Chapter 26: Do you like rum or cherry jam?
The golden python’s body had not fully emerged; only its head protruded in the mist. The Barbary lion swiped at it, tearing open a wide gap from right to left.
The sentinel student staggered and fell to his knees on the ground. Bi Xingyi had just broken through the sand cat encirclement and immediately rushed to Xie Zijing and his own student: “Stop!”
Interrupted this way, the Barbary lion hesitated, but in the next instant, the golden python’s tail suddenly shot out from the mist, instantly entwining around the giant lion’s neck and pulling it down to the ground.
Immediately after, the thick snake body coiled around its prey.
“Stop!” Bai Xiaoyuan shouted forcefully. Over a dozen sand cats leaped toward the golden python from the ground.
The golden python twisted its body, dragging the lion fiercely into the hotel’s glass door, avoiding the sand cats’ attack.
The lion raised its head, emitting a deafening roar. It raised its sharp front paws, piercing into the snake and rolling along with the twisting motion, dragging the massive golden python out of the mist. Its entire body gleamed with golden scales, and its back and head seemed to have horns. With wide, crimson eyes, the fully exposed golden python, facing the lion, bit down with its wide-open mouth to the limit!
But its attack was ineffective.
The lion’s two front paws deeply penetrated the snake’s body again, not just moving along but suddenly pulling back with its hind paws, creating several deep wounds as it followed the motion.
The pain made the golden python lose strength immediately, and the Barbary lion finally managed to break free from its grasp.
It shook the dense mane on its neck, revealing teeth sharp enough to snap the neck of any prey, then dashed out, jumping several times on the golden python’s tail, roaring furiously as it leaped high into the air. Its sharp claws and teeth were all revealed; its target was the golden python’s throat.
But the golden python suddenly disappeared.
The Barbary lion swallowed a mouthful of white mist, and after landing, it coughed incessantly. Without auxiliary drugs, a spirit animal could not directly absorb other spirit animals. The white mist surrounding it gradually dispersed, returning in small wisps to its owner.
Next to Xie Zijing, the young sentinel was lying prone on the ground, clutching the back of his head.
Bi Xingyi stood behind the sentinel, holding his backpack. He had given the sentinel’s head a powerful blow.
Xie Zijing’s face was full of shock: “What are you doing?”
“They’re just kids,” Bi Xingyi said. “He’s always been impulsive, and he was wrong this time. I’ll definitely criticize him. Please don’t report or document this, okay?”
Xie Zijing also didn’t want to escalate the situation. He retracted his own lion and waved Bi Xingyi away, indicating that he should communicate with Qin Ge about this matter. Bi Xingyi looked around, first pulling his own student aside.
After subduing the sentinel student, the scene finally calmed down. The sand cats disappeared one by one, and Bai Xiaoyuan sat on the stairs, seemingly regaining her spirits.
Under normal circumstances, she couldn’t split her form into so many parts, which is why she had consumed a considerable amount of alcohol. With the effect of alcohol, she could replicate and create sand cats endlessly, and each sand cat could act independently.
“How many is the maximum?” Qin Ge asked.
“I don’t know,” Bai Xiaoyuan replied. “The most I’ve created at once was during a skills competition—2,987 of them. I wanted to make more, but I got so drunk that I passed out.”
Qin Ge said, “Your alcohol tolerance isn’t that great.”
Bai Xiaoyuan, with a bitter face, said, “Not great at all. I have a terrible headache now.”
She leaned on the railing of the stairs, let out a long burp, and looked at Qin Ge with a sidelong glance. “Xie Zijing made such a big fuss just now. Why didn’t you intervene?”
“He knows his limits,” Qin Ge said, looking at his phone. “After all, he has been an outstanding individual in the Western Division for several years, receiving a lot of rewards. He knows the stakes.”
“When did you develop this strange trust between you?” Bai Xiaoyuan shook her head for a moment, her dizziness getting worse. “You praised Tang Cuo; you trust Xie Zijing… What about me?”
“You’re amazing.” Qin Ge brushed away the sweaty hair from her forehead. “You understand many things that we can’t figure out, and you hold a lot of secrets about Crisis Office members. In my eyes, you’re the top female sentinel in the Crisis Office.”
Bai Xiaoyuan pouted and waved her hand. “You sound like something Xie Zijing would say… Anyway, you handle the situation next. The top female sentinel is feeling dizzy.”
In her drunken haze, Bai Xiaoyuan saw someone entering the hotel.
Qin Ge and Xie Zijing were very surprised. “Lei Chi?”
“I was at a wedding on the floor above,” Lei Chi glanced at the scene. “What happened? Do you need help?”
Lei Chi’s appearance made Qin Ge feel a sense of crisis. He quickly urged Anhui’s leading teacher to take the students back and informed Bi Xingyi that his student couldn’t participate in the assessment for the time being. Although the sentinel student could walk and talk, his face was very pale. After suffering damage to the spirit animal, sentinels and guides might be physically unharmed, but this kind of damage that directly affects the spiritual world could cause dizziness, vertigo, or intense nausea. The discomfort could sometimes last for several days.
