Heavenly Thief System: Starting in Douluo

Chapter 40: Zu Zong, Do You Still Remember the Zhu Qing from the Star Dou Great Forest?

The black figure clearly trembled upon hearing the name "Zhu Zhuqing," but quickly turned to anger, and her attacks became even sharper and more relentless.

Sensing this reaction, Zu Zong nodded inwardly.

'So it really is Zhu Zhuqing. But what the hell did she eat today to make her go berserk and launch a night assault on me?'

'If I hadn't recognized her by that "moon-rage"...'

(Zu Zong: Cough, cough! Avert your eyes!)

'...I might have already cut her throat with a kunai just now.'

Dodging another swift strike, Zu Zong sighed.

"I say, Zhuqing sis, what the hell are you doing attacking your second brother for no reason? He didn't offend you, did he?"

Hearing him call her "Zhu Qing," the black-clad figure froze for a moment.

Then her voice rang out coldly, "Beat me, and I'll tell you."

"First spirit skill—Nether Thrust!"

"Second spirit skill—Hundred Claws of the Nether!"

"Damn, here we go again…"

Zu Zong had no choice but to activate his martial spirit, Blue Silver Emperor.

As his soul power surged into his right palm, hundreds of thick Blue Silver Emperor vines erupted, shooting toward Zhu Zhuqing.

When it came to girls—especially pretty ones—and even more so a girl he used to like in the original story, Zu Zong was soft-hearted.

As long as she didn't actually try to kill him, he still liked them.

So this time, he only used a basic Blue Silver Bind.

No surprise at all—Zhu Zhuqing, who couldn't even handle the ordinary Blue Silver Grass from the original Tang San, stood no chance against Zu Zong's evolved Blue Silver Emperor.

Her first and second skills couldn't even graze Zu Zong's clothes.

After snapping a few dozen vines, she was tightly pinned against the alley wall by the Blue Silver Emperor, bound hand and foot in a spread-eagle position.

"Now can you talk, Zhuqing sis?"

Zhu Zhuqing glared fiercely at Zu Zong.

"Peh! Zu Zong, I really misjudged you. Turns out you're just like Dai Mubai!"

What the f—?!

'Where the hell did this come from?!'

'Wait a minute… she saw me checking into the Rose Hotel with Xiao Wu and Ye Lingling and thought I was pulling off a three-way?!'

Clearing his throat, Zu Zong said, "Ahem... let me clarify something right away!"

"Xiao Wu, Lingling, and I are all from the same academy. Our school sent nine students to Soto City."

"Because all the hotels were packed, we were grouped randomly and ended up at the same one."

"We just happened to fall into the same team. And besides—I'm staying in a separate room!"

"Don't go calling me scum without proof, alright?!"

Zu Zong's explanation seemed to ease the frown on Zhu Zhuqing's face.

"Really?"

"Why would I lie to you? If you don't believe me, ask the hotel receptionist yourself."

(Of course, Zu Zong didn't say the rest of his thought:

'Even if I was doing a one-dragon-two-phoenix... what's it got to do with you?')

Zhu Zhuqing stared at him for a long moment, locking eyes.

After confirming he wasn't lying, she finally let out a long breath.

"Fine. Let me go."

"Sure—but promise you won't attack me again," Zu Zong replied.

He feared nothing in the world… except clingy, hot-tempered girls.

Especially the kind he actually liked.

Suffering!

Rolling her eyes, Zhu Zhuqing muttered, "Do you really think I'm that petty in your eyes?"

"Well… yeah, kinda," Zu Zong said as he snapped his fingers.

The Blue Silver Emperor vines vanished from the alley.

Now free, Zhu Zhuqing rotated her shoulders and loosened her limbs after the tight restraint.

As she bent down slightly, the deep, bottomless valley of her chest gave Zu Zong a delightful view.

Realizing where his eyes were going, Zhu Zhuqing's icy expression turned slightly pink.

"Tell me," she said coldly, "Why did you pretend not to recognize me at the entrance of the Soto Arena today?"

