A reunion between sister and brother

"Um..."

The officers stared at the bizarre scene before them, utterly baffled.

What was going on?

Luo Shang stood stunned, and so did the police dog beside him!

He had assumed that a Beast Tamer capable of subduing an extraordinary tiger would have contracted a ferocious beast too, something like a bear.

But what was he looking at?

A Silly Husky?

These dogs were disobedient and weak attackers. They barely qualified to become police dogs, so how had this one terrorized a tiger into behaving like a cat?

"Officers, you're finally here."

Seeing the group approach, Lu Ran suddenly realized that certain Special Departments, such as the military and police, might already know about the Black Cards on a large scale.

There were still very few Beast Tamers. It would be far too much trouble if they had to handle everything personally.

There were probably plenty of Common people in Xia Country's Donghuang Beast Taming Alliance!

"Is there anything else you need me to help with? Something urgent just came up," Lu Ran said.

He really was in a hurry now.

Because Fang Lan had finally returned.

They had just spoken over the phone, but since Lu Ran couldn't leave yet, he had been forced to keep waiting.

Now, more than staying here, he wanted to go see Fang Lan and check how she was doing.

"I'm Luo Shang. Thank you for your help! You're Lu Ran, the student, right? We'll take it from here... You can go attend to your own business. Later, when you have time, we'll visit you personally to express our thanks," Luo Shang said.

Luo Shang didn't dare slight an expert like Lu Ran.

Even though Lu Ran was ostensibly just a student, Luo Shang knew that powerful Beast Tamers could easily hold important positions in the Donghuang Alliance and enjoy extremely high status.

If Lu Ran also worked for the authorities, then with his strength... his rank might even be higher than Luo Shang's!

Until he figured out Lu Ran's true identity, Luo Shang could only let him do as he pleased.

"No need to thank me. I was just doing my part!" Delighted to hear he could leave immediately, Lu Ran glanced at General Ha and said, "Let's go, then."

"We knocked out that big cat's teeth, tore out its claws, and broke one of its legs. It shouldn't pose much danger anymore. We'll leave it to you..."

"Roar!" The Northeast Tiger was furious.

You're the cat! Your whole family's cats!

The officers exchanged looks, unsure what to say.

Soon, Lu Ran and General Ha left the scene. Before leaving, General Ha cast one last imposing glance at the Northeast Golden Tiger and the enormous police dog. Neither the Northeast Tiger nor the dog dared make a sound.

Finally, watching Lu Ran and General Ha leave, the Northeast Tiger huddled at the foot of the mountain breathed a sigh of relief. Those two demons were finally gone...

But a moment later, it looked at the several black gun barrels aimed at it and sank back into contemplation.

Inside an apartment in the Lijiang Residential Complex, Green Sea City.

Fang Lan lay on the sofa in her pajamas with a face mask on, doing everything she could to soothe her frayed nerves.

Phew...

Finally back.

After returning, what annoyed Fang Lan most was that little brat, Lu Ran.

She picked up her phone again and looked at Lu Ran's replies, so angry that her face mask fell off.

Lu Ran: [!!!]

Lu Ran: [You... you were chosen too?]

Lu Ran: [I wasn't ignoring you. I was chosen two hours before you... When you messaged me, I was already in the secret realm.]

Lu Ran: [Are you back?]

"Back, my foot." The moment this happened to her, she had told Lu Ran, yet he had experienced it even earlier and hadn't told her. It was infuriating.

She had already called him.

She had just called Lu Ran. She wanted to have a proper talk with him about this face-to-face.

Ding-

Soon, the doorbell rang. Outside, Lu Ran, who had come to beg forgiveness, eyed the door cautiously.

This place... was where Fang Lan kept her pets, as well as where she lived.

Fang Lan's family owned several apartments. Since she kept too many exotic pets for it to be convenient to live with her parents, she had moved out on her own quite early.

So she currently lived apart from her parents too.

"Lu Ran!"

The door opened. Seeing Lu Ran still in the same clothes and looking thoroughly bedraggled, Fang Lan had a whole barrage of things she wanted to say, but when she opened her mouth, she didn't know where to start. Forget it.

"Come in first."

"Okay." Lu Ran patted his chest, let out a breath, and entered the apartment.

In the living room, they looked at each other. Fang Lan broke the silence first. "I won't press you about why you didn't tell me when something happened."

"Because I can guess what you'd say."

"You didn't want me to worry, you were afraid I wouldn't believe you, and you were afraid I'd stop you from trying. Right?"

"Ha... ha..." Lu Ran laughed awkwardly.

If you're enjoying this book, remember to add it to your bookshelf so you can find it next time.

"No matter what, you need to tell your family whenever you encounter something dangerous."

"Mostly, I didn't expect the Black Cards to appear on such a large scale," Lu Ran said. "Who could've guessed we'd be chosen one right after the other... I was planning to tell you after I got out. Besides, you didn't tell Mom and Dad either."

"Don't talk back! Ahem, so you contracted that Silly Husky of yours, right?" Fang Lan, who had just sat down, stood again, planted both hands on the table, and looked seriously at Lu Ran.

"What was your rating?"

Perhaps because of their bond as siblings, both believed the other would have easily cleared the Novice Secret Realm.

"Pretty good. S. General Ha's really strong now. If we get the chance, we can team up, and I'll carry you through some secret realms." Lu Ran didn't hide his rating from Fang Lan.

Sometimes, though, the more truthful you were, the less people believed you.

Sure enough, Fang Lan froze and asked incredulously, "What did you say? S? How is that possible..."

"Is General Ha a leader species???"

