CH 39

“are you… a migratory bird building nest?” xiao zhenyun suddenly felt that the three picture walls on the basement were nothing compared to the ‘normal behavior’ of sentinels taking everything scented with their desired guide’s smell when they can’t have them.

yes, si di’s current actions were considered ‘normal behavior’ as written in special training books for sentinels. during their emotionally turbulent periods caused by heightened senses, sentinels would seek out anything that carried the scent of their desired guides and gather these items around them, effectively soothing their irritable emotions.

however, this phenomenon usually occurred only when a sentinel had bonded with a guide. after bonding, the comforting effect of other guide’s spiritual powers significantly diminished. the only ones capable of providing maximum comfort and stability to a bonded sentinel were the guides specifically meant for them. when a sentinel couldn’t access the corresponding guide elements and spiritual powers, they’d resort to methods like si di, surrounding themselves with items carrying their guide’s scent and imagining their guide’s presence.

as for unbonded sentinels, they could easily find guides willing to provide them with guide elements or spiritual soothing, whether it was in the guild or the hospital, or even at the white tower. calming sentinels was an innate nature of guides, deeply ingrained in their genes, and it was hard for guides to refuse the request for help from sentinels experiencing emotional turbulence.

so, what si di was doing today wasn’t due to unbearable pain or the risk of going insane without guide elements. he was simply feeling a bit uneasy, using this as an excuse to engage in some ambiguous activities and flirt with xiao zhenyun.

otherwise, given his temperament, who had dared to threaten the vice president of the guild with a gun despite being seriously ill in the past, he’d never lie in bed, whimpering. most likely, he would fly over in a fighter jet and give his guide, with a 97% compatibility rate, a big, affectionate kiss.

but xiao zhenyun had to admit; he was rather pleased.

“i’m the evil dragon guarding the treasure,” si di chuckled, neatly placing xiao zhenyun’s shirts by the pillow and then sighing with regret. “unfortunately, i couldn’t find the ones you’ve worn. they work even better, but xiao nian took them all to be washed.”

with a hint of confusion, he asked, “why does xiao nian do all the household chores in your home? as a father, you’re quite irresponsible.”

“logically, all the housework in my house is handled by the automated mechanical butler,” xiao zhenyun explained. “besides putting the clothes in the washing machine and returning the dried clothes to the closet, what else has xiao nian done? the mechanical arm even folds the clothes.”

si di: “…”

“i’m just too good to him; i should make him do the dishes and mop the floor more often, so he knows what it’s like to be a guest in someone else’s house and understand the horrors of human nature,” xiao zhenyun declared in a classic bully statement, showcasing his rather low moral standards.

remarkably, si di, in response to this wicked stepmother rhetoric, lay among xiao zhenyun’s clothes, and with a smile in his eyes, he seemed a breath away from saying, ‘you’re so bad, and i love it.’

the two of them rambled aimlessly for an hour. during this period, xiao zhenyun’s long black hair was blow-dried, and he was also treated to an essential oil hair care massage program by the hotel’s robotic arm, which effectively moisturized his thick black hair.

‘i’ll have to cut off these bothersome hair sooner or later,’ the disgust in xiao zhenyun’s eyes was beyond words. si di seemed to have caught on to his thoughts, and immediately said, “you look very attractive with long hair.”

“so i’m ugly with short hair?” xiao zhenyun quipped.

si di: “…”

xiao zhenyun was merely teasing him lightly, but he noticed that si di’s silver hair had grown significantly since they first met, and he tried to picture what si di would look like with long hair but couldn’t quite imagine it. “have you ever grown long hair?”

“do you want to see my long hair?” si di chuckled, “should i leave a little tuft for you to peek at? it’s a bit inconvenient when it’s too long, it’s a weak point in a fight, easy to grab.”

“do sentinels fight by grabbing hair too?”

“they do, why not? they scratch with their nails, they bite with their teeth…” si di started spewing nonsense.

and so, the two of them chatted incoherently for another half-hour. finally, with the time growing late, si di reluctantly prepared to end the video call.

“get some rest, your complexion doesn’t look good,” he said with concern.

isn’t it because your stupid dog brother that i ended up getting soaked and chilled by the cold wind outside… xiao zhenyun yawned. “you should rest too, be wary of your spiritual domain… and by the way, take out the trash in the bathroom before you go.”

si di took a moment to realize what he meant. ‘grandma wolf’ truly lived up to his reputation as a well-informed canine expert. faced with such a spicy and ambiguous topic, he remained as composed as an old dog. he merely raised an eyebrow and didn’t even blush, saying, “what’s with the garbage talk? doesn’t your home’s mechanical butler handle everything? can’t it even take out the trash?”

xiao zhenyun raised an eyebrow suggestively.

under his gaze, si di leisurely retrieved a saliva test strip, placed it between his lips, tucked himself under the covers, and waved at xiao zhenyun before turning off the lights, saying, “goodnight.”

“goodnight,” xiao zhenyun hung up the call voluntarily.

days without plot developments were always wonderful. without the annoying admin forcing him to wake up early, xiao zhenyun slept until noon the next day. he called for lunch to be delivered to his room, then let tian lu roam freely after finishing it. he returned to bed and dozed off for another couple of hours.

when he woke up again, raindrops were tapping on the window, leaving streaks of water. it only took ten minutes for the rain to turn into a torrential downpour from when it started falling.

xiao zhenyun, having eaten and rested well, was in a calm state of mind. he methodically put on thicker clothing than the day before and added a few hand warmers given by ye feiran. he also prepared a raincoat, an umbrella, and even set up dinner and supper in the temperature-controlled cabinet. with everything ready, he could now play his virtual reality game and wait for the plot events to unfold.

an hour later, at 4:30 pm, a call came in. it was the person in charge of the exam site, and they gravely informed xiao zhenyun that si chu and ye feiran had gone to survey a terrain on the island earlier that morning but, for various reasons, failed to evacuate with the main group. half an hour ago, the small boat they had taken was swallowed by the rough seas due to the heavy rain. currently, both of them were out of contact on the shore, their fate unknown.