"Nani?"

'I mean, sure, I know her… but only from the anime and novel in my past life!'

'Why the hell does it suddenly feel like we've known each other for years… and not in the casual way!'

Zhu Zhuqing pouted her cherry lips and complained, "Nani? There you go again with those weird words I don't understand. Stop changing the subject and answer me!"

Wiping away some imaginary sweat from his forehead, Zu Zong began thinking.

'Could it be I somehow traveled back in time in the future? No… impossible.'

'Zhu Zhuqing is at least half a year younger than me, and judging by her reaction, she doesn't seem surprised by how I look now. That possibility can be ruled out.'

"Um… Zhuqing, could you maybe give me a hint?" he asked cautiously.

Zhu Zhuqing's face, which had only just started to soften, turned cold as ice again.

She glared at him and demanded, "You could recognize me in the darkness just now, yet you couldn't recognize me earlier outside the Soto Arena in broad daylight?"

"Tell me—is it because of that girl named Xiao Wu and that Ye Lingling?"

As she spoke, her eyes reddened.

Tears blurred her vision.

With a trembling voice, she said, "Zu Zong, do you still remember the Zhu Qing from the Star Dou Great Forest back then?"

Holy sh*t!

Holy sh*t!!

HOLY SH*T!!!

Zu Zong screamed three times in his mind.

He finally understood why, from the moment he laid eyes on Zhu Zhuqing today, her gaze had felt like something straight out of a tearjerking soap opera.

"Your Majesty, do you still remember Xia Yuhe by the shore of Lake Daming?"

Now it was—

"Zu Zong, do you still remember the Zhu Qing from the Star Dou Great Forest back then?"

Exactly like the Douluo version of Princess Pearl!

No wonder Zu Zong hadn't recognized her.

Two years ago, Zhu Zhuqing had gone by the fake name "Zhu Qing," and her moon-rage was only the size of a boiled egg.

How the hell was he supposed to connect that with the current Zhu Zhuqing, who was now carrying a pair the size of ostrich eggs?

Sometimes, first impressions really mess you up.

—

Flashback: Two years ago.

Zhu Zhuqing had just broken through to rank 20.

Led by a family bodyguard, the then ten-year-old Zhu Zhuqing entered the Star Dou Great Forest to hunt her second spirit ring.

The guard smiled and asked, "Second Miss, do you know what kind of spirit ring you want for your second skill?"

At the time, Zhu Zhuqing hadn't grown into her curves yet.

Compared to her fiery figure two years later, she was just a cute little loli.

Even so, her expression was already ice cold—genuinely and purely cold.

Her black eyes lacked even the slightest warmth, a stark contrast to her rosy little cheeks.

"Uncle Zhu, I'm following an agility-attack path. Help me find a Blackwind Panther with around 700 years of cultivation," she replied.

The guard, Uncle Zhu, nodded.

The Blackwind Panther was a speed-type soul beast, known for giving agility-related spirit skills.

For someone like Zhu Zhuqing, who possessed the Netherworld Spirit Cat, it was a perfect match.

Uncle Zhu had been assigned to protect her by her mother.

His spirit was the Berserk Leopard, and he was a true rank-51 agility-type Soul King.

He was mainly there to ensure her safety.

Zhu Zhuqing came from the noble Zhu clan of the Star Luo Empire.

She was born into wealth and prestige, at least on the surface.

However, because the Zhu family's Netherworld Spirit Cat could fuse with the royal Dai family's White Tiger to create the Netherworld White Tiger fusion technique, which granted power far beyond one's level…

The two families had formed a long-standing alliance through generations of marriage.

Since childhood, Zhu Zhuqing had been engaged to Dai Mubai.

She was also bound by strict clan rules that forced her into a deadly rivalry with her older sister, Zhu Zhuyun, to compete for the position of family heir.

The one who lost would be eliminated—or imprisoned for life—to prevent internal strife.

Such was the fate Zhu Zhuqing had been born into.

(End of chapter)

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