Douluo Continent: The Peerless Hunting Heavenly Lord, Huo Yuhao!

Dai Huabin was tied to an iron chair with his head tilted to one side, pretending to be unconscious.

How much longer are you going to pretend to be asleep?

The tall young man, wearing a black cloak and mask, spoke, his voice cold and carrying an undeniable authority.

Dai Huabin remained completely still.

Dai Heng glanced at his male companion Yao Haoxuan beside him.

Yao Haoxuan smirked, cracked his knuckles, and stepped forward.

"Snapped!"

The crisp, loud sound of a slap echoed in the interrogation room.

Dai Huabin's head was turned to one side by the slap, and blood instantly trickled from the corner of his mouth.

He suddenly opened his eyes, glaring venomously at Dai Heng and the other man, and roared, "You dare hit me?! I am the legitimate heir of the White Tiger Duke's mansion!"

"It's good that you're awake, little Dai Huabin." Dai Heng said teasingly, taking a step forward and leaning down to look at him. "Tell me, who ordered you to hire assassins to intercept and kill Shrek Academy's core students?"

"I didn't! I didn't do it at all!" Dai Huabin retorted stubbornly, refusing to admit it. "You have no evidence! What right do you have to arrest me!"

"No evidence?" Dai Heng sneered, throwing a stack of papers in his face. "The killer's confession is all here. You still want to deny it?"

Dai Huabin's face turned deathly pale as he looked at the irrefutable evidence in the case file.

His eyes darted around in a panic, then suddenly, as if he had just remembered something, he screamed, "It was him! It was Dai Heng who ordered me! It was my brother! He was jealous that I was the legitimate heir and was afraid that I would take his inheritance, so he deliberately made me kill Huo Yuhao and then framed me! He did it all!"

In an instant, the interrogation room fell into a deathly silence.

All the masked inspectors were stunned and turned to look at Dai Heng, who was standing in the middle.

The air seemed to freeze for three seconds.

The veins on Dai Heng's forehead throbbed, and his clenched fists cracked.

Looking at his hopelessly stupid younger brother, a sense of powerlessness, anger, and speechlessness welled up inside him.

Yan Shaozhe had asked him to conduct the interrogation, originally intending to give him a chance to exonerate Dai Huabin and find a scapegoat to settle the matter, thus avoiding offending the White Tiger Duke's Mansion and also giving Huo Yuhao and the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile School an explanation.

As a result, this incompetent teammate betrayed him and dragged the entire White Tiger Duke's Mansion into the mess!

"A hopeless case!"

Dai Heng gritted his teeth and cursed, then slapped Dai Huabin hard across the face with his other hand.

With a "thud," Dai Huabin was knocked unconscious by the slap.

……

The Dean's Office at Shrek Academy.

Yan Shaozhe was sitting behind his desk, a standard, polite but fake smile on his face, looking at the middle-aged man opposite him.

The middle-aged man, dressed in a blue brocade robe, had an ordinary face but sharp, eagle-like eyes. He wore a smiling expression, but his tone carried an undeniable weight: "Dean Yan, my young lady said that she was almost accidentally injured yesterday and hopes that the academy can give the student who was actually attacked justice. This is a small token of the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile School's appreciation."

As he spoke, he placed a heavy brocade box on the table.

"Of course, of course." Yan Shaozhe smiled as he accepted the brocade box, his tone sincere. "Shrek Academy will never allow any student to be wronged. Please rest assured, Nine Treasure Glazed Tile School."

"That's for the best. Farewell." The middle-aged man bowed slightly, turned, and left the office.

The moment the door closed, Yan Shaozhe's smile vanished, his face turning so dark it seemed to drip water.

He rubbed his temples and called out to the door, "Xiao Tao, come in."

Ma Xiaotao pushed open the door and walked in, looking at him with some confusion: "Teacher, what's wrong?"

"Go to the interrogation room and tell Dai Heng that you must find out the real mastermind behind this," Yan Shaozhe said in a deep voice.

Ma Xiaotao was stunned: "Huh? Teacher, isn't the mastermind Dai Huabin? The evidence is conclusive."

“Things always have two sides.” Yan Shaozhe sighed, his tone meaningful. “Xiao Tao, you can’t just look at the surface. Where would Dai Huabin, a freshman, get the connections to hire a Soul Emperor-level assassin? There must be someone behind him.”

Ma Xiaotao nodded as if she understood, "Oh... okay."

Little did she know that Yan Shaozhe wanted Dai Heng to find a scapegoat, to clear Dai Huabin's name, and to do a favor for the White Tiger Duke's Mansion.

Unfortunately, despite all his calculations, he never anticipated that Dai Huabin would be this stupid.

……

In the courtyard.

Huo Yuhao listened quietly to Ning Tian's account, showing no surprise on his face, only letting out a soft chuckle.

What could he say?

All I could do was silently grumble in my mind, using Tang-style idioms: Yan Shaozhe, you've already found a way to die!

That's a really clever plan.

The original plan was to have Dai Heng preside over the case, extricate Dai Huabin from the case, thus avoiding offending the White Tiger Duke's Mansion, gaining favor, and finding a scapegoat to give him an explanation—a triple win.

As a result, Dai Huabin, a terrible teammate, messed things up completely, and now the White Tiger Duke's Mansion is in dire straits.

"Yuhao, what about this soup..." Ning Tian remembered the important matter, picked up the bowl of nourishing soup again, and looked at him expectantly.

Huo Yuhao's heart skipped a beat, and his survival instinct kicked in.

