Xiao Chenyu smiled.
"Skywater Academy? What would someone with a lightning attribute like you go there for?"
Lin Ming said nothing.
Xiao Chenyu waited a few seconds, but when no answer came, the smile on his face stiffened.
He stepped forward.
"Lin Ming, three years ago, there was a rumor that you'd obtained a Hundred-Year Soul Ring."
His voice rose so everyone around them could hear.
"But you've never admitted it, and you've never shown it to anyone."
"Some people say you're bluffing. Others say you're just too embarrassed to admit it's a Ten-Year Soul Ring."
He stared into Lin Ming's eyes.
"You're leaving tomorrow. Can you give everyone a straight answer?"
Xiao Chenyu had graduated two years earlier and had been a local hoodlum in Nuoding City ever since. He'd come to Nuoding Academy today for this very reason.
The cafeteria fell completely silent.
Everyone was watching them.
Wang Sheng sat in a corner, crushing the steamed bun in his hand.
Xiao Wu leaned against the wall and raised an eyebrow.
Across the room, several teachers at the serving counter paused what they were doing and craned their necks to look.
Lin Ming put down his chopsticks and looked up at Xiao Chenyu.
"You want to see?"
Xiao Chenyu froze for a moment. He hadn't expected Lin Ming to be so direct.
"Everyone wants to see."
Lin Ming didn't answer.
He stood up, and Little Lei Yi floated up from his shoulder, hovering beside him.
A murmur swept through the cafeteria.
"He's really going to show it?"
"Could it really be a Hundred-Year Soul Ring?"
"No way. How could he absorb a Hundred-Year Soul Ring by himself?"
Lin Ming glanced around at the onlookers. Their expressions ranged from curiosity and doubt to excitement at the prospect of a spectacle.
In the corner, Wang Sheng clenched his fists and watched without blinking.
Xiao Wu straightened up, the corner of her mouth twitching.
She still remembered what she'd said to comfort Lin Ming three years ago.
Two people had appeared at the entrance without anyone noticing.
Yu Xiaogang.
Tang San.
Yu Xiaogang stood in the shadows, his stiff face giving nothing away.
But his fingers clutched his sleeve so tightly that his knuckles had gone white.
Tang San stood beside him, eyes lowered.
Lin Ming looked away from them and turned to Xiao Chenyu.
Then he raised his left hand.
"Little Lei Yi."
Little Lei Yi floated in the air, its small body beginning to glow.
The golden light grew brighter and brighter, so intense it hurt to look at.
As the radiance dimmed slightly, Lei Yi's 1.29-meter battle form hovered quietly in midair.
A collective gasp filled the cafeteria.
Xiao Chenyu instinctively took a step back.
Then a bright yellow ring of light rose from beneath Lin Ming's feet, rotating slowly as it hovered around him.
A Hundred-Year Soul Ring.
It was as if someone had pressed pause on the entire cafeteria.
Everyone froze in place.
Xiao Chenyu's eyes widened as if they might burst.
His mouth hung open, but not a sound came out.
His lackeys stood stock-still, looking as if they'd seen a ghost.
"Holy shit..."
Someone nearby murmured.
"It really is a Hundred-Year Soul Ring..."
"He killed it alone..."
"Rank ten...and he did it alone..."
Whispers spread like a rising tide.
A Hundred-Year Soul Ring.
Fewer than ten students at all of Nuoding Academy had a Hundred-Year Soul Ring as their First Soul Ring.
And every single one of them had powerful connections and resources.
What did Lin Ming have?
He was a Work-Study Student.
He was alone.
Three years ago, he'd only been rank ten.
Xiao Chenyu's legs began to tremble. He thought back to four years ago.
He'd been rank eleven, and Lin Ming had just started at the academy.
Lin Ming had pinned him to the ground and shocked him until he was howling.
Back then, he'd told himself he'd just been caught off guard.
Next time would be different.
