In Chen Ming's view, both Wang Sheng and Xiao Wu were equally baffling in their own way.
Even if it took two days to earn a single silver soul coin, a group of work-study students pooling their money could easily arrange meals from a restaurant in town. With so many people in Room Seven, ordering together would drive the average cost down significantly, and there would definitely be vendors willing to deliver. At the very least, they wouldn't be limited to plain food every day—there would surely be meat from time to time.
And that was without even considering cooking for themselves.
What, were all these kids from the countryside completely incapable of cooking? No need for elaborate stir-fried dishes—just knead some dough, steam buns or pancakes, or throw together a few simple vegetables. How hard could that be?
If the dormitory didn't allow cooking, then go to the back hill. Surely the academy wouldn't interfere with that, would it?
And Xiao Wu as well—was she trying so hard to make it obvious that she didn't belong here? At the very least, she could have asked how much it cost, but instead she went straight to "do I need to pay?"
How exactly did she even manage to pass as a work-study student and sneak into the academy? Don't tell him her identity was randomly generated on entry. If she was going to enter human society, shouldn't she at least learn some basic common sense?
Chen Ming could only sigh inwardly at the absurdity of it all, though he still followed Wang Sheng to the cafeteria.
Although Nuoding Academy only had around three hundred people in total—including teachers, students, and various miscellaneous individuals (like Yu Xiaogang)—the cafeteria was surprisingly large. It had two floors, and a single floor could already accommodate the entire population for meals.
As soon as they entered, an unfriendly voice rang out.
"Isn't that Wang Sheng and his group of poor bastards? Poor is poor—they'll never make it upstairs to eat."
On the staircase, a senior student mocked them openly.
Xiao Wu immediately snapped back angrily, but Wang Sheng leaned close and whispered, "Sister Xiao Wu, the second floor is for ordering dishes. We can't afford it."
His explanation only made things worse. The senior student noticed Xiao Wu's reaction and his eyes lit up.
"What a cute little girl… what a pity she's just a work-study student. Whatever, Wang Sheng, I need to eat. I'll let you off this time."
"You—!" Xiao Wu was furious and was about to rush up, but Tang San stopped her.
"We're here to eat," he said seriously.
Xiao Wu glanced at him and snorted coldly, her eyes full of disdain.
After this small incident, everyone began lining up for food. It was then that Tang San noticed a familiar figure entering through the door—Yu Xiaogang.
Tang San's expression immediately lit up with surprise as he hurried over to greet him.
After no one knew what was said between them, Chen Ming only saw Tang San being led upstairs by Yu Xiaogang, step by step, separating him from the rest of the work-study students.
Seeing this, Xiao Wu spat in disgust.
"I knew he wasn't a good person."
Originally, Xiao Wu had felt a faint, familiar, and gentle life aura from Tang San—enough that she had even developed a bit of goodwill toward him, or perhaps something closer to appetite-driven instinct.
As a transformed Spirit Beast that still needed interaction with humans to stabilize her cultivation, she had even considered getting along with him.
But after seeing this, all of that goodwill vanished. She only felt irritated now, and had no intention of dealing with Tang San any further.
Xiao Wu's meal was treated by Wang Sheng, while Wang Sheng had originally intended to treat Chen Ming as well. However, Chen Ming simply waved him off and paid for his own meal with soul coins.
During the meal, Chen Ming took out the pickled side dishes he had brought from home and shared them with everyone. The portions were small, but everyone enjoyed them. They weren't close enough to be called friends yet, but at least the initial distance between them had softened.
By the time Tang San returned to Room Seven, he immediately sensed that something had changed. The way everyone looked at him felt subtly different—there was a faint sense of distance now, as if he were the one who didn't quite belong in the dorm anymore.
Although, as a former disciple of the Tang Sect in his past life, Tang San told himself that he didn't care in the slightest how a group of teenagers perceived him, the truth was that he still felt a faint sense of displeasure. And the moment he noticed Xiao Wu completely ignoring him, that discomfort deepened even further.
Work-study students typically trained far harder than ordinary students. By evening, everyone was already sitting in place, quietly cultivating with their eyes closed. The night passed without incident, calm and uneventful. Early the next morning, Tang San pushed open the door of Room Seven without saying a word and left.
Chen Ming, who was aware of the original plot, knew very well—this was Tang San being dragged off by Yu Xiaogang to hunt for his first Spirit Ring.
If nothing unexpected happened, Tang San would return after absorbing a four-hundred-year-old Datura Snake as his first Spirit Ring, validating Yu Xiaogang's so-called "Ten Core Competencies of Martial Souls," and then begin charging forward along a crooked path at high speed.
It was just that Tang San's Blue Silver Grass actually carried the bloodline of the Blue Silver Emperor. Later, after awakening into the true Blue Silver Emperor and even reviving Xiao Wu by sacrificing his early Spirit Rings, he managed to avoid being completely ruined—otherwise, if he truly were just an ordinary Blue Silver Grass Spirit Master, his future would have already been doomed.
But all of that, for now, had little to do with Chen Ming.
After waking up that morning, the first thing Chen Ming did was sit cross-legged to cultivate. And this time, the Spirit Power within his body finally reached a certain threshold—the bottleneck he had been stuck at was broken through.
"Level Nine… still too slow," he muttered inwardly with dissatisfaction.
From his perspective, Tang San had already gone to obtain his first Spirit Ring, while he still hadn't even seen the shadow of his own. The gap between them felt too large.
However, even though Chen Ming possessed AI-like thinking that allowed him to simulate and enter a state of deep, thoughtless meditation, that computation was still fundamentally limited by his own condition and knowledge. Within a short time frame, there was no particularly effective way for him to accelerate his growth.
It was only when Xiao Wu, sitting up from the adjacent bed and groggily beginning to tie her hair, caught his attention that an idea formed in his mind.
Spirit Master cultivation depended on the quality of one's Martial Soul and innate Spirit Power. As a transformed Spirit Beast, Xiao Wu was undoubtedly near the peak in both aspects. Moreover, as a Spirit Beast that had taken human form, she would inevitably possess traits that differed from ordinary human Spirit Masters before reaching full maturity.
Perhaps he could gather more data from Xiao Wu—observe her condition and essence more closely, and use that to obtain knowledge he could not otherwise access.
At this moment, Tang Hao had already left Room Seven and was following Tang San into the Hunting Soul Forest to monitor his situation. If he wanted to build a good relationship with Xiao Wu, today might very well be the most suitable time to begin.
With these thoughts in mind, Chen Ming kept his expression unchanged.
During the day, under the guidance of other work-study students, Chen Ming brought Xiao Wu to the first-year classroom to study Spirit Master theory. Throughout the entire day, he focused on quickly adapting to the environment of Nuoding Academy and efficiently gathering information from it.
It wasn't until the free time in the afternoon that Chen Ming finally brought up his idea to Xiao Wu.