He subtly turned to the side, gently placing the bowl in the innermost corner of the bedside table. As he got up and dressed, he said in a serious tone, "Oh dear, the soup's gone cold. Drinking cold things isn't good for your health. Besides, the academy will definitely send someone to apologize today, and we also need to go to the Lionheart Society headquarters to arrange the points system. There's no time to spare. Let's go, let's get down to business."

After saying that, he quickly put on his shoes and walked out of the room first, all in one smooth motion.

Gu Yue looked at the forgotten bowl of nourishing soup on the bedside table and murmured to herself, "Yuhao... doesn't seem to like it."

Ning Tian refused to believe it, picked up a spoon, scooped up a small spoonful, and sipped it.

The next second, her face turned ashen, her features contorted, and she rushed into the yard, vomiting with a "poof".

"It tastes awful..." Ning Tian rinsed his mouth three times, but still felt a strange taste lingering in his mouth, looking utterly hopeless.

Gu Yue also curiously scooped up a spoonful and tasted it.

A moment later, the Silver Dragon King silently put down his spoon, picked up the bowl expressionlessly, walked to the corner of the yard, and poured the whole bowl of nourishing soup into the flower bed.

(The next day, all the flowers in that flower bed had withered.)

"Let's go." Ning Tian composed himself, caught up with Huo Yuhao ahead, and pretended that nothing had happened.

Gu Yue quickly followed, a determined glint in her purple eyes—"Next time, I'll definitely make a soup that's drinkable!"

Chapter 38 An outrageous demand: Integrate into the Soul Bone? No! It's to refine it into one's own body!

The Lionheart Club headquarters conference room is located on the third floor of the Shrek Academy's external activities center.

The morning sunlight streamed through the floor-to-ceiling windows, falling on the long table where each person had a cup of freshly made bubble tea—a trial product from Fireplace House. The aroma of milk mixed with the fragrance of tea wafted gently through the room.

Huo Yuhao leaned back in his chair, took a sip of his milk tea. It was just the right amount of sweetness and had a smooth texture. He nodded in satisfaction and said with a smile, "Everyone has seen the points system I mentioned yesterday. What do you all think? Share your thoughts."

The plan is simple: Lionheart will regularly release three types of tasks: cultivation, missions, and club building. Members will earn corresponding points by completing the tasks. These points can be exchanged for the right to use a cultivation site, soul bones, and even future profit sharing from shops.

This creates a positive cycle of "doing tasks - earning points - acquiring resources - improving strength - doing more tasks," completely breaking away from the model of relying on personal support.

“Uh… Boss, the system itself is fine, you could even say it’s brilliant.” Cao Jinxuan raised his hand first, scratching his head. “It’s just that… apart from that thousand-year-old whale shark, we currently have almost no other usable exchange resources in our warehouse. You can’t cook without rice.”

As he finished speaking, everyone in the conference room nodded in agreement. No matter how good a points system sounds, without core redeemable items, it's just an empty promise.

"Of course we have resources." Huo Yuhao smiled mysteriously and tapped the table with his fingertips. "Don't worry, they'll be here soon. Not only will we have them, but we'll have plenty."

The crowd looked at each other, their eyes full of doubt, but no one asked any questions.

Over the past month, Huo Yuhao has already proven with his actions that if he says it, then it definitely is. This leader's actions are always unconventional and abstract, yet he always keeps his word and never disappoints.

“Alright, then there are no other questions.” Cao Jinxuan smiled and sat down, opening the draft of the disciplinary regulations from the Ministry of Supervision, ready to continue the discussion.

Bang bang bang €€€€

A knock suddenly sounded, its rhythm steady.

"Please come in."

The conference room door was pushed open, and a girl with long, straight black hair walked in.

She wore a red inner school uniform, her appearance was beautiful and dignified, and her temperament was calm. Her gaze swept across the room and finally landed on Huo Yuhao in the main seat. She nodded slightly and said: "Greetings, fellow juniors. I am Zhang Lexuan, the president of the Shrek Academy Student Council. I am here today to ask junior Huo Yuhao to come and talk to me about something."

The Shrek Academy Student Council is composed of disciples from the Inner Court, with the president being the senior sister of the Inner Court. Its core function is to coordinate and supervise all student clubs and regulate their behavior, serving as a bridge between the academy and the clubs.

When Huo Yuhao founded the Lionheart Society, he anticipated that he would have to deal with the student council sooner or later, so it was not unexpected.

"Senior Zhang, you're too kind." Huo Yuhao raised an eyebrow, leaned forward slightly, and said in a calm tone, "There's no need to move. Let's talk here. If it's the White Tiger Duke's mansion that sent someone to plead for me to let the assassination go, then you can go back now—I refuse."

In short, let's get straight to the point.

Zhang Lexuan gave a wry smile; as expected, nothing could be hidden from this new legend.

She sighed and said frankly, "Since you've guessed it, I won't beat around the bush. Dai Heng asked me to come. Dai Huabin is his younger brother. He hopes to settle things privately with you. Compensation is negotiable. He just asks you not to make a big deal out of it."

She was also quite speechless.

Dai Heng was also desperate and grasping at straws. He tried to settle a private matter after such an assassination attempt that crossed Shrek Academy's bottom line.

Moreover, she and Huo Yuhao were not familiar with each other at all; asking her to act as a mediator was simply asking the wrong person.

"I knew it was him." Huo Yuhao smiled, his previously lazy eyes suddenly turning sharp, like a drawn sword. "Senior, please give Dai Heng a message for me."