Chapter 398: Oath of Allegiance

The train.

Di Hu waited anxiously in front of a wooden door. The passing Sheng Xiao all bowed and quickly moved away.

"Damn it... aren't you getting off work yet?" Di Hu leaned against the wall with one hand, looking extremely irritated. "What are you even gaining from working overtime all the time, kid..."

After a few more minutes, the door in front of Di Hu slowly opened.

Di Yang, covered in black fur, stepped out. He glanced at Di Hu with a blank expression and turned to leave.

"Hold on!" Di Hu called out.

Di Yang stopped and turned back, snapping irritably, "What's your problem? This is only the first day. I'll pay back your 'Dao' slowly."

"Who the hell wants 'Dao'!" Di Hu grabbed Di Yang's arm. "I have a new idea and need your help..."

"Spit it out."

"I..." Di Hu started to speak but then hesitated. "This, that... Shouldn't I treat you to a meal first when asking for a favor?"

"Can you stop suddenly acting all polite?" Di Yang shoved Di Hu away. "If you don't say it, I'm leaving."

"Hold on, hold on..." Di Hu looked troubled. "This isn't a good place to talk. Come to my room first?"

"Huh?" Di Yang looked annoyed. "What exactly are you up to?"

"Ah... come on, come on..."

Di Hu dragged Di Yang toward his room. They hadn't gone far when another door opened, revealing another figure.

It was a dog wearing a suit but bare-chested.

"Hey..." Di Hu nodded casually. "What's this? Di Gou, you're working overtime too?"

"Don't even ask. I ran into a tough case." Di Gou sighed. "Di Hu, do you have any food? Take me to get something to eat. I got off work too late and didn't get my meal."

"What? Not today." Di Hu replied firmly. "Tomorrow. I'll treat you to two meals tomorrow."

"What kind of thing is that?" Di Gou frowned. "Come on... are you really that stingy? I even shared my hidden booze with you, and you won't buy me a meal?"

"Ah! Really not today!!" Di Hu glanced at Di Yang with a grievance. "We have stuff to discuss, right?"

"Who has stuff to discuss with you?" Di Yang smirked. "Di Gou, why don't you join us? This guy said he's treating us to a meal."

"I knew it." Di Gou yawned. "Let's go, Di Hu. Don't waste our precious off-work time."

What started as Di Hu dragging Di Yang soon turned into Di Gou pulling both of them toward Di Hu's room.

Di Hu opened the door with a helpless expression. Inside, seven or eight Sheng Xiao students were sitting around a table waiting for him, with the table covered in food.

"Teacher is back..." a female Ren Hou said.

As soon as she spoke, all the students turned to look at Di Hu.

"Uh... well..." Di Hu looked embarrassed. "You all clear out for a bit. We three have things to talk about."

The seven or eight students, seeing that the newcomers were all Di-level figures, didn't dare linger. They quickly stood up and filed out, with the last Ren Hou thoughtfully closing the door behind them.

Di Gou wasted no time and sat down to eat the food on the table.

Di Hu and Di Yang, however, remained silent.

"Go ahead and talk..." Di Gou said. "My hearing's bad—I won't hear a thing."

"Damn it..." Di Hu muttered under his breath. "Do you even believe that yourself? You're a 'Dog'—how can your ears be bad?"

"What can I do about it?" Di Gou replied, head down and stuffing food into his mouth. "You don't have any plastic bags here, or I'd just take it to go."

Di Yang crossed his arms and sighed. "If you have something to say, say it. Don't waste everyone's time."

"But there's an outsider here!" Di Hu protested.

"Outsider?" Di Gou, his mouth full of buns, looked around. "Where's anyone else?"

"It's you, damn it!" Di Hu yelled. "Why do you have to butt in?!"

"That's just hurtful." Di Gou shook his head and took another bite of his bun. "If I hadn't been forced to work overtime today, would I have run into you two? Running into you is fate, and you treating me to a meal shows 'Sheng Xiao camaraderie.' From every angle, this should be a pleasant get-together..."

"Cut it out!"

Di Yang reached for a carrot on the table, took a bite, and said to Di Hu, "We've known this dog for years. He's not an outsider. What could he possibly not hear?"

"Ah... yeah... yeah..." Di Hu lowered his voice. "It's 'Yang Ge' after all..."

Even though he tried to keep his voice down, Di Hu's loud tone made the words crystal clear to Di Gou.

"Yang Ge?!" Di Gou paused. "Bai Yang Ge?"

"You weren't supposed to hear that!!" Di Hu shouted.

"Come on... with your booming voice, I couldn't not hear it even if I tried." Di Gou said. "Bai Yang Ge is my idol. Didn't I tell you? I wanted to be a sheep at first, but it's hard to fool people and even harder to be a sheep, so I ended up as a dog..."

"Ah, enough, enough..." Di Hu waved his hand. "You're asking for trouble. Whatever I say next, it's on you for listening. If anything goes wrong, I won't take responsibility."

"Huh?"

Hearing that, Di Yang and Di Gou felt something was off and suddenly regretted coming.

"Old Hei, Di Gou." Di Hu looked them in the eye and said seriously, making both of them widen their eyes—

"Let's rebel."

As soon as he said it, Di Gou started coughing violently, clearly choked by his food.

Di Yang jumped to his feet in a panic and muttered, "Excuse me," before bolting toward the door.

"Hey, don't go!" Di Hu stepped forward and grabbed Di Yang. "You've heard it all now—it's too late to leave."

He turned back and pointed at the still-coughing Di Gou. "And you're in on this too. If anyone tries to leave, I'll report them. You two aren't getting away."

Di Gou coughed for a while before finally spitting out the lodged food. "You sly old bastard... This is my first time crashing your meal, and you pull this on me? Fine, I'll throw it all up right now..."

Di Gou frantically stuck his fingers down his throat, but it didn't seem to help much.

"Throwing it up won't change anything!" Di Hu said. "I've already said it. You two know too much. Either report me now and I'll turn it back on you, or sit down and let's discuss if this is feasible."

Di Gou kept gagging, still trying to process how this had anything to do with him.

He had just wanted a meal, and now he was caught up in this ridiculous mess.

Was Di Hu out of his mind?