Xiao Wu: Do You Think I'm Silly?

The autumn wind rustled bleakly,

Two days before Notting Academy began admissions, Zhao Linchuan bid farewell to Village Chief Old Jack, claiming that he had found his birth parents.

Though the old village chief was reluctant to see him go, he still smiled and patted him on the shoulder, telling him to live well from then on and not let himself go hungry or cold.

At that moment, Zhao Linchuan was walking alone along the dirt road leading to Nuoding City.

As he walked, he calculated in his heart.

Xiao Wu must have arrived near Nuoding City some time ago. Otherwise, she couldn't have gotten that work-study student admission qualification.

As a Soul Beast who had taken human form, it would have been impossible for her to obtain official enrollment papers in human society without spending several months working her way around.

With that in mind, he quickened his pace and began heading toward the villages around Nuoding City.

Whenever he passed through a village, he slowed down and carefully looked around for that delicate, doll-like figure.

Perhaps Heaven rewarded the determined. On the afternoon of the second day, in a small village near Nuoding City, Zhao Linchuan finally found her.

It was a rather impoverished little village. At its entrance stood a thick old poplar tree, its palm-sized leaves rustling loudly in the wind.

A girl with a scorpion braid stood beneath the tree, holding a work-study student enrollment certificate in her hands and studying it intently with her head lowered.

The moment Zhao Linchuan spotted her from afar, his heartbeat abruptly quickened.

Hehe, found you.

He took a deep breath, suppressed the excitement in his heart, lightened his footsteps, and casually approached Xiao Wu as if he were merely passing by.

"Hm?" He tilted his head and spoke in an offhand tone. "Are you a work-study student going to study at Notting Academy?"

Xiao Wu instinctively raised her head and glanced at him.

The boy before her was about the same age as she was. He had delicate features, and his eyes were unusually bright as he looked at her with a smiling expression.

"Yes, I'm going to study at Notting Academy tomorrow." Xiao Wu nodded, hugging the enrollment certificate in her arms as she asked in confusion, "What is it? Is there a problem?"

"What a coincidence." Zhao Linchuan spoke gently, surprise in his voice. "I was also planning to take a look around Notting Academy."

"I heard that a Title Douluo lives there. I wanted to go pay my respects."

"Ah—?! A Title Douluo!"

Hearing that, Xiao Wu instinctively took a step back. Some of the color drained from her fair little face, and her voice trembled slightly.

"H-how could a place like that possibly have a Title Douluo?"

"It's true." Zhao Linchuan wore a serious expression and deliberately emphasized his words. "I heard that this is an extremely powerful Title Douluo, and he even possesses a legendary hundred-thousand-year ninth Soul Ring!"

"A Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Ring? Oh, stop joking."

At this, Xiao Wu suddenly relaxed somewhat, and her tense shoulders sank slightly.

She curled her lips, her tone carrying a hint of certainty.

"How could you human Soul Masters possibly absorb a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Ring?"

"That kind of thing... is simply beyond what humans can endure."

After saying that, she seemed to realize something was wrong and immediately covered her mouth. A trace of panic flashed through her large eyes.

Yet Zhao Linchuan acted as though he had not noticed her slip at all and continued talking to himself.

"It's true. He really does have a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Ring."

"It's just that he didn't obtain that Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Ring by absorbing it. It was... it was offered, offered what again..."

"A sacrifice?" Xiao Wu subconsciously supplied.

Slap! Zhao Linchuan clapped his hands, his eyes lighting up. "Ah! Right! A sacrifice!"

"According to the records, that Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Ring came from a Soul Beast that had taken human form. That incident shocked the entire continent back then."

"You only need to ask around among the elders from that time to find out. It's not exactly a secret."

"You're lying." Xiao Wu planted her hands on her hips, her face full of disbelief. "Those Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts possess intelligence no less than that of humans. They cherish their lives more than anyone."

"Even if they died, they could never choose to sacrifice themselves."

"Who would willingly give their life away for nothing?"

"That was a different situation." Zhao Linchuan waved a hand, wearing an expression that said, You wouldn't understand.

"Back then, that Soul Beast who had taken human form fell in love with the Title Douluo. She voluntarily revealed her identity to him, and she was even carrying his child."

"Near the time of her delivery, she was 'accidentally' brought by that Title Douluo to the vicinity of Spirit City, where her aura was exposed."

He sighed, his voice tinged with regret.

"Afterward, in order to protect her newborn child, she had no choice but to sacrifice herself."

"Ah...?"

After hearing this, Xiao Wu was speechless for a moment.

Though she had little experience in the outside world and was sometimes a little silly, the more she listened to this, the more something felt wrong.

Frowning, she pondered it carefully for a long while before finally catching the point that bothered her most.

That human had clearly known that his wife was a Soul Beast who had taken human form and was about to give birth, so why had he brought her near Spirit City?

No matter how she looked at it, it seemed deliberate.

She raised her head and stared suspiciously at Zhao Linchuan's utterly convincing face, unable to resist asking:

"Do you know what that Soul Beast's true form was?"

"Her true form?" Zhao Linchuan slapped his forehead, tilted his head as he thought for a moment, and answered vaguely, "It seemed to be something... like a Blue Silver Emperor..."

The moment those words left his mouth, Xiao Wu's body stiffened instantly.

She stood frozen in place, completely motionless.

She knew a little about the Blue Silver Emperor. Long, long ago, the Blue Silver Emperor had left her people and traveled alone, never to return.

This was no secret in the world of Soul Beasts.

But Xiao Wu had never imagined that after leaving, the Blue Silver Emperor had actually fallen in love with a human Soul Master and chosen to sacrifice herself!

Xiao Wu lowered her head and looked at the thin enrollment certificate in her hands, her brows tightly furrowed.

What should she do?

If she did not go to study at Notting Academy, how could she better blend into human society and investigate the murderer who had killed her mother?

She had gone to such great lengths to finally obtain this enrollment certificate. Was she supposed to give it up just like that?

But if she went, what if that Title Douluo discovered her?

Would she end up like that Blue Silver Emperor, being set up and forced into sacrificing herself to his descendants?

Countless terrifying possibilities surfaced in her mind, and a fine layer of cold sweat formed on her back.

Just as she was caught in an agonizing dilemma, Zhao Linchuan seemed to "notice" the enrollment certificate in her hand.

He leaned over for a look and suddenly exclaimed in surprise:

"Wow! You're actually a Soul Master with Innate Full Soul Power too!"

"A genius like you would be wasting your talent by studying at Notting Academy!"

Zhao Linchuan said excitedly, his voice rising several degrees.

"How about this? Why don't you follow me from now on?"

"I can provide you with a better learning environment."

"Really?" Xiao Wu raised her head, her large eyes blinking. "Y-you can really provide me with a better learning environment?"

"Of course." Zhao Linchuan smiled. "But from now on, you have to listen to me and be my little brother."

"But... but I'm a girl..."

"Then be my little sister..."