Chapter 42

Thinking about the fireworks display, there would definitely be a lot of people. Ji Xun hung the schoolbag containing the Great King Egg in front of his chest.

When he arrived at the Zhao family residence, Zhao Zhanlei was still sitting on the sofa adjusting his cuffs.

As soon as Ji Xun approached, Zhao Zhanlei burst into a fit of violent coughing. Turning his head and seeing that it was Ji Xun, he immediately let out an exclamation, "Xunxun, did you drink traditional Chinese medicine? There's such a strong smell coming off you."

"Yeah," Ji Xun said. "I'm conditioning my spiritual power!"

"Not bad, not bad." Zhao Zhanlei gave him a thumbs-up. "Incredible! Traditional Chinese medicine is so bitter, and you actually dared to drink it. You can endure what ordinary people cannot!"

Ji Xun readily accepted this high praise. "This is just the beginning. People who accomplish great things are all like this!"

Zhao Zhanlei smiled, stood up, and outfitted Ji Xun with the hat, scarf, glasses, and face mask he had prepared in advance, putting them all on him in one go.

With his voice muffled under the mask from the forced makeover, Ji Xun asked in bewilderment, "What are you doing?"

"It's chilly in the evening." Zhao Zhanlei looked at Ji Xun in front of him, making sure that even at a first or second glance, he wouldn't be easily recognized. He then nodded in satisfaction and said with a straight face, "I'm afraid you'll catch a cold, and besides, this outfit is quite trendy. When meeting friends, one naturally needs to spruce up a bit."

Ji Xun pulled down his mask. "But I'm uncomfortable."

"Get used to it. Once you get used to it, it'll be fine." Zhao Zhanlei turned back, grabbed a handful of snacks from the fruit tray, stuffed them into his pocket, and then led the little guide out the door.

Zhao Zhanlei quickly glanced in the direction Ji Xun had come from, lowered his voice, and asked quietly, "Xunxun, when you came out, Brother Xing didn't see you, did he?"

Ji Xun: "No, he might not even be at home."

"Impossible," Zhao Zhanlei said. "I didn't see him go out at all."

Seeing how guarded Zhao Zhanlei was against Fu Shuxing, and recalling Fu Shuxing's attitude when mentioning Bo Huanchen that night, Ji Xun couldn't help feeling a wave of cowardice in his heart.

He immediately pulled the mask on his chin up to cover his mouth and nose, looked back, and then cautiously whispered to Zhao Zhanlei, "He's so busy, he shouldn't be coming to the fireworks display too, right?"

Besides, Fu Shuxing had called it childish. With his personality, he ought to disdain joining in the bustle.

Zhao Zhanlei also looked back, thinking to himself: It's hard to say with that guy; the probability of him going is over eighty percent!

Otherwise, why would he have prepared so many things for Ji Xun to bundle up in?

Wasn't it precisely to avoid Fu Shuxing?

Better safe than sorry.

Fu Shuxing's overprotectiveness toward Ji Xun since childhood probably only managed to forcefully hold back for a minute when Xu Yuangui touched Ji Xun. If he hadn't arrived in time during that minute, Xu Yuangui wouldn't have been the only one writing a self-criticism report; Fu Shuxing, who was even more ruthless, probably would have been too much to handle...

With this thought, Zhao Zhanlei looked Ji Xun in the eye and lied smoothly, "Rest assured, Brother Xing definitely won't go! Finals are in a couple of months, and he barely has enough time for extra training."

"True," Ji Xun replied verbally, but he didn't pull down his mask.

Ji Xun felt that Zhao Zhanlei's attempt to help him keep warm was a blessing in disguise, as it happened to serve as a disguise.

That way, even if Fu Shuxing went to the fireworks display, and even if they had the bad luck of running into Fu Shuxing in Sector 10, he would still have a cover to ensure Fu Shuxing wouldn't recognize him.

With this thought, Ji Xun became a bit anxious again. What if Fu Shuxing found out that his purpose in going to Sector 10 was to find Bo Huanchen? What would Fu Shuxing do?

Forget it, forget it, he couldn't think about it.

It would definitely be terrifying.

It certainly wouldn't be anything good...

Zhao Zhanlei set the flyer to autopilot.

