Dai Mubai had just led Tang San and Lin Zhixia to the academy's wooden cottages when the figures inside came out to meet them in unison—Yu Xiaogang's cane tapped against the ground, Flender's flying Soul Tool still hung at his waist, Zhao Wuji rubbed his callused hands, Qin Ming's martial soul phantom still carried traces of undispersed Soul Power, and Liu Erlong strode forward directly, her anxious gaze sweeping behind the two of them.
"Where's Xiao Wu?" Liu Erlong's voice trembled almost imperceptibly as she grabbed Lin Zhixia's arm. "Didn't you go to Star Dou to find her? The Five-Year Agreement is already here. Why didn't she come back with you?"
Those words crashed into everyone's hearts like a stone. Dai Mubai, Zhu Zhuqing, and the others instantly lost their smiles and crowded around them with questions. "Yeah, Third Brother, Fourth Sister, where's Sister Xiao Wu?" "Did something happen?" "Why did only you two come back first?"
Lin Zhixia's body stiffened abruptly, the color draining from her once-smiling face. She instinctively looked at Tang San. The veins stood out on the hand clutching the Ruyi Hundred Treasures Pouch, and his Adam's apple bobbed several times before he finally spoke hoarsely. "Boss Dai, Master, Dean... we did find Xiao Wu, but what happened..."
Before he could finish, Lin Zhixia took a deep breath and picked up where he left off—she understood Tang San's feelings at that moment. She could only force down the sob in her throat and slowly recount what had happened in the Red Forest. "We set out for Star Dou two months before the Five-Year Agreement. As soon as we reached the edge of the forest, we ran into a Spirit Hall squad—the Golden Generation's Xie Yue, Hu Liena, and Yan, along with Ghost Douluo and Chrysanthemum Douluo."