You Can't Beat Me at Eating Either

Tang Wulin soon discovered something peculiar about the design of Eastsea Academy's cafeteria.

There were no chairs.

Everyone ate standing up.

At first, he found it a little awkward. But after eating a dozen or so steamed buns, he suddenly felt that standing really did seem to let him eat more than sitting.

The buns at the C Cafeteria Meal Window were sizable, with thin wrappers and generous fillings. Each bite filled his mouth with steam and the savory fragrance of meat. Tang Wulin had been hungry to begin with, and now he ate with utter concentration, a bun in his left hand and a bowl of soup in his right, barely pausing.

At first, Zhou Changxi stood beside him, eating along with a defiant expression.

But after twenty buns, his expression began to change.

By twenty-five, he was so stuffed that all he wanted to do was gasp for breath.

Tang Wulin merely took a large gulp of vegetable soup and reached for the next one.

People in the cafeteria gradually began looking their way.

It was the first day of registration for new students, so the cafeteria was already crowded. Once someone noticed two First Grade students competing to see who could eat more, spectators immediately gathered around. Eventually, even the woman serving food couldn't resist taking a few extra looks.

"How many has he eaten now?"

"That was his forty-fifth. He's already broken the record."

"Wasn't the Intermediate Division's old record forty-three?"

"It was forty-three. But look at him. He hasn't stopped at all."

"What does this kid have inside his stomach?"

More and more voices joined in.

Tang Wulin acted as though he hadn't heard a thing, simply alternating bites of bun with sips of soup, eating with complete concentration. He never wasted energy talking while he ate, nor did he look around. All his attention was on the buns before him.

Delicious, and as much as he wanted.

Those two things were enough for him.

Zhou Changxi stood beside him, long since dumbfounded.

He had thought he was already a big eater among boys his age. With twenty buns in his stomach, even if he couldn't win, at least he wouldn't lose too badly. Who could have known that "big eater" wasn't remotely enough to describe Tang Wulin?

He was something else entirely.

Yun Xiao also stood nearby. He adjusted his glasses, his expression complicated.

"Now I understand." He looked at Zhou Changxi, his voice neither loud nor soft. "Why you can't beat him in a fight."

Zhou Changxi glared at him.

Yun Xiao sincerely added, "You really can't beat him at eating either."

Zhou Changxi opened his mouth to argue, but when he saw Tang Wulin return with another plate of buns, he swallowed his words.

He conceded.

Completely and utterly.

"You win." Zhou Changxi let out a long breath, his whole body sagging. "I'll clean the dorm. I'll wash those clothes of yours I dirtied, too."

Tang Wulin nodded. He didn't even have time to say much, only replying with a "Mm."

Then he kept eating.

In the end, the Intermediate Division cafeteria's new record stood at eighty buns, plus five large bowls of vegetable soup.

When Tang Wulin finally stopped, he felt much more at ease. He wiped his mouth and let out a long breath, feeling that the heaviness pressing on his chest ever since he had gotten off the vehicle had eased considerably.

With a full stomach, things really didn't feel so awful.

The spectators slowly dispersed, leaving a trail of chatter in their wake.

"Eighty..."

"Is he really a new student?"

"Is he a Soul Master or a Soul Beast?"

Tang Wulin ignored them and simply followed Yun Xiao and Zhou Changxi back.

By the time they returned to the dorm, the room was mostly tidied up. Zhou Changxi wasn't much of a person, but he honored his losses. With a broom and rag, he cleared away the wood shavings and dust on the floor, even sweeping the broken glass aside and packing it up. Tang Wulin washed his own clothes and quilt cover, then hung them by the window.

With all three of them working, the atmosphere in the dorm became considerably more relaxed than before.

While they were cleaning, the door swung open.

Xie Xie had returned.

The swelling on his face had gone down considerably, and the small wound at the corner of his mouth had been treated. His expression remained cold, however. After entering, he glanced around the room, then tossed a paper-wrapped bundle straight to Tang Wulin.

"Here."

Tang Wulin caught it and opened it to find a stack of Federation Credits inside.

His hands paused.

It wasn't as though he had never seen such a thick stack of money. But the last time, he had saved little by little for three years in Aolai City before finally gathering that much. Yet Xie Xie had casually tossed this money over.

That gulf between them made him deeply uncomfortable.

It wasn't jealousy, but a stark difference he couldn't pretend not to see.

