"Uncle Guan, I've really been busy these past few days. Give me two more days—two days—and I'll definitely come over to your place in person."
Inside the reception room, Su Ping spoke helplessly to an even more helpless-looking Manager Guan.
"Xiao Ping, just look at how many days it's been already. It's summer vacation right now—besides students like you graduating, plenty of beast tamers from other places have returned to Linzhou. Business has been good lately, and we're seriously short on low-tier combat beasts.
"How about this—I'll make the call myself. I'll raise the previous price by another twenty percent. That's generous enough, right?"
If this had been earlier, Su Ping would truly have been tempted by that offer.
After all, besides earning money, letting his beasts experience real combat was a win no matter how you looked at it.
But these past few days, he genuinely didn't have the time.
All of his energy had been focused on Mu Tou.
This was a business worth several million.
How much could renting out beasts really earn?
Seeing Su Ping's firm attitude, Manager Guan could only sigh inwardly.
Was he really here just for the matter of renting beasts?
The Tianyun Group had influence throughout Jianghai Province—renting a batch of low-tier beasts would be effortless.
The real reason for maintaining this relationship was to slowly butter Su Ping up, paving the way for the future acquisition of this entire plot of land.
Unfortunately, this kid seemed even harder to deal with than Su Anyong.
Manager Guan had a feeling that if the company chairman wanted to achieve her goal smoothly, it wouldn't be easy.
Shaking his head, he could only leave again, resigned.
However, just as he stepped out of Woodheart's main gate, he saw a woman wearing sunglasses walking in.
Manager Guan nodded politely, recognizing her as the guest who had been staying next door these past few days.
He didn't think much of it.
The newcomer was none other than Qin Xiaoxue.
Although Qin Xiaoxue was brash by nature, she wasn't actually foolish.
Leaving her contracted beast so far away—if something went wrong, she as the owner wouldn't be able to respond in time.
Since it was only a few days anyway, she decided to stay nearby.
And to be fair, although the Lingxi River outskirts lacked urban convenience, they offered a rare kind of pastoral scenery.
"You wouldn't think it from the looks of it," Qin Xiaoxue smiled at Su Ping, "but your small operation is surprisingly popular."
Over the past few days, she had been coming regularly.
Although she strictly followed the rule of seeing Mu Tou only once per day, she still spent quite a bit of time at Woodheart.
Toward this mysterious young lady with an extraordinary background, Su Ping had become somewhat familiar.
But today, he really wasn't in the mood to entertain her.
The reason was simple.
During these past days of cultivation, aside from working with Mu Tou, Su Ping hadn't neglected the other Forest Wolves either.
Since officially lighting up the Forest Wolf Codex and fully taking over Woodheart, quite some time had passed.
As of today, among all the Forest Wolves at the base, only one remained—aside from Old Sha—who hadn't reached the required intimacy level.
All the others had already been included in the Forest Wolf Codex.
At the same time, the experience value on the Forest Wolf Codex had reached 499/500.
In other words, after just one more day of interaction—
Or if the final Forest Wolf—the one at Elite Rank 9, the highest-level wolf besides Old Sha—reached the intimacy threshold—
Su Ping's long-cherished wish would finally come true.
At a moment like this, who had time to worry about Qin Xiaoxue?
If not for the fact that Uncle Guan had known him for many years and had ties with his father, Su Ping wouldn't even have spared ten minutes to deal with him.
"I've got something to take care of today. Go check on Mu Tou, then head back."
Su Ping waved his hand dismissively, then completely ignored Qin Xiaoxue and hurried off toward the forest.
Watching Su Ping—who somehow seemed even more hot-headed than herself—Qin Xiaoxue felt a little puzzled, but didn't take it to heart.
Through the monitoring system, she checked on Mu Tou.
Over these days, Mu Tou had been playing with the wolf pack in the forest, eating and lounging around without any sign of training.
Not only had he suffered no mistreatment—if it wasn't her imagination, he even seemed to have gained a bit of weight.
Shaking her head, Qin Xiaoxue didn't worry further.
A contract was a contract. If Su Ping failed, he would be the one at a loss.
As long as Mu Tou wasn't injured, that was enough for her.
With Su Ping absent, there was no reason to stay.
After a brief look, she returned to the neighboring Tianyun Resort.
Compared to Su Ping's breeding base, the resort's environment and scenery were far superior.
When she had free time, Qin Xiaoxue did enjoy strolling around the grounds.
She had never visited the main building before, though—the massive structure that housed the primary beast battle arenas.
With nothing better to do today, she casually walked over.
Inside the main hall were open battle fields, where beast tamers of varying strength were engaged in matches.
To Qin Xiaoxue, however, they all seemed rather immature.
Most were graduates who hadn't undergone systematic battle training, or quasi–beast tamers who hadn't passed the professional certification.
Compared to the elite level of battles at the top academies in the capital, the difference was obvious.
She found it uninteresting.
Just as she was about to leave, she paused slightly.
Out of the corner of her eye, behind her sunglasses, she noticed something in the distance.
The middle-aged man she had seen earlier with Su Ping was now following closely behind a woman, bowing and scraping.
That woman was stunningly beautiful—so much so that even Qin Xiaoxue had to admit it.
More importantly, the woman carried a presence.
After thinking for a moment, Qin Xiaoxue found the comparison.
It felt similar to the aura her own father carried.
As if sensing Qin Xiaoxue's gaze, the woman glanced over briefly, then looked away, uninterested.
But after seeing the woman's face clearly, Qin Xiaoxue frowned even more deeply.
She suddenly felt that the woman looked… familiar.
Before she could get a better look, the woman stepped into a private elevator.
As the doors closed, the middle-aged man could be heard speaking softly at the entrance:
"Chairwoman, Su Ping still refuses. There's no sign of him backing down at all."
The elevator doors shut, cutting off the sound.
Qin Xiaoxue stopped walking.
She took off her sunglasses, her naturally dark eyebrows knitting together.
Chairwoman?
That man was dealing with Su Ping on her behalf?
And that woman—she definitely looked familiar.
Thinking back to what the man had said, Qin Xiaoxue pulled out her phone.
Meanwhile, Su Ping was completely unaware—and unconcerned—about any of this.
He was riding atop the final Elite Rank 9 Forest Wolf, feeding it meat cans prepared according to the Forest Wolf Preferences section of the Breeding Manual.
Finally, after his meticulous and patient care, a message appeared in the Forest Wolf Codex within the Myriad Spirit Codex in his mind:
[Discovered an adult Forest Wolf. Intimacy requirement met. Codex experience +15.]
[This Forest Wolf is an adult individual. Each additional day of interaction will grant +1 Forest Wolf Codex experience.]
[Forest Wolf Codex Experience: 514/500. Experience requirement met. Upgrade Codex?]
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