Dai Mubai: Why Do I Feel Like I've Been Cuckolded?

A new day dawned at the Origin Internet Cafe.

"Grandpa! Will you stop using that lousy metal pipe? Maelstrom thugs with guns kill you instantly! You died more than a dozen times last night. Haven't you learned your lesson?!"

Dugu Yan sat at Computer Four, yelling in frustration at Dugu Bo beside her at Computer Five.

"What do you know? It's swordsmanship! Training through adversity!"

Sporting dark circles under his eyes but brimming with energy, Dugu Bo stubbornly insisted, "Once I've saved enough for a Polymer Katana and installed that 'Sandevistan' thing you mentioned, I'll show Night City that nothing beats sheer speed!"

Behind the counter, Zhu Zhuqing, dressed in a little pink apron, deftly set two bowls of instant noodles and two bottles of cola before the fiercely competitive grandfather and granddaughter. "That'll be sixteen Gold Soul Coins. And five more for shouting."

"Fine, fine! You're the only icy little girl who'd dare fine me."

Dugu Bo tossed down a handful of coins, picked up his noodles, and slurped away.

A mighty Titled Douluo had become an old man addicted to gaming at the Internet Cafe.

The cafe was filled with laughter when—

BANG!

The cafe's poor glass door was kicked open from outside for the third time in half a month!

"Let me see which blind fool of an Evil Soul Master in Heaven Dou City dares imprison the princess of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect and force a Star Luo Empire noble to work here like a servant!"

The furious roar of a tiger charging down a mountain thundered through the cafe.

Lin Ye leisurely set down his teacup and looked up.

Two striking young men came through the doorway.

The one in front was tall and powerfully built, with blond hair and double pupils.

Half a step behind him walked an ordinary-looking young man in blue, a mysterious belt wrapped around his waist.

[Important story characters detected.]

[Target 1: Dai Mubai (Shrek Academy student, prince of the Star Luo Empire)]

[Target 2: Tang San (Shrek Academy student, child of destiny)]

"Oh? Isn't this the main cast of Douluo Continent?"

Lin Ye raised an eyebrow, ready to enjoy the show.

Apparently, Ning Fengzhi had gone mad looking for his daughter and had even roused these prodigies from Shrek Academy in distant Suotuo City.

Dai Mubai kicked the door open. He had been living it up in Suotuo City when a secret message from his family arrived: his fiancée, Zhu Zhuqing, hadn't come to find him. Instead, she was trapped in a shady shop in Heaven Dou City, working as a maid!

It was the ultimate humiliation for a man!

Yet just as he stormed in, ready to kill, his gaze swept the room and he froze.

Behind the counter stood Zhu Zhuqing.

His cool, aloof fiancée, with the figure that haunted his dreams and a presence he feared, wore a cute little pink floral apron. Cloth in hand, she was carefully wiping down a table.

"Zhu... Zhu Qing?!"

Dai Mubai couldn't believe his eyes!

The proudest Hell Spirit Cat of the Star Luo Empire, the cold girl who would rather die than bow her head, was working here... serving customers?!

"What are you doing?! Have you lost your mind? You're a noble of the Star Luo Empire—my fiancée! And you've stooped to serving some commoner as a maid?!" Dai Mubai shook with rage. Feeling thoroughly cuckolded, he strode toward the counter and reached for Zhu Zhuqing's wrist.

"Take your hand away."

Zhu Zhuqing didn't dodge. She merely raised her catlike eyes and looked coldly at the man who fled from hardship and cared only about chasing women. Disgust filled her gaze.

"Stooped? Dai Mubai, what right do you have to judge me?"

"You run away whenever things get hard. When you were fooling around with those twins in Suotuo City, did you remember you were a prince of the Star Luo Empire?"

"I work here with my own two hands. I live with ten thousand times more dignity than a coward like you!"

"You—!"

She had struck a nerve. Dai Mubai snapped.

Violent Soul Power erupted from him, and the phantom of a massive white tiger flickered behind his back. "What has that damned shady shopkeeper done to you? I'm going to kill him!"

