Xiluo

He looked no older than sixteen or seventeen, but he was already quite tall—at least a head taller than Louis. Louis took half a step back. He did not like having to look up at people.

Like a cat.

That was Louis's first impression. His build was somewhat round, but his chubby limbs were rather long. His cheeks were especially plump, like two dough balls, pale and fat. His short black hair was curled and slightly fluffy. His eyes habitually narrowed into slits, while the corners of his mouth curved upward at a slightly strange angle before dipping down a little. He really did look like a cat.

"Who are you?"

Louis frowned.

"I'm from the West Blue. I just got here too, and when I saw that you'd just arrived as well, I thought I'd come say hello, meow."

The man smiled at every moment, but his smile did not feel warm. It was as though this was simply his usual expression. "My name is Xiluo, meow."

He held out a hand.

Meow?

"Louis, from the South Blue."

Louis reached out and shook his hand.

It was solid, nothing like his chubby appearance suggested. The calluses on his hand were thick as well. He had clearly undergone no small amount of training. Before Louis had even noticed him, he had already noticed Louis. Even though he had arrived earlier, his awareness did not seem weak at all.

The top student of the West Sea Training Camp was probably no weakling.

"Louis... oh, that's a really nice name, meow."

The catlike man, Xiluo, exclaimed, "But you're amazing, aren't you? Brother Louis, you look like you're only twelve or thirteen, yet you actually took first place at the South Sea Training Camp, meow. That's incredible, meow."

"Not bad."

Louis nodded, unable to figure out what this man was after.

"Want to eat together? Training starts this afternoon, so we need to replenish our energy properly, meow."

Xiluo suggested.

"Sure."

Louis nodded in agreement. This was a good opportunity.

The training camp cafeteria was extremely luxurious and occupied a vast area. The entire camp was already enormous; if the cafeteria had been much smaller, it would have seemed far too out of place.

By the time Louis and Xiluo arrived, there were already more than a dozen people eating inside. Most sat alone, and the food piled before each of them looked like a small mountain.

Louis and Xiluo, arriving together, were practically heretics.

They found an empty seat, sat down, and ordered.

Louis held the menu in his hands. The selection was incredibly lavish. Ever since crossing into this world, he had not enjoyed food like this. Even in his original world, he never had.

CP9 truly spared no expense when it came to indulgence.

Was it to keep their agents from being corrupted by the enemy's sugar-coated bullets?

Louis thought so.

After ordering, Louis noticed that Xiluo kept glancing around. His slit-like eyes opened slightly, revealing narrow pupils within.

"What are you looking at?"

Louis asked.

"Look, Brother Louis."

Xiluo leaned forward, practically lying across the table as he whispered with a smile, "These people are our future opponents, meow."

"Opponents?"

Louis swept his gaze around. Everyone eating here was young. The oldest were only in their twenties. Those around Xiluo's age, sixteen to eighteen, made up the majority, while Louis remained the youngest among them.

"That's right. Although the CP9 Training Camp recruits people every year, from what I know, Brother Louis..."

Xiluo chuckled. "Not a single person has successfully graduated from this camp for three years in a row. And in the five years before that, each class only had one graduate, meow."

"So few?"

Louis was a little surprised. CP9's graduation rate was far too low.

"Of course. CP9 is an elite organization."

Xiluo explained, "Even at its peak, it never had more than twenty official agents. Hehe, so in a sense, CP9 is even stricter than CP0, meow. In terms of resources, CP9 might not be worse than CP0 either. After all, CP0 has far more personnel than CP9, so naturally, its standards are stricter too, meow."

Xiluo licked his lips and looked at Louis, the chubby flesh on his face bunching together. "And Brother Louis, I believe you'll definitely be even better than those who entered CP0, meow."

He knew who Louis was.

Louis immediately realized it. Not only did Xiluo know him, he also knew about Wade and knew that Wade had entered CP0. This fat bastard probably had connections within the CP series.

"You know all these people?"

Louis asked in return.

"Mm."

Xiluo nodded as though it were only natural, then continued on his own. "Four students from the four training camps of the Four Blues, one from the Paradise Base, one from the New World Base, plus thirteen students who survived from the CP9 Training Camp. There are nineteen students in our class altogether, meow."

"Nineteen?"

Louis was somewhat surprised. That was not a small number. If anything, it was rather high.

"Mm. A remarkable person emerged in this year's CP9 Training Camp, someone with the makings of a leader, so there were a few more survivors. But don't worry about it, meow. Brother Louis is pretty strong."

Xiluo chuckled.

"Look, over there."

Xiluo pointed at someone on the other side. Muscles, muscles! All Louis could see were muscles. He had dark skin, thick lips, dreadlocks, and was devouring the food in front of him like a storm. Several students sat at the tables around him.

"Stuart. He's currently the number one man in the CP9 Training Camp in terms of Doriki Value. He's nineteen this year, and his Doriki Value has already surpassed a thousand. Even if you include the six of us outsiders, his Doriki Value is still the highest."

Louis glanced at the man. Explosive power was packed beneath those steel-like muscles. He was probably an expert in Tekkai as well—a formidable opponent. Though he did not look nineteen at all.

"Of course, there are experts among us outsiders too, meow."

Xiluo grinned. "Besides Brother Louis, there's another person worth watching."

He discreetly pointed at someone sitting a few tables away. It was a woman, a beauty in her twenties, with a hot figure, wavy brown hair, and a frosty expression. Every bite she took looked like she was tearing into flesh.

"..."

Noticing Xiluo's gesture, the woman looked over and stared directly at him, her gaze icy to the extreme.

"Wow! That's scary, meow!"

Xiluo awkwardly withdrew his gaze.

"Looks like women don't like you very much?"

Louis smiled.

"Women like that are better left alone, meow."

Xiluo shook his head, leaned close to Louis's ear, and whispered, "Yerika, from the New World. More than a third of the students in this year's New World Training Camp died by her hand. She's a woman with a serious violent streak. Of course, she's also very strong."

"Oh?"

Louis looked at the woman. She was tall and slender, a genuine beauty, but the way she glared at Louis was filled with killing intent. She wanted to kill him just because he had looked at her a few times.

"Eh, is Brother Louis interested? Hahaha, as expected of Brother Louis! You have such grand ambitions at twelve, meow!"

Xiluo laughed in surprise. "But that woman is extremely proud. She won't be so easy to conquer, meow."

"Proud?"

Louis tugged at the corner of his mouth. "Not necessarily."

Why would someone truly qualified to be proud come to CP, a hell from which one could not escape? Would someone truly proud to their very bones really keep it all on the surface?

"Well, she definitely isn't as strong as Brother Louis, meow."

Xiluo laughed. "I think Brother Louis is the strongest person here, meow?"

"I don't think so."

"Just admit it, Brother Louis. A cat's instincts are incredibly sharp, meow!"

"Hehe."