The Bizarre Cat-and-Mouse Game

Over the next three days, a bizarre game of cat and mouse played out within the Nuoding Primary Soul Master Academy.

Every morning at dawn, the pot-bellied instructor Zhao Dabao would sneak out of his dormitory like a thief, skulking toward the special locations designated by his system to check in.

Su Yu, accompanied by Xiao Wu, always managed to stay one step ahead, appearing precisely within Zhao Dabao's blind spot.

On the second day at noon, outside an abandoned warehouse behind the academy.

The place was usually deserted, surrounded by weeds that grew as tall as a man.

Zhao Dabao pushed open the rusted iron door, panting heavily. A cloud of dust rushed out to meet him, sending him into a fit of coughing.

He covered his nose and stepped inside, standing in the center of the cobweb-filled warehouse, his small eyes gleaming with anticipation.

"System, check in!"

Zhao Dabao shouted impatiently in his mind.

Behind a dilapidated wooden crate outside the warehouse, Su Yu and Xiao Wu crouched side by side.

A golden light flashed in Su Yu's eyes as he fully activated the Eye of Truth.

His gaze pierced through the thin sheet-metal wall, locking directly onto the shimmering golden system panel hovering above Zhao Dabao's head.

[Check-in successful! Reward: one bottle of Intermediate Soul Power Potion. Has been dispensed into the host's pants pocket.]

"Work time."

Su Yu's lips curled upward as a mass of gray mist condensed in his right palm.

The Conceptual Eraser appeared in his hand.

From over ten meters away, Su Yu channeled his Innate Full Soul Power and gave a light swipe toward the panel that only he could see.

The four characters "host's pants pocket" were instantly swallowed by the gray mist, dissipating into specks of golden light.

Using his finger as a pen, Su Yu fluidly wrote four new characters: "Su Yu's pocket."

Almost at the same moment, Su Yu felt his jacket pocket grow slightly heavy.

He reached in and felt a cool, small glass bottle resting firmly in his palm.

The bottle contained a translucent blue liquid, radiating pure soul power fluctuations.

Inside the warehouse, Zhao Dabao reached into his pants pocket with a look of ecstasy, ready to pull out the Intermediate Soul Power Potion and admire it.

However, after fumbling around for a long time, he felt nothing but a clump of lint.

The smile on Zhao Dabao's face froze instantly. He turned both pockets inside out in desperation, even checking his crotch area.

Empty.

"Ah—where is my potion!"

A shrill, pig-slaughtering scream erupted from the abandoned warehouse, startling the birds in the nearby woods into flight.

Behind the wooden crate, Xiao Wu looked at the blue potion that had appeared out of thin air in Su Yu's hand, then listened to Zhao Dabao's desperate wails from the warehouse, and couldn't help but gasp.

"Your methods are too overbearing."

Xiao Wu lowered her voice. "He worked so hard to come here and check in, only for everything to end up in your hands. You're going to drive this fatty insane."

"This is called the rational utilization of resources."

Su Yu put the potion away, stood up, and brushed the dust off his clothes.

On the third day at dusk, the academy kitchen.

It was time to prepare dinner, and the kitchen was bustling with activity.

Zhao Dabao used the excuse of inspecting the food to squeeze into the smoke-filled kitchen, standing in a corner piled high with Chinese cabbage.

"System, check in quickly!"

Zhao Dabao was drenched in sweat, praying silently that nothing would go wrong today.

In the shadows outside the kitchen window, Su Yu repeated his previous maneuver.

[Check-in successful! Reward: five hundred Gold Soul Coin. Has been dispensed into the host's hands.]

Su Yu waved the Conceptual Eraser again, directly changing "host's hands" to "Su Yu's hands."

The next second, a heavy money bag appeared out of thin air in Su Yu's hand.

The weight of the five hundred Gold Soul Coin caused his wrist to sink slightly.

The crisp clinking of metal from the money bag sounded like heavenly music to Su Yu's ears.

Inside the kitchen, Zhao Dabao held his hands out against his chest, ready to catch his reward.

He waited for a long time, but his hands held nothing but air.

