Just as the tense atmosphere was about to explode...
"Grrr... grrr... grrr..." A string of embarrassing noises rang out.
The little squirt and A Luo both reached for their stomachs.
"You're hungry too? How about a truce first? There should still be plenty of food in the kitchen anyway... If we keep fighting and make a racket, we might wake my parents, and then neither of us will get anything! Besides, Mom hides some of the shop's signature desserts really well. Only I know where they are!"
Seeing that they were stuck in a standoff, A Luo quickly lowered her voice and ventured the suggestion.
A few minutes later, A Luo and the little squirt sat on the carpet in her room, each holding a huge pile of desserts and cakes.
Meanwhile, in the master bedroom...
Fan En and Malena opened their eyes.
Fan En:
"We agreed to let her go hungry for one night, and you still left our daughter all that food!"
Malena:
"A Luo is still little. She's still growing. You make a little girl practice martial arts every day, and she gets beaten black and blue all the time. Fine, but what's wrong with leaving our daughter something to eat? Sob... my poor daughter..."
Malena's crying gave Fan En a headache.
"I didn't say you couldn't leave her anything... Sigh! Doting mothers spoil their children!"
Malena cried even louder.
"My life is so miserable, and now my daughter has to suffer along with me. Boo-hoo..."
Helpless, Fan En could only give in.
"All right, all right, stop crying... Can't I just admit I said the wrong thing?"
Malena:
"Hmph!"
Fan En:
"But didn't that noise sound a little odd? Our daughter shouldn't have made that much noise."
Malena glared at her husband.
"Didn't you see how badly our girl was hurt today? She kept crying that it hurt! Now she has to sneak out for food on an empty stomach. So what if she makes a little noise? And you still have the nerve to make snide remarks?"
Fan En:
"True! But don't you think our daughter has been getting more delicate lately? She howls over the tiniest injury."
Malena:
"Maybe a little, uh..."
Fan En:
"A Luo has been getting better and better at slacking off lately. I'll have to keep a closer eye on her from now on. Her fighting skills and reaction speed have both dropped quite a bit."
"Sigh, that lazy girl must have been shirking her training again!"
"No, I have to think of something. At this rate, A Luo will waste her own talent."
Without realizing it, Malena fell asleep to Fan En's endless muttering.
When someone was hungry, anything they ate tasted twice as good, let alone Mom's desserts and cakes, which were already incredible!
A Luo and the little squirt demolished the mountain of treats in no time.
Then she lazily cradled her stomach and sprawled bonelessly on the sofa.
Seeing this, the little squirt turned into a well-fed kitten too, sprawling on the sofa beside A Luo and letting out a huge yawn!
"My name is A Luo. I'll be eight next month. What about you?"
A long while passed, but the little kitten beside her gave no answer.
A Luo turned to look. The space beside her was empty, without so much as a hair left behind!
The following evening, A Luo picked up another little silver-haired squirt at her kitchen door.
Just like the day before, the well-fed kitten left again without saying goodbye.
Three or four days passed like this, with A Luo living a thoroughly decadent life.
Every day, she claimed she was resting in bed to recover, when she was actually hopelessly absorbed in games... She also secretly stashed away plenty of Mom's signature cakes to share at night with the adorable, ungrateful little kitten.
The good news was that, that evening, she finally learned the little squirt's name!
This time, the little kitten didn't leave without saying goodbye after eating his fill. Putting on a cool expression, he told A Luo:
"My name is Killua. Dad dumped me at Heavens Arena a few days ago. You seem to compete there too. Maybe we'll meet in the ring someday."
Only after saying that did the little squirt vanish again with a whoosh.
A Luo was left standing there, utterly thunderstruck!
"Kil... lua!"
OMG... oh my god!
No way! Isn't it still ages before the plot starts?
How could I run into Killua already?
But a silver-haired little squirt named Killua who was dumped at Heavens Arena-who else in this world could it possibly be?!
I'm an idiot. I really am!
I kept thinking the plot hadn't started yet, so I never bothered staying on guard. I just happily went about my days.
But now that Killua is here, can that brother-obsessed Illumi be far behind?
That's the Zoldyck Family!
The infamous family of assassins from the original story, operating right out in the open!
All night, A Luo tossed and turned in bed, unable to sleep. Even by dawn, she hadn't figured anything out.
Moving away wasn't really an option now.
She was only an eight-year-old child, and Fan En was so deeply obsessed that getting him to leave the vicinity of Heavens Arena and give up on the title of strongest fighter would be harder than killing him!
He would never agree to leave.
If Fan En didn't leave, neither would Malena.
In the end, A Luo simply threw caution to the wind!
Forget it. I'm done worrying! Since I'm here, I'll make the best of it.
Whether it's the almighty plot or all those powerhouses!
If I really run into them, there's nothing I can do... At worst, I'll deal with whatever comes and take things one step at a time.
With her mind made up...
A Luo finally closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.
Unfortunately, it felt as though she had only just fallen asleep when someone her dad had sent hauled her out of her bedroom.
"A Luo, five days have passed! You should know that my patience has limits. Starting today, your training load is doubled. My student Laisen will supervise you. If you're still stuck on the fiftieth floor a month from now, it'll double again."
Fan En's gaze was piercing.
"In short, what you do next, and whether you give your training everything you've got to improve your strength, is entirely up to you!"
Fan'en Reno's voice was stern.
Hearing it, A Luo shuddered, suddenly feeling that things were looking bad!
Sure enough, the day after her rotten dad delivered his harsh warning, Laisen hauled A Luo to the training grounds in the hills out back.
(This marks the start of the inhumane training.)
This isn't fair! It isn't fair!
She was clearly just a little girl who wasn't even eight yet. Training this intense, on par with special forces training, was downright inhumane.
At dusk, with training finally over, A Luo dragged her utterly exhausted body home.
As she walked, she silently cursed her dad for having no regard whatsoever for their father-daughter bond.
If she was still this useless a month from now, her training load would double again.
The thought suddenly made A Luo want to drop dead right then and there!
Huh!
As she passed a dark alley behind Heavens Arena, A Luo sensed that something seemed wrong.
She looked curiously into the alley and saw what appeared to be a little silver-haired squirt lying deep inside.
Was that Killua, who had been fighting her over cherry mousse just last night?!
Several assorted corpses lay scattered around him.
The thick, nauseating stench of blood hit her full in the face!
What should I do? Should I get involved?
Forget it. Stay out of it. He's Killua! He'll definitely be fine.
A Luo hesitated for only a second before decisively turning away.
But she hadn't even taken half a step before she found herself unable to move any farther.
Remembering how the boy's catlike eyes narrowed in bliss when he ate cake, A Luo simply couldn't harden her heart enough to leave him lying there half-dead.
"Oh, fine~ It's still early anyway. I'm just helping someone out. That should be okay, right?"
Stomping her foot hard, A Luo turned and rushed into the alley. Enduring the pungent stench of blood, she picked up a gravely wounded, unconscious Killua kitten and took him home.
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