Chapter 84: A Trap (Part-1)

Six more days slipped by in the blink of an eye.

Weekdays normally slowed the pace of most businesses, but Fang Fang Pets defied every expectation. Word of mouth spread like wildfire—not just through ordinary customers but through the city’s elite circles. Add in Zhi Yan’s carefully planned promotions and the buzz created by viral videos, and the store became a rising phenomenon in just a matter of a few days.

Meanwhile, Prices had risen sharply on the third day— each Direwolf egg, regardless of their variant, now cost as high as 80,000 credits, far higher than what it was before online or on the opening. Lin Fang had to follow the price set by the system as he was already out of the remaining 100 stock on the very second day. And for every sale, he made 10%, i.e., 8000 credits as his commission, the remaining automatically deducted by the system.

Yet the surge of customers only grew stronger.

The results spoke for themselves.

Day 2 (Sunday): 4.7 million credits in sales—nearly double the opening day’s numbers.

Days 3 to 7: A combined total of 40.6 million, of which 30.8 million were from a single item from many customers, the Jade Spirit Tonic, which was sold at a staggering 280,000 credits per vial and still gained the reputation of a miracle elixir, mainly due to the fact that it could cure even Lord Tier monsters.

Much of the income came from it alone. Though expensive and considered a one-off item, its life-saving effects turned it into the ultimate high-end commodity, especially for some top-tier guilds.

By the end of the first week, after taking away the system’s costs, Lin Fang was left with 7.2 million credits of revenue added to Fang Fang Pets’ bank account.

Needing over 29 million credits to clear his debt to the system, Lin Fang was determined to increase the profit share with the addition of weapons later on.

Friday night draped Huaxi City in a hush of silver light.

Inside Fang Fang Pets, the warm glow of the office lights cut through the darkness.

It is the time of the weekend again, when the rush of customers will be seen, and Lin Fang sat alone at his desk long after closing time, the quiet only broken by the occasional soft chirp of a distant nocturnal bird.

His tablet flickered with columns of numbers—sales charts, inventory lists, supplier records.

Now he sought more: sharper strategies, a wider reach, fame that would spread his name beyond Huaxi.

As the stock he bought from Golden Trial Co, despite seeing sales yet, wasn’t sold out even after a week, he couldn’t help but wonder whether he should still partner with Li Xue’s company or diversify suppliers…

Publicly, Li Xue is his girlfriend, and Li Chengfeng is his master. The connection was undeniable.

On the other side, there were a few companies, based in Huaxi City, that had already come forward to partner up with his store. Some are interested in investing in. For someone like Lin Fang, who wants to earn 30 million as fast as possible so that he can buy growth potions to level up Nebula, investments are a good thing.

However, Lin Fang could see through their intentions. All of them wanted to know his secret suppliers, the ones who supply him with the Jade Spirit Tonics and the breeding facility that provides him with the ending direwolf variant eggs.

And he couldn’t reveal the existence of the system.

The safest choice would be Zhi Yan, who might offer tens of millions of credits for a 49% partnership instead of 1 million, as long as he expresses his interest in the partnership. After witnessing the sales herself, he was confident that Zhi Yan wouldn’t think it would be a bad deal either.

However, despite her good nature, he still doesn’t know her that well. Friendship and business relationships are two different things. As far as Lin Fang is concerned, Friendship is built on trust, while a business partnership is built on suspicion, calculations, accountability, and tough decisions. It is good to start a business with a friend, but it might be a good thing to allow a friend into your business if one doesn’t want to strain their bond, not when he is going to get busy for the final trials of the Hunter Examination…

As he was busy pondering on the matter…

Bzzt. Bzzt.

His phone buzzed.

An unknown number was shown on the screen.

Frowning, he tapped accept. “Hello?”

A breathless, trembling voice answered. “Gege… help me!”

Lin Fang’s posture snapped upright, recognizing the voice. “Li Liu? What happened?”

“I… I was out buying groceries and someone—someone grabbed me! I managed to escape to the harbor, I’m hiding in a shop, but…” her words came out broken, shaky. “There’s more than one of them. They’re searching for me, I… I… I’m…. please hur—kaaaa—!”

The line erupted with a sudden, sharp scream.

“Li Liu! Li Liu!” Lin Fang shouted into the phone. Only static answered.

He bolted from his chair, fingers already swiping open the System Interface on his tablet as he ran.

Pet Inventory:

Black – Level 33

Tempest – Level 32

Cloud – Level 24

Mirror – Level 1

With a flick, he summoned the Lightning Pterosaur.

“Tempest,” Lin Fang murmured in a tone of urgency, stroking its feathers, “we’re going to the harbor.”

The Pterosaur let out a screech, flapping its wings to generate a gust of wind in response.

With a single jump, Lin Fang vaulted onto its back. “Fly!”

With a thunderous whoosh, as Tempest flew away into the sky, above, on the penthouse terrace of Evergreen Residences, Leng Xuenyi suddenly rushed outside and caught the sudden flare of lightning in the night sky.

Her eyes sharpened at the sight of a large flying reptile cutting through the clouds like a streak of silver lightning.

She called aloud. “Fenrir.”

Twenty minutes later, the harbor stretched beneath Lin Fang as he looked down on the back of Tempest. As the hour was late—11:30 p.m., rows of docked ships were seen swaying gently with no workers or fishermen.

As Lin Fang scanned the empty wharf, a knot of unease started tightening in his chest. The worry was evident. “Can you smell Li Liu?” he whispered, fingers scratching Tempest’s neck.

Tempest rumbled, flaring its nostrils. A low screech vibrated through its chest in response. It wasn’t confirmation about Li Liu’s whereabouts, but based on their telepathic connection, he felt that it was a warning to be careful.

Before Lin Fang could react to that, the Pterosaur’s head whipped sharply to the left.

Lin Fang spotted a flicker of movement. A lone figure emerged from the shadow of a warehouse with his hood drawn low and face hidden behind a grotesque clown mask.

The man hefted something onto his shoulder. “Hmm?” Lin Fang couldn’t see what it was, from far high in the sky and under the moonlight, but he could see that it was something long.

Click.

A split-second whine cut through the night.

Then—

WHOOOM!

A pulse of rippling air, a sonic wave, slammed into them like an invisible hammer.

Pterosaur convulsed mid-flight, locking its wings. At the same time, his ears reverberated with a sharp, high-pitched noise, temporarily losing his hearing.

“Tempest!”

Lin Fang tried to grab onto it, but the Pterosaur tumbled, and Lin Fang’s world turned upside down.

From as high as thirty feet above, Lin Fang fell down. He struck the ground with a sickening thud.

*Ugh*

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep