Went Sneaking Around Last Night?

"No, I went to bed late last night and overslept today," Wu Changkong answered truthfully.

"Overslept?" Ling Shuang narrowed her eyes, her gaze passing over his shoulder into the room. "What did you do last night?"

"I didn't do anything last night."

"Really?"

She stepped directly into the dormitory, her eyes sweeping around before finally landing on the stack of drawings on the table.

She reached out, picked up the top sheet, and lowered her head for a look.

After flipping through two pages, her brows furrowed tighter and tighter.

She could barely make out the outline of some kind of armor on the first page, but the second was completely incomprehensible. The third looked even more like a heavenly script, filled with symbols and annotations she had never seen before.

"What is this?"

"Just some little thing I was researching for fun."

"What kind of thing?"

"Just some forging blueprints. I drew them for fun."

"For fun?"

She had never seen design drawings like these. After a few seconds of silence, she set the papers back on the table, adjusted her glasses, and turned her gaze back to Wu Changkong.

"You spent last night drawing these?"

"Yeah."

"You should be spending your time figuring out how to become stronger. What's the point of drawing these?"

"You're one of the academy's key trainees. You still haven't broken through the bottleneck at Rank 39, and in a month, you'll be hunting your fourth soul ring. Yet you still have the mind to stay up late drawing these?"

"I understand, Teacher."

Wu Changkong did not argue. He merely gathered the drawings on the table one by one, tucked them into his forging notebook, and stored the notebook in his storage belt.

Ling Shuang stared at him sternly for a few seconds. "Go wash up, then come to the field with me."

"Okay."

Wu Changkong quickly finished washing up. He splashed his face several times with cold water and barely pressed down his unruly strands of hair...

Just a few minutes later, he had returned to his usual cool and crisp appearance.

Following Ling Shuang through the corridor, down the stairs, and around the main teaching building, he headed toward the field.

On the field, all the students from the Advanced Class had already assembled.

Dozens of gazes immediately turned toward the entrance to the field.

"Class Monitor, why are you late?" Yu Hairou called out to him.

"I slept too deeply."

As soon as he finished speaking, Wu Changkong walked to the front of the formation, his gaze inadvertently meeting Shui Bing'er's.

"You didn't call me?"

"I thought you'd already arrived."

"That's right, we did call you!" Shui Yue'er stepped out from behind her sister, looking aggrieved, as if she had been falsely accused.

"We knocked on your door for quite a while, but there wasn't any movement inside. We thought you'd left ahead without waiting for us."

Xue Wu looked Wu Changkong up and down with a scrutinizing gaze.

Then she suddenly gave an "oh." "You slept that deeply? Did you do something sneaky last night?"

Shui Yue'er also thought Xue Wu made sense and immediately chimed in indignantly.

"Did you sneak off behind my sister's back to eat... mmph!"

Before she could finish, Shui Bing'er casually jabbed her elbow into her waist, forcing her to swallow the rest of her words.

Shui Bing'er still looked calm and composed, but her heart did skip a beat.

Last night, she had personally seen the lights in Wu Changkong's dormitory stay on until very late. She had thought he was cultivating.

After all, it was common for soul masters to use meditation in place of sleep. A Rank 39 genius cultivating until midnight was nothing unusual.

But based on what she knew of Wu Changkong, he was definitely not someone who would oversleep. What had happened last night to exhaust him this badly?

"Do I look like someone who goes around doing sneaky things?"

If their father had not suddenly visited late last night and tested him with fifty percent of his pressure, he would not have been so exhausted that he failed to hear his alarm.

"Then what did you do last night?"

"Don't make excuses. We soul masters can achieve the effects of sleep through cultivation and meditation."

"Because I was drawing blueprints last night."

The girls all looked puzzled. "Drawing blueprints? What's that?"

"You know I bought all that ore yesterday. I didn't buy it just to pile it up and look at it."

"Before forging, you have to draw blueprints and plan every step of the process. From cutting the raw materials to hammering them into shape, then quenching and assembly, every parameter has to be calculated in advance and put onto the blueprint. I got so absorbed in drawing that I lost track of time."

Shui Bing'er nodded. That explanation did sound reasonable.

If he had been trying to finish the blueprints before starting work over the weekend, staying up late was understandable.

Shui Yue'er's curiosity was piqued. She leaned closer and asked, "Let me see the blueprints. Did you draw something really impressive?"

"A weapon? Or some kind of new farming tool?"

"It's not convenient right now. I'll show you later." As he spoke, Wu Changkong's gaze swept toward the entrance to the field.

At the same time, Ling Shuang was walking over, followed by several academy teachers. Some had appeared at yesterday's welcoming ceremony, while others were unfamiliar faces.

Walking at the very front was none other than the headmaster, Shui Qinghan.

The arrival of all the teachers immediately made the atmosphere on the field much more solemn.

The students, who had been whispering among themselves, all fell silent. They unconsciously straightened their backs and made their formation even neater.

"Assemble. Line up properly." Ling Shuang stopped in the center before the formation, her hands clasped behind her back as her gaze slowly swept over every student's face.

Just as Wu Changkong expected, Ling Shuang's eyes finally settled on him.

"Wu Changkong, as the Class Monitor, you were late on the first day of school."

"Do you know what kind of message that sends to the entire class?"

"It won't happen again, Teacher."

"Then tell me, what blueprints did you stay up all night drawing that left you unable to get up this morning? What do you think the academy is? A place where you can come whenever you want and sleep whenever you want?"

Wu Changkong lowered his head without arguing.

He knew strict teachers like Ling Shuang too well. The more he argued, the harsher her scolding would become. Honestly admitting his mistake would calm her down faster.

Besides, he was indeed in the wrong today.

Having served as an elder of Shrek Academy for so many years in his previous life, he knew better than anyone what "the Class Monitor setting an example by being late" meant for a new class.

Shui Bing'er, standing in the formation not far from him, saw how meek and obedient he looked and could not help but snort with laughter.

Wu Changkong had looked so imposing on the soul battle platform, yet today he was being scolded by the homeroom teacher like an elementary schooler who had made a mistake.

The contrast was simply too funny.

Just as she laughed, Ling Shuang's gaze abruptly shifted toward her.

"Shui Bing'er."

Shui Bing'er's smile instantly froze on her face. "H-here."

"As the Deputy Class Monitor, you're standing there laughing in secret. Do you think you're very funny?"

Shui Bing'er's smile vanished completely, replaced by a standard expression of admitting fault. "It was my oversight, Teacher."

When Shui Yue'er saw her sister getting scolded as well, the corners of her lips had just started to rise when Ling Shuang's gaze swept over like it had a sensor installed.

Shui Yue'er forcefully swallowed back her laugh and held it in with all her might.

"If anyone else wants to laugh, step forward now. I don't mind punishing a few more people."

Ling Shuang's gaze swept across the class, and the entire field fell silent.

"Wu Changkong, run thirty laps around the field. Shui Bing'er, you're coming too. As the Deputy Class Monitor, you were taking pleasure in someone else's misfortune."

Shui Bing'er nodded. "Yes, Teacher."

She stepped out of the formation and stood beside Wu Changkong.

On the four-hundred-meter track, the two of them began running side by side.

"Sorry for dragging you into this. It was my mistake, but I ended up taking you down with me."