Played by Big Money

The day after returning from Soul Hunting.

The large lecture hall on the eastern side of Notting Junior Soul Master Academy was buzzing with voices.

Today was the first Public Meditation Class for the first-year students.

Not only had all the new students shown up, but quite a few upperclassmen had also come to sit in and watch.

The moment Su Yun entered the classroom with a group of Work-Study Students, the noisy room fell silent for a second.

At the front of the group, Su Yun wore casual clothes, Tactical Boots, and his signature Sunglasses perched on the bridge of his nose.

The mysterious air about him, so out of place in this world, instantly drew most of the classroom's attention.

"Look! The guy wearing black glasses is Su Yun! The first-year boss!"

"He's so handsome, and that vibe is unreal!"

As for Tang San, walking behind him, he looked a little better than before, but he was completely overshadowed by Su Yun. If you didn't look closely, you might not even notice him.

The group strolled over and took the prime seats by the window.

As soon as he sat down, Su Yun glanced through his Sunglasses at Xiao Wu, who was lying facedown on her desk.

That glance reminded him of Captain Lei's encrypted report from late last night.

According to the report, the frequency of Xiao Wu's energy was very similar to that of Soul Beasts!

Su Yun's eyes narrowed slightly behind his Sunglasses.

Looks like Xiao Wu is even more complicated than I thought.

"Xiao Wu."

Su Yun tapped the desk lightly with one finger, making a steady "tok, tok" sound.

"Hm? What is it, Boss Su?"

Xiao Wu blinked her big eyes and innocently offered him half an orange.

Su Yun took the orange, leaned forward slightly, and lowered his voice so only the two of them could hear.

"Tang San and I went to Soul Hunting Forest. We nearly worked ourselves to death just to get our Soul Rings. But you've spent the past few days eating and drinking well at the academy without even stepping outside..."

"How did you become a One-Ring Soul Master too?"

"Huh? Well..."

Xiao Wu froze, her hand halfway through peeling the orange.

Her two long ears, which had been twitching happily, drooped at once. Her eyes darted around, and a fine sheen of sweat appeared on her forehead.

"Well... I..."

Xiao Wu stammered for a while. In the end, she steeled herself, slapped the orange peel onto the desk, and put on a righteous expression.

"Oh, it was just luck! Pure luck!"

She proceeded to make things up with a straight face. "A couple of days ago, I was taking a walk on Back Mountain. I got tired, so I found a tree stump and sat down to rest."

"Then a Hundred-Year Soul Beast that was badly injured and couldn't see very well suddenly came crashing over. It slammed into the tree stump beside me and died! Its Soul Ring just happened to pop out!"

As she spoke, Xiao Wu lifted her chin proudly, her rabbit ears swaying back and forth.

"Boss Su, I'm pretty lucky, huh?"

"Ohhh..."

Su Yun drew out the sound and nodded meaningfully.

"So that's what happened. Soul Beasts have gotten so conscientious these days. They deliver right to your door and even take care of the slaughtering."

He didn't call her out. Instead, he reached over and ruffled Xiao Wu's head, messing up her meticulously braided scorpion plait.

"Fine. Since you came into a windfall, make good use of it. If something like that happens again, remember to call me."

"Hey! Don't mess up my hair!"

Seeing that Su Yun wasn't pressing her, Xiao Wu breathed a sigh of relief and quickly slapped his hand away.

Just then, a murderous aura as tangible as a vengeful spirit crawling out of the abyss clung to Su Yun's back.

The feeling was so intense that it even made him physically uncomfortable.

He turned around instinctively.

In a dark corner at the back of the classroom sat a human mountain of flesh.

He was an upperclassman in an expensive uniform, with such a round body that you could barely tell where his neck ended and his chin began.

Most striking of all was the pair of tiny, beady eyes set in his shiny, oily, pancake-like face.

At that moment, those beady eyes were fixed on Su Yun, bloodshot and furious. His teeth ground together with a grating sound. He wasn't looking at an underclassman so much as a sworn enemy who had murdered his father and stolen his wife.

"Wang Sheng." Su Yun looked baffled and pointed behind him.

"Who's that ball of lard? Why does he look like he's been constipated for three days and someone just stole his toilet paper? Did I dig up his family's graves or something?"

Wang Sheng glanced back, immediately shrank his neck, and leaned close to Su Yun to whisper, "Godfather, that's Luo Bu. He's the third-year king of the school."

