Chapter 48

"What?" Zhao Zhanlei thought he had misheard.

However, seeing Fu Shuhang staring at him without speaking, he knew he hadn't heard wrong.

After a moment of thought, Zhao Zhanlei assumed Fu Shuhang said that only because he was too indulgent with Ji Xun.

Zhao Zhanlei said, "It has nothing to do with liking someone or not. We've known each other since childhood, so our bond is very deep. Besides, Xunxun just has a childlike temperament; who wouldn't spoil a child? Brother Hang, didn't you use to spoil him a lot too?"

Fu Shuhang looked at Zhao Zhanlei in silence, trying to determine whether what he said was true or false.

Zhao Zhanlei continued, "Besides, calling it 'liking' is much too superficial. Given the relationship between me and Xunxun—tch, I bet Xunxun's future boyfriend won't even treat him as well as I do."

Fu Shuhang let out a scoff. "Hah."

"Don't believe it if you don't want to," Zhao Zhanlei said. "Brother Hang, little Xun is pure and innocent, completely free of scheming. If he really looks for a boyfriend, we must help him screen them carefully! Otherwise, he might get tricked and carried away without even realizing it. Take that Bo Huanchen from District 10 for example—if we hadn't been there that night, who knows what might have happened."

Fu Shuhang glanced at him.

Zhao Zhanlei hurriedly corrected himself, "If Brother Hang you hadn't been there that night, who knows what might have happened."

When Fu Shuhang spoke again, his voice remained devoid of warmth. "Didn't you say you were going to invite me to your wedding banquet?"

Zhao Zhanlei instantly recalled what happened on the day they beat up Xu Yuangui.

He hadn't expected Fu Shuhang to remember a casual joke for so long, and he laughed. "Oh, come on! Wasn't that just something I said off the cuff back then to tick you off? Between the two of us, nothing like that could ever happen."

Zhao Zhanlei knew that as long as Fu Shuhang deigned to speak, his anger had dissipated.

The crisis of getting beaten up that afternoon was officially averted.

Zhao Zhanlei immediately regained his appetite and eagerly dug into his meal.

Halfway through eating, Zhao Zhanlei heard Fu Shuhang say—

"You're the one who couldn't."

The subtle nuance packed into that single phrase was undeniable.

Zhao Zhanlei couldn't help but stop shoveling food into his mouth and looked over at Fu Shuhang. Unsure whether he was interpreting it correctly, he decided to ask about something else first. "By the way, Brother Hang, what's been going on with you lately? You don't even train after school anymore, and you go looking for Ji Xun every single day. Look at how scared you've made the kid—he's getting up at four in the morning just to hide from you. He used to avoid you like the plague, but now your attitude has completely done a 180."

"It's nothing much," Fu Shuhang said. "What I did before was wrong. I'm going to apologize to him."

Zhao Zhanlei raised an eyebrow, thinking to himself: Has the sun risen from the west today? Brother Hang is actually going to apologize!

Then he thought, Brother, only now do you realize what you did before was wrong?

Too late!

Little Xun's revenge plan is probably dozens of pages long by now.

"That's good, then," Zhao Zhanlei said, assuming the topic was concluded.

He picked up his bowl of cooled soup to drink. Just as he finished half of it, he heard Fu Shuhang calmly say from across the table—

"I want to pursue Ji Xun."

"Puff—!!"

At the eleventh hour, Zhao Zhanlei managed to jerk his head aside, narrowly avoiding spraying his soup all over Fu Shuhang's face or the dining table.

However, some of the broth went down his windpipe.

Zhao Zhanlei broke into a fit of violent coughing.

Once he had recovered slightly, Zhao Zhanlei immediately stared at Fu Shuhang!

"Brother Hang, what did you just say?"

"I want to pursue Ji Xun," Fu Shuhang repeated, his tone as calm as before. "Is there a problem?"

"Of course there's a problem! Are you joking, Brother Hang?"

"No."

Zhao Zhanlei checked his surroundings and lowered his voice, saying, "Brother Hang, have you lost your mind?!"

Fu Shuhang remained silent.

Seeing him like this, Zhao Zhanlei anxiously pressed on, "Didn't you used to say that you only regarded Ji Xun as a younger brother, and that the affection he showed you troubled you deeply, forcing you to say a series of hurtful things just to make him give up that notion?"

