Chapter 28: Giant Lion Beast

Xie Sen miscalculated, shredding the potato and filling the plate used only half of it, so he cut the other half into small cubes and made a potato stew. The potato was of System’s finest quality, and the meat was wild and naturally grown, so the two stewed together with an extraordinarily appealing aroma.

Xie Sen gulped. He couldn’t wait to eat vegetables after so long!

He poked with chopsticks to make sure the potatoes and meat were cooked through, and served two bowls.

Maine’s left hand was against the doorframe, his right hand was against the edge of the door, so he was blocking the doorway. Grandfather Xu Da had his hands on Maine’s left hand, his neck was stretched out to look inside, and he kept shrugging his nose. “Let me go in and see what’s going on. It smells so good!”

Grandfather saw Xie Sen, raised a hand and waved. “Xiao Sen. What are you cooking again?”

Xie Sen was helpless. This grandfather’s nose was too good. He wondered if there was a hood that didn’t emit fragrance.

Maine frowned and grimaced. “Grandfather, let go. I’m closing the door.”

“Let me see what smells so good, and I’ll let go,” Grandfather said, his eyes glowing at Xie Sen. “Or the same as last time. No matter what it is, I’ll pay double the price, sell me half a pound!”

Xie Sen spread his hands. “No more.” He had cooked all of the potato.

“You were just in the kitchen. I don’t believe you ate it all. Sell me some!” Grandfather looked at him expectantly. “Whatever your price. I can’t smell, and not eat. My heart is hard, I can’t rest for a few days.”

Xie Sen looked at Maine. Maine’s face was very difficult, but the hand against the door didn’t move. If he wanted to close the door, it wasn’t hard, but he may hurt Grandfather.

Xie Sen smiled, Maine showed all the soft kindness to make him feel at ease, so he would feel the same. Maine and the book villain were completely two different people. He had already seen Grandfather’s pestering skills and thought. “It’s a small amount. I only need two hundred star coins for a small bowl, okay?”

“Yes, yes!” Grandfather was busy agreeing, as he held out his hand to reveal his personal bracelet. “Quick, I’ll transfer the money.”

“Wait a minute.” Xie Sen said, and turned back to the kitchen. He served the remaining potato stew from the pot to a fresh food box, took it out and handed it to Grandfather. “Return the food box tomorrow night. We may not be around during the day.”

“Okay.” Grandfather’s eyes were glued to the food box. He quickly transferred the bill, took the food box and left with a sharp movement.

Maine closed the door behind him, and looked at Xie Sen. “What did you do?”

Xie Sen had looked up the information about Brandt Star vegetables. There were potatoes here, but the quantity was particularly small. Only rich supermarkets had them for sale, and it was the same as cabbage. It was limited to weekly sales, but cabbage was limited to thirty pounds, while potatoes were limited to ten, each at two thousand star coins.

Ordinary people simply wouldn’t go buy potatoes to eat. Rich people wanted to buy but might not be able to buy since the number was too small.

“Potato stew.” He didn’t hide it. He would know once he ate it later.

Maine was slightly surprised and asked, “How did you get it?”

Xie Sen smiled, “It’s probably good luck. You should go take a shower, or it won’t taste good when it gets cold.”

Xie Sen put Maine’s soup bowl on the stove and ate his first. After taking a bite, his eyes narrowed immediately. It was so delicious! Although there were few ingredients, the taste was actually better than the modern ingredients. The potatoes were soft and fragrant, the meat was delicious and crispy. After he chewed them together, his mouth was full of sweetness, and the potatoes and meat were mixed together, not greasy at all, and very delicious.

Halfway through his meal, Maine came out of the shower. He told Maine where he put the soup bowl, and Maine went to get it himself, then sat down opposite him and started eating.

Xie Sen looked at the 1 Energy gratitude in front of him, and the corner of his mouth curled up. “Is it good?”

Maine nodded, and continued to eat heavily.

Xie Sen pushed the plate with the shredded potatoes in the middle towards him. “Try this one, it’s good too.”

