Eastsea Academy 3

The group returned from the administration office to Dorm 205.

Tang Wulin silently arranged his belongings in the newly reassigned space, neatly settling his luggage on the lower bunk. After the fight just now, each of the four boys had his own thoughts. The entire dorm room was deathly quiet; none of them spoke to another, and the atmosphere was strained to the breaking point.

More than twenty minutes had passed, and the disturbance was long over, yet the fear in Zhou Changxi's heart still refused to fade. If anything, it grew stronger.

Even now, recalling what had happened left him utterly bewildered.

The moment Tang Wulin's Blue Silver Grass had wrapped around his body, he had immediately tried to activate his Martial Soul and unleash his Mighty Ape to fight back. But that was when something bizarre had happened.

Like a mouse encountering a giant cat, its natural predator, his Martial Soul had been pinned deep within his dantian by an irresistible, immeasurably vast, invisible will. No matter how desperately he circulated his soul power and tried to activate it, it could not break free in the slightest. Not even a trace of its aura could escape.

That suffocating loss of control was a terrifying experience unlike anything he had encountered in his years of cultivation.

The fear of having his Martial Soul forcibly suppressed, unable to awaken it, hung over Zhou Changxi's heart like a dark cloud. Even now, he was shaken, and his gaze toward Tang Wulin held a fear he himself refused to acknowledge.

Just as the atmosphere in the dorm room grew stagnant, steady footsteps sounded outside the door.

A middle-aged man who looked like an academy employee entered the room, carrying a brand-new wooden bed board on his shoulder.

He glanced at the shattered window and the debris scattered across the floor, then at the four freshmen standing silently with differing expressions. His voice carried a hint of mockery and resignation.

"Well, aren't you impressive."

"Fighting in your dorm on your very first day? Do you really think Eastsea Academy's rules are so lax that we're like the Shrek Academy of the rumors, preaching that a Soul Master who doesn't dare stir up trouble is a mediocrity?"

The middle-aged man set down the bed board, his teasing tone tinged with exasperation at their failure to do better.

"Quite the promising bunch. If you've got the guts, keep fighting. Keep making trouble."

Looking at the wrecked dorm room, the middle-aged employee spoke with heavy sarcasm. "Go on, keep fighting! Do you have any idea how particular our academy is about the materials for its beds? These standard bed boards are all made from expensive huanghuali wood. Each one costs ten thousand Federation Credits! If you've got the guts, keep at it!"

Ten thousand Federation Credits!

At that figure, Tang Wulin's sapphire-like eyes instantly widened, and he froze completely.

Among the four boys, his short azure hair and jewel-colored eyes were far too striking and distinctive. The middle-aged man recognized him at a glance.

"Tang Wulin, right?" the man said flatly. Without any pleasantries, he went straight to the bill. "The broken window, damaged bed board, and repairs to the wall come to a total of thirty-four thousand Federation Credits."

Thirty-four thousand Federation Credits!

Those words wiped Tang Wulin's mind blank, leaving him rooted to the spot.

Everything he owned amounted to less than five thousand Federation Credits. Such an exorbitant compensation bill was an astronomical sum to him, one he had no way of paying.

The middle-aged man dropped off the bill and, after giving his instructions, turned and left.

Deathly silence fell over the dorm room once more.

Tang Wulin sat on the lower bunk in a daze, the figure of thirty-four thousand Federation Credits echoing endlessly through his mind. He was utterly lost and helpless.

Just then, the black-clad boy, who had been silent for a long time, stepped forward and walked straight up to Tang Wulin. His gaze was cold, his voice charged with a fierce competitive drive as he said bluntly, "Fight me."

Tang Wulin still had not snapped out of his daze. His eyes were vacant as he stared blankly at the ceiling, offering no response at all.

The black-clad boy's patience ran out. Taking in Tang Wulin's plain clothes, he could already tell that he came from an ordinary family—a pauper through and through. Suppressing his impatience, he volunteered his name, his tone still cold and haughty. "My name is Xie Xie."

"Oh, your name is Xie Xie," Tang Wulin responded woodenly out of reflex.

Barely two seconds later, he abruptly came to his senses, surprise flashing in his eyes. Xie Xie?

Xie Xie stared into Tang Wulin's clear, sapphire-like eyes, a cold glint surging in his own. His tone was forceful. "Come outside and fight me."

He was filled with frustration he could not dispel. Earlier, he had only just reached the dorm room door and casually told the person blocking his way to move when Tang Wulin had turned and driven an elbow straight at his face. He had barely dodged it, only to be bound tight an instant later by Blue Silver Grass filling the air. He had immediately activated his dagger Martial Soul and slashed desperately, but the grass winding around him had been impossibly tough. He could not cut through it at all, and in the end, the other boy had blasted him straight through the second-floor window.

As a son of the Xie family, he had an excellent background and considerable talent, yet he had lost to a freshman with only rank-three innate soul power and the most inconspicuous Martial Soul, Blue Silver Grass. His cheek was still red and swollen from the fight. There was no way he could swallow that humiliation.

Tang Wulin sighed helplessly, his tone somewhat conciliatory. "Buddy, I was wrong to hit you, but you heard what Director Long Hengxu said. If we fight again now, it'll go on our personal records."

