Careful Planning

After saying goodbye to the ever-changing Little Fatty and the enthusiastic Old Kong who tried to persuade him to stay, Qin Ming hurriedly returned.

Whether it's due to the distance or the difference in spiritual energy concentration, crossing to Earth takes half a day to cool down, while crossing to the Spirit Realm only takes an hour to return.

Furthermore, the time in the Spirit Void Realm is synchronized with the time in the Spirit Martial Continent, making it difficult to exploit time bugs and allow spirit beasts to cheat and gain an advantage.

When Qin Ming returned to the Spirit Martial Continent, he had just opened the bathroom door when an older woman glared at him angrily.

Qin Ming looked back in confusion, and after confirming that no one was behind him, he realized that the old lady's anger was indeed directed at him.

Qin Ming looked back again, puzzled. The sign was correct, and he hadn't gone to the wrong restroom...

"Make way, make way, I'm cleaning! The young man looks quite handsome, how come he's so young and already has internal and external imbalances?" the woman said, sighing.

"I'm not big..."

"Your constipation is that severe?" The cleaning lady was shocked.

"..."

Under the unabashed questioning of the cleaning lady, Qin Ming fled in a disheveled state.

It's really hard to explain why I stayed in the bathroom for an hour. I'll just find another place next time.

Why can't this time-traveling talent be tied to a fixed return point? It's so frustrating.

……

In the suburbs, at the agreed starting point, the air felt somewhat still.

Qin Ming and his escorts, three apprentice spirit masters, awkwardly sized each other up.

After a brief conversation, they realized they were all the same age as Qin Ming!

Two of them are brothers, Cheng Yun and Cheng Feng, and their spirit beast is the Fire Cloud Dog.

The last one is a female spirit master, Zhaoyue, whose spirit beast is a Flame-Crowned Crane.

Their spirit beasts, judging from their appearance alone, were even a bit larger than Keda.

Although the strength of a spirit beast is not determined by its size, a more imposing appearance is more intimidating.

This is kind of awkward...

So, who's escorting whom?

Although Qin Ming was very confident in Keda's strength, there were three of them on the other side.

Furthermore, when faced with questions from the client, isn't it inappropriate to respond aggressively by saying, "Let's have a go," using such a violent and direct way to prove one's strength?

Qin Ming frantically searched his mind for a solution, but to no avail.

"Going into the wilderness is no joke, kid surnamed Qin. Have you prepared any protective gear?"

As she spoke, Zhaoyue showed off her clothes, which were pulsating with spiritual energy. Upon closer inspection, one could easily see golden defensive patterns, indicating that they were quite valuable!

"With this outfit, I'm completely immune to attacks from spirit beasts below level 20; only attacks around level 30 can break through my defense!"

This sounds so familiar... Qin Ming seems to have heard a more advanced version somewhere before...

"With just a simple activation of mental energy, it can defend itself autonomously. Isn't that convenient?"

It doesn't sound very convenient. It's not fully automatic, and you have to activate it yourself. Thumbs down!

Qin Ming shook his head inwardly, but he still had to give face to the client on the surface.

"Impressive, truly impressive!" Qin Ming said with a professional fake smile.

Perhaps due to Qin Ming's support, Zhao Yue's attitude became noticeably more amiable.

"The wilderness is fraught with danger; you really need to wear protective gear!"

Zhao Yue was clearly disgusted by Qin Ming's classic white T-shirt, which was a buy-one-get-one-free deal—it looked nice and breathable, but it was too thin.

Qin Ming pursed his lips, considering his words. "I don't have your low-grade stuff; I have the high-grade stuff from the Great Serpent."

But is it okay to say things so bluntly? Isn't it a bit too hurtful?

Qin Ming urgently used some of his idle brain cells, "I have other means of defense, so don't worry."

It was probably Qin Ming's ambiguous attitude that aroused Zhao Yue's suspicion.

"Never mind, I brought an extra general-purpose protective suit. You can wear that over it."

Is this... a rich, kind-hearted young lady?

The protective suit's fabric and design looked good, so Qin Ming didn't want to dwell on the issue any longer and accepted it.

"With your abilities, you still dare to accept missions? Don't you even know your own limitations?"

Some people looked down on Qin Ming and Keda's strength, and their words were sharp, causing the atmosphere to suddenly turn cold.

"Am I the only one who thinks he's not good enough?" Chengfeng tried to seek agreement.

"Yes, you're all alone!" Qin Ming replied calmly.

"Let me tell you, if you end up holding us back, even if we complete the escort mission, we'll still get a bad review!" Chengfeng said, somewhat exasperated.

"Let's see who's going to drag us down. Shall we make a bet?"

As if he had suddenly thought of a way to earn extra money, Qin Ming's eyes lit up, and his attitude immediately became more proactive. He vividly portrayed the psychological changes of being guilty but trying to appear strong.

"Let's bet!" The other party was indeed caught up in the excitement.

Having his acting skills recognized, Qin Ming gripped his palms tightly, trying to stay calm and absolutely not laugh!

"What are we betting on?" Qin Ming asked earnestly, trying to sound tough despite his guilty conscience.

"If you drag me down, you'll get a bad score on the task, and from now on, whenever you see me, you'll call me 'Dad'!"

Qin Ming couldn't understand what kind of obsession boys of this age had with calling someone "Dad" and being treated as a son.

"What's your name?"

"dad!"

"Eh!" Qin Ming replied fluently.

"I...you..."

Chengfeng, realizing what was happening, widened his eyes in anger and embarrassment. But he didn't actually lay a hand on him, nor did he utter any offensive profanities.

Seeing that there was no extra money to be made and no excitement to be seen, Qin Ming's expression immediately became lazy, and he stopped acting.

"So, whoever drags the other down has to call them 'daddy,' right?"

"Yes, you did it on purpose!" Chengfeng was very embarrassed and annoyed.

"How about we go for something bigger?" Qin Ming was still fishing.

"No gambling!"

Sigh, those rich but foolish spendthrifts are truly a rare breed, hard to come by!

"It's getting late, shall we set off?" Qin Ming suggested.

"Awoo~" Fire Kirin couldn't wait any longer.

……

I don't know if this counts as a case of "becoming friends after a fight".

Along the way, Chengfeng took the initiative to strike up a conversation with Qin Ming.

"Which school did you graduate from? What made you decide to take on this mission alone?"

"Yuling Middle School, you want to come out and gain experience, broaden your horizons, what about you?"

"We think so too." Perhaps because they shared the same view, Chengfeng found Qin Ming much more agreeable.

"Then where do you get the points to post tasks?" This was also why Qin Ming hadn't expected the task recipients to be people his own age.

"We all chipped in to do those disgusting, low-level tasks!" Cheng Feng grinned, his words overflowing with the bitterness of those unbearable memories.

"You guys are quite generous with your points."

"No, just between you and me, we also took on a nearby harvesting mission. We calculated that it's roughly balanced in terms of points earned and spent, so it's like getting some free experience."

"But I only accepted a one-way mission. How will you get back?"

"With the experience we had on the way here, and without going too deep, we can get back if we're careful. Besides, there might even be some kind people going the same way." Chengfeng had a smug look on his face, as if he had made a careful calculation.

"You should learn from this in the future. Life is precious; it's not worth risking your life!"

Qin Ming's expression was somewhat complicated. Should I tell them that I seem to have accepted both their escort mission and their harvesting mission?

So it's like profiting from both sides and getting free experience?

No wonder the target locations for these two missions were so convenient...