Astral Pet Store novel - Chapter 59

They stepped to the center of the campsite and stood under the space fracture.

  “Try to keep up.”

  Lin Mokong hopped straight into the space fracture in the sky without looking back. Soon, he vanished inside it.

  Fan Ganglie reminded Fan Yujing, “This is Brother Su’s first time here. Take care of him.”

  With that said, Fan Ganglie hopped into the space fracture as well.

  Li Ying followed him closely.

  Fan Yujing told Su Ping, “After you.”

  Su Ping took a close look at the space fracture. Making sure that it was danger free, he hopped into that fracture.

  The moment he dived into that vortex, Su Ping felt space and time were shifting. It was very similar to what he experienced when he entered a cultivation plane.

  Suddenly, he landed on the ground and felt a burden being lifted off of his body. Eventually, Su Ping was able to look at the surrounding view. There were people hurrying to and fro behind the space fracture. They were explorers of other teams.

  Su Ping looked up. It was a crystal-clear galaxy above his head. Outside the atmospheric layer, there were some stars and planets of various sizes and at different distances. Evidently, this had to be the unknown world Fan Yujing mentioned.

  The place was dark. It was also nighttime in that world.

  Luckily, after all was said and done, Su Ping was a battle pet warrior with a better visual sense than others. He could see things within 30 meters. But he only saw blurred objects beyond the 30 meter mark.

  Whoosh!

  With a flash of light, Fan Yujing came as well.

  Everyone was there. Fan Ganglie took out a map from his backpack. “This is the most updated map of the areas we have explored. This is the place we went to the last time we came here. The Blood Fox was lost here. Let’s go and search.”

  Everyone was looking at the map, trying to remember the layout and markings.

  Su Ping was sure that the price of the map was high. He took a close look and remembered all the routes and lines depicted.

  For the moment, nobody knew how vast the world inside this space fracture was. If possible, Su Ping would stay clear of the dark areas noted on the map, since they were still unexplored.

  Lin Mokong asked, “Li Ying is in charge of reconnaissance, right?”

  Li Ying nodded. He called out that reconnaissance bird from before. That bird dived into the night sky ahead.

  Lin Mokong posed another question, “What is the furthest place the bird can reach?”

  Li Ying replied, “About 7,500 meters.”

  “Only 7,500 meters…” Lin Mokong frowned. Compared to what the scouts of his team could do, this distance was quite short. That being said, Li Ying was merely a middle-level battle pet warrior. Lin Mokong couldn’t ask too much of him.

  The former then said to Fan Ganglie, “Let’s spread out, shall we?”

  “Sure.” Fan Ganglie was thinking about the same thing. He summoned a huge wolf, its body completely black. This was a Bloodthirsty Demon Wolf with a seventh-rank bloodline, very aggressive and suitable for combats at night. It was an adult, judging by the size of this one, unlike the still-growing pets that were used by students at the academies.

  Lin Mokong looked at this Bloodthirsty Demon Wolf. He lifted his hand and summoned a python longer than 10 meters. This was a Codson Python. While it was a python, it was incredibly poisonous, one of the most difficult kinds to tackle among all the seventh-rank pets.

  Fan Ganglie and the others appeared to be worried as they saw this huge python. Li Ying and Fan Yujing in particular, they seemed to be afraid and reluctant to be near this python.

  Usually, ferocious and bloodthirsty pets like this python would easily go out of control. With their abilities, it could instantly kill them with ease once it fell into a frenzy.

  They truly believed in Lin Mokong’s abilities; he wouldn’t lose control over a seventh-rank pet. That being said, this was a matter of life and death. Nobody could afford to be careless.

  They had to admit that the Codson Python was intimidating. The moment it appeared, explorers from the other teams cleared a path out of instinct.

  “Let’s go!” Fan Ganglie shouted.

  The Codson Python and the Bloodthirsty Demon Wolf set off side by side and dashed into the darkness ahead.

  The further they were away from the campsite at the exit of the space fracture, the duller the darkness would be. No firelight could be seen at all.

