Oscar's face looked unpleasant as he thought, "Damn it, did I come back too late?"
A glance at Austine's clearly strained running posture told him all he needed to know — the boy was already injured. Fortunately, Cowen was still running beside him.
Although Austine's expression still looked fairly relaxed, showing no sign of blaming him, Oscar could not forgive himself for being such a careless older brother.
When Oscar ran closer, Austine immediately leaned his full weight on him without restraint.
At the same time, Austine grinned and said, "Aiya, my careless big brother — originally, since you had already run off, I wasn't going to hold it against you. But now that you've come back on your own, don't blame your little brother if we both end up missing dinner and can only gnaw on sausages later!"
Oscar didn't respond to Austine's attempt to lighten the mood. He only adjusted his posture and supported more of Austine's weight as they continued running forward.
Some might wonder: since Austine's injury was due to a special circumstance, why were the brothers still stubbornly following the rule of not using soul power or soul skills?Actually, there was a reason for that.
The punishment of today's afternoon weighted run was meant to be a team-oriented mission.
When completing a team task, the most important thing is mutual support and coordinated cooperation.
Austine's injury was caused by physical exhaustion.
But why did he suffer exhaustion despite having teammates?
And after he was exhausted, why didn't any teammates step in to help him?
These two questions made one thing clear — during this team punishment task, everyone had forgotten that they were supposed to be members of the same team.
There wasn't enough care among teammates, nor enough trust or understanding. They hadn't truly acted as a team.
That was the true root cause of Austine's exhaustion and injury.
How could they possibly break the rules of the punishment task just because they themselves hadn't met the requirements, thereby making the mission even harder to complete?
After Oscar supported Austine for some distance, they encountered Dai Mubai and Ma Hongjun, who had returned searching for them.
The final result of this punishment task was that, that night, none of the four senior students managed to eat dinner at the academy cafeteria.
Later, after forcing down the strong exhaustion to bathe and lie down, Austine recalled the three figures running back under the afterglow of the sunset earlier that day.
A faint smile curved on his lips."I'm no more special than anyone else, so I can't expect everyone to always think of me. But… being cared for like this truly feels good."
He had originally planned to bring hamburgers to the new students, but now, that would have to wait until tomorrow.
The next morning, unsurprisingly, Austine couldn't get up again. But this time, before leaving, Oscar told Cowen not to forcefully wake him.
At the training grounds, when Flender saw that Austine dared to be late, he was about to get angry and order someone to bring him to receive punishment.
But Oscar quickly explained that Austine had suffered mental power overdraft twice in a short time.
Hearing that, Flender immediately dropped all thoughts of punishment. He repeatedly confirmed with Oscar that Austine's mental exhaustion wasn't severe before finally sighing in relief.
Because Austine had overdrawn his mental power twice in a short period, he would need extended rest to recover.
Flender waved his hand dismissively, saying, "Let him skip class today and sleep. Anyway, with Cowen still in the dorm, safety isn't an issue."
Austine didn't have to attend class today — but everyone else did. Especially the new students; this was their first class at Shrek Academy.
Flender's lesson that day wasn't about soul tools. He had received a mysterious letter, asking him to help correct Ning Rongrong's princess-like attitude.
So this first lesson was one he had specially designed. The content was simple —
Running laps.
The senior students, along with Tang San, Xiao Wu, and Zhu Zhuqing, were to wear weighted soul tools set to double gravity.Ning Rongrong, on the other hand, ran empty-handed.They were to run ten laps around the village — whenever they finished, they could eat.
If they hadn't finished before the cafeteria closed that evening, then no dinner.
Aside from Oscar, who was allowed to use his first soul skill twenty times, no one was allowed to use soul power.
After handing the weighted soul tools to Tang San and the others, Flender waved them off and "left" — at least, he appeared to.
The dean had given an assignment. What else could they do but run?
After helping Tang San and the others adjust the soul tool's weight multiplier, Dai Mubai led the charge.
At first, everything seemed fine — but when Ning Rongrong learned that one lap was twenty kilometers, she immediately exploded in frustration.
