Chapter 276 - 205: Getting Fired Up
Night fell over Huai City.
"HNNNNNNNNNGH... WHIIIIINE..."
In a garage in Wudu New Village, a peculiar insect-like cry echoed.
The other small insects in the grass fell silent, staring in stunned confusion at the Black Fighting Emperor, who looked for all the world like it was trying to hold in a fart. Tiny question marks popped up over their tiny heads.
’Seriously, what are you doing?’
"Still training, Wu Bao?" The kitchen window opened, and Su Mao called out with a chuckle as he was cleaning up, his gaze on the garage.
Master Wu retracted his Divine Abilities and nodded at Su Mao.
Su Mao gave him a warm, gentle smile. "Diligence is a good thing, but remember to know your limits. A balance of work and rest is the most efficient, you know. I bet Xiaoshu has told you the same thing."
"Wooh!"
Wu Bao’s eyes burned with passion.
’Train even without a reason! This is... youth!!’
"Alright! Go, Wu Bao!"
"Wooh wooh!"
"Dad’s going to bed now. Don’t you train too late, okay?"
"Wooh."
Wu Bao waved a foreleg, watching Su Mao leave. The kitchen light went out, and the fire in his eyes died down, replaced by a sense of vexation and melancholy.
Wu Bao instinctively glanced at the chat history on his tablet.
[Er Shang]: Haven’t you updated the contract status yet?
[Wu Bao]: Almost, almost.
[Wu Bao]: Is this urgent, Boss?
[Er Shang]: It’d be best if you could change the work’s status to ’Contracted’ before tomorrow night. That’ll make it easier to schedule you for a trial promotion.
[Er Shang]: If you miss tomorrow night, you’ll have to wait until next week. You’ll end up with an extra week’s worth of free Chapters, and the timing for when it goes premium will be affected too.
[Er Shang]: In the current climate on Qi Point, novels that go premium later tend to have lower monetization rates, so I really hope you can get the contract status changed sooner rather than later.
[Er Shang]: It’s best to submit the contract application tonight or tomorrow morning. That’s the only way to ensure the work’s status is changed to ’Contracted’ before tomorrow night.
[Er Shang]: You haven’t changed it yet. Is it inconvenient for you somehow?
[Wu Bao]: No, no, it’s fine! It’ll be convenient very soon!
[Er Shang]: Alright, if you really are having trouble, just let me know. I’ll help you figure something out.
...
’Tonight or tomorrow morning. I can’t delay any longer. I have to submit the contract application.’
’Tonight... I have to steal Su Mao’s ID card.’
’Oh, no, not steal! Borrow! Just borrow it!’
Wu Bao tiptoed out of the garage. Sticking close to the apartment building’s wall, he crept to the window of Su Mao and Wang Sujuan’s bedroom.
Not long after the Black Fighting Emperor’s fart-holding-like cry faded, the small insects in the grass tentatively began their symphony once more. The evening wind blew like a tide, and the chirping of insects was like a song, perfectly masking Wu Bao’s footsteps.
But Wu Bao’s posture was still incredibly awkward. He had to keep his head ducked down low, or his horn would be far too conspicuous.
He slowly shuffled beneath the window frame...
’Doubling, activate!’
Then, an incredible scene unfolded: Wu Bao, originally nearly three meters long, magically shrank, slowly contracting to a size of less than two meters.
This was the result of Wu Bao’s painstaking efforts over the past few days and nights.
Ever since he learned his work could be contracted, Wu Bao had dedicated all his time outside of regular training to practicing Doubling.
He even spent his time eating, sleeping, and pooping thinking about it. ’How should I do this step? What about that one? How can I possibly shrink even smaller? Is a Real-time Energy Value of Two-star a necessary and sufficient condition for Doubling, or just a sufficient but not necessary one...’
Honestly, Wu Bao had never been this dedicated to learning any other Skill.
If he had diverted even a tenth of this focus to practicing his other Skills, he probably could have wiped the floor with Yu Bao by now.
Yet despite all this effort, Wu Bao’s progress with Doubling was less than ideal—he couldn’t even shrink to half his size. Getting down to two-thirds of his original size was already his limit.
After all, this was a Talent Skill that was meant to be automatically comprehended upon reaching a Real-time Energy Value of Two-star; it was never intended for a Pet Beast below Two-star to learn...
’Oh well, this level is barely enough for now!’
’Wait for them to fall asleep, get the ID card, submit the contract application, then put it back. Simple as that.’
’Move in silence! Don’t make a sound!’
The couple’s faint voices could be heard from inside the room:
"Xiaoshu’s been in Pearl Harbor for two or three days now, right? The climate there is so different from Huai City. I wonder if he’s getting enough rest..."
"Hah, it’s fine. Did you forget we took a trip to the seaside when you were pregnant with Xiaoshu? He must have adapted back then."
"Pfft. Now I remember. That’s also when you started slacking off. The ’Five-Chapters Gou Mao’ was gone forever~"
"Can we please not talk about this..."
"Okay, okay, don’t be mad. Kisses."
"Mwah~"
Wu Bao: "..."
Wu Bao was starting to have some regrets. He might have picked the wrong time to come...
’Speaking of which, his own mom and dad were always either sleeping or getting down to business. He never thought anything of it before, so why was the vibe so different with humans?’
"Is Wu Bao still training? He needs to rest too. What if he overexerts himself?"
"Don’t worry. Wu Bao toughed it out in the jungle. He’s way more durable than those pampered, captive-bred Pet Beasts."
"He still shouldn’t get too tired. You should go and check on him again."
"Relax, relax. Listen to how quiet it is outside. Wu Bao must have stopped to rest. He makes a lot of noise when he trains."
"That’s good..."
"Speaking of which, a few new people joined our author group today. And guess what? One of the authors has the pen name Wu Bao! Hahahaha!"
"For real? What a coincidence... Hey, you don’t think it could actually be our Wu Bao, do you?"
"..." Outside, Wu Bao broke out in a cold sweat.
"Probably not. How could a Pet Beast write a book?"
"Why can’t a Pet Beast write a book? There are novels where Pet Beasts go out and compete in tournaments on their own."
"Hahaha, that’s actually not a bad premise. You could do a mutual social-death story. In the early stages, I get socially exposed when he finds out about me, and in the mid-to-late stages, I discover his author identity and expose him. If he’s writing about a topic that’s awkward to discuss with family, like a romance story or something, the social-death effect would be even better..."