Seeing how Huo Yuhao longed for family affection, Wang Dong felt deeply puzzled. After hesitating a moment, she still asked, "Then what about your parents and siblings?"
Huo Yuhao's expression had been gentle just a moment ago, but the air around him suddenly chilled, and his hands unconsciously clenched.
"My mother is no longer alive. As for my father... that man doesn't deserve to be my father!"
A restrained roar ran through Huo Yuhao's voice, but even so, Wang Dong could sense the misery he had endured.
The dorm room instantly fell silent. The evening breeze rustled outside the window.
Wang Dong froze. She hadn't expected a casual question to poke at the scar deep in his heart. She shifted awkwardly, guilt in her pink-blue eyes, at a loss for words.
Wang Dong softened her voice, with less of her usual arrogance. "I, I didn't know things were like that for you... I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked..."
Looking at Wang Dong's faintly misty eyes, Huo Yuhao slowly unclenched his fists and forced a smile. "It's fine. It's not your fault."
Seeing him like this made Wang Dong feel a little better, but not much. "When I first met you, seeing you like that, I even thought about bullying you a little. I'm really sorry..."
At that, the smile in Huo Yuhao's eyes deepened. "And didn't you end up meekly pinned beneath me anyway?"
Wang Dong smacked Huo Yuhao's shoulder in annoyance. "You! Can you stop bringing that up?"
"Nope. I'll definitely remember something like that forever~"
"Ah~ I'll fight you!"
Wang Dong lunged straight at Huo Yuhao, trying to use her momentum to pin him underneath her.
How could Huo Yuhao let her succeed? As Wang Dong rushed over, he turned sideways and slipped an arm around her, sending her facedown onto his bed and pinning her underneath him instead.
This position...
Wang Dong turned her head to look at Huo Yuhao's mischievous grin, a blush rising in her cheeks. "W-what are you doing?"
"Ice Empress's Pincer Dragon Claw Hand!"
Huo Yuhao's hands instantly found Wang Dong's waist and began tickling her.
Unable to dodge at all, Wang Dong trembled involuntarily at the icy, ticklish sensation, both legs flailing up and down behind her.
"Hahahaha..."
Outside their room, several people were secretly listening through the door.
Wang Dong's voice drifted faintly out from inside.
"No, I can't take much more..."
"I give up, I give up! Let me go..."
"..."
"Bro, that sounds like Wang Dong. How do those two dare do that with the lights on..."
"It's called spicing things up. You wouldn't understand. I knew at a glance that Wang Dong was bottom material. Sure enough, he's even laughing with excitement..."
"Stop talking. It's getting quiet. Let's get out of here before we're caught."
With that, the group slipped away carefully, stifling wicked grins.
Seeing Wang Dong beg for mercy, Huo Yuhao withdrew his Soul Power without continuing, still feeling a little unsatisfied.
Wang Dong collapsed limply onto Huo Yuhao's bed, her hair disheveled as she gasped for breath, the tingling sensation from being tickled lingering all over her body.
A little moisture glimmered at the corners of her eyes, and her entire face was flushed red.
"All right, all right, get up. I need to cultivate."
Wang Dong froze at his words, somewhat incredulous. "Cultivate? You're so talented, yet you still work this hard. I really don't understand."
Still not fully recovered, Wang Dong's voice was trembling a little.
Huo Yuhao was curious too. "What kind of thinking is that? You should cultivate whether you're talented or not, right? Or are you actually a lazybones, Wang Dong?"
"You're the lazybones! What I do is balance work and rest. Anyway... what's your Martial Soul?"
"My Martial Soul is my eyes, the Mental Attribute Spirit Eyes Martial Soul, so my visual powers of observation are normally stronger than other people's."
Hearing this, Wang Dong suddenly understood something. "Visual observation? No wonder you could dodge all my attacks back then. That's not fair at all."
Huo Yuhao raised his eyebrows. "You were the one who chose not to use Martial Souls. You can't blame me for that."
"I know, I know. Ah, I really want to try what your Martial Soul feels like."
"Are you sure you want to try?"
"Hmm?"
Wang Dong immediately perked up and sat bolt upright, both pairs of eyes looking at Huo Yuhao brightly. "You really have a way?"
Huo Yuhao didn't answer. A faint golden light rose in his eyes as he activated his Spirit Eyes and directly shared his Spiritual Detection with Wang Dong.
In an instant, images of everything within a hundred-meter radius flooded into Wang Dong's mind. Students walking in the corridor, branches and leaves on the trees outside the window-all appeared clearly in her perception.
The data-like feedback made Wang Dong falter at first, but she soon adapted. The shock was like a blind person suddenly seeing the world clearly.
"Wow! Even with all my experience and knowledge, I've never seen such an amazing skill. When we fight in a competition, won't this feel incredible!"
Right, the freshman competition, the interclass matches...
Wang Dong wanted to switch classes outright. She didn't want to see that old woman Zhou Yi even once now, and with more physical training to come, there was absolutely no way she could keep going.
But whenever Soul Tools had come up before, Wang Dong had always felt an inexplicable irritation. Now, on the contrary, she felt somewhat calmer.
Should I go or not...?
"All right, get off my bed. If I don't start cultivating now, it'll be dawn."
Wang Dong flopped onto one side of Huo Yuhao's bed and refused to get off. "No! Balance work and rest with me!"
The corner of Huo Yuhao's mouth twitched. He went straight around to the other side of the bed, climbed up, and sat down to cultivate. "If you don't want to leave, sleep beside me and watch me cultivate. I'm not giving in to you."
"Who's afraid of whom? I'm not leaving. I'm sleeping right here!"
With that, Wang Dong pulled Huo Yuhao's quilt over herself and rolled onto her side.
"..."
Huo Yuhao glanced speechlessly at Wang Dong, who had turned away.
Forget it. Do whatever you want.
"I want to switch classes. Recommend one for me."
"Okay."
Wang Dong was slumped over the table with an exhausted expression, facing a bowl of noodles.
She didn't want to keep putting herself through this.
She had originally still felt some inexplicable irritation toward Soul Tools, but after today's physical training, Wang Dong had gotten better.
Zhou Yi thought highly of Wang Dong's talent and had made her class monitor. Then, because she was the only one who had fought, even though she hadn't won, she had still shown some spirit, so Zhou Yi had reluctantly added another hundred laps outright.
How could she put up with that treatment? She might as well make a run for it!
This was a case of newly added Zhou Yi training code, combined with Wang Dong's original lazybones code, successfully overcoming Wang Dong's original built-in dislike-of-Soul-Tools code.
What was the point of staying in Class One? She might as well join Huo Yuhao. Then she could experience his Spiritual Detection during the competition too.
Right behind them, Xiao Xiao, wearing a hat, secretly listened to their conversation.
Willing to switch classes for the other person? What a great relationship.
No, should I switch classes too?
Before you continue