"We're getting ready to eat... Where's..." Zhao Wuji looked around at the Little Monsters, then frowned. "Where's Fatty?"
The five of them exchanged glances.
"When I got up this morning, I saw Fatty still sleeping with the covers over his head," Dai Mubai said. "Should I go call him?"
"I'll go," Tang San said.
With Zhao Wuji's approval, he turned to head upstairs. Just then, a fat, big-eared man with a face swollen beyond recognition came down the stairs, taking each step with his legs spread and great care.
"Fat—Fatty?!" Tang San stared in surprise at the man inching down the steps. With that red leather outfit, it could only be Ma Hongjun.
"Hahahaha..." The girls burst into laughter.
From Fatty's awkward gait, they could more or less guess what had happened to him.
"Fatty, what happened to you?" Dai Mubai asked, walking over.
As his number-one lackey, Fatty's well-being mattered to him.
"Waaah... Boss..." Ma Hongjun grabbed Dai Mubai's leg and started crying. Tears ran down his cheeks, bringing another wave of pain.
"Here, have a Recovery Small Sausage first." Oscar thoughtfully held one out.
"Thanks..." Fatty ate it, but the swelling on his face didn't go down at all. Instead, he tugged at his crotch, grimacing in pain.
"Fatty, what exactly happened?" Tang San asked, his face serious.
He, Dai Mubai, and Fatty shared a room. With all that commotion, how had neither of them noticed a thing?
"Waaah, it was like this..." Fatty tearfully recounted what had happened the night before.
Heaven knew how he'd made it through the night.
He'd cried out to heaven, but heaven wouldn't answer; cried out to the earth, but the earth wouldn't respond.
Two men in black had pinned him down and beaten him, while Xiao San and Boss Dai slept soundly beside him.
Fatty declared that he'd never felt so desperate in his entire life.
After hearing Fatty's account, everyone's expressions darkened, especially Tang San's and Dai Mubai's.
They shared a room with him. Yet despite Fatty's harrowing experience the night before, neither of them had noticed anything.
The next moment, though, they felt relieved that they'd come away unscathed.
"With methods like that, even a Titled Douluo might not be able to pull it off." Zhao Wuji's face was swollen, and his heart quailed.
What incredible skill.
Looking at Ma Hongjun, who was in even worse shape than him, Zhao Wuji felt inexplicably better.
Sure enough, comparison made the pain bearable.
"Waaah... Brothers, you have to get justice for me!" Ma Hongjun sobbed. "Teacher Zhao, where are you? Help me get revenge!"
He looked around and spotted a man with a swollen face among the crowd. Rubbing his eyes, he gasped, "Tea... Teacher Zhao?!"
Zhao Wuji nodded with a dark expression.
"Fatty, Teacher Zhao, did you get a good look at the two people who attacked you last night?" Tang San asked, his face cold, a murderous aura radiating from him.
In his eyes, their actions had earned them a death sentence.
"We can't let them get away with this!" Xiao Wu said indignantly from the side.
The others nodded, too. This group of Little Monsters had never suffered such humiliation before.
"They were two young men, completely covered from head to toe. Their skills were formidable. I couldn't even struggle against them." Zhao Wuji thought for a moment.
He'd been like a lamb waiting to be slaughtered.
He couldn't help sighing. "Little Monsters, there will always be someone stronger. You need to grow stronger quickly."
This time, they'd really kicked an iron plate.
Everyone nodded solemnly.
Rubbing his face, Ma Hongjun muttered in protest, "But I thought they were two old hags..."
"Fatty, what do you mean?" Fatty's words caught Tang San's attention.
"Um... They smelled like women. They deliberately changed their voices, but scent doesn't lie," Ma Hongjun replied.
He'd been with so many women that he was extremely sensitive to their fragrance.
"Women..." Tang San lowered his head in thought. For some reason, the figures of the two women from the day before suddenly flashed through his mind.
He shook his head, deciding it was impossible.
