Xie Sen and Maine picked up Long Teng at the spaceport, and the three quickly returned to their lodgings. Long Teng sped off, and everyone who saw him couldn't help but stare at him.
"Where did this nouveau riche come from?"
"The military has a new partner company again?" Passersby whispered and speculated.
Long Teng, oblivious to his dazzling presence, excitedly asked Xie Sen, "Where's the Flying Dragon Beast? I'm going to find it!"
Xie Sen led him into the living room: "Aren't you going to eat first? You'll be trying to form a bond later, so you should be in top condition."
Long Teng smiled: "I ate on the spaceship, and I'm in great shape now. I really want to see the Flying Dragon Beast."
Xie Sen laughed: "In that case, come with me. They're too big; there's not enough space on the upper level, so they're all in the basement."
A mercenary guarded the basement door. Xie Sen was greeting him when a high-pitched dragon roar suddenly came from behind the door, the sound so powerful it shook the ground.
Maine instinctively covered Shesen's ears. Shesen smiled at him, indicating he was alright.
Long Teng's eyes lit up: "It sensed me! Our synchronization rate must be very high! I can feel it!"
He reached for the door, but was stopped by the mercenary. Shesen nodded to the mercenary: "It's our friend."
The mercenary stepped aside, making room for the door.
The dragon beast's voice behind the door changed from high-pitched to low, carrying a strong warning. This was the contracted beast's instinctive rejection of its master; the stronger the master, the stronger the rejection reaction.
Long Teng, completely unfazed, excitedly pushed open the basement door and rushed inside: "Wow! It's even cooler up close!"
Xie Sen followed closely behind. He'd barely stepped into the basement when the flying dragon beast lying on the ground suddenly flew towards Long Teng with incredible speed. Xie Sen instinctively called out, "Little..."
Before he could finish the word "heart," Long Teng was completely ensnared by the flying dragon beast. The beast
's large head buried itself in Long Teng's chest, rubbing against him, its deep warning growling into increasingly rapid gasps. Long Teng opened his arms and hugged its large head, laughing heartily. He turned to Xie Sen: "Ah Sen, it really likes me!"
Xie Sen looked at Long Teng's sparkly clothes, thinking, "It doesn't like you, it likes the sparkle on you!"
He watched Long Teng and the flying dragon beast's affectionate interaction with mixed feelings, secretly thinking that the flying dragon beast's obsession with sparkle was truly too strong.
Not only could it use the sparkle to calm the emotional fluctuations caused by the energy, but it could also suppress its rejection of its beast master. Its love for sparkle was definitely true love!
Long Teng's seemingly foolish attire proved surprisingly effective.
Long Teng and the flying dragon hugged for a while, each grinning foolishly. Xie Sen couldn't help but remind him, "You two should try forming a bond now!"
Long Teng: "Right," he smiled at the flying dragon, "Form a bond with me, I'm very powerful."
The flying dragon blinked, reluctantly leaving the glitter on his clothes, released him, took a step back, and let out a soft growl.
Long Teng's eyes shone brightly, his aura suddenly changing, becoming extremely sharp. He was eager to try: "Don't hold back, unleash your pressure on me, I'll make you willingly submit!"
The flying dragon curled its lower body, propped its head up, its gaze fierce and menacing, instantly freezing the atmosphere in the basement. Xie Sen immediately felt suffocated. Maine
put her arm around his waist, led him to the corner, and then held him in her arms. Xie Sen immediately felt much better.
The corner was the furthest point in the basement from Long Teng and the others, and the giant python and the armored beast huddled there as well.
A moment later, the giant python flicked its tail, which smacked against the wall with a soft thud. The armored beast scratched the wall with its sharp snout, leaving numerous marks.
Xie Sen immediately realized they were affected. They were already influenced by earth energy, and although their mental state was better than the flying dragons, it was still unhealthy. Now, affected by this, they were becoming agitated.
He patted Maine's hand, which was around his waist, signaling Maine to release him. After Maine let go, he walked between the giant python and the armored beast and reached out to touch them both simultaneously.