"No, just an Intermediate Extraordinary species."

"Then how could you get an S? My Little Blue is a High Extraordinary Species, and I only got a B!"

Fang Lan was clearly confused. Senior Gu had told her that she was a one-in-a-hundred genius and that her compatibility with her spider pet beast was extremely high, making its starting species rank comparable to lions and tigers.

If General Ha also had a high species rank, she could understand Lu Ran earning a high rating. But an Intermediate Extraordinary species... how had he gotten such a high rating?

"Species rank isn't everything. There's something it doesn't account for: learning ability." Sitting on the sofa with his legs crossed, Lu Ran poured himself a glass of water and spoke as he drank.

"General Ha has incredible comprehension. After just a few fights, he easily mastered Energy Coating. Through further combat training, he even reached the level where he could easily use Energy Wrapping to coat external objects."

"When it comes to using energy, he completely outclasses those wild monsters. We fought for an entire day, so getting an S rating isn't surprising. Didn't I tell you ages ago that General Ha had amazing combat talent? You believe me now, right?"

"Looks like you don't know much about Infinite City or Beast Tamers. How about this? If there's anything you don't understand, I'll explain it." Lu Ran smiled, immediately putting his newfound knowledge to use.

Seeing Lu Ran humblebragging again, Fang Lan protested at once.

"No thanks! I just wasn't used to the secret realm at first..."

"When we have time, let's spar in Infinite City's Arena. Your General Ha against my Little Blue."

"Sure." Lu Ran agreed instantly. He also wanted to see how powerful a Great Xia Tarantula of the High Extraordinary Species was.

Fang Lan's pet beast was actually a High Extraordinary Species. Honestly, Lu Ran was surprised, but also not surprised. She had dealt with these exotic pets since childhood, so her high compatibility made perfect sense.

The basic information handbook stated that the Beast Tamers chosen by Black Cards were generally people who had plenty of contact with animals, either through animal-related professions or because they kept pets at home.

Furthermore, the higher a Beast Tamer's compatibility with their pet, the greater the potential the pet could awaken after the initial contract.

"Uh, is there something on my face?" Lu Ran had already agreed to the duel, but seeing Fang Lan still gritting her teeth and staring fixedly at him made him feel a little guilty.

"You actually got an S... I thought my rating was already really high." So that was what Fang Lan was still brooding over.

She had always outdone Lu Ran in every area since they were children. Now that he had surpassed her instead, her feelings were probably rather complicated.

"Hehe." Lu Ran said, "It's fine. Your initial rating doesn't determine everything. If there's an ultimate champion among Beast Tamers, you'll definitely become the King of Beast Tamers' sister."

"At least you know what to say!"

"By the way, did anyone from the authorities invite you to join?" Lu Ran suddenly asked.

"They did!"

"Did you accept?"

"I did..." Fang Lan said. "Why wouldn't I? Didn't you?"

"Uh, not yet," Lu Ran said.

At the mention of this, Fang Lan perked up and said excitedly, "Guess who I met in Infinite City."

"Dr. Gu! Gu Qingyi. It turns out she was chosen to become a Beast Tamer too."

"You definitely don't know as much as I do. She explained loads of things to me. I accepted her invitation, but as for what exactly I'll be doing, she said she'd explain when she contacted me in the real world..."

"Gu Qingyi? Who's that?" Lu Ran thought the name sounded familiar, but couldn't remember who she was.

"A young, beautiful woman with a doctorate at Magic City University. Forget it. You only have eyes for Silly Huskies and bugs. Beautiful women have nothing to do with you," Fang Lan said disdainfully.

Several of her female classmates had discreetly asked her about Lu Ran, but he hadn't been interested in a single one.

That was probably for the best. She felt that plenty of girls were only after Lu Ran's family fortune!

"That's nonsense! I like beautiful women too." Lu Ran wasn't having that. As a teenager, he probably should have had a youthful romance or something, but first there had been the upheaval in his family, then his acquisition of a superpower. It was understandable that things hadn't developed in that direction.

"Is that Dr. Gu trustworthy?" Lu Ran asked again, worried that someone might use Fang Lan as cannon fodder.

"Of course. She's a First-Generation Beast Tamer. She entered Infinite City three years ago, and she's really powerful! Apparently, she got an SS rating in her Novice Secret Realm. Even higher than yours!"

Lu Ran couldn't believe it.

"A First-Generation Beast Tamer? Really?"

"I think so... That's what she said."

Lu Ran's mouth fell slightly open. A First-Generation Beast Tamer with an SS novice rating?

Hadn't Little White Dragon said that only thirteen First-Generation Beast Tamers were still active on the front lines?

Could this Dr. Gu be one of those thirteen?

Lu Ran looked at Fang Lan in utter disbelief, while she gazed expectantly back at him.

"What's wrong?"

"I'm just wondering why you got to meet a First Generation big shot when you entered Infinite City, while I only met... well, someone pretty nice too, I guess."

"I can introduce you to Dr. Gu. I only got a B rating, and she called me a rare genius. With your S rating, she'd definitely value you even more!"

"Then the two of us would be her two superstar generals. The perfect team!"

"From what I know, the alliance seems to place a lot of importance on training Fourth-Generation Beast Tamers right now..."

"So we'd be the SB duo?" Lu Ran quipped, turning their ratings into slang for idiots.

Fang Lan puffed out her cheeks and snapped, "Shut up! Believe me, I'll lock you in a dark room and make you spend the night with my exotic pets."

Fang Lan puffed out her cheeks and said bluntly, "Shut up. Believe it or not, I'll lock you in a dark room and make you spend the night with the reptiles."