Chapter 26: Fight

The grandfather and Long Teng said at the same time in reply, followed by each looking at the other, “Grandfather / Xiao Teng, you also know him?”

Xie Sen looked at the two men’s identical movements and thought, No wonder they look so much alike, so they are grandparent and grandson. When he thought about the previous scenes when he dealt with the two men, he secretly said, the kung fu of sticking to people was also in the same lineage.

“He’s the neighbor I was talking about,” Grandfather said.

Long Teng’s eyes suddenly brightened. He jumped to Xie Sen to grab his shoulders with a look of expectation. “The spicy dried meat is super delicious! I want to eat more!”

Xie Sen looked at Grandfather. “I didn’t tell anyone. This kid found out when I was eating,” he grunted. “He ate most of it!”

Xie Sen took away Long Teng’s hand. “No more.”

Long Teng’s smiling face dropped, and he gave him a face of disappointment a second later. Then he steeply raised a smile, with his bright white teeth. “You tell me where to buy it. I will keep an eye out every day. I’m sure to buy it!”

Grandfather nodded in agreement. “Yes, yes. Tell us where to buy. This kid is fast and is sure to grab the goods. We’ll grab some of your share.”

Xie Sen looked at them with difficulty. He didn’t buy it at all! He said vaguely, “Just search for spicy jerky on the Starnet.”

“I’ve searched online many times, and I’ve bought a lot of spicy food. It’s not the same as spicy jerky, it’s super bad!”

Xie Sen seemed to be thinking. “Maybe the online store is out of stock, and it has been cancelled.”

The cancellation couldn’t be without a trace, Grandfather thought. As he looked at Xie Sen, light danced in his eyes. His original thought was that the spicy dried meat was bought online by Xie Sen, who didn’t tell him the details of the seller because he was worried about robbing the goods, but now it seemed that his guess was wrong.

“Too bad.” Long Teng pouted. He had no idea Xie Sen was lying, he believed it straight away.

Xie Sen laughed. “I’ll go home first if there’s nothing else!” he said, and walked towards the apartment.

“Eh,” Long Teng took two steps to follow him, and put his hand on his shoulder. “Your contract beast must have rested well. You promised to fight with me!”

Xie Sen was helpless. Why did this person still think about this matter?!

Grandfather slapped Long Teng’s forehead. “You like to fight too much! Usually, I don’t care, but definitely do not fight with a female! Do you not want to find a wife?”

Long Teng covered his forehead and beamed. “But his contract beast is very powerful. I want to fight.”

Xie Sen’s expression was black, and he said in an aggravated tone, “I am a male!” He opened his bracelet, and pointed to the contract beast bar. “See, male!”

The last time he went to the Contract Beast Institute, he was sure he was a male, and now his personal information column was no longer blank.

Grandfather gave him a surprised look, and Long Teng jumped up happily. “Grandpa, I can fight with him now, right?” He shook Xie Sen’s shoulder. “Fight with me!”

Xie Sen slapped his hand away. “You’re shaking me apart.” He pointed at himself helplessly. “You think I’ll be your opponent?”

“It’s okay. I’ll go one-on-one with your contract beast.”

“What’s your contract beast?” Grandfather asked curiously.

Xie Sen hadn’t said anything yet, but Long Teng had already answered quickly for him, “It’s a mimic beast, especially powerful. It was disguised as a chili pepper bush before, and defeated the wolfhound beast in one move!”

Grandfather looked at Xie Sen, “Chili pepper bush?” He paused. “Spicy jerky. Is the chili pepper spicy?”

Xie Sen laughed and snorted. “I don’t know. I’ve never had a chili pepper. No way to compare.”

“Is that so?” Grandfather’s eyes narrowed with laughter.

Those with squinty eyes are weird!

Xie Sen nodded with a dry smile. Long Teng didn’t notice the difference between the two, and continued to pester Xie Sen to fight with him. As Xie Sen walked to the door of the apartment, Long Teng was still right behind him.

Maine came back to see this scene. His mouth had a light smile, but his eyes were frozen into ice. He reached out, and twisted Long Teng’s collar to pull him off Xie Sen.

Long Teng almost reflexively launched a backhand towards his back. Maine’s body backed up, and easily dodged. Long Teng inclined his head, saw Maine, and his eyes lit up. “It’s you!”

Maine let go of his collar. “What are you doing here?”

Long Teng cheerfully pointed at Xie Sen. “Looking for him to fight.”

Maine frowned. “You want to bully him?”

“No. Didn’t you see it the other day? His contract beast is very powerful! I’ll fight with his contract beast, not with him,” Long Teng bounced in place and retorted.

“That won’t work either.” Maine had some suspicions about Xie Sen’s contract beast, and knew that the less his contract beast appeared in front of people, the better. “If you want to fight, I’ll fight you.”

“Really?” Long Teng’s voice raised sharply, excited, but he still had some doubts. “Weren’t you unwilling to fight with me?”

Maine said, “I will fight with you, and you aren’t allowed to find him to fight again.”

Long Teng blinked, and tangled his fingers. “Can’t we all fight?”

“No.” Maine flatly refused.

Long Teng looked at Maine, and then at Xie Sen. He jumped to the open space next to him, and waved his arms. “Okay, we’ll fight first. But if he wants to fight me later, it won’t count as a violation.”

Maine nodded carelessly. In his opinion, Xie Sen would never seek a fight with Long Teng.

“Wait.” Seeing that the two were ready to make a move, the grandfather spoke up to stop them. Long Teng jumped in place discontentedly and shouted, “Grandfather!”

His grandfather glared at him. “You don’t smell the blood on him? If he had injuries, you wouldn’t be happy if you won.”

