Chapter 426 Departure
As an employee, Joanna could mind the store in Su Ping’s stead.
For example, receiving customers and collecting fees.
As for pet training
Joanna was not allowed to go to the cultivation site by herself. Su Ping had to be the one taking her there.
That being said, Joanna could help Su Ping use the dummy trainer.
Su Ping just needed to pick out the cultivation sites for the dummy training before he left. Joanna could pick out battle pets from the storage space and put new ones in. That way, when Su Ping was away, Joanna could still keep the store running. Even though she would only be able to finish the general training, making some money was better than making no money. Su Ping told Joanna everything she needed to know. Then, he looked at Tang Ruyan. This time, he didn’t send her back into the scroll. Joanna would be too busy on her own.
“Remember to help Joanna out,” Su Ping said to Tang Ruyan. Tang Ruyan was more than happy that she didn’t have to get into the scroll. She nodded at once.
Ever since she saw Joanna demonstrate her skills, Tang Ruyan had never dared to argue with her again.
Su Ping had no worries when leaving the store to the two girls. Joanna was a ruler of a region in the Demigod Burial and she was a qualified manager. She was more than enough to take care of the store for him.
During lunch, Su Ping went back home and told his mother and Su Lingyue that he had to go away for a few days.
But he said he would be back in five days at most.
He said five days because he had been given seven days to finish the mission and two days had already passed.
Su Lingyue was just curious but she didn’t ask too many questions. She knew that Su Ping was not the boy she once knew. He was destined to do something she couldn’t get involved in.
If she wanted to get involved, she would have to become stronger in order to catch up with
him.
As to his mom, Li Qingru wanted to make detailed inquiries but Su Ping just gave her the runaround.
Of course, Su Ping wasn’t tired of that; Li Qingru merely asked because she cared.
After lunch, Su Ping was ready to go.
He took his leave without delay.
He would take the underground railroad to the base city that the Trainers Association of the Subcontinent District was located.
As for why he didn’t choose the faster way and ride on his battle pet, the reason was simple: he did not know the way.
Up until then, Su Ping had always been in the base city. He had never gone to another base city, which, truth be told, was rather common in that day and age.
Merely those who were quite active would run across different base cities.
The general public was able to travel to other base cities as well by using the underground railroad, but most people would choose to stay in the base cities they had been born in. After all, the underground railroad was not quite safe. There would be some accidents every few years that could involve some injuries and deaths.
It was impossible to defend effectively against beasts running wild underground. After Li Qingru found out that Su Ping was going to leave that same day, she went to get him some clothes and filled an entire backpack for him, along with some food and snacks.
Since she had prepared thoroughly, Su Ping couldn’t say no. He slung the backpack on.
“Time to go.”
Su Ping said goodbye to his mom and Su Lingyue. This was the first time that Su Ping would be traveling far. Worried because of this, they wanted to send Su Ping to the station but he turned them down.
This was just one trip. He wasn’t scared, even though he had never been to another base city. He could go around the world if it came to that.
That being said, he was still a baby in his mother’s eyes, whether he was at the titled rank or not.
Su Ping told Su Lingyue to stall their mom when he grabbed a cab and left.
The cross-city underground railway was at the most prosperous area; there was merely one station in the entire shantytown area. Su Ping rode on the cab for two hours before he arrived at the station in the Crescent Zone. This was still a shantytown area, but the infrastructure was quite better, having become similar to the uptown area by then. There were many towering buildings and the streets were clean and neat.
Su Ping saw many travelers carrying many bags. Most of them were people without astral powers. Some travelers were in groups and they had astral powers. It seemed that those people were adventurers who were going to seek a living in another base city.
Su Ping wore a mask as a disguise. He was kind of famous in the Longjiang Base City. He could have caused some traffic congestion if he had exposed his face.
Following the crowd, he arrived at the ticketing booth underground.
There were posters on the two sides of the aisle. Su Ping saw Su Lingyue’s posters, as well as her battle pet the Moonfrost Dragon.
The influence of the Elite League was still lingering Su Ping saw there were several types of tickets. Hard seats, soft sleeper, single-bedroom cabin and private cabin.
The prices for hard seats and soft sleepers ranged from a few hundreds to several thousands; the ones the general public and the usual elites were able to afford. The single-bedroom cabins were expensive. The price was over one hundred thousand federal coins!
Of course, the prices varied according to the distance.
As for the top-level private cabins, the price was in the millions!
Su Ping didn’t think people would usually want to spend so much money on one trip.
Even he would find the price outrageous. Who would spend millions to ride a train?
Of course, apart from the comfort in the private cabins, they did come with another benefit. The building materials of the different cabins were special. For example, the entire private cabins were made of a special alloy that could offer a high level of defense. Not even a bomb could destroy those private cabins. Usually, at best, the private cabins could survive an attack by an eighth-rank beast.
The eighth-rank beasts could make the private cabins derail but the cabins themselves would not be torn open. In case of any accidents, the people inside the private cabins would stand a chance to survive.
Su Ping believed those private cabins were prepared for the wealthy people that weren’t battle pet warriors.
After all, the titled battle pet warriors who could afford to spend millions for a train ticket would not suffer any harm even if they ran into ninth-ranked beasts. Those people didn’t need such private cabins to protect themselves.
To avoid any troubles, Su Ping chose a coach with single-bedrooms.
In one coach, there would be several rooms that had a single bed. This way, he could spend some time cultivating in his bedroom while he was on the train.
He wasn’t in want of money, but at the same time, to spend one million to have a coach to himself would be too much of a waste.
“Sir, please take your ticket.”
The female ticket seller behind the counter smiled a sweet smile as she gave Su Ping his ticket.
Su Ping received the ticket; it was dark blue and had a nice texture. He saw the tickets that someone else was holding. Those tickets were as thin as a piece of paper and could be bent easily.
Su Ping went to find the waiting room according to the information on the ticket. The waiting room for passengers of single-bedroom cabins was less crowded than the other general waiting rooms. The environment was better and there were even sofas available.
Su Ping looked around. The ones staying there were either battle pet warriors or ordinary people but dressing luxuriously.
Su Ping found a spot, sat down and closed his eyes to have some rest.
Soon, he heard a noise generated by an airstream, coming closer and closer. Following that was a whooshing sound. Su Ping opened his eyes. He saw two beams of light through the transparent bullet-proof glass as they moved closer in the dark tunnel.
The train had arrived.
Su Ping sized up the train curiously.
It was like a metro but there was something different. The headstock was a ferocious beast face and very vivid at that. It was as if a beast’s head had been directly transplanted on the train.
The tracks were quite wide.
There were special sensors on the wheels. If they weren’t looking carefully, the beasts would regard those trains as animals and would dodge out of instinct.
The train pulled into the station and stopped.
Su Ping saw some cabins were crowded and some cabins less so.
He realized that he could see through some cabins and even thermal images of people inside.
But there were some cabins that he couldn’t see through. The materials of those cabins had to be special.