."

The young man spewed words out like gunfire, for fear that he would make Su Bai unhappy if he talked slowly.

"Okay, last question: What's the use of this scarlet badge?" Su Bai showed it to him.

"It's a skull badge… the eighth skull badge. This is a badge made by the 3,000 Human Skull monster, the representative pet of Mistress Wei Ya. It represents her optimism about you.

"It has a life-saving ability in this wilderness. If someone kills you, he'll be marked by this badge, and she will chase after that person to kill him."

The youth stared at the badge for a long time and spoke with a stunned expression.

"Why? What's different about this skull badge?" Su Bai pressed on. Chen Rouxue also had a scarlet badge, but it was different.

"It's extremely rare. They say that Mistress Wei Ya has only issued seven such badges so far. Other than the two owners who have died, the others have all become big bosses. The Bloodthirsty Vine Bazaar's current manager is the seventh badge owner."

The young man started becoming excited as he explained further.

"What level is the 3,000 Human Skull monster?" Su Bai was silent for a while before inquiring about this.

"It's said to be at least an emperor pet."

"Okay, let him go. Let's go." He glanced sideways at the young man and turned around.

His pets let go of the youth, but the hypnosis cast on the young man's pet was still in effect, so it had no combat effectiveness right now.

"Wait, big brother; don't go!" When Su Bai let him go, the youth chased him.

"What's the matter?" He looked at the young man.

"Don't you lack a lackey? I can serve tea, pour water, wash, and cook for you. Together, we can definitely build a big business."

The young man grinned. Judging from Su Bai's earlier remarks, he had definitely been selected by Mistress Wei Ya to receive the badge. This was a big opportunity for him to curry favor with a skull badge holder.

"No need. Get lost."

The Little Tyrant activated its concealment skill and Su Bai's figure instantly disappeared.

"Hey, don't go! Big brother, I'll come here at noon every day. Come to me whenever you feel like it…"

...

"This badge is so powerful? How did you even get caught up by that Wei Ya?" Chen Rouxue looked at the badge in her boyfriend's hand and got curious.

"Who knows? Maybe I'm too handsome." Su Bai shrugged.

In fact, he had no clue, either. Could it be that Wei Ya had followed him and seen him fusing the energy light balls? Had she guessed about his special abilities?

Su Bai did not think that it was possible, since other people could not see the light balls.

Still, he decided to be more careful in the future.

With the information from the youth, the pair walked to the market with their pets. After observing it for some time and confirming the truth, they revealed themselves and ventured into the market. Their pets followed behind them while staying concealed.

Loud noises rang in the market, making it resemble a public market, but no one here looked guarded.

"Let's go sell some ores for spirit crystals." Su Bai saw a shop and walked inside with Chen Rouxue.

It was now four or five in the afternoon, so it was impossible to return today. They could only stay for the night here and find ruins to explore tomorrow.

"How many spirit crystals can these ores be exchanged for?" He took out a pile of ores and asked the shopkeeper. The Little Tyrant had discovered quite a few good ores, which would cost 100,000 yuan outside.

"80,000 yuan worth of spirit crystals," stated the owner dryly.

"Isn't that too little?" He could not help but question this pricing.

"It's the market price. Get lost if you don't want it."

"Okay, it's a deal. Exchange these crystal nuclei, too." He took out some junk crystal nuclei.

"That's a total of 100,000 spirit crystals." The owner took out a glass box with neatly arranged, wood-attribute, diamond-shaped spirit crystals.

The market price of the five-attribute spirit crystals was 1,000 yuan per piece, while the other attributes were more expensive.

"Let's go to the market and look around," said Su Bai as he pulled Chen Rouxue along.

The girl nodded and held his arm.

They could finally relax and be temporarily at ease in this wilderness.

After strolling around, they did not find anything of interest. The things sold here were expensive and were not as good as what was available outside. They took a second glance and simply left.

The seemingly calm and stable surface of this place was also full of sins and vulgarities. Except for Su Bai, most used underhanded means and committed crimes outside.

"Let's take a look at the street stalls."

He suggested. The street stalls sold some useful things and junks from the ruins. He wanted to see if he could pick out useful stuff.

As for the source of these ruins, he had more or less figured it out. Wildernesses like this were actually fragments of broken worlds slowly merged by the Blue Planet.

These relics were usually left behind by sentient creatures before this world. Hence, skill jades, pet eggs, and other treasures could be found here.

"Brother, come over and take a look! This is a flame emblem dug out from the remains of a sandpit. Just rub it lightly and it'll catch fire!"

"Beauty, this is a white orchid dug from the ruins. Do you want to buy one?"

"This is a topographic map of the relics from the white foxes. Anybody wants it?"

Ignoring these hustlers, Su Bai glanced around quickly as he frantically searched for any treasure with his golden fingers.

Much of the stuff sold here was junk, with most being fake. There were truly not many useful things around.

"Boy, these seeds are all alien plants dug out from the ruins. Wanna buy one?"

Seeing Su Bai's eyes lingering on his booth, a middle-aged man quickly smiled and advertised his goods.

"How much for these seeds?" he asked.

"It's one spirit crystal each. These were all from the ruins," replied the seller.

