At Shrek Academy, in the School-affiliated Chamber of Commerce's low-level Soul Tool section, Wang Dong held a Level 1 Compression Ray Soul Tool, astonishment on her face.
This Soul Tool actually didn't make her feel sick!
She hurriedly touched the other Soul Tools. Her Soul Power surged, and nausea, mental confusion, and other physical discomforts followed one after another.
After forcibly suppressing the discomfort, she felt a little disappointed, then carefully examined the sole Soul Tool that didn't nauseate her.
"Miss, where did this Soul Tool come from?" Wang Dong raised the Soul Tool in her hand and asked.
"This Soul Tool? It was thrown in as a free extra during a trade with a small chamber of commerce under the Red Dust Chamber of Commerce. Come to think of it, that little chamber is here in Shrek City too."
The next day, before dawn.
"Yuhao, why do you want to head north first? You can't even say where we're going." Feng Bujue put Huo Yuhao's luggage into his Storage Soul Tool and looked at him in puzzlement.
They had already agreed to make an early getaway, but they disagreed on where to go first.
"Brother Bujue, lately, my Martial Soul seems to have been giving me some mysterious revelation, guiding me toward the Northern Frigid Land. If I don't go, something I'll regret may very well happen!"
The Northern Frigid Land?
The only place on the Douluo Continent that could be called the Northern Frigid Land was the Far North.
Feng Bujue frowned. A revelation from his Martial Soul?
Such a thing was simply unheard of!
But on closer thought, it didn't seem so hard to accept when it happened to Huo Yuhao.
After all, there were already plenty of outrageous things about Huo Yuhao:
His monstrous talent for Soul Tools, and his ability to improve his spiritual power cultivation just by analyzing other people's emotions.
So, of course, he chose to believe him!
"Fine, this Level 4 Soul Engineer will join you in this madness." Feng Bujue gritted his teeth. "We'll leave Shrek City first, then buy all sorts of cold-weather supplies once we reach a major northern town in the Heaven Dou Empire."
"But let's agree on this first: we'll explore no more than three or four hundred li into the Far North. Any deeper, and my strength won't be nearly enough."
"All right!"
Feng Bujue nodded. Before leaving their quarters, he casually placed several Level 1 Core Arrays with failed engravings on the workbench in Huo Yuhao's little room.
The two hurried away through the workers who were about to start moving goods. Huo Yuhao secretly activated Simulation, and not a single person noticed.
No sooner had Huo Yuhao and Feng Bujue left than the chamber of commerce was searched.
A squad of Shrek City's City Management officers sealed off the chamber's premises. Their leader shouted at the cargo handlers to clear out, then led his men straight to Feng Bujue's dormitory.
After a thorough search, they found nothing.
"Damn it, when did he run?"
"Captain, according to one of the stewards, Feng Bujue has been helping a boy study Soul Tools for seven months. These few scrap Level 1 Core Arrays were found in that boy's room."
At Shrek City's gate.
Huo Yuhao and Feng Bujue had just stepped through the gate when a shout came from behind them:
"Steward Feng, please wait!"
"Yuhao, Fate's interference has reached its maximum!" Electrolux's warning in the Sea of Consciousness came just in time.
Huo Yuhao's pupils contracted slightly, then quickly returned to normal. He exchanged a look with Feng Bujue:
Brother Bujue, you handle this!
Having given him that look, Huo Yuhao turned around and saw a handsome youth whose hair had blue-and-pink tips. Huo Yuhao's attention fell on the sheet of paper in his hand:
It listed not only Feng Bujue's position in the chamber of commerce, but also his portrait!
"Steward Feng, I'm Wang Dong, a new student at Shrek Academy. I didn't expect to run into you here. Where are you heading outside the city?"
Feng Bujue hadn't understood Huo Yuhao's look, so he chose to avoid answering and minimize the chance of a mistake, asking directly:
"What did you want with me?"
"Oh, do you still remember this Soul Tool, Mr. Feng?" Wang Dong took out a Level 1 Compression Ray Soul Tool from her Storage Soul Tool, one very familiar to Huo Yuhao.
Wasn't that the first Level 1 Core Array he had successfully engraved?
