Yuhao Suggests Calling Qiu'er Back for the Match, Sparking Dong'er's Anger and Thoughts of Breaking Up?

After Ma Xiaotao's Evil Fire was suppressed, Shrek's resting area remained quiet for a long time.

He Caitou dismantled three soul-tool plates. Bei Bei placed the shell of the Evil Soul Nail left behind from the preliminaries on the table, while Ye Guyi spread out the Holy Light Imprint she had cut from beneath the arena during the day. The three items had originally come from three separate crises, yet now that they lay together, their patterns looked as though they had been written by the same hand.

Huo Yuhao sat beneath the lamp, his Spirit Eyes faintly glowing. He did not touch those elusive visions of fate again, nor did he try to force answers out of his senses. He simply examined every soul-tool pattern, every trace of evil soul residue, and every change in spiritual fluctuations piece by piece.

The longer he looked, the heavier his heart became.

"Do you remember that team from the preliminaries whose souls had been cleansed?" Huo Yuhao said quietly. "Before Xiao Tao's Evil Fire erupted today, the Ignition Rune did not merely stimulate soul power. It first tore open a gap in the outer layers of emotion and the soul. The two are not the same formation, but the methods are very similar."

Bei Bei frowned. "You mean we'll run into people like that again in the finals?"

"Yes."

Huo Yuhao tapped the shell of the Evil Soul Nail with his fingertip.

"And next time, they won't use exactly the same method. They'll either change formations or switch bait."

Wang Dong'er stood beside him, listening intently. She knew that whenever Huo Yuhao truly entered battle simulation mode, his gaze became very calm, like a net spread wide open, with no enemy's every breath able to escape it.

Huo Yuhao looked at the Holy Light Imprint on the table, then at the dismantled Evil Soul Nail.

He thought of Wang Qiu'er.

Qiu'er had saved the situation during that preliminary match. She had personally witnessed the emptiness left behind after a soul cleansing, and she had also sensed how the aura of a false auspicious beast had changed when drawn by the Evil Soul Nail. If they encountered the same thing again in the finals, she might notice it before anyone else.

"I want to send her a message and call Qiu'er back," Huo Yuhao told everyone.

A surge of hurt and anger rose in Wang Dong'er. She frowned and asked, "Why?"

"Qiu'er broke the deadlock with a single strike last time. With her in tomorrow's match, I think things would be more secure." The moment he said that, the wound in Wang Dong'er's heart was torn open again.

The room fell silent. Bei Bei sighed softly, marveling at how incomprehensible his junior brother's emotional intelligence was, but he still said nothing. Xu Sanshi's shrewd eyes spun once as he glanced at Jiang Nannan, then he too kept quiet. Ma Xiaotao leaned against the doorway, the teasing trace at her lips slowly fading.

Wang Dong'er raised her head to look at him. There was hurt in her eyes, disappointment, and bitter jealousy.

Her voice was low, yet it carried a hint of resolve. "Without her, we can still win."

With that, she turned and walked out of the meeting room.

Huo Yuhao rose almost instinctively. "Dong'er!"

Ma Xiaotao clicked her tongue softly by the door. "What are you still looking at? Go after her."

Only then did Huo Yuhao come back to himself and hurry after her.

The night wind in the corridor was cold.

Wang Dong'er did not walk quickly, but she did not stop. Her figure stretched long beneath the soul-tool lamps. She had withdrawn the aura of the Goddess of Light Butterfly completely, as though she refused to let even a trace of excess emotion leak out.

Huo Yuhao caught up with her at the corner and reached out to grab her wrist.

Wang Dong'er avoided him.

Huo Yuhao's hand froze in midair.

"Dong'er, it was only for the match. It was a tactical necessity."

Wang Dong'er said softly, "You don't need to explain yourself to me."

"I'm not explaining."

"Then what is it?" Wang Dong'er turned around and finally looked at him.

"Huo Yuhao, you always have a reason."

She paused.

"But I get tired too."

That sentence frightened Huo Yuhao more than any argument ever had.

He said softly, "Don't be like this, Dong'er."

"I don't want to keep feeling insecure every day, overthinking everything." Wang Dong'er looked at him.

At last, Huo Yuhao reached out and pulled her into his arms. Wang Dong'er did not avoid him. She merely stood there quietly, her face pressed against his chest, listening as his heartbeat shifted from disorderly to rapid. Huo Yuhao held her tightly, as though afraid she might truly vanish from his embrace.

