"Just call me Old Lu!" Lu Fei said without hesitation.
He paused for a moment.
Then he felt that this wasn't quite right. If he let a girl call him that so casually, she would definitely be curious. So he added, "My brothers all call me that!"
Ke Xin looked up, dumbfounded, with countless question marks above her head.
"Oh..."
"Old..."
After pondering for a long time, she still couldn't bring herself to say it. "Can I call you something else?"
Lu Fei rubbed his head. "That's fine, too. What do you want to call me?"
Ke Xin thought for a moment. "I remember you seem to be older than me, so how about I call you Brother Fei from now on!"
Hearing this address, Lu Fei's expression was complicated, but he had no reason to refuse, so he reluctantly accepted.
"Okay!"
The two continued to walk forward. At this moment, Ke Xin said shyly, "Then don't call me Class Monitor anymore, okay?"
Lu Fei readily agreed. "Then what should I call you?"
"Call me Xin Xin!"
Ke Xin blurted it out. She had been holding this sentence in her heart for a long time.
"Xin Xin..."
Lu Fei savored the name for a moment, then rubbed his head sheepishly and said, "Isn't that a bit too intimate?"
Ke Xin, already blushing shyly, became even more flustered when asked, and she said playfully, "Brother Fei, you're the worst!"
"Hiss..."
Lu Fei's body trembled, and all his hairs stood on end.
One word, "Brother Fei," had almost taken him away...
Soon, the two boarded the vehicle for their return journey.
The high-intensity training of the past few days had left both of them exhausted, and they fell asleep on the vehicle in a daze.
Ke Xin was sitting next to Lu Fei. As she drifted off to sleep, she vaguely leaned her head on Lu Fei's shoulder. Neither of them noticed, but they slept exceptionally soundly.
After a two-hour drive, they finally arrived at Cang Town.
"We're here, everyone wake up," the middle-aged driver called out. He then lit a cigarette and stuck his head out the car window, exhaling smoke.
Ke Xin was the first to be awakened by the voice. She realized she had been leaning on Lu Fei's shoulder all along.
She couldn't help but cover her flushed face with her hands.
"Brother Fei, we've arrived at Cang Town," Ke Xin said softly.
Lu Fei shook his head and woke up with lingering reluctance.
"Arrived... arrived? Oh, okay, let's get off then." He rubbed his dizzy head, his expression a bit dazed.
The two then got out of the car. As soon as Ke Xin stepped out, a beautiful woman walked towards them.
Ke Xin exclaimed in surprise, "Mom!"
She threw herself into the beautiful woman's arms, her face beaming with happiness.
A moment later, she returned to Lu Fei's side and introduced him, "This is Lu Fei! My classmate!"
The beautiful woman slowly raised her eyes to look at Lu Fei. The next moment, she suddenly froze.
"It's you?"
Lu Fei was startled, a big question mark appearing above his head.
Ke Xin asked curiously, "Mom, do you know Lu Fei?"
The beautiful woman seemed to snap back to reality, shook her head, and muttered to herself, "No, it's not him."
"I'm sorry, Auntie, I mistook you for someone else," the beautiful woman explained with a smile.
Lu Fei breathed a sigh of relief and respectfully said, "Hello, Auntie."
At this moment, Ke Xin couldn't help but introduce him, "Mom, do you know that Lu Fei won first place in the annual beast-taming competition for our grade?"
The beautiful woman said with surprise, "Is that so? Then he's truly a talented young man!"
"And that's not all! We won first place in this training trip! We defeated all the senior students, and it's all thanks to Lu Fei completing the S-rank mission!"
Ke Xin was eager to tell Lu Fei about all his merits.
The beautiful woman gently stroked her daughter's head, her smile warm.
Lu Fei, standing beside them, felt a bit awkward, or rather, a bit guilty. After several victories, he felt that luck had played a larger part, and his actual strength was minimal.
He also remembered something very important.
He asked, "Xin Xin, I plan to look for a contract beast in the next few days. Do you know where they sell them?"
After his experiences fighting with contract beasts so many times, Lu Fei had fully realized his current shortcomings, especially after being repeatedly threatened and suppressed by the powerful figures, which had strengthened his resolve to improve his actual strength.
The most crucial thing was the existence of his great nephew, Huangfu Chenyi, who forced him to restrain himself and accelerate his progress. Otherwise, that guy could destroy his mental core in minutes!
But then again, he was quite confident in himself. As a top student in animal research, he believed he had unique talent in beast taming.
However, the most important thing to become an excellent beast tamer now was to prepare a contract beast, especially since the "Snakeling" had gone completely off track. Under the influence of its "Unstable Evolution" talent, it had now become purely a support unit.
Its five ability stats were:
Physical Attack 1
Magic Attack 1
Support 36
Defense 1
Speed 1
Severely unbalanced!
It could still be of some use for supporting, but when it came to combat, its output was practically zero.
As for Brother Chicken, it was completely negligible!
Therefore, Lu Fei's current team desperately needed a top-tier fighter!
"Hmm..." After thinking for a moment, Ke Xin said, "I remember there are several places. What attribute contract beast are you looking for?"
"Attribute?" Lu Fei was taken aback.
Ke Xin explained, "It's like this: because many beast tamers have attribute requirements for their contract beasts, some markets that specialize in selling contract beasts are divided by attributes. For example, a few shops in the east of the city only sell fire attribute, strength attribute, and water attribute contract beasts."
Lu Fei shrugged.
"Uh... my requirements aren't that specific. Where is the variety richer?"
Before Ke Xin could reply, a mature and gentle voice came.
"Go to the North City Contract Beast Department Store. I have acquaintances there. If you like any contract beast, tell them to call me, and I'll have them give you a discount."
Lu Fei was overjoyed. "Thank you, Auntie."
"Heh heh, call me Auntie Zeng."
Ke Xin quickly added, "That's right! I've been there before too!" She looked at Lu Fei and volunteered, "Let me take you!"
Lu Fei twitched the corner of his mouth. With his girlfriend's mother present, it was difficult for him to refuse, yet he couldn't agree. He had a strange feeling in his heart, but he couldn't quite articulate it.
Ke Xin's mother, Zeng Yue, seemed to notice Lu Fei's awkwardness and helped smooth things over, saying, "Xin Xin is more familiar with that place, so let her take you."
With these words, Lu Fei was finally relieved.
He nodded silently.
Finally, Ke Xin reluctantly got into Zeng Yue's car and made an appointment with Lu Fei to meet at the North City Contract Beast Department Store in two days, which filled her heart with more anticipation.
By the time Lu Fei returned to his residence, it was already evening. It was a bachelor apartment he had rented before his training. It cost 20,000 exotic coins a month. He had to lament that the prices on the Beast Taming Continent were truly high, and his net worth of several hundred thousand might not last long.
After showering, he felt refreshed all over.
Lu Fei lay on the bed, leisurely browsing "Exotic Sounds."
Just then, Brother Chicken suddenly rolled out of the spatial ring, pointing at the spatial ring with a terrified expression.
"Holy crap! Old Lu! It's talking!"