Notting College, Second Floor Cafeteria.
It was lunchtime, and the rich aroma of Iron Armor Bull meat and Premium Soul Beast Steak filled the air.
"Godfather! This meat's so tender! I can feel my Soul Power going up!"
"Quit hogging it! Godfather said there's plenty! This plate of Jiwei Shrimp is mine!"
Dozens of Work-Study Students from Dorm Seven were sprawled unceremoniously over several tables pushed together, stuffing their faces.
Wang Sheng held a roast chicken in his left hand and a glass of freshly squeezed juice in his right. His mouth was slick with grease, and his face shone with the glow of pure happiness.
Su Yun sat at the head of the table, idly stirring the ice cubes in his drink with a straw.
He glanced at the Tactical Watch on his wrist and furrowed his brow.
"What's going on? The food's been out for ten minutes. Why hasn't the new kid shown up?"
Wang Sheng was busy peeling shrimp. He hastily swallowed the meat in his mouth and answered indistinctly.
"Reporting to Godfather! That kid Tang San is stubborn. He said that even though we have money now, we can't neglect our duties as Work-Study Students. He insisted on finishing sweeping the garden before coming to eat. Said a person should have principles."
"Principles?"
Su Yun pushed up his Sunglasses and shook his head helplessly.
Passing up a feast to go sweep the floor—that sense of responsibility. No wonder they said poor kids had to grow up fast.
Bored, Su Yun turned his head and looked down at the tree-lined path through the cafeteria's enormous floor-to-ceiling windows.
The midday sun filtered through the leaves and fell across the flagstones.
Amid the dappled light and shade, Su Yun spotted a familiar figure.
Tang San had just returned the broom. Dust clung to his clothes as he started toward the cafeteria.
But a stranger stood in his way.
Su Yun narrowed his eyes and studied the man.
He was in his forties, with a crew cut and stubble. He wore faded cloth clothes and stood with his hands clasped behind his back, chin slightly raised, regarding Tang San with a scrutinizing, inscrutable gaze.
"Hm? Who's that?"
Su Yun raised an eyebrow and thought, He's dressed so shabbily. Doesn't look like a teacher.
Could he be the head of the janitorial staff here?
Is he lecturing Tang San for not sweeping properly?
They were too far away, separated by the glass and dozens of meters. No ordinary person could hear what they were saying.
But Su Yun's equipment meant he didn't have to be ordinary.
Let's see what they're talking about. I hope no one's picking on the new kid I just took under my wing.
Su Yun raised a hand and lightly pressed the Tactical Bone Conduction Headset hooked over his right ear.
"Bzzzt—"
A green targeting frame instantly lit up inside his Micro HUD, locking precisely onto the middle-aged man's mouth down below.
At the same time, the Military-Grade Laser Pickup and Directional Acoustic Capture Array hidden in the Sunglasses' frame sprang to life.
Invisible laser beams captured vibrations in the air and reconstructed them as sound waves.
The next second.
The cafeteria's noisy background was forcibly filtered out by the algorithm.
A clear conversation came through his headset, as if the two men were whispering right beside him.
"Military tech is ridiculously powerful."
Su Yun couldn't help marveling inwardly.
Even from dozens of meters away, even with the wind interfering, this audio equipment from one of Earth's top laboratories could reproduce every word the other man said with stunning clarity.
The middle-aged man's voice came clearly through Su Yun's earpiece, and was simultaneously transmitted to the command center on the other side of Earth.
"...According to my deduction, a Trash Martial Soul like Blue Silver Grass simply can't support the strength of Innate Full Soul Power."
The man's voice paused, as if he were savoring the thrill of revealing the answer.
"So you must have another Martial Soul. And an extremely powerful one."
"Child, you have Twin Martial Souls, don't you?"
In the image, Tang San's body stiffened abruptly. His shock was plain even from this distance.
A full three seconds of silence passed.
Then Tang San's shocked, dry voice came through the headset.
"How... how did you know?"
That admission was like a depth charge dropped into a still lake.
Su Yun froze.
Twin Martial Souls?
One person could have two Martial Souls?
From the words alone, it sounded like an extraordinarily rare talent.
And this middle-aged man, who looked like a janitor, had spotted it at a glance?
Before Su Yun could think it over—
"Beep! Beep! Beep!"
Su Yun's headset erupted in a cacophony of alarms.
The Earth Special Command Intelligence Analysis Group's alarms were ringing nonstop.
The voice of a biologist who had been monitoring the conversation rose excitedly over the channel.
"Incredible! Without X-rays, MRI, or even any kind of probe, he identified a second Martial Soul hidden in the human body through theoretical deduction alone?"
"That's like a doctor telling you that you have two stomachs just by looking at your face, without using any instruments! It's unscientific! Unless..."
Another professor, responsible for Otherworld Logic Construction, immediately chimed in, his voice feverish.
"Unless he has mastered the underlying code of this world's power system! He must have a vast database in his head!"
"001! This is a major discovery!"
Lei Zhan's steady but urgent voice followed right after.
"Su Yun, listen up! The expert team unanimously assesses that the middle-aged man downstairs has immense research value! He's very likely an academic authority in this world, or some kind of reclusive theoretical master!"
"We're completely in the dark about this world's Martial Soul rules, and this man is our breakthrough in deciphering the rules of Soul Power!"
"Quick! Don't let him get away!"
"Whatever it takes, make contact with him! Get his theories out of him! He's a walking database!"
Listening to the normally serious, rigid scientists in his headset shriek like starstruck fans, Su Yun looked down at the unremarkable man in surprise.
He pushed up his Sunglasses and watched the middle-aged man standing with his hands behind his back, gazing up at the sky at a forty-five-degree angle, radiating the aura of I'm lonely, but I'm awesome.
A damned, bone-deep sense of familiarity pierced through Su Yun's memories.
"An academic authority? A theoretical master?"
Su Yun's mouth twitched.
This was clearly...
A fellow salesman!
Before he'd transmigrated, he'd made a living as a top-selling health supplement salesman for two whole years.
At that moment, Yu Xiaogang's confident expression—I have no evidence, but what I say is the Truth—looked just like Su Yun's had back when he stood onstage, pitching something called Quantum Metaverse Longevity Elixir to hundreds of elderly men and women.
That look, that tone, that knack for presenting assumptions as facts...
Too familiar.
A long-forgotten urge to test himself against a worthy opponent stirred in Su Yun.
This guy was no amateur.
"If he's in the same line of work, then I've got to go see what he's made of."
Su Yun stood and snapped his fingers at Wang Sheng and the others, who were still stuffing their faces.
"Stop eating. Wipe your mouths."
Su Yun pushed up his Sunglasses. A sharp glint flashed across the lenses—the excitement of spotting one of his own.
"Come downstairs with me. We're going to meet a Grandmaster."
Before you continue