Death Squad

"Gurgle~"

Su Wen vaguely felt his body sinking into the lake. He could not muster any strength, as if he were suffering from sleep paralysis. He struggled desperately, because he felt that if he did not fight back, he really was going to die.

"Senior Disciple Sister, look! There's someone!"

The voice sounded muffled, as if it had come from above the water.

"Ugh..."

Su Wen tried to struggle and splash around, letting them know he could still be saved, but it seemed useless...

All he could do was hope they would show some kindness and not let him die right after transmigrating here.

"I can't sense any Soul Power. It's a child."

"Why are you still talking? Pull him out! He's almost drowned."

"..."

Su Wen instantly felt himself come back to life.

His body had been sinking toward the endless depths of the lake when a tremendous force suddenly seized his arm and yanked him out.

"Huff, huff..."

He gasped for breath. In that instant, it felt as though he had returned to the surface world: the chirping of insects, the rustling of leaves, and the splashing of the stream as it struck the rocks.

"He's a little boy, and quite handsome too."

The girl who had pulled Su Wen from the stream grinned and sat on a nearby rock. Her beautiful eyes leisurely examined Su Wen as he lay on the ground, water pouring from his mouth.

"I drank my fill... Urgh... I'm really too unlucky. I landed in the Star Dou Great Forest right after transmigrating. This is... Urgh..."

Su Wen vomited for quite a while before finally recovering.

He looked at his savior.

What entered his eyes was a beautiful figure dressed in scarlet. She looked young, around thirteen or fourteen, but her figure seemed somewhat out of proportion with her age. She wore red-and-white clothes resembling a school uniform, which wrapped around her delicate body. Her fiery red hair draped smoothly over her shoulders, and a hint of teasing curved across her stunning face.

Wait, she wasn't alone!

There were more than a dozen young men and women around sixteen or seventeen nearby. Their clothes resembled those of the red-haired girl, making them look like a group of students from some advanced academy on Douluo Continent, led by their teachers into the wilderness for training.

Su Wen secretly sighed in relief.

He had finally been saved.

Half a month ago, he had somehow arrived on this continent. He had originally planned to make a name for himself, trample Tang San beneath his feet, and punch Shrek into submission, only to discover that he had been given a disastrous start: he had transmigrated into the body of a six-year-old child and was stranded in the Star Dou Great Forest.

Using the half-baked survival skills he had picked up from watching short videos in his previous life, he ate caterpillars and grass stems, used the stream as his water source, and avoided brightly colored mushrooms. He had barely managed not to starve to death and had survived.

Perhaps his luck had been decent, too. By hiding in the dense jungle, he had avoided becoming food for a Soul Beast.

But not long ago, because he was too young, he had lost his footing while fetching water and fallen into the stream, which swept him into the pool at its end.

Fortunately, he had encountered these people.

Otherwise, he would truly have become the first transmigrator to drown to death.

"Big Sister..."

Su Wen forced down his embarrassment and squeezed out a smile.

He tried to act cute.

The only powerful people he could cling to right now were these few. Among them, the red-haired senior seemed kinder and gentler.

"He's pretty cute, hahaha..." The red-haired girl revealed a radiant smile and reached out to pinch Su Wen's cheek.

Then she turned toward the other side. "Senior Disciple Sister, why don't we take him with us? Xuan Zi is protecting us from the shadows anyway. What danger could there be?"

Following the girl's gaze, Su Wen looked toward the tallest and most mature-looking person in the group, a woman of around twenty. Though her clothes were similar to the others', her bearing stood out distinctly. Unlike the red-haired girl's fiery charm, she possessed a tranquil and elegant air.

"So beautiful..." Even Su Wen was stunned for a moment.

"Since we were fated to meet, let's take him with us." Seeing that Su Wen had recovered, the woman hesitated briefly before nodding. "It's almost dusk. Zhang Yi, build a few wooden huts so we can stay here for the night. Tomorrow, we'll continue toward the core region of the Star Dou Great Forest."

"All right!"

The red-haired girl jumped to her feet.

"Little one, you can sleep with Big Sister tonight. With me looking after you, no one will dare bully you!"

"Oh, right. Call me Sister Tao..."

Ma Xiaotao made a face, her tone playful.

"Sister Tao..."

Su Wen's throat bobbed as he spoke calmly.

From the mention of Xuan Zi, he had more or less figured out which academy this elite team came from. There was no mistake—it was the renowned Shrek, the number-one academy on the continent for ten thousand years.

To be honest, he had originally planned to run to the Sun Moon Empire.

He had never expected Shrek to save him...

Forget it, forget it. It was all fate.

Su Wen quickly adjusted his mindset. Whoever gave him steamed buns or punched him, he would remember it all clearly. Since he owed them such a huge favor, he could only repay them with his body...

But...

Su Wen's face twitched.

He did not seem qualified to say that yet. This body had not awakened its martial soul, and he did not even know what his martial soul was or what his aptitude would be. Shrek Academy might not even accept him.

Night fell.

Dark-red flames licked at the damp branches. Occasional crackling sounds came from the bonfire as tiny sparks rose into the air.

The firelight illuminated Su Wen's face in shifting shades of light and shadow.

After finally finding someone to rely on, Su Wen felt somewhat conflicted again. There was no other reason than this: judging by their ages, Ma Xiaotao was thirteen or fourteen, while Zhang Lexuan was twenty-one or twenty-two. In other words, there were still roughly six or seven years before the plot of the Original Work began.

That was not the important part.

The important part was this: when Xuan Zi, a Soul Sage at his peak, Zhang Lexuan, and the Star Dou Great Forest were all connected, what would happen?

That was right!

A Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast, and Xuan Zi's disappearance.

Su Wen took a deep breath.

This would be the most disastrous mission in Shrek Academy's Inner Courtyard elite history in terms of casualties. There was no contest.

Fewer than five people from this team would survive.

No wonder Ma Xiaotao had called her Senior Disciple Sister earlier instead of Senior Disciple Sister—at this time, Zhang Lexuan was not yet the Senior Disciple Sister.

"Here, little one..."

Just as he was lost in thought, a wooden skewer threaded with grilled fish appeared in front of his mouth. Its rich aroma rushed into Su Wen's nose.

His nose twitched, and he nearly drooled.

Do you know how I've been living these past two weeks?!

Surviving in the wilderness had forced him to lower his standards for food to the bare minimum—if it was edible, it was good enough.

Now, a grilled fish that looked, smelled, and tasted delicious nearly hooked his soul out of his body.

"Gulp~"

He swallowed.

"Eat up..." Ma Xiaotao smiled sweetly and stuffed the grilled fish into Su Wen's mouth.

"Phew..."

For an ordinary six-year-old child, the grilled fish was a little too hot, but Su Wen had no time to care about that. He was ravenous and immediately began wolfing it down.

The fragrance of cooked meat filled his nose, while the tender, succulent texture of the fish immersed him in bliss.

Seeing this, a trace of pity flashed through Ma Xiaotao's beautiful eyes.

Although she did not know what his background was, a child of this age appearing in the Star Dou Great Forest, combined with his ragged clothing, clearly meant that something terrible had happened...

This is a counter-Tang San, Shrek route. It won't whitewash them just because of this; many ridiculous points will be exposed without mercy~

Also, this is about changing Shrek, not assimilating into it.