It's Over! My Life Is Forfeit!

After more than a full week of grueling wilderness survival training with almost no time to rest, Bao Liang and the other two had practically counted the days on their fingers to get through it.

Now, their hair was as messy as chicken nests, their clothes were riddled with holes, and their faces were streaked with gray and black. From head to toe, they gave off the unmistakable air of "cavemen."

So when the familiar walls of the military camp finally appeared at the end of their field of vision, all three stopped in their tracks, their eyes growing a little warm.

"Finally... we're back!"

"Hot food..." Meng Hongchen murmured, her voice almost breaking into a sob. "It's been nearly ten days since I had a single hot meal..."

"Bed!" Xiao Hongchen put it succinctly. "I want a bed without bugs!

"Grandpa went way too far! He actually dumped a whole sack of bugs on us while we were sleeping!"

Bao Liang tipped his head back and let out a long sigh. "A bath! I want a bath! Does anyone understand? The rivers in the Star Dou Great Forest are seriously cold!

"And on top of that, a fish actually bit me on the butt!"

Whoosh!

Half a skeletal dragon head emerged from Bao Liang's right eye. Blue flames sputtering around him, Dragon Fang looked around before silently withdrawing.

Dragon Fang: The fire Qi here isn't even as strong as it was back in my original family. No fun.

The three sighed with feeling all the way, tears streaming down their faces-like three convicts who had just finished a sentence of hard labor.

"So," Bao Liang summed up weakly, "'increasing the intensity' and 'wasting our golden cultivation period' are two completely different things.

"Next time Grandpa Jing says something like 'we'll only train for a week,' let's run."

"Just you dare," Jing Hongchen threatened without looking back as he walked ahead.

"...I wouldn't dare."

Meng Hongchen counted on her fingers. "First, I'll eat some little cakes when we get back, then drink some hot soup, take a bath, and finally sleep for three days and three nights-"

"You've got the order backward, Meng," Xiao Hongchen corrected her. "Sleep first."

For once, the siblings came to an agreement.

On the last stretch of their journey back, however, Jing Hongchen felt somewhat uneasy.

He had the nagging feeling that he had forgotten something, but for the moment, he couldn't remember what it was.

Was it something to do with Mingde Hall? Or the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy?

Hmm... there probably wasn't much to worry about at the academy.

With Lin Jiayi and the other teachers keeping watch, those old fellows might be forever scheming against one another, each more cunning than the last, and their teaching abilities might vary, but they were all meticulous about guarding their home turf. The students wouldn't be able to stir up much trouble.

Then was it Mingde Hall?

Hmm-possibly.

After all, apart from Old Ye, he was the only one personally overseeing the progress of the Humanoid Soul Tool experiments. Everyone else mostly played a supporting role.

Not everyone was Xuan Ziwen, after all, able to keep up with the way their group thought.

Although the experiments were currently making poor progress and had been stuck for some time on the Soul Power circuits, the overload on the body's joints, and the excessively high requirements that left them without a suitable pilot, there were indeed details that could still be refined. It was only natural for him to feel uneasy.

Thinking about it that way, that inexplicable unease seemed to have found its cause.

As for the other matters within Mingde Hall?

What a joke. He, Jing Hongchen, wasn't worried.

After all, could anyone who made it into Mingde Hall be useless? If something happened to Mingde Hall just because he had been away for a measly week, then all the Soul Engineers there, along with the covert sentries and guards planted by the imperial family, could go die.

What was the point of such trash staying alive? They were wasting the empire's food, materials, and funding.

If that really happened, he, Jing Hongchen, would personally take a blade and clear them out one by one. That would count as his contribution to the empire.

As for whether anyone dared take Soul Tool information from Mingde Hall and sell it outside...

Jing Hongchen really had nothing to say about that.

Because he had sold some himself, and quite a lot of it.

It was just that everything he sold was an extremely outdated, defective product, discarded by Mingde Hall after who knew how many later versions. What was more, those defective products were subject to restrictions.

Even if Shrek bought every last one of those things, it wouldn't matter-

For one thing, they hadn't sold as much as he, Jing Hongchen, had. For another, a whole pile of the things he sold had hidden, serious safety hazards.

