Heh-heh~ Time to Make a Run for It, Folks~

"Father... why did you hurt Mother? Was a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring and Spirit Bone really that important?"

He leaned back in his chair, staring blankly at the ceiling as he murmured to himself.

Inside the girls' dormitory.

Xiao Wu huddled alone in the corner of her bed, trembling. She could not shake the feeling that something terrible was about to happen.

Only when Ning Rongrong pushed the door open and came back did Xiao Wu finally relax.

She hurriedly asked, "Rongrong, what happened? Why did a Titled Douluo suddenly come to the academy?"

Ning Rongrong replied casually, "Oh, that? That Titled Douluo came specifically to see Tang San."

He came to see Tang San?!

Xiao Wu felt sick to her stomach...

That mysterious human had told her Tang San's father was a Titled Douluo and already had his eye on her.

Everything had happened just as that human said. On the night they entered the academy, Zhao Wuji had been beaten senseless.

Only a Soul Douluo or a Titled Douluo could beat a Soul Sage like him.

That human didn't lie to me!!

Xiao Wu felt so wronged that her eyes reddened.

Waaah... why is my luck so awful?

Even if she had gone into a human city alone, she might never have encountered a Titled Douluo. Yet by sticking with Tang San, she kept running into people of that caliber.

Hugging her knees, she began to wonder how she could get as far away as possible without alerting Tang San.

Ning Rongrong noticed something was wrong and asked in confusion:

"Xiao Wu, why are you crying? Are you feeling sick?"

Xiao Wu shook her head and hurriedly turned away.

"I'm fine. I just got some grit in my eye."

"Oh, okay."

Seeing that Xiao Wu did not want to say more, Ning Rongrong let it drop. She crawled under the covers and went to sleep.

Before long, midnight came.

A faint rustling woke Ning Rongrong from a deep sleep.

She sat up groggily and rubbed her bleary eyes.

Xiao Wu was tiptoeing toward the door, taking each step as quietly as she could.

"Xiao Wu, where are you going this late?"

Xiao Wu jolted.

"Ahaha~ Just going to the bathroom."

Ning Rongrong blinked, fully awake now. In the faint moonlight, she could see everything clearly.

Xiao Wu had a thin bamboo pole over her shoulder, with a bulging bundle hanging from the end.

Noticing Ning Rongrong's gaze, Xiao Wu panicked and hurriedly tried to hide the pole behind her.

She looked everywhere but at Ning Rongrong and unconsciously edged another half step toward the door.

"You're running away?!"

Ning Rongrong's eyes widened as she cried out in shock.

"Why?!"

With her sneaky escape exposed, Xiao Wu had no choice but to force out an excuse:

"My family came to get me. They're transferring me to another academy. I just couldn't bear a big farewell, so I thought I'd leave quietly."

"Your family?" Ning Rongrong frowned in confusion. "But didn't you tell us you were an orphan?"

"Uh... well... I... goodbye!"

Xiao Wu faltered. Unable to invent another excuse, she shouldered her bundle and bolted through the door. Within moments, she had vanished.

Ning Rongrong stood there with her mouth open, unable to believe it.

Then her heart sank.

Wait. Does that mean I'm the only girl left in all of Shrek Academy?!

She thought of Oscar's lecherous stare, that skirt-chaser Dai Mubai, and that creep Ma Hongjun.

It made her feel sick all over.

"No way! I'm leaving too!"

Ning Rongrong sprang out of bed, got dressed, and swiftly packed every belonging she had in the dormitory into her Soul Tool.

Once she had finished, she suddenly hesitated.

Her bed was covered in her scent. What if those guys used it to do... that?

Ugh! Just thinking about it makes my skin crawl!

Her expression hardened. She took out the fire starter and oil she had prepared for pranks.

She soaked the entire bed with oil, positioned the fire starter, and expertly rigged a delayed ignition device.

With everything ready, she pushed open the dormitory door and sprinted out of Shrek Academy without looking back.

After some time, the fire starter dropped onto the bed with a click.

Fwoosh!

Sparks ignited the oil. Flames surged up and swallowed the bed in an instant, then climbed the wooden walls and engulfed the whole cabin.

A layer of smoke hung over Shrek Academy.

Inside his room, the smoke made Tang San frown in his sleep. His eyes flew open.

"Cough, cough, cough! What's on fire? Why is there so much smoke?"

Coughing hard, he hurriedly pushed open his door and looked toward the source of the smoke.

The girls' dormitory!!

Tang San's face changed, and he shouted at the top of his lungs.

"Fire! Somebody come quick! The girls' dormitory is on fire!"

His shouts shattered the silence of the night.

Dai Mubai, Oscar, and the others jolted awake and rushed out half-dressed.

"What happened? A fire? Where are Xiao Wu and Rongrong? Don't tell me they burned to death!"

Ma Hongjun blurted it out, his face full of shock.

The moment he finished speaking, an icy gaze fixed on him.

Tang San turned to Ma Hongjun, his stare cold enough to kill. The air around him seemed to drop several degrees.

"Say another word like that and you'll regret it!" Tang San said in a low, displeased voice.

Ma Hongjun shrank back and muttered,

"Hmph. It could happen..."

Oscar rubbed his bleary eyes and looked at the cabin billowing smoke. His face changed, and panic seized him.

"Rongrong's still in there! We have to save her!"

The others were about to fetch water to put out the fire when the commotion drew Flender over.

Without a word, Flender unleashed a Spirit Skill.

"Third Spirit Skill! Wind-Riding Divine Eagle!"

The shadow of an owl appeared. Its wings beat fiercely, sending a gale thick with Soul Power howling toward the burning cabin.

The gale drove back the flames. Before long, the blaze was completely extinguished, leaving the cabin charred black as wisps of smoke slowly rose from it.

Ignoring the heat and smoke still lingering inside, Tang San rushed into the blackened girls' dormitory.

The room was a wreck. The beds had burned to blackened charcoal, scorch marks covered everything, and there was no one in sight.

Desperate, he shouted at the top of his lungs:

"Xiao Wu! Where are you?! Xiao Wu!!"

A long time later.

Tang San emerged from the dormitory covered in ash, looking utterly lost. His face was frighteningly pale.

Flender hurried over and asked, "Where are the two of them?!"

Tang San shook his head in silence.

Flender's heart sank.

No. They couldn't really have burned to death... could they?!

Gulp—

He swallowed, already picturing himself hunted across the entire continent.