Ji Xun fished the Great King Egg out of his schoolbag and handed it to him.

It was the first time Zhao Zhanlei had seen it, so he let out a surprised "Oh!", took the Great King Egg, stroked it, and said, "When I looked for you that night, was this little thing hidden under your quilt?"

Ji Xun: "Yeah, back then I was afraid you'd sit right on top of it."

"Hahahaha!!" Zhao Zhanlei figured it out and was immensely amused. "No wonder you suddenly started talking to me about the proprieties between sentinels and guides, and refused to even let me sit on the bed."

Ji Xun rested his chin in his hand.

Zhao Zhanlei poked it from all sides and asked, "Xunxun, is it always going to be like this? When can it hatch?"

Ji Xun: "The doctor said it won't hatch until my spiritual power stabilizes."

Zhao Zhanlei said, "True, you're drinking traditional Chinese medicine to condition yourself anyway. This egg looks quite large, though. I wonder what kind of creature it is. Whose egg is it?"

"I don't know either."

"You don't know either? Is this like opening a blind box?"

"Just consider it as opening one." As Ji Xun spoke, he took back his Great King Egg, placed it on his lap, stroked it gently, and said with a very serious tone, "No matter what Great King turns out to be, I will love it very much."

The Great King Egg happily nudged against his hand!!

Zhao Zhanlei had originally wanted to chuckle, but upon seeing this scene, he made a great fuss: "It can move??"

"Yeah," Ji Xun said. "But the Great King Egg only moves in front of its own people. In front of Brother Xing, it absolutely doesn't budge at all."

Zhao Zhanlei was amused. "Really? Can it actually do that?"

Ji Xun glanced at him and said pointedly, "Of course it's real. The Great King Egg is on the exact same side as me, unlike certain people who are like weathercocks blowing in the wind."

Zhao Zhanlei: "..."

Zhao Zhanlei rubbed his nose, reached into his pants pocket, felt around, immediately took out a strawberry hard candy, tore open the wrapper, and handed it to Ji Xun. "Hurry up and eat some candy. Let the little fellow have a sweeter mouth and stop falsely accusing people."

Ji Xun took the candy and popped it into his mouth, mumbling, "I am not falsely accusing you."

There was still a journey of over two hours to Sector 10.

Ji Xun took off his sunglasses, rummaged through his schoolbag, and pulled out a textbook.

Seeing this, Zhao Zhanlei was dumbfounded. "You actually brought a book to read??"

"Of course."

When it came to studying, he was serious now!!

Two hours later, Fu Shuxing's flyer entered the airspace of Star Navigation Sector 10.

The fireworks display was held across the river from the Wuxing Grand Plaza. To ensure safety, a no-fly zone was established around the entire plaza in advance. Private flyers at any specified height were not allowed to fly and had to be parked in the designated parking array.

There were evidently quite a few people joining in the fun.

Looking from a distance, the parking array was almost completely filled with hovering flyers, their red lights blinking high and low in uniform synchronization.

Only a few rows of empty spaces remained.

Fu Shuxing parked his flyer and followed about a hundred meters behind Zhao Zhanlei and Ji Xun.

Fu Shuxing could tell that Ji Xun had disguised himself—

On his head was a large peak cap that was obviously the wrong size, a black face mask covered his face, and a light gray plaid scarf was wrapped around his neck, leaving not a single inch of skin on his neck exposed to the outside.

The new clothes were put on at home before going out.

But brand new as the hat and scarf were, neither belonged to Ji Xun.

It was obvious that this extra attire was all put together for Ji Xun by Zhao Zhanlei.

Fu Shuxing knew what Zhao Zhanlei was trying to do by doing this.

He had some intelligence, but not much.

By wrapping Ji Xun up so tightly, Zhao Zhanlei didn't even wear a hat himself. Wouldn't they still be recognized at a single glance?

Fu Shuxing tugged at the brim of his cap and thought coldly in his heart: Besides, do you think he wouldn't be recognized just because he's wearing a hat, mask, and scarf?

He recognized Ji Xun's back at a single glance.

All that extra work was unnecessary.

Sector 10's downtown was much livelier than Sector 12's!