His approach was simple: he wanted to make money, and he wanted to keep his life too.

As for whether Shrek would dare come knocking and demand an explanation?

What a joke! I, Jing Hongchen, dare to admit it, but does Shrek dare to say it?

Believe it or not, the moment Shrek comes knocking for an explanation, I, Jing Hongchen, will be crowned a "pioneer of resistance against Shrek" the very next second. When it came to screwing Shrek over, everyone in Sun Moon was only too excited.

At that thought, Jing Hongchen, who felt he hadn't forgotten anything important, relaxed. Humming a tuneless little ditty, he cheerfully led the children toward the military camp.

This trip had truly been a fruitful one.

Not only had Xiao obtained a Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear's Soul Ring, but he had also gained a Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear External Soul Bone. Little Bao Liang had done even better: his second ring was directly a ten-thousand-year one, and both his Martial Soul and External Soul Bone had unlocked their second forms. The External Soul Bone's second form had even been given an imposing name-the Eye of Judgment.

And to top it off, they had brought back a living mutated Dread Blueflame Dragon Fire Spirit.

They had made a killing, truly a tremendous killing.

Thinking of his triumphs, Jing Hongchen couldn't stop the corners of his mouth from lifting, and even his steps grew a little lighter.

However, the instant he saw Wang Yiheng at the military camp, all that happiness vanished, and he felt terrible.

At the entrance to the camp, a figure like an iron tower was already standing there. It was none other than Mad Bull Douluo, Wang Yiheng.

But the expression on the face of this rank ninety-four Titled Douluo could hardly be called pleasant. He grimaced awkwardly, his eyes darting about with nowhere to settle. The only thing missing was the words "good luck" written across his face.

At that moment, every trace of Jing Hongchen's good mood vanished completely.

He remembered.

He remembered everything.

He remembered exactly what he had forgotten.

The bastard standing in front of him was, just like him, Jing Hongchen, a bona fide member of the crown prince's faction!

And there was absolutely no way the man wouldn't report that he, Jing Hongchen, had left the Sun Moon border.

And once he reported it, he would certainly leave out no detail-the date he had left the city, whom he had taken, which route he had followed, and how many days he had stayed in the forest. Not one of them would be missed.

But the problem was-his hands weren't clean!

Bao Liang's situation could be explained away somewhat by calling him "the children's former playmate," but Jing Hongchen had personally ordered that the intelligence gathered after Bao Liang awakened his Martial Soul be withheld from the reports for the time being. And after learning that Bao Liang had an Ultimate Martial Soul, he had made another round of arrangements concerning all the intelligence and everyone in the know.

Now the information on Bao Liang was in a state where nothing was clear from top to bottom. It wouldn't stand up to any scrutiny at all!

After all-if there was nothing wrong, why had he done all that?

But with that bastard making his report, Crown Prince Xu Tianran would learn about the measures he had taken. The crown prince knowing was the same as the imperial family knowing, and the imperial family knowing was the same as his revered teacher, Kong Deming, knowing.

And once his revered teacher knew and gave it even a little thought...

It's over! My life is forfeit!

Jing scream.jpg.

After watching Jing Hongchen's face go from red to white, then from white to green, and finally from green to despair, Wang Yiheng rather awkwardly turned his head and pretended to study the two crooked trees at the camp entrance.

Brother Hongchen, I'm sorry.

Reporting truthfully was my duty, but I really didn't expect to land you in such a mess.

"Teacher Kong... could he already have..." Jing Hongchen's voice wavered.

"The crown prince and Teacher Kong already know," Wang Yiheng said with a sigh. "The palace summoned me for questioning the day after I submitted the report.

"His Highness the Crown Prince asked very detailed questions, and I answered truthfully."

He paused, then added, "And Teacher Kong also said for you to bring his adorable granddisciples to see him."

"Of course, Teacher Kong's exact words definitely weren't as... gentle as mine.

"Brother Hongchen, you'd better prepare yourself."

Jing: It's over! I'm dead for sure!

Wang Yiheng: Sorry, I did my best.

The three little ones: What happened?