The person who had arrived was none other than Su Yuntao, formerly a deacon of the Spirit Hall Branch in Nuoding City! Known as Brother Tao!
"Oh, it seems you know me, little brother?" Su Yuntao looked like a completely different person from before.
He seemed much more spirited and confident.
"I remember now! You're the little brother with Innate Full Soul Power and a Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul! Your name was Tang San, right?" Su Yuntao said, nodding as he suddenly remembered.
Su Yuntao still had a deep impression of Tang San. Innate Full Soul Power, after all...
Back when he was still ignorant, he really had looked down on Tang San's Trash Martial Soul, Blue Silver Grass.
But now...
"Still, even after arriving in a new city, I should introduce myself again." Su Yuntao smiled warmly, clenched one hand into a fist, and thumped it against his chest.
"I'm Su Yuntao, president of the Judgment Society's Suotuo City Branch. It's my great honor to meet you all." As Su Yuntao spoke in a clear voice, his whole demeanor grew much more solemn.
It was as though stating the name of his organization were a deeply solemn matter.
Du Hao looked at him, the corner of his mouth twitching. Why had this living ancestor of an organization come here too?
He'd fled all the way to Suotuo City, and still he ran into this bunch of unlucky bastards.
What a fateful connection... What a damn calamity.
"You—you—you! Why are you here!?" Tang San was both startled and frightened. He couldn't understand how those lunatics from Nuoding City had made their way here!
Dai Mubai, standing nearby, looked over.
"What? You know Brother Tao?" Anyone with eyes could hear the familiarity in his words.
The Judgment Society had arrived in Suotuo City only in the last few years. It was a rather strange organization.
What had really made the group famous was an incident from the year before, involving a man who had bullied a woman.
A drunk mercenary Soul Master had barged into a commoner's home... Luckily, members of the Judgment Society patrolling nearby had noticed what was happening.
What happened next was only to be expected.
The drunk Soul Master was promptly thrown into Suotuo City's prison by a Soul King from the Judgment Society.
That incident had made many people in Suotuo City feel a great deal of goodwill toward the Judgment Society.
That was why Dai Mubai had immediately behaved himself the moment he saw Su Yuntao.
After all, he'd heard that the Judgment Society had a Soul Douluo among its ranks.
He had no idea whether it was true, but it was best not to invite trouble. Their academy's strongest member was only a Soul Saint. They couldn't afford to provoke the Society...
"Sorry, little brother Tang San. We may not be able to enforce the rules as strictly here as we did before," Su Yuntao said reassuringly.
"Although you have to pay tuition to study here, you can apply to us for financial aid.
"Once we've fully taken over this place, you'll be able to study for free." Su Yuntao clearly hadn't understood why Tang San was afraid.
He thought Tang San was worried about the tuition fees.
After all, Nuoding City was the Judgment Society's headquarters. It was remote, and nobody kept an eye on it, so it was only natural that things were stricter after the Society took over.
The outside world still hadn't accepted their ideals, so they had to keep a lower profile.
Besides, Suotuo City was the most prosperous and important city in the Balak Kingdom, one of the four kingdoms of the Heaven Dou Empire. The Judgment Society hadn't yet fully established itself here.
As he listened to Su Yuntao's reassurance, Tang San's mouth twitched. He was practically on the verge of tears.
Was that what he meant?
"All right, enough pleasantries. What was going on here just now?" After reassuring Tang San, Su Yuntao turned a sharp gaze toward the hotel manager.
"Nothing, nothing!" The hotel manager quickly waved his hands, then explained, "We accidentally gave the room Young Master Dai had reserved to someone else. I was just about to offer ten times the price in compensation."
Hearing this, Su Yuntao nodded. "That's reasonable. And you?"
When Su Yuntao looked at him, Dai Mubai quickly explained, "I said I was willing to pay double as compensation! If that doesn't work, then forget it. I don't need the room!"
Seeing that neither of them had tried to force a deal, Su Yuntao turned around.
He looked at Du Hao and the others, his voice warm. "May I ask if what they've said is true? If you have any concerns, there's no need to be afraid. The Judgment Society will take full responsibility for this matter!"
As he spoke, he handed over a card engraved with a balance scale, placing it in Du Hao's hand.
"If you encounter any threats, we'll investigate them to the very end!" Su Yuntao once again clenched his fist and thumped it against his chest. "We'll clear away every obstacle! We'll judge all corruption!"
He stayed a little longer.
After repeatedly confirming the details and making sure no one had been treated unfairly, Su Yuntao soon left.
Everyone present let out a collective sigh of relief.
"He finally left. That was hilarious." The hotel manager wiped the sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief.
Then he smiled at the group.
"Young brother, why don't you discuss it among yourselves?" The hotel manager pulled a large bag of gold coins from his robes. "I'll offer twenty times the price this time! How about it?"
"Forget it, forget it. I don't want it anymore." After what had just happened, Dai Mubai had lost all interest.
After whispering together for a few moments, the two twin sisters went back the way they had come.
They still received some pocket money, though.
They were even allowed to keep what they'd been given earlier, and the two twins left happily.
"Well, all right." The hotel manager had nothing to say and left, relieved.
Just as Dai Mubai was about to leave too,
Xiao Wu suddenly muttered behind them, "Brother Hao, why don't we just skip going to Shrek? I feel like it won't be long before this place becomes just like Nuoding City..."
The stress of studying in Nuoding City had scared the little rabbit out of her wits.
If Du Hao hadn't kept the Hypnosis Phone on hand to counter-hypnotize those teachers, she'd probably have turned into a dazed little bunny by now.
Du Hao, who'd heard her, was considering it too. He really didn't feel like staying here.
He shouldn't have been greedy for that five-hundred-year Soul Ring in the first place. And he shouldn't have implanted such absurd ideas in those people. Now he was starting to be afraid of them himself.
He'd only hypnotized fewer than sixty people back then, but the scale things had reached now even frightened him, their creator.
He regretted it with all his heart!
"What do you think, Tang San?" Du Hao turned around to ask, only to find empty space.
Tang San had already gone back to his room. He wasn't where he'd been a moment ago.
"Where'd he go?"
"He went upstairs to his room just now," Zhu Zhuqing said honestly, arms folded across her chest.
"In that case..."
Before Du Hao could say anything,
Dai Mubai came back from nearby and interrupted him. "Wait a moment, brother! I heard you're going to Shrek too?"
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