The Quarrel and the Commotion

Chapter: The Quarrel

As soon as class ended, many students curiously crowded around the three transfer students.

"Student Huo Yuhao, you calculate so fast! Do you have any tricks?"

"Student Chi Qiu, your hair is so beautiful. Do you have a special routine for it?"

"Your name is Wang Dong, right? Your eyes are truly beautiful. Ah, Huo Yuhao's eyes are also so pretty!"

Surrounded by so many questions, Huo Yuhao didn't know how to handle it for a moment. Most of the time, he could only offer a polite smile, while Chi Qiu remained almost completely silent, appearing very cold and aloof.

Only Wang Dong seemed to integrate with the crowd relatively quickly, answering questions here and there. But the good times didn't last long; soon, one question left Wang Dong frozen in place:

"Is Student Wang Dong a boy or a girl?"

Upon hearing this, Huo Yuhao and Chi Qiu simultaneously cast sympathetic glances toward Wang Dong.

When filling out her enrollment forms, although Wang Dong had marked her gender as female, she had always maintained the image of a short-haired boy. As far as she was concerned, she was simply used to this image.

However, aside from the teachers, no one ever looked at her student file. Therefore, in the eyes of most students, Wang Dong was just a very good-looking little boy.

Because of this, when Meng Hongchen went to visit Wang Dong and Chi Qiu, she had been given quite a shock—

According to Chi Qiu, Senior Sister Meng had tried to kick Wang Dong out of the dormitory building on the spot, citing the rule that boys were not allowed in the girls' dormitory.

The commotion had been quite large. Chi Qiu remembered Huo Yuhao telling her to look out for Wang Dong, so she had rushed out to see what was happening. When she reached the hallway, she immediately saw Meng Hongchen aggressively grabbing Wang Dong by the collar, trying to throw her out, while Wang Dong struggled like a moth, desperately trying to explain herself.

In the end, it was only after Chi Qiu stepped in as a witness that the matter was settled. However, because the scene was so loud, many girls on the same floor had come out to watch the embarrassing spectacle.

When Chi Qiu told this story to Huo Yuhao, he couldn't hold it in and laughed uncontrollably.

Now, both of them were propping their heads up, ready to watch Wang Dong's predicament.

"Uh, well, I'm a girl," Wang Dong explained stiffly. She wasn't used to the shift in identity yet, but since she was already living in the girls' dormitory, it wouldn't be appropriate to keep claiming she was a boy.

In reality, she kept this image not because of habit, but simply because she didn't want to take care of long hair; it was too much trouble.

As soon as her voice fell, a chorus of sighs erupted from the girls in the class. Clearly, they had all hoped Wang Dong was a boy. Facing the disappointed gazes of the young girls, Wang Dong could only offer an apologetic smile before turning back to glare fiercely at the two people watching the show.

She had realized long ago that Huo Yuhao and Chi Qiu were laughing at her!

"Oh my, I don't know anything. I need to review my lessons," Huo Yuhao hurriedly buried his head in his textbook, but his trembling shoulders betrayed the fact that he was stifling laughter.

"Hmm, I didn't see or hear anything either," Chi Qiu didn't even bother with an excuse. Despite saying this, she continued to look at Wang Dong with a straight face, though the corners of her eyes were slightly curved in a smile.

Suddenly, a malicious curse shattered the cheerful atmosphere: "Tch, disgusting tomboy."

"What did you say?" Upon hearing this, Wang Dong slammed her hand on the desk and stood up immediately.

"I said, tomboy!" On the outermost edge of the crowd, a burly-looking boy wore an expression of disgust. "I thought you were just a pretty boy who lacked exercise, but it turns out you're a tomboy. How disgusting, ugh."

Just as Wang Dong was about to lash out, Chi Qiu raised a hand to block the space between them, her tone unfriendly: "Do you want to fight?"

"Oh, starting to form little cliques, are we? You were just transfers to begin with," the man said with a sneer. "I know your Soul Power Level is high, but I'm no pushover. If you want to fight, who's afraid of who?"

As he spoke, the opponent pulled a pitch-black, crossbow-type Soul Tool directly from his storage Soul Tool.

Huo Yuhao, having witnessed the whole thing, narrowed his eyes. He recognized the model; it was a Level 5 Soul Tool. Theoretically, this first-year student shouldn't be able to power it, but the fact that he dared to take it out meant he had a way, even if it would likely drain his Soul Power after only one or two shots.

