Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Gao Peng burst into laughter. It seemed like the chairman would be repulsed if he insisted on rejecting him.
“Thank you, Chairman.” Gao Peng raised his glass.
Having finished his meal and drinks, He Wei called for a servant. “Make the arrangements to put Crocodile Spirit Swamp under my nephew’s name.”
The servant paused and nodded afterward. “Yes, sir.”
…
Crocodile Spirit Swamp was frequently mistaken for the Evil Spirit Swamp due to their similarities. Therefore, a large stone monument had been erected outside the swamp. The words ‘Crocodile Spirit Swamp’ were written on it.
Of course, only non-locals would make this kind of mistake. The locals almost never said the name of the Crocodile Spirit Swamp wrong.
A cashier was set up at the entrance, and those who wanted to enter Crocodile Spirit Swamp had to make a payment before they entered. The profits gained from the swamp belonged to the monster trainers.
However, a limit was enforced in the swamp. Only 3,000 monster trainers were allowed to enter the swamp each day, and catching monsters was allowed only within the swamp. Also, a monster trainer could only be rewarded with monsters caught by his or herself. Besides, only one monster was allowed to be kept by each person, regardless of whether it was dead or alive. Extra payments had to be made to have more familiars.
Aside from capturing familiars, murdering monsters with bad intent was strictly forbidden in the swamp. If such an action was caught, a heavy penalty would be imposed, and the wrongdoer would be blacklisted.
Crocodile Spirit Swamp closed at 3:30 pm every day. A yellow “do not enter” tape was stretched around the entrance. Many equipped guards patrolled with familiars outside the swamp to prohibit trespassers.
A black vehicle stopped at the swamp’s entrance after a short while. The back door opened, and a middle-aged man climbed out of the vehicle with a somber expression.
One of the guards who was wearing a uniform walked towards him and said with a deep voice, “Welcome back, Director. Your son is in the room.”
“Don’t tell the others about this for now,” the middle-aged man said solemnly.
With the secretary and others waiting outside, he entered the room. A wailing 20-year-old pounced on the middle-aged man’s leg. “Father! Lock all of them up! How dare they capture me…”
Slap! A hard slap landed on his face. The youngster was confused. Shaken, he stared at his own father while he held his face.
“You idiot!” The middle-aged man was enraged. It was his fault for spoiling his son, but he hadn’t expected that he would do something so foolish. “Tell me! Who made you do that?”
Zhou Xiao held his face and mumbled, “No one. I just couldn’t stand that Gao guy.”
The middle-aged man laughed sardonically. “You couldn’t stand him? Even if you had half of the others’ achievements and this was a dream, I’d be laughing when I woke up. Where did you get the confidence to look down on others, student Zhou? Young Master Zhou?!
“Just tell me. The pocket money I gave you wouldn’t have been enough for you to hire those people. Also, I know you well enough to know that you wouldn’t be courageous enough to do such a thing without someone egging you on from the side. Who is that person?”
Zhou Xiao inhaled deeply. “It was my own idea!”
“Heh.” The middle-aged man nodded. His finger, which was pointed towards his son, was shaking. “Good. You’re still being stubborn.
“If you tell me the truth, I can still find ways to deal with it. If you don’t, you’ll go to jail.”
At the mention of jail, Zhou Xiao panicked. “I have to go to jail?”
“If you weren’t my only son, I’d be happy to take your life.” The middle-aged man snorted. “You thought that you were taking your revenge on Gao Peng, but did it ever occur to you that your act was actually a slap on the Director’s face?
“You sent people to kill off almost every monster in the Crocodile Spirit Swamp right after the Director said that the swamp would be put under another’s name. Aren’t you destroying his gift to another person?”
Zhou Xiao’s face paled. “Then… Then what am I supposed to do, Father? I never meant to do that. It was Situ Guang. He was the one who incited me to do so; even the men were sent by him. Father, go get him and let him go to jail. It’s not my business.”
Although Zhou Xiao was arrogant, he wasn’t stupid. Knowing that he had made a stupid mistake, he couldn’t have cared less about friendship and loyalty any longer. He told his father everything in detail.
“Did you record it?” Zhou Tianxiong asked uncertainly.
Zhou Xiao was dumbfounded. Record it? Where the heck would I get a recording?
“Forget it.” Looking at his own cowardly son, Zhou Tianxiong was pissed off. Why do I have such a son? I’m going to ask my wife to have another child when I get back!
“If someone asks you about this, just say that it’s not related to you at all. Don’t say anything if they ask you about it. You were tricked, but you’re the one dealing with the consequences, you fool.” Looking at his idiot son’s silly expression, Zhou Tianxong wanted to hit him. He raised his right hand but held it back after. “Go home! And you’re grounded for a month!”
“Situ Guang?” He Wei was resting in the boss’ chair while smoking a cigar, relaxed. He opened his eyes and exhaled a smoke ring when he heard the name Zhou Tianxiong mentioned.
“Old Situ is still restless.” He Wei smiled and shook his head. “I watched Zhou Xiao grow up, and I knew that he wouldn’t do such a daring thing. You should go back. When it comes to educating your kid, you can’t just hit him all the time, you have to reason with him. All right, you can go back now. I’ll settle things with Little Peng.”
“Yes, Director.” Zhou Tianxiong bowed and left the room.
After Zhou Tianxiong left, He Wei knocked on his desk. A secretary wearing a white blouse, black stockings, and heels entered the room. “Purchase some monsters and place them in Crocodile Spirit Swamp. Try to recover the ecology there and be low-key about it,” He Wei said faintly.
“Yes, Director.”
On the next day at sunrise, Gao Peng picked up his five students and headed towards the venue of the High School Championship, Mo Du Stadium, by bus.
After the Cataclysm, Mo Du Stadium was expanded to almost three times larger than its original size. Not just the size of the site changed; the internal structure was also reconstructed to be safer.
The stadium had become the venue for many monster trainer competitions and exchange activities. Two King-tier monster trainers had competed against each other over the air of the stadium two years earlier.
The Huaxia High School Championship the previous year had also been held in this stadium. These events caused the reputation of the Mo Du Stadium to skyrocket.
The stadium was already crowded at eight o’clock in the morning as countless vendors and onlookers flooded the stadium.
Flying familiars were seen passing over the sky, the wind caused by the flapping of their wings mixed in with the noise from the crowd. The presence of the ferocious familiars in a concrete city brought a feeling that was both barbaric and modern.
The live broadcast was shown on an extremely huge screen outside the stadium. In the stadium, there were no empty seats. All the seats were occupied, as the spectators had already taken their seats earlier.
“Hello to all CTV viewers. This is the live broadcast of the Huaxia High School Championship. I’m currently in Mo Du Stadium, and all the seats are already full. We’re all waiting for the teams from the different base cities in the Huaxia region to march into the arena. There are only five minutes left!”
“Hello to all viewers from the base city of Yuzhou. We are currently at…”
Many reporters were broadcasting while holding microphones in front of cameras.
After all, for many of them, in this era filled with humans and familiars, all news related to familiars could grab the attention of many.
