After Yang Chunxi arranged the dormitories for Rong Taotao and Li Ziyi, she took Sun Xingyu to the girls' dorm.
The two stood at the entrance of the dormitory building and glanced at each other. They let out a cold snort at almost the exact same time before turning their heads and walking into the building separately.
They both thought they'd handled it well. That cold snort was basically their way of saying goodbye, but...
...they still had to walk up the stairs together. Well, that was just awkward.
Fortunately, the awkwardness didn't last long. Perhaps Yang Chunxi, worried they might start a fight, had deliberately gotten them keys to separate rooms.
Rong Taotao turned left on the second floor, while Li Ziyi, without a word, continued on his own toward the third floor.
Rong Taotao looked at the key in his hand. It had a piece of white tape on it with "201" written on it.
"201... 201..." Rong Taotao walked to the innermost room on the left. He was about to use his key to open the door when he noticed the light inside was on.
'Someone's in there?'
Rong Taotao scratched his head. 'I forgot to ask Chunxi how many people were in a room.'
KNOCK~ KNOCK~ KNOCK~ Rong Taotao knocked on the door, but without waiting for a response, he pushed it open.
Obviously, the knock was just a symbolic gesture of politeness. Rong Taotao had no intention of actually waiting for permission from the person inside, since this was, after all, his room now.
The warm dormitory was brightly lit, with two beds on opposite sides of the room.
Loft beds with desks underneath. A double room. 'Hm, not bad, not bad at all.'
Rong Taotao stood in the doorway, looking curiously toward the window at the far end of the room. The person standing there happened to turn around at that exact moment.
"Hello." The boy was tall and slender, with a placid demeanor and a mostly expressionless face. He simply nodded at Rong Taotao.
"Hey there." Rong Taotao smiled and waved. Seeing that there were already personal belongings on the desk under the bed on the right, he went ahead and put his backpack on the left-hand desk. "And you are?"
Leaning his back against the window, the boy said, "You don't have to be so formal. The family name is Lu, given name Mang."
Rong Taotao nodded thoughtfully. "As in 'The road ahead is long and arduous, and I will...'?"
The boy cut in, "Lu as in 'land,' Mang as in 'sharp edge.'"
"Alright, then." Rong Taotao finished putting his bag down and looked Lu Mang up and down. Probably because he was still young but already very tall, he looked like a "beanpole."
Of course, for a Soul Martial Artist, Lu Mang's physique was indeed that of a beanpole. But for a celebrity idol, it was the standard figure. 'Tsk, tsk... Damn, how did he get so tall?'
'His natural physical Talent was practically visible to the naked eye. Long arms and long legs—he was born to be a martial artist!'
'Anyone who comes to Pine Soul Soul Martial for the assessment is bound to be a young genius with explosive Talent.'
'Too bad he's not that handsome, but he isn't ugly either. He's fair-skinned and clean-cut, with the refined air of a scholar. Girls probably like that.'
"So where are you from?" Rong Taotao plopped down onto his chair and tilted his head to look at the boy by the window.
His hairstyle added a lot of points to Lu Mang's looks. It was a choppy, layered cut that looked intentionally uneven.
Lu Mang: "Shanghai."
Rong Taotao paused for a moment. 'From Modu? With a city that great, what are you doing here in this frozen wasteland?'
'Don't you have one of the country's top universities right on your doorstep?'
'Modu's Ocean Soul Martial Artists are the best in all of Huaxia. Any student from any corner of the country who wants to become an Ocean Soul Martial Artist flocks to Modu as if on a pilgrimage.'
'It seems Pine Soul Soul Martial has seized the initiative by being the first to create a Junior Class. A lot of good Seedlings didn't just follow the conventional path of attending high school back home; they came straight to this frozen wasteland for the university's entrance assessment.'
Lu Mang seemed to read Rong Taotao's expression but didn't offer an explanation. Instead, he asked, "What's your name."
'Good grief, this guy is something else. Not only is he a man of few words, but there's no intonation in his voice at all...'
"Rong Taotao." Rong Taotao took out his phone and started looking up information on the "Ice Soul Guide" lineage. He continued, "Rong as in 'glory,' Tao as in 'pottery.'"
"ABB, it's catchy," Lu Mang commented casually.
Rong Taotao: "Huh?"
Lu Mang: "Nothing."
Rong Taotao looked at Lu Mang with curiosity, only to see him turn away, cross his arms, and silently gaze out the window.
Rong Taotao clicked his tongue in frustration. 'Dammit, I would've been better off with Li Ziyi as a roommate!'
'At least with him, I could have gone all out with the trash talk!'
With this boy he'd just met, however, Rong Taotao decided to hold his tongue.
