A New Rescue Target: Zhu Zhuqing!

"Can't go to a clinic?" Ye Hua frowned slightly. "Why?"

Zhu Zhuqing's face was deathly pale, with dried blood still at the corner of her lips. "The assassins my sister sent have planted informants in every clinic in Soto City!"

"They're making sure that if I'm injured and escape, I'll have nowhere to get treated!

Xiao Wu stomped anxiously after hearing that. "Then what do we do? You've lost so much blood. If you don't get treated soon, you'll die!"

Ye Hua looked around. Dawn had just begun to break, and only a few early-rising vendors were setting up their stalls on the street.

An occasional rooster crowed in the distance. The entire Soto City was still steeped in the languid haze between sleep and waking.

"Back to the Rose Hotel!" Ye Hua decided at once.

"Take the alleys and avoid the main roads. There aren't many people out right now. We can get back without anyone noticing!"

Zhu Zhuqing was wrapped in Ye Hua's oversized coat. The boy's warmth seeped through the fabric, restoring a trace of heat to her ice-cold limbs.

Ye Hua and Xiao Wu slipped into the alleys, weaving through the crisscrossing eaves and walls.

Six years of training had made their movement techniques vastly different from before. Even while carrying a beauty in his arms, Ye Hua's steps remained light, as though he were treading on fallen leaves, disturbing no one.

A short while later, the back door of the Rose Hotel was silently pushed open. Avoiding every attendant, Ye Hua led Xiao Wu straight to the Rose Room.

Xiao Wu moved quickly, spreading out clean towels, while Ye Hua pulled medicine and bandages from the Azure Jade Bracelet.

"Xiao Wu, help me sit her up."

Zhu Zhuqing was helped onto the bed. Her coat slipped away, revealing the crisscrossing wounds covering her body.

Xiao Wu gasped. Some wounds were fresh, while others were old; some had been inflicted tonight, while others had already scabbed over before being torn open again.

There was barely a patch of intact skin on this girl, who was about the same age as her!

"Y-your sister is too vicious!" Xiao Wu bit her lip, her eyes reddening. "She wants you dead!"

Zhu Zhuqing said nothing. She merely turned her face away and let Ye Hua tend to her wounds.

After a while, her wounds were bandaged. Ye Hua put away the excess medicine, poured Zhu Zhuqing a cup of warm water, and handed it to her.

"Don't move around too much these next few days. You can't let the wounds split open. Rest here in peace. No one will find you."

"No matter how capable your sister's informants in Soto City are, they'd never guess you were hiding in... well, a lovers' hotel."

Xiao Wu's face flushed slightly, but for once, she did not argue.

Zhu Zhuqing accepted the cup and took a small sip. "Thank you!"

[ Ding-- ]

[Detected that rescuable target "Zhu Zhuqing" is in an unbonded state. Main quest triggered.]

[Quest Name: Save Zhu Zhuqing]

[Quest Content: Help Zhu Zhuqing escape her sister Zhu Zhuyun's pursuit and complete the initial bond.]

[Quest Reward: Two levels of special soul power (can be granted to anyone)]

[Quest Description: If a rose grows in a greenhouse, is it destined only to be admired?]

Ye Hua's heart ached faintly.

Zhu Zhuqing was one of the most heartbreaking girls in all of the Douluo Continent.

She did not have Ning Rongrong's family background, nor Hu Liena's master. She had no one to rely on.

She was hunted by her sister, abandoned by her fiancé, and fled alone across great distances to Soto City!

Crossing two great nations, sleeping rough and eating whatever she could find, covered in wounds—she had truly gambled her life on a single chance!

"You..." Xiao Wu exchanged a glance with Ye Hua, and in silent understanding, neither mentioned why Zhu Zhuqing was being hunted. "What are you planning to do from now on?"

Zhu Zhuqing fell silent for a moment, slowly clenching her fingers. "I want to enroll in Shrek Academy!"

Xiao Wu's eyes lit up. "You're going to Shrek too? What a coincidence! My brother and I are going as well—"

Halfway through, she suddenly stopped. Xiao Wu looked at Zhu Zhuqing worriedly. "But in your condition, never mind fighting—you can barely stand, can you?"

"I heard from my brother that Shrek Academy's entrance test is very strict. Apparently, there's even actual combat!"

Zhu Zhuqing's gaze instantly dimmed.

