Shen Huaiyue's face flushed bright red at her sister's words.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
In a flurry of flustered movements, she raised her hand and smacked her sister hard across the back several times.
"Stop talking nonsense!"
"What exactly is going through that brain of yours?!"
"Want another bamboo-pole special, do you?!"
Shen Huaiyu raised her hand to block her sister's blows and hurriedly admitted her mistake.
"S-Sis, I was wrong! Stop hitting me!"
"Hmph! Go back to your room and take a shower!" Shen Huaiyue said calmly.
Shen Huaiyu pouted and dragged her feet unwillingly.
Shen Huaiyue followed after her.
After buying some food, they returned to the hospital.
When they opened the door, they saw Mo Qinghuan struggling to sit up.
Su Luo hurried over and helped Mo Qinghuan sit properly.
"Principal Mo, if you haven't recovered yet, don't move around."
Just then—
Mo Qinghuan's stomach suddenly rumbled.
"I'm starving to death," Mo Qinghuan said weakly.
Su Luo immediately understood. Mo Qinghuan probably hadn't eaten yet.
He opened the food packaging and handed it to Mo Qinghuan.
Mo Qinghuan truly looked as though she was starving.
She finished a rice ball in two bites.
Su Luo attended to her until she was full and satisfied.
Then he helped her lie back down on the bed.
"Su Luo, you're quite good at taking care of me."
"Forget being a Special Recruit. How about becoming my secretary instead?" Mo Qinghuan said with a chuckle.
"You want the future strongest person in the world to be your secretary?"
"You've got quite the beautiful dream," Su Luo said as he peeled an apple.
At that, Mo Qinghuan gave a playful, adorable snort.
"Hmph."
"Don't talk too big, Student Su Luo."
"Confidence is a good thing, but you mustn't become arrogant."
He handed the peeled apple to Mo Qinghuan.
"Alright, alright. Principal Mo is right about everything."
Mo Qinghuan accepted the apple and rolled her eyes at Su Luo.
"Principal Mo, I told our Dean of Studies, Wang Yue, that I'm going to be specially recruited."
"She admires you very much and wants to meet you. What do you think?" Su Luo asked casually.
"No."
"Alright." Su Luo nodded.
After that, the two fell silent.
Finally, Mo Qinghuan could not help asking, "Aren't you going to ask why?"
"You already said you didn't want to meet her. I don't want to go against your wishes," Su Luo said.
Hearing that—
Mo Qinghuan smiled in satisfaction.
"But I can give her an autograph. Help me pass it on to her."
She picked up a sheet of paper, swiftly wrote down her name, and handed it to Su Luo.
Su Luo accepted it and put it away.
He also took out his phone.
And added Mo Qinghuan's contact information.
The two spent the night without another word.
On the third day of Mo Qinghuan's hospitalization—
While Su Luo was in class, his pocket vibrated as he received a message.
He took out his phone and saw that it was from Mo Qinghuan.
"I've been discharged and gone home. Your Special Recruit admission notice will reach you as soon as possible. See you at university!"
The corners of Su Luo's lips lifted into a faint smile.
"See you at university," he murmured.
In the blink of an eye, it was Saturday.
Although he was already a Special Recruit, he still lacked money and Crystal Cores.
Advancing the Devil Fruit Tree required a large number of high-level Crystal Cores.
This was only its first advancement, yet it already required five Tier 2 Crystal Cores.
Who knew how many Crystal Cores the next advancement would require?
So, while he still had time—
He needed to save up some money to buy Crystal Cores later.
After a full day of hunting—
He had only obtained a little over twenty Level 1 Crystal Cores.
Not a single Tier 2 Crystal Core.
The gains at the outskirts of the Tiger Roar Mountain Range were truly dwindling by the day.
It made Su Luo feel somewhat anxious.
"Let's head deeper inside."
That night, he set up a tent in an open area.
