Handling and Negotiations

Huo Yuhao felt extremely satisfied after finishing his meal, only to collapse and lose consciousness immediately afterward. This terrified them, and they hurriedly carried him back to the academy to find a healing-type soul master to help treat him. However, the teacher took one look and felt there was nothing to worry about, telling them to take Huo Yuhao away immediately; Huo Yuhao was perfectly fine, just exhausted and suffering from drowsiness after consuming a large amount of high-energy food. It was a very normal physical reaction. This answer put Bei Bei and the others' worried hearts at ease, and only then did they have the time to discuss what exactly had happened.

However, the three of them standing there staring at each other didn't reveal anything. The person in question was currently sleeping, and they didn't feel right waking him up; even if he were awake, it wouldn't be easy to ask. Now they could only find the answers themselves, and this matter had to be led by Bei Bei. After all, he had grown up in Shrek City and was the current leader of a top-tier family; to say he didn't know how to pull strings to make inquiries would be to look down on him a bit too much.

Bei Bei didn't dawdle. Without a second word, he took Tang Ya and Xu Sanshi to find the manager of the patrol team to ask if they knew anything. As expected, there was relevant information, and it was clearly the latest update. When Bei Bei and the others arrived, they happened to see the captain's deputy walking in with a file, and he carried a heavy scent of blood on him. This scent was also on Bei Bei and the others—it was the scent lingering on Huo Yuhao. Even after changing clothes, the scent hadn't been erased, and it was extremely similar to the scent on the deputy. The moment they locked eyes, both sides understood exactly what they wanted to know.

However, there was no need for them to communicate; the final authority for handling the matter still rested with the captain. Both sides turned their gazes toward the captain in unison.

This left the captain with a bitter smile; this matter was very difficult for him to handle. Suppressing this incident so that no one would know about the situation was an order from above, but the little master in front of him was someone he couldn't afford to offend either. Being caught in the middle left him in a dilemma. He expressed his meaning through his expression, and the deputy didn't need to worry; his will was the deputy's code of conduct—whatever he said, the deputy would definitely do. Now, they were just waiting for a word from the captain. In fact, the captain was also waiting for a word from Bei Bei.

"Captain, I don't think the people you need to keep this secret from include me. If you let us take a look at this file, it will be fine. That will save me the trouble of having to go ask my elders for it, which is too much of a hassle. If anyone asks for accountability, tell them to come find me, Bei Bei. If anyone gives you a hard time, I will help."

These words made the captain very happy, as it showed he hadn't misjudged the person. In fact, the moment he let Bei Bei in, he had already signaled his attitude; if it were something that truly couldn't be leaked at all, he wouldn't have met with juniors like Bei Bei. What he wanted was to establish a channel of contact with Bei Bei, a future powerhouse, through this conversation. That was his true goal. This information wasn't worth offending the Golden Sacred Dragon Family for—a top-tier beast martial soul family that was very low-key, avoided trouble, and produced the most refined and elegant leader of the new generation.

This tug-of-war was meant to make Bei Bei realize his predicament and make this favor seem more significant. The captain signaled the deputy with his eyes to hand the file to Bei Bei. In fact, the timing of the deputy's entry was also carefully arranged to keep things on the right track. He wanted to avoid the heir being ignorant or too impulsive in handling things, which would have been a loss if he had just walked away. This way, the result could be placed directly in front of them, and the probability of them running off became almost zero.

Bei Bei and the others took the information and left, saying they would bring it back in a while. In truth, whether the captain got that file back didn't matter anymore. The file was for the higher-ups to see; he already had a rough judgment of the situation, even if he couldn't quite accept it in his heart. The file was written according to standard procedures with a deduction that everyone could accept; after all, at that time, no one knew why the patrol route had been bypassed during that time interval. The appearance of this incident was a signal: there was a traitor leaking information.

However, this was common knowledge; who didn't know there were traitors? But the higher-ups didn't think that was the problem; perhaps the person trying to deal with the problem was the real problem. If you made any moves, you would end up being replaced. To reduce the possibility of this happening, he was now just laying the groundwork.

But none of that mattered now. He recalled the path of the killer, and the more he recalled, the more afraid he became. In fact, he hadn't seen anything; this was his professional ability—reconstructing the original appearance of the case based on the traces at the scene. However, the original appearance was too shocking, so he beautified the report into something people could understand. In fact, he was also a bit puzzled; he had received orders to resolve this matter long before it even happened.

However, he had seen enough of the dirty business of big shots. What was unusual about this matter was the extraordinary combat power; it was too frightening. What Bei Bei and the others took was a useless report. This captain actually had a direct superior, reporting directly to the Sea God Pavilion, providing them with the most detailed reports so they wouldn't be completely ignorant of the world. This time, it was a mission from an Elder of the Sea God Pavilion, though he didn't know which one. But it didn't matter anymore; as a small person, he shouldn't waste his energy worrying about the affairs of big shots.

At this moment, the person who had actually given the order to the captain was talking to Wang Yi. This matter had already proven that they were not from the Sun Moon Empire, and that was enough. The enemy of Shrek Academy was the Sun Moon Empire because their core interests conflicted; where the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Academy existed, Shrek Academy could not. The two were irreconcilable unless the Sun Moon Empire was willing to cut off one of its own arms and join Shrek's educational system. This trend was becoming more and more obvious, but the possibility of success was not very high. You couldn't make soul engineers admit they were inferior to soul masters; this was a collision of two systems. Each side admitting defeat meant the interests of countless people would be damaged. The Sun Moon Empire did not have the capacity for that for the time being; in other words, there hadn't been many who could do so throughout history.

At this moment, the things the two were discussing concerned this conflict. The Sun Moon Empire and the three great empires would certainly make trouble because of the White Tiger Family's affairs, which seriously violated Shrek's interests. So, what was to be done?

The appearance of Huo Yuhao was a very good way to handle it. If the old man hadn't misjudged, letting Huo Yuhao handle the White Tiger Family's little schemes was only natural. Everyone knew that Huo Yuhao was a member of the White Tiger Family; no one could say anything about how he handled them. In this way, Shrek's predicament would be solved, but this required time and various details.

Wang Yi had come to discuss the details, and no one believed in Huo Yuhao's future more than he did. In this way, Huo Yuhao's early path was arranged. As for what came later, that would be Huo Yuhao's own business. Providing a stable environment for early development was the limit of Wang Yi's ability. He had already done what he considered to be the best.