The Fish Tank's Trap, Sober Despair!

The Shrek team prepared to set off for Tiantou City.

Tang San finally sensed that something was wrong with Xiao Wu and grabbed her wrist; his grip was not heavy, but it carried an unquestionable persistence. His fingers were slightly cold; he was nervous.

"Xiao Wu, you avoided me all night last night.

Tell me, what exactly are you afraid of?"

The surroundings were filled with the noise of packing luggage, but this corner was terrifyingly quiet.

Xiao Wu's body stiffened abruptly. For just an instant, she knew she had to act;

she could not let Tang San see any flaws.

Immediately, she performed an action that Tang San did not expect.

She threw herself into Tang San's arms, wrapping her arms tightly around his waist, burying her face in his chest, and her shoulders began to tremble violently.

"Brother... I'm so scared..."

Her voice was choked with sobs, soft and helpless, looking exactly like she did when she had been wronged back at Nuoding Academy.

"That hammer... that hammer almost crushed us to death...

I, I thought I would never see you again..."

She cried her heart out, her tears instantly soaking Tang San's lapels.

She gripped the clothes on Tang San's back tightly, her palms turning white from the force, as if that were her only straw to clutch at.

In the midst of this chaotic fear, under the shadow of that sky-covering Clear Sky Hammer, a completely different figure instinctively, yet inappropriately, flashed through Xiao Wu's mind.

It was the man named Chen Jieqi.

The image in her memory was blurry; it was only that night at the Suotuo City Spirit Arena, when he looked at her with eyes that were calm and profound, without greed, without covetousness, and without even the deliberate fawning that usually came with someone trying to strike up a conversation or get close.

That feeling... was very strange.

It wasn't like looking at a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast, nor was it like looking at a little sister who needed protection, but rather like looking at an... equal, independent life.

In that moment, she felt at ease, perhaps even a little bit comfortable.

Why did she have to think of him at a time like this?

Xiao Wu herself did not know.

Perhaps it was her survival instinct at work; in her subconscious, she was desperately searching for someone who could stand against this "mountain" before her.

Tang San could not give her that sense of security; he was too weak, and even he himself needed to be protected.

But that Chen Jieqi... he seemed to have done nothing, yet he made her feel that even if he had seen through her, so what?

Xiao Wu looked up, gazing at Tang San with tear-filled eyes, her expression full of reliance and fragility.

"Brother, promise me, no matter what happens in the future, don't leave me alone, okay?

Even if we go to Tiantou City, I want to be with you; we can't be separated for even a moment."

Tang San's heart softened, his eyes reddened, and he held her a little tighter.

"Okay, we will be together forever."

Xiao Wu nodded submissively, a smile of survival appearing on her tear-stained face.

However, the moment Tang San turned around, from an angle where no one could see, the smile on Xiao Wu's face vanished instantly, replaced by a coldness that went deep into her marrow.

That memory fragment of Chen Jieqi was like a thorn stuck in her heart.

"Tang San, I'm sorry.

But if your father really is keeping me as livestock...

If one day you have to choose between your father and me..."

She dared not think any further.

She only knew that going to Tiantou City might not just be about staying alive.

She wanted to see if that Chen Jieqi was truly another possibility.

Xiao Wu took a deep breath, once again putting on that innocent and carefree expression.

She skipped forward to catch up with Tang San.

"Brother, wait for me! I want to eat grilled fish, and we're heading to Tiantou City!"

During the night of their journey, Xiao Wu leaned against a cold tree and drifted into a hazy sleep.

She had a long, very quiet dream.

In the dream, there was no Clear Sky Hammer blotting out the sky, nor the bloody stench of an Evil Soul Master attack.

She stood in a lush bamboo forest shrouded in mist, her feet sinking into soft, thick moss.

The air was filled with a faint, refreshing scent of tea, and all her fear and unease were shut out at this moment.

That person sat at a stone table not far away, dressed in simple white robes, his posture upright as he quietly fiddled with a few black and white chess pieces on the table.

