"Seriously, could I be any unluckier?"
"I'm really going to have to butt heads with that old witch?"
Chu Feng left the admissions office, feeling thoroughly frustrated.
That old witch Zhou Yi really was a menace. Her teaching methods and abilities were exactly like Yu Xiaogang's, just as Chu Feng remembered them—and she was even more ruthless than Yu Xiaogang.
She was nothing more than a useless Soul Emperor. If her teaching methods were so amazing, why hadn't she used them on herself and become a Titled Douluo by now?
It was nothing but good luck. The classes she taught happened to have a lot of talented students who could withstand her training methods.
Those talented students were already hardworking, with first-rate gifts. In the end, they all became part of Zhou Yi's track record, while she never said a word about what happened to the students she expelled.
Everyone who made it into Shrek was a genius, but being expelled from Shrek became a stain on those students' lives. The impact on their futures was almost devastating.
You could say that Zhou Yi single-handedly destroyed the futures of dozens of geniuses every year, but the original story never said a word about it.
If she didn't have Fan Yu backing her, a toxic teacher like Zhou Yi would have been kicked out of Shrek long ago.
Fan Yu might have been a Level 8 Soul Engineer, but Chu Feng thought he was useless too. He was just the tallest dwarf in the pile.
The Three Great Empires had a combined population of over a billion, dozens or even hundreds of times that of the Sun Moon Empire. Even if the odds of a Soul Tool genius were only one in a million—or even one in ten million—they could still produce plenty of exceptional Soul Engineers.
But Shrek never took them seriously. Most of its teachers even led the way in opposing Soul Tools, brainwashing talented students and belittling them.
So Shrek only recruited from within the academy. In the end, it picked the tallest dwarf in the pile, spent countless resources to barely train a single Level 8 Soul Engineer, then treated him like a treasure. Only Shrek could pull off something that stupid.
If not for Huo Gua's luck holding it up, Shrek would have been blown to pieces sooner or later.
"Forget it. I'll deal with all that later. Getting enrolled comes first..."
Chu Feng pushed aside his jumbled thoughts and shook his head helplessly.
He glanced at his dormitory key. Room 113...
"This room's really close to Huo Gua's..." Chu Feng muttered.
But then again, they were in the same class, so it made sense for their dorms to be close.
Following the signs around the academy, Chu Feng soon found the dormitory area.
The dormitory grounds were enormous. The buildings were marked in four colors—white, yellow, purple, and black—representing the areas where students from different year groups lived.
Chu Feng reached the entrance to the white dormitory building and, just as expected, saw an old man with white hair and a white beard sitting in a recliner.
The old man wore a gray cloth robe. There were enough wrinkles on his face to crush dozens of flies at once. His eyes were cloudy, his lids drooped, and he looked like he was on his last legs. Sunlight fell just right between the buildings, bathing him in warmth. He seemed quite comfortable, half-reclined in his chair.
Most of the new students didn't recognize him, but Chu Feng knew who he was. This old man was the strongest person in Shrek. He might not have much longer to live, and half his body was crippled, but his combat strength still stood at the peak of the continent.
Mu En seemed to notice Chu Feng looking at him. His drooping eyelids slowly lifted, and he turned his gaze toward Chu Feng. Then it was as if he had noticed something. A rare glint of light flickered in his dim eyes.
"Hello, old sir~ I'm Chu Feng, a new student at the academy~" Chu Feng noticed Mu En looking at him and flashed him a bright smile.
He wasn't worried about Mu En seeing through his origins. His transformation came from a Human Transformation Card awarded by the system. Not even that old man Mu En—let alone that damn Tang San himself, if he came down from the heavens—could tell where Chu Feng came from.
Chu Feng didn't have a bad impression of Mu En. At least the old man wasn't so rigid; he knew how to adapt. Chu Feng was a model kid who respected his elders and cared for the young, so he could certainly show the man some basic courtesy.
"Mm, very good, very good. What a fine young man."
"Come, let me see your dormitory key and Freshman Badge."
Mu En gave him a warm smile.
Of course, if Mu En knew why Chu Feng had come to Shrek, he probably wouldn't be smiling so warmly.
Chu Feng handed over the key and badge. Mu En checked them, then nodded. "Mm, your dormitory is the eighth room on the left on the first floor. The fourth floor is the girls' dormitory. You're not allowed up there. If you're caught, you'll be expelled."
"What if a girl asked to live in my dormitory?" Chu Feng asked curiously.
Mu En: ?
"Ha ha ha~ Just kidding~ I'll be off now, old sir~"
Seeing Mu En's face darken, Chu Feng promptly made himself scarce.
He wasn't worried about Mu En attacking him. If word got out, Mu En would lose face and his reputation in his old age...
Chu Feng reached his dormitory and opened the door. A musty stench immediately hit him, mixed with a faint smell of mildew. It wasn't pleasant.
There were two beds inside. They looked rather old and were covered in dust, as if nobody had lived there for a while.
"Shrek really is stingy. The dorms don't even have private bathrooms~"
Chu Feng shook his head, speechless. No wonder Wang Dong'er had bathed in the dorm. He just wondered where she went to use the toilet. Surely there were stalls in the bathrooms, right? They couldn't be open...
Shrek was pretty generous when it came to cultivation, but it didn't want to spend money on basic facilities. It was probably another case of "toughening up the students." Old-fashioned and brainless. Chu Feng didn't want to comment.
"Click—"
Just then, a soft sound came from next door.
Chu Feng turned around and saw a boy step out of Dormitory 108.
The boy looked around eleven or twelve, with a well-proportioned build. He wore a well-fitting new student uniform, and his short black hair made him look neat and tidy. His handsome little face carried a determination beyond his years.
Though Chu Feng had never met him, he recognized him at a glance. This was Huo Yuhao, the chosen one of this world!
Huo Yuhao had noticed Chu Feng too. A hint of confusion flashed through his eyes. For some reason, he felt that this new student in front of him was hostile toward him...
He also found the guy hard to like. He'd never met him before, but some inexplicable feeling told him that this person meant him no good.
Though he felt uneasy, he didn't like causing trouble. He quickly looked away and turned to leave.
It was lunchtime. Eating came first.
"Hey, you! Stop!"
Just then, a sharp shout came from behind Huo Yuhao.
Huo Yuhao turned around and saw that the boy who had just come out was the one calling to him.
"What is it?"
Huo Yuhao frowned slightly as he asked.
He really didn't want to deal with this guy. For some reason, he had a nagging feeling that if he spent too much time around him, he'd be in for a world of trouble.
Seeing this, Chu Feng hurried over to Huo Yuhao. Then he looked down his nose at him, wearing an arrogant, condescending expression, and gave a sinister laugh. "Heh heh heh, I've got my eye on your dorm. Hand over the key. From now on, your dorm belongs to me."
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