Under his soothing touch, they quickly calmed down. The giant python curled up in a ball, while the armored beast rubbed against his palm, its voice soft and gentle: "I'm sorry, I couldn't control myself just now."
Xie Sen comforted it: "It's okay." The armored beast lowered its head, becoming shy again.
He couldn't help but laugh as he looked at the giant armored beast. Despite doing a lot of physical labor, the beast was unusually gentle and even shy, a stark contrast to its dinosaur-like appearance, creating a charmingly unexpected contrast.
Xie Sen, worried about potential problems, kept his hands on both
beasts even after they had calmed down, his gaze fixed ahead. Long Teng and the flying dragon beast remained locked in a standoff, neither giving an inch.
Xie Sen had witnessed many beast masters attempting to form contracts with their beasts, but never before had the aura between them been so powerful, nor had they lasted as long as Long Teng.
After more than half an hour, Long Teng's face began to pale, sweat pouring down his forehead. He remained standing ramrod straight, his body motionless, while the flying dragon beast only slightly swayed its tail.
Another ten minutes passed before Long Teng finally swayed.
Instantly, the jewels on his body shimmered with iridescent light under the lamplight, dazzling the eyes. Xie Sen instinctively closed his eyes.
At the same time, the dragon beast's aura vanished abruptly. It instinctively nuzzled its head towards Long Teng, but halfway there, it suddenly realized something and froze.
Long Teng's eyes lit up, and he took a step closer: "I won."
When Xie Sen opened his eyes, he saw the dragon beast's head propped up in mid-air, then slowly lowering itself, resting its head on its curled body, staring at Long Teng with wide eyes.
Long Teng grinned broadly, took off his shirt, revealing the imposing dragon beast markings on his chest. Without hesitation, he drew a long line of blood on it and began the bond-forming ceremony.
As Long Teng's oath fell, the bond was complete.
"Ahhh, that was amazing!" Long Teng reached out and hugged the dragon beast's large head. The dragon beast turned its head, staring intently at the diamond bracelet wrapped around his wrist.
Xie Sen couldn't help but laugh. Long Teng's outfit had been a great help; he had thought Long Teng was going to fail, but the dragon beast was suddenly distracted by the light reflected from the jewels.
He patted the giant python and the armored beast, then walked up to Long Teng: "Congratulations."
Long Teng smiled brightly: "Thank you, Asen."
The flying dragon brushed Xie Sen with its tail: "He is indeed very strong."
Xie Sen smiled: "Yes," he asked, "How are you feeling now?"
The flying dragon: "My emotions are much more stable. It will take some time to recover, but with the Beast Master here, there won't be any problems."
"Huh..." Long Teng, who had been standing close to the flying dragon, blinked in surprise upon hearing its reply, "I can understand it!"
Xie Sen: "Yes, it's best not to tell outsiders, otherwise, some people might develop other ideas about the flying dragon."
Long Teng nodded, "Yeah, I won't tell anyone," he rubbed against the dragon's scales, "We can communicate, you know. Let me give you a name first, hmm... how about Little Black?"
The dragon bumped his head against him, "That's terrible, not imposing at all."
Long Teng took a step back, then immediately stepped back to his original spot and reached out to touch it, "Then what do you think it should be called?"
The dragon blinked, and after a long pause, "...Big Black."
"Great!" Long Teng readily agreed, "You're so big, you should be called Big Black, haha, you're so smart."
Xie Sen's forehead creased with annoyance, "Are you sure you want this name?"
Long Teng and the dragon nodded simultaneously, Xie Sen forced a smile and congratulated them, while insincerely praising it as a 'good name'.
Long Teng successfully formed a bond and was unwilling to leave the basement, clinging to Big Black to play. Xie Sen and Maine left the basement to have dinner, then returned to their bedroom.
On the other side, Sokto sat in the interrogation room, he had been sitting there for several hours, looking exhausted.
The interrogator from the investigation team sitting opposite him asked again, "Where did you hide the rest of the gold crystal ore?"