"My Gold Soul Coin! Five hundred Gold Soul Coin!"

Zhao Dabao completely lost his cool. He began rummaging through the corner like a madman, tossing the pile of cabbage everywhere.

"Instructor Zhao, have you lost your mind!"

The head chef was a hot-tempered, stout woman. Seeing Zhao Dabao causing a scene in her kitchen, she grabbed a large, greasy iron ladle covered in vegetable scraps and swung it straight at his head.

"Get out! Stop getting in the way!"

Zhao Dabao was struck on the head by an iron ladle, letting out a miserable shriek as he scrambled out of the kitchen in a sorry state.

His body was covered in vegetable scraps and grease, emitting a foul stench of swill that caused passing students to cover their noses and dodge away.

At dusk, in Dorm Seven.

Su Yu sat on his bed, splitting the bottle of Intermediate Soul Power Potion he had intercepted into two clean, small porcelain vials.

He handed one vial to Tang Wu, who was sitting beside him, and tossed the other to Xiao Wu, who was standing opposite them.

"Drink it."

Su Yu said to Xiao Wu.

Tang Wu did not hesitate at all; she took the porcelain vial, tilted her head back, and drank it down.

Xiao Wu looked at the vial in her hand, sensing the pure energy within, and also tilted her head back to drain it in one gulp.

The potion melted the moment it touched their tongues, transforming into a warm current that surged into their limbs and bones.

Tang Wu and Xiao Wu immediately closed their eyes, sitting cross-legged on the bed to begin absorbing the medicinal power.

After only the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, the soul power fluctuations within the two girls had increased significantly.

That feeling of overflowing soul power meant they were only one step away from the ten-level threshold.

With just a few more days of cultivation, they would be able to go hunt for their first soul ring.

"Brother Yu, I feel like my whole body is full of strength."

Tang Wu opened her eyes, her small face flushed and full of pleasant surprise.

Su Yu smiled and patted her head, then pulled the money bag filled with five hundred Gold Soul Coin from his robes, weighing it in his hand and making it jingle.

"Let's go, I'll take you two out for a good meal."

Su Yu stood up.

Half an hour later, inside a private room at the most luxurious restaurant in Nuoding City.

A table full of sumptuous dishes was laid out before them: golden, crispy roasted suckling pig, tender and flavorful braised pork, and various precious game meats.

Tang Wu rarely even ate meat back in Holy Soul Village, and seeing this table of food made her large eyes shine, yet she still obediently waited for Su Yu to pick up his chopsticks first.

Xiao Wu didn't have so many reservations; she grabbed a large chicken leg and began gnawing on it, her mouth covered in grease.

"Following you is just too awesome."

Xiao Wu said, her words muffled as she chewed the chicken, "That fatty worked so hard to sign in, only for it all to become our rations. I absolutely love this kind of reaping rewards without sowing!"

Su Yu placed a piece of braised pork into Tang Wu's bowl and calmly took a sip of tea.

Meanwhile, the scene shifted back to the academy playground.

Night had fallen, and the playground was empty.

Zhao Dabao looked much more haggard.

The sparse hair on his head had fallen out until only a few strands remained at the edges, fluttering desolately in the night wind.

He stood alone in the center of the playground, neurotically biting his fingernails until they bled, yet he seemed unable to feel the pain, his eyes filled with deep despair.

For three consecutive days of signing in, the rewards had all vanished into thin air.

The feeling of watching a mountain of gold and silver right in front of him but being unable to touch it was worse than death.

Looking at the Sign-in Reward Panel in mid-air that had once again come up empty, Zhao Dabao's psychological defenses completely collapsed.

"Liars... they're all liars!"

Zhao Dabao's knees suddenly gave way, and he fell heavily onto the cold bluestone floor.

He tilted his head back and let out a shrill, mournful howl toward the night sky.

"The system is a liar! Give me back my Marrow Cleansing Pill! Give me back my Gold Soul Coin!"

His voice was thick with sobbing, echoing through the quiet campus and causing students and instructors in the surrounding dormitories to poke their heads out and watch.