Zhu Zhuqing snorted coldly from the side:
"I, Zhu Zhuqing, don't want to be with you!"
"If I didn't owe you two lives, and if I didn't repay this favor, I wouldn't be able to rest easy."
"I'm only following you now so I can find a chance to repay you. Don't get the wrong idea."
"Once I've repaid you, I, Zhu Zhuqing, will leave immediately!"
"Oh? You Big Cat are pretty loyal." Lin Ye shrugged.
"In that case, let's go together, Big Cat."
"Don't call me Big Cat!"
"Alright, Big Cat."
"Lin Ye, you!"
Zhu Zhuqing's face instantly filled with helplessness, but the corners of her lips still rose slightly.
"Let's go. The commotion from that fight was too loud. The surrounding Soul Beasts must have been alerted."
"If we keep dawdling and attract a pack of Soul Beasts over a thousand years old, it won't be fun."
After saying that, Lin Ye walked toward the edge of the forest without looking back.
Zhu Zhuqing bit her lip and glared at his back for two seconds. In the end, she still started walking and followed him.
They hurried along, and the sky gradually brightened.
When the first ray of dawn pierced through the canopy and fell across their faces, the two finally left the boundaries of the Star Dou Great Forest.
A small town lay before them.
The town had been built along the forest's edge. The streets were lined mostly with crude inns, restaurants, and general stores.
Among the passing pedestrians, many wore sabers or swords at their waists and carried the dusty air of travelers.
This was a supply station for Soul Masters entering and leaving the Star Dou Great Forest. Independent Soul Masters hunting Soul Beasts and small teams gathered here year-round.
Lin Ye looked around and noticed a fairly clean restaurant on the street corner. Then he caught sight of a general store across the road.
"Big Cat, go order something to eat at that restaurant first."
Lin Ye pointed toward the street corner.
"I'll buy a few things across the street, then I'll come find you."
Zhu Zhuqing frowned. "Buy what?"
"Some weapons and equipment, of course. They might come in handy someday."
Lin Ye answered casually, his gaze sweeping over several daggers and pieces of leather armor hanging outside the general store across the street.
"Don't just stand there stupidly. Go eat."
Seeing this, Zhu Zhuqing asked no more questions and merely said indifferently:
"Come back soon."
The moment she said it, she froze.
Why did that sound like a wife reminding her husband, who was heading out to buy groceries, to come back early?
Peh, peh, peh!
Zhu Zhuqing, what are you thinking?
You've known each other for less than a day!
A hint of awkwardness flashed across Zhu Zhuqing's face. She quickly turned around and headed toward the restaurant on the corner, walking noticeably faster than usual.
Lin Ye watched her back, the corners of his lips lifting slightly. He said nothing and turned toward the general store across the street.
He did not care much about weapons.
What he really wanted to find was a storage-type Soul Tool.
Something like Tang San's Twenty-Four Moonlit Bridges.
They would eventually have to go to the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well. It was a long journey, and he could not keep stuffing everything into his pockets.
Besides, if he happened to pick up something good on the road, having nowhere to store it would be troublesome.
Inside the restaurant, Zhu Zhuqing chose a seat against the wall in the corner.
It was her habit.
With her back against the wall and a wide view ahead, she could clearly see everyone entering and leaving through the door.
Three days of fleeing had given this twelve-year-old girl the vigilance of prey.
She ordered four dishes and a soup.
The food was served quickly.
The steaming dishes were placed before her, their aroma drifting straight into her nose.
Zhu Zhuqing's stomach suddenly cramped. She had not eaten a proper meal in nearly three days, and that chicken leg from last night had not been enough to fill her stomach at all.
But she did not pick up her chopsticks.
She was waiting for Lin Ye.
One minute.
Five minutes.
Ten minutes.
The dishes were starting to go cold, but Lin Ye still had not come.
Zhu Zhuqing's brows furrowed tighter and tighter, her fingers unconsciously tapping against the table.
He didn't... leave, did he?
The moment that thought surfaced, Zhu Zhuqing herself was stunned.
Since when had she started worrying about someone she had known for less than a day?
But on second thought, if Lin Ye had truly left...
No. Definitely not!
Zhu Zhuqing bit her lip and forced the thought down.
That person might have an incredibly irritating mouth, but he was not that kind of person.
She could not explain where that certainty came from.
Maybe it was when he had pulled her into his arms and blocked that wave of light for her last night.
Or maybe it was when he had stood in front of her and cursed those three assassins.
Just then,
A burst of commotion suddenly came from the restaurant entrance.
"Oh, Brother Dai, slow down a little~"
A sickeningly coquettish female voice drifted in from outside.
Zhu Zhuqing instinctively frowned and looked up.
The person entering was not Lin Ye.
It was a blond-haired youth.
He looked around thirteen or fourteen years old, tall and powerfully built, with sharply defined features. His blond hair was especially conspicuous in the morning light.
Judging by looks alone, he was indeed handsome.
But his eyes were frivolous and unfocused, and an arrogant, cynical smile hung from his lips. A debauched air surrounded him from head to toe.
His right arm was wrapped around a heavily made-up woman. She wore revealing clothes and clung to him like a piece of sticky candy.
Behind him followed a chubby little boy dressed in red.
His round face wore a... how should she put it? A lecherous grin that made people want to punch him the moment they saw it.
The three swaggered inside.
The moment Zhu Zhuqing saw the blond youth, her pupils contracted sharply.
That person was Dai Mubai.
And also her fiancé in name.
Although they had only met two or three times, she would never mistake that distinctive blond hair or the aura of the White Tiger Martial Soul.
Zhu Zhuqing's fingers unconsciously clenched, her nails digging into her palms.
Three years.
A full three years.
While Zhu Zhuyun had oppressed her in every possible way in the Star Luo Empire, while assassins had hunted her down.
While she had desperately fled her family and nearly died in the Star Dou Great Forest.
What had Dai Mubai been doing?
The answer was right before her eyes.
Holding women in his arms, indulging in lust all day long!
"Brother Dai~"
The woman spoke in a coy voice.
"You were so strong last night~ My legs still hurt even now~ You're so awful~"
Dai Mubai laughed loudly and directly gave the woman's butt a squeeze.
The chubby boy in red beside him, Ma Hongjun, wore an expression full of envy, jealousy, and resentment.
"Boss Dai, could you stop showing off in front of me? I'm a single guy. I can't take this kind of stimulation."
Listening to their words, Zhu Zhuqing felt her stomach churn.
It was not heartbreak.
It was disgust.
Utter, extreme disgust!
Zhu Zhuqing took a deep breath, suppressed the surging emotions inside her, lowered her head, and used her long hair to hide her face.
She did not want anything to do with this person.
However.
As Dai Mubai walked farther inside with the woman in his arms, his gaze accidentally swept over Zhu Zhuqing in the corner.
With just one glance, his footsteps stopped.
That figure.
The black leather outfit was stained with a little dirt, but the curves tightly wrapped beneath it could only be described as explosive.
A head of jet-black hair draped over her shoulders, revealing half of an exquisite, cold side profile.
Her entire body radiated an icy aura that kept strangers away.
Dai Mubai's eyes immediately went wide.
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