Neon lights flashed, pedestrians bustled like weaving threads, and all sorts of entertainment towers soared straight into the clouds—a visible prosperity and flourishing scene!

Ji Xun hung his schoolbag in front of his chest, looking left and right.

After the initial rush of novelty passed, he lowered his head and took out his communicator to message Bo Huanchen.

[Ji Xun: Huanchen, I've arrived in Sector 10. It's still early, so I decided to find a place to eat with my friend first. Send me your location, and we'll rush over there before eight o'clock!]

Zhao Zhanlei found a trendy restaurant.

Since the mealtime rush had already passed, there weren't many guests in the restaurant, and the ordered dishes were served to the table quickly.

Ji Xun had never left Star Navigation Sector 12 since childhood; even Sector 12's downtown had only been visited when Fu Shuxing took him there.

Therefore, after sending the text message to Bo Huanchen, he maintained an extremely high level of excitement all the way!

Not to mention the food; with every use of his chopsticks, Ji Xun was pleasantly surprised, his eyes shining as he praised repeatedly how delicious it was!!

Zhao Zhanlei, on the other hand, wasn't used to it. The dishes ordered were from the menu designated for awakened individuals, but the flavor profile of Sector 12's food differed greatly from Sector 10's, and that sweet, greasy taste wasn't very friendly to sentinels whose five senses were superior to ordinary people's.

However, seeing that Ji Xun liked it, Zhao Zhanlei didn't change places, and even bought Ji Xun a small piece of pastry to-go when paying the bill.

They walked out of the restaurant.

The pedestrian traffic was much larger than before, and the crowd was all flowing in one direction.

Zhao Zhanlei still didn't forget to let Ji Xun keep his sunglasses and mask on properly.

After bundling up tightly, Zhao Zhanlei looked back—

He scanned every unobstructed corner within tens to a hundred meters away, but temporarily didn't find Brother Xing.

Zhao Zhanlei instantly felt relieved and walked side by side with Ji Xun.

Zhao Zhanlei's build was much taller and broader than Ji Xun's. He deliberately slowed down by half a step, blocking half of the little guide's figure to form a protective posture from behind.

Standing tens of meters ahead of the two, Fu Shuxing raised a hand to slightly lift the brim of his cap, seeing Ji Xun take out his communicator to check it.

Bo Huanchen hadn't replied yet.

Ji Xun glanced at the time and didn't send another message to urge him, instead following the crowd with Zhao Zhanlei toward the vicinity of Wuxing Plaza.

There were an overwhelming number of people watching the fireworks, densely packed and a sea of bobbing heads.

The scene was extremely spectacular!

There were many armed sentinels on-site responsible for maintaining order. Although there were many people, no chaos or accidents occurred.

Ji Xun didn't go inside; instead, he stood under the large plaza light and squatted down to wait for Bo Huanchen's reply.

Time ticked away drop by drop.

The fireworks display was set to begin at 8:08 PM, and there were only fifteen minutes left until eight o'clock.

Ji Xun thought to himself, could Bo Huanchen have encountered some urgent matter that he couldn't break away from?

Or was he being given a hard time by members of the Bo family?

The more Ji Xun thought about it, the more he felt it must be the case. As guides without spiritual beasts, they were already looked down upon heavily, not to mention that Bo Huanchen's mother had passed away early and he was an illegitimate child...

He himself at least had Brother Xing and Shitou from the same residential compound to back him up.

Bo Huanchen clearly didn't.

He was lonely and helpless, not only bullied at home, but once he went to the sanctuary, the others would only treat him worse with each passing day!

Today, the entire Bo family was celebrating the young master's birthday with such a grand scene.

Were they afraid that Bo Huanchen would cause trouble, so they had locked him up in advance??

Thinking along these lines, Ji Xun couldn't sit still anymore and sprang to his feet with a "swish"!

Zhao Zhanlei was startled by him. "What's wrong, Xunxun?"

Ji Xun first dialed Bo Huanchen's communicator number, but there was no answer after a long time. Ji Xun asked Zhao Zhanlei, "Where is the Bo family? Let's go to the Bo family right now!"

"Huh? The fireworks display is about to start," Zhao Zhanlei said. "There are only ten minutes left."