Chapter 153: Everything is for the tribe… ahem, for freedom!
"Ah Qing, I want to ask you… to help me become stronger!"
As soon as the words left her mouth, Zhu Zhuqing herself felt it was a bit abrupt.
She pressed her lips together, her voice unconsciously softening, carrying a hint of self-mockery.
"Of course, if this is your secret, or the secret of that Titled Douluo senior behind you, and it's inconvenient to say, then just pretend I never asked."
She paused, her gaze very serious.
"I just… don't want to miss any possibility."
She looked at Lin Qingmo, and in those cat-like eyes, something was burning.
"I want to become stronger—too much, faster, even faster. Even if it's just hearing a slightly different direction or grabbing onto a single straw, I have to try."
The room fell silent, leaving only the occasional soft crackling of the candle wick.
Lin Qingmo didn't respond immediately.
He slowly walked to the table, lifted the kettle, and poured half a cup of warm water into an empty cup.
The sound of flowing water seemed especially clear in the silence.
He picked up the cup, his fingertips slowly tracing along the warm rim, as if feeling that bit of warmth.
Then he turned around, leaning back against the edge of the table, his gaze falling on Zhu Zhuqing's face.
That gaze was calm, almost emotionless, yet heavy, like the sky pressing down in the dead of night, making one unconsciously hold their breath.
"The method isn't something I can't talk about."
He said, "But before that, you need to answer me one question."
"Why do you want to become stronger?"
He asked, his eyes locking onto hers, leaving her no room to evade.
"Don't give me those superficial answers like 'for the academy' or 'for the team.'"
"What I want to hear is the truest reason in your heart, the one that might not look good, the one you might not even want to admit to yourself."
"It has nothing to do with appearances, only with your true heart."
He added, his tone calm yet carrying a force that allowed no perfunctory answer.
"Think it through before you answer me."
"…"
Zhu Zhuqing clearly hadn't expected this question.
She froze for a moment, then lowered her eyes.
Her long eyelashes cast a small shadow under the candlelight, hiding the emotions in her eyes.
She didn't answer immediately.
Her fingers curled unconsciously, her nails pressing into her palm, bringing a faint yet clear sting.
The candlelight flickered across her profile, half bright, half sunk in shadow, making her seem somewhat elusive.
The room was so quiet that one could hear the breathing of all three people.
Xiao Wu looked at Zhu Zhuqing nervously, then at Lin Qingmo.
She wanted to say something, but in the end, she only pressed her lips together.
After a while,
Zhu Zhuqing slowly raised her eyes.
The usual layer of coldness and distance seemed to be brushed away like thin mist by the night wind, gradually dissipating.
What was revealed in her eyes was a deep exhaustion and a stubbornness that refused to bend.
"For… freedom."
She spoke those words, her voice a little dry.
"I want to become stronger to truly take control of my own fate and break free from my family's restraints."
She took a deep breath, as if trying to expel all the suffocating heaviness in her chest.
Then she began her story.
"I was born in the Star Luo Empire, in the Zhu family."
"The inherited Martial Soul of our family is the Hell Spirit Cat. This Martial Soul itself isn't top-tier, but it has a special trait—it can perform Martial Soul fusion with the White Tiger Martial Soul of the Imperial Dai family of the Star Luo Empire."
"The fused form is called the 'Hell White Tiger.' Its power… is said to be very strong."
The corner of her lips twitched, not a smile, but more like a cold self-mockery.
"So, the Dai family and the Zhu family have intermarried for generations. The purpose is very clear: to use the Martial Soul fusion skill."
That was also why the Star Luo royal family had never been wiped out despite having no Titled Douluo.
After two Soul Douluo use a Martial Soul fusion skill, they can rival a Titled Douluo.
When she spoke of "intermarriage," Zhu Zhuqing's tone was filled with almost overflowing sarcasm.
Her fingers unconsciously lifted, lightly pressing against a certain spot on her shoulder through her clothes.
There was a faint old scar there.
"The rules of the Star Luo royal family are very cruel."
She continued, her voice lowering yet becoming clearer.
"There is only one position for the heir."
"So, it's not just the princes who compete. Even their fiancées, the daughters of our Zhu family, are dragged into this life-and-death game."
"My sister, Zhu Zhuyun, and I were placed on opposing sides since childhood."
"In the future, only one of us will be able to stand in the Star Luo Empire."
She paused, a faint trace of numbness flashing through her eyes.
"The loser has no way out. Either they are completely erased or imprisoned for life in a place without daylight—like a discarded object, alive but only just alive."
The candle flame suddenly flickered violently.
Lin Qingmo's expression remained calm.
He already knew all of this. Having Zhu Zhuqing say it herself was merely to see her sincerity.
Xiao Wu's hand unconsciously tightened around Lin Qingmo's fingers, gripping hard.
Zhu Zhuqing didn't look at them.
Her gaze seemed to pass through the walls, falling into a distant and icy past.
"I think you also know that Dai Mubai is my fiancé, the third prince of the Star Luo Empire."
"But Dai Mubai, he…"
Her throat moved, and for the first time, a trace of uncontrollable trembling appeared in her voice.
"He ran away."
"When we most needed to face my sister's oppression and pursuit together, because he feared Dai Weisi's power, he ran off alone."
"He abandoned me, abandoned everything in the Star Luo Empire, and came here."
She closed her eyes.
When she opened them again, that trace of fragility was instantly frozen over, leaving only a biting cold sharpness.
"I faced the people my sister sent alone. How I made it through that journey, even I sometimes can't remember. I only remember that I couldn't stop, couldn't die."
"After great difficulty, I also came here and found him."
She looked out at the heavy night beyond the window, her eyes as cold as a frozen lake.
"I thought I could at least find some support, or a comrade who was equally unwilling and wanted to resist."
"And what happened?"
Zhu Zhuqing let out a soft laugh, but there was no warmth in it at all.
"I found that he was already ruined."
"Indulging in wine and women, letting himself go, completely devoid of fighting spirit, like a muddle-headed coward."
"From that moment on, I completely understood."
Zhu Zhuqing turned her head back, her gaze falling once again on Lin Qingmo's face.
This time, her eyes were incomparably clear and resolute, like a blade tempered in fire.
"No one can be relied on—not my family, not my fiancé. The only one who can grasp my fate is myself."
"I must become stronger, strong enough to tear apart the net that cages me, strong enough to decide where I stand and how I live."
"This is my purpose."
She said each word clearly: "For freedom, to survive, and to live according to my own will."
End of Chapter