Chapter 173 - 121: The Upper Limit of Fosterage i
That night, outside the already closed door of the Starfire Foster Care Shop, a figure appeared. Standing about two meters tall, it was built like a small giant. Its head, arms and legs were vastly different from any human’s. While covered in fur, it also had two cat ears.
“Meow-”
So, this is the place where Little Grey was washed and cared for…?
The big cat calmly stared at the tightly closed door of the Starfire Foster Shop, recalling scenes of past warmth.
There was a glimmer of nostalgia and reminiscence in its eyes, but it quickly vanished, replaced by a sense of calmness and dignity.
Those days are long gone. Now, it simply leads the stray beasts, guiding the homeless creatures to the right path.
Reflecting on the details mentioned during Little Grey’s explanation, a sense of helplessness appeared on the big cat’s face.
Once, a human had taught it that words and actions match, leading to inevitable consequences.
Having committed to arranging the cleaning and caring for everyone, it has to keep its word.
But the washing and protection service here is kind of expensive!
The big cat touched the worn-out small purse on its waist. Carrying this purse gave it an air of humanity.
Inside it hid its savings, money that was usable in the human society.
Though the methods it used to obtain this money weren’t entirely legal, it made sure not to harm any innocent beings.
In the past, the big cat used this money to buy food for transcendent beings. It would sneakily take the food and then stealthily leave the money.
And this purchased food was distributed among the hungry stray beasts.
The food was given out in moderation, aiming not to fill their stomachs but to lead them to get close to humans and obtain food, to avoid viewing humans with hostility in the city.
Thanks to its efforts, everyone gradually became self-sufficient, no longer depending only on it for food survival.
Saving more because it didn’t need to buy food anymore.
But now, the big cat suddenly felt that its savings was a bit too little.
As it counted the number of its companions using its clawed paws, its expression grew increasingly distressed.
“Meow-”
I wonder if this store gives discounts…
After standing under the street light for a while, the big cat silently disappeared.
“Good morning!”
Pinching Ziyun on his face, Xu Ran sluggishly sat up from his bed.
Looking at the sky outside, he began to wash up and dress.
“Meow-” (I’ll go check on Star first!)
Ziyun, who had woken Xu Ran up, saw him starting to undress, and she quickly ran away.
Soon after, everyone gathered in the foster area on the lower level.
“No rush, eat slowly!”
Xu Ran took a slurp of his noodles, tapped the edge of his bowl, and reminded the beasts, who were practically stuffing their faces into their food bowls, to consider their table manners.
“Awooh??? ”
“Frost Dust Wolf, stop howling. After you eat, you can howl all you want back on the snowy hill!”
“Fireball, quit guarding your food. No one here but you would drink paraffin!”
After some shouting, Xu Ran satisfiedly started checking off the foster care residents.
“Twenty-seven… Twenty-eight… Twenty-nine!”
His gaze fell upon the resident that moved in yesterday afternoon, and his smile grew brighter.
There was about to be thirty foster care residents.
He was relying on them for physical points every day!
“Pudding Rabbit, don’t be scared. If they bully you, then…” Getting closer to the new resident, Xu Ran didn’t finish his sentence when he sees Pudding Rabbit fly up and knock over the food bowl of a nearby Golden Striped Ant.
“You shouldn’t be bullying other residents either!!!”
After a chaotic flurry, the meal ended with Ziyun elegantly wiping her mouth and turning on King’s Power a little.
Seeing that the residents had eaten obediently, Xu Ran cleaned up the food bowls and sent two pets to the training area to start a new day’s training. Then, leisurely, he went upstairs and opened the shop door.
Starfire Foster Care Shop’s business of the day started with the first customer who was waiting outside the door early in the morning.
“Boss, could you please wash and protect my pet beast?”
“No problem,” Xu Ran gave a friendly smile, extending his arm to lead the customer into the shop.
“Huh?” Just as he was about to accompany the customer into the shop, he felt something, turning to look outside the door.
On the early morning streets, a few pedestrians happened to pass by, everything was normal.
“… Probably just my imagination,” Xu Ran shook his head slightly and soon began to wash and care for the pet beast.
In a hidden corner of the street, a cat’s head slowly emerged, its deep-set eyes watching the direction of the Starfire Foster Care Shop.
Quite alert, I guess he’s the owner of this shop?
Did not expect, he is actually a Beast Master.
The cat’s head slowly receded, leaving only one eye peeping through the crevices, looking in the direction of Starfire Foster Care Shop.
A secretive observer.jpg
“We look forward to your next visit-”
After waving goodbye to the sixth cleaning client of the day, Xu Ran shook his somewhat numb hands, a satisfied smile on his face. He returned to the counter, propped his head up, and stared blankly out the door.
Nowadays, the shop serviced an average of six to seven cleaning clients each day. As the service bringing in the most ‘pleasure value’, just the cleaning service alone already brought him more than ten thousand ‘pleasure value’ every day.
Only for the fostering services…
As the number of pets residing in the shop approaches thirty, new foster care customers have become less frequent.
Qingzhou City is only so large, and there are only so many Beast Masters compared to bigger cities. There are only a few Beast Masters who need foster services, and the other foster shops are all saturated..