Translated by Kollumceti of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

The barking and howling of Xiao K, a search and rescue dog, was nearly inaudible in this rainstorm. In the next moment, a flash of lightning that was followed by the roar of thunder directly covered it up.

ErHei looked at the extremely panicked Xiao K and gave it a supercilious and contemptuous look. A Level D support beast wanted to compare its voice with me, a Level A combat beast? Are you joking? Let"s see who"s the one that"s more formidable!

So when Xiao K rushed to the gate to pick up the beast lying on the doorway, ErHei suddenly took a deep breath and —

Aoowuu— Aooowuuuuu—wuuuruff! [Everyone get up! There"s a dead beast coming to smash the shop!]

Its voice was louder than the roar of thunder. In addition, the contents of this roar woke all large and small beasts in the house up. There was even a little guy that was so frightened that it directly hit the wall and completely pa.s.sed out.

Now that all the beasts were awake, a certain fish on the second floor had also been roused by the roar and sat up on the bed. JinYu"s hair was as messy as a bird"s nest and his eyes were filled with chilliness. The Boss beside him who was preparing to eat JinYu"s tofu hesitated and stopped his hoof. It looked like his partner was getting up? Or was he just sleep deprived? En, he won"t step on the crooked path in the future thanks to that idiot ErHei stepping on the landmine ahead of time.

JinYu suddenly threw his quilt off and got out of bed. He wore a white silk pajamas as he walked downstairs. On the way down, he picked up a small vase that was out beside the stairs and carried it down with a fierce glare in his eyes. Big Boss Qi thought to himself, fortunately, this vase was not worth much. Otherwise, this fish would surely die of heartache tomorrow. However, smashing a vase on ErHei"s head probably had no effect besides a broken vase and painful hands. JinYu might as well give that fella a beating himself.

Sure enough, a sharp and clear sound came from the corridor outside the door just as Big Boss Qi thought about going downstairs. Along with the crash of the vase shattering, there was also a grieving whining, which was probably that fella ErHei.

“So, where did you see the dead beast that was coming to smash the place? Eh?” JinYu"s mood had basically returned to normal after smashing the vase. However, the alleged fundamental thing was – en, that was to say – JinYu"s sinister and cold grin that had been distinctly revealed was really nothing much. Boss Jin usually had a cultured and warm manner during the day, but that appearance was actually much more dangerous than his current one now.

Aowuwuwuwu… [It-it looked like it was going to die, and it"s the middle of the night. Isn"t it precisely here to smash the place… ]

ErHei was full of grievances at this moment. It was really out of luck today. It was already guarding the door in such torrential rains, yet it even attracted such a plague… Lao Zi really wants to bite this little thing to death!

Thus, ErHei lowered its head ferociously glared at the little beast who had been brought back by Xiao K and was only half a meter or so tall. At this moment, the fainted beast unfortunately opened its eyes. Once it met ErHei"s ferocious gaze, it blanked out for a moment before it fainted again.

Bam! JinYu gave ErHei a slap on its head. You idiot, can"t you find something more useful to do? After slapping ErHei, JinYu sighed as he looked at the beast that was riddled with wounds and looked just like a bundle of fur. He instructed a couple of beasts beside him, “Xiao K is the one who brought it back? SaoBa [1], go bring a basin of warm water here and wash it together with TuoBa [2]. En, the wound is a bit serious. I"ll preserve its life first. XiaoXue, make a trip to Venerable Jin"s hospital once the sky brightens and bring back a veterinarian to see it. It appears that it"s unable to recover by itself."

Several of the beasts which had been called nodded and then they hurried to action. XiaoXue looked at the sky and returned to the house. Daybreak was more than five hours away. Since that fellow was picked up by his boss, it should be able to preserve its life for the time being. They just did not know how it got injured. The wounds looked extremely serious. The problem was that beast was probably not yet mature. Letting an immature beast go into battle was something that would hurt the beast a lot.

ErHei also squeezed in while hiding behind BaoZi after dozens of beasts came into the house. JinYu sat on the sofa and looked at the beast that SaoBa and TuoBa (These two were lifestyle beasts that specialized in cleaning up. Due to their excellent performance, Boss Jin decided to use them for himself) had washed clean, sterilized and medicated its wounds.

Just as he was about to ask XiaoBai to bring the Great Dictionary of Beasts over, Boss Qi sat beside him and thought for a moment before saying, “A Mountain Wolf, a Level B combat beast. It"s part of the wolf dog family. It"s a tough beast to tame, but like the Black-horned Thunder Dog, it will be quite loyal and protective of its master after taming. Its main skill is creating clouds and mists in the mountains, but its physical strength is poor, and its defense is also weak. However, it has strong attack power."

Jin Yu turned his head and looked at Boss Qi next to him. The latter put his head directly on Jin Yu"s thighs, then squinted his eyes and stopped talking. Boss Qi had already seen what he wanted to see in his partner"s eyes. En, he just had to lie on his stomach and do nothing now.

JinYu looked at the head on his leg and was somewhat speechless, but he did not push it away. Turning his head, he looked at the Mountain Wolf before suddenly speaking, “Is this still a cub?”

Howl~ [Replying to Master, this is not a cub. It"s an juvenile.]