Sokto was practically going crazy. He braced his hands on the table and weakly said, "I've already said it, I didn't hoard any ore."
"Then why did you go to the location where you hid the ore?"
Sokto: "I... I was just wandering around."
"Please answer my question seriously. How could you possibly stumble upon the ore hiding place just by wandering around?"
Sokto said, "You've already investigated. I don't have the means to transport or smuggle ore. Since taking office, I haven't left the mining area."
"You have the means. We didn't find your spatial storage device, but that doesn't completely rule out the possibility that you don't have it. You might have thrown away your storage backpack to clear your name, but this place is mountainous, and it would be difficult for us to retrieve it as evidence."
The interrogator paused slightly. "Furthermore, you can't provide a perfect alibi. Not publicly using the spacecraft doesn't mean you didn't use it privately."
Sokto was filled with regret. When he first arrived on Mining Planet A, he was extremely depressed. It was even more backward than the most remote area of Brant Planet, with only mining and no entertainment.
After arriving, he couldn't stand being bothered by the miners' petty squabbles, so he always stayed alone in his room or went out to avoid seeing them. He left most of the official business to his subordinates.
That's why the previous investigation lasted almost half a month; he had too much time to transport ore.
Sokto rubbed his face. "That's just your speculation. I didn't hide any ore. I had no such intention. I hate these ores. Why would I hide them?"
"Everyone knows their value. Your excuse is so unconvincing… Did you go to the ore storage site today to relocate the ore?"
"No," Sokto took a deep breath, "I didn't know there were any ore there!"
"Then what were you doing there?"
Sokto gritted his teeth, his expression conflicted. He regretted turning away immediately after seeing Maine, even if it was just a feigned greeting.
That way, he could answer that he heard Maine was there, and since they hadn't seen each other in a long time, he went to see Maine.
But turning away now would seem too fake.
He was now in a dilemma. Revealing his true purpose—to get rid of Maine—would explain his presence there, but it would damage his reputation, since Maine was a student who had only recently come of age and hadn't even received his diploma yet!
But if he didn't speak up, he had no other convincing reason to explain why he would happen to be at the mining site.
He clenched his fist, a hint of hatred flashing in his eyes. He couldn't help but think that Maine had tampered with it; otherwise, how could the ore have been hidden there by chance?
But he couldn't understand it. Maine had only arrived at Mining Planet A the day before; he couldn't have had time to make these arrangements.
Did Maine have people on Mining Planet A?
Sokto's expression shifted, and after weighing the two options, he spoke with shame: "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hide it. It's just that my purpose for going there was a bit difficult to say. I heard that Maine had gone there, so I went to find him."
He said, "I received a call from my brother after leaving the interrogation room. He told me that Maine had killed his son, Rilo—my own nephew. God knows, I only have one nephew. I was blinded by hatred at the time. When I heard that Maine had come to Mining Planet A, I immediately found out their location and then sent a spacecraft to find him. I wanted to kill him to avenge Rilo."
"I didn't expect him to have a flying dragon beast with him. When I saw the flying dragon beast, I knew I wasn't sure of success. Besides, I was sober then. If Maine was here, he was definitely innocent. My brother must have wronged him, so I left immediately."
He gave a bitter laugh. "I just acted on impulse. I didn't know Maine was in a place with a gold mine."
The interrogator observed his expression and took notes. "We will investigate whether what you said is true. You need to be detained for now."
Sokto said, "I will cooperate with your work."
After the interrogator left, he lowered his head, his face extremely pale. Even if General Vanks had just said a few words, he wouldn't have been interrogated like this. He had always strived to maintain a perfect image, and now it was completely ruined!
A colonel, considering assassinating a citizen for personal reasons, would undoubtedly be condemned if word got out.
He pondered that to minimize the damage, he could only try to control public opinion after the incident spread, shifting the focus to his love for his nephew.
In any case, he didn't act on it and didn't harm Maine. This outcome is far better than being convicted of illegally hoarding minerals and harming government interests.
