Gangzi fell silent. Flender fell silent. The Shrek Three Musketeers fell silent too...
Dai Mubai forced himself to remember how long Dai Weisi had locked him in the Heavenly Prison of the Star Luo Empire and tortured him. Every day had been miserable, spent in fear of being sliced to death. Only then did he manage to keep the corners of his mouth from rising.
Ma Hongjun thought of how his brother had run away from home and left him all alone. He, too, managed to suppress his smile.
Flender did not want to laugh at his friend, but the sight of that eighth, Ten-Year Soul Ring beneath Gangzi's feet nearly broke him. Then he remembered Liu Erlong was dead, and his smile vanished.
"Pfft!" Oscar was the first to crack. He could not hold back a laugh.
"Oscar, what are you laughing at?" Gangzi's eyes were bloodshot, and he breathed like an angry bull.
At the sound of Oscar's stifled laugh, he whipped around and fixed him with a glare, as though he wanted to eat him alive.
Oscar broke into a cold sweat under that fierce stare. He hurriedly waved his hands. "Master, don't get me wrong! I just thought of something happy!"
"What happy thing?" Gangzi asked darkly.
Oscar's mind raced. He gave an awkward smile. "I... pfft! I-I-I thought of how Li Bai, the boyfriend of Ning Rongrong, the girl I've always had a crush on, is dead. That made me happy!"
"I see." Gangzi's expression softened a little.
"Pfft." Dai Mubai could not quite hold it in either.
Gangzi frowned again, anger spreading across his dark face. "Dai Mubai, what are you laughing at?"
"N-nothing. I thought of something happy too," Dai Mubai hastily explained. "I thought about how I'll soon follow the Master, whose