Under the gaze of everyone present, Su Ping's expression did not change in the slightest. He did not even bother responding to Zhou Shuchen right away. Instead, he bent down, rubbed Little Dot's head as it hurried over, and smiled.
"Good job."
Then he turned directly to the staff member responsible for recording activity in this area and raised one finger.
"One match. Please record it for me, thanks."
The staff member nodded, clearly understanding that this was part of Su Ping's pet beast battle rental business.
Only after finishing this did Su Ping turn around, lead Little Dot down from the arena, and smile faintly.
"You never said it had to be my contracted pet beast. I've got so many Forest Wolves here—of course I'd pick the most suitable one."
Zhou Shuchen glared at him, while a few people nearby burst into laughter.
Indeed, Zhou Shuchen had only asked Su Ping to come up for a pet battle. He had never specified that it had to be Su Ping's contracted pet beast.
And now?
Not only had he failed to show off, he had gotten beaten for nothing—and even lost money renting a pet beast for the battle.
As for how expensive the rental was, Su Ping might not have known exactly, but the other classmates who had discussed coming here in advance certainly did.
That amount of money might not have meant much to Su Ping or some of the others, but for Zhou Shuchen—who was already saddled with several million in loans—it was absolutely not as "insignificant" as he had claimed.
Standing beside Zhang Guowei, the young man addressed earlier as "Brother Jin" narrowed his eyes slightly. As he looked at Little Dot, now returned to its normal size, a trace of surprise appeared in his gaze.
As an employee of Fire King Corporation—and a member of the cultivation division responsible for observing and evaluating the potential of newly contracted graduate Beast Tamers—he instinctively felt that something about this Forest Wolf was… off.
However, his talent was not True Sight, and casually using one's abilities to examine another person's pet beast was also considered impolite.
Thus, he could only occasionally cast thoughtful glances toward that peculiar little Forest Wolf.
Meanwhile, Zhou Shuchen was completely unaware of any of this. His face was flushed red—
Even redder than when he had activated his Fire Element Affinity earlier.
He glared hatefully at Su Ping.
"Su Ping, then do you dare to fight again—this time with your soul-contracted pet beast?!"
He had completely lost himself. The high costs of this place had been thrown entirely out of his mind. Right now, he wanted nothing more than revenge—he wanted to defeat this infuriatingly calm bastard once and stomp him underfoot.
He had already prepared a whole string of provocative words.
But what he did not expect was that Su Ping nodded again, meeting his furious gaze with the same utterly indifferent expression as before.
"Sure. But you should probably take your pet beast to recover first. We can fight again once it's fully restored."
It was a sincere reminder. After all, Su Ping was earning money per match—if someone insisted on throwing money at him, what did it matter?
Only then did Zhou Shuchen react. He snorted coldly, hugged his Redfang Tiger, and headed toward the already-prepared recovery and medical room.
At the same time, several classmates who had seen the earlier exchange also grew excited. They casually found suitable opponents and stepped onto the field to begin their own pet beast battles.
Even Li Shu and Yin Yin joined in.
Li Shu's Falling Pine was a plant-type pet beast. These beasts generally lacked mobility, but Falling Pine's combat power was actually quite decent. By swinging its branches, it could activate the skill Pinecone Bomb—
A very powerful attack, and a rare case of a low-tier plant-type pet beast possessing strong offensive capability.
Unfortunately, Li Shu's Falling Pine had yet to comprehend this skill. As a result, when facing his opponent's Tusked Civet, it could only keep waving its branches uselessly, unable to deal any real damage.
Li Shu clicked his tongue in frustration.
As for Yin Yin's pet beast, it was somewhat special and worth mentioning.
It was a special pet beast with elite-peak racial potential called a Cloud Butterfly.
Its combat power was rather average, but it could create illusionary mist and release a fragrance that confused the mind.
However, its appearance was exceptionally beautiful.
It matched Yin Yin's overall temperament perfectly.