He crawled into his sleeping bag, closed his eyes, and was just about to fall asleep—
When he felt the surrounding temperature plummet in a straight line.
He opened his eyes in confusion.
He opened his mouth and exhaled.
He could actually see mist rising from his breath.
What was going on?
Did the Tiger Roar Mountain Range really have such a huge temperature difference between day and night?
Just as Su Luo was about to wrap himself tighter in his sleeping bag and go back to sleep—
He inadvertently caught sight of what seemed to be a person standing by the tent's small window.
He thought his exhaustion had made his eyes play tricks on him.
He rubbed his eyes and looked toward the small window again.
Sure enough, there was no one there.
He immediately relaxed.
The sound of a zipper being pulled suddenly rang out.
It startled Su Luo awake just as he was about to fall asleep.
He sat up and stared wide-eyed toward the tent entrance.
The tent zipper had somehow been pulled open a little.
Alarm bells blared in Su Luo's heart.
In this barren wilderness, the chances of encountering other humans were practically zero.
The temperature inside the tent also dropped to freezing at that moment.
His gaze swept over his surroundings.
There was definitely something inside his small tent.
And perhaps more than one thing.
Holding his breath and focusing—
He silently released gravity around himself.
A scream rang out beside Su Luo's ear.
Vibration Power gathered in his right hand as he violently swung it behind him.
A transparent ghostly silhouette was shattered by Su Luo's punch and dispersed on the spot.
At the sight—
Su Luo's pupils contracted sharply.
There really were ghosts!
He rolled out of the tent and surveyed the surroundings.
A burst of Tenfold Gravity instantly crashed down upon the area.
It forced the invisible ghostly figures around him to reveal their true forms.
There were several dozen ghosts scattered about in total.
All of them were pinned to the ground by the gravity, unable to move.
As Su Luo continued increasing the gravity, more and more ghosts were crushed apart and dispersed.
Without those ghosts, the temperature around him began to rise steadily.
Until the last ghost was blown apart by Su Luo's punch.
He raised his eyes and looked around in confusion.
He could not understand at all why creatures like ghosts had appeared.
Suddenly—
A massive tiger roar came from deep within the mountains.
Su Luo turned and rushed back into the tent.
He retrieved his phone, slung on his backpack, and immediately ran for it.
Nothing else mattered.
If it was lost, he could always buy it again.
Using his Paw Ability, he repelled the air beneath his feet.
This allowed him to move at high speed.
Not long after Su Luo left—
A gigantic tiger, black as night from head to toe, suddenly descended from the sky like a cannonball.
With a thunderous boom, it crushed a swath of trees.
Roar! Roar!
It lowered its head and looked toward the tent where Su Luo had stayed.
It raised its nose and sniffed.
It discovered that no one was left.
Then it threw back its head and let out a furious roar!
Seething with rage, it swung its paw and flattened the tent in a single blow.
Afterward, it turned its head listlessly.
With catlike steps, it walked toward the deep mountain forest.
A group of ghostly figures surrounded it, following the giant tiger away.
Su Luo stood in the distance, his heart still pounding with lingering fear.
He looked toward the forest the giant tiger had crushed.
"That must be the Level 7 Exotic Beast Mo Qinghuan mentioned—the Ghost Controlling Dark Tiger."
"No wonder it's called the Ghost Controlling Dark Tiger. So these are the Ghost Companions it controls."
"And those Ghost Companions were probably people it had killed and transformed."
At that thought—
A terrible idea suddenly surfaced in his mind.
The Shen sisters' parents had disappeared in the Tiger Roar Mountain Range.
Could they have already been killed by the Ghost Controlling Dark Tiger and transformed into Ghost Companions?
The more he thought about it, the more likely it seemed.
But before uncovering the truth—
He decided it was better to keep his mouth shut for now.
Having even a sliver of hope was still far better than having none at all.
He memorized this location and resolved not to come here again lightly.
Now that he no longer had camping equipment, he could only return to the city.
Before you continue