Fu Shuhang pressed his lips into a thin line. "That was because back then I thought it was impossible between us. Since it was impossible, everything should have been nipped in the bud as early as possible."

Zhao Zhanlei immediately fired back, "Then is it possible now? Are you about to become a low-level sentinel, or is Ji Xun going to become the strongest guide simply because he has an unhatched spiritual entity? That was just him talking nonsense for fun, Brother Hang—you don't actually believe that, do you?"

"That has nothing to do with it."

Fu Shuhang tapped his fingertips lightly against the tabletop, a hint of subtle satisfaction underlying his movement, though his expression remained cool. "Sentinels and guides with a vast disparity in levels cannot be together because, in the absence of spiritual equality, the guide is unable to perform spiritual counseling for the sentinel. Once a sentinel falls into spiritual madness, it is very easy for them to harm the guide."

"Yes! Exactly!" Zhao Zhanlei chimed in.

Fu Shuhang then stated, "But Ji Xun can perform spiritual counseling for me."

"..." When Zhao Zhanlei heard this, he figured that either Fu Shuhang had gone completely insane, or he had.

Though the possibility of Fu Shuhang being insane was much higher.

This guy probably took a trip to District 10 and got so infuriated by that Bo Huanchen character—whom he hadn't even met properly yet—that he started spouting such bizarre, fantastical nonsense that was utterly impossible!

Zhao Zhanlei took a deep breath to calm himself down, then countered, "Brother Hang, do you have any idea how much spiritual power Ji Xun actually possesses in total?"

Fu Shuhang knew it would be difficult to explain things clearly to Zhao Zhanlei.

Therefore, he didn't plan to try.

Fu Shuhang merely said, "Tomorrow, all you need to do is pick up the comms. You don't even have to get out of bed; leave the rest to me."

Seeing how set Fu Shuhang was on this, Zhao Zhanlei grew nervous.

He quickly licked his lips and tried to dissuade him. "Brother Hang, I don't think we should be so rash about this. We need to plan it out carefully. What if there's an information gap between your perception and reality? Have you ever thought about how deeply hurt Xunxun will be if you actually manage to win him over, only to find out you still can't be together?"

Fu Shuhang was silent for a long moment before shaking his head. "It won't come to that."

"How could it not!" Zhao Zhanlei blurted out. "And regardless of whether you pursue him or not, do you even like Ji Xun? Have you figured out what kind of feelings you actually hold for him? If you're only pursuing him because he can help you with spiritual counseling—once Ji Xun finds out, he's going to be hopping mad! There's no way in hell he'd agree to be with you!"

—Do you like Ji Xun?
—Have you figured out what kind of feelings you actually hold for him?
—If you're only pursuing him because he can help you with spiritual counseling... once Ji Xun finds out, he's going to be hopping mad!

Fu Shuhang's jaw tightened as he coldly stared at Zhao Zhanlei.

Under Fu Shuhang's intense gaze, Zhao Zhanlei felt like he was sitting on pins and needles. Realizing he couldn't possibly swallow another bite of food anyway, he stood up and picked up his tray. "I'm done eating. Brother Hang, you should think this over carefully by yourself."

With an even heavier burden on his mind, Zhao Zhanlei's footsteps felt leaden.

He handed his tray to the cafeteria staff member by the door and glanced back at Fu Shuhang.

Fu Shuhang was sitting motionless at the dining table, looking as though he were deep in thought.

Walking out of the cafeteria in an unsettled state of mind, Zhao Zhanlei suddenly recalled a certain morning when Ji Xun had mentioned entering Fu Shuhang's spiritual domain! On that day, Ji Xun had been acting all mystical and kept zoning out; back then, Zhao Zhanlei had assumed Ji Xun was just sleep-deprived and talking nonsense.

Could it actually be true??

That was simply absurd!

Zhao Zhanlei decided he needed to seek verification from Ji Xun directly.

When Ji Xun received Zhao Zhanlei's message, he was sitting inside a toilet stall in the Guide Building.

He hadn't pulled his pants down; he was simply sitting on the closed toilet lid with the Great King Egg resting on his lap.

The chime of his communicator startled him slightly.

Upon opening it and seeing that the sender was Zhao Zhanlei, Ji Xun let out a massive sigh of relief.

[Zhao Zhanlei: You mentioned before that you entered Brother Hang's spiritual domain? Did you perform spiritual counseling for him?]