No one spoke in the quiet room. After a moment, Rong Taotao's finger, which had been swiping across his phone screen, paused. As he read the information on his phone, his expression grew grave.
The Soul Skill of Xu Taiping's lineage, the Ice Soul Guide lineage, was actually "Snow Sense"!
'Telepathy!?'
Of course, Soul Skills like the Mind Reading Technique or the ability to read others' thoughts didn't exist in this world.
The Snow Sense Soul Skill could connect to a specific target, allowing communication with them in their minds.
'A Soul Skill like this... this is...'
'Something's not right!'
Rong Taotao's brow furrowed, unable to make sense of it.
For a Soul Martial Artist who was an only child, this Soul Pearl's Soul Skill allowed them to mentally connect with comrades on the battlefield. They could secretly relay orders and execute unexpected tactics and coordinated plays.
It was particularly important to note that for normal Soul Martial Artists, the Snow Sense Soul Skill had a limited range.
But for blood brothers like Rong Taotao and Rong Yang, the Ice Soul Guide's Soul Pearl Soul Skill would allow them to achieve barrier-free, cross-dimensional communication!
They could "talk" at any time, even if the other person was at the ends of the earth.
The most important point was... this only applied to human siblings!
For the Soul Beast Ice Soul Guide lineage, there was no range limitation, and furthermore, the connection wasn't restricted to just siblings of the same generation.
As long as they were direct relatives sharing the same bloodline, the Ice Soul Guide clan could communicate anytime, across dimensions.
The more Rong Taotao read, the more shocked and confused he became.
The information also stated that as a rare, highly intelligent race in the Snow Realm, the Ice Soul Guide clan often acted as strategists in the Snow Realm Army.
For decades, on the northern continent, the human Snow Burning Corps had fought countless battles against the Snow Realm's Soul Beast Army. And in every large-scale battle, the Ice Soul Guide clan was never absent from the ranks of the Soul Beast Army.
They were ambitious, using their human-level intelligence combined with favorable timing and terrain in their constant attempts to invade the northern lands.
What attracted them most to Earth were its resources and environment. Although Snow Realm Soul Beasts could survive in blizzards and gales, who wouldn't want a better living environment?
Perhaps they couldn't stand the heat of the south, but the north—in the snow-covered forests and plains ravaged by the Snow Realm Vortex, where the wind and snow were just right, the cold was moderate, and there was an abundance of Earth's wildlife for food—that kind of living environment was beyond comfortable.
'This...'
Rong Taotao's heart sank as he realized something terrifying.
Xu Taiping was undoubtedly an enemy of humanity, or at the very least, an enemy of the northern Snow Burning Corps!
'If Xu Taiping was able to grow up safely in the human world, and was even accepted by the human world from the very beginning, then...'
'...then Xu Taiping's clan—his parents, siblings, grandparents, and so on—must have all been wiped out!?'
'It's even possible they were exterminated right before the eyes of the Snow Burning Corps.'
'Looking at it another way, if his family was still alive, then all of them must have been brought to Earth.'
'Otherwise, Xu Taiping's very existence would make him an especially terrifying informant.'
'Did Chunxi not tell the whole truth at the station, or did she just not tell the full story?'
"Hey." Lu Mang's flat tone came from the window.
"Hm?" Rong Taotao turned to look at Lu Mang. Because he was pondering a difficult problem, he didn't look too pleased, his brow furrowed as if he hated being disturbed.
Lu Mang fell silent for a moment before speaking. "Do you know what the assessment entails."
Rong Taotao shook his head. "The teacher said they'll call us tomorrow with the details."
"Mm." Lu Mang nodded. After a moment's hesitation, he said, "Thanks."
Rong Taotao blinked. Although he had just met Lu Mang, the other boy didn't seem like the type to say "thanks."
Seizing the opening, Rong Taotao kept his eyes on his phone as he asked, "So why did you come here? Your hometown is so nice, and Modu Soul Martial is a First Class institution."
Lu Mang opened his mouth but didn't say anything.
Rong Taotao: "The paths of Starfield and Ocean Soul Martial Artists are wide-open roads to success. Their development environment and training resources are a hundred times better than what Snow Realm Soul Martial Artists get."
Still looking at his phone, Rong Taotao continued, "There's a saying in Huaxia: 'Those who choose to become Magma or Snow Realm Soul Martial Artists may not be true warriors, but they are definitely people of faith.'"
Hearing this, the corners of Lu Mang's mouth lifted into a strange smile. "What faith could a fifteen or sixteen-year-old kid have? They're just here for Pine Soul Soul Martial's resources."
At that, Rong Taotao nodded in agreement. He went back to his phone and didn't say anything more.
Lu Mang didn't say anything else either, and the dormitory once again fell silent.