Such a major incident had occurred at Mingde Hall, so a post-incident inspection was only natural. What Huo Yuhao had not expected was how quickly it would arrive, catching him somewhat off guard.
After the Body Sect withdrew, he had been taken to this place for treatment by the medical support team as soon as possible.
The strength and speed of Mingde Hall's rescue efforts truly astonished him, but what followed—the inspection—alarmed him even more.
Inside his storage soul tool were soul tool blueprints that he was supposed to pass back to Shrek Academy. If those were discovered, it would be no small trouble for him. He might even be expelled from Mingde Hall, ending his exchange-student period prematurely.
That would also stain Shrek Academy's honor, and Mingde Hall might even use it as leverage against them.
"Don't panic. Stay calm. I've already prepared everything. No matter how thorough the inspection is, they won't be able to find anything."
Huo Yuhao's gaze unconsciously swept toward the corner of the room. He exhaled slowly, calming the turbulent emotions within him, and his expression returned to normal.
The extreme individual-soldier training plan he had undergone at Shrek Academy was proving its worth at this moment.
The doctor did not leave for long. Before long, he returned with a stern-faced teacher, who had a pair of golden handcuffs hanging from his waist.
"Your name is Huo Yuhao?"
The teacher took out a register, flipped it open, glanced at it, and asked coldly as he looked at Huo Yuhao sitting on the hospital bed.
"Yes,"
Huo Yuhao replied calmly, with a trace of confusion on his face.
"From Shrek Academy?"
"Yes."
"On the day Mingde Hall was attacked, what did you see? What did you do?"
When he asked this question, the doctor who had come in with them quietly left the room and thoughtfully closed the door behind him.
What followed was no longer something a mere medical staff member should listen to. He knew his place.
After a brief moment of thought, Huo Yuhao said:
"That day, I was making a soul tool when a massive explosion suddenly occurred. I'm a mental-type soul master and have very keen perception when it comes to danger. When I sensed something was wrong, I immediately hid under the workbench."
"After that, there was thunderous noise outside, and the terrifying soul power fluctuations pressured me so much that I didn't dare come out. Later on, I felt a powerful force strike my body, and after that… I don't remember anything."
The teacher recorded everything continuously, nodding from time to time to verify the plausibility of Huo Yuhao's account.
In this battle, the Body Sect had destroyed all the surveillance soul tools in Mingde Hall's core area right at the start, so afterward they could only rely on questioning to determine what had happened.
"Anything else? For example, did you notice anything unusual?"
Huo Yuhao heard this and shook his head blankly. His face did not redden, his heart did not race, and even his eyes did not change.
The teacher studied him carefully for a few moments, then slowly nodded. He took a metal rod out of the storage soul tool on his wrist and said:
"I need to conduct a thorough inspection of you. Please put all soul tools on your person into your storage soul tool, then hand the storage soul tool over to me. Nothing may be omitted."
Huo Yuhao's expression instantly darkened as he said in a low voice:
"I'm sorry, teacher. This is my personal privacy. I can't allow you to inspect it."
"Furthermore, I am an exchange student from Shrek Academy. You have no authority to examine my personal belongings. Is this how Mingde Hall treats its guests?"
The teacher sneered, his palm rubbing against the metal rod.
"No authority? Don't forget the name of our academy—the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy, directly under imperial jurisdiction."
"And this inspection was personally ordered by His Majesty. Anyone who refuses inspection will be dealt with severely. I don't care where you come from—since you were in the academy at the time of the incident, and inside Mingde Hall, you must undergo the strictest inspection."
"Besides, the fact that we didn't search you while you were unconscious is already us showing you respect."
Huo Yuhao's face flushed red, his expression full of indignation, as though he had suffered a great injustice.
"Fine—inspect me, then! Please pass word to Hall Master Jing Hongchen that I will report this matter truthfully to Shrek Academy. Pray that your academy's exchange students won't receive the same treatment at Shrek Academy."
As he spoke, Huo Yuhao placed all his soul tools into the Twenty-Four Bridges Under the Moonlight, the storage item Tang Ya had once given him, and handed it to the teacher in front of him.
Hearing Huo Yuhao's threat, the teacher's expression softened somewhat. He sighed lightly and said:
"Kid, don't be angry. There's nothing we can do about this. Even if it were a prince in the academy, he'd be subject to the same inspection. Let's not make things difficult for each other."
With that, he carefully swept the metal rod over Huo Yuhao's body, then even inspected the bed Huo Yuhao had been lying on.
After confirming that Huo Yuhao had no soul tools on him, he finally took the storage soul tools from Huo Yuhao's hands and began examining them carefully.
Huo Yuhao watched without fear as the teacher inspected them, because there was nothing problematic at all inside his Twenty-Four Bridges Under the Moonlight.
This exchange had been initiated by Shrek Academy itself, seeking academic cooperation with the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy. During the tournament, the Sword of Judgment had not ended up in Xuanzi's hands, and Jing Hongchen had not gone to the Sea God Pavilion, so he naturally hadn't been "robbed" by Mu En.
Thus, Huo Yuhao did not have the ninth-level soul tool Crimson Dust Protection on him.
Inspecting a storage soul tool was extremely simple—one only needed to inject spiritual power into it. Before long, the teacher finished checking. There were no special items inside, nor anything lost from Mingde Hall.
"My apologies, Student Huo. Here are your belongings. I was only acting under orders."
The teacher returned the storage soul tools to Huo Yuhao and offered an apology.
"Hmph! As a student of Shrek Academy, how could I possibly do such underhanded things? Shrek students are all well educated—calling us pure and upright wouldn't be an exaggeration."
"I will definitely report this matter to Shrek Academy."
Huo Yuhao snorted coldly, snatching the soul tools back from the teacher, his face frosty.
"Mm. Then get some good rest."
"I also believe that Shrek Academy's students are all pure and upright—just like your academy's ancestor, Lord Sea God Tang San."
The teacher nodded, said this, and then turned to leave.
Since there was no issue, there was no need for him to continue entangling himself with Huo Yuhao.
On the surface, Huo Yuhao looked displeased, but inside he let out a huge sigh of relief. He knew the crisis had passed.
Just as the teacher was about to step out of the room, a gray light flashed in the corner of the wall.
Clatter!
A crisp sound rang out as a storage ring fell from the corner, even deliberately rolling twice on the floor…
"This is?"
The teacher stopped, his eyes narrowing slightly as he cast a deep look at Huo Yuhao, then walked straight toward the storage ring.
"How could this happen?!"
In an instant, Huo Yuhao's nerves tightened. His fists clenched hard, his eyes filled with disbelief.
Before the inspection teacher arrived, he had hidden the storage ring containing the soul tool blueprints in the corner, and he had kept his simulation soul skill active the entire time. Just now, his simulation soul skill had suddenly been interrupted by some force.
Not only did the storage ring reveal itself, it was even pushed by that force to roll twice—almost as if afraid the inspector wouldn't notice it.
"It's over!"
"Someone's trying to frame me! Did Mingde Hall discover it, or was it someone else?"
"Stay calm. Stay calm. There are only blueprints I recorded inside, and they're all mid-level soul tool designs. I can say I bought them myself… Don't panic! Get through this first."
Huo Yuhao's thoughts churned wildly as he forced himself to remain calm, while the teacher had already bent down and picked up the storage ring.
Spiritual power flowed in. Time ticked by bit by bit. Suddenly, the inspector's face lit up, his eyes bursting with incomparable brilliance.
The brilliance of someone about to render great merit!
(End of Chapter)