Resurrect, My Love

Shrek Academy, afternoon.

"Tang San! You've changed! You don't love me anymore! I'm leaving!"

Xiao Wu stood with her hands on her hips, her eyes rimmed red and tears welling up. Her lips trembled, her voice trembled, and her whole body trembled.

Tang San still held the bag of candy in his hand, looking utterly bewildered. "Xiao Wu, I only said you should eat less candy... It's bad for your teeth..."

"You think I'm fat!" Xiao Wu's tears finally spilled over. "You think eating candy will make me fat! You think I'm not pretty enough! You think I'm not good enough for you!"

Tang San hurriedly explained, "No, Xiao Wu, I'm really just worried about your teeth..."

"Don't explain! Explaining is just covering things up! Covering things up means you're guilty! Being guilty means you don't love me anymore!"

Xiao Wu spoke so fast she was like a string of firecrackers, leaving Tang San no chance to get a word in.

"Waaaah, I'm leaving! I'm going to die!"

With that, Xiao Wu turned and ran. She was so fast that even Zhu Zhuqing was momentarily stunned. She dashed out the academy gates and disappeared into the woods in the blink of an eye.

Tang San stood there holding the bag of candy, frozen in place as if struck by lightning.

"Xiao Wu... is going to die?"

He muttered to himself, his pupils beginning to unfocus.

"Xiao Wu is going to die?"

His voice began to tremble.

"Xiao Wu!"

Tang San's heart-wrenching roar echoed throughout the entire academy.

At the gates of Shrek Academy.

Tang San knelt on the ground.

His tears fell like beads from a snapped string, streaming down until they formed a small puddle on the ground.

"Xiao Wu! You can't die!"

He faced the direction Xiao Wu had run and screamed at the top of his lungs.

"Resurrect, My Love!"

His voice was so loud that even the birds on the back mountain were startled into flight.

Soul Power ran wild through his body, and his Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul burst out uncontrollably.

The once-tender blue vines grew like mad, spreading out from beneath Tang San's feet until they covered the entire academy entrance. They climbed the walls, wrapped around the flagpole, and obscured the sign.

In just a few breaths, the entrance to Shrek Academy had become a vast field of Blue Silver Grass.

Flender leaned out of his office window and nearly dropped his teacup at the sight. He jumped straight down from the second floor and rushed over to Tang San.

"Tang San, what are you doing?"

Tang San raised his head, his face streaked with tears, his nose running and his whole face a mess. "Dean, Xiao Wu is dead! She's leaving me! I have to bring her back to life!"

Flender's mouth twitched. "Xiao Wu is dead? When did she die? How come I didn't know?"

"Just now! When she ran off, she said she was going to die! She's going to kill herself! I sensed it!" Tang San spoke with absolute conviction, as if it were an established fact.

Flender opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but not knowing what.

Ning Rongrong squeezed out of the crowd, looking baffled. "Didn't Xiao Wu just run off? How is she dead? I saw her heading toward the back mountain..."

Tang San cried, "She's going to kill herself! She ran off to die! I know Xiao Wu. She always does what she says, so by now she must have..."

He couldn't continue. Clutching his head, he burst into loud sobs.

The crowd exchanged bewildered looks.

Oscar whispered, "Third Brother's imagination... It's a real shame he never became a novelist."

Ma Hongjun gnawed on a chicken leg. "I think he might actually be crazy."

Dai Mubai covered his face. "Even when he's not embarrassing himself, I'm embarrassed for him."

Just then, four figures approached from the direction of the dormitory.

They were Han Li, Xiao Yan, Shi Hao, and Wang Lin.

They had been heading to the training grounds, but passed the academy gates and saw what was happening.

Xiao Yan was the first to stop. He nearly dropped the water flask in his hand. "What's he doing?"

Shi Hao tilted his head and watched for a moment. "Looks like he's crying."

Wang Lin leaned against the wall, his eyes narrowing slightly as the Heavenly Inverse Bead turned once inside his sleeve.

He quickly withdrew his hand and said coolly, "Xiao Wu is dead? She's not dead. I just saw her munching on an apple on the back mountain."

Xiao Yan and Shi Hao both looked at Wang Lin.

Shi Hao asked, "An apple? Where'd it come from?"

Wang Lin replied, "I don't care."

Han Li stood at the back, watching it all without expression. His gaze lingered on Tang San for a few seconds, then shifted to the wildly growing Blue Silver Grass.

He silently made a note: Tang San, Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul, capable of greatly increasing its growth for a short time when Soul Power surges, but clearly dependent on his emotions. This person is emotionally unstable and not someone to get close to.

By now, Tang San had fallen into a kind of frenzy.

He knelt in the middle of the field of Blue Silver Grass, both hands raised to the sky, tears streaming down his face as he shouted the same words over and over.

"Resurrect, My Love!"

