"Silence"

That youthful, slightly bargain-hunting tone swept through the tense, stagnant atmosphere left behind by the harrowing wait filled with uncertainty and worry like a warm spring breeze. Yet just as Bei Bei's bold, relieved words—"My treat"—were about to push the warm joy of surviving the aftermath of disaster to its peak, Long Yao's seemingly casual question pierced the blazing bonfire like an invisible, sharp ice pick.

"By the way, Senior Brother, how did Teacher Zhou react to our class being disqualified?"

The instant those words fell, it was as if an Invisible Big Hand had slammed the mute button on the entire world.

The warm, refined smile of relief on Bei Bei's handsome face froze completely.

The bright, expectant smile on Tang Ya's lively, Pretty Face—where she had just been cheering at the mention of roast fish and grilled meat—slowly stiffened at the corners of her lips.

The heartfelt excitement on Huo Yuhao's handsome, stubborn face was drenched from head to toe by a basin of icy snow water.

The air became utterly silent in an instant.

And unbearably heavy.

Only the enormous arena in the distance remained as noisy as ever, its clamor carrying cheers and shouts that had nothing to do with them—cheap, hollow cheers.

At that moment, those sounds seemed unbearably grating.

And filled with indescribable... irony.

No one knew how long passed. It was long enough for Wang Dong to feel the heart that Long Yao's gentle comfort had just made so sweet tighten once more into a knot beneath the suffocatingly oppressive atmosphere. Only then did Bei Bei's gentle, magnetic voice slowly sound again.

But this time, His Voice no longer held its former elegance or heroic vigor. It carried an unmistakable, profound weariness and... bitterness.

"Teacher Zhou, she..."

He let out a long, long sigh.

It was as if that breath carried out all the helplessness, all the resentment, and all the deep self-reproach in his heart for being a "Senior Brother" who could do nothing.

He slowly raised his head. His usually gentle eyes, always shining with wisdom, now resembled two deep lakes covered in thick dust—calm, yet burdened by an unspoken heaviness.

He looked at Long Yao and Wang Dong, his gaze filled with complexity.

Relief, gratitude, worry, apology...

In the end, every emotion turned into a helpless, self-mocking bitter smile.

"Do you really want to know?"

He asked softly. His voice was light and gentle, yet it felt like a cold, heavy boulder pressing down on everyone's heart.

Long Yao said nothing.

He merely met Bei Bei's gaze quietly with calm, clear eyes that seemed capable of seeing through the human heart.

There was no curiosity, no urging, and not the slightest trace of blame in his eyes.

There was only a pure, indifferent composure, as though he were asking about an objective fact entirely unrelated to himself.

Bei Bei understood what those eyes meant.

He knew he could not hide it from him.

And... there was no need to keep hiding it.

"Ah..."

He sighed deeply again.

Then, slowly, he began to recount the true story—a tale of rage and warmth that would have moved every Class One student to tears.

"After Mu En called you away, the Academy's punishment came down without warning, like a thunderclap from the sky."

"Class One was stripped of eligibility for all subsequent matches. The reason was... an uncontrollable, Extremely Dangerous 'accident' during the competition that had caused an extremely negative impact on the Academy and the other students."

"That decision was publicly announced by Director Du Weilun of the Martial Soul Department."

"The entire arena exploded at the time. Everyone was talking about it, and our Class One classmates rushed forward like mad, demanding justice for you."

"But it was useless."

Bei Bei slowly shook his head, his gaze growing incomparably dim.

"The decision had come down too quickly, and it allowed no room for dispute. It was as if it had been prepared in advance. No matter how we protested or explained, the teachers in charge of maintaining order stood like emotionless statues, coldly blocking us outside."

"And Teacher Zhou..."

At that point, Bei Bei's voice paused slightly. The helpless bitter smile on his handsome face became even more bitter.

"...she was the first to rush forward."

"Before I could even react, she had already charged straight at Director Du Weilun like a red whirlwind."

"I had never seen Teacher Zhou like that."

"Her eyes were red. Every muscle in the face that was usually so harsh and severe trembled violently from extreme rage."

