Grandmaster Yu Xiaogang

Notting College, second floor of the cafeteria.

It was mealtime, and the air was thick with the rich aroma of Iron Armor Bull meat and Premium Soul Beast Steak.

"Godfather! This meat is so tender! I can feel my soul power rising!"

"Don't hog it! Godfather said there's plenty! This plate of Jiwei Shrimp is mine!"

The dozens of Work-Study Students from Seventh Dorm were sprawled without any dignity across a few long tables pushed together, wolfing down food.

Wang Sheng clutched a roast chicken in his left hand and a glass of fresh juice in his right, eating until his mouth dripped with grease, his face glowing with an oily sheen called happiness.

Su Yun sat at the head of the table, idly stirring the ice in his cup with a straw.

He glanced at the Tactical Watch on his wrist and furrowed his brow slightly.

"What's going on? The dishes have been served for ten minutes. Why hasn't that new guy shown up yet?"

Wang Sheng, busy peeling shrimp, quickly swallowed a mouthful of meat and explained vaguely.

"Reporting to Godfather! That kid Tang San has a stubborn streak. He says even though we've got money now, we can't abandon our duties as Work-Study Students. He insisted on finishing sweeping the garden before coming to eat. Says a man needs principles."

"Principles?"

Su Yun pushed up his sunglasses and shook his head helplessly.

Skipping a feast to sweep the floor—such awareness. Truly, a poor child learns responsibility early.

Bored, Su Yun turned his head and looked down through the huge floor-to-ceiling glass window of the second-floor cafeteria at the tree-lined path below.

The noonday sun filtered through the gaps in the leaves, spilling dappled light onto the bluestone path.

In that patchwork of light and shadow, Su Yun spotted the familiar figure.

Tang San had just returned his broom, dust clinging to his clothes, and was heading toward the cafeteria.

But his path was blocked by a stranger.

Su Yun narrowed his eyes and sized up the man.

Forty-something, with a crew cut, stubbly chin, wearing a faded cloth shirt washed white. His hands were clasped behind his back, chin slightly raised, as he studied Tang San with a scrutinizing, inscrutable gaze.

"Huh? Who's this guy?"

Su Yun raised an eyebrow, thinking to himself: Dressed so shabbily, doesn't look like a teacher either.

Could he be the head janitor here?

Chewing Tang San out for not sweeping clean enough?

Too far away, through the glass and dozens of meters, a normal person couldn't hear what they were saying.

But Su Yun's gear allowed him to bypass normal.

"Let's see what they're talking about. Can't have them bullying my new recruit."

Su Yun raised his hand and lightly tapped the Tactical Bone Conduction Headset hanging on his right ear.

"Woom—"

A green targeting reticle instantly lit up on the Micro HUD inside his sunglasses, locking precisely onto the mouth of the middle-aged man downstairs.

At the same time, the Military-Grade Laser Pickup and Directional Acoustic Capture Array hidden in the sunglasses' frame activated instantly.

An invisible laser beam captured sound waves by detecting air vibrations.

The next second.

The noisy background noise of the cafeteria was forcibly filtered out by the algorithm.

Through the earpiece came a clear conversation, as if the two were whispering right next to him.

"Military tech—ridiculously overpowered."

Su Yun couldn't help but marvel inwardly.

Even across dozens of meters, even with wind interference, this audio rig from Earth's top labs still reproduced every word flawlessly.

The middle-aged man's voice came through clearly into Su Yun's eardrums, simultaneously transmitted to a command center on the other side of the globe.

"...Based on my deduction, a waste martial soul like Blue Silver Grass simply can't support the intensity of Innate Full Soul Power."

The man's voice paused in the earpiece, as if savoring the thrill of revealing the answer.

"So, you must have another martial soul. And an extremely powerful one at that."

"Kid, you have Twin Martial Souls, don't you?"

In the scene below, Tang San's body stiffened abruptly. That shock was palpable even from this distance.

A full three seconds of silence.

Then, through the earpiece came Tang San's stunned, hoarse reply.

"You... how did you know?"

That admission hit like a depth charge dropped into a calm lake.

Su Yun froze for a moment.

Twin Martial Souls?

A person having two martial souls?

Literally speaking, that should be an extremely rare talent.

And this middle-aged man who looked like a handyman could actually tell at a glance?

Before Su Yun could think it through.

"Beep! Beep! Beep!"

Su Yun's earpiece instantly exploded with noise.

The alarms in the Earth Special Command Intelligence Analysis Group blared in unison.

A biology expert monitoring the feed spoke, his voice twisted with excitement over the channel.

"Incredible! Without X-rays, without MRI, without even any probe detection! Relying solely on theoretical deduction, he can detect a second martial soul hidden inside a human body?"

"That's like a doctor looking at your face without any instruments and knowing you have two stomachs in your belly! It's not scientific! Unless..."

Another professor responsible for Otherworld Logic Construction immediately cut in, his tone fervent.

"Unless he has grasped the underlying code of this world's power system! He has a massive database in his head!"

"001! This is a major discovery!"

Lei Zhan's steady but urgent voice followed.

"Su Yun, pay attention! The expert panel unanimously judges that the middle-aged male downstairs has extremely high research value! He is very likely an academic authority in this world, or some kind of reclusive theoretical grandmaster!"

"Right now, we know nothing about this world's martial soul rules, and this man is our breakthrough for analyzing soul power rules!"

"Hurry! Don't let him get away!"

"Use any method necessary—make contact with him! Extract his theories! He's a walking database!"

Listening to the usually stern and rigid scientists in his earpiece screaming like fangirls, Su Yun glanced somewhat unexpectedly at the unremarkable man downstairs.

He pushed up his sunglasses and looked at the middle-aged man below, who stood with his hands behind his back, gazing at the sky at a 45-degree angle, exuding an aura of "I'm lonely, but I'm awesome."

A damned, bone-deep sense of familiarity instantly pierced Su Yun's memory.

"Academic authority? Theoretical grandmaster?"

Su Yun's mouth twitched.

This was clearly...

A fellow professional!

Before he had transmigrated, to make a living, he had spent a full two years as a top salesperson for health supplements.

At this very moment, Yu Xiaogang's confident expression—the kind that said, "I have no proof, but what I say is the truth"—was exactly like Su Yun back in the day, standing on stage, pitching some quantum metaverse longevity elixir to hundreds of elderly people.

That look, that tone, that rhythm of presenting assumptions as facts...

Too similar.

A long-lost urge to meet his match welled up in Su Yun's heart.

This old brother's skill level wasn't low.

"Since he's a fellow professional, I have to go spar with him."

Su Yun stood up and snapped his fingers at Wang Sheng and the others, who were still wolfing down food.

"Stop eating. Wipe your mouths."

Su Yun pushed up his sunglasses, a sharp glint flashing across the lenses—the thrill of encountering a kindred spirit.

"Follow me downstairs. We're going to meet a master."