Of course she knew.

In her current state, never mind passing the entrance test—even standing at the registration desk for a little longer might make her faint on the spot.

But she was unwilling to accept that, and she could not afford to wait!

Zhu Zhuyun's people were in Soto City!

She definitely could not remain in the city. She had to head into the outskirts as soon as possible and wait until every pursuer believed she had long since fled Soto City to continue wandering, then left of their own accord!

And the inconspicuous Shrek Academy was the best of all choices: a place to hide and cultivate. If she failed to get in this year, she would have nowhere left to go!

"I do have a way."

Ye Hua suddenly spoke.

Both girls turned to look at him at once.

Zhu Zhuqing frowned. "Shrek Academy's rules are strict. They won't make an exception just because I'm injured."

"I never said they would," Ye Hua said, leaning against the bedpost with his arms crossed. "Just come to the academy with me tomorrow. You'll understand when we get there."

"Brother, what are you plotting?" Xiao Wu leaned closer and tugged on his sleeve.

Ye Hua raised a finger to his lips. "Let me keep it a secret!"

Xiao Wu rolled her eyes, then immediately gave a wicked grin and suddenly jumped up to bite Ye Hua's shoulder!

"Gah—" Ye Hua bared his teeth in pain. "Are you a dog?"

Xiao Wu pouted. "Brother, you know I'm a rabbit. Besides, can't rabbits bite people when they don't want to?"

The corner of Ye Hua's mouth twitched. He directly grabbed her rabbit ears and wiggled them from side to side, making Xiao Wu giggle helplessly from the ticklish sensation.

Watching the two fool around, Zhu Zhuqing's lips unconsciously curved upward.

She had not experienced such a relaxed atmosphere in a very, very long time.

The next morning, Shrek Academy.

Though it was called an academy, it looked less impressive than some village primary schools.

Several crooked one-story buildings were squeezed together. The courtyard wall was casually fenced off with wooden stakes, and a wooden sign hung over the gate, its design almost entirely weathered away.

If not for the long line of applicants at the entrance, no one would have taken this place for an intermediate Soul Master academy.

Ye Hua held Xiao Wu's hand while Xiao Wu supported Zhu Zhuqing, and the three headed toward the back of the line.

Xiao Wu spotted two familiar figures from afar, and her brows immediately drew together.

Tang San!

Dai Mubai!

Tang San was still wearing that faded Work-Study Student uniform. Around his waist was certainly not the Twenty-Four Bridges Moonlit Night that Grandmaster should have given him, but an ordinary cloth belt.

He stood beside the line, apparently speaking to Dai Mubai in a low, deferential voice.

Dai Mubai, meanwhile, wore an impatient expression. A bruise from Ye Hua's beating still marked his left cheek, and he looked listless.

Just then, Dai Mubai's gaze passed over Tang San and landed on Zhu Zhuqing behind Ye Hua.

In an instant, his pupils trembled!

It was as if ice water had been poured over his entire body!

"Zhu Qing?!"

Dai Mubai blurted it out, almost instinctively taking a step toward Zhu Zhuqing. "Why are you here?"

Zhu Zhuqing glared at him coldly, with no extra expression, no accusation, and no grievance.

Her demeanor made it seem as though she were not facing her fiancé, but an insignificant pebble by the roadside.

Dai Mubai's raised foot froze in midair, and for a moment, he did not dare move forward.

Damn it, what I heard yesterday morning wasn't just a hallucination, was it...

Dai Mubai's heart skipped a beat as he mentally cursed Ye Hua's ancestors for eighteen generations.

If Ye Hua had not been competing with him for women, how could he have been beaten, gotten drunk, and mistaken her voice for a hallucination while he was wasted!

Then Dai Mubai took the opportunity to viciously curse Tang San's father as well!

They said ignorance was no crime. If Tang San had not fought him over a room, he should have rested at that hotel and would have run into Zhu Zhuqing!

It seemed he would have to find another chance to get close to her!

Tang San, however, had no such concerns. After noticing Ye Hua and the others, his gaze swept back and forth between Xiao Wu and Zhu Zhuqing, revealing both amazement and greed.

Damn it! This bastard's luck with women never ends!

Having Xiao Wu isn't enough for him—he has to find another one!

But it's fine. Xiao Wu will be mine soon enough. Maybe that girl in leather will throw herself at me too!