"Rongrong, Zhuqing... You clearly know it too, don't you?" Xiao Wu sobbed in despair, her voice piercing and heartbreaking as she raised her swollen eyes and gazed tearfully at her two best friends, saying, "The brand he left on our bodies... It feels like a hollowness where thousands of ants are gnawing at our bone marrow. Third Brother doesn't understand, he knows nothing! But me... The moment I think of Bai Qinchen being down in the dungeon, the moment I smell that scent, my body simply refuses to listen to me..."
Hearing this blood-soaked confession, a flash of unspeakable pain and shame crossed Zhuqing's cold eyes.
She instinctively clenched her fists because, just as Xiao Wu mentioned that hollowness, Zhuqing made the pathetic discovery that a familiar surge of excitement had also stirred within her own body, and a nameless hollowness even welled up from deep in her lower abdomen.
Zhuqing took a deep breath, forcefully suppressed the anomaly rolling within *her, slowly squatted down, and pulled the sobbing Xiao Wu tightly into her embrace.
"Stop talking, Xiao Wu, stop talking..." Zhuqing's voice also lost its former coldness as she said softly, "We understand. We all understand."
"But... After all, he's the one who killed Mubai and Oscar and the rest of them!" Rongrong's beautiful eyes were bloodshot as she clutched the hem of her dress and sobbed, "They are our companions, family who walked out of Shrek together with us... I, I..."
She choked on her words and could not continue.
She asked, "Can you make a clean break with him? A complete break."
"Xiao Wu, look at me." Zhuqing held the trembling Xiao Wu tightly, and Xiao Wu slowly raised her head. That face, once lively and vibrant, now possessed a startlingly decadent air as she smiled bitterly,