“what!” xiao zhenyun exclaimed, his emotions running high.

in a place where the person in charge couldn’t see, the long-haired guide calmly took down an enemy in the game.

“immediately send a search party! you must be aware of si chu’s identity; he can’t afford to be in danger… those sentinels with marine spiritual bodies. get them out to search right away!”

xiao zhenyun took down another enemy and received resounding praise from his teammates.

“xiao zhenyun, please don’t worry. the spiritual bodies are already searching, but the rain is just too heavy. our rescue boats can’t get out, and human efforts won’t be able to assist.”

“how can i not worry? he’s my… my nephew!”

xiao zhenyun paced the room without emotion, creating the illusion of anxiety.

“xiao zhenyun, please trust us. we will do our best. we’ll notify you as soon as we have any updates.”

he ended the call and played a game once more. this time, it didn’t go smoothly; his teammates were all making mistakes, and he himself fumbled several times. after struggling for fifteen minutes, he regretfully lost the match.

fueled by the anger accumulated during the game, xiao zhenyun left the room with a grim face and went to the hotel’s second-floor conference room, which the union had reserved. there, he played the role of the ‘good uncle,’ claiming he could no longer calmly wait for news in his room and that, in his restless state, he wanted to oversee the department’s work and fret over his nephew’s well-being.

the head of the emergency department did everything they could to persuade xiao zhenyun to return.

xiao zhenyun went back to his room, had dinner, and called the head of the emergency department. he stared out at the pouring rain and said, his eyes calm, “it seems like the rain has lightened up quite a bit. when can we go for the rescue? the rain doesn’t seem so heavy now.”

the head of the emergency department was understanding and said, “please, don’t worry. we’re ready to set out as soon as the rain eases.”

fifteen minutes later, xiao zhenyun’s impatient call came through again. facing the pouring rain, the response remained the same, “the rain has lightened, so hurry with the rescue.”

the person who answered the call was no longer the team leader; it was a timid intern who repeated, “understood, stay calm, help is on the way.”

another ten minutes passed, and xiao zhenyun dialed the phone again. the intern, still cautiously, echoed, “understood, stay calm, help is on the way.”

‘angrily,’ he ended the call. xiao zhenyun opened his notebook, crossed out two rows of tiny words that had already happened, highly satisfied with the current plot development. then, he leisurely put on a raincoat and slowly descended to the hotel’s ground floor.

the rescue team on the other side seemed genuine, with several fully equipped sentinels waiting in a corner of the resting area, ready for action as soon as the rain eased a bit.

xiao zhenyun’s wheelchair, his long hair, and his unmistakable face made him stand out. as he appeared, all eyes in the lobby turned towards him. a union council member rushed over, “chairman, what’s with this outfit? it’s pouring outside, and you can’t see a thing. are you really going out?”

“give me a boat. if you won’t save them, i’ll go rescue them myself!” xiao zhenyun calmly proclaimed this irrational statement.

as expected, once he said this, many in the rest area, initially charmed by his looks, had their expressions change to: ‘he looks good, but is he out of his mind?’

“chairman, that’s not possible,” the council member couldn’t let this beauty endure the rain. he earnestly tried to persuade him, blocking xiao zhenyun’s path and preventing him from going outside.

after a tug of war that lasted for more than ten minutes, xiao zhenyun finally reached the climax of his performance. he sat by the main entrance, with the council member wanting to carry him back to his room but refraining from doing so, only able to muster the strength to keep reasoning with him. before him, the rain poured relentlessly. in agony, he shouted passionately at the roaring waves, “si chu—, where are you?”

the council member was equally agonized, pleading, “chairman, please, go back and rest…” please don’t continue interfering with our rescue efforts!

“i don’t know if si chu is alive or not, how can i possibly sleep!” xiao zhenyun spoke with heartfelt distress. “notify me as soon as there’s any news!”

“understood, understood…”

then, as soon as xiao zhenyun was escorted back to his room, he silenced his terminal.

once the council member left, the room service he had pre-ordered arrived right on time, the supreme noble package. three graceful therapists simultaneously took care of him, offering back massages, leg kneading, and even facial and hand treatments.

satisfied, he took off his clothes, assisted by the therapists, and lay face down on the massage bed in the adjoining room, and began to enjoy the delightful night.

after an indeterminate amount of time, the room door suddenly swung open, and xiao zhenyun heard the council member’s voice, “…after si chu went missing, the chairman was extremely anxious. he didn’t eat or drink and even wanted to rescue people in the sea himself. we tried to stop him.”

his voice abruptly disappeared, as if a choking rooster, his eyes wide open, locking gazes with xiao zhenyun.

meanwhile, the chairman, who had been fretting about si chu’s disappearance, was half-naked, wearing a face mask. he had a petite female server holding his left hand, gently filing his nails, and a slender, tall male therapist kneading his waist and shoulders. there was even a good-looking middle-aged man providing a leg massage behind him.

fortunately, the face mask hid xiao zhenyun’s awful complexion, and he quickly regained his composure. without any guilt of being caught, he preemptively questioned, “how did you get in here?”

the council member, still in shock, silently took a step aside, allowing the man behind him to be revealed.

si di walked out from the shadows.

hello, everyone ヾ(＾∇＾). i hope you enjoyed the story! if you’re feeling generous, please buy me a coffee, share/comment on my translated works! check out the link below for early chapters.  (๑>ᴗ