Although the potatoes were twice as big and diluted in flavor, the quality of the food the System redeemed was so good, that it was absolutely delicious for people who hadn’t eaten for a long time or who had never eaten vegetables before.

Maine took a chopstick and ate it. “Delicious.”

Xie Sen took the last sip of soup, and slumped back in his chair with satisfaction. “Happy!”

“How much did you spend? I’ll transfer half of it to you.” Maine asked as he finished eating, and cleaned up his bowl.

Xie Sen pointed to the house. “You reminded me. I haven’t paid you the rent yet!”

Maine said, “No, my rent hasn’t changed even if you live here.”

Xie Sen laughed. “I don’t need it either. I cook every day to cover the rent.”

“A potato pays almost a month’s rent,” Maine disagreed. “I don’t want you to lose money.”

Xie Sen shrugged. “I think I’m making money anyway, so it’s a win-win situation. No one has to say anything about paying anyone.”

Maine looked at him, smiled lightly and nodded. “Okay.”

Maine went to the kitchen to do the dishes, while Xie Sen went to his room to train the chili pepper bush and potato plant. At first he could only train them individually, but after three hours he was able to summon them and give them commands to fight together.

The next day he had to go to work, so he stopped training at 10:00, took a shower and went to bed. The next day he went to work at Gold Medal, and went to Sun Mao after clocking in. “Manager Sun, I have to participate in the league on the 8th and 9th, so I want to transfer my rest to the day after next week as a double rest time.”

Sun Mao looked at the calendar. “The day after tomorrow? You’ll have to work eight days in a row after that. Can you do it?”

“Yes.” Xie Sen had already looked at the calendar. His working hours were 8:00 to 5:30. It was very easy, and he had nothing else to do. He wouldn’t feel tired even for a month.

Sun Mao nodded. “Okay, I’ve applied for you, go to the HR department after the tenth to do the formalities for the transfer.”

“Thank you, Manager!” Xie Sen’s eyes suddenly lit up. With his internship salary of twenty-five per hour, after the regularization, it would turn into fifty per hour. A month’s salary would become twelve thousand, much better than now.

Xie Sen worked with more energy, and helped around, so by 3:00 p.m., he had already harvested 16 energy, totaling 26.

He looked at the next blank page, and at the bottom it showed 26/200.

This meant that it would take 200 energy to activate the third plant. If he didn’t use the energy, he could activate it in less than half a month at his current accumulation rate. He was curious what the third plant would be.

As he was thinking, his communicator suddenly rang. Sun Mao’s voice was urgent and fast, “Xiao Sen, where are you?”

“I just came out of the large beast bath. What’s wrong?”

“Come to feeding Zone 4.” Sun Mao’s voice was urgent, and there was a chaotic cacophony of voices nearby.

Xie Sen froze, he had spent two days in the feeding department of the male division, and had been to Zones 1 to 3, but never to Zones 4 and 5, because there were no contract beasts in Zones 4 and 5.

The contract beasts fed in the feeding department were D, C, B, A, and S class. A and S class contract beasts were few in number, and almost all were wild. The feeding department’s Zones 4 and 5 were virtually empty.

Sun Mao told him to go to Zone 4, so that meant that there was a new A class contract beast?

Xie Sen ran to Zone 4. He was very curious. What was an A class contract beast like, and how did it come there?

He saw four security guards standing at the entrance of Zone 4 from afar. As he approached, the guards carefully checked his ID, confirmed that it was correct, then reminded him, “Hurry up and get in.”

The moment the door opened, the sound of a huge beast’s roars came to his ears, accompanied by the shouting and yelling of people. Xie Sen froze, but someone pushed him in the back and he stumbled inside. The next moment, the door closed tightly behind him, shutting out all sound from the zone.

He stood firm and looked inside. For a moment, he thought he was in an indoor soccer stadium. It was a space formed by a huge curved hood over a large area of grass. The top of the hood was transparent, and the sunlight came through as if it were outdoors.