The stronger of the two women was only a Soul Ancestor in the forties. Though her Soul Rings were unusual, she was no match for Teacher Zhao, who had 76 levels of Soul Power.
As for the other girl, her Soul Power couldn't possibly exceed level thirty.
"There are so many of us. Why target Fatty and Teacher Zhao? If they were after Shrek Academy, Boss Dai and I were in the room too. Why leave us alone?"
"Could Fatty and Teacher Zhao have offended someone, and this was revenge?" Ning Rongrong asked cautiously.
She was now like an outsider at Shrek, deeply disliked by the others.
"Canghui Academy?!" Dai Mubai blurted out, then shook his head. "Impossible. If it really was them, they would've made their move during the day. Why wait until night?"
"No! It definitely has something to do with Canghui Academy!" Zhao Wuji declared firmly.
He'd beaten up Canghui Academy that very day, then gotten beaten himself that night. How could that be a coincidence?!
"Could it have been those two weird women from the day?" Xiao Wu suddenly asked, playing with her braid.
She still held a grudge against them for trying to eat her!
"Impossible. They don't have that kind of strength," Dai Mubai said, his face livid.
Whenever he thought of those two women, he remembered the few thousand Gold Soul Coins he'd been swindled out of. It wasn't a huge sum, but being forced to swallow that loss was infuriating.
"One of them was a level-fifty Soul Ancestor..." Tang San shook his head. That clearly couldn't be it.
"Let's stop obsessing over this. If someone has a grudge against us, they'll show up again sooner or later. Our priority is finding a Soul Ring and getting back to the academy," Oscar suggested.
What had started as an ordinary training expedition had taken such a turn.
"Get ready! We're leaving." Zhao Wuji nodded, clasping his hands behind his back as he spoke sternly.
But with his face looking like a pig's head, he seemed more than a little comical.
Meanwhile, Qingxi had dragged someone out of bed early that morning.
"Master, I only slept for two hours..." Dugu Yan's face was full of exhaustion.
She had only herself to blame for talking too much two days ago. The previous night, her master had kept her up all night discussing alchemy.
"Come on! Keep me company while I buy something good." Qingxi dragged the listless girl out of the hotel.
Dugu Yan followed behind Qingxi as they wandered here and there, watching her collect six years' worth of accumulated allowances from Spirit Hall.
Before they left, the old gatekeeper solemnly clasped her hand and said, "Little girl, it's been six years. I thought you were dead. It's good that you came back alive..."
Qingxi smiled and said goodbye to the old man.
Dugu Yan was unusually alert for once. Her expression was complicated. "Master, are you short on money?"
"Otherwise, why do you think?" Qingxi rolled her eyes at Dugu Yan, draped an arm over her shoulder, and headed toward the Soto City Auction House.
"Master..." Dugu Yan's expression grew more complicated. "Have you never thought about selling pills?"
Even ordinary pills would be worth a fortune on the Douluo Continent, where alchemical knowledge was scarce.
What's more, her master could even refine sixth-grade pills.
"Guess where this road we're on will take us," Qingxi asked casually.
Dugu Yan glanced at the large black building up ahead—the Soto City Auction House.
Silently, she put away the black-and-gold card she'd just pulled out.
All right, she'd originally planned to give her master half the money she'd made from selling pills, but it seemed there was no need now.
Her master could earn money on her own.
"Actually, I've made quite a bit selling Second-Grade Spirit Nourishing Pills. If you need money, Master, I can—"
"No need." Qingxi refused without a second thought.
A Second-Grade Spirit Nourishing Pill could restore all the Soul Power and stamina of a Soul Master below Soul King rank. Only one could be used every six hours.
Though the pills sold well, they couldn't fetch a higher price in a short time.
Today, she was going to sell a different kind of pill.
The two ducked into an alley and put on black cloaks before making their way to the auction house entrance.
"Master, what exactly are you selling?"
"You'll find out soon enough," Qingxi replied quietly.
Just then, a somewhat aged male voice suddenly sounded behind them.
"Yan'er?"
Before you continue