"I want to see too!"
"When Little Zhuqing came back back then, she was completely lovestruck. All she could talk about was you."
"I want to see what kind of love potion you gave her!"
Zhu Zhuqing sat on a stone bench nearby.
At those words, her usually cool face instantly turned red as a ripe apple.
She lowered her head, twisting the hem of her clothes between her fingers.
"I-I wasn't lovestruck..."
"I just... just thought he was pretty nice."
Dai Mubai laughed.
He reached out, pulled Zhu Zhuqing into his arms, and sat her on his lap.
"Pretty nice?"
"Who was just calling that Black World version of me a scumbag?"
"Why the change of heart now?"
Zhu Zhuqing gasped and tried to struggle, only to find the hand around her waist was like an iron clamp.
She could only lean against Dai Mubai's chest and mutter softly:
"That was him. You're you."
"You're different."
Dai Mubai lowered his head and kissed her smooth forehead.
"Watch closely."
"I'll remind you how I picked you up back then."
Golden light blazed across the Sky Screen.
A new scene slowly unfolded.
This time, there was no battlefield, no smoke.
Only the tranquil Star Dou Great Forest.
The timeline was still set in their youth.
On the screen,
moonlight spilled like water through the dense woods.
A petite figure dressed in black raced through the forest.
It was Zhu Zhuqing.
She was still young then, but her figure had already begun to take shape. Her tight-fitting leather outfit showed off her stunning curves.
But at that moment, she looked battered.
She was injured, and her breathing was ragged.
A thousand-year Nether Wolf was hot on her heels.
Its howl rang especially piercingly through the night.
"Roar!"
The Nether Wolf suddenly pounced, its claws cutting through the air as it lunged for Zhu Zhuqing's back.
The people in the Black World held their breath.
They still hadn't gotten over the disgust of Black Dai Mubai pushing someone in front of him to take the hit. Now, seeing Zhu Zhuqing in danger, they couldn't help worrying: Would this White Dai Mubai run away too?
Would he even use Zhu Zhuqing as bait?
After all, this was a real matter of life and death!
However,
the next second,
the scene changed abruptly.
Just as the claws were about to tear Zhu Zhuqing apart,
a streak of golden light dropped without warning from the treetops to the side.
Fast.
Too fast.
The thousand-year Nether Wolf didn't even have time to react.
Boom!
A muffled impact shook the earth.
When the dust settled,
people finally saw what had happened.
A young man stood in front of Zhu Zhuqing.
He wore white, and under the moonlight, he shone brilliantly.
The thousand-year Nether Wolf that had been so ferocious moments ago was now pinned beneath one of the young man's feet.
Its head had been crushed into the earth.
It was well and truly dead.
The young man hadn't even summoned his Martial Soul.
He'd killed it with one kick, using nothing but his physical strength!
That sight left people in both the Black and White Worlds stunned.
Both were princes.
Both had faced danger.
The one in the Black World had scrambled away, pushing a companion in front of him to take the hit.
The one in the White World had descended from the sky and ended the fight with one kick.
The difference was clear!
But that wasn't all.
On the screen,
Zhu Zhuqing was still shaken. She slumped to the ground, gasping for breath.
She looked up at the young man before her, who seemed like a god descending from the heavens, her eyes full of wariness.
"Who are you...?"
The young man turned around.
In the moonlight, everyone saw his face.
It was Dai Mubai from the White World.
Unlike the Black World's version, whose expression was always gloomy and whose eyes were sunken, this Dai Mubai was impossibly handsome.
Though he was still young, he carried an air of nobility and ease that was hard to describe.
He didn't answer Zhu Zhuqing's question.
Instead, he bent down and held out a hand to her.
He didn't waste words.
He didn't make any cheesy jokes.
He simply looked at Zhu Zhuqing, his mismatched eyes gleaming in the night.
"Can you stand?"
His voice was soft,
yet it carried a reassuring strength.
Zhu Zhuqing froze.
She looked at the hand before her, clean and slender-fingered.
As if in a daze, she placed her hand in his.
Dai Mubai pulled her to her feet with a little effort.
Her legs were weak, and she stumbled straight into his arms.
"Careful."
Dai Mubai steadied her by the shoulders.
Then,
he did something no one had expected.
He gently wiped a speck of dirt from Zhu Zhuqing's cheek.
The gesture came so naturally, as if he'd done it countless times before.
"Little Wildcat."
"It's dangerous to run around the forest alone this late at night."
Zhu Zhuqing's face turned bright red in an instant.
She stepped back in a fluster, but she couldn't tear her eyes away from the young man's face.
"I... I understand."
She recognized him.
The person standing before her
was her fiancé.
The person who had saved her before.
The one she had longed to meet while waiting day and night in the Star Luo Imperial Family.
"You're... Dai—"
Zhu Zhuqing had just begun to speak
when Dai Mubai raised a finger and gently pressed it to her lips.
"Shh."
He turned and pointed at the Nether Wolf's corpse.
"This thing's Soul Ring should suit you."
"Do you want it?"
Zhu Zhuqing nodded blankly.
"I do..."
"Then go claim it."
Dai Mubai stood nearby with his arms crossed, guarding her while she absorbed the Soul Ring.
The moonlight stretched their shadows across the ground.
At that moment,
the scene was as beautiful as a painting.
There was no desperate escape, no heart-wrenching betrayal.
Only the dazzling first meeting of a young man and woman, and the sweetness pouring out of the screen.
Black World.
In reality,
Star Luo Square fell silent.
But this silence was different from the anger before.
It was the silence of people who'd just been served a mouthful of someone else's romance.
Then,
sighs of admiration broke out through the crowd.
"That's the difference..."
"Look at him! That's a real prince! That's a real man!"
"He killed a thousand-year Spirit Beast with one kick, and he's so gentle too. I'd fall for him as well!"
"Thinking about that coward who pushed someone in front of him to take the hit makes me sick."
Countless girls gazed at the Sky Screen, hands pressed to their cheeks and stars in their eyes.
"That's so sweet!"
"Is this the legendary hero saving the beauty?"
"If I were Zhu Zhuqing, I'd be devoted to him too!"
Over by Shrek Academy,
Zhu Zhuqing stood with the group, trembling all over.
She stared at the scene on the Sky Screen.
At herself, protected behind Dai Mubai, her face full of shy delight.
That was the scene she had dreamed of.
That was the meeting she had imagined countless times.
But
reality had dealt her a harsh slap.
In this world, all she had received was indifference, evasion, and the sight of Dai Mubai's back as he told her to get lost in the Imperial Garden.
An emotion called jealousy began to grow wildly in her heart.
Before you continue