Seeing this, Ji Xun immediately began typing.

[How is that possible? That night I couldn't even get past the threshold of his spiritual domain!]

[Zhao Zhanlei: ............]

[Ji Xun: What's wrong? Why are you suddenly asking about this? By the way, Stone, is Fu Shuhang around you?]

[Zhao Zhanlei: No. We just finished eating, I've already left, and Brother Hang is still in the cafeteria. Why, what's up?]

[Ji Xun: Nothing. Just let me know whenever you have tabs on his movements, like if he leaves the instructors' office, give me a heads-up.]

[Zhao Zhanlei:? Are you afraid he's going to come looking for you?]

[Ji Xun: Yeah...]

Ji Xun wasn't just afraid.

He *had* to hide from Fu Shuhang.

Only by hiding could he ensure that Fu Shuhang's sinister plot failed completely.

Having successfully avoided coming to the Sanctuary alongside Fu Shuhang, his next task was to evade Fu Shuhang if he came looking for him in the Guide Building.

To this end, the moment class ended, Ji Xun would clutch the Great King Egg and sprint toward the restroom.

After this happened a few times, Qian Peng started teasing him whenever he stood up. "Ji Xun, off to the toilet again? Having an overactive bladder at such a young age isn't a good sign."

Ji Xun snapped irritably, "Mind your own business!!"

Every time he finished hiding and returned, Ji Xun would ask his desk-mate, Zhou Xiaoyun, if anyone had been looking for him.

Zhou Xiaoyun, her gaze piercing right through his facade, would bluntly reply, "You're just trying to figure out if Fu Shuhang came looking for you, right? Nope, he didn't."

The moment he heard Fu Shuhang hadn't come, Ji Xun would feel the crushing weight of stress!

This meant that during every single upcoming break, Fu Shuhang might show up, forcing him to keep hiding.

Only one morning in, Ji Xun already felt mentally exhausted, especially every time he returned right as the late-bell rang, greeted by the deeply meaningful looks from the girls sitting in the front rows. His explanations sounded utterly feeble, making the whole ordeal even more agonizing...

Still, having Stone act as his scout made things much simpler!

Ji Xun didn't bother dodging around everywhere during the afternoon.

Today, Fu Shuhang didn't seem to have any intention of coming to the Guide Building to find him.

Even so, Ji Xun didn't lower his guard.

The very instant the after-school bell rang, Ji Xun hoisted his backpack and bolted down the stairs like a gust of wind, sprinted across the Adverse Current Bridge, rushed all the way to the Sanctuary gates, and hailed a flying cab home.

When Ji Xun's mother saw her son panting so heavily, she was stunned and quickly handed him a cup of water. "Drink some water quickly. Was there a dog chasing you or something?"

"Cl—close enough!" Ji Xun lifted the cup, chugged the contents down to the last drop, and wiped his mouth. "Mom, I'm heading upstairs to take a shower! If Brother Hang asks for me, just tell him I'm not here!"

Incredulous, his mother couldn't help a laugh. "Where else would you be if you weren't home?"

Already running up the stairs, Ji Xun heard her and shouted back, "Just tell him I haven't come back yet!"

However, Fu Shuhang didn't come over.

Instead, during dinner, Ji Xun's mother brought it up: "Xunxun, did you and Xiao Hang have another falling out? Up until a few days ago, you were always hanging around him and only came back right at mealtime."

"Oh, come on, Brother Hang always makes General hatch the Great King Egg!"

Ji Xun sighed with theatrical exaggeration, sounding half-true and half-fictional as he complained, "But how is a tiger supposed to hatch an egg? And a male one at that! After a few days, leave alone me—even the Great King Egg couldn't stand it anymore. A male tiger hatching an egg is hardly as reliable as me doing it myself."

Unaware of this peculiar reason, Ji Xun's mother couldn't help laughing, adding, "Xiao Hang was only trying to help you."

At that moment, Ji Xun's father chimed in, "If you had said, 'You wanted the White Tiger to help hatch the egg, but Shuhang refused,' I might believe it. But claiming Shuhang wanted to do it and you refused? Impossible."

"Why would it be impossible? That's literally what Brother Hang did!" Ji Xun puckered his lips. "If you don't believe me, go ask him yourself!"

Just as his father was about to retort, Ji Xun's mother kicked her husband under the table!