The Bad Luck Was Still Going Strong

After fleeing some distance, Flender dropped into a narrow alley.

He stumbled, managing to steady himself only by bracing one hand against the wall.

Badly wounded and having lost blood as he fled, he looked weak.

His face was deathly pale.

Panting heavily, he leaned against the wall and slowly sat down.

He clutched his wound tightly.

"Xiao Gang, Xiao Gang, you've really put me through the wringer this time."

You said there'd be one Spirit Saint, but it turned out to be two.

And one of them was a Soul Douluo.

Zhao Wuji had survived being hunted by Spirit Hall and the Strength Clan back in the day, only to die in some godforsaken place like this.

Just thinking about it made Flender feel bitter.

And the one who'd caused all this was none other than Yu Xiaogang, with a single letter.

All because the information in it had been so watered down.

If they'd known there was a Soul Douluo, they wouldn't have ended up in such a miserable state, even if they still couldn't win.

Great.

How was he supposed to explain this to Li Yusong and the others when he got back to Shrek?

"Ugh!"

Flender couldn't help sighing. He forced himself to his feet, despite his injuries.

His wounds were severe. If he didn't get treatment soon, even as a Spirit Saint, he wouldn't be able to withstand the danger of continued blood loss. He couldn't rest for long.

"Dean, where are you?"

A tearful, anxious voice suddenly rang out, making Flender freeze.

Why did that voice sound so much like Oscar?

"I'm over here!"

Flender shouted and headed toward the sound.

Before long, someone came running toward him in a hurry.

It was none other than Oscar, who had run out of Nuoding Academy.

"Dean, I finally found you."

The moment Oscar saw Flender, he completely lost control of his emotions.

His tears came pouring down like floodwaters bursting through a dam.

"Dean, Hongjun..."

Oscar rushed over, about to cry out his grievance, when he suddenly noticed Flender's injuries.

"Dean! What happened to you?"

Oscar paled with shock and hurried forward to support him.

"Give me a Healing Sausage first."

Flender leaned against him, his voice extremely weak.

Oscar's Healing Sausage wouldn't do much for his injuries, but it would help a little.

"Okay, okay..."

Oscar didn't dare delay. He immediately released his Martial Soul and poured Soul Power into his Spirit Ring.

Before long, a Healing Sausage took shape.

Flender hurriedly tossed it into his mouth, chewed a few times, and swallowed it.

Healing energy spread through his body.

Unfortunately, his injuries were too severe. That little bit of energy barely helped, only slightly slowing the bleeding.

Flender shook his head and looked at Oscar.

"What happened to Hongjun?"

"Fatty, he..."

Oscar hesitated, then couldn't help sobbing.

A sense of foreboding rose in Flender's heart.

"What happened to him?"

Flender's expression grew grave, and his voice turned sharper.

"He's dead. Waaaaah..."

After saying it, Oscar couldn't hold back any longer and burst into loud sobs.

"What?"

Flender felt as if he'd been struck by lightning. He stood there, frozen.

Ma Hongjun was dead?

How was that possible?

Dai Mubai was a Soul Grandmaster, and the academy had so many teachers.

Ma Hongjun had been perfectly fine. How could he have died?

Oscar sobbed, "Fatty's Evil Fire suddenly flared up, and he tried to attack Xiao Wu. Dai Mubai took a heavy blow trying to stop him."

"That enraged Dai Mubai, and in his fury, he struck Fatty down."

"But Dai Mubai was badly injured too. The academy teachers said that if he doesn't get treatment soon, he'll be crippled even if he survives."

"Boom!"

Oscar's words exploded in Flender's mind like muffled thunder.

He staggered.

"How could this happen?"

"How could this happen?"

Flender looked as if his soul had left his body, repeating the same words over and over.

He couldn't understand how things had come to this.

They'd only been in Nuoding City for how long?

Not even half a month, and already two dead and two seriously injured.

Was there something cursed about Nuoding City?

"Dean, are you all right?"

Oscar's eyes were filled with worry as he looked at Flender.

Then he glanced around.

"Dean, where's Teacher Zhao Wuji? Isn't he with you?"

Zhao Wuji?

Oscar's question pierced Flender's heart like a blade.

In the space of one night, his good brother and his dear student had both left him forever.

"Pfft!"

Overcome with grief and panic, Flender couldn't help spitting out a mouthful of warm blood.

Oscar paled with shock and hurried to support him.

"Dean, what's wrong? Are you all right?"

"Cough, cough..."

Flender coughed incessantly, blood trickling from the corners of his mouth.

He looked as if he were gravely ill, beyond all hope of recovery.

"Dean, don't scare me!"

Oscar was frantic, tears streaming down his face.

Ma Hongjun was dead, Dai Mubai was seriously injured, and Zhao Wuji was missing.

Under the circumstances, there was a good chance something had happened to him.

If anything happened to the dean too, what was Oscar supposed to do?

Flender raised a hand and waved it dismissively.

"I'm... I'm fine."

His words sounded as though they'd taken all his strength. Each word came out weaker than the last.

"First... first, let's go... back to the academy."

Flender couldn't spare another thought for anything else. The most urgent thing was to stabilize his injuries.

Although the school doctor at Nuoding Academy wasn't highly skilled, he could at least stabilize Flender and buy him time to find a high-level healing Spirit Master.

"Okay, okay, Dean. I'll carry you."

Oscar hurriedly turned around and crouched down.

Flender didn't refuse. He climbed straight onto Oscar's back.

Oscar was only an auxiliary Spirit Master, but he'd at least reached the One-Ring Soul Master level at over ten levels of Soul Power. Carrying someone wasn't a problem.

He carried Flender out of the alley and headed toward Nuoding Academy.

Neither of them noticed that the dark aura that had gathered between Oscar's brows was now spreading across his whole body.

It was unmistakably a sign that his bad luck was about to erupt.

Even in his dreams, Flender could never have imagined that, after all they'd been through, their bad luck still hadn't run its course. More disasters awaited him and Oscar.

The Shrek group were destined to have the worst night of their lives.

The two hadn't gone far.

A nightmarish voice suddenly boomed beside them.

"Well, would you look at that. What are the odds?"

At the sound, Flender leapt off Oscar's back like a startled wildcat.

He whirled around.

There, not far away, stood that damned Round-faced Bearded Man and the Thin Tall Man, smiling at them.

Damn it, how could they run into them again?

People could be unlucky, but surely not this unlucky?

Oscar looked at the two men, his heart trembling.

He didn't know who they were, but from Flender's reaction, it wasn't hard to tell that these men were probably the ones who'd left Dean Flender so badly injured.