She threw down, "What kind of broken academy is this? Don't you even know how to teach properly?"And with that, she turned her back and stormed off, leaving the running group entirely.
Using her Seven Treasures Glazed Pagoda's acceleration skill, Ning Rongrong's speed was extremely fast — no one had time to react.
By the time the others realized what had happened, they all looked at each other in silence. Dai Mubai, whose temper was never good to begin with, was about to blow up — but someone beat him to it.
"She thinks she's someone special? Can't finish the task herself and still dares look down on our Shrek Academy? So what if she's from the Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Clan?"The always outspoken Ma Hongjun snapped furiously.
"It's not like we begged that little missy to come here. Who's she showing that attitude to? Is that the kind of quality people from the Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Clan have?"
The chubby Ma Hongjun, as Flender's disciple, could not stand anyone insulting Shrek Academy.
Not just him — even Oscar and Dai Mubai, who both held deep respect and affection for the academy, looked grim.
Tang San shook his head slightly and said, "She looks gentle and sweet, but who would've thought her nature would be like this? She truly brings shame to the Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Clan."
Xiao Wu also added, "I really didn't expect Ning Rongrong to be this kind of person. Living with her feels embarrassing."
Though Zhu Zhuqing remained silent, her cold gaze made it clear she looked down on Ning Rongrong as well.
Finally, Oscar was the first to calm down. Tugging at Dai Mubai's sleeve, he said, "It's not worth wasting time on someone so clueless. We still have our training to finish."
Only then did Dai Mubai lead the group to continue running laps.
It couldn't be denied that Oscar did have some fondness for Ning Rongrong — even now, he couldn't bring himself to dislike her face.
But if this was her true nature, Oscar knew for certain he'd never have any thoughts of pursuing her again.
The one who didn't want to run was already gone; the ones serious about finishing the task continued forward.
And perhaps because they all now shared the same opinion, subtly, the six of them seemed to grow more harmonious.
10 a.m., Dorm Area — Austine's Room
Austine still lay quietly on his bed, showing no signs of waking up soon.
However, there was good news — his complexion was no longer pale but had returned to a healthy flush.
Suddenly, a large white dog's head poked up beside the bed. In its pitch-black eyes reflected the figure of the sleeping youth, flickering with a humanlike concern.
After its ears and nose twitched a few times, that worry slowly faded, replaced by a look of relief — or perhaps reassurance.
The dog's head retreated, lying down again beside the bed. With each slow breath, it seemed to have entered a kind of mystical meditative state.
6:30 p.m.
Austine was no longer lying still — his body shifted slightly from time to time. Clearly, he was close to waking.
Scene Shift — Shrek Academy's Training Ground
Flender stood with his hands behind his back before seven young men and women lined up in a row.
Six of them were covered in sweat and dirt, utterly exhausted — even standing straight took effort.
The remaining girl, however, was completely clean, looking quite pleased with herself, even showing faint disdain toward the others.
This strange sight split the seven into two distinct groups, and a tense atmosphere hung between them.
"Dai Mubai," Flender said in a deep voice. "Did you all finish the ten laps?"
Though weary, Dai Mubai stepped forward and answered loudly, "Dean, the six of us finished, but I don't know if Ning Rongrong did."
His tone was crisp and direct — with not the slightest hint of trying to cover for her.
The Evil-Eyed White Tiger Dai Mubai had never been polite to people he didn't know well.
Ning Rongrong's behavior that morning had been both a slap in the face and a provocation. The only reason he hadn't beaten her down on the spot was that she ran too fast — and the timing wasn't right.
Throughout the entire day of running, the six of them endured hunger and exhaustion, but not once did anyone think of giving up or secretly using soul power to cheat.
In the end, completing a 200-kilometer weighted run under double gravity without soul power — that required nothing less than teamwork and mutual support.
It could be said that through this simple running task, the senior students had come to fully understand the character and attitude of the new ones.
And that understanding, in just a short time, created a silent bond — a wordless sense of team unity between the old and new members.
.....
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