Not far away on the grass, a giant lion about three meters tall, was surrounded by four two meter tall contract beasts. The atmosphere was stagnant. Each beast was roaring a warning, as if the next second they were going to fight.

The contract beasts were each standing next to a person who was shouting something.

Xie Sen’s heart involuntarily accelerated. These people were too bold. Just these few beasts could casually lift their feet, and trample them to death.

“Xie Sen, come quickly!” Sun Mao was anxious. If they were really going to fight, they would certainly lose a lot of money. He had frequently looked at the door, was immediately relieved to see Xie Sen and waved at him.

Xie Sen had no choice but to cautiously walk over there. He stopped three meters away from Sun Mao, “Manager Sun, is this…Isn’t it too dangerous?”

“Calm the giant lion beast. It’s wounded.”

The giant lion beast. Xie Sen froze, then looked at the giant lion. It was almost an enlarged version of the modern lion he had seen. Its golden mane was stained with blood that dripped down, and revealed a hideous wound.

“How did it get hurt?” Xie Sen couldn’t help but ask. It looked so tough.

“It got into a fight with two giant eagle beasts. It was found by our search department personnel and brought back.”

Xie Sen looked at Sun Mao, then looked at the giant lion beast with a sympathetic look. He understood in his heart that it was definitely not a simple ‘bring.’

“It doesn’t seem too satisfied,” Xie Sen said politely.

Sun Mao helplessly shrugged his shoulders. “For senior contract beasts, unless they meet a beast master with a particularly high synchronization rate, it’s difficult for them to submit. They prefer to stay free in the wild. It’s okay, it just needs to calm down first. We’ll find someone to bond with it as soon as possible. It will be fine after bonding.”

Xie Sen frowned. “What if it doesn’t want to?”

“As long as the synchronization rate reaches fifty percent, there’s a way,” Sun Mao said. The giant lion beast steeply let out a louder roar, as it’s the front paws scratched the ground. Sun Mao got busy. “Quickly pacify it.”

Xie Sen took a step forward, and was frightened by the huge pressure of the giant lion beast. “I’m scared!”

Sun Mao, helpless, went to his side, and pulled his arm towards the giant lion beast. “The higher the level of the contract beast, the higher the IQ. We don’t need to do anything. They won’t easily hurt humans.”

Xie Sen trembled as he was brought to the front feet of the giant lion, which lowered its head and made a warning sound in its throat.

Xie Sen’s feet went limp, as he reached up to touch its front legs. He tried to be affectionate, his mind filled with thoughts of goodwill. The giant lion beast tilted its head for half a second, backed up to Xie Sen, then looked down at him. It was so tall that even with its head down, it was taller than Xie Sen.

Xie Sen stretched up on his feet, and touched the side of its neck with a light hand. “I’ll treat your wound.”

The giant lion beast tilted its head, and rubbed its chin against his hand, as good as a cat.

Sun Mao said happily, “I’ll have the medicine prepared right away.” He looked at Xie Sen’s posture, and added, “And have them send a stool for you to stand on.”

The corners of Xie Sen’s mouth twitched. His tiptoe posture was a bit tiring, so he withdrew his hand, only to put it back when the giant lion beast inclined his head to rub against him. He simply stood close to the giant lion beast. As long as there was contact, the natural scent of his body would make the animal feel comfortable.

Sure enough, the giant lion beast quieted down, and laid down with its chin on its fleshy paws.

Xie Sen rubbed the mane on the side of its neck, and opened his bracelet to send a message to Maine, [Come to Gold Medal. A new giant lion beast arrived today. Contact me when you arrive.]

The people Sun Mao arranged quickly brought medicine and a stool, but the stool was useless with the giant lion lying down.

Xie Sen turned up the communicator’s sound to the maximum in case he missed Maine’s communication. He carefully cleaned the giant lion beast’s wound. As he was doing so, he heard Sun Mao’s communicator ring, then heard Sun Mao say, “Invite them over.”

Xie Sen hurriedly turned his head and asked, “Who’s here?”

“The young master of the Cox family. He is a giant lion beast master.” Sun Mao said.