Time is like a rushing river! Washing over the banks of the world, the river brings life and change, nourishing the wilderness called reality.
A month has passed since the Magic Network was launched, and there is still a month before Shrek Academy starts school.
Huo Yuhao stood by a window in the Passion Headquarters, his finger resting on a blue butterfly with beautiful patterns on its wings.
The hot sun shone on Huo Yuhao's face, his black eyes gleaming in the light, and the sunlight sprinkled a layer of gold dust on his eyebrows.
Outside, cicadas chirped, announcing the arrival of summer, trying to drive away the sun's heat with their rising and falling music.
This is Huo Yuhao's twelfth summer in this world. Since regaining his memories, his life has been racing towards the extraordinary.
Summer has always been the season he can't quite explain. It's obviously hot, but Huo Yuhao always looks forward to this season, perhaps because he never experienced this kind of warmth in his previous life.
Only a month has passed since Huo Yuhao personally activated the Magic Network, and this world has begun to change drastically.
From the moment the Magic Network was created, the timeline completely deviated from the original story, and no one knew where this world would lead in the future.
Hundreds of millions of posts appeared on the forum, a complex web of information interwoven like a spider's web, including both true stories and many fabricated anecdotes.
For example, Huo Yuhao was currently looking at a particularly unsettling post.
"Title: Why did the Sea God Tang San retain his experience as a blacksmith's apprentice in Notting City?"
"The poster is concealing his identity to avoid retaliation. Actually, the Sea God's family was very poor back then, and his father was a drunkard!"
"The Sea God couldn't even afford food as a child! In Notting City, he had to work at a blacksmith's shop to survive."
"You need to know what kind of people worked at blacksmiths back then? Round faces, thick beards, black leather shoes, white socks, and rubber boots! A skinny child could only get enough to eat there by selling hooks!"
"My ancestor was a genuine blacksmith living in Notting City! He even slept with the Sea God! The following is his own record of history!"
"..."
Huo Yuhao almost lost his composure, his phone still on the ground. This anecdote was far too far-fetched!
In other words, only Huo Yuhao knew the true identities of those users on the Magic Network; otherwise, he would have been beaten to death by the Shrek Academy students!
Because the author's writing was quite good, with vivid scene descriptions, many people in the comments section gave rewards, and some even actually believed the fabricated history.
After reading the article with a critical mind, Huo Yuhao used his "Ye Ge" account to give him a reward and then gave it a like.
In addition to the forum module, the live streaming module also gradually became popular.
A large number of Soul Masters opened live streaming rooms on the live streaming module, some streaming Soul Hunting, and some streaming Soul Battles.
Among them, there were also unlucky ones who were directly identified offline by ten-thousand-year-old Soul Beasts because they were streaming Soul Hunting.
Dream Coins were also launched, and they were immediately sought after by the Soul Master community!
They found that Dream Coins were really useful! This thing is different from Gold Soul Coins; Dream Coins can really be directly converted into combat power!
A while ago, a member of the Sun Moon Empire livestreamed a Soul Master duel. A wealthy Soul Master, with 100,000 Dream Coins, single-handedly challenged the entire Soul Master Academy.
100,000 Dream Coins, converted into Soul Power and Spiritual Power, was only one percent of that of Nebula Douluo, Manyi.
Through sheer wealth, the Soul Master managed to exhaust everyone.
Influenced by this livestream, all Soul Masters began hoarding Dream Coins.
However, Dream Coins are hard to obtain! A Title Douluo only gets a few hundred thousand Dream Coins after converting all their Soul Power and Spiritual Power!
After all, only 10% reaches them; the remaining 90% is in the Dream Space.
And it takes at least a month for a Title Douluo to recover.
Because of the importance of Dream Coins, the Douluo Three Kingdoms and the Sun Moon Empire began purchasing them in large quantities from the public as strategic reserves.
Even auction houses started accepting Dream Coins instead of Gold Soul Coins for transactions.
Dream Coins are now like Spirit Stones in traditional fantasy worlds for the Douluo Continent.
Ordinary Soul Masters don't have the financial resources of royalty to buy large quantities of Dream Coins.
Their way to quickly obtain Dream Coins is through livestreaming and entertaining!