"Pfft—"

Su Yun nearly spat out the water he'd just sipped. He stared at Wang Sheng in shock.

"Watch your language in public! What kind of 'king' did you say he was?"

"No, not that!"

Wang Sheng turned red with panic and gestured frantically.

"I mean he's the tyrant of the third year!"

Just then, Xiao Wu suddenly leaned over from the side and asked innocently, blinking her big eyes.

"Your aunt's husband? Then who's his wife?"

She poked Wang Sheng in the arm, her expression both earnest and confused.

"If he's got an aunt's husband, then he must have an aunt, right? Are they a couple?"

"Cough, cough, cough—!!" Tang San beside them couldn't hold it in anymore and started coughing violently behind his hand.

Wang Sheng broke into a cold sweat and kept clasping his hands, begging them to stop.

"Oh, my dear auntie! Godfather! Godmother! Please stop messing with me! I meant the 'king' in 'school king' and the 'tyrant' in 'tyrant'! It means he's the top dog in his year!"

"Tch, boring."

Xiao Wu pouted and glanced disdainfully at the fat guy in the back, muttering, "He looks like a puffed-up steamed bun. Some tyrant. More like a turtle."

Su Yun tried not to laugh and brought the conversation back on track.

"Enough, enough. So this... Luo the Turtle—does his family have a lot of power?"

"They're doing all right."

Wang Sheng wiped his sweat and explained, "He's not especially talented, but his family is loaded. They're part of Notting City's nobility. He usually throws his weight around at the academy."

"Nobility?"

Su Yun raised an eyebrow and thoughtfully glanced at the fat guy, who was still glaring at him through gritted teeth.

"Then why's he glaring at me? Tang San and I only got back from Soul Hunting Forest yesterday. We've never even met, have we?"

"Who knows..."

Wang Sheng looked just as confused. He secretly glanced at Su Yun and ventured a guess.

"Maybe... he's jealous because you're so handsome, Godfather?"

"I heard he's struck out with several girls at the academy. They all thought he was greasy. Maybe he's got serious looks anxiety and seeing a handsome guy like you sets him off."

"Hmm..."

Su Yun stroked his chin and nodded with deep conviction.

"That's possible. It's only natural to be jealous of my peerless looks. Being handsome is a sin, after all."

Xiao Wu giggled beside him and gave half of her peeled orange to Su Yun. She couldn't resist adding, "Bro, look at his face—it's gone purple with anger. Now he looks even more like a purple sweet potato bun."

However, Su Yun, who was chatting and laughing, had no idea what had happened to the young master Luo, whom they were calling Purple Sweet Potato Bun.

Time turned back to yesterday morning.

Notting City's landmark building: the top-floor office of Flavor Gathering Pavilion, the city's grandest restaurant.

The atmosphere was so oppressive it was almost suffocating.

Flavor Gathering Pavilion had once been packed with guests and raked in money every day. Now it was deserted, with more servers than customers in the dining hall.

"Son, the times... they're changing."

Luo Wanjin, the leading figure in Notting City's restaurant trade, paced back and forth around his office with his hair in disarray.

He looked dazed, clutching a Nezha Burger he had just bought across the street. His eyes were full of fear.

He looked as if he weren't holding food at all, but a high-level Soul Tool that could explode at any moment.

"Dad, isn't business just a little slow?"

Luo Bu watched his father acting like a madman, frantic with worry.

"Let's cut our prices and compete with them! Flavor Gathering Pavilion has been around for ages..."

"Fool!!"

Luo Wanjin spun around. His bloodshot eyes fixed on his son, and his voice trembled.

"Cut our prices? You think this is just an ordinary fight for business? Wrong! Completely wrong!"

Pointing at the burger in his hand, Luo Wanjin roared at the top of his lungs.

"Look! Look closely! The fluffiness of this bread, the meat patty's perfect circular shape... This isn't something an ordinary cook could make!"

With trembling fingers, Luo Wanjin tore open the burger wrapper and held the patty up to the light, terror in his eyes.

"There isn't a trace of Soul Power in it, yet it makes people feel incredibly happy... Son, do you understand what that means?"

Luo Bu shook his head blankly, the fat on his face wobbling with it. "It... it means it tastes good?"

"Shallow!!"

Luo Wanjin slammed his hand on the table, rattling the teacups. Then he lowered his voice and spoke in a chilling tone.

"It means this is a Soul Skill! And a high-level Soul Skill that has returned to its natural state!"