At that, Xie Xie changed tack, seeing straight through to what was troubling him. "You're worried about the thirty-four thousand Federation Credits in repair costs? That's nothing. Fight me once, and I'll pay the compensation for you. We won't fight inside the academy. We'll go off campus."

The moment he heard that he would not have to shoulder the exorbitant bill himself, Tang Wulin's dull eyes lit up. He hurriedly asked, "Do you mean it?"

"Once a word leaves my mouth, even four horses can't catch it."

"Great! That's what I call straightforward!" Tang Wulin blurted out instinctively.

Seeing Tang Wulin's eyes instantly light up at the prospect of not having to pay made Xie Xie even more frustrated, leaving an increasingly bitter taste in his mouth.

"We'll fight tomorrow." With a cold snort, he tossed out those words and turned toward his bed. His cheek was badly swollen, and he needed to get an ice pack from the infirmary to bring the swelling down. Having said his piece, he walked straight out of the dorm room.

After Xie Xie left for the infirmary, only Tang Wulin, Zhou Changxi, and Yun Xiao remained in Dorm 205.

Before long, it was mealtime, and the bell announcing that the cafeteria was serving rang across the campus.

Zhou Changxi stood to one side, still frustrated and wary. The shadow of his Martial Soul being inexplicably suppressed and being sent flying in front of everyone left him afraid to challenge Tang Wulin's strength again. Yet he could not swallow his anger. His eyes shifted, and he immediately came up with a mischievous idea he considered brilliant.

He turned toward Tang Wulin and challenged him loudly. "Tang Wulin, do you dare compete with me? Not in soul power, and not in fighting. We'll compete at eating! Whoever eats more wins! The loser handles all the cleaning in our dorm for an entire semester. Do you dare accept?"

"Compete at eating?"

"Compete at eating?"

"Compete at eating?"

Tang Wulin repeated the question three times in mild surprise, a knowing smile instantly flickering in his eyes.

He might have needed to think twice about other contests, but when it came to eating, he had feared no one since awakening his Martial Soul.

Unbeknownst to others, he carried the Golden Dragon King Bloodline. Along with transforming his physique, it had given him terrifying digestive abilities and an extreme craving for energy. It was not that his adoptive parents, Tang Ziran and Lang Yue, had neglected him. Quite the opposite: he had never lacked three meals a day at home. But the devouring instinct of the Golden Dragon King Bloodline was far too domineering. Often, not long after he felt full, hunger would come surging back.

It was an exceedingly strange sensation. His stomach was clearly filled with food, yet his body still brimmed with a hollow hunger, as though it were a bottomless abyss that could never truly be filled. For a long time, he had spent most of his days in a state of underlying hunger.

That powerful, inborn appetite had long since been etched into his very flesh and bones.

"All right. I'll compete with you," Tang Wulin agreed readily.

The two immediately headed to the academy cafeteria together. A contest of appetites between freshmen soon drew the attention of most of the students inside. Countless students gathered around, crowding three rows deep and more to watch this unusual competition with curiosity.

The moment the contest began, the difference was clear.

Zhou Changxi still maintained a normal eating pace, chewing carefully and eating steadily. Tang Wulin, by contrast, overturned everything the onlookers thought they knew.

He ate at an astonishing speed: one item in one mouthful, three in two, and four or five portions of staple food in three. His movements flowed like drifting clouds and running water. They could barely see him chew before the food was cleanly swallowed. Though his figure was lean and slight, both the amount he ate and the speed at which he ate it were terrifyingly absurd.

The watching students stared with their jaws hanging open, cries of amazement rising one after another.

"Good grief! Isn't this guy a little too fierce? Whose general is he?"

"What kind of freakish constitution is that? He looks so small and skinny. How can he eat so much?"

"Which school district is he from? Where did he come from? This is ridiculous!"

The crowd erupted. Everyone was utterly stunned by the sight before them, which turned common sense on its head.

Exclamations continued to pour from the onlookers, and every gaze in the cafeteria remained fixed on the two boys.

Within moments, Zhou Changxi's pace visibly slowed. His face flushed bright red, his belly bulged, and he kept burping from how stuffed he was. Every additional bite was an ordeal. His stomach was already so full that it could not hold another scrap of food.

Tang Wulin, meanwhile, remained composed, his eating rhythm entirely undisturbed. His eyes did not show even a hint of the satisfaction of being full, as though the enormous quantity of food he had just eaten had merely taken the edge off his hunger.

Yun Xiao stood nearby and quietly watched the entire absurd contest. Unable to help shaking his head, he sighed softly.

"Zhou Changxi, you can't beat him in a fight. Now you're competing at eating, and you still can't beat him."

That simple sentence summed up the truth of the entire contest.

At those words, Zhou Changxi's face alternated between green and white with embarrassment. He had hoped to find a contest that did not require strength, reclaiming the dignity he had lost in the dorm room. Instead, he had suffered another crushing defeat, losing utterly and completely.

The watching students burst into wave after wave of laughter. Now everyone knew that this new boy with blue hair and blue eyes not only possessed astonishing strength, but also had an absurd appetite far beyond anything an ordinary person could match.

And so, the cafeteria's contest of appetites ended in Tang Wulin's absolute, indisputable victory.