These Soul Masters had figured out the rules of the livestream: as long as they didn't commit murder, arson, petty theft, or other despicable acts, their livestreams wouldn't be shut down.
So, within the rules, these Soul Masters went to extremes,
all for the sake of attracting attention and earning Dream Coins.
Even the usually arrogant Shrek Academy started hoarding Dream Coins.
The elders of the Sea God Pavilion weren't fools; they all realized that this stuff could be a lifesaver in a critical moment!
If the quantity was high enough, it could become a crucial asset for any power!
Under their controlled observation, all of Shrek Academy's Dream Coins were concentrated in Mu En's hands. He personally managed the Dream Coins, distributing them to the Martial Soul Department and the Soul Guidance Department.
At a Sea God Pavilion meeting, Qian Duoduo and Yan Shaozhe almost came to blows over three million Dream Coins, neither wanting to give up this new resource.
Yan Shaozhe wanted to use these Dream Coins to accelerate the cultivation speed of his core disciples, as absorbing this stuff was much easier than absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.
Qian Duoduo scolded Yan Shaozhe for being short-sighted, arguing that Dream Coins should be used as energy to research and power Soul Tools.
Absorbing Heaven and Earth Qi wouldn't be much slower than absorbing Dream Coins!
One could still become a strong person by absorbing Heaven and Earth Qi!
Unfortunately, to Huo Yuhao's regret, the two didn't fight.
Huo Yuhao drew the curtains, turned on the cooling alchemy formula in the room, enjoyed the air conditioning of this other world, casually browsed forum posts, and sipped a few mouthfuls of iced cola.
Life was incredibly pleasant.
"Bang!"
Unfortunately, the office door was forcefully pushed open. Huo Yuhao quickly shut down the light screen and sat up straight.
Su Tong reluctantly approached Huo Yuhao's desk and said,
"Teacher, try to spend less time on the forums, and stop drinking soda."
"Let's get down to business!"
Huo Yuhao chuckled awkwardly.
"Isn't this about finding vulnerabilities in the Magic Network?"
"If someone exploits a vulnerability, we're doomed."
Su Tong sighed.
"Teacher, I'm the Magic Network administrator."
"I'll find any vulnerabilities immediately."
A month ago, Huo Yuhao had entrusted Su Tong with the administrator privileges of the Magic Network, letting her manage it.
Huo Yuhao always adhered to the principle of "If you doubt someone, don't use them; if you use someone, don't doubt them."
He trusted his apprentice implicitly.
If he couldn't even trust the apprentice he chose, he would be a failure.
He had fulfilled his duties as a teacher to Su Tong, giving her plenty of good things and knowledge. He
had given her the alchemy books compiled by Tianmeng Ice Silkworm and the "Five Years of Simulation, Three Years of Alchemy" textbook that Xue Di had been using.
He personally taught her step by step.
Seeing her teacher slacking off, Su Tong straightened her expression and said to Huo Yuhao,
"Teacher, Dr. Roman is coming back."
"I'm here to inform you."
Hearing "Roman," Huo Yuhao's expression showed interest.
"That guy's back?"
"Alright, I'll go see him."
Huo Yuhao immediately stood up, ready to greet his top employee!
Just as he stepped out the door, Huo Yuhao peeked out and said to Su Tong,
"There are some documents under the desk, can you handle them for me?"
"I'll grill you some fish later."
Su Tong was about to refuse when she heard the door slam shut.
She sat helplessly in Huo Yuhao's office chair and looked down.
At that moment, the girl's blush spoke volumes!
Because there were at least several hundred documents under the desk!
"Teacher!"
"Get to work!!"
...
At the main gate of Xilu City, Huo Yuhao was already waiting.
In the distance, Roman's figure was somewhat distorted by the scorching sun.
Upon seeing Huo Yuhao, he smiled and waved before jogging over.
Beside Roman were two little followers:
Feng Jin, with pink twin ponytails, and Xia Die, with white-purple hair.
The two girls had gone to the Tiandou Plain with Roman a month ago.
Roman was happy to have his two followers help carry things, and along the way, he even taught Feng Jin and Xia Die some alchemy.
"Looks like the journey was pleasant."
Roman approached Huo Yuhao, wiping the fine beads of sweat from his forehead, and said cheerfully,
"It was alright."