At this point, Huo Yuhao basically understood the situation. This guy didn't really hate Wang Dong; he was just looking for an excuse to pick a fight with someone to satisfy his own desire for violence.

It just so happened that these transfer students had walked right into his trap.

"Bring it on!" Chi Qiu let out a low shout, and a stream of light flew from her Eye of Destiny into her hand—it was naturally the Golden Dragon Spear.

"Wait, Qiu'er!" Huo Yuhao pressed down on the wrist she was about to use to attack and whispered, "That Soul Tool isn't right."

He was naturally furious as well. However, Chi Qiu had no experience fighting against Soul Tools. If he let her fight the opponent rashly, she might suffer serious injuries due to her lack of understanding.

"What," the man looked even more smug, "scared?"

"Scared of you?" Huo Yuhao said coldly, "I'll be the one to fight you."

Before he finished speaking, a pale gold flash appeared in his eyes as he began to mobilize his Sea of Consciousness. He didn't dare to estimate what would happen if that Level 5 Soul Tool hit him, so he planned to use Soul Shock to finish the opponent off directly.

Suddenly, a familiar voice drifted from outside the classroom, abruptly cutting through the tense atmosphere:

"Fighting is prohibited within the academy!"

Everyone looked toward the classroom door, and Huo Yuhao immediately recognized the person—the silver hair and heterochromatic eyes were too distinct; even against the light, the features were clear. The person who arrived was none other than Xiao Hongchen.

Those who attended the Sun Moon Soul Engineer Academy knew the name of the Hongchen siblings to some extent. It was said that they were to serve as the trump cards for the reserve team in the upcoming All-Continent Advanced Soul Master Academy Soul Fighting Tournament.

"I didn't expect that I'd run into something like this just by taking a walk," Xiao Hongchen leaned against the doorframe, his brows furrowed. "I could feel someone activating their Martial Soul from far away. What's the situation?"

"Brother Xiao," Huo Yuhao took the initiative, "This person insulted my friend Wang Dong, and we retaliated. Furthermore, he pulled out a Level 5 Soul Tool and seemed very eager to engage in battle, which is why we released our Martial Souls."

Xiao Hongchen cast his gaze toward Huo Yuhao and gave an imperceptible nod. This small movement was seen clearly through Huo Yuhao's Spiritual Detection Sharing. His heart settled; it seemed Xiao Hongchen would stand on his side.

"If there's a conflict, I suggest you go to the Soul Fighting Area to resolve it," Xiao Hongchen said. "The Soul Fighting Area the academy built for you is just sitting empty anyway. You're all Soul Engineers now, but you don't like to fight, right? This is a perfect chance to make full use of the resources."

"Let's go then!" The man immediately agreed, appearing very confident in the Soul Tool in his hand.

"I'll go," Huo Yuhao nodded toward Chi Qiu and Wang Dong. "I understand Soul Tools a bit better than you do, so it should be easier to handle."

After saying this, Huo Yuhao turned and walked out of the classroom. As he passed by Xiao Hongchen, he heard him whisper quickly:

"That guy's Level 5 Soul Tool is of unknown origin. I need to take a close look at it, so win slowly."

Huo Yuhao smiled with understanding: "Slow down? No problem."

At the same time, Chi Qiu, who had been watching Huo Yuhao with constant worry, suddenly heard a weak plea for help in her ear:

"Miss Qiu, give me a hand, please."

She whipped her head around to see Wang Dong looking as pale as a sheet, one hand pressed tightly against her temple, barely managing to stay upright by leaning against a desk as if she might collapse at any second.

Chi Qiu hurriedly reached out to support her: "Don't let that person's words upset you. It's fine, Yuhao will definitely win."

"I'm not exactly like this because of a few words... Old Lady Zhou puts way more pressure on me than he does." Wang Dong gasped for air and managed a forced smile, "When I saw that person's Soul Tool, I felt like the back of my head was being torn open. It hurts like hell."

"It seems that Soul Tool really is problematic?" Chi Qiu's eyes turned cold instantly. If anything happened to Huo Yuhao, she would tear that person apart and use them as food.

"There's more." Wang Dong waved her hand, "If Little Brother Huo says there's a problem with it, then there definitely is; however, I think there's something wrong with me too."