But now he finally understood: there wouldn't be a next time.
He'd never had a chance of winning in the first place.
A four-hundred-year Soul Ring.
He'd killed it alone.
How could Xiao Chenyu ever win?
Lin Ming looked at Xiao Chenyu without mockery or smugness.
He simply gazed at him calmly.
Then he withdrew his Soul Ring. Lei Yi shrank to ten centimeters and settled on his shoulder.
Lin Ming picked up his tray, hurried past Xiao Chenyu, and set it in the washbasin.
Then he turned and left.
In the cafeteria,
the crowd gradually dispersed.
But the scene that had unfolded today would be etched into everyone's memory forever.
The rumor that had appeared out of nowhere three years ago had finally been confirmed.
Wang Sheng sat in the corner, his eyes red, but a wide grin on his face.
"Damn it...I spent three years comforting him...and he never said a word..."
The person beside him patted him on the shoulder.
"Don't even start. We asked him for three years too. Who could've guessed it was true?"
Lin Ming walked back to Dorm Seven.
Little Lei Yi lay on his shoulder, nibbling on a small piece of steamed bun in his hand.
Lin Ming lowered his head and looked at the ring on his finger.
Tomorrow.
He was leaving tomorrow.
Lin Ming lifted his head and suddenly smiled.
It was a small, faint smile.
But it was real.
The kind that reached his eyes.
Dorm Seven.
Lin Ming woke before dawn.
He lay in bed, staring at the rafters overhead for a long time.
Little Lei Yi curled up beside his pillow, its small body tucked into a ball as it made tiny "huff, huff" sounds.
It was imitating a person snoring, something it had only recently learned.
Lin Ming reached out and gently patted its head.
Little Lei Yi sleepily rubbed against his finger, then continued to "huff, huff."
Lin Ming smiled.
He sat up, leaned against the headboard, and watched the sky outside the window slowly turn pale.
Four years.
From Holy Soul Village to Nuoding Academy.
He'd kept himself on edge every single day.
On the road, he watched for anyone following him. At meals, he sat where he could see every entrance and exit.
When he trained, he surrounded himself with a faint current that could detect movement. Whenever he slept, Little Lei Yi stayed half awake.
Because of the Titled Douluo in Holy Soul Village.
Because of Tang Hao, who could lose control at any moment.
Lin Ming looked down at his hands.
He'd never dared to reveal his true strength in front of anyone.
He had a Hundred-Year Soul Ring, but he'd never let anyone find out.
All so he wouldn't draw attention.
All so that madman wouldn't turn his gaze on him.
Lin Ming let out a quiet laugh.
It was soft, and carried a hint of relief.
The people from Spirit Hall had withdrawn a year ago.
But that faint fluctuation of Soul Power had never appeared again.
He could reveal himself now.
But he hadn't.
Not until yesterday.
Yesterday in the cafeteria, Xiao Chenyu had asked him about his Soul Ring in front of everyone.
Before, he would have stayed silent, avoided the question, or steered the conversation elsewhere.
But yesterday, he'd stood up and shown them his Soul Ring.
A Soul Ring more than four hundred years old, its bright yellow light blinding everyone in the room.
Lin Ming thought back to that moment.
Xiao Chenyu's ashen face, his lackeys' stunned expressions, and the sound of the entire cafeteria gasping.
And...
the feeling of finally not having to hide anymore.
That felt fucking great!
Little Lei Yi woke and sleepily floated up, settling on his shoulder.
"Yi?"
"I'm fine."
Lin Ming rubbed its head.
Little Lei Yi blinked, then reached out and poked Lin Ming's cheek with its tiny finger.
"Yi-yi!"
It was asking:
Are you smiling?
Lin Ming froze, then touched his face.
The corners of his mouth had indeed turned up.
"Yeah. I'm smiling."
On the day he left Nuoding Academy, the weight that had pressed on his heart for four years finally felt a little lighter.
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