Cafeteria Commotion

Tang San had originally wanted to refuse. After all, he did not have a single coin to his name, and his pride would not allow him to accept charity from an enemy. Yes, Tang San saw Lin Qing's generous offer as charity. But then, a sudden wave of hunger struck him.

"Forget it. I can't keep going hungry forever. This isn't compromise; I'm using my enemy's resources to strengthen myself. This is wisdom—yes, wisdom!" Tang San quickly talked himself into it. Rising to his feet, he followed Lin Qing and the others toward the cafeteria.

Upon entering the cafeteria, they saw rows of tables and chairs, with the serving windows at the very back.

"Wow, this place is huge!" Xiao Wu exclaimed in surprise at the sight of the hall.

Tang San was also somewhat taken aback by the enormous cafeteria.

Hearing Xiao Wu's amazement, Lin Qing could not help twitching at the corner of his mouth. This cafeteria? It was not that he looked down on it. Forget comparing it to a university cafeteria from his previous life—even the entire first-floor hall only had a little over three hundred seats. It was not even as good as his high school cafeteria.

He still remembered his high school cafeteria from his previous life. Though it had not been large, a single hall alone had held no fewer than a thousand seats, and that had only been one floor of one building. His former high school had four cafeteria buildings, each with two floors, capable of accommodating more than eight thousand people dining at once.

So, while this cafeteria seemed huge to Xiao Wu and the others, it looked rather inadequate in Lin Qing's eyes.

"The first floor is where ordinary students and work-study students eat. A meal costs around five or six Copper Soul Coins, so it's fairly cheap," Wang Sheng explained to Lin Qing's group.

"What about upstairs?" Xiao Wu asked, pointing at the second floor.

"That's the second floor. It's where the academy teachers and some noble students eat. The food there is very expensive—far beyond what we can afford."

"Expensive? How expensive?" Xiao Wu pressed.

"I heard that even the cheapest dish on the second floor costs at least one Silver Soul Coin. That's nearly ten days' worth of food expenses for work-study students like us," Wang Sheng said bitterly.

"Well, well, isn't this Wang Sheng and his bunch of paupers? What, you paupers want to eat on the second floor too? Can you even afford it?" Just as Wang Sheng was introducing the cafeteria, an exceedingly arrogant voice sounded beside them.

Lin Qing looked toward the source of the voice and saw a group of upperclassmen standing on the stairs between the first and second floors, looking down at them from above.

The speaker was a handsome-looking male student of around eleven or twelve. His eyes brimmed with disdain as he wagged a finger at Wang Sheng. "Paupers will always be paupers. I'm afraid you'll never get to eat on the second floor."

"Who are you barking at? What's so great about you?" Seeing someone bully her underlings, Xiao Wu's temper flared immediately.

When Xiao Wu opened with that line about barking, Lin Qing could not help covering his face. "This is unbearable to watch. At least learn something decent from me. Why do you only learn this kind of crude language?"

Yes, Xiao Wu had learned that phrase from Lin Qing. On their way back, a noble youth had seen Lin Qing and Xiao Wu dressed plainly and immediately mocked them. That time, Lin Qing had unleashed a torrent of obscenities. Using his mother as the center and his relatives as the radius, he had cursed that young master's ancestors for eighteen generations, scolding him so thoroughly that he had practically shut down.

Xiao Wu had been right beside him then. While marveling at Lin Qing's terrifying verbal combat ability, she had learned plenty of his techniques and firmly established one principle: Lin Qing was absolutely not someone to provoke.

"What's wrong with me eating on the first floor? Did I eat your family's rice? Do none of you have mothers? Didn't they teach you how to speak like human beings? Saying we'll never eat on the second floor our whole lives—eat, eat, eat, all you know is eating! Why don't you eat yourself to death, you fat pig?!"

With Xiao Wu's combat power fully unleashed, Tang San, Wang Sheng, and the others all witnessed just how formidable she was. While shocked by her verbal prowess, they also marked her down as someone not to be provoked.

As for the upperclassmen standing at the second-floor stairway, their expressions froze. Their faces turned from white to green, then from green to red.

"Who are you calling a pig?!" the leader roared.

"Whoever gets worked up is the pig!" Xiao Wu shot back.

"Enough, Xiao Wu. Stop cursing. We came here to eat; there's no need to let these irritating people ruin our mood."

Seeing that Xiao Wu wanted to continue, Lin Qing immediately stopped her.

"Lin Qing, what are you doing? I'm not done cursing them yet!" Xiao Wu pouted in dissatisfaction when Lin Qing stopped her. Though her face was full of reluctance, she obediently shut her mouth and stood beside Lin Qing.

Seeing her like this, Lin Qing rubbed Xiao Wu's head. "All right, don't be upset. How about I treat you to a carrot feast for lunch today?"

At the mention of a carrot feast, Xiao Wu's eyes immediately lit up. Still, she reservedly held up two fingers. "Two meals! You have to treat me to two carrot feasts."

"Fine, fine, two meals it is."

Lin Qing was somewhat helpless.

"Do you all want to eat on the second floor?" Lin Qing turned and asked Wang Sheng and the others.

"But, Big Brother Lin, the food on the second floor is very expensive..."

"It's fine. Didn't I say I was treating you? Since this is our first meal after getting to know each other, of course we should have something good."

Lin Qing patted Wang Sheng on the shoulder.

"But..." Wang Sheng still hesitated, unwilling to let Lin Qing spend too much.

"All right, Wang Sheng. Have you forgotten that I'm already a Soul Master? I can collect a Soul Master's stipend from Spirit Hall, so I'm not short on money for this meal."

"All right."

Only then did Wang Sheng and the others give in.

Seeing that Lin Qing and the others actually intended to eat on the second floor, the leading student's fury turned into mockery. "You want to eat the second-floor dishes? When you can't pay the bill later, let's see what you do!"

"Whether I can pay has nothing to do with you," Lin Qing said coldly, not even sparing him a glance, as though the man were nothing more than an ant by the roadside.

Enraged by Lin Qing's attitude, the man snapped, "Just wait and see! Let's go!" He then led the others upstairs in a dejected retreat.

After those people left, Lin Qing and the others were about to head upstairs when Lin Qing caught sight of a familiar figure from the corner of his eye. The corner of his mouth twitched at once.

What sins have I committed to run into Gangzi everywhere I go?

Lin Qing did not actually want to bother with Yu Xiaogang. Sometimes, he even wanted to simply kill Yu Xiaogang. But he truly did not dare. Yu Xiaogang was Bibi Dong's stabilizer—if he killed Yu Xiaogang, Bibi Dong would definitely go mad.

Lin Qing possessed an immortal body, but Bibi Dong was the inheritor of the Rakshasa God. Although her strength was suppressed before she completed her divine trials, she was still the inheritor of a god and could wield a small amount of divine power. Lin Qing's immortal body had only been confirmed to make him unkillable by anything below godhood, but he did not know whether divine power could truly kill him. He did not dare gamble on it.