Starting With Contract Pets
chapter-42

It was 3 a.m. when Su Bai and Chen Rouxue fell asleep. At this time, the entire mountain was quiet, except for the occasional cry of a monster.

This situation continued until 5:30 a.m., when the rising sun emerged from the east. The orange sun in the morning dyed the surrounding clouds a red color.

Lying on the hammock, Su Bai opened his eyes and looked at it. He thought of a poem. The rising red sun, the shining bright light, the flowing river, and the rushing ocean…

He also thought of what had happened in the past few days, and how he would spend the next few hours.

"Howl~"

Purple Jade called softly and turned to meet eyes with him.

He smiled silently, not wanting to disturb the tranquility.

Other than him, Chen Rouxue was watching the rising red sun, along with teams having four warlords who could not fall asleep.

Be it the water-fire Gemini twins, Zhao Li, or Wang Tao, none could sleep peacefully. This was because they had too few number tags in their hands, puzzlingly so.

One of the water-fire Gemini twins, Wan Shui, the owner of the fire pet Lava Salamander, ate a cookie and asked, "How many number tags have we obtained?"

"Exactly 305," replied Qian Shan. He caressed his Diving Crocodile and continued speaking. "Last night, someone eliminated a lot of players in front of us. I don't know if it's Zhao Li or Wang Tao, but we're at a complete disadvantage now. This time's match is impossible to unravel."

"It seems that someone has gathered a large number of tags in their hands, but it doesn't matter. They still have to reach the mountaintop. We only need to drive them up and slowly eliminate them. It's just that Zhao Li and Wang Tao are both really strong opponents and aren't easy to deal with." Wang Tao patted the crumbs from his hands.

Meanwhile, the two people in question were also feeling very confused. They only had more than two hundred number tags in their hands, so they reckoned that the team with the most number of tags was the one with two warlords or a group with high-level servants who had survived until this point. They would have never imagined that it was a team with mid-level servants.

At dawn, starting from the middle part of the mountain, the three teams with warlord-level pets started sweeping the area in three different directions as they moved toward the mountaintop, seemingly having made an appointment.

The closer to the mountaintop they were, the more cautious everyone became. With the slightest movement or the slightest spiritual power fluctuation, they would be discovered and ousted.

However, the more teams were eliminated, the stranger these six people from the three teams felt, and the greater the suspicion they held toward one another.

This was because the number of tags in the hands of the eliminated teams was very average, and none of them had a particularly large number of tags.

As such, the three teams started suspecting one another.

In the northwest corner atop Nangong Mountain, on the other side of the thorns of a ten-foot cliff, the two real culprits were still basking in the sun and looking at the view.

There was already originally a huge forest of thorns and vines in this part of the mountain, but after Su Bai got in, he had his pet released some more thorns. Now, it was impossible for humans to get through the thorn walls, and the cub had also activated Vegetation Sensing to detect their surroundings. As long as anyone approached, Purple Jade would be the first to know.

At this time, be it in the rostrum or in the major live broadcast rooms, the audience could see the situation of each participating team, as well as the number of tags each possessed.

"F*ck! Su Bai's team is too dogged. They're just hiding there; why don't they go out and fight?"

"I call it the dirtiest play, but that old dude is still rather impressive."

"It feels so fake; is it a fake match? How could the mid-level servants team have more than a thousand tags?"

"Those who claimed it's fake are the fake netizens, alright? This whole process is being broadcasted live. If you don't believe it, do the recording and the broadcasting yourself, and don't cause trouble here, okay?"

"I beg you guys to be more humane; isn't there a team going over to explore?"

"F*ck! Who can get through the thorny bushes?"

In fact, according to the audience's wishes, some teams had indeed passed through the area. However, one glance at the thorny bush, and they simply gave up.

When it was 9 a.m., the three teams with warlords eliminated other opponents with unstoppable sweeping actions, leaving fewer than twenty teams in the field.

The suspicion between the three teams also reached the peak. After eliminating the other teams, the water-fire Gemini twins encountered Zhao Li first.

"Hand over your number tags," said the sibling duo expressionlessly.

"Haha! Let's fight, then. I'll let you see what I'm made of." Their opponent sneered.

"Diving Crocodile, Water Arrow Burst!"

Qian Shan directly started the fight. The one-meter-tall crocodile opened its mouth and set water arrows flying toward the Flame Crow.

"Lava Salamander, Lava Flying Stone!"

The salamander opened its mouth for its deadly trick, and a dozen or so burning rocks hit the Twisted Tree pet of Zhao Li's partner.

"D*mn it! Flame Crow, Fire Explosion!"

Zhao Li gritted his teeth. He was not afraid of the opponent targeting him but of them targeting his partner. Although his pet was stronger than the enemy water-based pet, it could not end the battle quickly because of the attribute restraint.

As the water arrows were destroyed by the fireballs, even more fireballs burst forth without relent.

"Diving Crocodile, use Diving." Qian Shan sneered. He was not afraid of the other, since the battle would be over once Twisted Tree was eliminated.

The crocodile lunged forward, directly using countless currents to form a water ball to dive into. Although the effect was not that great, it was more than enough.

...

While Zhao Li and the others were fighting, two guests arrived at the area where Su Bai's team was. One had a high-level servant, Water Ripples, and the other had a mid-level servant, Small Tree Monster.

"Brothers, let's not do it. Let's not fight; we can part in peace. Once the spiritual power fluctuates, we'll all be gone. We just wanna qualify; I'm guessing it's the same for you?"

These two had finally found a safe spot, but they did not expect that it would be occupied.

"Okay, then. Stay away and don't come closer."

Su Bai glanced at these two people. His team chased them down last night, but these guys were really good at running away, and because they were too close to the water-fire Gemini twins, he gave up on pursuing them. He did not expect to see them again.

"Okay, okay."

The two retreated far away and made a hammock for themselves to sleep on.

One of them then said with much admiration, "Brother, you're so impressive. You came here to rest even yesterday, right? You're so relaxed and happy, even having a female partner to accompany you. Meanwhile, we were chased around all night; it's really killing us."

"Yes, this hammock is so comfortable. Brother, you really know how to enjoy life. By the way, my name is Feng Ming, and he's called Zhang Ta. What are your names?" asked Feng Ming.

Both of them were sixteen years old. Feng Ming had a thin, squarish face, while his teammate had a round, fat face.

"I'm Su Bai, and she's Chen Rouxue," he replied.

"Oh. Are you two a couple? If a boy and a girl participate together, they're usually a couple, but it's said that they end up breaking up afterward. It's hilarious," asked Feng Ming curiously, turning over on the hammock.

"No, we're just good friends. We came here to win the championship." Chen Rouxue was playing with her pet.

"Hehehe!"

Xiao Bai swallowed its owner's hand in one bite and made an expression full of relish. Smiling, the girl pulled her hand out. The little demon opened its bloody mouth and swallowed her hand again, staring at her with big eyes. Hehehe.

Su Bai was also playing with Purple Jade while keeping an eye on the two.

"Hahaha! Little sister, you're so interesting. Come, I'll treat you to some oranges. They're from my Small Tree Monster and really delicious." Zhang Ta, who obviously thought that the girl was joking, tossed a few big oranges to her.

The thorns had been still from for a while, so the audience watching them was beginning to grit their teeth in impatience. Feeling bored with the fierce fighting on Zhao Li's side, they all asked to switch the camera to Su Bai's team.