Meng Yiran's third spirit skill was unlike Oscar's which had the ability to fly, nor did it inherit the speed traits of the Phoenix Tail Cockatrice. Instead, she inherited its characteristic of the seven-colored mist.
"Mist, huh? Not bad," Su Xiao Qi nodded as he looked around at the foggy surroundings. This skill would be useful in team battles and for escaping. It was a pity that it had no offensive power—if it had some poison effect, it would be perfect.
"Su Xiao Qi, thank you. Without your help, I wouldn't have been able to get this spirit ring," Meng Yiran bowed deeply to Su Xiao Qi. "I have no family left in this world. Can I follow you from now on?"
"Well, don't you still have the Exotic Beast Academy to go back to?" Su Xiao Qi replied.
It was exactly as feared. Before, on her deathbed, Snake Grandma had asked him to take care of Meng Yiran, but he hadn't promised. Meng Yiran was really pitiful, and while helping her a little was fine, he himself didn't know how long he could stay here, nor what he could do to take care of her.
"That place holds all my memories with my grandparents. I don't want to go back there—I have nowhere else to go now," Meng Yiran said, tears streaming down her face.
Zhu Zhuqing looked at Su Xiao Qi and said, "Let Meng Yiran follow us. It'll be good for Rongrong to have a companion."
At that moment, Ning Rongrong held Meng Yiran's hand and said, "Yiran, from now on, the two of us will play together. I'll tell you— you should never have begged that cold-hearted guy. He doesn't understand what it means to cherish a lady."
Su Xiao Qi was too lazy to argue with Ning Rongrong and instead asked Meng Yiran, "How about this? Is it okay?"
Meng Yiran nodded, then thanked both Zhu Zhuqing and Ning Rongrong separately.
Su Xiao Qi said, "Alright, let's leave the Star Dou Forest quickly before night falls. Tonight, we'll stay in the town and tomorrow we'll return to Soto City."
From leaving Star Dou Forest to the hotel in the town where they had arrived earlier, Su Xiao Qi and the others didn't encounter Tang San or Dai Mubai's group.
The next morning, before setting off, Su Xiao Qi looked at a fair-skinned girl with a fresh appearance beside Ning Rongrong and asked curiously, "Who's this girl?"
"Hahaha." Ning Rongrong suddenly covered her stomach and laughed loudly. Meng Yiran beside her also covered her mouth and smiled, saying, "I'm Meng Yiran. Don't you recognize me?"
"What the heck? You're Meng Yiran? You're joking." Su Xiao Qi felt it was hard to accept this reality—yesterday's chūnibyō girl had suddenly transformed into the girl next door. The contrast was just too big.
Zhu Zhuqing was also slightly shocked by Meng Yiran's current appearance. Now she looked much more comfortable compared to before.
Meng Yiran looked at Su Xiao Qi and said, "Although I don't know why you called me a chūnibyō girl before, I guess it's related to how I dressed. So I wanted to change my look and also say goodbye to my old self."
"Hmm, that's pretty good. Changing styles isn't bad," Su Xiao Qi nodded. But in his heart, he thought it was a pity—he originally wanted to have Meng Yiran hold a snake staff and recite a bunch of chūnibyō lines before shouting 'Explosion!' at the end.
After a day and a half of traveling, the four of them finally returned to the Rose Hotel in Soto City.
Su Xiao Qi didn't rest at all. After greeting Zhu Zhuqing, he went alone to a remote place on the outskirts of Soto City and took out his Gravity Room.
"Yoho, I didn't expect it to be this Gravity Room model," Su Xiao Qi said.
The Gravity Room looked exactly like the spaceship that Kakarot took when heading to Namek, and it even came with a thoughtful instruction manual.
After entering the Gravity Room, Su Xiao Qi adjusted the gravity inside to 10 times according to the manual and began his training.
For the next three days, Su Xiao Qi trained early every morning, spent evenings with Zhu Zhuqing, and occasionally chatted in the group to check on others.
Nami triggered the Alabasta story mission at Reverse Mountain, which everyone could participate in again.
But Nami didn't rush to take everyone there; before reaching Alabasta, she wanted Luffy and the others to train a bit.
Since Nami had handled Cocoyasi Village herself, Luffy didn't even have a bounty now—he wasn't really a pirate yet.
Sakuragi Hanamichi only had a few days before school started. According to him, on the first day he would go find Akagi Haruko and challenge the gorilla (likely referring to Rukawa), aiming to become the ace of Shohoku and stomp on Rukawa hard.
Su Xiao Qi also asked which move from *Kuroko's Basketball* he was practicing.
Sakuragi played coy and said he would show everyone in person once he triggered his story mission.
Lu Linglong was also preparing for the Luotian Festival, not only aiming for first place but also to wipe out the "all-nature" faction, wanting to get all the points she could.
As for Kaito Kuroba, his timeline had Kudo Shinichi already as Conan, but Haibara Ai hadn't appeared yet. He was still considering whether to rescue Miyano Shiho to get some points.
As for Tokisaki Kurumi, Su Xiao Qi saw she had been behaving pretty well lately, so he told her about the anime *Date A Live*, letting her decide whether to watch it.
And then there was Sakata Gintoki.
Well, our Gin-san was still the same Gin-san. He had long forgotten about the promise to get points that night and was always seen flirting with various girls in the chat group, talking about mature topics.
"Stop chatting and go wash up and sleep, I'm tired," Su Xiao Qi said as he saw Zhu Zhuqing in a black lace camisole, immediately abandoning the group to go shower.
It's the same "mouth hype" but anyone with a brain knows which "mouth hype" to pick—the one in the chat group or Zhu Zhuqing's.
At noon, after eating in Soto City, the four of them prepared to visit Shrek Academy. He thought three days had passed; if those guys were still alive, they should be back soon.
When they arrived at Shrek Academy's gate, occasional wailing sounds came from inside.
Su Xiao Qi looked at Ning Rongrong and Meng Yiran playing on the side and warned, "Both of you, be serious later. When it's time to cry, squeeze out a few tears, got it?"
Meng Yiran nodded obediently. Since joining this small group, many of her perceptions had changed, and she now held a blind admiration for Su Xiao Qi.
Ning Rongrong pouted unhappily, "What if I can't cry?"
Su Xiao Qi snapped, "If you can't, then force it! You'll get some tears if you squeeze hard enough."
When they entered Shrek Academy and reached the playground, Su Xiao Qi immediately recognized the man standing next to Flandre.
In the entire *Douluo Dalu* series, this was the man who was criticized the most and hated by everyone.
And now, that man was walking towards Su Xiao Qi with his hands behind his back and head held high.