After leaving the Breeders Association, Su Ping felt a bit of regret about having declined Old Liu's polite offer to have an assistant drive him home.
That old fellow could really ramble.
Class had ended at four in the afternoon, but Old Liu had grabbed him for dinner, and after a few drinks, by the time Su Ping finally came out, it was already deep into the night.
The subway and buses had all stopped running.
Still, Su Ping had accompanied Old Liu until he was thoroughly satisfied. After all, he truly had taken a huge advantage from the man.
Even though, according to the Breeders Association's reward system, this was something he was entitled to receive, without Old Liu, things would never have gone so smoothly or easily.
Thinking it over, in future research projects, he could rope Old Liu in—just like adding a supervisor's name to a paper in his previous life. Unless the mentor had terrible character, it made things much more convenient.
And it wouldn't draw too much attention either.
But now clearly wasn't the time to think about such things.
After carefully checking the Sun Crystal stored in his Beast Space, Su Ping waved his hand and hailed a taxi, heading home.
The moment he got into the car, his phone rang.
"Su Ping, you done with the teacher over there? Want to come for another round with the brothers?"
The caller was none other than Sun Chaoju.
This guy hadn't returned to Shuhua City at all and was still hanging around Linzhou City. Judging by the noise on the other end of the line, there were quite a few people with him.
Sure enough, as soon as he finished speaking, several voices rang out from the phone:
"Su Ping, come on over! Big brothers will broaden your horizons! Find some fun—maybe even break your fast!"
Black lines immediately appeared on Su Ping's forehead. He recognized that voice—it belonged to Breeder Mu Hang. Combined with the background music, it sounded hazy and unfocused.
And with that lewd tone, there was no need to guess what kind of place they were in.
Too degenerate!
Su Ping shook his head.
"No, no. Breeder Sun, you know Elder Liu's drinking capacity. I really can't drink anymore. Another day—another day I'll treat you and the other senior breeders."
"What a pity. We've got quite a few young girls here who've heard of your reputation, Su Ping. They really want to meet you."
Sun Chaoju's voice was much clearer than Mu Hang's—he obviously wasn't as drunk.
"Some other day. In a few days, I actually need a favor from you. I want to ask if you could introduce me to a capable intermediate undead breeder in Linzhou City who specializes in origami figures."
"Sure. Just give me a call whenever you've got time!"
The call ended.
The piercing music and the drunken shouting from the other end finally stopped.
Too degenerate!
Too extravagant!
As an intermediate breeder of the Dragon Nation, how could one sink into such low-level indulgence?
Su Ping sternly criticized this kind of behavior in his heart. He absolutely couldn't be led astray by these unambitious old slickers!
I'm a man who's going to become a Breeding Master—the pinnacle of beastmasters.
Just as he thought that and was about to close his eyes, he paused slightly.
There was still one unread message on his phone.
It was a notification sent that afternoon. During class, he'd set his phone to silent, so he hadn't noticed it. Opening it now, he read:
[You have a package that has been delivered. No one was home, so it has been placed in your mailbox by the door. Please retrieve it promptly. If you have any questions, you may contact courier number 5151154 at 152…]
A package?
Although Su Ping had been buying things nonstop recently, this courier company and notification source weren't the usual ones. So it clearly wasn't something he'd ordered.
That left only one possibility—was it the item Qin Xiaoxue had said she'd mail him a few days ago?
Su Ping raised his brows, a smile appearing on his face. He put away his phone and closed his eyes.
The taxi fell into silence.
The driver in the front seat, however, glanced at the young man in the back through the rearview mirror with a strange expression.
Not very old, carrying a faint smell of alcohol.
What kind of nonsense was he muttering about?
And those drunks on the phone—breeder seniors? Those drunkards were respected breeder lords?
Give me a break. If they were breeders, then wouldn't I be the chairman of the Linzhou Beastmaster Association?
Introducing intermediate breeders?
The taxi driver shook his head. Young people these days—after a little drink, they start bragging like the whole of Linzhou City belongs to them.
Thinking this, he glanced back at the young man who looked as if he'd fallen asleep and let out a small sigh of relief. He was worried the kid might throw up in the car.
Not long after, the taxi arrived at Lingxi River Station in the suburbs of Linzhou City.
After paying the fare, Su Ping got out of the car, his eyes already clear again.
Meditation helped him focus and steady his mind. In truth, he hadn't drunk much anyway. Most of the time had been spent discussing pet cultivation topics with Old Liu.
Watching the taxi drive off, Su Ping suddenly thought of Qin Xiaoxue's supercar.
With its added levitation function, it could fly at a certain speed—truly top-tier.
And most importantly, it was damn cool!
Given how things were going, he'd probably have to make frequent trips into Linzhou City in the future. Should he get himself some kind of transportation as well?
Unfortunately, summoning large pets for street travel wasn't allowed within the city limits. Otherwise, he'd just bring Old Sha along—nothing could beat that.
For now, he had to follow the rules.
The best vehicles were made using Mechanical Cores.
Like that experimental apparatus.
Mechanical Cores were the most crucial component for awakening mechanical-type pets, and their value was extremely high. More than half the cost of that instrument probably lay in the Mechanical Core itself.
Vehicles like that had many advantages: long endurance and no need for manual control.
Of course, plenty of pros came with a single con—
They were fucking expensive.
Shaking his head, Su Ping stopped thinking about such nonsense.
Although he was earning quite a bit now, money still had to be spent where it mattered. Wasting it on something like that wasn't his style.
The late-night wind sharpened his senses. He jogged over to the somewhat old-fashioned mailbox. Sure enough, inside was a small sealed package.
The return address read: Magic Capital (Shanghai).
As expected—it was from Qin Xiaoxue.
He took the box out. It had a surprising amount of weight.
Not daring to act rashly, Su Ping carried it straight inside. Only then did he solemnly place it on the table.
Taking a deep breath, he opened the package.
Inside, he saw another, slightly smaller box.
Opening that revealed yet another, even smaller box.
Su Ping was speechless.
Was Miss Qin really this bored?
Was she just messing with him for fun?
Shaking his head, he continued opening them. Finally, in the last box—only the size of a fist—he saw something different.
It looked like a small pebble.
What was bizarre was that growing out of the pebble was a strange three-leaf clover.
What the hell was this?
Su Ping raised his brows. Fortunately, there was an explanatory card beside it.
He picked it up to read—and his pupils shrank violently.
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