My Pet Beast is Super Awesome - Chapter 34

Chapter 34: The Explorer

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The night fell, and a bonfire had been made on the grassland in front of the Qifeng Village entrance. The Combat Training Class 4 students had made it back to the village, sat around the bonfire, chatting away about what they had seen and encountered during the day.
“Ahem!” a skinny boy in a checkered shirt and glasses interrupted the chatters.
Chen Wen blushed and instinctively stood with his back straight as soon as those inquisitive eyes were on him, especially when the girl he liked was also looking. But he said nothing.
“Save it, Specky, don’t keep us in suspense. Just tell us.” Another boy became impatient when Chen Wen hemmed, but then stayed quiet.
Everyone around the bonfire burst into laughter at hearing Chen Wen’s nickname
Chen Wen blushed even more, feeling embarrassed and angry as he shot a glare at that boy mocking him. He disliked it the most when people called him by his nickname. But those naughty classmates enjoyed teasing him with this nickname.
Perhaps because rarely anyone in Combat Training wore eyeglasses, and Chen Wen’s claptrap nature despite his homely face made him stick out like the balls on a bulldog. Gradually, his classmates found pleasure in making fun of him.
Deep down, he was angry, but not daring to confront others. He took another glance at his crush and decided not to go down to the level of this laity.
He cleared his throat. “I tell you what, I met a stubbled middle-aged man today at the foothill. He is an explorer. The two of us hit it off right away and had a good chat. Take a wild guess of what I have heard from him!”
Chen Wen was creating suspense again as he swept his eyes around with a mysterious expression. Under the flickering illumination from the bonfire, the vibe seemed to be apt for such tales.
“The explorer! You met an explorer, Chen Wen? Was it for real? Tell us what a real explorer looks like!” A girl spoke with her high-pitch voice as if she could not wait to hear.
His classmates might be hooked by what Chen Wen said, but their focal point was not on him but the explorer. Their curiosity was understandable as explorers were another kind of existence in the combat trainer community, although they were not as eye-catching and getting as much respect as combat trainers.
Their years of living and exploring the wild of a changed world gave them many interesting tales to tell. A few years back, after a drama series based on the story of an explorer exploded in popularity, those unruly, raffish explorers were accorded with various halos and seen as heroes and role models by students growing up in the city.
When Chen Wen said he had seen an explorer, it instantly ignited the curiosity of the girls and boys. They bombarded him with a ton of questions. He did not really get the effect he had wanted, but at least he had attracted eyeballs. So he proudly told of his encounter with the explorer.
Most of the details of the encounter were made-up, borrowed from the tales he had heard from other places. But those girls and boys who came to the wilderness for the first time were unsuspecting as they listened in awe and echoed with exclamations.
In just a moment, the vine around the bonfire went up a pitch.
Baldy Qiang was sitting on the roof of the bus, puffing rings of smoke from his mouth as he gazed at the moon slowly making its way up from the east. The Colossi Warbear was lying beside the bus in silence, and its back was almost taller than the bus. It covered its nose with his paw and shot a look at Baldy Qiang in disgust at the smell of the cigarette smoke.
As long as no one was looking, Petty Qiang couldn’t care less if it was scoffed upon. He had been used to it, after all.
Turning his head to look at those girls and boys whose faces were illuminated by the bonfire, Baldy Qiang felt a sense of achievement. He knew he was mean, holding grudges, like to see his students in humiliation, and smoking, but he considered himself as a good teacher.
It caught his attention when the sound of exclamation rose around the bonfire. He jumped down from the bus and went over quietly.
“Let me tell ya’ll, that explorer is my foster brother. He said—”
“What did you just say?”
While Chen Wen was still boasting, a forceful voice came from behind him, causing him to freeze, his face seized. He slowly turned around and saw Baldy Qiang was standing behind him. The bald head was shining like the moon, but the face was terribly gloomy.
“T-Teacher, I-I know nothing.” Chen Wen stammered at seeing a big, strapping Baldy Qiang.
“Tell me, what explorer.” Baldy Qiang’s face became graver as he stared at Chen Wen.
“Y-Yes, Sir. I-I met a middle-aged man who claimed to be an explorer at the foothill. H—He asked where we came from, and why we were here. Teacher, that’s all I know. I was bluffing just now. I am to blame; I shouldn’t have bluffed and lied to my classmates.” Chen Wen could not help but shiver at seeing Baldy Qiang’s grave expression. He did not stammer toward the end of his sentence. After telling what he knew, he gave Baldy Qiang a bow.
Baldy Qiang just stood there. The classmates heard Chen Wen’s confession. They did not blurt out immediately despite their unhappiness. They just looked at Chen Wen with a not-too-friendly expression, as if he was just a pile of garbage.
“Nonsense! How could there be explorers in such a place as Sucheng City? This is our university’s training ground. No way there are intruders! Ya’ll must have must become stupid from too much reading! Sun Qiang, take a headcount.” Baldy Qiang scanned his eyes around and shouted his anger.
The girls and boys bowed their heads, taking his anger. But deep down, they were indignant. It was just an outsider, so what was the big deal? Besides, it was Chen Wen who met the man, not them. What did it have to do with them?
The sky had turned completely dark by now. As Sun Qiang, the class monitor took a headcount with a name list in hands, Baldy Qiang, with his arms folded, looked at him with no expression on his face.
“Sir, we have twenty-one students in the class, but only twenty are here. Shao Zifeng hasn’t come back yet.” He quickly lowered his head to avoid looking at Baldy Qiang’s face. As the class monitor, he had taken part in the hoo-ha just now and now felt too embarrassed to face Baldy Qiang.
“I got it. Turn off all your locators and stay here. don’t go anywhere,” Baldy Qiang said gravely. He ran back to the bus and switched on the search instrument.
The search instrument screen showed what looked like a radar display. An arm was swiping across the screen from a central point to search for a signal. After a moment, it locked on to a faint red dot in front of a house in Qifeng Village.
…
Baldy Qiang took the search instrument with him as he stood in front of that house in Qifeng Village, looking down at the flashing light of the locator with a grave face.
“Damn it!”
He cursed and punched his fist on the decaying wall, which shook for a while before some crumples of earth fell down.
The noise alarmed a sleeping mouse, which poked out from the dark to check what was happening. When the mouse saw an angry Baldy Qiang, it shrank back. Just then it saw the instrument in front of Baldy Qiang’s feet.
The mouse recalled with his not-so-intelligent mind and could vaguely remember it; it belonged to the man who gave it bread.
Glancing up at Baldy Qiang and then at the locator, the mouse tilted its head and thought for a while. It then looked back at her children.
The two little mice were still asleep, each hugging a chunk of half-finished bread, licking and chirping in contentment in their sleep.
Seeing this, the adult mouse gritted her teeth as she turned around to run toward Wutong Mountain.
This guy is anything but good. He must be coming after that good-hearted person. I have got to warn him.
Chirp! Chirp!