The two entered a small town. Although it was located in a remote area, on the edge of the Heaven Dou Empire, the town wasn't small, and it was much more bustling than they had imagined.
Aside from lacking city walls and a Spirit Hall sub-branch, it looked almost like a small city. The streets were lined with shops, and the crowds of people coming and going were endless, with all kinds of stores available.
Compared to the secluded depths of the Star Dou Forest and the monotony of their journey here, this place, though smaller in scale, was full of life and energy.
The constant clamor of vendors hawking their goods, people shouting, and heated debates and discussions filled the air, constantly reaching the two's ears.
Su Cheng was relatively unaffected. He had seen scenes far more prosperous than this countless times before.
However, the Silver Dragon King had never experienced such a scene before. Her eyes flickered slightly as she quickly began to listen and absorb various pieces of information:
There were spirit master teams discussing their next battle plans and future spirit ring selections; ordinary merchants haggling with passing travelers over the price of gold and silver soul coins; and even the sounds of lovers quarreling and a father scolding his son…
"Why do you want to take my last name? What, do you want to be my daughter?"
Su Cheng casually joked as he looked around while walking.
But it was just a joke, as it seemed dragons didn't have the custom of passing on a family name to their offspring.
"I'm your father."
"What?"
Su Cheng abruptly stopped in his tracks, stunned as he looked down at the petite girl with black hair and black eyes beside him.
Although she had followed Su Cheng's suggestion and changed her silver short hair and purple eyes to relatively ordinary black, her tender cheeks were still as delicate as porcelain, with a transcendent beauty.
But that wasn't important.
The key was—how could she say something like that!
"What did you just say?!" Su Cheng asked in disbelief.
"I'm your father."
"… Where did you learn that?"
"That man just said it."
As she spoke, Su Yue pointed to a middle-aged man not far away who was scolding his son.
Su Cheng followed her gaze and saw that the man was still muttering things like "I'm your father, so you should obey me."
Su Cheng's mouth twitched slightly.
Uh-oh.
I haven't even started teaching her properly, and she's already picking up bad habits.
"Don't say things like that. Use civilized language, got it? Besides, that's a father and son. How is that the same as your situation?!"
"Oh."
Su Yue nodded without arguing and then shifted her dark eyes back to their surroundings.
"…"
Su Cheng's lips moved slightly, but he didn't know what else to say. He could only shake his head in silent resignation and continue walking into the town.
But as they walked, the more Su Cheng thought about it, the more something felt off.
Even if the Silver Dragon King had never entered human society before, she had lived for many years. She communicated with other soul beasts like Di Tian and had seen some humans. It wasn't like she had truly turned into a six-year-old child.
Her memories and thoughts were clearly those of an adult, so how could she really say something as reckless as "I'm your father"?
"… Did you deliberately insult me just now?"
This time, Su Yue didn't respond. She continued silently observing the scenes in the town.
Her gaze lingered more on the shops selling tools, as if she were contemplating something.
Su Cheng sighed and shook his head, joining her in surveying the small town.
"The situation with soul beasts really isn't optimistic," he sighed as he watched. "Or rather, soul beasts themselves have almost become like livestock raised by humans—used as needed, like part of a complete supply chain."
"…"
Su Yue's expression remained calm.
In fact, she had been thinking about similar issues earlier.
Although this border town had many shops, apart from those essential for survival, most of them catered primarily to spirit masters or, more specifically, to hunting soul beasts.
Weapons, armor, poisons, recovery potions, and specially designed clothing for adventuring teams.
If that were all, one might think it was due to internal conflicts among spirit masters, but those weapons and armor mostly had specialized effects. For example, antidote suits against insect-type attacks, and fire weapons against plant-type defenses.
In all likelihood, this was aimed at soul beasts.
Because low-level spirit masters primarily rely on teamwork, focusing on cooperation and complementing each other's strengths, it's rare to see specialized equipment.
But here, regular gear was scarce, which said a lot.
"Next, we'll stay here for a while so you can get used to human society. Also, I need to verify something here."
"Verify what?" Su Yue glanced at him. "Aren't you an outsider, clueless about this world?"