He lowered his head and wrapped the money back up, then looked at Xie Xie.

"Is it enough?"

"It's enough," Xie Xie said coldly. "I've fronted the compensation. Classes start tomorrow. Come out with me after school."

Tang Wulin barely hesitated.

Xie Xie stared at him for a moment, apparently not expecting him to agree so readily. His expression grew colder instead, and he turned toward his bed.

Yun Xiao couldn't help speaking up. "Xie Xie, let it go already. We're all sharing a dorm from now on, and we'll be living together for years."

Xie Xie paused and glanced back at him.

"This is between him and me."

With that, he lay straight down on his bed, closed his eyes, and said nothing more.

Having run into a wall, Yun Xiao rubbed his nose and stopped trying to persuade him.

Tang Wulin put the bundle of money away, but his heart was far from at ease.

The compensation problem was resolved, but this money wasn't his, after all. Xie Xie's willingness to front it was one thing; how he would repay it was another.

And now, more than ever, he understood one thing—money was far too important.

Whether for cultivation, daily life, or finding Na'er in the future, he needed money.

At that thought, he felt even more strongly that he couldn't neglect his forging.

"I'm going out this afternoon," Tang Wulin said, looking up at Yun Xiao. "Classes haven't officially started today, so that should be fine, right?"

"Of course." Yun Xiao nodded. "But remember to come back before lights-out tonight. Staying out all night on your first day will definitely get you disciplined."

At the word "disciplined," Tang Wulin's heart immediately tightened.

He was very sensitive to that word now.

Not because he feared losing face, but because he feared being fined.

"I'll be back," he said.

Once everything was more or less in order, Tang Wulin went to the academic affairs office to settle the compensation. After handing over the money, half the weight on his heart finally lifted. At least the most troublesome matter at hand was out of the way.

After leaving the academic affairs office, he didn't return to the dorm, but headed straight out of the Academy.

Before he came to Eastsea City, Mang Tian had told him to visit two places first once he arrived.

One was Eastsea City's Blacksmith Association.

The other was Mang Tian's own Workshop in Eastsea City.

There was usually no one at the Workshop, but the forging room was vacant and available for him to use. From then on, Mang Tian would visit periodically to check his progress and teach him new things along the way.

The Blacksmith Association, meanwhile, was an even more important step.

He had already achieved Thousand Refinement, so it was time to register his blacksmith rank.

And once registered, he could officially take on jobs.

That would not only give him practice, but also provide a way to earn money.

Tang Wulin knew very well that he would have plenty of expenses in Eastsea City. The small living allowance his parents gave him wouldn't be enough. Besides, he had never wanted to keep holding out his hand for money.

Forging could earn him money.

He had learned that long ago, and had always kept it in mind.

What's more, he was no longer the little boy who could only swing a hammer when he first started learning to forge. He had his First Soul Ring, his Martial Soul had taken shape, and he had achieved Thousand Refinement. He had to keep walking the road ahead on his own.

Eastsea City was vast.

The Blacksmith Association wasn't particularly far from the Academy, but in Aolai City, that distance would have taken him across most of the city. To save money, Tang Wulin decided against taking a ride and walked the whole way, following the address.

He asked for directions as he went.

After walking for more than half an hour, he finally spotted his destination.

It was a gray building, a full thirty stories tall.

There were no extravagant decorations on its facade, only an enormous, striking hammer emblem at the top. That emblem alone was enough to tell anyone what this place was.

Tang Wulin stood outside the building and looked up for a while before walking in with his bag on his back.

The ground-floor lobby was spacious.

Directly ahead stood an entire wall of tall glass. At its center was a massive golden hammer relief, several meters high, whose imposing presence lent the whole lobby an air of solidity.

Compared with Eastsea Academy, this place had an entirely different feel.

There were no students, no parents, and none of the particular disorder that came with new-student registration. Only a few people came and went, their voices quiet. The floor was clean, and the air carried a faint mingling of metal and machine oil.

Two young women in gray business attire stood at the reception desk.

Seeing a little boy walk in alone with a bag on his back, one of them froze for a moment, then smiled and spoke:

"Little one, who are you looking for?"

Tang Wulin instinctively felt a little nervous.

This place was different from the Academy, and different from the Workshop back in Aolai City. But remembering Mang Tian's instructions, he straightened up a little and answered earnestly:

"Hello, miss. I'm here to have my blacksmith rank assessed."