Xie Sen finished washing up, leaned against the headboard, and entered the live stream room. His contracted beasts were huddled together, seemingly discussing something. He glanced at the viewership; it was almost fifty million.
"Did you guys see the news? The streamer went to Planet A and found a Flying Dragon Beast, a Giant Python Beast, and a Giant Armor Beast! Will there be new members joining the stream? I can't wait!" "
I saw it! That picture is so cool, I really want a Flying Dragon Beast to carry me!"
"Ahhh! When is the streamer going to do another giveaway? I want to play with the contracted beasts. I'm so envious of the lucky viewers last time." "Same here!
"
"The streamer isn't on Planet Brant, so is the stream being remotely controlled by him? Or are the contracted beasts doing it themselves?"
"Based on my observations over the past two days, it's definitely the Black Giant Panther Beast! It's always by the wall when the stream starts, and it goes to the wall before turning it off, and it even lets out a soft roar. All the signs indicate that it's the one turning the stream on and off."
"I think the previous part is the truth."
"Today is another day of being envious. I really want a contracted beast that smart!"
Xie Sen couldn't help but sigh again as he looked at the comments. The viewers were like detectives; nothing escaped their keen eyes.
Maine sat down next to him, and he turned to smile at Maine. Maine put his arm around him and watched the stream together.
Not long after, the giant leopard beast shut down its live stream. Xie Sen switched to the news page: "It seems there's already news about the flying dragon beast online."
Maine wasn't surprised: "High-level contracted beasts always attract attention. Many people on A-mining planet have seen it, taken photos, and uploaded them online. The topic will quickly become popular."
Xie Sen clicked on the top news article about the Flying Dragon Beast and immediately saw a photo of him and Maine sitting on the back of a black dragon.
"So cool! It's a Flying Dragon Beast!"
"I recognize the two people on it, it's Xie Sen and Maine!"
"Isn't Xie Sen the streamer 'Contract Beast'? Now that I think about it, almost all the high-level contract beasts that have appeared recently are related to him. His ability to find contract beasts is too strong!"
"Isn't the point that all high-level contract beasts are docile in front of him? Even if an ordinary person encounters a Flying Dragon Beast, who could sit on its back?"
"Plant-type beast masters are too powerful! "
"I'm more curious, who can successfully form a contract with the Flying Dragon Beast?"
"No need to think about it, it's definitely Long Teng. He and Xie Sen are friends, and according to reliable sources, Long Teng has already headed to A-Mining Star."
"That's not necessarily true. The Flying Dragon Beast is incredibly powerful, and Long Teng seems to be underage yet, right? He might not be able to successfully form a contract."
"Although he's young, he's a famous fighting maniac in the university department. He loves fighting and has challenged many university venues without a single defeat."
"No need to argue. If the contract succeeds, the youngest S-rank Beast Lord will change hands, and it'll definitely be headline news."
Xie Sen smiled. It was indeed going to change hands. He remembered clearly that Long Teng's birthday was June 1st. To fit Long Teng's personality, the author had deliberately arranged for him to be born on Children's Day. It was May now, and Long Teng wasn't even eighteen yet.
After reading the news, Xie Sen and Mei Yin engaged in some intimate activity before going to sleep, satisfied.
The next morning, Xie Sen and Mei Yin went downstairs for breakfast. They greeted Huo Feng, who was eating, and heard Long Teng's loud laughter outside, which made them chuckle as well.
After finishing their meal, Xie Sen went to the door and saw Long Teng sitting on the back of a flying dragon beast. The beast was flying in circles above the doorway, sometimes high, sometimes low, having a great time with Long Teng.
Many people were standing around the doorway, looking up at them in amazement.
Huo Feng said, "The youngest S-class beast master, these young people are getting more and more amazing."
Xie Sen chuckled, "Mr. Huo, you're young too."
Huo Feng smiled, "When are you planning to leave?"
Xie Sen thought for a moment, "After lunch, then we can rest back on Brant Star. I'd like to go to the mountains to collect some plants later."
