And so, the next morning.
The three of them left right on time, ready to have breakfast.
"I kind of regret sleeping in the middle." Du Hao rubbed his eyes, feeling like a wreck.
Having the two of them cling to him like a pillow last night had been pretty uncomfortable.
He'd barely slept a wink.
"Who told you to keep misbehaving?" Zhu Zhuqing said coolly, looking just as listless. It seemed she hadn't slept well last night either.
"What are you two talking about?" Xiao Wu asked, brimming with energy and as lively and innocent as ever.
She seemed completely unaffected by last night's lost sleep.
Seeing lively, innocent Xiao Wu, the two members of the mining duo exchanged a glance.
They immediately felt thoroughly ashamed.
"All right, enough. Let's hurry and get breakfast." Du Hao forced himself an excuse to retreat and led the way downstairs to the dining room.
Silent, Zhu Zhuqing followed close behind. She didn't dare look at Xiao Wu, as if she felt a little ashamed of herself.
"These two are so strange..."
Xiao Wu still hadn't realized how serious things were. She simply followed behind them, completely unaware of what she'd missed.
By the time the three of them reached the dining room, Tang San was already tucking in heartily.
When he saw them, he quickly waved.
"Over here!"
Once the three had taken their seats, Tang San curiously studied Du Hao and Zhu Zhuqing, then glanced at Xiao Wu, who looked full of life.
He hesitated for a moment...
"What were you doing last night?" Tang San chose his words carefully, then added, "You weren't cultivating all night, were you? No, that doesn't make sense. Then why is Xiao Wu so energetic?"
While Tang San was puzzling over it,
Du Hao reached out and cut off his wild speculation. "Don't ask. We just didn't sleep well."
He snatched a golden chicken leg from Tang San's hand and ate as he spoke. "Hurry up and eat. We still have to go to Shrek Academy afterward."
"Oh, all right."
Once he was sure the two hadn't secretly been working harder than him, Tang San relaxed and continued devouring his food.
He'd been cooped up for days.
They'd traveled a long way, living on dry rations. It wasn't often he got a decent meal, so of course he was going to eat his fill.
And so, once the four of them had finished breakfast,
the three of them left the hotel and headed toward Shrek.
They'd spent most of the previous day taking Xiao Wu around, and they'd also found Flender's little shop, so they'd already learned where Shrek Academy was.
They left Suotuo City and headed south. As far as the eye could see, orderly farmland stretched out, but there wasn't a single building among the endless crops.
There wasn't even the faintest trace of Shrek.
"Brother Hao, are we sure we haven't gone the wrong way?" Tang San looked around in confusion. He couldn't see a single building that looked remotely like a school.
To be precise, there weren't any buildings at all.
"Just follow me. But you'd better brace yourself first. Shrek Academy might not be what you imagine." Du Hao wore a mischievous expression.
He'd already learned the truth about Shrek when he'd asked around the day before.
How to put it? It might be a little better than in the original story, but not by much. At most, it had a basic wall around it.
At least that made it look vaguely like a school.
"Fine, then. I just hope we don't have too far to go. Will we make it in time to register?" Hearing Du Hao say that put Tang San at ease.
He comforted himself that a school his teacher had picked couldn't be that bad.
"Good. Let's pick up the pace, or we won't make it back for lunch." As soon as Du Hao finished speaking, he vanished from where he stood and shot off into the distance.
"Hey, Brother Hao, that's cheating!"
Xiao Wu and Tang San were the last to react. Zhu Zhuqing had already caught up with him.
Once they came to their senses, they too broke into a run, racing after the two up ahead.
Before long, the country lane was filled with the figures of four people sprinting along. From a distance, it looked as if they were playfully chasing one another.
Not long after, the outline of a village appeared faintly in Du Hao's view. He immediately understood: they'd reached their destination.
"Hey, Brother Hao! Don't block the road!"
Just as Xiao Wu was about to crash into him in an affectionate tackle, a slender hand reached from behind and pinched the back of her neck.
"Xiao Wu, what are you trying to do?"
Looking at Zhu Zhuqing's cool gaze, Xiao Wu realized her plan had been exposed and tried to get out of it with a cute act.
"I really couldn't stop in time~"
Faced with the girl's adorable pleading, Zhu Zhuqing ignored her and flicked her on the forehead instead.
"If you do that again, I'm sleeping in the middle tonight."
"Don't! I'm sorry!" Seeing that her cute act hadn't worked, the little rabbit immediately begged for mercy.
Watching the kitten teach the little rabbit a lesson, Du Hao said nothing, only smiling and shaking his head.
"This rabbit..."
"Brother Hao, what are you talking about?" Tang San had caught up beside him and was curiously looking at the village.
"Have we reached Shrek?" Tang San's eyes had turned golden as he carefully examined the village ahead.
He tried to find something unusual about it.
But no matter how hard he looked, the village where Shrek stood was tiny—smaller even than Holy Soul Village.
It didn't look like a place with a school at all.
But the wooden sign beside the village entrance really did say "Shrek Academy."
At that moment, Tang San fell silent.
"Brother Hao, maybe we should just leave." Tang San looked away, his tone utterly certain.
"Enough complaining." Du Hao slapped Tang San on the back of the head, then continued, "We're already here. Let's go in and take a look."
At that moment, Tang San regretted agreeing to join Shrek. He had a feeling he'd been tricked.
Unlike Tang San, Zhu Zhuqing and Xiao Wu looked completely unbothered. Neither of them showed the slightest discomfort.
Xiao Wu even bounced over to the Shrek sign and kicked the wooden board.
"This is the school the headmaster was talking about? Why does it look so run-down?" Although she said that, there wasn't a trace of dejection in Xiao Wu's eyes.
Instead, the school's natural surroundings gave her a faint sense of kinship with the Star Dou Great Forest.
As for Zhu Zhuqing, her reason was even simpler.
As long as Du Hao was there, she didn't mind. School was school, wherever it was.
"Let's go. Whatever it's like, we should take a look inside first." Du Hao called to everyone and led the way into the village. The two girls followed close behind.
"Ah, fine. Let's go take a look." Tang San sighed as he came back to his senses.
Since Grandmaster had sent him here, there had to be a reason. Surely his teacher wouldn't lead his student astray, right?
Reassuring himself, Tang San followed them into the village.
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