BXBX NOVEL Chapter 49: 48 Ze City Secret Realm
It seemed that in order to show she meant no harm, Qiu Qiuyu felt her initial words weren’t quite serious. She fumbled on herself, retrieving a business card from a small pocket at her collar.
“This is my business card.”
Taking the business card, it glinted with a silver sheen, as if it were silver-plated.
Director of Fangcun Pharmaceuticals
Qiu Qiuyu
Phone: 099…
Before Chen Xing could take a clear look, the card was snatched back, and Qiu Qiuyu coughed, “Sorry, I gave you the wrong one.”
She then took out another business card from her pants pocket, this one was crumpled and made of paper.
This business card only contained a name and phone number, the latter seeming more like a personal number than a company landline.
“Our Qiu family has been researching Salty Bay Crocodiles for over a hundred years, mastering three Salty Bay Crocodile evolutionary paths, with six evolution forms,” Qiu Qiuyu said with a smile.
Six?! Chen Xing’s heart skipped a beat in excitement.
Because according to his online search, the information available suggested Salty Bay Crocodiles had only two evolutionary paths, with four evolution forms:
Salty Bay Crocodile → Deepwater Scale Croc → Tyrannical War Croc
Salty Bay Crocodile → Rotting Deform Croc → Virus Bone Croc
Among them, the Tyrannical War Croc evolved towards close combat, while the Virus Bone Croc evolved towards water and poison attributes.
The internet only provided the names; detailed information was impossible to find.
“There are some things that you won’t find on the internet,” said Qiu Qiuyu lightly. “Our family also has a final, rare evolutionary path, evolving towards the ruler of the waters.”
Qiu Qiuyu continued, “Don’t worry. I’m here in Jincheng handling some matters and will stay for another week. You can give me your answer anytime within this week.”
“I will consider it carefully!”
Chen Xing put the business card away, and right on cue, Principal Xue gave a wave of his hand as Chen Xing was about to exit the room.
Principal Xue quickly said, “What’s the rush, Chen? It’s not about you. Qiuyu, you can go ahead and leave.”
Qiu Qiuyu: ???
He glanced at Principal Xue annoyedly, “Alright then, I was worried for nothing. I’ve personally handed you the letter this time, and you better not stand us up again. Otherwise, I will have trouble explaining to my second sister, and you’d have to explain it yourself.”
Chen Xing heard Principal Xue sighing, “Understood.”
After Qiu Qiuyu left, Xue Jinbao pulled Chen Xing aside, urging him to summon the Taotie to take a good look.
When Chen Xing summoned the Taotie, Xue Jinbao crouched on the ground, scrutinizing it closely, his buttocks stuck out, and his suit pants stretched tight.
“What a rare little fellow, full of vitality. Hahaha!”
Xue Jinbao stood up from the ground, unable to resist a hearty laugh.
After laughing, Xue Jinbao seemed to sink into reminiscence, his face bearing a meaningful look.
Then Xue Jinbao seriously admonished, “I have made contact with the Qiu family for you, and you shouldn’t stand them up. As for the courses, I will have Mr. Lu and Mr. Kuang keep track and send you the daily progress. If we’re talking about research on Salty Bay Crocodiles in our country, no one is more formidable than Old Master Qiu; calling him the world’s number one Salty Bay Crocodile Beast Tamer wouldn’t be an exaggeration.
“His Salty Bay Crocodile evolutionary path is different from others, and I heard the conditions required for evolution are quite stringent. It’s not just a matter of precious materials, but the Salty Bay Crocodile’s own qualifications must also be very high. If your Salty Bay Crocodile can choose the evolutionary path that Old Master Qiu Beast Tames, it would be a great opportunity for you!
Choosing the right evolutionary path for your Beast Taming creature is a key turning point in everyone’s life.”
Chen Xing bowed deeply to Principal Xue, expressing his gratitude, “Thank you for your trouble, Principal.”
Xue Jinbao was gratified, “Train your beasts well, that’s the best way to repay me. You can go now.”
