Huo Wushuang's Vigilance

While Huo Wu was immersed in that incredible yet remarkably effective "Special Training," an entirely different scene was unfolding in Huo Wushuang's room within the Blazing Fire Academy barracks.

After treatment and a night's rest, Huo Wushuang's injuries had stabilized, though his internal organs still ached faintly and his face remained somewhat pale. What weighed on him even more was the academy's defeat and his own helplessness.

Just then, a team member close to him hesitantly walked in.

"Captain... there's something I don't know whether I should tell you." The team member looked uncertain.

"What is it? Just say it." Huo Wushuang frowned.

"It's about the vice-captain... When I got up this morning, I think I saw... saw the vice-captain leave with Zhang Bufan from Heaven Dou Royal Academy." The team member lowered his voice.

"What?!" Huo Wushuang abruptly sat upright, aggravating his injury and making him cough several times. Yet his gaze instantly sharpened. "Did you see clearly? Where did they go?"

"I saw clearly. They headed toward that small grove outside the barracks." The team member nodded firmly. "And... late last night, someone seemed to have seen the vice-captain go to the woods alone. Then... then it seemed that Zhang Bufan carried her back!"

"Carried her back?!" Huo Wushuang's voice suddenly rose. His fists clenched tightly, his knuckles turning white. An inexplicable fury, mixed with intense worry and vigilance, rushed straight to his head.

Zhang Bufan! That guy who had frivolously blown his sister an Air Kiss during the Preliminary Match, whose strength was absurdly powerful! What did he want by getting close to Wu'er?!

As her brother, Huo Wushuang was instinctively highly wary of any man trying to approach his sister—especially a powerful man of the Different Sex like Zhang Bufan, who looked utterly "unreliable." Even more so now, when the academy had just suffered a defeat and his sister was in low spirits!

Could that bastard be taking advantage of her vulnerability?!

The thought of his sister possibly being bullied or deceived made Huo Wushuang unable to stay seated. Enduring the pain of his injuries, he sprang to his feet. "I'm going to take a look!"

"Captain, your injuries..."

"I'm fine!" Huo Wushuang cut him off, his expression dark as he strode from the room.

Following the direction the team member had indicated, he soon arrived outside the small grove. Before he even got close, he heard his sister Huo Wu's voice from within. She seemed to be asking something, and her tone carried something he had never heard before... trust, and even a hint of excitement?

Zhang Bufan's voice, meanwhile, answered lazily, spouting strange nonsense that Huo Wushuang could not understand at all—things like "Energy Particles" and "Attribute Affinity."

Huo Wushuang's heart sank. He quickened his pace and passed through several trees, only for the sight before him to make his Pupils contract sharply—

In the clearing, Huo Wu sat cross-legged, looking intently at Zhang Bufan standing before her. A faint crimson-gold flame danced between Zhang Bufan's fingers, yet even Huo Wushuang felt a trace of unease from it, as though he were demonstrating something. The distance between them was suspiciously intimate!

Especially Huo Wu's gaze as she looked at Zhang Bufan—the light shining in her eyes was something Huo Wushuang had never seen before! It was a mixture of thirst for knowledge, admiration, and even... a faint dependence that was difficult to detect?

"Zhang Bufan!"

Fury instantly drowned Huo Wushuang's reason. With a low roar, he charged forward and pulled the still-dazed Huo Wu behind him. Like a lion protecting its cub, he glared furiously at the unfathomable young man before him.

"What are you trying to do to my sister?!" Huo Wushuang's voice was hoarse from rage and injury, but his eyes were filled with hostility. "I'm warning you, stay away from Wu'er! Otherwise, even if I can't beat you, Blazing Fire Academy will never let this go!"

Pulled behind her brother without warning, Huo Wu was first stunned. Then she understood and hurriedly explained, "Brother! It's not what you think! Zhang Bufan is guiding my cultivation! He..."

"Guiding your cultivation?" Huo Wushuang cut her off, his tone full of distrust. "Would he really be so 'kind'? Wu'er, don't let him fool you! That kid clearly has bad intentions!"

He stared fixedly at Zhang Bufan, as though trying to find something written across his face.

Faced with Huo Wushuang's almost tangible hostility, Zhang Bufan remained remarkably calm. He even unhurriedly dispersed the flame at his fingertips, then dusted off his hands as though there were dust on them.

He raised his eyes, his gaze passing over the battle-ready Huo Wushuang and settling on Huo Wu behind him, whose face was full of anxiety as she tried to explain. The corner of his lips suddenly curved into a faint, unreadable smile.

Then he looked back at Huo Wushuang. Under the other man's nearly fire-spitting gaze, he took a step forward and actually... reached out to casually pat Huo Wushuang on the shoulder.

The gesture was as casual as if they were familiar old friends.

"Brother-in-law," Zhang Bufan said in the most matter-of-fact tone, carrying his signature lazy confidence that could drive people mad, "don't worry."

He paused, glanced at Huo Wu behind Huo Wushuang, and his smile deepened as he enunciated each word.

"I. Will. Take. Good. Care. Of. Her."

"..."

The air seemed to freeze in that instant.

Huo Wushuang's eyes widened, the fury on his face completely frozen as though he had heard the most absurd thing imaginable. What... what had he just called him? Brother... Brother-in-law?!

Huo Wu was completely petrified as well. Her cheeks flushed bright red at a speed visible to the naked eye, all the way to her ears, as though steam might rise from her head at any second! With her mouth open, she stared at that shameless lunatic who had just spoken such outrageous words, unable to say a thing.

"You... you... you insolent bastard!!" It took Huo Wushuang a full three seconds to snap back to his senses. He trembled from head to toe in fury, pointing at Zhang Bufan with a shaking finger, nearly coughing up blood. (Successfully enraged)

Yet Zhang Bufan, the culprit, acted as though he had merely said, "The weather is nice today." He winked at Huo Wu, who was so embarrassed she was nearly fainting, then ignored Huo Wushuang, who stood on the verge of exploding. Turning around, he gave a carefree wave.

"That's enough for today. Same time tomorrow. Don't be late."

With that, he hummed an unknown tune and leisurely vanished into the depths of the woods.

Leaving behind only Huo Wushuang, furious enough to nearly explode, and Huo Wu, mortified beyond measure with her heartbeat in complete disarray.

A tug-of-war over "Special Training" and "protection" had clearly only just begun. And Zhang Bufan's earth-shattering "Brother-in-law" had undoubtedly dropped a heavy bomb into this already delicate relationship.