Chapter 11: Trouble
When Zhou Ming walked out of the pitch-black sewer, night had already fallen.
Around him, only a few dim streetlights cast a weak glow for the late-night pedestrians.
At Qinshan Base, which lacked an air-defense shield, there was no brightly lit scenery at night.
Outdoors, there were only scattered streetlights, barely enough to illuminate the paths of those returning late.
As for indoors, one only needed to draw the curtains tightly to freely use bright lighting.
Doing so was to avoid attracting Ferocious Beasts.
Although there were city walls, cannons, missiles, and other forms of defense, and the beasts around the base were cleared regularly, luck was an unpredictable thing.
In the memories of his former self, there was once an incident in the history of the Blue Star Alliance—because of excessive lighting, a medium-sized base had unfortunately attracted a Beast King–level Storm Thunder Roc.
That brightly lit city had been struck by a rain of ten thousand thunders.
By the time the Alliance’s Legendary Saint rushed over for support, the base had already turned into ruins.
Because of that incident, bases without air-defense shields strictly controlled the use of lighting at night.
After a long day of work, Zhou Ming’s stomach began to rumble again.
Without dwelling further on the thought, he headed toward the nearby Rat Extermination Station to collect his half-day’s reward.
After the profession of Rat Exterminator emerged, related service facilities quickly followed.
At every major entrance to the sewers, there were Rat Extermination Stations—mainly used for exchanging bounties and storing the exterminators’ equipment.
If one was willing to pay enough, hot water for bathing, clean clothes, steaming food, and even women to help the exterminators relax were all available.
“Hello, I’m here to exchange my reward.”
Zhou Ming threw a sealed bag containing the tails of Hardfur Rats directly onto the counter.
The sharp sound of the bag hitting the surface immediately drew the attention of the staff member inside the booth, who had been playing with his phone.
“Impressive.”
Glancing at the blood-stained bag, the experienced staff instantly estimated the rough number.
“Just luck,” Zhou Ming explained briefly, then added his request, “Also, open me a storage locker.”
“Right away.”
Seeing that the exterminator before him wasn’t inclined to chat, the staff member said nothing more.
For three hundred Alliance Coins, the station provided one month of storage service, including basic cleaning for stained gear.
With the locker key and 2,400 Alliance Coins in hand, Zhou Ming left immediately to fill his stomach.
As he passed the main hall, he noticed dozens of Rat Exterminators drinking and chatting, with several women of decent looks sitting beside them, keeping them company.
It seemed Zhou Ming was among the last batch of exterminators to return. After a brief glance, he left the station.
However, upon exiting, he ran into the same group of unfamiliar exterminators he had encountered in the sewer earlier. This time, they didn’t greet him—only gave him a few scrutinizing looks.
Seeing their unpleasant gazes, Zhou Ming merely frowned and left the station.
Because the others were wearing protective suits, he couldn’t see their faces clearly, but it reminded him to stay on guard in the future.
Still, if they truly crossed paths again, he wouldn’t mind leaving a few more corpses in the sewers.
Without family or friends, and with the strength brought by becoming a Beast Tamer, Zhou Ming’s courage had grown substantially. His way of solving problems had become much more direct.
After eating dinner outside, Zhou Ming returned to his residence. He didn’t forget his contracted beast—the Ironthread Snake—and made sure to treat it well.
However, while feeding it, he recalled that apart from regular food and drink, a beast needed special resources to grow stronger.
At that thought, Zhou Ming realized how many things he still lacked—and his desire to make money grew stronger.
With the Ironthread Snake’s help, Zhou Ming spent most of his days in the sewers afterward. Even after showering, he couldn’t get rid of the lingering stench of decay.
He didn’t mind, though. The smell would fade away as long as he stayed out of the sewers for a while.
The only real change was that Zhou Ming started feeding the Ironthread Snake with the flesh and blood of Hardfur Rats.
It wasn’t that he couldn’t afford regular food for it—but he found that ordinary food couldn’t satisfy the snake’s appetite. Through their spiritual connection, Zhou Ming sensed that it preferred the blood and flesh of Hardfur Rats.
After some thought, he understood why. The Hardfur Rat, being a mutated creature, possessed special substances within its body that normal animals didn’t.
Seeing that the Ironthread Snake showed no adverse reaction—in fact, it grew more vigorous—Zhou Ming continued feeding it with Hardfur Rats afterward.
A month later, when Zhou Ming was returning late again, his sharp spiritual sense as a Beast Tamer detected someone tailing him.
Scanning casually, he identified the short-haired man not far behind—another Rat Exterminator, one of those he had met during his first extermination.
Over the past month hunting Hardfur Rats, Zhou Ming had learned that those people were involved in some shady dealings.
He hadn’t expected them to find him here. It seemed they had already uncovered his background.
For them to take this long—was it caution, or were they waiting for him to save up enough money for a single, satisfying strike?
Pretending not to notice, Zhou Ming kept walking home while thinking through the possibilities.
In the end, he decided to strike first.
Even if he changed his route, he couldn’t avoid this problem anymore. The fact that they had sent someone to follow him meant it was beyond the point of escape.
Given his current circumstances, it would’ve been best to live quietly for now—but since a problem had already arisen, it was better to eliminate it while it was still budding.
After a month of darkness and killing underground, Zhou Ming’s mindset had inevitably shifted. But in a world like Blue Star’s, perhaps it was simply adaptation.
The next morning, after a simple wash-up, Zhou Ming headed to the pet market instead of the sewers.
He went back to the same alley where Dark Pets were sold, once again seeking out Brother Snake. Knowing each other now would help avoid unnecessary trouble.
When Zhou Ming knocked, the same long-haired youth opened the door—this time holding a book in hand.
Zhou Ming glanced at it casually; it was a book about snakes.
It seemed the previous incident had left Brother Snake dissatisfied with his newly recruited underlings, so he was forcing them to “study” further.
“Buying a Dark Pet.”
“Oh, please come in.”
Recognizing the customer who had visited before, and having suffered a loss once, the long-haired youth hurriedly opened the door to welcome Zhou Ming.
After Zhou Ming entered, the youth even poked his head out to check both ends of the alley.
Apparently, this new recruit still hadn’t outgrown his childish sense of drama.
In truth, as long as nothing went wrong, selling Dark Pets rarely drew complaints—and the Public Security Bureau usually didn’t bother with them.
After all, in the current Beast Taming era, such underground dealings were like weeds—impossible to fully eradicate. And compared to other issues, Dark Pets weren’t even a serious problem.