"I suspect the force behind these Nezha Burgers isn't an ordinary business rival at all..."

Luo Wanjin took a deep breath and voiced his terrifying theory.

"It could very well be a reclusive Food System Soul Douluo! Maybe even a Titled Douluo pulling the strings!!"

"A Soul... Soul Douluo?!"

Luo Bu nearly slid off the sofa in fright. His beady eyes widened, and his voice cracked.

"Dad, are you saying... some big shot at level eighty came to Notting City to sell burgers for fun?!"

"That's exactly what makes them brilliant! It's called hiding in plain sight and crushing people from a higher dimension!"

Luo Wanjin's expression was solemn, as though he'd seen the truth of the world.

"How much can an ordinary cook make in a day? This mighty expert can produce hundreds of burgers in a minute! They're using their Eighth Soul Skill to corrupt the taste buds of Notting City's people and destroy our traditional food culture! This is a grand scheme on a scale that shakes the heavens!!"

The more Luo Wanjin spoke, the more despairing he became. He collapsed into his chair, clutching his forehead and groaning in anguish.

"Unfortunately, your old man's past his prime. I've seen through their scheme, but I don't have the courage to flip the table..."

"Against a top expert who can conjure a storm of food with a wave of the hand, ordinary merchants like us are as fragile as ants..."

"Dad..."

Luo Bu looked at his father's aged, despairing back. Hearing that this was the work of a Soul Douluo, his fear reached its peak.

But then a more burning urge surged within him: the urge to slay a god!

So what if it was a Soul Douluo?

Even gods had weaknesses!

"Hmph. Strong as they may be, everything has its limits!"

Luo Wanjin suddenly looked up and gave a sinister smile, like an ordinary man who had discovered a god's weakness in the depths of despair.

"I've studied them. They serve their food extremely quickly. One burger a minute—what does that tell you?"

Luo Bu was confused. "That... their Soul Power is deep?"

"Idiot! It means they're dirty! It means they're arrogant!"

Luo Wanjin declared firmly, his eyes glimmering with wisdom.

"Think about it. Would a lofty Soul Douluo stoop to washing vegetables? Would they scrub plates? Of course not! They think that's work for the lower classes!"

"To achieve maximum speed and profit, they've definitely skipped the washing! That's the arrogance of the strong! That's their Achilles' heel!"

Though Luo Bu couldn't understand all the strange things his father was babbling about, he got the general idea.

He jumped to his feet, his whole body of fat trembling.

"Dad, I get it! Even a Titled Douluo will have to close up shop if there are cockroaches in the kitchen or their vegetables aren't clean!"

"Exactly! That's our one chance to fight back!"

Luo Wanjin clenched his fist, then immediately relaxed it and slumped in defeat.

"But I don't dare go... What if I anger that venerable one?"

Seeing his father's cowardly state, Luo Bu's blood burned with fervor.

Something called a sense of family duty surged in his fat-filled chest.

Dad, you're afraid to do it, so I'll do it for you!

For the glory of Flavor Gathering Pavilion!

For food safety in Notting City!

Even if my opponent is a Soul Douluo, I'll expose the true face of that unscrupulous expert!

Yesterday at noon, the sun blazed overhead.

A long line had formed outside the Nezha Burger shop, and its aroma drifted halfway down the street.

Suddenly, noisy footsteps shattered the peace.

Luo Bu stormed into the shop with two uniformed Sheriffs, both wearing stern expressions.

"Stop! Everyone, stop! Don't eat!"

Luo Bu kicked open the half-shut door, the fat on his body jiggling violently from the momentum.

He pointed at the customers in line and shouted righteously:

"The food you're eating is all garbage! This place is seriously unsanitary! This meat came from a dead pig! These vegetables weren't washed properly! Eating this stuff could kill you!"

Wang Er, the manager, had been busy behind the counter. He froze for a moment, then set down the spatula in his hand. Su Yun wasn't at the shop, so Wang Er was in charge.

"Listen, young master, you can eat whatever you like, but you can't go around making things up."

Wang Er wiped his hands, suddenly anxious at being slandered.

"Making things up? You won't believe it until you're staring at your own coffin!"

Luo Bu sneered, his beady eyes glinting with the pleasure of revenge. He waved to the Sheriff behind him.

"Uncles, inspect the place! Give it a thorough inspection! Especially the bathroom and the kitchen. They're bound to be crawling with bacteria! I'll make sure they shut this place down for good!"