Long Teng sniffed his nose, and asked Maine, “Are you hurt?”

“No.” Maine said.

The grandfather approached Maine, sniffed and looked at him in amazement. “The blood of the long-haired boar beast. You went out of town?”

“Grandpa, are you mistaken? He’s in the same grade as me. The league won’t be held until a week later. We don’t have permission to leave town yet.”

Maine’s brow furrowed. “No, you smelled wrong.”

Grandfather raised an eyebrow, looked at him and then smiled, “Maybe it smells wrong!”

Xie Sen’s heart stirred when he heard this. If all the blood on Maine’s body in the past few days came from leaving the city, then it would make sense. However, how did he get out of the city? According to the rules, citizens without a permit not only couldn’t leave the city, they were forbidden to leave the city.

Could it be that by breaking the law, he only meant leaving the city illegally?

But…Xie Sen couldn’t help but worry. If he left the city, the possibility of having contact with the bad beasts would be even greater!

“You aren’t injured, then let’s start the fight!” Long Teng urged.

Maine nodded his head. Without speaking, his body, phantom-like, rushed towards Long Teng, as he cleanly stretched his legs and side-kicked. He was extremely fast. One move was extraordinarily severe.

Long Teng was super excited. He dodged the attack while he was making moves, and his mouth kept shouting, “Great, look at me!”

Two people went back and forth. The splitting and receiving moves were very exciting, and for a while no one could do anything.

“What is his contract beast?” Xie Sen was watching, fascinated, when he heard Grandfather ask that question.

“The giant lion beast.” Xie Sen said.

Xie Sen replied with great confusion in his heart. Long Teng’s description was exactly the same as in the book, but Maine was wrong. In the book, Maine’s contract beast was a flying lion beast, which was also S class. If he was only an A class contract beast master, he couldn’t become the strongest opponent of the protagonist.

“A class contract beast master?” A clear tone of appreciation. “He is very powerful. Even if an S class contract beast master fights with Xiao Teng, he might not perform so well.”

Xie Sen smiled as if he was being complimented, and nodded heavily, “Mn. He is very good.”

“You are also very powerful,” Grandfather continued. “I have seen a mimetic beast master, but haven’t seen a plant mimicking beast, so I am still a little curious.” He looked at Xie Sen with a smile. “Can you satisfy my curiosity?”

Xie Sen hesitated for a moment, and thought that the more he hid it, the easier it was to make people suspicious, so he nodded. “Yes.”

He summoned the chili pepper bush, and ordered the chili pepper bush to do some animal-like movements. After careful observation, Grandfather laughed. “You’ve really seen a lot.”

Xie Sen retrieved the chili pepper bush, and Grandfather suddenly said, “Have you heard of a plant contract beast master?”

Xie Sen was shocked, and shook his head. “No.”

Grandfather nodded. “Young people of today don’t learn everything. In fact, contract beasts can be not just an animal, they may also be a plant.”

Xie Sen looked surprised. “Really? That’s amazing!”

Grandfather nodded, then suddenly changed the subject. “Spicy dried meat is really delicious, and I don’t know when I can buy it again. You said the shopkeeper suddenly disappeared. Could it be because he was worried about being targeted for using chili peppers?”

Xie Sen blinked his eyes. He definitely didn’t hear wrong. This grandfather was hinting at something! Including the previous plant contract beast master comment.

Grandfather didn’t wait for his answer, just continued with a smile. “Actually, this is not a problem at all. If you really don’t want to be known, just cooperate with the Plant Research Institute. The new plant could be researched, and President Ma is certainly willing to keep it a secret. When it is brought to the public, the chili pepper will be linked with the Institute’s research, and no one will suspect you.”

Xie Sen’s heart moved slightly, and he said vaguely, “Spicy jerky is not necessarily made of chili peppers.”

Grandfather, “You’re right.” He looked at the two people fighting. “Who do you think will win?”

Xie Sen glanced at Grandfather, and secretly thought that he was an old fox. He knew in his heart that Grandfather had probably guessed his identity.

“It’ll probably be a tie.”

“No, Xiao Teng will win,” Grandfather laughed. “Your friend isn’t strong enough, and he won’t be as strong as Xiao Teng when he comes back.”

Just as the grandfather said, twenty minutes later, Maine lost to Long Teng by one move. Long Teng happily went to take Maine’s shoulder, and was slapped away by Maine. He didn’t care and followed him towards the apartment.

He raised a big smile, and patted Maine’s shoulder. “That was cool! You’re very good. Today I won but I won’t count it. You just lost to my physical strength. Tomorrow, we will fight again!”

“No.” Maine didn’t even think before refusing.

Long Teng was about to say something else, when Grandfather slapped him on the back of the head. “Who’s as idle as you to just fight every day?”

Maine opened the door, and walked into the apartment. Xie Sen followed him. Grandfather and Long Teng also followed them in.

“Anything else?” Maine asked with a tilt of his head.

“I’ve only been here for a week. My name is Xu Da. You can call me Grandpa. I’m this kid’s grandfather.” He pointed to Long Teng. “You guys are classmates, right?”

“Yes, we all are!” Long Teng said quickly. “Grandpa, are you looking at them for something?”

“It’s not for you!” Grandfather glared at him, then looked at Maine. “You guys take this kid with you to the league. As you can see, he is very good at fighting and won’t hold back.”

“I can do it alone. I don’t need a team,” Long Teng patted his chest super confidently, and pointed at Maine. “I’m going to be his opponent just so I can fight him!”

Grandfather slapped him on the back of his head. “Roadkill, talk less. If you don’t want teammates, do you want to spend the next life on that island?”