…
When he got back to the school team, Coach Kuang was reviewing the battle with the senior students.
Seeing that they were busy, Chen Xing took Taotie to find Zhou Hao, who was practicing beast taming.
“How about we see whose beast can eat more?”
“Brother Chen, let’s not… I’ve lost so many times already; there’s really no need,” Zhou Hao hurriedly refused, waving his hands. His Salty Bay Crocodile was only 2.2 meters, so there was no need to compare its eating capacity with Chen Xing’s beast.
At first, owing to the thin-skinned nature of high school students, he was embarrassed to refuse, but after five matches, he couldn’t resist refusing anymore.
“Wang Bing, let’s see whose beast can eat more.”
Wang Bing chuckled, “Alright, alright, let’s do it!”
He felt that Chen Xing might have developed some strange little quirks, but since they were all teammates and Zhou Hao had refused, rejecting the offer would make Chen Xing look bad.
Anyway, it wasn’t about betting money, so it didn’t matter; he decided to just indulge Chen Xing for fun.
Chen Xing quickly said, “Let’s go to the cafeteria.”
After joining the school team, food was essentially provided in unlimited quantities at school.
Even after school hours, one could still go to eat; the cafeteria had staff on duty every day.
The two of them took their beasts to compete in a meal competition.
It wasn’t that Chen Xing was unwilling to elaborate, but he had tried and failed to use verbal methods to coax others; he could only extend direct invitations.
Once someone verbally refused, even if he managed to invite them again successfully in a short period of time, he wouldn’t be able to receive the small game rewards or Proficiency Level increases.
After about fifteen minutes, the two well-fed beasts licked their bowls clean.
In the Stone Booklet, the page for Taotie showed an increase in the Water Devouring Skill’s Proficiency Level by +1.
Primary Skill: Water Devouring (Mastered) (7/20)
The Proficiency Level of the Water Devouring Skill had increased over the week, with Wang Bing contributing the most, followed by Zhou Hao.
Previously, in order not to expose information about his beast, Chen Xing had not summoned Taotie in his class; naturally, he did not challenge his classmates to a gluttony contest either. Now that Taotie had been exposed, he could invite classmates to play the small game in the next couple of days. With many classmates in the class, they should contribute a lot.
The Mastered-level Water Devouring Skill was already usable, with no chance of skill failure during the release.
During that week, Chen Xing’s main focus was still on the Grand Vortex Skill; to increase the Proficiency Level of the skill, he even made another batch of dried fish at home.
He played interactive games daily, boosting the Grand Vortex Skill’s Proficiency Level from novice all the way to expert.
Intermediate Skill: Great Vortex (Expert) (439/1000)
To level up an Intermediate Skill from novice to mastered, only ten Proficiency Level points were needed; to go from mastered to expert required one hundred points, and from expert to perfect soared to a thousand. Whether there were any higher levels above perfect would be revealed once the Proficiency Level of the Great Vortex Skill broke through a thousand!
In that period, Taotie had almost become depressed from fetching balls. It took Chen Xing a good while to soothe its small frustrations.
Taotie indicated it needed to eat more to alleviate its hurt feelings, so Chen Xing conveniently took it to several gluttony contests.
In fact, it was understandable. Putting oneself in their shoes, if someone were to dive over five hundred times within a week to fetch the same object, it would be strange if that person’s mood remained stable.
When any hobby turns into a profession, it’s natural to lose the initial passion.
After finishing the meal competition, they left the cafeteria. Coach Kuang’s post-match review with the upperclassmen was over.
Kuang Shiyi then announced some news: they would depart for Guanghu District tomorrow afternoon and enter Ze City Secret Realm the following morning, for a total duration of three days and two nights.
“Each Beast Tamer gets one free chance to enter Ze City Secret Realm every year, and it’s already November. If we don’t go now, it’ll go to waste. The Shu State Cup is coming up, and I want to take you and the senior students to Ze City Secret Realm for some practical training, because the rules of the Shu State Cup change every year, and this year, there’s a possibility that wilderness survival will be included.”