Astral Pet Store

Chapter 55: Explorers’ Base

“Unclaimed territory No.38?”

Su Ping did know that the 500 or so unclaimed territories around the globe had numbers designated. The unclaimed territory No. 38 must have been discovered a long time ago, given its small number.

“Yes.” Fan Yujing nodded and continued, “Unclaimed territory No.38 is a Class B territory. Throughout history, there were several Beast Kings found but they have all been eradicated. At the moment, there are only traces of advanced pets.”

Su Ping nodded.

Even the general public knew about the classification of the unclaimed territories.

Generally speaking, there were five classes labeled ABCDEF, representing five different danger levels.

Amongst the five, unclaimed territories of Class A, B, and C were unstable areas. They became unclaimed territories because of the frequent appearance of space fractures.

As for Class D and Class E territories, the former became deserted after the war. Nuclear radiation and mutated germs were abundant in such areas. Many Astral Pets living there were infected by the germs. Large-scale plagues and illnesses would break out. That was why such areas were isolated and marked as deserted regions.

Class E unclaimed territories on the blue planet were places with scant resources and harsh environments. There were no human settlements in those places. Such areas became habitats for wild Astral Pets and gradually, they became unclaimed territories.

Su Ping intended to seek confirmation, “I heard that middle-rank and advanced pets frequent Class B unclaimed territories. Is that correct?”

Class B Unclaimed territories were rather dangerous. At the very least, the freshly graduated battle pet warriors were not qualified to go. Those fresh graduates would have to go to Class C unclaimed territories or even Class E areas to explore and train. If their performance was outstanding, after three to five years, they could be assigned to Class B unclaimed territories.

Fan Yujing admitted, “It’s mostly middle-rank pets there. The advanced pets are rare. We only get to see advanced pets once every two to three explorations, unlike Class A areas. I heard that you can find advanced pets on every trip to Class A territories, and the mortality rate is high!”

As he spoke of Class A unclaimed territories, Fan Yujing couldn’t help but feel appalled.

“A one in three chance...” Su Ping blinked.

That was acceptable.

He could deal with it as long as they didn’t encounter any Beast Kings.

Soon, the SUV got onto the city’s highway. When they were passing through the toll gate, they were allowed to go without having to swipe their card.

Just then, Su Ping found out it was because of the SUV’s license plates.

The license plates were the pass.

On special occasions, they could even run a red light!

Su Ping had heard stories about the benefits enjoyed by explorers. Once, an explorer shot down some civilians who had offended him.

News reported that the explorer was taken into custody and punished with confinement.

As to whether that explorer was really “confined,” nobody knew. The public would not probe, either.

Anyways, it implied that explorers didn’t have to be sentenced to death when they killed someone!

The general public was well aware that explorers were not people to be offended.

After running down the highway for about an hour, they finally arrived at the border of the base city.

Few people resided at the border. Buildings were far apart from each other, but the roads here were wide and sturdy.

Su Ping looked up from his car window. It was a high wall that stood towering like a giant.

That was the base city’s border wall.

The wall could fend off the invasion of wild Astral Pets, and more importantly, invasion of Beast Kings!

“It’s so high...”

The views he saw on television were entirely different after seeing the wall in person. Su Ping was amazed at the wall; it was at least two to three hundred meters tall. This was a magnificent project!

Down the highway was an asphalt road that was surrounded by weeds and wilderness on the sides.

Ahead of them was the exit leading to outside the city. Lamps lit the road.

As they were driving out of the city, there would be occasional cars driving in the opposite direction, brushing past them.

“They are adventurers.” Fan Yujing glanced at them and explained, “They didn’t pass the exam to join any teams after graduation, and have to work for private companies as battle pet warriors.”

Su Ping nodded.

There were two paths for the battle pet warrior. The first was to join the explorers’ teams.

The second was to work in a private company.

Although most of the private companies could not compare to federal departments, some forces were financially sound. They could offer benefits as good as those enjoyed by the explorers’ teams, but such private companies would have stricter requirements. Their recruiting requirements were even stricter than those for the explorer’s teams!

Soon, they arrived at the city exit.

Armies were stationed there day and night. When Fan Yujing and the team arrived, over a dozen people landed their gazes at the party.

“Inspection.” An army officer stepped over.

Fan Yujing rolled down the window and presented a medallion with a black wolf head.

The army officer stood in awe and saluted immediately, then he allowed Fan Yujing to pass, not even looking inside the vehicle.

The path to leave the city extended for dozens of meters. One could imagine how thick the wall was.

The land outside the base city was overgrown with underbrush.

Such a wasteland could not be seen inside the base city, except for the shantytown at the outermost edge of the city where some kids lived.

But that wasteland had several roads which led to different directions.

The roads were not as clean or intact as those in the city, but it posed no difficulty for SUVs. Fan Yujing chose a path, hurried on, and arrived at a fortress after more than half an hour.

The fortress had been built with huge boulders; there were regular buildings inside.

“This is the base for unclaimed territory No. 38.”

Fan Yujing parked his car outside the base and got off with Su Ping and Li Ying. Fan Yujing presented his medallion and they were allowed in without any hindrance.

It was more like a marketplace in the city.

It was lively.

It was nighttime, but there were road lamps illuminating the place. The area had a power supply.

There were shabby stalls along the road, displaying strange things; weird-looking plants, young cubs, and even eggs.

At the sight of the eggs, Su Ping remembered the one he had.

He wondered if his egg had been hatched...

“The goods we obtain during explorations will be sold here and on the explorers trading web as well,” Fan Yujing smiled and said, “Becoming an explorer is a risky choice but it is a profitable job as well. If you’re lucky, you can make in one mission what the general public has to spend a life to make.”

Su Ping nodded. He had little interest in becoming an explorer.

As for making money.

At the end of the day, explorers were wage earners as well. The real money-making people were the big potatoes that could enjoy the company of beautiful ladies and wine in the base cities. Those big potatoes didn’t have to risk their lives or work hard. They simply filled their pockets by taking a portion of the explorers’ hard-earned money.

Soon.

Fan Yujing showed Su Ping to a small one-story house.

“Guys, I have a new friend for you!” Fan Yujing shouted, laughing.

Two people stepped out of the house. One of them was a middle-aged man in his forties with a bulky build. He had whiskers. His muscles attested to his strength.

The other person was a young lady, slender and pretty. Su Ping knew her.

“Your sister?”

Su Ping was astounded.

“What’s wrong with that?” Fan Xiaoyu rested her hands on her hips in anger.

Fan Yujing couldn’t help bursting into laughter. “My sister is here to train herself. She’s in third-grade and about to graduate. It was actually an arrangement set by the academy.”

Su Ping was speechless after seeing Fan Yujing’s smug smile. How careless would Fan Yujing have to be, to be this happy knowing his sister would tag along to explore the unclaimed territory?

Su Ping blurted out his question, “Will she slow us down if she comes with us?”

“You!”

Fan Xiaoyu was fuming with rage.

“Slow them down??”

Since young, she had been the one pushing others forward!