Translated by Yan of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

In Old Long"s near hundred years of life (the lifespan of this world was approximately 180 years), he had always believed very earnestly and very resolutely that beasts were good companions for hunters and explorers, and good a.s.sistants for ordinary families. As for what and how much they ate, Old Long couldn"t account for it when he was young and struggling because he didn"t have enough to eat back then, and now, after he had started a family, the housekeepers took care of feeding the beast companions, since he didn"t have time.

Therefore, Old Grandfather Long believed very naively and kindheartedly that beasts only ate two or three times the amount people did, at the very most.

Old Grandfather Long only felt his heart twitch a little when he saw that table, originally piled full of food, a sumptuous banquet, disappear in the blink of an eye as the four beasts divided it up. With some trepidation, he remembered that his beast companion had died somewhat early - was it because of malnutrition, so it had starved to death?! Could he have nearly starved his companion to death back then?!

Old Grandfather Long looked at the four beasts with a strange expression in his eyes as he thought of them, and especially when he looked at Xiao Bai, it was as if he wanted to go and dissect it with his eyes. After being stared at, even Xiao Bai felt like the fried fish in its mouth was a little hard to swallow.

"Old Grandfather?" JinYu saw that Old Long"s expression wasn"t quite right, and he spoke. The two plates in front of him were piled high with delicious food, and of course there was also three plates in front of the other boss. Of course, the four beasts didn"t steal the food in front of them with very tacit mutual agreement. Actually, they didn"t have the guts to steal it—the big boss was keeping an eye on them from the side. If they dared to steal the boss" food, then they would ultimately end up becoming the big boss" food, no doubts about it. Very reasonably, they kept to themselves, not overstepping their reach at all.

"… ah hehe, it"s nothing, it"s nothing. The chef is still making more in the kitchen. Even if it"s ten tables, we can provide it!" Old Long also knew that he had been a bit impolite, and he quickly spoke. However, he still couldn"t help but glance at Xiao Bai and say, "Xiao Yu ah… your Xiao Bai is so small, can it eat that much food? Will it have indigestion?"

JinYu gave an unconcerned smile when he heard that. "Old Grandfather, you"re overthinking it. Xiao Bai can eat much more than that. All it is is a good-for-nothing foodie… this tiny bit of food is nothing to it."

Old Grandfather Long"s expression changed a little when he heard that. He continued asking, "Do all beasts eat as much as they do?" He had to figure out the truth behind that no matter what. He still cared quite a bit about his beast"s early death.

When JinYu heard Old Grandfather Long"s question, he was a little confused as to why he was asking such a thing. However, since he was a guest in someone else"s home, he had to answer the question no matter what, since the master of the house had asked. But before JinYu could reply, Long Changxiao spoke first, since he was sitting next to Old Long and had more or less guessed what his grandpa was thinking from the expression on his face. "Grandpa, even I can answer that. At the most, beasts can eat up to ten times what a human can. However, that"s if they unrestrainedly choose to eat. Under most circ.u.mstances, if they don"t need to stockpile energy or if the situation doesn"t really allow for it, they can cut down on their eating. At the lowest, they can eat half of what a human eats. Of course, that would definitely affect the beasts" ability to display their strength to a certain degree, but it won"t harm them much. Typically, it"s enough if a beast eats about two to three times what a human does every day."

As a result, Old Grandfather Long finally let out a breath of relief and felt his heart loosen when he heard his grandson"s explanation. Before, at his most miserable state, his beast had eaten the same amount of food that he had. At the end, when his beast retired, it was supplied with ample food and drink. Presumably, its early death was most likely because it was too tired from when it was fighting before, right…

Thinking of that, Old Grandfather Long couldn"t help but sigh. Then, he looked at the miserable big white bear, who was looking aggrievedly at the four beasts stuffing their mouths with food while the white bear could only eat all sorts of soft food. He then said to his grandson, "Xiao-er ah, you must take good care of Bai Wei. It saved you many times."

Naturally, Long Changxiao nodded after hearing that, before he considerately plucked away the drumstick that his big white bear had stolen from who knows where and placed it in his own bowl. Simultaneously, he placed a bowl of plain rice congee in front of the big white bear.

Facing the suffering big white bear, Long Changxiao said, "Bai Wei ah, you can"t eat meat right now, you have to eat liquid food."

The big white bear angrily swatted away a chicken bone that Baozi accidentally tossed over when it heard that, before it viciously cursed the doctor in charge of it who told its master that it could only it liquid food - the doctor should also only be able to eat liquid food for the rest of his life!! And also, let the four beasts in front of it right now, who were taking delight in its misery, choke to death on bones!! f.u.c.king h.e.l.l! Beasts that ate meat in front of sick beasts with grease smeared all over their mouths and till their stomachs bulged were evil!!