"Dong'er." His voice was hoarse. "I'll change the tactical arrangements."

"This has nothing to do with how you arrange things. You have her in your heart."

Huo Yuhao did not know what to say. Wang Dong'er closed her eyes, her lashes trembling faintly. She did not cry. She even raised a hand to straighten his collar, as though she had finally accepted something she had understood long ago but refused to acknowledge.

"I want to go back to the dormitory," she said.

Huo Yuhao did not stop her. After finishing all the arrangements for the next day's match late that night, he still went to knock on Dong'er's door. Dong'er replied softly, "It's unlocked."

Huo Yuhao pushed the door open. The lights were off inside, and the moment the door closed, the light outside was completely cut off. Only a sliver of cold white moonlight remained by the window.

"Dong'er, you're still angry." Huo Yuhao sat by her bed and watched her lie on her side, deliberately facing away from him. He wanted to reach out and wrap an arm around her waist.

"No." Dong'er did not turn around. Instead, she brushed his hand away.

Huo Yuhao did not know how else to comfort her. He could only lie down quietly beside her, without touching her again.

Neither knew how long they remained silent. Dong'er suddenly turned around, grabbed his collar, and kissed him fiercely.

The kiss carried the savagery of biting. There was no tenderness, only almost vengeful plunder. She bit his lips, her tongue forcefully entering his mouth, carrying the salty taste of tears and trembling anger. Huo Yuhao did not understand why Dong'er was doing this, but the sudden warmth still stirred a response from him. He let out a low groan, clasped the back of her head, and deepened the kiss, as though he wanted to swallow all her grievances and resentment.

"Don't talk." She panted, her voice broken into fragments. "Tonight... don't say anything."

Their clothes were roughly torn away and scattered across the bed's edge and the floor. The moonlight was swallowed by clouds, leaving only hurried breathing and dull sounds in the darkness. Wang Dong'er pushed him onto the bed, both hands pressing hard against his shoulders. Her nails nearly dug into his skin, leaving streaks of red. She lowered her head to look at him, her eyes filled with pain and love too deep to dissolve.

"Huo Yuhao..."

As she spoke, she lowered herself.

Huo Yuhao suddenly threw back his head, his Adam's apple rolling violently. His hands gripped her slender waist, nearly crushing her bones, only to soften the next instant into almost reverent caresses. Wang Dong'er bit her lower lip. Every movement seemed meant to drive all the grievances, unease, and jealousy she had endured these past days fiercely into his body. At last, tears slipped free and fell against his chest. She cried, yet refused to stop.

"Dong'er... Dong'er..."

He called her softly, his voice so hoarse it was nearly breaking. His kisses trailed from the corner of her wet eyes to her trembling lips, carrying blood-tinged tenderness and unspeakable pain.

"I really... hate you..."

She kept crying as she repeated those words.

Huo Yuhao kissed her palm, her tear-soaked lashes, and her swollen, bitten lips. He did not defend himself. He simply continued, as though he wanted to pour his entire soul and all his warmth into her.

When climax came, Wang Dong'er bit down hard on his shoulder and cried out muffledly. Huo Yuhao released with a low roar at the same moment, his body trembling violently.

Only heavy breathing and suppressed sobs remained in the room. Afterward, Huo Yuhao held her tightly in his arms, gently combing through her sweat-dampened long hair with his fingertips. Wang Dong'er leaned against his chest, her eyes half-closed, but her fingers did not curl into his embrace as they once had. They rested lightly there, as though they might pull away at any time.

"Yuhao..." Her voice was so soft it was nearly inaudible, like a thin layer of snow about to melt away. "I don't want to keep guessing every day whether there's someone else in your heart... I'm forcing myself into someone even I hate."

Huo Yuhao's body instantly stiffened.

Wang Dong'er did not cry aloud. She merely looked at him quietly, her eyes filled with utter exhaustion and clarity.

She gently pressed down on the arm he wanted to tighten around her, her voice nearly drifting away into the darkness:

"I don't want to go on like this."

She closed her eyes, her voice almost too soft to hear.

For a long time in the latter half of the night, Huo Yuhao sat by the window.

Dong'er had not actually fallen asleep. She merely kept her eyes closed, feeling Huo Yuhao's heart as well.