"Though the world may differ, the nature of how things operate often bears similarities. Since there are auspicious beasts among soul beasts, it's likely there are also individuals with extraordinary fortunes among humans."
"Oh." Su Yue nodded but still looked puzzled. "How do you know that waiting here will lead to encountering such people?"
"That's why I said I need to verify. Let's wait for a while and see. If we do meet them, then we'll talk."
While Su Cheng and Su Yue stayed in this remote town outside the Star Dou Forest for over a month, many spirit masters passed through and stopped in the town.
Their ultimate goal was, of course, to head into that vast forest to hunt soul beasts and advance their ranks.
One day, the deputy dean of Shrek Academy, Zhao Wuji, led seven students—four boys and three girls—into the town.
Surveying the town, Oscar couldn't help but remark, "As they say, those who live by the mountains eat from the mountains, and those by the water eat from the water. This town has certainly built itself up well, relying on the Star Dou Forest. There must be many similar towns around here."
Tang San, walking beside him, was surprised. "But isn't this town nearly a hundred kilometers away from the Star Dou Forest?"
Oscar smiled. "You must be used to the state-run forests where spirit beasts are kept. The ones there are generally mild-mannered and rarely attack humans. But the Star Dou Forest is different. The spirit beasts there are extremely fierce, and some on the outskirts even frequently venture out of the forest and might attack humans."
At this point, Zhao Wuji pointed to a two-story inn ahead and said, "We'll stay here. Rest for the night and head out tomorrow morning. You'll cover your own room and board."
With that, he led the group inside. After booking a single room for himself, he went straight upstairs.
The students found a table in the corner and started ordering food.
But neither Zhao Wuji nor any of the students noticed that two figures had followed them into the inn and sat at a nearby table.
"Are you waiting for these people?"
Su Yue glanced at Tang San and the others, then asked Su Cheng.
Aside from the sturdy middle-aged man leading them, the others were all teenagers, most just over ten years old.
A few of them were about the same age as Su Cheng, and even older than she was now.
But she didn't sense anything special about them and was puzzled.
"Yes."
Su Cheng nodded, ignoring her wandering thoughts.
He was indeed waiting for Tang San and his group.
From the timeline, the genius soul masters of Shrek Academy should be heading to the Star Dou Forest around this time to hunt soul beasts and advance their ranks.
And this small town where Su Cheng was currently staying was the most convenient stop between Shrek Academy and the Star Dou Forest.
Of course, all of this was based on the premise that there would be no other unexpected changes in this simulation, allowing him to wait for them.
Su Cheng wasn't entirely sure about this, which is why he previously only mentioned trying to wait.
After all, Su Yue had just entered human society and still needed some time to observe and adapt, so waiting for a year or half was entirely feasible.
"Keep an eye on that Tang San and Xiao Wu," Su Cheng softly instructed the young girl beside him while observing a few Shrek students.
Their conversation, of course, couldn't escape the perception of the two, and their identities were quickly discerned by Su Yue.
"Oh." She nodded, her gaze shifting to the two people Su Cheng specifically mentioned.
"Huh?" Su Yue's eyes flickered, instantly perceiving Xiao Wu's special identity, "A hundred-thousand-year Soft Bone Rabbit..."
She immediately turned to look at Su Cheng, "That Xiao Wu is a hundred-thousand-year soul beast in human form."
"Oh, really? Then you should pay extra attention to her," Su Cheng responded absentmindedly.
At this moment, his eyes were fixed on a beautiful girl with an extremely voluptuous figure, and his mind was in turmoil.
The Hell White Tiger!
Zhu Zhuqing's spirit wasn't the original Hell Civet but the Hell White Tiger Spirit, a fusion of the White Tiger Spirit!
And it wasn't just an ordinary Hell White Tiger; it was a pure-blooded, perfect one with potential comparable to a divine level, almost identical to the Zhu Zhuqing in reality!
"How is that possible?"
Su Cheng was filled with doubts.
He carefully examined the expressions and mannerisms of the black-clad girl in the distance, only to become even more puzzled, "No, this isn't the Zhuqing from reality..."
