Why, Did You Turn It On? No, I Never Turned It Off~

Jiang Hao scooped up a spoonful of lamb soup and swallowed the flatbread in his mouth. When he looked up, he found a little girl a whole head shorter than him staring at his bowl with shining eyes.

"Boss, how much is this? What a bargain! There's so much meat!"

The little girl's green hair was tied into two ponytails coiled behind her head. She wore a green dress and looked rosy and sweet. Slender white socks covered her calves, while her eyes stayed fixed on Jiang Hao's bowl.

"Little miss, want some lamb soup too? This is the deluxe limited Plus edition. One Gold Soul Coin a bowl!"

"How much? That's so expensive!"

"But I don't have enough money. I need what's left to hire a Soul Hunting team." The little girl rubbed her hands together and clutched her purse tighter. She had brought it when she sneaked away from home and had spent quite a bit along the way.

"You're hiring a team? We have the Thirty-Person Group right here. They're the best Soul Hunting team around. Their rates are low, and they're worth every coin—much more reliable than anyone else you'll find." As though a keyword had triggered him, Flatbread Bro instinctively began promoting his own team.

"But they don't look very old. Are they really reliable?" The little girl clutched her purse even tighter. "For ten Gold Soul Coins, I'm afraid I couldn't even hunt a Soul Beast's fur."

She pursed her lips in thought. Not far away, Owl Bro, who had been waiting for Jiang Hao, walked over.

"If you want to go Soul Hunting, little miss, you can come to me without worry. If we don't hunt down the Soul Beast you want, we won't charge you a single coin." Owl Bro pushed up the round-rimmed glasses on his nose. A fox-tail coat hung from his shoulders, utterly out of place in the summer heat.

Jiang Hao was speechless. It seemed his Clones each had their own quirks. (This one really loves to show off.)

"Boss, a bowl for me and one for this little miss too. Put it on my tab." As he spoke, Owl Bro guided the little girl into the seat across from Jiang Hao.

"Mind if we share your table, brother?" Owl Bro was still putting on a performance! He had done it—he had surpassed Oscar's level as an actor.

"Not at all. Sit wherever you like. It's not my table."

"By the way, what should we call you, miss? I'm Xiao Ziye. You can call me Brother Xiao." Owl Bro spoke gently. The green-haired girl beside him nodded shyly, then said with some embarrassment, "I'm Xiaoxiao! You can just call me by my name."

At Xiaoxiao's introduction, Jiang Hao looked up and exchanged a glance with Xiaozi Bro.

Did you activate a Soul Skill? —Jiang Hao

Nope. I never turned it off. —Owl Bro

"Is something wrong?" Xiaoxiao looked between them as the conversation fell silent. Neither said a word, and she wondered whether she had done something to put them off.

Just then, Flatbread Bro's pained cry snapped everyone back to their senses. They turned toward him: the lamb soup in his hands had somehow spilled over and scalded him.

"Sorry about that. I'll serve you two fresh bowls." He quickly picked up two porcelain bowls, filled them with lamb soup and offal, and carried them to the table.

A devoted foodie, Xiaoxiao could no longer resist the aroma. She grabbed her chopsticks, picked up a mouthful of lamb offal, and stuffed it into her mouth. "Wow! What kind of meat is this? It's so crunchy! Some of it's soft, and it's all so delicious!"

Xiaoxiao mumbled through a mouthful of offal. How could a daughter from a wealthy household ever have eaten the innards of cattle or sheep?

"That's lamb tripe—the sheep's stomach. The soft piece you ate was cheek meat." Xiaozi Bro deliberately avoided the white pieces sliced into thin, curled strips and chose the more palatable descriptions. Xiaoxiao's cheeks bulged as she chewed. She had never tasted anything like it. "Is this food that big brother's Martial Soul? Is he a Soul Master too?"

Xiaoxiao turned toward Flatbread Bro. He scratched his head. He had only ever dealt with NPCs before; being told that one of the main cast stood before him had caught him off guard. "No. My Martial Soul's just flatbread."

He forced out the words in a rustic accent, playing the part of an honest country boy, though his fine skin and sturdy physique made the act hard to believe.

"Enough about that. Xiaoxiao, if you want to hunt a Soul Beast, choose our Thirty-Person Group. We'll be the strongest backing you could ask for. For ten Gold Soul Coins, we'll send thirty people to help with your hunt and protect you every step of the way!"

"Thirty people?" Xiaoxiao was so shocked that her chopsticks fell onto the table.

She had assumed a Soul Hunting team would have five or seven members at most. She had never expected a full thirty.

Ten Gold Soul Coins to hire thirty people? They would have to split each coin into thirds! With a lineup that lavish, could they be bandits in disguise?

After they finished three bowls of flatbread and lamb soup, someone Owl Bro had arranged took Xiaoxiao to the Thirty-Person Group's base. Owl Bro stayed across from Jiang Hao and presented a Soul Tool with both hands. "Main Body Old Rogue, it's time you gave me a bigger one. This Soul Tool's already stuffed with Gold Soul Coins."

Jiang Hao looked at the one-cubic-meter Soul Tool. It was rather cramped, so he handed Owl Bro the fifty-cubic-meter Soul Tool he had seized earlier. He then read Owl Bro's report. Agriculture accounted for twenty percent of their income and commerce for fifty. Soul Hunting brought in the most per job but made up only thirty percent overall. After all, most people who reached this place already had teams. Few lone hunters planned to enter the forest and try their luck, and fewer still could afford ten Gold Soul Coins.

"Good work. Running this place so well with only thirty people is impressive. Next, I'll send another thousand Clones here. Find a way to expand the place, and have them enter the forest for training.

"This can't remain just a market. I want it to grow into a town, one that belongs to neither the three great empires nor Shrek Academy.

"With the Star Dou Great Forest at our backs and its rampages as our shield, no one will be able to absorb us.

"The others will enter the market in batches. When they do, you'll be in charge of manag—of running things. I have high hopes for you. You're very capable!"

Jiang Hao patted Xiaozi Bro on the shoulder. "Come on. Show me our headquarters. We leave to hunt a Soul Beast tomorrow."

Following Owl Bro, they reached the very center of the market. A building twice the size of the others stood there, with a huge sign over its entrance: Thirty-Person Group. Two Clone guards armed with spears stood on either side of the door, while people came and went.

Soul Hunters were not the only visitors. Ordinary people who gathered medicinal herbs also came to sell what they had collected nearby.

The herbs were not worth much, but they could later serve as materials for Clones studying support abilities and the fire element.

"We don't buy many, just a small portion." Owl Bro strode inside and introduced the different sections to Jiang Hao. The entire hall was brightly lit. Several service windows lined the front and both sides, while a broad central area held large solid-wood tables and soft leather sofas separated by aisles. It was comfortable and inviting.

At one of the tables, Xiaoxiao sat listlessly flipping through page after page of candidate lists. "I can even choose the people myself? This is so hard. My eyes are going blurry."

When she saw Owl Bro and Jiang Hao approaching, her eyes lit up, and she rose without thinking. "Brother Owl, I'm over here!"

PS: Everyone, please send monthly tickets and recommendations—thank you! If there's something you want to see, you can tag me directly. So many Clones are still blank slates. Anyone want to come onstage? I promise I'll give you plenty of scenes later~