"Whew..."
After taking a deep drag of his cigarette and seeing no one around, He Caitou decided to speak his heart. Huo Yuhao sat up straight, simultaneously enveloping the area around them with his Spiritual Interference Domain.
It's not the thieves you fear, but those who keep watch; who knew if there were any masters within Shrek Academy eavesdropping on their little secrets.
"All these years, keeping this bottled up in my heart has been truly painful..."
He Caitou looked up at the sky. His entire demeanor seemed to transform; his temperament changed drastically as his original honesty completely vanished, replaced by a depth and maturity that even Huo Yuhao couldn't see through.
"Actually, my true identity is a person of the Sun Moon Empire. Furthermore, I am a member of the Sun Moon Empire's imperial family—the biological nephew of the current Sun Moon Empire Emperor..."
Huo Yuhao almost jumped up. "Holy crap! Brother He, you..."
He Caitou gave a bitter smile. "My real name is Xu He. 'He Caitou' is a name I had to adopt out of necessity."
He then told Huo Yuhao the entirety of his past experiences.
"...A former Crown Prince becoming a student of an opposing force. It's quite laughable, isn't it?"
Speaking to this point, He Caitou looked at Huo Yuhao with bloodshot eyes and said, "Yuhao, I actually envy your talent so, so much. If I had talent like yours, I wouldn't bother with some 'Ultimate Soldier Plan.' I'd cultivate to become a Titled Douluo and charge straight through the front door to exterminate my enemies. How satisfying would that be!"
"But I don't have it... Do you know? When I learned you rejected the Ultimate Soldier Plan, I was actually incredibly relieved in my heart."
Then, He Caitou clenched his fists tightly, appearing as if he wanted to say more, yet he remained silent. While this was human nature and very realistic, in some ways, it was quite dark.
"I understand, Brother He." Huo Yuhao patted his shoulder. He Caitou's entire body trembled as he snapped out of his previously agitated state.
"Right now, we are still too weak; we aren't qualified to talk about revenge yet. But I believe that time won't be far off. I promise you, when the timing is ripe, I will help you—help you complete your revenge!"
"...Thank you, Yuhao," He Caitou pursed his lips tightly, his eyes filled with ferocity. "Of course, if you have a need, I, Xu He, am at your disposal, even if it costs my life!"
He Caitou's gaze was serious, without a hint of hesitation. It was clear that this hatred had placed an immense amount of pressure on him; he was truly willing to give his life for the sake of vengeance.
Huo Yuhao blinked a few times. Suddenly, he thought back to the strange feeling he had when Tang Ya and Bei Bei tried to recruit him into the Tang Sect.
Perhaps...
"That won't be necessary. However, I do have something right now that I need your help with, Brother He. Don't worry, I won't force you."
He Caitou's eyes lit up. "Speak freely."
Huo Yuhao lowered his voice: "Brother He, do you remember that person named Lan Xuanyu?"
"Hiss... I have some impression. Is it the one with the hairstyle like dog ears? What about him?"
Huo Yuhao tapped his chin, hesitated for a moment, and whispered, "That Lan Xuanyu and Wang Dong have had some friction with me before. I'm not very comfortable with their behavior."
"Could it be you want to..." He Caitou made a throat-slitting gesture.
Huo Yuhao's mouth twitched. "No, no... Um, those two joined the sect called the Tang Sect where Bei Bei and Tang Ya are. I can't quite put my finger on it, but I always feel like there's something wrong with that sect."
"If possible... I hope you can join the Tang Sect, Brother He, and help me monitor their movements a bit, especially those two: Lan Xuanyu and Wang Dong."
He Caitou thought about it. "The Tang Sect... Ah, that's right, a few days ago Bei Bei and Tang Ya actually came over to invite me to join them. I didn't say much; I just felt like they were playing house."
"That woman Tang Ya really is unscrupulous... Then I'll have to trouble you, Brother He, to be this double agent for me."
"It's no trouble, just a small matter."
Then the two bumped fists, establishing a new alliance.
"Then, Brother He, take this." After speaking, Huo Yuhao stuffed a blue box with a crystal screen into He Caitou's hands.
"What is this?" He Caitou flipped the object over, instinctively feeling it was a soul tool, though he couldn't tell what rank it was.
"Um... this is a communication soul tool my uncle taught me. He calls it a 'Mobile Phone.' Its contact range is enough to cover half the continent, though it's only a semi-finished product."
He Caitou jumped straight off his chair. "Cover half the continent!? This... this..."
It wasn't his fault for being so excited. Currently, the longest-range communication soul tools only reached a few hundred kilometers and were bulky and expensive to use, nowhere near as light and convenient as the one in Huo Yuhao's hand.
Put it this way: the biggest problem with wars on the Douluo Continent right now is logistics and wartime communication. If this simple mobile phone could truly be popularized in the military, it would undoubtedly give the army an overwhelming combat advantage.
Huo Yuhao pulled him back down into his seat. "This is a one-on-one line between you and me. If Lan Xuanyu or Wang Dong have any unusual movements, use this to notify me."
He then explained the basic usage and operation of the 'Mobile Phone' to He Caitou.
He Caitou swallowed hard. "Um... can I learn how to make this..."
It wasn't that He Caitou wanted to start his own private militia; it was purely the desire of a Soul Engineer to study and research deeply.
"...I'll give you the blueprints for this thing later. Just please don't let the high-level officials here at Shrek see it."
He Caitou nodded repeatedly, looking at the phone in his hand as if he couldn't bear to put it down. "I understand, rest assured on that."
Afterward, the two discussed details such as how to exchange intelligence; being a spy, of course, required meticulousness.
Finally, Huo Yuhao's voice grew a bit more serious. "Brother He, from now on your code name is Pangolin. If phone contact is inconvenient, use the method we agreed on previously."
"Good, it's a deal!"
Huo Yuhao didn't know that it was precisely this hidden chess piece placed on He Caitou that would later provide him with the ironclad evidence to openly dissolve the Tang Sect and execute Lan Xuanyu...
...
Time flies during cultivation, and in the blink of an eye, six months had passed.
Huo Yuhao's life in the Shrek Outer Court had become relatively comfortable. Every morning consisted of sword practice, with the occasional trip to the Soul Tool Department to casually manufacture a few soul tools for practice.
He had broken through to Level 40 long ago but had not yet obtained a soul ring, choosing instead to continuously compress his soul power to ensure a better advancement later.
During this period, Wang Dong had come looking for him several times, but Huo Yuhao, having known the intent beforehand, avoided him, which left Wang Dong extremely dissatisfied. Regardless of whether it would work, he wanted to try inviting Huo Yuhao to his home during the holidays...
It was just that things with Zhang Lexuan and Ma Xiaotao were a bit difficult to handle.
It wasn't that they were "difficult" per se, but rather that they had such a great time last time that they wanted to follow Huo Yuhao back to Star Net City again this holiday. They even argued quite plausibly that they could protect Huo Yuhao while he obtained his fourth soul ring.
But this time it really wouldn't work, because Huo Yuhao had to keep the secret of the Skydream Ice Silkworm no matter what. Turning a Ferocious Beast into one's soul ring and soul bone sounded far too terrifying...
Although Huo Yuhao declined in every possible way to put them at ease, Zhang Lexuan and Ma Xiaotao clearly didn't want to let him go so easily.
So...
"I say, Sister Xiao Tao, why is your Evil Fire being suppressed more and more frequently lately..."