But no matter how much the big white bear silently cursed them, it still couldn"t stop the beasts from eating frantically. In the end, the four foodies swallowed the meals that the housekeeper had left in preparation for half a month. Not only that, when those four fools heard that the excess freezer was empty, a look of regret had flashed through their eyes—they had been planning to take away a bit of food for the beasts in the shop too! Even though the cute chef beast also made very delicious food, these were high-cla.s.s ingredients that the beasts in the shop very rarely got a chance to try.

Old Grandfather Long was still a little speechless as he looked at the experienced image of the four beasts. He then turned to ask JinYu a question that he very much wanted to know the answer to. "Xiao Yu ah, how do you have four level beasts? I heard you talking with Xiao-er just then. You opened a beast pet shop?"

JinYu hastily wiped his mouth and nodded upon hearing that. "That"s right. I"m particularly talented in training and taking care of beasts, and I also like beasts a lot, so that"s why I thought I"d pick up those abandoned beasts and bring them home. Those that can get better can stay in the shop and do some trivial tasks, or if they find an owner they like, they can be adopted for a small fee. Those that I can"t cure, I don"t want their bodies to dry out in the wilderness, so I wanted to bury them or cremate them."

JinYu"s eyes looked quite serious when he said that, as well as a little reverent. Old Grandfather Long felt very moved when he saw that.

Actually, he knew very well that a major problem in today"s world was casually abandoning, killing, or mistreating beasts. But when facing this problem, the vast majority of the time he would only give a sigh of regret when he saw such beasts, and he wouldn"t actually do that much. Even if he faintly felt that continuing like this would cause a ma.s.sive problem one day, like beasts becoming endangered or beasts suddenly banding together and revolting, Old Grandfather Long still didn"t really think of doing anything.

After all, this kind of thing had already happened for at least millennia. Nothing in the world had changed, so how would he know if this kind of disaster would happen in their lifetime? And moreover, the fact that most humans didn"t really care about beasts was already deeply-rooted. If something major didn"t happen, humans definitely wouldn"t change. If the majority of people didn"t change, then no matter how much they did, nothing would really change.

However, even though Old Grandfather Long thought that, it didn"t mean that he objected to or looked down on JinYu"s att.i.tude and the things he did. On the contrary, he believed that someone like JinYu was extremely precious. At least there were still people in this world who wanted to do beneficial things for beasts. Those kind of people would be extremely useful one day if beasts and humans clashed for real. Even if it was just a little, wasn"t there still a seed of hope?

Old Grandfather Long could see the dependent and trusting gazes of the four beasts as they looked at JinYu. He then thought of the way most beasts looked at humans now - with colder and colder gazes - and he sighed softly. At least the beasts who got in touch with this brat would always have some good opinions towards humans. They wouldn"t eventually become enemies.

"Hehe! I knew that you were always amazing! That kind of accommodating pet shop is great ah~ turning trash into treasure, and even taking care of injured beasts, yes yes, you must do your best to get your name out there from now on. You and the beasts will all be blessed!"

JinYu felt a rare blush come across his face upon hearing the old man"s praise. He chuckled a bit before he hugged Xiao Bai. When Qi Qinglin, who was sitting next to him, saw his mate"s bashful expression, his own eyes darkened. Yes, he felt like it was still best if his mate only showed that kind of expression to him.

Then Boss Qi looked at Old Long again. Earlier, he could sense Old Long"s concern about a few things, and he showed a sneer at Old Long"s notion that "the calamity might not necessarily happen in our lifetime."

Was there anything impossible in this world? Beasts had been enslaved by people for near five thousand years. Was there any terrifying treatment that they hadn"t suffered in these five thousand years? There were even quite a few beasts that had gone extinct just like animals because of humans! There were also quite a few beasts who couldn"t take it any longer and ran to the desolate star to bitterly fight for survival.

Beasts weren"t like the animals of the ancient world who couldn"t think for themselves. They had intelligence and strength, and there were even the "kings" among the beasts whose intelligence and strength surpa.s.sed those of humans. Once those kings angrily awakened to the truth of the humans" behavior, or once the beasts" resentment towards the humans peaked, the beasts - which surpa.s.sed the number of humans by nearly ten times - would bring an absolutely terrifying disaster onto the heads of the humans: swamped by ferocious beasts!

Such as the fierce beasts in the depths of the desolate star - their very existence was based on their hatred of humans. What was impossible? If humans didn"t want to be pushed to desperation and be devoured by an alliance between beasts and fierce beasts in a few years or a few decades, then all the humans should start treating beasts the way JinYu did, starting from now.

Except, do you think that kind of thing is possible? If someone said it, not even a brainless beast would believe it.