Xu Yang

"I need to change dorm rooms."

"Huh?" The dorm supervisor paused, but immediately lowered his head to check his forms. "The boys' dorms for new students are already full. There aren't any spare rooms for you. Which room are you in?"

"108."

"Your roommate is that young master named Wang Dong? You're rather unlucky, then. A new student was driven out by him just two days ago."

"I see." Without dwelling on it or reporting the fact that Wang Dong was a girl-he had no actual evidence, after all-Huo Yuhao left for the dining hall.

Huo Yuhao felt rather helpless, too. If Wang Dong had been a man, he could simply have beaten him up a few more times. But she just had to be a little slip of a girl. He had never dealt with such an overbearing girl before. If she were an enemy, he could just kill her. In the Imperium, as a Primarch, he had been revered and loved by everyone else, but in this world, he only wanted to be an ordinary person.

Before long, Huo Yuhao reached the dining hall, where Gu Yuena and Gu Qiu'er were already waiting for him. Seeing him arrive, Gu Qiu'er waved to him.

"Yuhao~! Over here."

Seeing her wave, Huo Yuhao smiled and walked toward them. He had to admit that with this lively girl around, he felt his humanity was recovering quite well. It did, however, cause an uproar.

"Who's that kid?"

"A new student, probably. What gives him the right to keep two beauties waiting?"

"He's decent-looking, I suppose. Nothing special. Those two beauties looked like they wouldn't give anyone the time of day."

Huo Yuhao glanced around without paying any attention to the surrounding clamor, then frowned slightly.

"Doesn't the dining hall have tables and chairs?"

"No. What would we need tables and chairs for?" Gu Qiu'er blinked and asked Huo Yuhao in return.

I shouldn't have asked them. Huo Yuhao felt he still needed to teach these two some common knowledge about human life.

"Among humans, eating proper meals at a table is a matter of etiquette," Huo Yuhao replied in a voice only the three of them could hear.

"Then why doesn't the dining hall have tables and chairs?" This caught Gu Yuena's attention.

"I don't know. We'll find someone to ask in a bit. After we eat, we'll buy some tables and chairs while we're out."

Shrek Academy offered a wide variety of dishes, from fried plain rice that could barely fill a stomach to exquisite Soul Beast meat. Naturally, the prices were worlds apart as well, ranging from two Copper Soul Coins to several dozen Gold Soul Coins. The three chose several upper-middle-range dishes, mainly because Gu Qiu'er could eat quite a lot.

After the meal.

"I didn't expect the food here to taste pretty good." Gu Qiu'er patted her full belly. "But it's still a little worse than your cooking, Yuhao."

Gu Yuena nodded in agreement as well.

Huo Yuhao chuckled. "Then I'll cook for you again when I have time." Cooking was Huo Yuhao's greatest hobby. He had studied all sorts of cooking techniques passed down from Terra, and every dish he made was a work of art.

"When will you have time?" Gu Qiu'er looked at Huo Yuhao with shining eyes, and Gu Yuena silently turned her gaze toward him as well.

"This weekend."

Just then, three people approached them, two men and one woman. Two of them were acquaintances of Huo Yuhao's.

"Are you Little Brother Huo?" the girl exclaimed in pleasant surprise.

"Sister Xiaoya and Brother Bei Bei." Seeing the two familiar faces, Huo Yuhao returned their greeting.

"Yuhao, who are they?" Seeing this girl, who was a few years older, act so casually with Huo Yuhao, Gu Qiu'er immediately grew a little wary and moved closer to him.

"I met them on my way to the Star Dou Great Forest, before I met you two. As for this gentleman...?" Huo Yuhao looked at the other man. He had shoulder-length purple hair, purplish-gold eyes, an upright bearing, and handsome features, though his complexion was somewhat pale. He looked like a noble.

"This is Xu Yang," Bei Bei introduced him to Huo Yuhao. "Xiaoya and I met him before we met you. He went to obtain a Soul Ring that day, too, and afterward we traveled together again. Oh, right. Just like you, Yuhao, Xu Yang is also a Mental Attribute Soul Master. And these two young ladies are...?"

Bei Bei was also very surprised that Huo Yuhao had enrolled in Shrek Academy despite his Soul Power falling short of the requirement. After all, this young Brother Huo did not look as if he had any influential background. But everyone had their own secrets, so he did not ask too many questions.

"Gu Yuena and Gu Qiu'er. They're sisters. I met them afterward and came here with them." Huo Yuhao only gave a brief introduction without saying much else, while also glancing at Xu Yang.

"What beautiful girls! In a few years, the title of the outer court's greatest beauty will probably fall to them," Tang Ya could not help praising them.

"From the looks of it, are you heading to the dining hall?"

"Yes. Have you already eaten?"

"Yes. I have a question. Why doesn't the dining hall provide tables and chairs?"

"That's because the academy believes eating standing up is more efficient and saves time for cultivation."

"Oh. Go on, then. We still need to buy a few things."

"Bye."

After the three had left.

"That Xu Yang," Gu Yuena said in a tone of disgust, "the way he looked at Qiu'er and me held shock, and greed, too. But when he looked at you..."

"Hatred. Hostility." Huo Yuhao finished her sentence. "Although his expression barely changed the whole time, he couldn't conceal that malice at all.

"I'm quite certain I've never met him, but he seems to know me very well." Huo Yuhao thought back over his eleven years of living on Douluo Star. He had never seen that person named Xu Yang at all. Judging by his appearance and clothing, he was certainly not one of the Duke's Mansion's lackeys.

"You felt that way too, Yuhao?" Gu Qiu'er cut in. "I also had a gut feeling that he seemed to know me."

"That's impossible!" Gu Yuena denied it outright. "How could he possibly know you? You're..." Gu Yuena did not continue.

"It seems this world holds plenty of unknowns, too."

"Why don't we...?" Gu Yuena looked at Huo Yuhao and made a chopping gesture with her hand.

"No need. With his strength, he poses no threat to us at all. If we kill him now, we won't learn anything. Give me some time to make something first."

Huo Yuhao would never show mercy to someone who harbored such great malice toward him. It was simply that killing him now offered no benefit. After all, he was also very curious about why that person knew about them.

"But we should be on guard against Shrek Academy," Huo Yuhao suddenly said.

"Why?" Both girls were curious.

"The dining hall's refusal to provide tables and chairs is Shrek Academy's way of testing students' obedience," Huo Yuhao explained. "It's unreasonable, and the explanation doesn't hold water at all. But because it carries the name of the continent's number one academy, and generation after generation has accepted it, children of only eleven or twelve, whose minds are far from mature, will naturally accept that way of thinking.

"If I'm not mistaken, Shrek Academy must have other unreasonable practices toward its students. If you encounter any, make sure to tell me. I hope it's not what I think it is."

"I'll listen to you." Gu Qiu'er expressed her unconditional trust in Huo Yuhao, while Gu Yuena likewise sank into thought.