He still remembered how, after making his first Level 1 Soul Tool, he had sold that practice piece through Feng Bujue to recoup a little money.
Something he had sold had actually become the lead that brought someone to them!
Was this the power of Fate?
"Yuhao, kill her. Cut off the puppet master's feeler!" the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm snorted coldly. When it came to malice, he had always felt that, if one had the ability, one should meet violence with violence and give as good as one got.
Electrolux remained silent. He wanted to see how Huo Yuhao would handle this.
Huo Yuhao thought for a moment before replying:
"Brother Sky Dream, I know you mean well. You want to guide me with your own experience so I can avoid taking detours."
"But I want to handle this more gently. What if he's a victim too? Before we understand the situation, casually treating someone else's life as a tool to make a show of force seems far too arrogant."
If the Huo Yuhao who had just left the White Tiger Duke's Mansion, filled with resentment and obsession, had faced this situation, he might have gone all the way and done as the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm suggested.
But ever since gaining the Spectator's abilities and seeing the desires, pursuits, and experiences of all sorts of people, he had suddenly realized that everyone he had met and spoken with was a living, breathing person.
That struggling mother and daughter, Brother Bujue's kindness, and those Shrek Outer Court students who came to buy grilled fish...
There was certainly filth and ugliness among them, but far more of it was hope and effort toward a better life.
To destroy that possible happiness and wantonly bring disaster upon others merely for his own selfish interests-
He considered that inappropriate.
Huo Yuhao gave Wang Dong a long look. The keen vision granted by his Spirit Eyes let him see Tang Yin following behind Wang Dong, even though dawn had yet to break.
Tang Yin was here too?
Why did he always happen to appear in front of me?
Huo Yuhao committed this detail to memory and took the initiative to remind Feng Bujue:
"Brother Bujue, have you forgotten? This Soul Tool came from that batch of low-level Soul Tools a big chamber distributed to ours. You're a Level 4 Soul Engineer and couldn't be bothered with such little things, so I signed for you."
"Oh, now that you mention it, I remember." Feng Bujue smoothly picked up the thread. "That batch of Soul Tools came from the Red Dust Chamber of Commerce, too. Haha."
"Little Brother Huo, what are you doing here?" Tang Yin approached from a distance with a frown and asked.
Wang Dong was startled and asked in confusion, "Tang Yin, what are you doing here?"
"My Soul Power has reached Level 30. I took leave to hunt Soul Beasts in the Star Dou Great Forest," Tang Yin answered casually, never taking his eyes off Huo Yuhao's face.
In fact, after activating the God King's Mark, he had secretly followed Wang Dong all the way here. Seeing Huo Yuhao here had surprised him greatly as well.
Of course, Tang Yin wouldn't think this grilled-fish seller was the Child of Destiny, but running into Wang Dong at this critical moment might also be a problem!
Huo Yuhao's eyes dimmed, his expression dispirited. "Brother Tang Yin, don't I sell grilled fish? I have to buy stock every day."
"Outside the city? And with a Level 4 Soul Engineer?"
"Isn't it cheaper at the farms outside the city? I asked Brother Bujue along because I wanted to borrow his tiger's hide to bolster my standing, so they wouldn't look down on me."
So that was it. Tang Yin's expression eased slightly. With a faint smile, he stepped half a pace forward and patted Huo Yuhao's shoulder encouragingly:
"Keep honing your fish-grilling skills. I'll have to try some again next time we meet!"
Shrek Academy, the dean's office.
Yan Shaozhe casually glanced at the "Sun Moon Empire Undercover Agent Investigation Report (Issue 48)" Du Weilun had brought him, then put it in the bottommost section of the filing cabinet. Information on Feng Bujue and Huo Yuhao was also tucked inside the report.
He tapped the desk and said sternly:
"Weilun, don't submit reports like this anymore. These City Management officers will write whatever grabs the most attention just to claim credit."
"These Sun Moon Empire immigration agents are amusing, too. They brainwashed and spirited away a little fellow who couldn't become a Level 1 Soul Engineer even after seven months?"
"Even the students Zhou Yi expelled were above that level. To think they'd carry off an eliminated Pilgrim as though he were a treasure."
"Heh, let them!"
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