"White Tiger Possession!" Dai Mubai roared. Three Soul Rings flared to life, and an enormous tiger claw slashed through the air toward Lin Ye, who was watching from his chair behind the counter.

"Boss Dai, watch out! It could be a trap!"

Standing farther back, Tang San suddenly activated his Purple Demon Eyes.

From the moment he entered, he had sensed something strange about the shop.

The oddly shaped metal chairs, the fragrant food, and the green-haired old man eating instant noodles nearby... None of it was normal!

When Dai Mubai attacked, Tang San noticed that the young owner showed not a trace of alarm.

This was bad!

The owner was hiding formidable power!

He had to strike first!

Without hesitation, Tang San tapped the Twenty-Four Moonlit Bridges at his waist. His hands fluttered across his chest like butterflies among flowers.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Three concealed, poison-coated flashes streaked toward Lin Ye's vital points from vicious angles!

The Tang Sect's secret technique—Bone-Piercing Nails!

Combined with the hidden-weapon technique he had trained so hard to master, they could kill even a Soul Ancestor a whole rank above them if caught off guard!

Confidence flashed in Tang San's eyes.

No one in this world could evade the Tang Sect's peerless hidden weapons.

But then—

Two seconds later—

HUM!

The familiar system alert sounded inside the cafe.

[Absolute Defense Field activated!]

Just as Dai Mubai's tiger claw was about to smash the counter and Tang San's Bone-Piercing Nails came within an inch of Lin Ye's throat...

Time seemed to stop.

With a hiss, Dai Mubai's violent white tiger Soul Power vanished without a trace.

He lost his balance and dropped to his knees before Zhu Zhuqing, like a sick cat with its fangs pulled out.

And Tang San... This genius the Tang Sect had not seen in a century watched helplessly as his Bone-Piercing Nails turned into iron dust and scattered on the wind!

Worse, the Mysterious Heaven Skill power inside Tang San and the Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul he had just summoned were completely sealed by this supreme law. He couldn't draw on even a fraction of their power!

"H-how is this possible?!"

Tang San stumbled back two steps. Horror finally broke through the calm, calculating expression he always wore.

My Mysterious Heaven Skill... my hidden weapons... They were destroyed without even forcing out his Protective Astral Aura?!

What kind of powerhouse was he? A Titled Douluo?! No! Even a Titled Douluo couldn't neutralize my hidden weapons without a sound!

"You're so noisy!"

At that moment—

Ning Rongrong pulled off her headset. Her short hair was a mess, and her face burned with anger at having her game interrupted.

She turned toward Dai Mubai, still kneeling on the floor, and Tang San, whose face was pale with fear, and unleashed a merciless tirade.

"Oh, it's the deserter Zhu Qing told me about. Aren't you supposed to be some genius from Shrek Academy?"

Arms crossed, Ning Rongrong looked down at Tang San and sneered. "And you, kid! Were you the one who threw those hidden weapons? Those lousy needles don't even have propellant behind them. They can't reach a hundred meters per second, and you dare call them hidden weapons?!"

"In Night City, a Unity Pistol a three-year-old plays with is a hundred times better than those needles! You bumpkin, bringing a few bits of scrap metal into Boss Lin's shop to show off? Know your place!"

Ning Rongrong's tirade left Tang San utterly bewildered.

Propellant? A hundred meters per second? Unity Pistol? What sort of advanced hidden-weapon terms were those?!

Could there be peerless mechanisms on Douluo Continent even more terrifying than our Tang Sect Hidden Weapons?!

As Tang San's convictions crumbled—

Dugu Bo, who had been eating instant noodles nearby, finally wiped his mouth.

He stood, walked up to Tang San, and gave a disdainful snort.

"You two brats are still wet behind the ears. If Boss Lin hadn't been kind, you'd both be paste by now."

Tang San stared at the old man. There wasn't a trace of Soul Power coming from him, yet the way he looked at Tang San like an insect sent a chill through his bones.

"May I ask who you are, senior?" Tang San asked through gritted teeth.

"I am Dugu Bo."