He didn't even look up, yet he seemed to have already perceived all her thoughts.

"You are very afraid of death, aren't you?"

His voice was not loud, clear and indifferent, yet it was like a sharp blade, without a hint of circumlocution.

It sliced directly through her layers of disguise, piercing the soft underbelly she hid in the deepest part of her heart, one she dared not even face herself.

Xiao Wu stiffened instantly, wanting to argue desperately, wanting to straighten her back and say she wasn't afraid, but her throat felt blocked by a ball of cotton.

It was dry and parched; she couldn't utter a single word, and all her bravado collapsed at this moment.

That person finally looked up, his eyes still calm and rippleless, without greed or scrutiny.

Yet, it was as if he could see through her soul at a glance, seeing through the endurance, fear, and loneliness of her many years since taking human form.

"What you fear is not the hammer, nor the man in the black robe."

"What you fear is that you are clearly a fish, yet you are kept in a fishbowl by someone else."

"They feed you, house you, and protect you so you can live and cultivate in peace, but one day, if the master is in a bad mood or has other plans, they will scoop you out."

"And hand you over to another person with eight legs... to be boiled into a pot of soup, or just a piece of spirit bone."

Xiao Wu couldn't stop her whole body from trembling, and tears gushed out without warning, the most secret fear in her heart laid bare.

There wasn't even a shred of room left to hide it.

"What does Tang San take you for? A sister? Or... an object to be used sooner or later?"

"What about Tang Hao?"

"I don't know..."

In the dream, she finally shed all her disguises and broke down in tears, her voice shattered and helpless.

"I am pretending every single moment, pretending to be the innocent Xiao Wu, pretending to be the sister who needs protection."

"I don't even know if, like this, I can be considered truly alive..."

That person watched her quietly, without stepping forward to comfort her, without saying a single warm word.

After a long while, he gently placed a black piece down; the piece landed on the board with a crisp sound.

Yet, it struck right at her heart.

"Then swim out yourself."

"The fishbowl is broken; you must either accept your fate and die, or learn to breathe on your own in the vast water."

"You don't need to rely on anyone anymore, and you don't need to live in the fear of being discarded at any moment."

"Tiantou City has another body of water."

The dream ended abruptly there.

Xiao Wu opened her eyes wide, her chest heaving violently, the tear tracks at the corners of her eyes still wet, the cold tears dampening her cheeks.

She realized she was still leaning against the cold tree.

It was almost dawn, and the horizon was tinged with a faint, pale light.

She slowly sat up, hugged her knees tightly, and buried her face deep into them, her body still lingering with the palpitations and clarity from the dream.

That dream was too real.

It wasn't because of the bamboo forest and the scent of tea, nor because of how piercing that person's words were, but because he didn't save her.

He didn't say, "Don't be afraid, I will protect you."

He didn't pull her into his arms to gently coax her like Tang San, nor did he promise her a life of peace and worry-free existence.

He only told her:

The fishbowl can be broken, and she must rely on herself to swim out.

Xiao Wu closed her eyes and took a deep breath of the cool, youthful air. When she opened them again, the pool of dead silence that had settled in her eyes throughout the night, devoid of any life, rippled for the very first time—a ripple that was incredibly faint, yet unmistakably clear.

That voice sounded so much like him, and yet, it also sounded like an echo from the depths of her own heart.

"Tang San, I'm sorry.

I believe in your sincerity right now, but I cannot gamble with the future.

However, if there truly is a different kind of 'water' in this world, one where I wouldn't have to be a fish in a tank anymore...

Even if there is only a one in ten thousand chance, I have to go and see it for myself."

She slowly stood up, gently brushed the dust off her clothes, and wiped the tear stains from her face. She took a deep breath, and put back on that familiar, innocent, and sweet smile, as if the fear and hesitation of last night had never existed.

She was smiling, yet her eyes remained a pool of dead silence, with only a trace of something hidden deep within that even she hadn't noticed: a curiosity about another man.