He Caitou

"Ha? You ate your way to level fifteen?!"

"Congratulations, Wulin."

After the competition ended and they collected their prize money, Wang Dong and Huo Yutong had completely different reactions upon hearing that Tang Wulin had advanced.

Huo Yutong was genuinely happy for Tang Wulin, while Wang Dong looked unable to accept it.

"I never thought eating more could help you level up. Should I also..."

"I advise you not to." Tang Wulin hurriedly stopped his ridiculous idea. "The reason I can level up by eating is because my main ability is my body. My body urgently needs energy to sustain its expenditure, so eating more helps me greatly. If you tried it, you probably wouldn't get the same results."

"I see."

Wang Dong's expression was complicated, and it was impossible to tell whether he was disappointed or relieved.

He patted his face, then took out the little booklet from before and said:

"Alright, lunch has been perfectly taken care of. Next, it's time for us to have some fun."

"What are we playing?"

Tang Wulin asked curiously.

He had just roughly browsed through the booklet in Wang Dong's hand. There were quite a few activities at Shrek City's Opening Festival, and half a day was clearly not enough for the three of them to experience everything.

"Don't worry about it. Just follow this young master."

With a smug expression, Wang Dong led Tang Wulin and Huo Yutong toward the direction he had planned.

It had to be said that, as a child from a Wealthy Family, no matter how smug Wang Dong was, he really did know quite a lot.

Huo Yutong was a poor child who had never seen the world, while Tang Wulin was a transmigrator from the future who had seen too much of the world. Neither of them knew anything about the entertainment activities in the big cities of this era.

Thanks to Wang Dong leading the way, Tang Wulin and Huo Yutong had a very relaxing afternoon.

By the time evening arrived, Tang Wulin's group ran into an acquaintance on the street.

Tang Wulin was the first to greet him.

"Big Brother He, are you here in the city to have fun too?"

"Wulin?" Hearing the voice, He Caitou turned around in surprise. "I didn't expect to run into you here. I came to collect metal on Teacher's orders."

He Caitou was someone Tang Wulin had met yesterday afternoon when he went to forge in the Soul Engineering Department's experimental area.

He was the prized disciple of Fan Yu, the Soul Engineering Department's Third-in-Command, and could also be considered Fan Yu's adopted son. He was a Senior who looked exceptionally honest and simple.

Tang Wulin keenly noticed the keyword in his words.

"Collect metal? Aren't you buying it?"

"No." He Caitou explained, "In fact, most of the shops around here are invested in by our Soul Engineering Department. As long as I reveal my identity, I can get considerable discounts at many shops. As for metal supplied to the academy, we don't need to pay for it at all."

"That impressive?"

"Mm. After all, Shrek City was established with our academy as its foundation. In fact, the academy has a hand in most of the activities at the Opening Festival. For example, I heard the Great Eater Competition held so enthusiastically this morning was supported by our Vice Head of Sea God's Pavilion."

Listening to He Caitou speak at length, Tang Wulin was rather surprised.

He had not expected the Great Eater Competition he participated in that morning to have been supported by the Vice Head of Sea God's Pavilion. Going out of their way to support such an event, that Vice Pavilion Head was truly a strange person.

He Caitou looked at Wang Dong and Huo Yutong.

"By the way, you're Wulin's friends, right? There are many game activities provided by the Soul Engineering Department here. Would you like to try them? If I step in, they'll be free."

No one noticed the glint in his eyes as he spoke.

He Caitou's honest appearance and attitude were merely a facade. In truth, he was a very shrewd person.

He did not know what things were like over at the Martial Soul Department, but due to the Soul Engineering Department's extreme shortage of talent, the activities they organized were basically intended to identify potential recruits.

He knew how highly Qian Duoduo and Fan Yu valued Tang Wulin, and he also knew how much effort they had recently put into luring Tang Wulin over. He wanted to do his part for them as well.

In He Caitou's view, Tang Wulin himself was difficult to approach, so targeting the people around him was a shortcut.

If he could lure all of Tang Wulin's close friends into the Soul Engineering Department, the Success Rate of persuading Tang Wulin would also greatly increase.

Huo Yutong was clearly interested in He Caitou's invitation.

"What activities are there?"

She had already heard about the Tang Sect's situation from Beibei and Tang Ya.

In her view, if they wanted to save the Tang Sect, they had to develop Soul Tools.

Now that she had an opportunity to come into contact with Soul Tools, she naturally would not let it slip away.

He Caitou's eyes lit up, and he hurriedly said:

"There are lots of them, including shooting games and leisure activities. Which one would you like to try?"

"Then let's go with the shooting kind."

Since she wanted to study Soul Tools, she naturally had to study ones with offensive capabilities.

Besides, shooting-type Soul Tools and the Tang Sect's Hidden Weapons were on the same track. Both were long-range attack types, and studying them would be more helpful in revitalizing the Tang Sect.

"Alright, follow me."

He Caitou immediately turned and led the way.

Just as Huo Yutong and Tang Wulin were about to move, they suddenly realized someone was missing.

They turned around and found Wang Dong standing where he was, his expression unpleasant.

Tang Wulin asked worriedly:

"Wang Dong, what's wrong? Are you feeling unwell?"

"..." Wang Dong took a deep breath. "Wulin, you and Yutong go ahead. I really am feeling a little unwell right now."

"What's wrong? Do you need to go to the infirmary?"

Huo Yutong also asked with concern.

Wang Dong slowly shook his head.

"No need. Thanks for your concern."

Perhaps it was just an illusion, but Tang Wulin felt that Wang Dong's voice was extremely stiff, as though he were suppressing some irritated emotion.

Wang Dong turned around, hiding his expression as he said:

"The air in this area makes me feel very uncomfortable. I'll wait for you at the entrance to Shrek City first. Come find me after you're done."

Having said that, Wang Dong did not wait for Tang Wulin or Huo Yutong to respond. He took off running, quickly squeezed into the crowd, and disappeared.

Tang Wulin and Huo Yutong looked at each other. They both had a strange feeling that Wang Dong was not so much physically unwell as he was in an extremely bad mood.

It was as though he found Soul Tools deeply repulsive.

Wang Dong weaved through the crowd, tightly biting his Lower Lip.

The moment he heard He Caitou say that this was an area managed by the Soul Engineering Department, he had felt intensely irritated, and a sense of disgust had risen in his heart.

He knew that he was being completely unreasonable, but he simply could not control his emotions.

If he stayed there any longer, no one would be happy, so he could only choose to leave by himself first.

"Damn it!"

Upon arriving at Shrek City's gate, Wang Dong fiercely punched the City Wall.

His mind seemed to have been forcibly divided into two parts. One was rational and told him there was nothing wrong with Soul Tools, while the other was emotional and continuously stirred up hatred in his heart.

The feeling made him miserable.

"Why... What's wrong with me...?"

Wang Dong's helpless voice was swallowed by the clamor of the city at night.