Coupled with Yin Yin's innate talent, Lost Traces, which increased her speed and greatly aided in evasion, the scene resembled a fairy dancing through clouds and mist.
Against her stood a Silkbind Spider, whose combat power was also mediocre. Despite having racial advantage, it ended up completely bewildered—both beast and Beast Tamer—by Yin Yin's seamless coordination.
Interesting.
Watching the battle, Su Ping nodded slightly. Lost Traces was a talent that enhanced a Beast Tamer's speed and evasive ability.
While it did not directly increase raw combat power, it was undeniably practical.
Judging by the growing crowd—even beyond their classmates, many other Beast Tamers had gathered—it was clear how attractive this display was.
Those who came here were all young people. After seeing such a beauty, quite a few naturally wanted to show off.
And how did one show off in a pet beast battle arena?
Strength—nothing else.
In this entire area, the only pet beasts available for rental battles belonged to Su Ping.
Yin Yin's match alone was enough. In just this short span of time, not only Little Dot, but even the elite-grade Forest Wolves had all been rented out.
This open-air arena instantly transformed from deserted to bustling.
Su Ping felt delighted.
Who would have thought that the school belle would bring such unexpected benefits?
When he became rich in the future, maybe he could even hire a few "vases"—purely decorative—to lure these young, rich, and foolish Beast Tamers into becoming generous spenders.
Su Ping felt there was real potential in that idea.
"Brother Ping, how much can you make in a day like this?"
Li Shu leaned over, asking excitedly.
Not far away, Zhou Shuchen—still waiting for his Redfang Tiger to recover—also pricked up his ears.
He wanted to hear just how much this self-degrading, money-grubbing guy could earn.
Su Ping smiled slightly and did not avoid the question.
"Not counting the base rental fees, just from these pet beast battles alone, I've already made about twelve thousand."
Ordinary-grade pet beasts were five hundred per battle. Elite-grade ones were twelve hundred.
At the moment, none were idle—except Little Dot, who had already been used by Zhou Shuchen earlier.
The total added up exactly.
"Damn! That's easy money!"
Li Shu was full of envy. His father was a media editor-in-chief and earned just over twenty thousand a month—already considered quite decent in Linzhou.
Meanwhile, Zhou Shuchen's eyes turned bloodshot as he clenched his fists.
Money!
If he truly did not care about money as he claimed, why not pay off his loans first?
The thought only made him hate Su Ping more.
Just wait. Once Chi Yun recovered, he would make this bastard understand that his money was not so easy to earn.
But just as this thought arose—
Two identical figures stepped up to Su Ping.
"Um, are you the one renting out these Forest Wolves? Do you still have any available? My brother and I want to train cooperative pet beast combat. We need two that can fight together—Forest Wolves around Ordinary Fifth to Seventh Rank. Is that possible?"
Su Ping looked at the pair of twin brothers standing before him and paused.
But among his beasts, it seemed that only Little Dot was still available.
The twins clearly realized this too and scratched their heads awkwardly.
At that moment, Zhou Shuchen let out a strange, mocking laugh.
"Su Ping, don't you still have your contracted pet beast? Why not use it together with that Forest Wolf? Of course, that's assuming your contracted pet beast even meets their level requirements."
The mockery was obvious.
After all, Su Ping had just used Little Dot to instantly defeat Chi Yun, without ever summoning his own contracted pet beast. Naturally, Zhou Shuchen—and the surrounding classmates—had come to believe that Su Ping's contracted Forest Wolf was no match for Chi Yun.
Thus, faced with the twins' request for pet beasts between Fifth and Seventh Rank, Su Ping clearly did not qualify.
Or so they thought.
However, Zhou Shuchen's words seemed to remind Su Ping of something. He nodded toward the twins' expectant gazes.
"That works."
Then—
Under the dumbfounded stares of Zhou Shuchen and all the surrounding classmates—
A white light flashed.
The one who had never had the chance to appear before—
Xiao Qing—
Finally made its entrance!
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