Huo Feng asked curiously, "Plants?"
Xie Sen nodded, "I have a friend who's in the medical department and likes to grow herbs. If we find any edible plants, we can take them back to the plant research institute for research and cultivation." Huo Feng said
, "If there were any edible plants, they would have been discovered long ago."
Xie Sen smiled without saying a word. Normally, edible plants might not be able to grow due to environmental factors, but under the influence of soil energy, as long as there are residual seeds in the soil near the energy, golden and yellow edible plants are very likely to germinate and grow. The flying dragon beast
landed in front of Xie Sen and touched him with its whiskers. Xie Sen gently squeezed it.
Long Teng jumped off the back of the flying dragon beast. He had changed his clothes, but he still wore his gold necklace and diamond bracelet, making him still quite dazzling. He greeted them with a smile, "Ah Sen, Maine, good morning."
Xie Sen asked, "Have you had breakfast?" Long Teng nodded.
Xie Sen said, "I'm going out to collect plants, are you coming?"
"Yes," Long Teng laughed, "I'll bring them back for A Jiao, he'll be very happy."
After discussing it, Xie Sen went to ask the giant python and the giant armored beast. Both of them were very happy to hear about going into the mountains and wanted to go with them.
The three of them, along with three contracted beasts, didn't have many, but they made a great show of force; the size of high-level contracted beasts was truly impressive.
Just as they were about to set off, the investigation team arrived and asked Maine about the gold crystal mine. Maine replied that he had discovered it by chance.
The investigation team said, "We will request to view your communication records to ensure you didn't contact anyone on Planet A before you came, thus ruling out the possibility that you went to the mining site to transfer ore."
Maine reached out, revealing his personal bracelet, his expression straightforward: "We're just looking for our contracted beast. You can check my communication records now."
The investigation team knew Maine's background. In their minds, it was already a miracle that an illegitimate child like Maine, raised without support, had grown up successfully; it was impossible for him to have the ability to orchestrate such a large-scale plan against Sokto.
They were simply following procedures. Thinking of Sokto's words, they couldn't help but feel a pang of sympathy when looking at Maine: "Thank you for your cooperation."
After the investigation team left, Xie Sen and his two companions entered the mountains as planned. They first went to the Black Dragon's new territory, retrieved some of the gold crystal ore that the Black Dragon coveted, and then used it as a center to search for plants in the surrounding area.
The giant python and the giant armored beast were very familiar with the area, leading them to find many plants. The three of them stayed in the mountains for more than two hours, reaping a rich harvest.
They put all the plants into their spatial backpacks and then returned.
When they returned to their temporary accommodation, it was lunchtime. The three of them ate lunch with Huo Feng. After the meal, Huo Feng said, "Sokto has been transferred."
Xie Sen asked, "Just transferred?"
Huo Feng nodded, "He's been cleared of suspicion of illegally hoarding ore. The investigation team is currently reinvestigating the ore reduction case."
Xie Sen was puzzled, "How does he explain the ore being found at the hiding place?"
"He told the truth," Huo Feng said, looking at Maine. "He said he received a call from his brother and acted impulsively, wanting revenge for Rilo, he went to find Maine to deal with him. However, when he saw Maine, there were flying dragons around, so he felt he had no chance of winning, and after sobering up, he left."
Maine snorted coldly, his eyes full of disgust: "Hypocritical."
Xie Sen retorted: "It's true he had no chance of winning, but it's another story."
Huo Feng said: "Military discipline is strict, and taking revenge in private is the most taboo. This matter will have a big impact on him; he will most likely be demoted and have to undergo a second political review."
Maine sneered, his eyes flashing coldly: "That's perfect. He's always been trying to curry favor with the Kex family to climb the ranks. This fall is just an appetizer for him."
They came to A-Mining Star only to reclaim energy; the three high-level contracted beasts and the framing of Sokto were unexpected surprises. Overall, this trip was well worth it.
The group chatted for a while, then headed to the spaceport together, preparing to return to Brant Star.