"Are you kidding me?! 1,000 yuan each? I'll have to consider it then. If this could be planted, why didn't you already plant one?" exclaimed Su Bai.

"How about two for 1,000? It can't be lower."

"Forget it. I'll go somewhere else to buy it." He shook his head.

"Okay, okay. Ten for 1,000. You can choose by yourself." The middle-aged man smiled nonchalantly. He would not suffer a loss by selling ten of these for 1,000 since he had randomly picked them up from the ruins.

Did he think that he was foolish? He still had the upper hand.

"These ten, then." Su Bai handed him ten seeds.

The middle-aged man wrapped the seeds up for him. He paid him and continued exploring.

"Are these seeds valuable?" Chen Rouxue squeezed his shoulder and asked curiously.

"Of course, they're worth at least 100,000 yuan. It's terrifying to be ignorant. The boss thought he had the upper hand but didn't know what he's losing out on."

Su Bai spoke disdainfully. Playing games in front of a junior trainer… Did that man think he was a rookie?

"Wow, you can profit so much? Sure enough, knowledge is wealth. Let's take a look around some more." His girlfriend's eyes lit up, and she pulled him forward.

"Let's go." He waved his hand and continued walking around.

"Wow, this crystal is so beautiful. How much for it?" asked Su Bai as he stopped in front of a stall with a variety of crystals on display. He pointed to a regular octahedral amethyst.

"One piece is for three spirit crystals. They were dug out from the ruins, so non-negotiable," stated the stall owner while playing with his mobile phone.

"Okay, then. I want this amethyst." Su Bai gave him three spirit crystals and picked up the amethyst with a smile. "My dear, isn't this beautiful? How about I cut it and make it into a necklace for you?"

"Hehe! You're so good to me." Chen Rouxue quickly responded.

"Don't show off your love here and hinder me from doing business." The young stall owner could not stand it.

Chuckling, the two walked away.

"What is it this time? A treasure?" asked the girl curiously.

"No, I just thought that such a neat and regular octahedral amethyst is very rare." Su Bai smiled.

In fact, this amethyst was a key, but he could not explain it without revealing his secrets.

"Okay, but this place is really profitable. We've made nearly half a million yuan just by buying spiritual plants." Chen Rouxue was a little excited.

It might be due to the lack of cultivators here, but the more uncommon spiritual plants were unknown.

It was already past 6 p.m. when they finished shopping in this bazaar. The two booked a room in a hotel after having dinner.

"Let's sleep at this Moonlight Hotel; it's safer here since it's near the Scarlet Hunter Trade Union," Su Bai said.

"Okay." Chen Rouxue nodded.

They entered the hotel, and the boy found that, besides the price list posted on the wall, 'girl-watching' was posted. Several ladies with different temperaments and styles like domineering and lolita, were displayed. Some well-tuned humanoid monsters, such as the Flower Fairy and the Grass Fairy, were also displayed.

Su Bai and Chen Rouxue were shocked to see this. The rich could really play.

"I want a double room, the one for 2,000 a night." Su Bai handed over spirit crystals.

"Okay, Room 302." The person at the front desk handed over a room card.

On the third floor, Chen Rouxue took a deep breath after entering the room and lay in bed.

"Howl!"

Ahhhhh! The cub sulked.

It jumped onto the bed, feeling extremely bored and suffocated after having quietly followed Su Bai all afternoon.

Big Demon and the Little Tyrant also stopped hiding. The little fellow sat on the ground, gnawing on an ore, while Xiao Bai laughed wildly and flew around.

"Buddy, help me check if there are cameras or the likes," Su Bai ordered.

"Howl! ̄『 ̄"

The cub was hungry.

It rolled around and refused to get up.

"Come over and help me first, then I'll give you your dinner." He urged it.

"Xiao Bai, you come and help, too." Chen Rouxue got up from the bed.

"Howl! ( ̄^ ̄)"

Fine then, but Ah Bai must give me two medicinal cakes. Little brother, stop eating and help!

The cub got up reluctantly.

"It's not safe, indeed."

Su Bai looked at the four pinhole cameras in his hand. After checking every nook and cranny, they finally found all the spy cameras.

"Howl~ Ψ( ̄∀ ̄)Ψ"

Ah Bai, I'm hungry. I wanna eat now.

The cub licked its lips and stared at him.

The Little Tyrant also seemed waiting to be fed, and saliva dripped from its mouth.

"I'm coming."

Su Bai took out medicinal cakes from his backpack and fed these to his pets.

Chen Rouxue also fed her pet.

"My ankle hurts; Purple Jade, heal me please. I've walked tens of kilometers today." She took off her shoes and sat on the bed, rubbing her sore feet.

"Howl!"

While eating, the cub unleashed its wood spiritual power on both humans.

As night fell, the sky turned as cold as water. Since there was no Internet in this world, they did not have anything to do but just lay in bed.

After realizing that it could not play games, Purple Jade stayed on the bed playing with its tail out of boredom.

"Let's sleep and wake up early tomorrow." Su Bai took off his coat and lay in bed, too.

"Goodnight."

Chen Rouxue also took off her coat and snuggled in her bed. She fell asleep facing her boyfriend.