"Did you come up with some idea to mess with people again, kid?"
Ning Ge chuckled and tapped Huo Yuhao on the head. He still remembered what Huo Yuhao had been like when he first arrived at the shop. Although Huo Yuhao had generously stepped forward to introduce himself, looking like an eager young fellow fresh out into the world.
But from Huo Yuhao's subsequent behavior, Ning Ge had already realized that it was all merely a disguise—a layer of camouflage that would help him remain in the shop and learn more effectively.
Huo Yuhao always completed every task Ning Ge assigned with meticulous precision. If told to read, he could sit with a serious expression and read nonstop for eight hours. If he made an error while engraving a Soul Guidance Core Array, then once he had been criticized for it, he would never make the same kind of mistake again.
At the time, Huo Yuhao had not even seemed like a living human being. Instead, he had resembled a Soul Guidance machine that reacted only after receiving commands. During his first two months of learning in the shop, Ning Ge had never seen a second expression on the nine-year-old's face.
His expression seemed frozen in place. The excitement one should have felt after successfully making a Soul Tool, the confusion of being stumped by one, or the frustration of being stuck on a difficult problem for a long time—none of those ordinary human expressions existed on Huo Yuhao's face.
There had even been many times when Ning Ge spoke to Huo Yuhao, and when Huo Yuhao opened his mouth to reply, he would tear the thin skin on his lips. That could only mean one thing: before Ning Ge spoke to him, Huo Yuhao always maintained the same