A Way to Win Her Favor, and Tang San Explodes

Lin Xiao came out of the bathroom after his shower.

Xiao Wu turned to look, and her eyes lit up.

"Lin Xiao, you're so handsome!"

Fresh from the shower, Lin Xiao seemed to glow.

His white clothes were plain, without a hint of finery.

But they did nothing to hide his looks or his figure.

In all her travels, Xiao Wu could hardly remember seeing anyone good-looking.

The sight of Lin Xiao left Tang San feeling strangely inferior.

His looks were so ordinary that no one would notice him in a crowd.

Lin Xiao, on the other hand, was like a firefly in the dark. He caught the eye at once.

Tang San had never cared about his looks.

He had always believed ability mattered most.

But today, for the first time, he questioned that belief.

Sometimes, looks really did matter.

At the very least, Xiao Wu's remark had stung.

Lin Xiao sat down on the sofa. Before he could speak, Xiao Wu hurriedly said, "Why don't we go to Shrek Academy together tomorrow?"

Tang San sprang up as if a needle had jabbed him in the backside.

"What? You want to take him to Shrek Academy?"

His fierce reaction startled Xiao Wu.

"Yeah. What's wrong?"

Tang San's expression darkened, but he struggled to hold back his anger.

"Xiao Wu, we've only just met him. We've never made a habit of going with other people. Why not let him go on his own?"

"We've only just met, but we'll be classmates from now on."

Tang San lowered his head and muttered, "Classmates? He might not even pass the entrance exam. Isn't it a little early to call him that?"

He spoke softly, but Xiao Wu still heard him.

Her brows drew together, and she seemed a little angry, though she said nothing in the end.

[Ding! Xiao Wu's favorability toward her destined one, Tang San, has decreased by 2. Current favorability: 73!]

That was enough to lower her favorability?

An idea struck Lin Xiao. He thought he knew how to keep driving down Xiao Wu's favorability toward Tang San.

He had a hunch that the more her favorability toward Tang San fell, the easier it would be to raise her favorability toward him.

"Lin Xiao, let's go to Shrek Academy together tomorrow. We'll be classmates from now on, so I hope we'll get along."

Xiao Wu chatted with Lin Xiao, leaving Tang San no opening to speak.

Partly, Tang San wanted nothing to do with Lin Xiao. He was also too frustrated to try.

Seeing the two of them chatting happily, he rose with a dark face and headed for the bed.

Xiao Wu noticed, but paid him no mind.

She had just made a new friend. Everything about him was still new and exciting.

Lin Xiao naturally wasn't going to pass up such a good opportunity.

Unfortunately, even by the time Xiao Wu was yawning repeatedly, he had earned no more favorability.

Before long, Xiao Wu fell asleep sitting on the sofa.

Lin Xiao laid her flat, took off her shoes and set them aside, then covered her with a quilt. Afterward, he sat on the floor and tried to figure out how to cultivate Soul Power.

Before, he hadn't had a trace of Soul Power in his body.

Now that the system had awarded him level-twenty Soul Power, could he use it as a starting point to find a way to cultivate quickly?

He studied it for quite a while, but still couldn't make sense of it.

He brought up his status panel.

A golden page appeared, displaying all his attributes.

Name: Lin Xiao

Age: 12

Soul Power: Level 20

Martial Soul: Four Swords of Zhu Xian

Goddess Codex: Xiao Wu

Looking closely at the panel, he found he could open the Goddess Codex entry to view Xiao Wu's information.

The entry was remarkably detailed. It listed not only her favorability, but also her level, interests, background, and more.

The codex was practically a strategy guide.

With that information to go on, raising her favorability shouldn't be hard.

Once he had finished examining the panel, Lin Xiao stopped investigating Soul Power and deliberately slept on the floor.

The next morning, a system notification jolted him awake.

[Ding! Xiao Wu's favorability has increased by 8. Current favorability: 28!]

The sudden notification woke Lin Xiao fully.

He turned his head and saw that Xiao Wu was already sitting up.

She had put on her shoes and was sitting on the sofa, watching him curiously.

"Did you sit on the floor all night?"

"Yeah. You fell asleep, and the sofa's only so big. I didn't want to disturb you."

Xiao Wu scratched her cheek and gave him a sheepish smile. "Thanks. You're a good person."

Lin Xiao said nothing more.

He had sat on the floor last night precisely to gain favorability.

Who could resist a handsome guy who was so thoughtful?

Still, gaining eight points at once was an unexpected bonus.

"Xiao Wu, eat something first. Then we'll go to Shrek Academy."

Tang San's resentful voice came from nearby.

They turned to see him arriving with breakfast.

There were two large meat buns and a cup of soy milk.

Xiao Wu took them and, without a second thought, handed one bun to Lin Xiao.

Lin Xiao didn't stand on ceremony. He took it and started eating.

"Brother, why did you buy so little today? Are we broke?"

Xiao Wu finished her bun, but her stomach still felt empty.

Tang San's expression nearly crumpled.

He had only bought breakfast for one!

Who could have known Xiao Wu would turn around and give half of it to Lin Xiao?

Damn it!

He was happy to bring Xiao Wu breakfast, but not Lin Xiao.

"Sorry. I didn't buy enough."

Tang San forced down his irritation.

His temper really was worse in the morning. He had almost lost it and started swearing.

If he could, he would find somewhere to beat Lin Xiao to death.

He only regretted that, among all the substances he had made before, he hadn't made corpse-dissolving powder.

If he had any, he would have taken Lin Xiao outside and disposed of him while Xiao Wu slept, no matter what.

Killing someone and wiping out every trace of the body was child's play to him.

There was no trick to it; his hands had simply done it often enough.

After breakfast, they left the hotel. Xiao Wu bought some more food along the way, finally filling both her and Lin Xiao's stomachs.

She chatted away with Lin Xiao all the way there.

Beside them, Tang San might as well have been invisible.

They left the city and followed the directions to Shrek Academy.

When they reached the academy gates, Xiao Wu felt her whole understanding of the world begin to crumble.

"This... this is Shrek Academy?"

No matter how she looked at it, the place bore no resemblance to a Soul Master Academy.

Even Nording Academy, despite being only a junior Soul Master Academy, had lovely grounds.

Looking at this academy, she wondered whether they had been tricked.

Tang San was about to speak, but Lin Xiao spoke first.

"I asked around these past few days. Shrek Academy is unusual. The facilities are shabby, but its teachers are all formidable."

"I heard the dean is a Soul Saint. So is the vice dean, and there's another teacher at the Soul Saint level."

"The admissions requirements are strict, too. They only accept true monsters."

"In other words, prodigies with extraordinary talent."

Xiao Wu was stunned by Lin Xiao's explanation.

Soul Saints were teaching at an academy this run-down?

Tang San's brows knitted tightly.

The academy his teacher had recommended really was impressive.

But how did Lin Xiao know so much about it?

Had he arrived in Suotuo City earlier and specifically asked about Shrek Academy?

Something about this doesn't feel right.