Chapter 289: Three Years

"Who's dead? Who's dead! Tell me clearly!"

Sharp Battle Kid had just been about to voice its objection, but then it suddenly realized something and wore a stunned expression.

Right after, it came to its senses, quickly planted both hands on the ground, and stood on its hands once more.

"Jian-jian!"

Sharp Battle Kid's face lit up with excitement as it felt the change in its body.

It tucked away its left hand for a moment, then tucked away its right, constantly switching between left and right hands to do one-armed handstands.

"Does it feel like you're extra healthy now?" Qiao Sang asked with a smile.

"Jian-jian!"

Sharp Battle Kid's feet touched the ground, ending the handstand, and it bowed deeply to Qiao Sang to express its thanks.

It understood that its injuries had healed all because of the human standing before it.

"Lu."

At that moment, Lubao stepped forward, looked at Sharp Battle Kid, and called out once to make its presence known.

"Jian-jian!"

Sharp Battle Kid understood and bowed to Lubao as well.

"Lu."

Lubao showed a satisfied expression.

"Xun."

Little Xunbao also floated forward to join the fun.

Sharp Battle Kid glanced at Little Xunbao and ignored it.

Little Xunbao: "..."

How come it doesn't bow to me?

"Jian-jian!"

After bowing, Sharp Battle Kid's face was full of excitement, its eyes seemingly shining, and it immediately couldn't wait to run into the house.

"Xun?"

Little Xunbao watched Sharp Battle Kid's retreating figure from the side and tilted its head.

Why did the scent disappear?

Seeing Little Xunbao's state, Qiao Sang's mood lifted completely.

Even though she didn't know Sharp Battle Kid, using a Healing Light that only consumed energy with no cost to save a young life — that was a bargain!

Qiao Sang bent down and picked up Lubao, just about to head back when she saw Liu Qijia running over.

"Where did you go? How did you suddenly disappear?" Liu Qijia asked, panting.

"I was just right here." Qiao Sang answered.

Liu Qijia: "..."

If you answer like that, it makes my question sound really stupid... Liu Qijia grumbled inwardly.

"Little Xunbao ran off just now, so I came over to chase it." Qiao Sang continued.

"Xun~"

Little Xunbao blinked its eyes, looking utterly innocent.

Liu Qijia glanced at the Treasure Hunting Beast and decided not to dig into why it had run off.

If she pressed the issue and got herself remembered by it, what then? This was a Ghost-type pet beast...

"Never mind that, let's hurry and..." Liu Qijia stopped mid-sentence, his eyes catching sight of the pet beast Qiao Sang was holding. He froze for a moment and asked, "This is the third pet beast you contracted?"

"Mm." Qiao Sang nodded.

"Looks pretty..." Liu Qijia said, reaching out as he spoke, wanting to pet it.

"Lu."

Lubao directly smacked his hand with its tail.

"... Quite a personality." Liu Qijia pulled his hand back and silently changed his description.

"Let's go to your dad's place now, shouldn't you hurry back to school for roll call?" Qiao Sang reminded him.

"Right, right, right!" Liu Qijia nodded.

He quickly led the way ahead.

"I just called my dad, he's in the aerobic training area inside." Liu Qijia said as they walked.

Qiao Sang asked, "You have a phone on you?"

"No." Liu Qijia answered, "I just ran into an uncle I know and used his phone to call."

Qiao Sang said nothing more.

After leading the way for a stretch, Liu Qijia kept sneaking peeks at the pet beast in Qiao Sang's arms, and finally couldn't help asking, "What's this pet beast called? I don't think I've ever seen one before."

"Ice Luqiya, a pet beast from the Ancient Mist Region." Qiao Sang said.

"No wonder..." Liu Qijia wore an expression of sudden realization.

No wonder he hadn't seen it before — turns out it was a pet beast from the Ancient Mist Region.

Also, with that cute little look, if it were from the Yuhua Region, girls would probably all want one...

While chatting, Liu Qijia stopped outside a door.

"We're here."

Liu Qijia pushed the door open and walked in, with Qiao Sang following behind.

The moment she stepped inside, she saw Sharp Battle Kid from earlier.

"Jianjian!"

Only to see Sharp Battle Kid glaring furiously at a middle-aged man.

"It's not that I don't want to contact your beast master," the middle-aged man said helplessly. "It's that your beast master said long ago that he's been busy in other regions these past few months. If there's something, send a message—don't call."

"I send him messages every day. He's probably just too busy to see them. Once he sees them after a while, he'll definitely contact me, and I'll tell you right away."

"Jianjian!"

Sharp Battle Kid showed an anxious expression. It immediately did a handstand on the spot, then kept switching between left and right single-hand handstands, trying to show that it was completely fine now and had no problems at all.

"I know you're better." A trace of heartache flashed in the middle-aged man's eyes. He sighed and said, "I actually just tried to contact your beast master too, but he didn't reply to me."

"Jian…"

Sharp Battle Kid stopped its handstand, its face falling. Then, as if unable to look at anything, it walked toward the door.

"Xun!"

Little Xunbao watched Sharp Battle Kid's retreating back. Its nose twitched and its eyes lit up.

This guy smells good again!

Qiao Sang's thoughts drifted as she watched Little Xunbao's reaction.

Lubao had only just cast a Healing Light on Sharp Battle Kid. There was no way Sharp Battle Kid was already in trouble again after less than ten minutes.

It seemed what had attracted Little Xunbao just now probably wasn't the aura of death…

Good thing no one knows, not awkward… Qiao Sang reassured herself.

"Lu."

Nobody noticed that Lubao was staring in the direction Sharp Battle Kid had disappeared, a thoughtful expression on her face.

"Dad!" Liu Qijia called out.

"You're here." The middle-aged man—Liu's dad—turned his head to look at Qiao Sang and asked, "So this is that amazing classmate of yours?"

"That's right." Liu Qijia nodded.

"Hello, Uncle." Qiao Sang said politely.

"Hello." Liu's dad gave a stiff smile. "Have a seat anywhere."

You want me to sit, but there has to be a chair! Qiao Sang glanced around the room, which had no chairs at all, and said, "I'll just stand."

Liu's dad also realized the problem. He gave an awkward laugh and said to Liu Qijia, "Son, go get a few stools."

"Oh." Liu Qijia responded and walked out the door.

The atmosphere in the room instantly turned awkward.

Both sides fell silent.

Liu's dad opened his mouth several times, unsure how to speak.

To be honest, everyone around him was a rough guy. Apart from his wife, he had barely interacted with the opposite sex, let alone such a delicate little girl.

After a long silence, Qiao Sang spoke first: "Uncle, what was up with that Sharp Battle Kid just now?"

"You mean it?" Liu's dad said in a low voice. "It's a pet beast entrusted to this place by a beast master. Just now it wanted me to contact its beast master to come pick it up."

So it was an entrusted pet beast… Qiao Sang understood.

When beast masters have too many pet beasts to train, or are busy with other things in real life and have no time to take care of them, but don't want to waste time, they usually entrust their pet beasts to some pet beast training hall for training.

"Has its beast master not come to pick it up for a long time?" Qiao Sang asked.

Liu's dad paused, then answered:

"Quite a while. Three years."