Douluo Continent: Martial Soul Young Gilas, Sandstorm King!

Chapter 132 My sister will kill me!
The air seemed to freeze at that moment.

Young Gilas also sensed this sudden sadness, and raised its head in confusion. Its scarlet eyes looked at the tearful Zhu Zhuqing, and then at Lin Xia, who was frozen in place, and let out a confused murmur.

"Oh... how many?"

Lin Xia's mind went blank for a moment.

He never imagined that this little girl, who was only five or six years old and had just been playing so happily with him, would suddenly ask such a heavy and cruel question!

This was completely beyond his understanding of children of that age.

Lin Xia subconsciously aligned her gaze with hers, trying to find a trace of humor in her tear-filled eyes, but only saw bottomless fear.

"Zhu Qing".

Lin Xia's voice involuntarily became even softer, with a hint of barely perceptible dryness.

"Why would you think that? How could you die? You're still so young, you'll grow up healthy and strong."

He tried to make his tone sound reassuring.

Zhu Zhuqing sniffed hard, her small chest heaving violently, as if trying to suppress the immense fear.

She raised her small hand and hastily wiped away the tears on her face, but she couldn't wipe away the sorrow that kept welling up.

She looked at Lin Xia, her eyes filled with an almost transparent vulnerability and a precocious understanding of everything.

"I...I know everything..."

Her voice was choked with sobs, broken and intermittent, yet exceptionally clear.

"Sister... Sister will kill me... Dad said that there are rules in our family..."

Zhu Zhuqing seemed somewhat incoherent, struggling to organize her thoughts.

“I overheard it… once, my sister and dad were talking… they thought I was asleep…”

Zhu Zhuqing's voice lowered, filled with the fear of memories.

"My sister said... that once I awaken my martial soul, if it's... if it's the Netherworld Cat... she... she won't let me live... because... because I'll become like her and become a threat to her..."

Zhu Zhuqing suddenly raised her head, tears streaming down her face like broken beads. Her small body trembled slightly with excitement, and her voice suddenly rose, filled with a child's purest desire to survive and incomprehensible grievances.

"But I don't want to die! Brother Lin Xia! I don't want to die! I want to play with my sister, I want to be with my dad! I want to be happy like today... Why? Why do I have to die? Why does my sister have to kill me? What did I do wrong?"

Those desperate questions struck Lin Xia's heart like heavy hammer blows.

Lin Xia recalled how Zhu Zhuyun's expression changed drastically and she left in a panic when Lin Xia asked her a probing question about "sisterly affection" earlier that day.

It turns out that this cruel fate did not only weigh on Zhu Zhuyun alone.

The innocent little girl in front of me had already glimpsed the sharp blade hanging above her head in her ignorance!

She buried this fear deep in her heart, a fear that could crush an adult, until now, in this trusting and safe environment, after a brief period of carefree happiness, the taut string finally snapped, and the suppressed fear burst forth like a flood!

Looking into Zhu Zhuqing's eyes, which were brimming with tears and filled with the most primal longing for life and bewilderment, Lin Xia felt as if something was blocking her throat.

He opened his mouth, wanting to say something comforting.

"Zhu Qing..."

Lin Xia struggled to organize her thoughts, trying to offer her a glimmer of hope.

"Don't be afraid, don't be afraid... Maybe... maybe the martial soul you awaken won't necessarily be the Netherworld Cat? Nobody can say for sure about martial soul mutations. Look, my martial soul is quite special, isn't it?"

Lin Xia pointed to the young Gilas who were looking at them curiously.

Young Gilas tilted its head obediently.

"Oh my?" "And your sister..."

Lin Xia paused, recalling Zhu Zhuyun's complex feelings towards her younger sister in the original work, which included the ruthlessness of a competitor and perhaps a sense of helplessness in the face of fate.
He tried to find a balance that could appease Zhu Zhuqing.

"Maybe...maybe she didn't really want to do that? Maybe she was...confused too? After all, you're sisters..."

However, halfway through her sentence, Lin Xia's voice involuntarily lowered, and she eventually fell silent.

Because he knows.

He knew exactly where the story was headed.

Zhu Zhuqing will definitely awaken the Netherworld Cat Martial Soul.

That cruel family destiny, those inheritance rules that are like raising poisonous insects, are almost inescapable.

In the future, Dai Mubai's cowardly escape will leave the young Zhu Zhuqing alone in the Star Luo Empire, facing the more direct and undisguised death threats from her sister Zhu Zhuyun and Davis.

Those chases and life-or-death escapes are all part of Zhu Zhuqing's cold reality in the original novel.

She will be forced to grow up in fear and loneliness, her heart hardened and cold.

Lin Xia could not deceive her.

Using vague "possibilities" to comfort a child who has already grasped part of the truth seems so pale, powerless, and even hypocritical in the face of her despairing gaze.

He was even less able to tell her about the cruel "inevitability".

Zhu Zhuqing was incredibly perceptive.

Although she was young, she had a level of insight far beyond that of her peers, especially when it came to matters of life and death.

She caught the pause in Lin Xia's words and saw the fleeting complexity in his eyes, and... a kind of "knowing" that she couldn't fully understand but intuitively felt was heavy.

Brother Lin Xia... does he know too?

Does he also understand... that I can't escape?
This thought, like the coldest ice water, instantly extinguished the tiny, faint flame of "hope" that had just risen in Zhu Zhuqing's heart because of Lin Xia's comfort.

The light in her eyes dimmed completely, leaving only boundless ashes of despair.

Within her small body, immense sorrow and fear seemed to tear her apart.

She tried very hard, extremely hard, to control herself.

She didn't want to cry too badly in front of Lin Xia.

She tugged at the corners of her mouth, trying to put on a smile—a smile to prove she was "okay," a smile to express her final gratitude.

But that smile, when seen by Lin Xia, caused him more heartache than tears.

That smile was so stiff, so forced, a bitter curve, like a tattered mask forcibly torn apart. Tears continued to stream uncontrollably down that little face that was trying so hard to "smile," silently hitting the bluestone slab and leaving a small, dark stain.

"Brother Lin Xia..."

Zhu Zhuqing's voice was as light as a feather, carrying a heartbreakingly calm and repressed quality.

"I...I know."

She lowered her head, looking at her dusty little shoes, and dared not look Lin Xia in the eye.

Only the rustling of leaves in the evening breeze and the uneasy, low sobs of the young cygnets remained in the courtyard.

"Yoji...yoji..."

(End of this chapter)