“A juvenile? That means it"ll reach maturity soon, but it"s not yet a mature beast? It"s the equivalent of humans adolescence?" JinYu frowned. “I remember seeing a beast protection clause before. It seems that juvenile beasts are not allowed to partic.i.p.ate in combat, right? There"s not a single unscathed place on this fellow. Is it"s master a moron?"

DaBai looked down at the pine green wolf type beast and growled a few times in a gloomy mood. [Master, although there is such a provision in the beast protection clause, most beasts are thrown into the Desolate Stars to fight when they are immature. This is due to the light penalties and because there is no one doing checks. Adult beasts are hard to tame and signing a contract requires a certain amount of spiritual power. Thus, most people will choose to use the spiritual contract when the beast is still young. Then they would wait till the beast becomes a juvenile before bringing them out on missions… However, most people would take good care of the beasts after contracting them. It can only be said that this wolf"s master probably does not care about the life or death of his beasts. ]

When DaBai finished speaking, the beasts around them looked pained or helplessly hung their heads. They were abandoned beasts… Their masters" behaviors were nothing out of the ordinary too.

JinYu fell silent for a long time, then he softly sighed and reached out and grabbed the taste lore beast that was at a loss and scratched its chin, “XiaoWei [3], they were bullied by their masters before. Anyway, they can"t fall asleep now. Go make some midnight snacks for everyone to comfort their wounded little hearts.”

The taste lore beast tilted its head when it heard the words and stared at the morose gang of fellows who would usually be frolicking and jumping around everyday. At this time, a hint of fighting spirit flashed in its cat-like eyes.

Meow~

It was going to make a delicious midnight snack that would brighten the hearts of these beasts. En, although it was annoying that these guys tried all sorts of methods to beg for extra meals every day, it disliked this heavy atmosphere even more. Thus, the taste lore beast rushed into the kitchen after putting on its golden chef"s cap and soon a comforting fragrance drifted out.

“Hehe, all right! What are you guys being sad about? Aren"t you all living well now? In the future, your lives will be even better. Cheer up and prepare to eat supper! ”

Responding to JinYu was a plethora of roars from happy beasts.

The mountain wolf"s wound had been cleaned up by SaoBa and TuoBa by this time, and they had also given it emergency treatment while they were at it. The wolf was tossed from side to side for more than an hour in this manner before they had finally finished after giving it multiple baths.

JinYu looked at the sky. It was still raining heavily outside, so for lack of a better option, he put the small mountain wolf on the sofa and covered it with a blanket before dispelling some Chaotic Primordial Qi from it. Then, JinYu amd Qi QingLin went up to the second floor together. When they left, the taste lore beast was already bringing out plate after plate of delicious food and the gang of beasts were drooling like a fountain after seeing it.

“This group of gluttons.” JinYu shoot his head upon seeing this scene, but his expression became lighter.

Sitting in a reclining chair on the balcony of the second floor, JinYu looked at the pouring sky and softly asked, “QingLin, the reason why humans can control beasts is because of the spiritual contract, right?”

Suddenly, a pair of hands reached out from beside him and hauled JinYu over. Qi QingLin, who had regained his human form, looked at JinYu with an inexplicable expression and speaking after pondering, “It"s said that the spiritual contract suddenly appeared tens of thousands of years ago. With this contract, as long a person had spiritual energy, they would be able to control beasts… The emergence of this spiritual contract was a great step in human history. But for beasts, that was not the case."

“Yes, for the beasts, this contract was just the root of all their current disasters… Because a human"s spiritual power is limited, a beast will be abandoned only when it is seriously injured and becomes useless. It"s only until then that their contract will disappear, right? Therefore, not a single one of the beasts in my shop have a spiritual contract, nor will their previous masters come to look for them… Ha ha… I still had the fantasy that their masters would suddenly find their conscience and come to retrieve their beasts. So it turned out that they had been thoroughly abandoned from the very beginning." JinYu"s voice was so morose that Qi QingLin could not help but tighten his arms.

He looked at JinYu"s expression and suddenly said, “You can rest a.s.sured that when I have dealt with my family affairs, I will gather the Ten Southern Clans that hold the blood of mythological beasts for a discussion. If possible, I will do everything I can to abolish the spiritual contract and encourage humans to gain the loyalty and trust of beasts through their own efforts rather than through coercion.”

JinYu stiffened when he heard the words. Then he grasped Qi QingLin"s arm tightly with both hands. He started speaking after a while, “How was your life when you were living with your clan? I"ve never heard you say anything about your family before. Were you living well? Did anyone bully you? Before… before you were able to take human form, were there… Impossible! No matter what, you were still the Young Master of the Qilin Clan, how can anyone dare, eh?”

JinYu was pulled down from his reclining chair by a great force. In the next moment, he was turned around and kissed fiercely and forcefully. JinYu, who was still astonished, felt a slight pain in the bottom of his heart after sensing the emotions of the person opposite him. Thus, he let Qi QingLin bite him and reached out to hold the person opposite him.

… I"m afraid that before this, your life was also hard too… But now I"m here. I"m here. You"re no longer alone anymore.

T/N:
[1] SaoBa means broom.
[2] TuoBa means mop.
[3] XiaoWei means Little Taste.