21: Four cities fell

"Brother."

Luo Yang's voice sounded from behind Luo Chen. Luo Chen turned around to see Luo Yang looking at him with a complex expression.

"What's wrong?" Luo Chen looked at his younger brother curiously.

Luo Yang stood at the corner of the stairs. His lips moved, and only after a while did a sound come out.

"Brother, you must keep your secrets well. Even to those close to you, don't reveal too much."

Luo Chen chuckled lightly; so Luo Yang was agonizing over this. He walked up to Luo Yang and realized belatedly that his brother was already almost as tall as he was.

He patted Luo Yang's shoulder. "Don't worry, your brother isn't that naive. Besides, we're family. Don't we even have that much trust?"

Luo Yang murmured, then said in a small voice, "I didn't mean that..." The voice that followed was too quiet for Luo Chen, standing opposite him, to hear clearly.

"What?" Luo Chen asked, wanting to hear what Luo Yang had said.

"Nothing. Brother, in the future, don't tell anyone about your ability to summon one-way secret realms, or that ability to save dying beasts."

Seeing Luo Yang's solemn expression, Luo Chen made a promise with a smile on his face. "Okay."

Hearing Luo Chen's promise, Luo Yang turned and ducked into the utility room, busy with who knows what.

Luo Chen didn't mind him. He checked the time and saw it was around seven in the evening. After being busy all afternoon, he only now felt a belated sense of hunger.

"Luo Yang, what are you busy with? Hurry up, let's go eat."

"Wait for me, I'll be ready in a second."

A few minutes later, Luo Yang emerged from the utility room. He had posted a new note underneath the one that said 'Cultivation Area, No Visitors Allowed'.

'Beware of Vicious Dog, No Entry Allowed.'

Looking at the eight words written in a bold, flamboyant script, Luo Chen couldn't help but burst out laughing.

Luo Yang didn't think there was anything wrong with it. He valiently grabbed Luo Chen's arm and headed out to find a meal they liked.

After eating and drinking their fill, the two returned to the Chenyang Pet Store.

It wasn't to keep the shop open at night, but to enter the secret realm to catch two stalks of Azure Nether Grass. Regardless, he had to do his best to complete the system's task.

With the afternoon's experience, the nighttime hunting trip went very smoothly. Without wasting much time, they successfully caught two stalks of Azure Nether Grass—one at six-star Ferocious Beast Rank and one at seven-star Ferocious Beast Rank.

After the capture and tidying up the shop, it was already ten o'clock at night, which was basically Luo Chen's usual bedtime.

The two simply closed the shop doors and took Chiyan and Xiao Maoqiu home to rest.

The two were indeed very tired today, so after a quick wash at home, they went to bed early.

A night of sweet dreams.

...

'Urgent News: The four cities of Huoyan City, Biyou City, Fenghua City, and Liuyue City have been declared fallen under the impact of a beast tide. The cause of the beast tide's siege is currently unknown. The Upper City, Star Moon City, has dispatched experts to investigate the cause and rescue survivors from the fallen cities.'

Luo Chen had just finished feeding all the beasts in the shop and arranged for today's five beasts to soak in the Transformation Pool. He had just turned on his personal terminal when he received this push notification.

Luo Chen finished reading the news with a solemn expression, only then realizing the severity of the situation. Star Moon City was an Upper City; among the four fallen cities, Fenghua City was a Middle City, and the remaining three were Lower Cities.

Four cities falling simultaneously was something that had never happened in China since the appearance of beasts, let alone including a Middle City. This was absolutely an unprecedented major event.

Ferocious Beasts, Spirit Beasts, King Beasts, Desolate Beasts, Star Beasts...

The top combat power of a Lower City was generally a King Beast Beast Master, while the top combat power of a Middle City was basically a Desolate Beast Beast Master. To conquer four cities, there had to be the involvement of Star Beasts, and no fewer than three of them.