He knew Zhu Zhuqing's personality very well.
The girl in the distance obviously didn't have the same level of depth and calculation as the Zhu Zhuqing he knew. Her thoughts could be seen from subtle changes in her eyes.
If it were the Zhu Zhuqing from reality, it would be almost impossible for Su Cheng to see through her.
Moreover, her personality was off. She wasn't as cold and distant.
Although she still appeared cold, it seemed more like an innate introversion rather than a protective shell formed from years of living in a suppressive environment and avoiding others.
This seemed normal.
After all, if she didn't have a life-or-death rivalry with Zhu Zhuyun, then with Zhu Zhuyun's personality, combined with the sisters' close blood ties, it was unlikely that they would have accumulated such deep conflicts.
"But, since she awakened the Hell White Tiger Spirit, why is she still in the Heaven Dou Empire? Is it because the Zhu family was afraid? But joining Shrek Academy, was that just a coincidence too?"
Su Cheng's mind was racing, and for a moment, he even set aside the matter of the Silver Dragon King.
He had originally come to observe Tang San and Xiao Wu but unexpectedly gained another valuable discovery.
"Zhuqing's transformation... Does this mean she obtained the 'Spirit Seed' mentioned in the simulation's description? Is she one of the fated children? Either way, since Zhuqing awakened the Hell White Tiger Spirit, I can't ignore her. At the very least, I shouldn't let her get too close to those people."
For ordinary simulations, Su Cheng could treat most irrelevant characters as virtual ones, unrelated to reality.
But this version of Zhu Zhuqing made it difficult for him not to see her as the incarnation of his real-life companion.
The most important part was that if she truly was one of the fated children, she might also retain related memories when the mission ended and they returned to reality. He couldn't afford to be careless.
After sorting out his thoughts, Su Cheng calmed himself down.
At that moment, a faint fragrance suddenly wafted into his nose.
He turned his head and noticed that Su Yue hadn't followed his instructions to observe Tang San and Xiao Wu. Instead, she was staring directly at him from a close distance.
Her pitch-black eyes were as deep as a well, and the sight startled him.
Su Cheng instinctively leaned back, "Why are you looking at me like that?"
"..."
Su Yue didn't reply but lowered her eyelids slightly, half-squinting as she quietly scrutinized him.
After a while, she turned her head and looked at the group of young people sitting at a nearby table, who were about the same age as Su Cheng.
"You know them."
"I told you, these people are extraordinary. Each of them is favored by fate and may become influential figures shaping humanity's future."
Su Cheng realized that his earlier reaction had indeed been a bit suspicious.
Although he had only shown a slight fluctuation, it was enough to be detected by the keen instincts of this former Silver Dragon King.
Su Yue's eyes flickered, and she glanced at the group at another table.
Among them, only Tang San, Zhu Zhuqing, and Oscar had passable talent.
Oscar's talent was largely due to his exceptionally rare food-type spirit. In terms of raw talent, he was far inferior to Tang San, who had twin spirits, and Zhu Zhuqing, who possessed a divine-level spirit.
As for the others, she didn't find anything particularly remarkable about them.
However, Su Yue didn't delve deeper and merely continued to scrutinize the black-clad girl with a stunning appearance and an even more exaggerated figure.
"Who is she?"
"I'm not really sure either; I need to observe her further," Su Cheng responded with a hint of doubt in his voice.
Su Yue wasn't asking for Zhu Zhuqing's name, as all their names had already been revealed in their conversations.
She wanted to know what was special about her.
After all, Su Cheng had focused almost all his attention on Zhu Zhuqing, which hadn't escaped Su Yue's notice.
But Su Cheng genuinely didn't know Zhu Zhuqing's exact situation.
This was his question as well.
"Is she also one of your friends?"
"I already told you, I don't know her situation, so how could she be my friend? Besides, even if I wanted to befriend her, she doesn't know me."
"Oh."
Su Yue nodded and shifted her gaze back to Tang San and Xiao Wu.
After a while, she suddenly asked, "Is making friends among you humans always this casual?"