Classmates, No Need for Formalities

"What is this thing?"

Xiao Wu muttered curiously as she ran her fingers over the smooth black iron baton.

"Huo Yuhao said it's a weapon, but it's so short. How is it supposed to hit anyone?"

Xiao Wu touched it here and there, even removing the rubber sleeve, but she still could not find anything unusual about it.

Suddenly, Xiao Wu somehow triggered a mechanism. The baton, which had originally been only twenty centimeters long, snapped outward and extended into a fifty-centimeter iron rod.

"Huh? There really is a mechanism?"

Xiao Wu's eyes lit up slightly. She had been ready to give up, but this piqued her curiosity again.

"Now it can hurt someone, but it's way too light..."

Xiao Wu swung the iron rod around. It felt very light, and even if it could hit someone, it certainly would not cause much injury.

"It's useless. Huo Yuhao said it was a weapon, but how is this supposed to hurt anyone? It's more like a toy!"

Xiao Wu curled her lips and placed her small hands at both ends of the rod, pressing hard to retract it to its original twenty-centimeter length.

Just as she was about to toss it back, an idea suddenly struck Xiao Wu. She did a backward flip, held the iron rod in her hand, and struck Wang Sheng on the head with a clang. "Wang Sheng, did that hurt?"

Wang Sheng: "..."

Why didn't you try hitting yourself and see if it hurt?

If you weren't my boss, I'd definitely hit you back.

Wang Sheng gave a wry smile. "Boss, stop playing around. This thing is made of iron. Of course it hurts when you hit someone with it."

Xiao Wu suddenly understood. "So this thing is for hitting people on the head..."

She felt that she had found the weapon's purpose.

Wang Sheng shook his head with an amused smile and said to Xiao Wu, "Boss, Huo Yuhao probably didn't make this thing just for hitting heads. That would be ridiculous. Who would just stand there and let you knock them on the head?"

"Then what do you think it's for?" Xiao Wu asked.

Wang Sheng seriously thought about it for a moment before saying hesitantly, "If you don't know what it does, you could try injecting Soul Power into it. I remember there are things that only reveal their effects after Soul Power is infused into them. Master seems to have one..."

Wang Sheng did not think Huo Yuhao could make such a miraculous weapon. He merely wanted to talk Xiao Wu into leaving.

"There's something that strange?" Xiao Wu's interest was immediately piqued. Holding the iron rod, she began channeling Soul Power into it.

Soon after, a tremendous scream rang out from Dorm Seven:

"Ah!!"

"Ah!!"

A scream erupted beside him, jolting Huo Yuhao awake.

"What happened?"

After opening his eyes, Huo Yuhao saw Xiao Wu sprawled miserably on the floor. Her right hand weakly gripped an iron rod, her eyes were vacant, and her once-neat hair had become somewhat disheveled.

Huo Yuhao noticed the iron rod in Xiao Wu's hand and immediately asked, "Why were you playing with my iron rod?"

Xiao Wu had been shocked until her entire body went limp. She could not muster even a trace of strength. If her physique had not been so good, that shock would have knocked her unconscious on the spot!

Only after quite a while did Xiao Wu weakly say, "Huo Yuhao, what exactly did you make? How can it electrocute people..."

Seeing that Xiao Wu was fine, Huo Yuhao said with a hint of gloating, "Who told you to secretly play with my things? I told you from the beginning that it was a weapon, but you refused to believe me."

Xiao Wu lay on the floor, too weak to get up. Both angry and embarrassed, she said, "All you do is laugh at me! Aren't you going to help me up? You never told me I couldn't play with it. What's wrong with trying it? It's not like I could break it!"

Huo Yuhao chuckled again before helping Xiao Wu onto her own bed, taking the Electric Baton back while he was at it.

Xiao Wu rested for a full quarter of an hour before recovering a little strength.

She glared at Huo Yuhao, but her large, watery eyes were like black gemstones and had no intimidation whatsoever. "I'm never touching your things again. That thing is terrifying. It nearly shocked me to death..."

Huo Yuhao shook his head with a smile and put the rubber sleeve back onto the iron rod. "That's because you don't know how to use it. Rubber doesn't conduct electricity. As long as the rubber sleeve is on, it won't hurt you."

"Really?" As she spoke, Xiao Wu reached for Huo Yuhao's Electric Baton.

Huo Yuhao immediately pulled it away. "You don't get to play with it anymore."

"Cheapskate!" Xiao Wu curled her lips.

Huo Yuhao glanced at the sky outside. "It's getting dark. Let's go eat."

"Sure!" Xiao Wu, who had just been pouting in anger, instantly changed her expression and leaped up happily.

Huo Yuhao had more or less figured out Xiao Wu's temperament by now. He shook his head with a smile and left the dormitory with her.

After dinner.

Huo Yuhao and Xiao Wu returned to Dorm Seven.

Most of the Work-Study Students were there now, and Tang San had returned as well.

When Tang San saw Xiao Wu return, he said, "Xiao Wu, I want to discuss something with you."

Xiao Wu was full and in a good mood. She flicked her Scorpion Tail Braid and asked, "What is it?"

Tang San said, "I'm going out tomorrow. I don't know how long it'll take before I return, so I wanted to let you know in advance."

Xiao Wu asked curiously, "You're going out? Where to?"

Tang San said, "My Soul Power has reached level ten. Teacher said I need to obtain my first Soul Ring as soon as possible so I can continue raising my Soul Power. He's preparing to take me to find a suitable Soul Ring."

Xiao Wu's delicate brows furrowed slightly, but she did not ask further. Instead, she said, "What about the work for us Work-Study Students? If you leave, I'll have to do it all by myself."

Tang San said helplessly, "How about this? I'll trouble you to clean the garden by yourself for the next few days. I'll give you all of my wages. After I come back, we'll clean it together, and then we can split the wages evenly again. How does that sound?"

Xiao Wu thought for a moment and said, "But I don't want to clean it alone. The garden isn't small, and it'll be exhausting by myself."

Seeing Xiao Wu being so unreasonable, Tang San did not know what to say for a moment. He could not possibly pay out of his own pocket, could he?

Seeing this, Huo Yuhao quickly said, "Tang San, go ahead. Xiao Wu and I can clean the garden together. Just give me your share of the wages. How about it?"

"Alright, then thank you very much!" Tang San was overjoyed when he heard that and gave Huo Yuhao a grateful look.

Tang San's opinion of Huo Yuhao had changed somewhat. This little boy could be rather annoying at times, but he had a kind heart. While Tang San was away, he could take Tang San's place and work with Xiao Wu. He really was a good person!

Huo Yuhao smiled and waved his hand. "We're classmates. No need for formalities."

With the matter settled, Tang San immediately let out a sigh of relief. He returned to his bed and began cultivating the Mysterious Heaven Skill.

Xiao Wu cast Tang San a somewhat displeased glance, then pulled Huo Yuhao out of Dorm Seven.

The sky outside had already darkened. Stars hung high overhead, and the slightly cool wind against their faces felt refreshing.

Xiao Wu led Huo Yuhao out of the dormitory building and onto the training ground, then released his hand.