Huang Wei took several deep breaths, feeling the blood rushing to his head.
Then he snarled, "Kid, do you have a deathwish?!"
A mere student actually dared to toy with their Beast Taming Corps!
"I really did just want to show you guys some colors," Chen Shu said with an innocent expression.
Huang Wei and his crew clenched their fists, rage burning in their eyes, yet they didn't dare make a move.
"Boss, I'll have the signature dishes."
Just then, two soldiers entered the restaurant, and the fury in Huang Wei's group instantly got forcibly suppressed—they didn't dare entertain thoughts of violence anymore.
Chen Shu placed the cards on the table and said, "Looks like everyone can accurately identify colors now. These cards are my gift to you—you can practice at home when you're bored."
Chen Shu returned to Zhou Shi's side, while his golden slime's defense increased by another 10%.
The system had asked him to show them some colors, and he'd followed the instructions to the letter, completely fulfilling the requirement.
The system was still speechless.
"Little Chen, you're really not afraid of offending Huang Wei, huh?"
Watching Chen Shu dig into his meal with gusto, Zhou Shi looked speechless—after all, the guy was a Beast Taming Corps captain and a Black Iron rank Beast Tamer himself. This guy seems like a bit of a reckless hothead.
"No worries, I generally don't leave the city."
Chen Shu looked completely satisfied—the fierce beast meat was even more delicious than he'd imagined.
As for Huang Wei? He wasn't worried at all. As long as he didn't enter Alternate Dimensions, forget Black Iron rank—even Gold rank Beast Tamers couldn't touch him.
Most importantly, the guy didn't know who he was and would only target Zhou Shi's Beast Taming Corps.
And right now, Huang Wei's corps had obviously just returned from an Alternate Dimension. They wouldn't re-enter just for him—Alternate Dimension tickets weren't free, after all.
"This kid..." Zhou Shi shook his head but stopped worrying about it.
Although they'd had conflict with Huang Wei's group, there was already bad blood between them anyway, so he completely didn't care.
After eating and drinking their fill, the group wandered around Qingyuan Town.
"That's the entrance to Qingyuan Forest, right?"
They arrived at the back of the town, where they could easily see a sizeable building with soldiers carrying live ammunition patrolling all around. Behind the building, white fog shrouded everything, making it impossible to see through—it was nearly dusk now, so there was no way such thick fog could naturally occur.
Zhou Shi nodded. "Yeah, we'll head over first thing tomorrow morning."
Just then, a group emerged from the white fog, all wearing camouflage uniforms stained with faded bloodstains and looking utterly exhausted, but excitement shone on each of their faces.
"A mutated Azure-eyed Snake! Taking the highest bid!"
The leader shouted loudly, and the surrounding merchants instantly perked up, rushing over.
"I'll pay 100,000!"
"300,000!"
"400,000!"
The Azure-eyed Snake's price quickly skyrocketed, finally selling to a merchant for 800,000 yuan.
Xu Xiaoyu's eyes showed confusion. "Can a basic-level fierce beast really sell for that much?" An Azure-eyed Snake's strength was at most equivalent to a Level 9 contract spirit—they were extremely common in Qingyuan Forest and shouldn't sell at such a high price.
"Besides strength classifications, fierce beasts also have bloodline grades," Zhou Shi explained. "Bloodline grades are divided into Common, Mutated, Lord, and Monarch."
Bloodline grades were essentially equivalent to contract spirits' potential ratings.
For same-level contract spirits, an S-rank would obviously be on a completely different level from an F-rank—except for Chen Shu's golden slime, of course.
Zhou Shi continued explaining, "A common Azure-eyed Snake naturally isn't worth much, but a mutated one is different. Not only can the gallbladder enhance Beast Taming Power, but the eyes have a chance of granting contract spirits the 'Sharp Vision' skill."
"Of course, the probability is terrifyingly low, but rich people will still spare no expense, willing to gamble money on that tiny chance."
Xu Xiaoyu nodded in understanding. As the grade's top student in the final exams, she'd received a Spirit Enlightenment Pill that could give contract spirits a chance to comprehend skills or talents during breakthroughs—the probability was similarly minuscule.
Spirit Enlightenment Pills were worth hundreds of thousands and were priceless on the market, rarely seen for sale.
Anything related to skills and talents would be inflated to astronomical prices.
This was why the grade director thought Chen Shu must have saved the galaxy in his past life for his slime to have two active skills.
"Forget Lords and Monarchs—even mutated-grade fierce beasts are incredibly rare finds."
Old Deng shook his head. "Let's go back. Hopefully this expedition brings us good luck."
Everyone nodded and left, returning to their hotel.
...
Night fell.
RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE!
Chen Shu lay in bed, his face contorted in agony as Uncle Wang, who'd driven all day, snored like thunder in the bed next to him—the sound rising and falling in dramatic waves.
"Should've gotten my own room," Chen Shu muttered.
He'd tormented the man during the day, and now the roles were reversed at night.
This won't do! I absolutely can't take it!
Chen Shu splashed cold water on his face to wake himself up. Looking out at the nighttime town, he impulsively left his room.
At night, the hotel had become incredibly quiet, with only the front desk clerk still diligently watching a mystery drama.
"I'll go explore the town."
They hadn't finished touring during the day.
The moment Chen Shu left the hotel, he saw a couple embracing on the street.
The man said tenderly, "Xiaofang, you know what? I've actually always liked you."
The woman blushed shyly, hiding in the man's embrace, not daring to look up.
Chen Shu happened to be passing by and asked, "What about when you're not straight?"¹
The moment the words left his mouth, Chen Shu took off running, his movements were graceful yet decisive.
"What the f—" The man felt like ten thousand alpacas were stampeding through his mind. "When I'm not straight, how the hell could I still like you?"
The romantic atmosphere between them was instantly shattered by some jerk's wicked pun.²
...
Chen Shu whistled as he enjoyed the night breeze, feeling completely at ease, finally escaping the 'thunder bombardment' in his room.
Even at night, people still moved about on the town's streets.
As Chen Shu walked, he arrived in front of a large building—the nine-story structure was impressively constructed, forming a stark contrast with the low buildings around it.
This was the Beast Tamer Association, a place specifically serving Beast Tamers, offering services including intelligence trading, Alternate Dimension maps, fierce beast compendiums, mission halls, and more.
A service worker approached with a smile. "Sir, I'm happy to serve you."
"Then you're celebrating too early," Chen Shu said.
The worker stumbled, nearly falling over.
"Hehe... Sir, you're quite the comedian." He forced out a stiff smile.
Great, another difficult customer.
"What services do you need, sir? The Beast Tamer Association can provide anything."
"Nothing for now, just browsing, just browsing."
Chen Shu shook his head, wanting to look around alone. The worker tactfully withdrew.
It was nighttime, so the Beast Tamer Association didn't have many people.
Chen Shu went up to the third floor's mission hall. A huge display screen hung from the ceiling, showing various missions.