"She did not have even the slightest awareness of being a 'subordinate.' She was like a mother tiger completely enraged after her cub had suffered a mortal threat!"

"She pointed at Director Du Weilun's nose and cursed him viciously!"

"She called him muddleheaded! Incompetent! Unable to distinguish right from wrong!"

"She cursed those so-called Academy Higher-Ups as a pack of blind, timid cowards who only knew how to smooth things over!"

"She screamed and roared that her students were the finest geniuses in all of Shrek Academy—no, in the entire continent! They were innocent! They were the true victims! Why?! Why should they bear a baseless accusation that they should never have had to bear?!"

Bei Bei's voice was calm.

Yet within that calm narration was a boiling, explosive sense of fury and tension. Vivid, striking scenes slowly unfolded in everyone's minds.

They could practically see it.

They could see how that middle-aged woman, who was usually like a cold, unreasonable, harsh, and severe Old Hag, had cast aside every disguise and every shred of reason at that moment. Like the most ordinary yet fiercely protective mother, she had turned herself against the vast, cold, unjust world for the sake of her "children."

"The scene... was chaotic."

A lingering fear flashed through Bei Bei's eyes.

"Director Du Weilun was cursed until he was Dog Blood Drenched Head. His face turned green, then white, yet he could not even get out a complete sentence. Because he knew that although Teacher Zhou had a terrible temper and seemed unreasonable, every word she said was justified."

"All the surrounding teachers wanted to pull her back, but no one dared truly approach her. They could clearly feel the terrifying Soul Power radiating from her—the mad, rampaging power of a Six-Ring Soul Emperor!"

"In the end... Teacher Fan Yu arrived."

A Complex Light flashed through Bei Bei's eyes.

"He was the only one who could persuade Teacher Zhou."

"He did not say much. He simply handed Teacher Zhou a highest-level gag order, personally issued by a core elder of the Soul Tool Department and bearing the seal of the Sea God Pavilion."

"I do not know what was written on that gag order."

"I only know that when Teacher Zhou saw it—when she saw the Sea God Pavilion seal Representing Shrek Academy's supreme authority..."

"Every expression vanished from her twisted face, which had been filled with towering fury."

"She stopped arguing. She stopped making a scene."

"She simply stood there quietly. The blazing rage in her eyes dimmed little by little until all that remained was a Deathly Stillness colder than the abyss itself."

"Then she turned around and left without a word."

"She did not look at us again, nor did she pay any attention to the sympathetic, pitying gazes around her."

"Like a Soldier who had lost a battle, she walked back to Class One's resting area with heavy, rigid steps."

"She sat there quietly."

"From beginning to end, she did not say a single word."

"She merely watched the enormous arena that no longer belonged to us with those cold, deathly still eyes. Her gaze was so complicated that even I could not fully understand it."

"I only knew that deep within those cold, lifeless eyes, I seemed to glimpse a nearly imperceptible trace of pain, struggle... guilt, and... self-reproach."

"She was probably blaming herself."

"Blaming herself for not being Powerful Force enough."

"Blaming herself because even after doing everything she could, she still could not Take Back even the most basic justice for her students."

When Bei Bei's last bitter, helpless word slowly fell, everyone sank into deathly silence.

The sweet blush that Long Yao's gentle reassurance had brought to Wang Dong's proud, beautiful Pretty Face had long vanished without a trace.

In its place was a complicated pallor filled with shock and emotion.

She bit her Lips hard. Her dazzling sapphire-like eyes were now completely shrouded in a thick, unbreakable mist of sourness and being Moved.

She had never imagined it.

She truly had never imagined it.

That hateful Old Hag, who in her mind had always been cold, unreasonable, and someone who took pleasure in tormenting students, would... would go so far for them...

She wanted to say something.

But her throat felt as though it had been tightly stuffed with a burning ball of sour cotton. She could not utter a single word.

She could only instinctively turn her gaze toward the warm harbor beside her—the one person who could give her a Sense of Security.

And she saw it.

A faint, indescribably complicated... silence rested on Long Yao's usually calm face.

That silence was not gratitude, not sympathy, and certainly not anger.