"Resurrect, My Love!"

"Resurrect, My Love!"

Every time he shouted the words, the Blue Silver Grass grew even more wildly. The vines seemed to understand his cries, climbing frantically upward and wrapping around everything nearby.

The vines had wound so tightly around the sign at the academy entrance that most of the three characters "Shrek" were already hidden.

Flender watched the façade of his academy get ruined, his heart aching.

But he couldn't bring himself to stop Tang San. In his current state, stopping him might well cost someone their life.

Oscar finally couldn't take it anymore. He turned to Ma Hongjun and said, "This is the most... awkward scene I've ever seen. It's even more awkward than the first time I made sausages."

Ma Hongjun agreed for once. "Seriously. Is Tang San crazy? Xiao Wu's perfectly alive, but he's acting like she's dead."

Dai Mubai had given up completely. "Let him cry. He'll stop when he gets tired."

Zhu Zhuqing stood in the distance, watching coldly without a word. The way she looked at Tang San was as if he were a stranger.

Xiao Wu didn't notice anything was wrong until she'd finished her third apple.

She sat on a branch of a large tree on the back mountain, kicking her feet as she chewed on an apple. She was still angry. Third Brother actually thinks I'm fat! How am I fat? I'm obviously so thin!

Does he not love me anymore? Does he like Ning Rongrong? No, Ning Rongrong is from the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect. Is he trying to climb the social ladder?

A woman's imagination knew no bounds. By the time Xiao Wu finished her third apple, she'd already imagined an entire tale of Tang San's infidelity.

Then she felt the ground tremble, the shaking coming from the direction of the academy.

Xiao Wu jumped down from the tree, brushed the dust off her skirt, and headed toward the academy.

When she came out of the woods, she spotted a strange expanse of blue at the academy gates. Blue Silver Grass? How had it grown like that?

As she got closer, she heard Tang San's wails.

"Resurrect, My Love!"

Xiao Wu paused.

She was completely bewildered.

As she drew closer, she saw Tang San kneeling on a field of Blue Silver Grass, tears streaming down his face as he wailed at the sky.

A ring of people stood around him, all watching.

Tang San, meanwhile, was completely oblivious, immersed in his grief over his dead lover.

Xiao Wu pushed through the crowd and walked up to Tang San.

"Third Brother, what are you doing?"

Her voice wasn't loud, but it was clear enough.

Tang San's crying stopped abruptly.

He lifted his head. Through his tear-blurred vision, he saw Xiao Wu standing alive and well before him.

She still had half an apple in her hand, apple juice at the corner of her mouth, and a baffled expression on her face.

Tang San froze for one second.

Two seconds.

Three seconds.

Then he lunged forward, wrapped his arms around Xiao Wu, and burst into loud sobs, crying even harder than before.

"Xiao Wu, you're not dead! You really aren't dead! Thank goodness! I brought you back to life!"

Tang San clung to Xiao Wu, crying and laughing as he smeared snot and tears all over her shoulder.

Xiao Wu was completely dumbfounded.

She looked at the crowd watching them, then at the sudden field of Blue Silver Grass, and finally down at Tang San, who was clinging to her and crying as if his wife had died.

"But I was never dead?" Confusion filled Xiao Wu's voice. "I just went to the back mountain... to eat an apple."

Tang San raised his head, face streaked with tears, and said earnestly, "But you said you were going to die!"

Xiao Wu said, "You believed me when I was just saying it in anger?"

Tang San replied with utter seriousness, "Yes!"

The entire crowd fell silent.

Then, they all fainted.

Han Li remained expressionless, but his eyelid twitched.

Xiao Yan's mouth twitched.

Shi Hao tilted his head, looking as if he were wondering whether this guy was crazy.

Wang Lin closed his eyes and took a deep breath, as if trying to stop himself from lashing out.

Oscar was the first to speak, his voice weak. "I really... don't know what to say."

Ma Hongjun said, "I hereby declare Tang San the most ridiculous person I've ever met. No contest."

Dai Mubai said, "I'm dropping out. I don't know this man."

Ning Rongrong covered her face and laughed out loud. "Sister Xiao Wu, what did you do to scare Third Brother this badly?"

Xiao Wu looked innocent. "I just said something in anger... I really only went to eat an apple..."

Tang San was still clinging to Xiao Wu and refusing to let go, mumbling, "You can't leave me... What am I supposed to do if you go... Resurrect, My Love..."

Xiao Wu smacked him on the head. "Get a grip! I'm not dead! I don't need to be brought back to life!"

The blow brought Tang San somewhat to his senses, but his eyes were still red.

He looked at the Blue Silver Grass around them, then at the crowd watching, and finally at himself, still kneeling on the ground.

His face slowly turned red.

"Um... If I said this was all a misunderstanding, would you believe me?"

The entire crowd answered in unison, "No."