Thinking of the analyses by some Beast Masters online, Luo Chen gripped the terminal in his hand tightly. For some reason, a sense of urgency suddenly arose in his heart.

'Ding-dong.'

Someone sent him a message on the terminal. Luo Chen snapped back to his senses and tapped the screen to check the message.

[Official Liu Chengyu (Master of the Breeder Center): Reinforcements from Liuguang City have arrived. They will explore the Han Hai Secret Realm today. Good news is expected to come soon.]

It had been so long, and only now had reinforcements from Liuguang City arrived.

Suddenly, as if thinking of something, Luo Chen's fingers moved quickly on the screen, and two messages were sent out.

[Luo Chen (Luo Chen): Thank you, Master, for informing me of this news.]

[Luo Chen (Luo Chen): The reinforcements only arriving now—is it related to the news of the four cities being overrun by the beast tide?]

After a moment, a message from the other side came through.

[Official Liu Chengyu (Master of the Breeder Center): You are clever, young friend. It is indeed related. Liuguang City is conducting a screening of secret realms in its subordinate cities, and the newly appeared Han Hai Secret Realm is included.]

[Luo Chen (Luo Chen): Thank you, Master. If there is more news, I hope you can inform me. I would be most grateful.]

[Official Liu Chengyu (Master of the Breeder Center): It's no trouble.]

It was rare that Official Liu Chengyu still remembered him and shared this news. Luo Chen silently noted Liu Chengyu's kindness in his heart.

He put down the terminal and focused his attention on the three stalks of Azure Nether Grass he had caught yesterday, hoping someone would buy them today.

He found some paper, wrote the information for the three stalks of Azure Nether Grass on them, and then pasted them onto their respective cages.

After eight in the morning, customers gradually increased. Just as Luo Chen had expected, not many were buying beasts; instead, there were many for boarding.

In just one morning, eight customers had boarded eleven beasts, completing the system's third task.

As for the Azure Nether Grass, although they attracted customers' attention, it was only a novelty to them. After seeing the price of seventy thousand, they all backed away.

For seventy thousand, Beast Masters preferred to buy a beast that could move on land. Even though the Azure Nether Grass possessed Earth-grade Skills, were of Good quality, and were Nether System beasts rarely seen in Qingyang City, not a single Beast Master bought one throughout the entire morning.

At noon, Luo Chen quietly opened his shop panel and chose to submit the third task.

Only after he reached the second floor did he choose to claim the reward.

A familiar spatial rift opened in mid-air, and a bird beast with brightly colored feathers fell out of it.

"Zhi zhi!"

An exasperated sound came from the bird beast's mouth. It covered its butt with one wing while pointing its other wing at the spatial rift that had already disappeared.

It kept chirping 'zhi zhi' incessantly. Looking at its hopping State, it seemed to be cursing something.

Luo Chen quietly activated his Eye of Truth.

[race Name: Colorful Sound Spirit Finch (Sealed)]

[Rank: Nine-star Spirit Beast (Sealed)]

[Type: Sound System, Light System]

[State: Angry]

[Aptitude: Peerless]

[Skills: 1. Colorful Spirit Light (Earth Grade): Different colors of the Colorful Spirit Light add different characteristics to the Skill's effect. Red: Adds burn damage; Cyan: Adds healing effect; Yellow: Adds penetration effect; Orange: Light turns into a shield.]

[2. Mimicry (Mystic Grade): The Colorful Sound Spirit Finch can simulate sounds from different races or different musical instruments.]

[3. Soul-Calming Sound (Earth Grade): The Colorful Sound Spirit Finch emits a Soul-Calming Sound. It can dispel the influence of mental Skills for friendly targets and inflict mental damage on malicious targets.]

[4. Spirit Finch (Mystic Grade): The Colorful Sound Spirit Finch summons an energy body of its true Spirit Finch form to fight in its place.]

Before Luo Chen could even marvel at the power of the Colorful Sound Spirit Finch's Skills, he was caught off guard by a crisp and 'pleasant' voice.

"You there, what are you looking at?"