It was something deeper... as if he had already foreseen all of this, yet felt a nearly imperceptible sense of boredom and irritation toward this "reality" filled with helplessness and struggle.

Yes.

Irritation.

He hated this feeling.

He hated having absolute power—power sufficient to crush every rule with ease—yet still being forced by so-called "bonds" to follow these boring, restrictive game rules established by weaklings.

It made him feel somewhat restless.

He raised his head. His Deep Eyes now resembled two bottomless, shadowy Old Wells—calm and cold, without the slightest excess emotion.

He looked at Bei Bei, at Huo Yuhao, at Tang Ya, and at Wang Dong.

He looked at their vivid, real faces, filled with resentment, anger, emotion, and helplessness.

He looked at the pure, burning feelings of unconditional trust and support in their Eyes.

In the end, the cold, destructive agitation born from his irritation was slowly suppressed by those warm, real bonds filled with the Lively Atmosphere of life.

He slowly exhaled a breath of Turbid Air.

A faint, warm smile appeared once more on his usually calm, cold face—a gentle smile that seemed capable of dispersing every shadow.

"I understand."

He said only those two words.

His voice was light and calm, yet like a heavy Pillar of the Sea, it instantly soothed the hearts that had been churned up by anger and resentment.

"Since it has already happened."

He slowly swept his gaze over everyone.

"Then there is no point in pursuing who was right and who was wrong."

"We are students of Shrek. We must learn to follow the rules here."

"Even if those rules sometimes seem so... unfair."

"But..."

His tone changed. For the first time, a cold, sharp, domineering, absolute confidence flashed through his eyes.

"Rules are dead."

"And we are alive."

"One day, we will use our own way to reclaim every bit of glory and dignity we lost today..."

"Take it all back, principal and interest included."

Those calm words, filled with reassurance and power, were like a heavy stone cast into Stagnant Water. In an instant, they stirred invisible ripples of resonance.

When Bei Bei heard Long Yao say, "One day, we will use our own way to reclaim every bit of glory and dignity we lost today, principal and interest included," his dim eyes suddenly lit up!

He looked at Long Yao as though he had seen a dazzling ray of dawn in the darkness, one powerful enough to tear apart every shadow.

Yes...

Rules were dead.

People were alive.

They might lose the glory that should have belonged to them because of a momentary injustice.

But they were Shrek's geniuses! Heirs of the Tang Sect! Future strong people destined to stand at the summit of this era!

As long as they were alive, as long as they could continue to Become Stronger...

Then every injustice and humiliation ever forced upon them would become the driving force that would let them repay it all in the future with even greater power, doubled over, with the thrill of revenge!

The oppressive helplessness and self-reproach born from Teacher Zhou's ordeal, along with the stifled resentment and anger caused by Dai Huabin's arrogance, seemed to find a perfect outlet at that moment.

Bei Bei's heavy heart seemed to ignite once more!

"Well said!"

He clapped his hands heavily. The gloom and heaviness were swept from his handsome face, replaced by a brilliant smile of heartfelt relief and excitement!

"As expected of Long Yao! That breadth of mind, that bearing—even among those people in the Inner Court, there may not be many who can compare to you, let alone New Students!"

"Exactly! Exactly!"

Fresh color returned to Tang Ya's lively, Pretty Face, which had turned somewhat pale from worrying about Teacher Zhou! Her beautiful Big Eyes sparkled as she looked at Long Yao, filled with admiration.

"Long Yao, what you just said was so cool! It had more Aura than every word Bei Bei has ever said put together!"

"Hey..."

Bei Bei immediately revealed a helpless bitter smile.

Huo Yuhao was even more excited, his entire Face flushed red! He Clutched his fists tightly. His Ink Blue Eyes, usually full of Spiritual Qi, now resembled two brightly burning stars filled with boundless longing and hope for the future!

Brother Long Yao was right!

As long as I can Become Stronger!

One day! One day, I will definitely become like Brother Long Yao and use my own power to protect the people I want to protect! I will stomp every person who looks down on me and bullies me beneath my feet!

