"Uncle Guan, I really have been busy these past few days. Give me another couple of days, and I'll definitely come over in person."
In the reception room, Su Ping spoke helplessly to an even more helpless Manager Guan.
"Ping, look how many days it's been. It's summer vacation now. Besides students graduating like you, quite a few Beast Tamers from elsewhere have returned to Linzhou. Business has been good lately, and we really are running a little short of low-level Pet Beasts.
"How about this? I'll make the call and raise the previous price by twenty percent. That's generous enough, right?"
Previously, Manager Guan's offer really would have tempted Su Ping.
After all, besides earning money, his Pet Beasts would also gain actual combat experience. It was a winning deal no matter how he looked at it.
But he really had no time these past few days. He had devoted all his energy to Wooden Head.
This was a deal worth several million.
How much could renting out Pet Beasts possibly earn him?
Seeing Su Ping's resolute stance, Manager Guan could only feel helpless.
Was he here over something as trivial as renting Pet Beasts?
The Skycloud Group had influence throughout Jianghai Province. Renting a few low-level Pet Beasts would be as easy as reaching out and taking them.
The reason he wanted to maintain ties with Su Ping was to sweet-talk him into selling the deeds to this land later.
Unfortunately, this boy seemed even more troublesome than Su Anyong.
Manager Guan had a feeling that his chairman would probably have some difficulty achieving her goal smoothly.
Shaking his head, Manager Guan could only leave helplessly once again.
But just as he stepped out through Woodheart's gates, Manager Guan saw a woman in sunglasses coming in.
Manager Guan nodded to her, recognizing her as a guest who had been staying at their resort these past few days.
He thought nothing more of it.
The newcomer was none other than Qin Xiaoxue.
Although Qin Xiaoxue was easygoing, she was not actually stupid.
If she left her beast so far away and something happened, she would not make it in time to help.
It was only a few days, anyway.
And she had to admit that although the outskirts by the Spirit Creek River lacked the city's convenient facilities, they offered a different sort of pastoral beauty rarely seen elsewhere.
"Who would've thought your little family operation would be so popular?"
Qin Xiaoxue smiled at Su Ping.
Indeed, Qin Xiaoxue had been coming over regularly these past few days. Although she only checked on Wooden Head once a day, strictly following the rules, she spent quite a long time at Woodheart.
Su Ping had become somewhat acquainted with this mysterious young lady of considerable background.
Today, however, he really was in no mood to properly entertain her.
The reason was simple.
Throughout these past few days of raising Wooden Head, Su Ping had not neglected the other Forest Wolves for even a moment!
Many days had passed since Su Ping unlocked the Forest Wolf Record and fully took over Woodheart.
As of today, only one of his Forest Wolves remained. All the others had reached the required intimacy and been added to the Forest Wolf Record.
At the same time, the Experience Points on the Forest Wolf Record had reached 499/500!
In other words, if he spent another day with these Forest Wolves, the Forest Wolf Record could advance to LV2!
Alternatively, he could bring that final Forest Wolf's intimacy up to the requirement-the one whose level was the highest apart from Old Sha's, at Elite tier nine.
Then the wish Su Ping had been dwelling on day and night all this time would finally come true.
At a time like this, how could he spare any attention for Qin Xiaoxue?
If he had not known Uncle Guan for so many years, and if the man had not been on good terms with his father and deserved that courtesy, Su Ping would not even have considered sparing ten minutes for him.
"I have something to do today. Take a look at Wooden Head, then head back."
Su Ping waved his hand, then ran straight toward the woods without giving another thought to Qin Xiaoxue, whom he had just completely ignored.
Qin Xiaoxue gave Su Ping a puzzled look, finding him even more hurried than she was, but did not take it to heart. She checked on Wooden Head through the monitor.
These past few days, Wooden Head had been playing in the woods with the wolf pack, showing no sign of training whatsoever, only eating and drinking. Not only had Wooden Head suffered no mistreatment, but-perhaps it was her imagination-Qin Xiaoxue even felt the little fellow had gained a few pounds.
Shaking her head, Qin Xiaoxue left it alone. Su Ping had signed a contract with her earlier, so if he failed to deliver, he would be the one losing out.
She only needed to make sure Wooden Head had not been hurt.
With Su Ping absent, there was clearly no point in staying. After taking a few more looks, she returned to the neighboring Yuntian Resort.
Compared with Su Ping's beast-taming base, this resort had a much better environment and scenery.
When she had nothing to do, Qin Xiaoxue did enjoy strolling around.
However, she had yet to visit the main building. That enormous building occupied a vast area and also housed the main beast battle arenas.
With nothing to do today, Qin Xiaoxue wandered casually in that direction.
Inside the main building were public battle arenas where Beast Tamers of varying abilities were fighting beast battles, though to Qin Xiaoxue, they all seemed rather inexperienced.
Clearly, most were graduates who had yet to undergo systematic training in beast combat, or prospective Beast Tamers who had not passed the Beast Tamer Qualification Exam.
They fell far short of those at the Demon City Advanced Beast Taming Academy.
Qin Xiaoxue had little interest in battles like these.
But just as she was about to leave the building, she paused, catching sight of something nearby out of the corner of her eye behind her sunglasses.
The middle-aged man who had been speaking to Su Ping earlier was now following a woman with a servile air.
The woman was stunningly beautiful. Even Qin Xiaoxue had to admit that she possessed something called feminine allure.
More importantly, there was the woman's imposing presence. After thinking for a moment, Qin Xiaoxue found a comparison: it felt a little like her father's.
Seemingly noticing Qin Xiaoxue's scrutiny, the woman turned and glanced at her, then paid her no further attention.
Yet after seeing the woman's face, Qin Xiaoxue slowly furrowed her brows even further. She suddenly felt that the woman looked rather familiar.
Before she could take another good look, however, the woman entered a separate private elevator. Once she was inside, the middle-aged man spoke quietly from the doorway:
"Chairman, Su Ping still refuses, and he shows no sign of budging."
The elevator doors closed, cutting off the sound.
Qin Xiaoxue stopped and took off her sunglasses, her naturally dark brows drawing even tighter.
Chairman? Did that man's visit to Su Ping have something to do with her?
And that woman looked familiar!
Recalling the middle-aged man's words, Qin Xiaoxue thought for a moment, then took out her phone.
At that very moment, however, Su Ping clearly had no idea about any of this, nor would he have paid it any attention.
He sat astride that last Elite tier-nine Forest Wolf, affectionately feeding the wolf canned meat it liked, prepared according to the Breeding Manual.
Finally, under Su Ping's meticulous care, a notification appeared beneath the log in the Forest Wolf Record within the Myriad Spirits Codex in his mind!
[Adult Forest Wolf discovered. Intimacy requirement met. Record level experience +15!] [This Forest Wolf is an adult. Each subsequent day spent with it grants Forest Wolf Record experience +1!] [Forest Wolf Record Experience Points: 514/500! Experience Points meet the record upgrade requirement. Upgrade?]
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