  Since they entered the space fracture, Su Ping had become quite careful. His mind was more focused than when he was in cultivation planes. He extended the reach of his senses to their limits to feel the surroundings, instead of relying on information collected by Li Ying alone.

  Li Ying alerted the team all of a sudden, “There’s an unknown Astral Pet up ahead.”

  He could only discern the number and size of the Astral Pets from the information relayed by the bird, but not the species.

  Fan Ganglie wished not to have unexpected problems popping out. He asked, “Is there another way around it?”

  Li Ying closed his eyes and opened them a moment later. “All the other routes have Astral Pets there, more than one.”

  Lin Mokong proposed, “Let’s go and take a look, then. We will withdraw if that’s an advanced Astral Pet.”

  Fan Ganglie did not oppose this. It was a simple decision. He was thinking about doing the same thing.

  Soon, they were near that area. A giant elephant-sized star pet was found in a forest lake in front of them, drinking water by the lake.

  Fan Ganglie took out something like a night-vision device from his backpack. He took a look and said with relief, “That is a sixth-rank Tiger Scale Tapir.”

  “Kill it.” Lin Mokong went on to make a prompt decision.

  Fan Ganglie nodded and was ready to engage. But Su Ping frowned. Something felt wrong to him. Seeing that Fan Ganglie was about to take action, Su Ping stopped him. “Wait a minute.”

  “What?”

  Fan Ganglie turned around and looked at Su Ping with confusion.

  Lin Mokong knitted his eyebrows. He turned to look at Su Ping as well. He had no good feelings for this new person that had no experience in exploring unclaimed lands. If Su Ping could not produce anything useful, Lin Mokong would tell him to keep his mouth shut for the rest of the trip.

  Su Ping asked Fan Ganglie, “Did you get a clear view? Is that the Tiger Scale Tapir?”

  Fan Ganglie was surprised by the question. He replied with a frown, “It’s the middle of the night, but I can see it clearly.”

  “Let me see.” Su Ping asked to borrow the night-vision device.

  “Are you making a scene or are you afraid of death?” Lin Mokong pulled a long face and glared at Su Ping with his ice-cold eyes.

  Li Ying was unhappy as well. Clearly, Su Ping was worried that the beast was not a Tiger Scale Tapir but something else. How timid Su Ping was! Besides, Li Ying was sure that their captain would never lie or boast about anything he wasn’t sure of. Otherwise, they would have lost their lives many times!

  Fan Yujing felt embarrassed. He whispered to Su Ping to persuade him, “Brother Su, the captain surely saw it clearly.”

  “Right.” Fan Ganglie was very certain about the pet he had just seen. Besides, he was convinced that his eyes were not worse than Su Ping’s. If he had made a mistake, then there was no way that Su Ping could tell!

  Su Ping’s face was clouded as he heard their words.

  This was a decisive matter in his life. He would not pretend at the moment.

  His eyes were cold as he glared, concentrating an emotionless look on Lin Mokong. “Afraid of death? Do all explorers act like you? Simply charging forward without thinking, like morons?”

  Lin Mokong was furious. “What did you just say?”

  If it weren’t for the fact that Su Ping’s glare made his heart tremble, Lin Mokong would have drawn the dagger right then.

  Su Ping’s eyes were as cold as they could get. “Feel the temperature. During this season, if I remember correctly, Tiger Scale Tapirs would not come out for no reason.

  “Besides, Tiger Scale Tapirs don’t drink much water. They stay hydrated by eating small insects. When they are thirsty, they eat plants to get water. They are omnivorous pets.”

  The others were surprised.

  They felt the breeze blowing. It was chilly. This puzzled the other guys.

  Fan Ganglie stared at Su Ping. “Are you being serious?”

  Su Ping glared right into his eyes coldly, “Do you think I am kidding?”

  Somehow, Fan Ganglie felt his heart beat faster as he looked into Su Ping’s eyes. It seemed as if the Su Ping next to him was a completely different person. When they were at the explorers’ base, Su Ping appeared to be gentle and mild. However, at the moment, Su Ping’s eyes were as cold as if he had seen a dead body. Was this really a person that had never taken part in excursions of unclaimed territories?!