A Neighbor with Tenfold Critical Rewards? (Please Keep Reading)

"Is something wrong, you two? Did I stay in seclusion too long and delay our trip to the Treasure Appraisal Fair?"

Dongfang Hao raised an eyebrow and asked curiously.

"Hehe... Not at all, you little scoundrel. You're a great benefactor to Sea God Island now. Forget waiting half an hour—even if our esteemed vice dean of the Martial Soul Department had to stand outside your door all night, I suspect a certain someone would be only too happy to do it..."

Ma Xiaotao laughed. Her beautiful, wild face brimmed with teasing as she dropped the pointed remark, her long, slender legs casually crossed and swaying enough to make one dizzy.

"Xiaotao! Stop talking nonsense!"

At Ma Xiaotao's teasing, Cai Mei'er's mature face flushed to the ears. She shot Ma Xiaotao an embarrassed, indignant glare, her chest rising and falling sharply. The dignity she had struggled to maintain nearly collapsed on the spot.

Dongfang Hao rubbed the tip of his nose. Sharp as his mind was, he had never guessed that the two women had been discussing an utterly absurd "beauty trap" outside his door.

He had no interest in pursuing such a trivial matter. His faintly golden eyes simply swept, without the slightest attempt to hide it, across Cai Mei'er's voluptuous figure.

The sight drew a private sigh of wonder from Dongfang Hao.

He had been in seclusion for only half an hour, yet after his soul entered the Spirit Abyss Realm, even Cai Mei'er—a level ninety-five Power Attack System Titled Douluo—could no longer overwhelm him with her spiritual pressure. In terms of Divine Sense, they now stood on the same formidable level!

But when Cai Mei'er caught Dongfang Hao's deep, appraising gaze, her heart gave a violent jolt.

His gaze felt so invasive it seemed capable of piercing her clothes. Heat spread through her body, and her full, shapely legs pressed a little closer together of their own accord. Ma Xiaotao's outrageous suggestion echoed through her mind once more—

Does this little scoundrel truly covet my body, just as Xiaotao said? If he uses that to threaten me someday... what am I supposed to do?!

Cai Mei'er bit her red lip. She felt shy and angry, and beneath it all lurked a strange trace of panic and excitement she did not dare examine too closely.

Seeing this, Ma Xiaotao waggled her brows at Cai Mei'er, her eyes gleaming with See? I told you so. She even nudged Cai Mei'er's waist with an elbow, urging the vice dean to strike while the iron was hot.

But Cai Mei'er had been raised from childhood in the traditions of a respectable family. She was a righteous powerhouse; there was no way she could bring herself to offer herself up as the young man's cultivation vessel.

"Haa..."

Cai Mei'er took a deep breath and forced down the wild pounding of her heart. She smoothed her Palace Dress with one hand and rose, dignified and solemn. Shifting her gaze away from Dongfang Hao's burning eyes, she spoke in the calm, commanding voice she struggled to maintain:

"It's getting late. The Treasure Gathering Pavilion in Shrek City has opened... Come with me, young man. Tonight, I'll take you to claim the first reward you're owed."

At Cai Mei'er's agreement, a satisfied smile slowly touched Dongfang Hao's lips. The stone hanging over his heart finally dropped.

If he could enter the Treasure Gathering Pavilion tonight and get his hands on the Ten-Thousand-Year Whale Glue, whose true value had yet to be discovered, he could feed it to Huo Yuhao. Then the hundred-thousand-year whale glue, a treasure that would drive any powerhouse on the continent mad with envy, would be his!

Amid his elation, though, Dongfang Hao seemed to remember something. His gaze drifted toward the general direction of Shrek Outer Court.

Judging by the time... the child of fortune with the million-year Sky Dream Ice Silkworm should have passed through Shrek Academy's gates by now, shouldn't he?

If events followed the original story, Huo Yuhao would be assigned to Room 108 in the outer court's boys' dormitory upon his arrival. There, he would run straight into Wang Dong, the Light Goddess Butterfly who had come down from the Divine Realm to have some fun while disguised as a boy.

The two would then begin a life together in that cramped dorm room, one that countless readers in Dongfang Hao's previous life had envied.

Tsk... Spending every day with a breathtakingly beautiful, adorably proud second-generation scion of the Divine Realm? That's the sort of romantic luck anyone would envy...

Dongfang Hao clicked his tongue inwardly.

But the instant that thought crossed his mind, his eyes widened with sudden uncertainty.

Wait...

If the system follows its usual overbearing logic, couldn't everything Huo Yuhao gains—external treasures, secret arts, even a fated encounter with a roommate—also count as a reward and trigger a tenfold critical boost?!

At that thought, Dongfang Hao's heart thumped violently twice!

Meanwhile, across the entire Sea God Lake, downstairs from the boys' dormitory at Shrek Outer Court.

Fresh from completing his enrollment with a mix of excitement and nerves, the slight young Huo Yuhao pushed open the dormitory's somewhat worn wooden door.

A pink-and-blue-haired youth reclined against a bed inside. With looks so exquisite that most women in the world would feel ashamed beside her, she raised her eyes slightly and swept him with a cold, haughty gaze.

"Ding!"

Back in the quiet pavilion on Sea God Island, just as doubt stirred in Dongfang Hao's mind, a crisp mechanical system chime rang out without warning deep in his head!

"Detected: child of fortune Huo Yuhao has officially moved into a Shrek Outer Court dormitory and been matched with Wang Dong, a Goddess-Level Disguised Roommate!"

"Tenfold critical reward mechanism activated!"

"Congratulations, host. You have received a tenfold-enhanced Fated Cohabitation Opportunity!"

"Opportunity mechanism calibrated. Your tenfold-enhanced God-Level Neighbor is in place!"

As the sudden string of clear system announcements sounded in his mind, Dongfang Hao's face—usually composed even before a Titled Douluo—twitched. Wild joy and utter astonishment flooded his eyes!

Damn it... it really can trigger a critical reward?!

Dongfang Hao grinned and cursed inwardly.

Huo Yuhao had been matched with Wang Dong, daughter of a top God King in the Douluo God Realm. After the system's tenfold boost, just what kind of terrifying being had it sent him as this so-called "God-Level Neighbor"?!