Even Wang Dong, who had remained quietly nestled beside Long Yao like a Little Bird from beginning to end, saw a proud, captivated radiance bloom in her eyes again when she heard that domineering, confident declaration.

She knew it.

This was the real him.

Someone who appeared gentle and calm, but whose bones held greater pride than anyone else and greater dominance than any King... an absolute strong person!

Just as everyone had reignited their fighting spirit because of Long Yao's words, and the oppressive, heavy atmosphere was about to be completely replaced by a flame of hope and passion...

Long Yao slowly spoke again.

His Voice remained calm and gentle.

Yet it was like a cold, rational breeze that slowly pressed down the passionate flame that had just begun to burn.

"Let's go back and see Teacher Zhou."

Those words were very light.

Light as a falling leaf.

Yet they were also very heavy.

Heavy as an immovable boulder, crushing down viciously upon everyone's hearts.

The atmosphere, which had only just become somewhat boisterous with excitement, instantly fell once more into deathly stillness.

The brilliant smile on Bei Bei's handsome face, which had been filled with relief and excitement, slowly faded.

He looked at Long Yao, and his ever-gentle eyes became incomparably profound.

Within those calm eyes, he understood a trace of something deeper, something beyond anger and unwillingness... true responsibility.

Yes...

What was the use of shouting slogans here, of swearing venomous oaths here?

That lonely, stubborn woman who had not hesitated to make an enemy of the entire academy for their sake was still silently bearing, all by herself, the pain and self-blame that should never have been hers to bear...

"...You're right."

Bei Bei let out a long breath. A look of sincere approval, filled with maturity and steadiness, appeared on his handsome face, now stripped of its earlier impatience and excitement.

"I'd been thinking too simply."

"Come on." He looked at the others, his voice becoming incomparably firm. "Let's go back and see Teacher Zhou right now."

Tang Ya and Huo Yuhao nodded heavily as well.

The excitement and exhilaration on their faces had long since vanished.

In their place was a heavy... sense of responsibility, filled with worry and guilt.

And so, this young group that had just experienced a harrowing upheaval filled with danger and the unknown set out on the return journey once more.

Only this time, their destination was no longer the barbecue restaurant filled with delicious food and laughter and joy.

It was that cold... Teaching Building, filled with solemnity and silence.

The evening moonlight had long lost the fervor and glare of noon, becoming gentle and dim.

It stretched everyone's shadows long, long behind them.

Like silent monochrome films steeped in loneliness and desolation.

The New Student Teaching Building seemed exceptionally quiet at this moment.

Quiet enough to feel oppressive.

After a full day of tense and thrilling matches, most classes had already been happily dismissed under the guidance of their respective teachers.

Only the heavy... footsteps of several people, carrying a strange sense of ceremony, echoed through the corridor.

They did not speak.

Because none of them knew what to say.

And they knew even less how they should face or comfort Teacher Zhou once they truly saw her, already sunk into a state of "deathly stillness."

At last, they arrived outside Class One's classroom.

That familiar, old Wooden Door, left slightly ajar, radiated a dim halo of sorrow and desolation beneath the fading moonlight.

Through that narrow crack in the door, they could clearly see that all-too-familiar slender figure, always standing straight, filled with stubbornness and severity...

She sat there alone, quietly behind the cold podium that belonged to her.

She was not sternly grading assignments as usual.

Nor was she staring blankly out the window as Bei Bei had described.

She was simply sitting there quietly.

Her back was still perfectly straight.

Like a sharp javelin that would rather break than bend, yet was covered in cracks...

Her hands were folded atop that neat, completely empty podium.

Her gaze rested straight ahead.

Those Eyes that were always filled with harshness and severity, as though they could spit fire, now resembled two Cold Ponds frozen for a thousand years—bottomless, tranquil, deathly still, without the slightest Ripple.

As though nothing in this world could interest her in the slightest anymore.

Moonlight streamed diagonally through the enormous Floor-to-Ceiling Window, outlining her profile, always creased with wrinkles and anger, in a sorrowful contour filled with loneliness and desolation.

Her hair, always combed so meticulously, seemed especially glaring beneath the moonlight.

And especially heartbreakingly... old.

She simply sat there quietly.

