A Humble Dormitory, The Sudden Disappearance of the Feeling of Being Watched

Walking all the way to the end of the corridor to Dorm 110, Huo Yuhao took out the key engraved with the number, aligned it with the keyhole, and gave it a gentle turn.

"Click."

With a slightly stiff, muffled sound, the lock opened.

He pushed the door open, and a stuffy, turbid air heavy with the scent of dust immediately rushed out to meet him, making one instinctively want to hold their breath.

Huo Yuhao stepped aside, not rushing to enter.

After waiting a few seconds to let the indoor and outdoor air circulate slightly, he took a deep breath, held it, and dashed into the room in one stride, heading straight for the closed window with a clear objective.

The window was an old-fashioned wooden latch type, covered in a thick layer of dust.

Huo Yuhao quickly pulled the latch and pushed the two window panels outward with force—

"Creak—"

A breeze carrying the fresh scent of grass and trees immediately surged in, stirring up the settled dust and forming shafts of light in the sunshine.

Only then did Huo Yuhao release his held breath, standing by the window and taking a few deep breaths of fresh air.

Taking advantage of the ventilation, he swept his gaze over this place that would be his shelter for the foreseeable future.

The dormitory was very small, visually estimated to be no more than ten square meters, and the layout was clear at a glance—one could even say it was excessively crude.

Most of the room's space was occupied by two single wooden beds placed side-by-side against the wall; the beds were completely bare, consisting only of plain wooden boards covered in an even layer of dust.

Beyond that, there was an old wooden desk against the wall in the center of the room, its surface equally dusty.

Two gray-green iron wardrobes with rusted surfaces stood in the corner on the other side.

A simple glass-shaded pendant lamp hung from the center of the ceiling.

On the wall, near the door, were a few inconspicuous metal protrusions.

That was all there was.

Huo Yuhao's gaze landed on the lamp and the metal protrusions on the wall. In his past life at the Sun Moon Empire, he had learned quite a bit about Soul Tools from Kong Deming, and his own Soul Tool rank had reached level ten, just like Kong Deming's.

He recognized the lamp as a most basic Soul Tool, which required soul power to be injected through the metal protrusions on the wall to be lit.

This was likely the only thing in this crude dormitory that had anything to do with "Soul Masters" or "high technology."

It is exactly the same as the "original work" environment described in Wang Teng's memories...

Huo Yuhao's brows knit together imperceptibly, a strange sense of absurdity welling up in his heart.

In his past life, when he stepped through the gates of Shrek Academy, he had come with the intent to destroy it; he could not have possibly gone out of his way to inspect the freshman dorms, so he naturally had no way of knowing their true state.

Although Wang Teng's memories provided many details of the "original work," that memory itself had a suspicious origin, and the "original" plot was vastly different from the life he had personally experienced, so it could only serve as a reference and should never be trusted entirely.

In his understanding and logical deduction, Shrek Academy, as the continent's recognized premier Soul Master institution, possessed profound foundations and staggering wealth, and was a place that countless high-ranking officials and noble clans scrambled to send their children to.

Logically speaking, even if they didn't provide luxurious and comfortable accommodations for freshmen, they should at least ensure basic cleanliness, spaciousness, and complete facilities, right?

This was not just a matter of face; it also concerned the students' cultivation state and the academy's overall image.

Yet, this dormitory, which had been gathering dust for at least a year or two, with its crude, dilapidated furniture and cramped space, was truly far removed from the treatment he had imagined for freshmen at the "Continent's Number One Academy."

Could it be that the vast funding of Shrek Academy... has been largely embezzled and squandered by the academy's own top brass?

Otherwise, why would the dorms prepared for freshmen—who might become the pillars of the academy—be so... shabby?

A slightly sarcastic thought flashed through Huo Yuhao's mind.

He recalled the student dorms at the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Master Academy from his past life, which were well-equipped, clean, bright, and even featured basic auxiliary soul cultivation devices; the two were worlds apart.

He never expected that the actual situation of the Shrek Academy freshman dorms would truly be as described in that absurd "original work" in Wang Teng's memories—so... unconcerned with details.

He shook his head, temporarily suppressing these irrelevant speculations.

Huo Yuhao rolled up his sleeves, preparing to start cleaning.

Since he was here, he would make the best of it; the poor environment had little impact on him, as he had experienced even harsher living conditions in his past life.

However, just as he was about to head toward the corner to look for any potential cleaning tools, his movements stopped abruptly without warning!

Huo Yuhao suddenly raised his head, his gaze seemingly piercing through the low ceiling of the dormitory and casting toward a point in the void high above.

For the first time, the calmness on his face was replaced by an extremely subtle sense of shock and gravity.

What is going on? Alarm bells rang in Huo Yuhao's heart; a strange sensation of being freed from some invisible shackle was clearly transmitted to his perception. Why... has that faint, yet ever-present feeling of being watched... suddenly disappeared?

Ever since he had woken up from his rebirth, the moment he regained consciousness in this eleven-year-old body, an extremely subtle, faint, yet truly existing sense of being observed had been coiled around the edges of his soul perception like the finest spider silk.

That feeling did not come from any specific person or direction; it was more like a detached "attention" diffused throughout heaven and earth, originating from a higher-level existence.

It held no malice, nor did it have any substantial power to interfere; it was merely "watching," like a god looking down upon the masses, recording the trajectory of fate.

Only by relying on the extraordinary keenness of his Divine Origin Realm spiritual power from his past life could Huo Yuhao barely capture this almost imperceptible "gaze."

He had long since judged in his heart: this was most likely Sea God Tang San, or a portion of his divine consciousness left in the lower realm, performing routine "monitoring" and "recording" of the "Child of Destiny," Huo Yuhao, to ensure that he, this key "pawn," was born and grew according to the established "script" without any unplanned "accidents."

The existence of this feeling of being watched, while making Huo Yuhao extremely uncomfortable—like having thorns on his back—also confirmed from the side that his rebirth had indeed attracted the attention of certain "existences," and reminded him that he must be cautious at all times and not make moves that deviated too far from the "original trajectory," at least not until he possessed sufficient power to protect himself.

Yet, just now, just as he stepped into Dorm 110, pushed the door open, the dust surged out, and he opened the window to ventilate—in that brief moment, that feeling of being watched, which had persisted for days, had vanished without warning, completely!

It was as if the third eye that had been hanging above his head had suddenly closed.

The world remained the same, yet some invisible "tether" or "focal point" seemed to have been quietly shifted away.

This sudden sense of "freedom," rather than making Huo Yuhao feel at ease, caused the alarm bells in his heart to ring out sharply!

Why had it vanished? Was Tang San's attention temporarily diverted by something more important?

Or was it that... some action he had just taken, or the very act of entering Shrek Academy itself, had triggered some sort of "mechanism" that caused this basic, wide-area surveillance to be temporarily lifted?

Or perhaps... an even worse scenario?

Did the disappearance of this feeling of being watched mean that he had been identified as a "variable outside the script," and that a higher-level, more direct "cleanup" program was about to be initiated?

Countless possibilities flashed through Huo Yuhao's mind, each pointing toward a different crisis and corresponding strategy.

He stood rooted to the spot, motionless, pushing his Spirit Detection to its absolute limit to meticulously perceive every trace of energy flow, every shift in light, and even the trajectories of the tiniest dust motes in the air.

At the same time, he exercised even greater caution in concealing his aura, restraining the "unity of heaven and man" essence brought about by the Dao Heaven Technique as much as possible, while maintaining his spiritual power at a level that was "outstanding" but not "outrageous" for someone who had just broken through to the Spirit Master rank.