"I was thinking of taking the two of them to see Tiandou City, but we didn't have enough time."
"We'll have to wait for next time."
"Boss, there will be a next time, right?"
Huo Yuhao patted Roman's shoulder and said,
"Of course, how could I treat you unfairly?"
"The Magic Network is short-staffed for maintenance, so you'll be helping with the repairs from now on."
Roman showed a sad expression.
"Huh? You're already working?"
Huo Yuhao said earnestly to Luo Man,
"Where does the value of life come from if you don't work?"
"You're still young, this is the age to work hard. If you don't work hard, your boss will soon be unable to afford even the villa!"
Luo Man shouted at Huo Yuhao with a bitter face,
"You heartless boss!"
At this moment, Feng Jin and Xia Die arrived in front of Huo Yuhao, panting, and said,
"It's, it's Brother Huo."
"Long time no see."
Huo Yuhao smiled and took out two bottles of ice water from his storage soul tool and handed them to Feng Jin and Xia Die.
"Yeah, long time no see."
"You must be hot."
Feng Jin and Xia Die took the ice water and said to Huo Yuhao,
"Thank you, Brother Huo!"
"Thank you, Father."
Hearing Xia Die's address, Huo Yuhao trembled, a little confused, looking at Luo Man as if he had taught her that.
Roman wouldn't take the blame. He used his mental power to communicate with Huo Yuhao:
"Don't look at me! It wasn't me!"
"It's Adam and Amon!"
"Have you forgotten that the three of them are from the same group?"
"They know, so of course Xia Die knows!"
After learning the reason, Huo Yuhao looked at Xia Die, who was now somewhat frightened.
Seeing Huo Yuhao's expression, the child thought he disliked her.
Huo Yuhao gently crouched down and hugged Xia Die. This child's martial soul had already awakened—the Dragon of Death.
On the day of its awakening, the power of death was almost uncontrollable, but fortunately, it was successfully suppressed by the abundant life-giving bloodline of the soul beasts within Xia Die's body.
This allowed her to continue embracing life and feeling its warmth.
This child, because of her unique connection to death and life, had indeed attracted the attention of the Goddess of Life, but the Goddess hadn't yet descended to test her.
She was probably waiting for something.
Xia Die placed her hands slightly clasped over her lower abdomen like a little maid, her amethyst eyes trembling as she looked at Huo Yuhao and said,
"May I call you Father?"
Huo Yuhao smiled and nodded, then stroked Xia Die's soft hair and said,
"Of course."
A smile appeared on Xia Die's indifferent face, and she stretched out her hand, tightly gripping Huo Yuhao's black trench coat.
Feng Jin, standing beside her, was also very happy, but soon she seemed to remember something and said anxiously to Xia Die,
"Oh dear, Die Bao!"
"Yue Bao is almost at the south gate of Xilu City!"
"We agreed to pick her up!"
Xia Die released her hand, looking at Huo Yuhao apologetically.
Huo Yuhao asked Feng Jin,
"Who is Yuebao?"
Feng Jin explained, "Yuebao is a friend we met on the Magic Network."
"She wanted to come and see the food in Xilu City, and the three of us agreed to go together."
"When she chatted with us privately, the address she saw was the core area of the Star Dou Great Forest, which scared us."
"But she said it was because she was taken to the core area by her elders to hunt souls."
"Well, Diebao and I will go pick her up first!"
"Goodbye, Brother Huo!"
Huo Yuhao couldn't hold back as he watched Feng Jin pull Xia Die towards the south gate of Xilu City.
"Going to hunt souls in the core area of the Star Dou Great Forest?"
"Wow, they've got some strength."
"And there's a girl named Yuebao?"
Roman looked at the two girls' retreating figures with some concern.
"Should I go with them and take a look?"
"They might not be human."
Huo Yuhao waved his hand.
"No need."
"I already know their identities."
"They probably don't mean any harm."
"Don't worry about their safety, especially since this is Xilu City."
"This is my base. If there's any danger, I'll teleport there immediately."
"I'm not Chicken Leg Douluo."
"Come on, let's go eat!"
Soon, Roman followed Huo Yuhao to a well-known restaurant on the core street of Xilu City.
(End of Chapter)
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