Like a gray statue stripped of all soul and glory, sorrowfully and stubbornly guarding that cold territory that had long since been emptied of all people...

Completely out of place amid the lively, bustling, vibrant world around her, celebrating victory in a wild carnival.

The people at the door all held their breaths unconsciously.

They stood silently outside, looking at that gray statue filled with loneliness and sorrow.

Their hearts, once restless with unwillingness and anger, seemed to be viciously clenched by an invisible, icy hand at that moment.

It hurt.

It hurt so badly that they could barely breathe.

They had never imagined it.

That "Old Hag" in their minds, always pacing back and forth through the classroom like an aggressive female Tyrant Dragon, filled with irascibility and severity, could also have such a fragile, lonely, heartbreaking side.

"...Teacher Zhou."

In the end, it was still Bei Bei, the "Senior Brother" who could always shoulder every responsibility at critical moments, who gathered all his courage and slowly pushed open that heavy Wooden Door.

He led the others inside slowly.

His voice was soft and gentle, filled with careful reverence, as though he feared disturbing that fragile statue...

The gray, rigid figure behind the podium finally stirred slightly when she heard that familiar voice. Her Eyes, like frozen Cold Ponds, moved faintly.

She slowly turned her head.

Her gaze remained calm, remained deathly still.

She looked at those people standing before her, their Faces covered in worry and guilt—her proudest... "works."

There was no expression at all on her face, rigid as a stone carving.

Her dry Lips, drained of all color, moved slightly.

As though she wanted to say something.

But in the end, she said nothing.

She merely slowly shifted her gaze away from them, letting it fall once more upon the blood-red moonlight outside the window, which darkness was gradually swallowing bit by bit.

Her eyes were filled with indescribable... weariness.

Time: Douluo Calendar Year 2030 Season: Autumn Third Day of Enrollment 9:00 PM

Location: Shrek Academy, Central Plaza

Audience: 690,000

Equipment: Shrek Academy Uniform x1, True Vast Sea Ring (Divine Artifact), Student Emblem x1, Inspector's Token

Items: Shrek Academy Uniform x1, Dormitory Key x1

First Martial Soul: Soul Breaking Spear [Traits: Armor Breaking, Soul Devouring, Penetration]

Second Martial Soul: Chaos Holy Dragon (Hidden) [Traits: Strength, Time, Space]

Soul Power: Level 45 (Soul Ancestor) [Status: True Vast Sea Ring Shielding, External Perception at Level 24]

Spirit Rings: [Soul Breaking Spear] First Soul Ring (Yellow-Year), Second Soul Ring (Purple-Year), Third Soul Ring (Black-Thousand-Year), Fourth Soul Ring (Black-Thousand-Year)

[Chaos Holy Dragon] First Soul Ring (Black-Thousand-Year), Second Soul Ring (Black-Eight-Thousand-Year), Third Soul Ring (Black-Six-Thousand-Year), Fourth Soul Ring (Rose Gold-Thousand-Year)

Spirit Skills: [Soul Breaking Spear] First Spirit Skill Shadow Stab, Second Spirit Skill Spear, Third Spirit Skill Breaking Spiral, Fourth Spirit Skill Spirit Spear Rain

[Chaos Holy Dragon] First Spirit Skill Ring, Second Spirit Skill Dragon Claw, Third Spirit Skill Claw, Fourth Spirit Skill and Space Roar

Spirit Bones: None

Soul Spirit: None

Reward Storage: [Million-Year Spirit Beast Inverse Scale] x1, [Starlight Sapphire Brooch] x1, [Tsundere Princess Strategy Manual Platinum Edition] x1, [God-Bestowed Soul Ring (Hundred-Thousand-Year)] x1, [Spring of Life (Concentrated Liquid)] x1, [Calming Incense (First Snowmelt on the Mountain)] x1, [Dragon Blood Body Tempering Pill] x10, [Space Storage Bracelet] x1, [God King Level Space Law Comprehension Crystal] x1, [Super Divine Artifact and Space Wheel Fragment] x1, [God King Godhead (Incomplete)] x1, [Playful Rabbit Ear Headband] x2