A Slightly Better Arrangement

Zhou Yi had somehow already come over. Her face remained expressionless, but the look she gave Xue Lingyun was more complicated than ever before.

"No one will be eliminated today." Her voice was still cold, but if one listened closely, it seemed to lack a trace of its usual chill. "You've proven that, at least sometimes, useless people can be of some use." A typical Zhou-style "compliment."

She paused, her gaze settling on Xue Lingyun. Rarely, there was no mockery in her eyes—only an almost evaluative approval. "Especially you, Xue Lingyun. You did well as Class Monitor today."

She did not leave immediately. Instead, she raised a hand and gestured toward the entrance to the training ground.

A white-robed man who appeared to be in his thirties slowly walked over.

His face was expressionless. As he stepped among the collapsed students, seven Soul Rings appeared around him—two yellow, two purple, and three black. He raised both hands, and a gentle green glow spread from his palms.

Then, his form changed—his torso became a thick tree trunk, his limbs stretched into branches, and his face vanished within the light. In the blink of an eye, a towering Sky-reaching Tree, emerald green from top to bottom and radiating dense life energy, stood where he had been!

The tree's branches and leaves swayed without wind. Translucent green leaves drifted down one after another as though alive, landing precisely upon every collapsed student.

The instant the glowing leaves touched their bodies, they merged into them. The students immediately felt a cool, gentle power flow through their bodies. Their extreme exhaustion and aching muscles were swiftly soothed, while their depleted strength slowly returned.

After several breaths, the Sky-reaching Tree drew in its light and turned back into the white-robed man from before. He nodded to Zhou Yi.

For once, Zhou Yi solemnly bowed to the man and offered him a salute. He said nothing, merely turned and drifted away.

Only after his figure vanished did Zhou Yi straighten up. Her gaze swept across Class One of the Freshmen, whose students had gradually recovered some vitality, before lingering on Xue Lingyun for a moment. She said no more, leaving only one sentence behind. "Theory classroom tomorrow morning."

When school ended, the sun was already sinking in the west.

Xue Lingyun, Huo Yuhao, and Wang Dong headed toward the Dormitory Area together.

Although Huo Yuhao had been treated by the Life Leaf, the mental exhaustion and weakness from overexertion remained. He walked very slowly.

Wang Dong was not much better, her footsteps unsteady.

"Bro Lingyun, today... we really owe it to you." Huo Yuhao's voice was still a little hoarse, but the gratitude in his eyes was genuine.

Without Xue Lingyun's guidance midway through and his final act of "leading by example," he definitely would not have lasted until the end, much less inspired everyone else to stand up again.

"I was pretty surprised to see you crawl back up and keep up." Xue Lingyun glanced at him, his tone slightly gentler than usual. "Your willpower's not bad."

Huo Yuhao scratched his head somewhat sheepishly.

Beside him, Wang Dong pursed her lips. She seemed to want to say something, but swallowed the words and only muttered softly, "I'm exhausted... I'm soaked in sweat. I'll have to fetch water and wipe myself down again when we get back. What a pain."

Hearing that, Xue Lingyun seemed to speak casually. "My dorm has a bathroom. I happen to have something to take care of, so I probably won't use it until later. If you're uncomfortable, you can go wash up."

Before Huo Yuhao could say anything, Wang Dong's ears twitched. She abruptly turned her head, her beautiful eyes widening round. "What did you say? A bathroom? In your dorm?!"

Her face was full of disbelief. "What freshman dorm has its own private bathroom? Isn't it always that packed communal bathhouse at the end of every floor? I always fetch water and make do in my room!"

Xue Lingyun's expression did not change. "Oh, before enrollment, I mentioned to Dean Yan that I wanted a quieter single room. Maybe there was a slight misunderstanding when the arrangements were made, so it ended up being a little better."

"A misunderstanding? A little... better?!" Wang Dong's voice rose several octaves, and her expression became even more bewildered.

When the door to Room 106 opened beneath Xue Lingyun's key and the living room came into view, Wang Dong was rendered completely speechless.

The spacious interior, the complete furnishings, and that extra door... Compared with the bare-walled Room 108 she shared with Huo Yuhao, it was practically the difference between a palace and a shack!

Xue Lingyun walked over and pushed open the door on the right. The modern bathroom fixtures inside struck Wang Dong speechless once more.

"...Th-this..." Wang Dong pointed at the bathroom, then looked at Xue Lingyun. After a long while, she finally squeezed out a sentence in an extremely complicated tone. "And you call this 'a little better'? Dean Yan's favoritism is way too obvious!"

She struggled for quite a while, a flash of hesitation appearing on her face. In the end, her desire for a comfortable bath overcame her pride, and her voice dropped, carrying a hint of awkwardness.

"Um... Xue Lingyun, can we discuss something...? In the future... could I come borrow it too? I promise I'll be quick, and I'll definitely clean up after myself!"

Xue Lingyun seemed to have expected this. He nodded. "Sure. But don't use the bathroom door that leads into the corridor. That door is usually locked. Use this door from the living room from now on. Remember to lock it from the inside."

After thinking for a moment, he added, "If all of us might use it, it'd be best to make a small sign to hang outside the door—'Occupied' on one side, 'Vacant' on the other. That way, no one walks in and makes things awkward."

Wang Dong immediately perked up and patted her chest in assurance. "Leave the sign to me! I'll make it look good!"

"Mm." Xue Lingyun responded, picking up the outer robe draped on the backrest. "You two use it first. Remember to lock the door. I'm going to see Director Du."

Without saying anything more, he turned and left, leaving Wang Dong and Huo Yuhao standing in that "above-standard" dorm, staring at each other.

Huo Yuhao was fine, since it was not his first time seeing it.

Wang Dong, meanwhile, wore an expression of envy, jealousy, and a touch of sudden enlightenment, still muttering under her breath, "Single room... private bathroom... so this is possible too... Dean Yan... If I'd known, I would've..."

Xue Lingyun walked out of the Dormitory Building, the lingering glow of the setting sun stretching his shadow long behind him.

With light footsteps, he headed toward the Teachers' Office Area.

Yan Shaozhe had sent word that morning that the medicinal ingredients were ready.

However, that dean was generally not in the Outer Court. He had long since instructed Xue Lingyun that if he needed anything in the Outer Court during daily life, he could simply go directly to Director Du Weilun.