Collapse of the Currency System, Spying on Xiao Wu

In Chen Ming's eyes, neither Wang Sheng nor Xiao Wu seemed human.

Even if they only earned one Silver Soul Coin every two days, several Work-Study Students could pool their money and order daily meals from a restaurant in the city.

With so many people in Dorm Seven, ordering together would drive down the average price, and someone would definitely be willing to deliver. They might not have meat at every meal, but they could at least eat it more often.

That was without even considering cooking for themselves.

What, not one of these kids from the countryside knew how to cook? Forget stir-frying—was it hard to knead dough and steam buns or flatbread, or make a few simple dishes?

If they were not allowed to cook in the dorm, they could go to the back mountain. Could the academy possibly regulate that too?

And Xiao Wu as well—was she afraid people would not notice how strange she was? It would have been fine if she had at least asked how much it cost. Why did she ask whether it cost money at all?

How exactly had she gotten a Work-Study Student identity and slipped into the academy? Do not tell him that identity had simply spawned out of nowhere! Since she had entered human society, she should at least have put some points into common sense!

Chen Ming felt too powerless to even complain, but he still followed Wang Sheng to the cafeteria.

Although Nuoding Academy had only around three hundred people in total, including teachers, students, and various miscellaneous idlers like Yu Xiaogang, its cafeteria was surprisingly large. It had two floors, and just one floor could accommodate three hundred diners.

The moment they entered the cafeteria, a discordant voice rang out.

"Isn't this Wang Sheng and his bunch of poor ghosts? Poor ghosts will always be poor ghosts. You'll never get to eat on the second floor." A senior student on the stairs sneered at the Work-Study Students.

Xiao Wu immediately cursed back angrily, but Wang Sheng leaned close and whispered, "Sister Xiao Wu, the second floor is where you order dishes. We can't afford it."

Xiao Wu's reaction caught the senior student's attention. Seeing her, the student's eyes lit up. "What a pretty little girl. Too bad she's a Work-Study Student. Fine, Wang Sheng, I'm here to eat. I'll let you off this time."

"You!" Xiao Wu stamped her feet in anger. She was about to chase after him when Tang San stopped her.

"We came here to eat." Tang San spoke seriously to Xiao Wu, who merely snorted at him. Her eyes were full of disdain.

After that little incident, the group began lining up for food. Tang San then spotted a familiar figure entering through the main doors. Seeing Yu Xiaogang, he hurried over in surprise.

No one knew what Yu Xiaogang said to Tang San, but in the end, Chen Ming watched as Yu Xiaogang led Tang San step by step toward the second floor, separating him from the other Work-Study Students.

Watching this, Xiao Wu spat. "I knew he was no good."

Xiao Wu had originally sensed a familiar, gentle aura of life from Tang San, and instinctively felt somewhat fond of him—or perhaps hungry for him.

Because Transformed Spirit Beasts needed contact with humans to cultivate before they stabilized, she had initially wanted to build a good relationship with Tang San. But seeing him act like this, Xiao Wu only felt angry and no longer wanted anything to do with him.

Wang Sheng treated Xiao Wu to this meal. He had originally wanted to treat Chen Ming as well, but Chen Ming waved him off and took out Spirit Coins to pay for his own lunch.

While they ate, Chen Ming took out the little salted side dishes he had brought and distributed them among everyone. There was not much for each person, but they were all quite happy. They could not exactly be called friends yet, but they were no longer as distant as before.

When Tang San returned to Dorm Seven, he felt that the atmosphere in the entire dorm had changed. The others seemed to look at him with an indescribable distance in their eyes, as though he were the odd one out in this dorm.

Although Tang San felt that, as a former Tang Sect disciple, he did not care what these teenagers thought of him, he was actually somewhat displeased. Especially after noticing that Xiao Wu was ignoring him, that displeasure grew even stronger.

Work-Study Students often cultivated harder than ordinary students. By evening, everyone was sitting in their own places with their eyes closed, cultivating. The entire night remained peaceful, and nothing else happened. Early the next morning, Tang San silently pushed open the door of Dorm Seven and left.

Knowing the plot of the original work, Chen Ming knew that Yu Xiaogang had taken Tang San out to hunt for a Spirit Ring.

If nothing unexpected happened, Tang San would return after absorbing a Datura Snake that was over four hundred years old as his Spirit Ring, using it to verify Yu Xiaogang's so-called Ten Core Competencies of Spirit Masters before charging full speed down the wrong path.

It was only because Tang San's Martial Soul possessed the Blue Silver Emperor Bloodline, allowing it to awaken into a true Blue Silver Emperor later on, and because he replaced his first few Spirit Rings in exchange for resurrecting Xiao Wu, that he avoided disaster. Otherwise, if Tang San had truly been a Blue Silver Grass Spirit Master, he would have long since become useless.

For the time being, though, these matters had little to do with Chen Ming. The first thing he did after waking up that morning was sit cross-legged and cultivate. This time, the Soul Power gathering within him finally reached a certain threshold, breaking through the small bottleneck.

"Ninth level. Still a little slow." Chen Ming muttered to himself in dissatisfaction. In his eyes, Tang San had already gone to obtain a Spirit Ring, while he had not even caught a glimpse of his first one. The gap was simply too large.

Although Chen Ming had AI Thinking to perform deductions and let himself enter a state of utter emptiness for deep meditation, AI's computational power depended on his condition, and its knowledge was limited by his own understanding. In the short term, Chen Ming had no particularly good way to improve himself quickly.

It was not until Xiao Wu sat up on the nearby bed and began drowsily braiding her hair that Chen Ming had an idea.

A Spirit Master's cultivation depended on the quality of their Martial Soul and their Innate Soul Power. As a Transformed Spirit Beast, Xiao Wu was undoubtedly among the best in both respects. Moreover, before reaching maturity, she surely possessed traits different from those of ordinary human Spirit Masters.

Perhaps he could obtain more data from Xiao Wu, rapidly acquiring knowledge that was otherwise difficult for him to gain by observing her condition and essence.

At this moment, Tang Hao had already left Dorm Seven and followed Tang San to the Soul Hunting Forest to keep watch over him. If Chen Ming wanted to build a good relationship with Xiao Wu, today might be the best day to begin.

Though his mind was full of thoughts, Chen Ming did not reveal anything on the surface.

During the day, under the guidance of the Work-Study Students from Dorm Seven, Chen Ming brought Xiao Wu to the first-year classroom to study knowledge about Spirit Masters. Throughout the day, Chen Ming tried to quickly integrate into Nuoding Academy's environment and gather information from it.

It was not until free time that afternoon that Chen Ming finally voiced his idea to Xiao Wu.