The Shrek group prepared to set off for Heaven Dou City.
Tang San finally noticed that something was wrong with Xiao Wu. He grabbed her wrist, not hard,
but with an insistence that left no room for argument. His fingers were slightly cold. He was nervous.
"Xiao Wu, you avoided me all night.
Tell me, what are you really afraid of?"
The area was filled with the clamor of people packing, but this corner was terrifyingly quiet.
Xiao Wu's body stiffened. Just for an instant, she knew she had to act.
She couldn't let Tang San notice anything was wrong.
Then she did something Tang San never expected.
She threw herself into his arms, wrapped both arms tightly around his waist, buried her face against his chest, and began to tremble violently.
"Brother... I'm so scared..."
Her voice was choked with tears, soft and helpless, just like when she'd been wronged at Nuoding Academy.
"That hammer... That hammer almost killed us...
I... I thought I'd never see you again..."
She wept bitterly, and her tears instantly soaked Tang San's clothes.
She clutched the fabric on his back so tightly that her palms turned white,
as if he were the only lifeline she had.
Amid all this chaotic fear, beneath the shadow of the Clear Sky Hammer that blotted out the sky,
a completely different figure instinctively and incongruously flashed through Xiao Wu's mind.
The man named Chen Jieqi.
The memory was blurry. All she could recall was that night at the Suotuo City Spirit Fighting Arena,
and the way he'd looked at her: calm and deep, with no greed or covetousness,
and no deliberate flattery, even though he'd approached her first and acted friendly.
That feeling... was strange.
It was unlike being seen as a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast, and unlike being seen as a younger sister who needed protection.
It was more like being seen as... an equal, an independent life.
In that moment, she'd felt at ease. She'd even felt a little bit comfortable.
Why had she thought of him at a time like this?
Xiao Wu didn't know, either.
Perhaps it was the instinct to survive. Subconsciously, she was desperately searching for someone who could stand against the "mountain" looming over her.
Tang San couldn't give her that sense of security. He was too weak,
and even he needed to be protected.
But that Chen Jieqi... He hadn't seemed to do anything,
yet he made her feel that even if he saw through her, so what?
Xiao Wu lifted her head and looked at Tang San through tear-filled eyes, all dependence and vulnerability.
"Brother, promise me that no matter what happens, you won't leave me alone, okay?
Even if we go to Heaven Dou City, I want to stay with you. I don't want us apart for even a moment."
Tang San's heart softened, and his eyes reddened. He tightened his arms around her slightly.
"Okay. We'll always be together."
Xiao Wu nodded obediently. Tear tracks streaked her face as she gave him a smile of relief.
However,
the instant Tang San turned away, when no one could see her,
the smile vanished from Xiao Wu's face, replaced by a bone-deep chill.
That fragment of memory about Chen Jieqi was like a thorn lodged in her heart.
"Tang San, I'm sorry.
But if your father really means to keep me in captivity...
If one day you have to choose between your father and me..."
She didn't dare think any further.
She only knew that going to Heaven Dou City might not be just about staying alive.
She wanted to find out whether Chen Jieqi really was another possibility.
Xiao Wu took a deep breath and put on her bright, innocent expression again.
She skipped after Tang San.
"Brother, wait for me! I want grilled fish. We're going to Heaven Dou City!"
That night on the road, Xiao Wu leaned against a cold tree and somehow drifted off.
She had a long, quiet dream.
There was no Clear Sky Hammer blotting out the sky, nor the stench of blood from an Evil Soul Master's attack.
She stood in a lush bamboo grove wreathed in mist, her feet resting on soft, thick moss.
A faint, refreshing tea fragrance hung in the air. All her fear and unease
were shut out in that moment.
The man sat at a stone table not far away, dressed in plain white, his posture straight. He quietly fiddled with a few black and white Go stones on the table.
He hadn't even raised his head, yet it was as if he'd already seen through all her thoughts.
"You're afraid of dying, aren't you?"
His voice was soft and cool, but like a sharp blade, it cut straight to the point.
It sliced through layer upon layer of her defenses and exposed the deepest weakness in her heart, the one she didn't even dare face herself.
Xiao Wu went rigid. She wanted to deny it desperately, to stand tall and say she wasn't afraid, but her throat felt blocked by a wad of cotton.
It was dry and raw. She couldn't utter a single word. All her bravado crumbled in an instant.
The man finally looked up. His eyes were still calm and untroubled, without greed or scrutiny,
yet it seemed he could see right through her soul, through the fear, loneliness, and years of restraint she'd endured since taking human form.
"You're not afraid of the hammer or the black-robed men."
"You're afraid that you're a fish, but someone's keeping you in a bathtub.
They feed you, give you a place to stay, and protect you so you can live and cultivate in peace.
But one day, if your owner is in a bad mood or has other plans, they'll scoop you out
and hand you to someone with eight legs... so you can be boiled into soup, and turned into a Spirit Bone. That's all."
Xiao Wu trembled uncontrollably. Tears welled up without warning as her most secret fear was laid bare,
leaving her nowhere to hide.
"What does Tang San think you are? His younger sister? Or... something he'll eventually make use of?
What about Tang Hao?"
"I don't know..."
At last, Xiao Wu let go of every pretense in the dream and broke down sobbing, her voice broken and helpless.
"Every moment, I'm pretending. Pretending to be the innocent Xiao Wu, pretending to be a younger sister who needs protection.
I don't even know if someone like me can be said to be truly alive..."
The man watched her quietly. He didn't come over to comfort her or offer a single warm word.
After a long while, he gently placed a black stone on the board. It landed with a crisp sound,
but the sound struck deep into her heart.
"Then swim out on your own."
"When the fishbowl breaks, you can either accept your fate and die, or learn to breathe in the vast waters on your own.
You won't have to depend on anyone anymore, or live in fear of being abandoned at any moment."
"Heaven Dou City has another sea."
The dream ended abruptly.
Xiao Wu's eyes snapped open. Her chest heaved, and the tears still clung to her eyes. Cold tracks dampened her cheeks.
Only then did she realize she was still leaning against the cold tree.
The sky was nearly bright. A faint fish-belly white glow appeared on the horizon.
She slowly sat up and hugged her knees, burying her face in them. Her body still held the dream's lingering terror and clarity.
The dream had been too real.
Not because of the bamboo grove and tea fragrance, nor because the man's words had struck so deeply, but because he hadn't saved her.
He hadn't said, "Don't be afraid. I'll protect you."
He hadn't pulled her into his arms and gently comforted her like Tang San, or promised her a peaceful, worry-free life.
He'd only told her
that a fishbowl could be broken, and that she had to swim out on her own.
Xiao Wu closed her eyes and breathed in the cool air of early morning. When she opened them again, in the still, lifeless depths that had lain dormant all night,
a tiny ripple appeared for the first time—faint, yet unmistakable.
That voice had sounded just like him, and yet like an echo from somewhere in her own heart.
"Tang San, I'm sorry.
I believe your sincerity right now, but I can't gamble on the future.
But if there really is a different kind of 'water' in this world, where I don't have to be a fish trapped in a fishbowl...
Even if there's only one chance in ten thousand,
I want to see it for myself."
She slowly got to her feet, brushed the dust from her clothes, wiped the tears from her face, and drew a deep breath.
The familiar, sweet, innocent smile returned to her face, as if last night's fear and uncertainty had never existed.
She smiled, but her eyes were a still, lifeless pool, with only a trace of curiosity hidden in its depths—a curiosity about another man that even she hadn't noticed.