Mysterious Narcissism (Part 1)

Wang Dong hummed a little tune, hands behind his head, striding into the dorm with a clearly cheerful mood.

"Yo, what's got you so happy?" Huo Yuhao asked with a smile.

"Heh heh, I've got something cool to show you." Wang Dong shut the door, looked left and right with exaggerated caution, then pulled the curtains shut, speaking mysteriously.

"Tch, what kind of thing makes you act so..." Huo Yuhao began nonchalantly, but choked on his words mid-sentence.

Wang Dong held a long box in his hands. Inside was a golden-red arm bone. The five finger bones were long and sharp. As the box opened, Huo Yuhao could clearly feel waves of warm energy radiating from it.

"Golden Radiance Left Arm Bone!" Huo Yuhao exclaimed.

"You know what this is?" Wang Dong asked, confused, then quickly remembered that Huo Yuhao had also received an invitation to the Treasure Appreciation Conference—so it made sense.

Huo Yuhao definitely knew what it was. Although he had no intention of buying a soul bone himself, he had taken a brief look. He clearly remembered that the price tag on this one had a ridiculous number of zeros.

He hadn't expected Wang Dong to actually buy it. That really cemented the fact that this guy was loaded.

Huo Yuhao remembered in the original story, this Golden Radiance Left Arm Bone was something that dumbass Dai Yuhao bought on credit to gift to Wang Dong. It reminded him of guys on Blue Star who'd go into debt to buy their girlfriends the latest iPhone. The resemblance was uncanny.

[You guys probably noticed—"Dai Yuhao" here is referring to the original novel. "Huo Yuhao" is this Huo Yuhao—now and always. No "returning to the roots" or family reunion nonsense. If Dai Mubai couldn't even protect his descendants, and then later Dai Yuhao got rich and suddenly they wanted to claim kinship—ugh, that made me gag.]

"Tsk tsk, didn't peg you for a rich boy. Not bad, huh."

Huo Yuhao thought to himself, Is this guy's brain full of soup? Since when were we so close that he didn't even bother hiding a soul bone from me?

"Of course! This little expense is nothing to Young Master Me—like dirt under my nails. No big deal." Wang Dong raised his chin with a smug look.

"What's wrong?" When Wang Dong didn't get a reply, he looked at Huo Yuhao, who seemed a little down.

No way… Did I hurt his feelings? Wang Dong wondered.

"Wang Dong, I'm moving out tomorrow." Huo Yuhao said.

Wang Dong immediately panicked. "Why? Isn't the academy rule that everyone has to stay in the dorms? Are you sick of me being messy? Not cleaning up after myself?" The more he spoke, the lower his voice got—he even sounded a bit wronged.

At least he's self-aware, Huo Yuhao thought silently, though he said something else aloud:"Nah, it's not like that. My situation's just a little special. I need a distraction-free environment to train for the foreseeable future. There are things I can't really tell you, but I hope you understand—everyone has their secrets."

Wang Dong thought about it and figured it made sense. He had his own secrets, after all. Still, he felt a little sad.

"Relax, it's not like I'm transferring schools. I'll still be in Class One. We'll see each other every day. Don't pout like I died or something."

"Actually, while I'm still here, I can help you guard while you absorb the soul bone. Do it now." As he spoke, Huo Yuhao patted Wang Dong on the shoulder.

More than a month later, Huo Yuhao, sitting cross-legged on his bed with eyes closed, suddenly opened them and sighed lightly. He got up and walked to the window.

A graceful figure came into view—black dress, golden hair, stunning looks, full of heroic spirit.

Yet this so-called goddess, the one who had all the guys in Class One swooning, was now the last person Huo Yuhao wanted to see.

This girl kept coming around every few days to challenge him to a fight, never satisfied until he was completely drained of spirit energy. A total battle maniac. Only the heavens knew how Huo Yuhao had survived this past month.

Gotta find a way to get rid of this chick, Huo Yuhao pondered. But how? He had tried talking nicely before, but Wang Qiu'er wasn't buying it.

If the soft way doesn't work, time to try the hard way. His eyes lit up with the idea.

"I haven't eaten yet. If you want to fight, fine—but come in here and cook first." Huo Yuhao stood on the balcony and shouted down to Wang Qiu'er.

She blinked, momentarily stunned, and her lovely face showed a trace of displeasure. "You want me to cook for you?" She pointed at herself, like she thought she'd misheard.

Huo Yuhao shrugged with an innocent expression. "Can't help it. I've got no energy when I'm hungry. If you're not into it, then go back."

Wang Qiu'er snorted coldly. She knew he was trying to avoid the fight and was deliberately making things difficult. But she wasn't about to give up that easily—she'd finally found a good sparring partner.

So even though she was annoyed, she stepped into the villa anyway, silently vowing to over-salt everything and make him suffer.

Of course, Huo Yuhao wasn't actually going to let her cook—he wasn't suicidal. He just had her help out with prep work, like washing vegetables.

"What are you doing?" Wang Qiu'er asked, frowning. She noticed something was off—this guy kept making casual physical contact with her. She had a vague feeling he was doing it on purpose.

Half a month passed in the blink of an eye. On this particular day, Wang Qiu'er showed up at Huo Yuhao's place like usual. But this time, he was nowhere to be seen.

She didn't think much of it—figured she had just arrived early and he might still be asleep—so she went ahead with her "daily chores": washing veggies.

By Huo Yuhao's definition, that's all she was good for—being an assistant.

Once everything was ready and Huo Yuhao still hadn't appeared, Wang Qiu'er sat in the living room to wait.

Half an hour later, knock knock knock—she rapped on his bedroom door.

"Come in."

The door creaked open. Wang Qiu'er walked in with an annoyed look, only to see Huo Yuhao lying in bed in plain white sleepwear, dead to the world like a pig.

She walked over, ready to deliver a wake-up slap, when suddenly Huo Yuhao sat up.

"What are you trying to do?" Wang Qiu'er frowned. Her instincts told her something was off. Huo Yuhao's eyes were clear and alert—nothing like someone who just woke up.

She'd also noticed something weird recently. The way Huo Yuhao looked at her had changed. His gaze had become... predatory. Not unfamiliar—plenty of guys in class looked at her like that.

Lately, he'd also been finding all sorts of excuses to hang out—playing ball, gardening, shopping... and cooking together had become almost routine.

"What I'm trying to do?" Huo Yuhao chuckled. He stood and walked up to her."Shouldn't I be asking you that? If it weren't for some special reason, would someone as proud as you really let me boss you around like this?"

Wang Qiu'er's face tensed—not out of guilt, but because Huo Yuhao was now way too close. She could literally feel his breath on her face.

(End of Chapter)