Gu Yue Gritted Her Teeth

Bei Bei's mouth twitched. "I'm afraid he can't take that back. Within three days, the whole academy will know he called Jiang Wu 'Mom.'"

Jiang Wu looked up at the sky, his expression calm. Inwardly, he was already wondering whether he should take tomorrow off and lie low until the storm blew over.

Xu Sanshi caught up from behind. The wound on his back had already received some basic treatment and was wrapped in a bandage. He still walked with a bit of a lean, but his booming voice was back to normal. "Jiang Wu! This isn't over. When I reach level forty, we're fighting again!"

Jiang Wu glanced back at him. "By the time you reach level forty, I'll probably be level fifty."

Xu Sanshi choked for a moment, then snorted. "Just you wait! My Black Tortoise Shield gets stronger the further I advance. I'll show you when the time comes!"

"Fine, I'll wait."

Xu Sanshi nodded in satisfaction and turned to leave. After a few steps, he looked back and added awkwardly, "Um... about calling you Mom just now, don't take it to heart."

Jiang Wu waved a hand. "Don't worry, I did take it to heart."

Xu Sanshi: "...You!"

Bei Bei hurried over and pulled Xu Sanshi away.

Wang Dong'er was laughing so hard she couldn't straighten up. Huo Yutong supported her from the side, her own face full of laughter.

Gu Yue strolled over from behind and, for once, made a joke. "Jiang Wu, I'm afraid that nickname of yours is going to spread all the way from Dongxing City to Shrek City."

Jiang Wu fell silent for two seconds, then said seriously, "Tomorrow I'm changing my name to Jiang Don't Call Me Mom."

Gu Yue nodded. "Pretty good. It sounds better than Jiang Wu."

Jiang Wu gave him an expressionless look.

Gu Yue looked back at him without a change in expression.

Jiang Wu turned and walked on, his retreating figure radiating the detachment of someone who had seen through the mortal world.

Wang Dong'er chased after him, shouting, "Mom, wait for me!" Huo Yutong and Gu Yue followed behind, the three girls' laughter mingling and making the long street outside the east gate even livelier.

In the end, Jiang Wu did get to eat Huo Yutong's grilled fish. For some reason, he thought it tasted pretty good. No wonder it was popular with the students of Shrek Academy.

After returning to the dormitory, Jiang Wu planned to continue reading. He glanced at Gu Yue beside him, and something suddenly occurred to him.

Wait, if he remembered correctly, Gu Yue's Martial Soul in Douluo II was also an Elementalist.

Jiang Wu hadn't remembered it at first, mainly because so many years had passed. It was perfectly normal that he hadn't recalled it.

Now that he had suddenly remembered, Jiang Wu couldn't help growing suspicious of Gu Yue's identity.

However, he had no intention of exposing Gu Yue's identity as the Silver Dragon King.

Gu Yue noticed Jiang Wu looking at her. "What is it? Is something the matter?"

Jiang Wu replied, "I think if you were a girl, you'd definitely be a great beauty."

When Gu Yue heard the first half of that, the corners of her mouth curved upward almost imperceptibly.

The curve was so faint that Jiang Wu wouldn't have noticed it at all if he hadn't been staring at him.

Gu Yue quickly smoothed her expression and said in an indifferent tone, "That came out of nowhere."

Jiang Wu didn't pursue that. His gaze naturally shifted downward, stopping at Gu Yue's chest. Then he nodded earnestly. "It's true. You have good features to begin with, so you'd definitely be beautiful if you were a girl. What a pity."

Gu Yue's brow twitched slightly. "What's a pity?"

"A pity it's just one flat plain," Jiang Wu said sincerely. "Not a rise or dip anywhere. Flat and even, like the baseplate of a Soul Tool."

The dorm room fell silent for a moment.

The expression on Gu Yue's face froze, then slowly, bit by bit, turned cold.

He stared at Jiang Wu for three seconds, and a teeth-gritting look gradually surfaced in his usually placid eyes.

"Jiang Wu." Gu Yue's voice was still pitched the same, but every word seemed to have been squeezed out between her teeth.

"Hmm?"

"Come here."

"No." Jiang Wu took half a step back, pressing his back against the bedframe with an innocent look on his face. "I just said it offhand. An objective assessment. Why are you getting worked up?"

"Why am I getting worked up?" Gu Yue stood and pushed up her sleeves, revealing her slender forearms. "Come here, and I'll show you why I'm getting worked up."

Leaning against the bedframe, Jiang Wu looked at the unusual expression on Gu Yue's delicate face. After some thought, he felt he might indeed have gone a little too far, but his mouth didn't relent. "See, if you were a girl, this would be called flying into a rage out of embarrassment. But you aren't, so you're just plain hopping mad."

Gu Yue took a deep breath and stepped forward.

Jiang Wu stepped to the side.

Gu Yue took another step, and Jiang Wu moved again. The two circled halfway around the table in the middle of the dorm room, looking just like a pair of fighting cocks.

Gu Yue and Jiang Wu had discussed putting the table there yesterday, since it was more convenient that way.

"Jiang Wu, if you don't take back those words 'one flat plain' today, I'm not letting you off." Gu Yue kept her voice very low, but it had lost none of its teeth-gritting edge.

"I can't take them back. Spoken words are like spilled water," Jiang Wu said as he retreated around the table. "Besides, I wasn't wrong. Just look down and see for yourself."

Gu Yue looked down, then jerked her head back up, her face nearly turning green. "You-!"

He raised a hand to grab Jiang Wu by the collar, but Jiang Wu sidestepped him.

Jiang Wu snatched up the copy of Introduction to Soul Tools from the table and held it in front of Gu Yue. "Calm down. The book is innocent."

Gu Yue slapped the book's cover with considerable force. The sharp smack startled someone passing through the corridor outside the door.

"Jiang Wu, come here!" Gu Yue slammed the book onto the table.

"No, I won't. If I come over to you, you'll definitely beat me up."

"You think hiding from me will stop me from beating you up?"

"Then you have to promise not to beat me up first."

Gu Yue took a deep breath, then another, breathing in and out twice. She forcibly suppressed half her anger and squeezed out a smile, her voice gentle enough to be a little creepy. "Fine, I won't beat you up. Come here, and let's talk this through."

Jiang Wu nodded, leaned closer to Gu Yue, and asked curiously, "Gu Yue, aren't you a guy? Why did you get angry when I said you were one flat plain?"

He really was curious about it. He wondered why Gu Yue had gotten so furious.

After all, Gu Yue's current identity was that of a man, not a woman. By rights, Gu Yue should have mocked him rather than tried to hit him.

At that moment, Gu Yue suddenly came to her senses. Why was she angry?

Her current identity was that of a man. A man shouldn't have gotten so worked up hearing Jiang Wu's words, but for some reason, hearing Jiang Wu's words made her inexplicably angry and want to pound him.

Gu Yue couldn't help remembering that blockhead the Golden Dragon King. Whenever she tried to tell him anything, he always acted as if to say, "Not listening, not listening, you're a turtle chanting scriptures. I'm just here to fight."

Looking at Jiang Wu, Gu Yue seriously suspected he was the Golden Dragon King reincarnated. Otherwise, why would she want to beat Jiang Wu up?

It definitely, absolutely wasn't because Jiang Wu had said she was flat that she wanted to hit him.