Even so, when the seemingly central figure of the disturbance, the handsome young guide, passed by, the young sentinel still stared at him intently. Four sentinels formed a human wall to block his view and squeezed into the elevator.
Xie Zijing quietly told Qin Ge, “I went easy on him. He’ll have a headache for about a week, a little worse than Cai Yi’s situation back then.”
He brought his index finger and thumb infinitely close, leaving less than a millimeter of space. “Really, just a little.”
As the crowd gradually dispersed, the hotel staff also came out and rushed to the front door to assess the situation. Qin Ge had to apologize repeatedly and explain the tricky situation to the manager. Bi Xingyi led his student aside and reprimanded him sternly. Xie Zijing leaned on the front desk, silently watching the angry teacher. Lei Chi hadn’t left yet, and he followed Xie Zijing’s gaze to look at Bi Xingyi.
Bai Xiaoyuan walked over with a bottle of alcohol, raised her hand to greet Lei Chi briefly, and then turned to ask Xie Zijing, “What’s the plan now?”
“We’ve already handled it; it was just a minor disturbance; no need to involve the police or you guys.” Xie Zijing turned to Lei Chi and smiled. “Right, Captain Lei?”
Lei Chi didn’t hesitate either. “That’s the best. I felt something was off here, so I came to check. It’s all good.”
He looked at Bai Xiaoyuan. “You drink while working?”
Bai Xiaoyuan squinted her drunken eyes. “It’s a long story… so I won’t say.”
She couldn’t stand steadily and had to rest her head on Xie Zijing’s shoulder. Xie Zijing used a comforting gesture to run his fingers through her hair.
Lei Chi nodded. “Do you prefer rum or cherry jam?”
Bai Xiaoyuan, puzzled by Lei Chi’s question, was feeling nauseous at the smell of alcohol. So without hesitation, she answered, “I don’t like alcohol.”
Lei Chi took out two delicately packaged items from his pocket, carefully examined the labels, and handed a deep red one to Bai Xiaoyuan.
“Cherry jam heart.” He handed the other one to Xie Zijing. “This one is for you, rum heart.”
Bai Xiaoyuan and Xie Zijing accepted them in bewilderment, and Lei Chi waved his hand. “The candies at the wedding banquet were quite delicious. I’m leaving; goodbye.”
He turned and walked through the lobby toward the hotel’s entrance. Along the way, he suddenly stopped and looked down at his feet.
Strangely, he keenly sensed that some small creature had passed by him, brushing against him silently, fluffy, and seemingly dragging a soft tail—but he hadn’t seen anything at all.
The last remaining sand cat with a trailing tail returned to Bai Xiaoyuan’s side, sitting on the floor. It lowered its head to sniff its tail, which still carried the scent of a stranger. The scent seemed to belong to some kind of beast, a big one that the little cat wasn’t familiar with. The kitten was a bit curious and a bit scared. After sniffing for a while, it used its tail to coil around Bai Xiaoyuan’s leg and let out a soft meow.
“Don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid,” Bai Xiaoyuan said while unwrapping a chocolate bar in her hand. “That’s not a dog; it’s a wolf.”
The cherry jam heart chocolate was pleasantly sweet, and Bai Xiaoyuan finished it in three or four bites. She then turned to Xie Zijing and asked, “What should I do? He clearly knows I have a boyfriend.”
Xie Zijing raised the rum heart chocolate wrapped in blue paper. “I have one too, Comrade Bai. You can enjoy this.”
Bai Xiaoyuan said, “Why didn’t he ask you what flavor you like?”
Xie Zijing: “Ladies first.”
Bai Xiaoyuan picked up the cat that had climbed onto her shoulder, then suddenly made a serious declaration, “I really do have a boyfriend. I won’t change my mind!”
Xie Zijing had already walked away.
He moved slowly and approached Qin Ge. Qin Ge had finally calmed down the hotel manager’s anger, and when he turned around, he noticed that Xie Zijing had put something in his pocket.
“Do you prefer rum or cherry jam?” Xie Zijing asked, imitating Lei Chi’s tone. He liked Lei Chi’s personality, and in Xie Zijing’s view, the way Lei Chi asked this question was a standard pick-up line.
“I don’t like sweets,” Qin Ge said, taking a look at the chocolate and tossing it back to Xie Zijing.
Xie Zijing caught it with an annoyed expression. After Qin Ge had lost control in the office earlier and had been stern and uncooperative during the journey, he refused to give Xie Zijing even a trace of a good mood. Seeing Qin Ge walk toward Bi Xingyi and his student, Xie Zijing grabbed him.
“I remember Bi Xingyi. He is the leading teacher at the second middle school. He is a guide, right? Don’t you find him strange?”
Qin Ge: “What’s strange about him?”
Xie Zijing recalled the moments when he subdued the sentinel student earlier. “It’s the first time I’ve seen a guide who, instead of releasing their spirit animal during a confrontation between two sentinels, chose to physically strike someone.”
Qin Ge didn’t understand at first.
“It’s a habit,” Xie Zijing whispered in his ear. “When faced with danger or any uncertain situation, the reflex of every sentinel and guide is to release their spirit animal. It’s a conditioned response.”
“Maybe he didn’t want others to see his spirit animal. That’s quite normal. I used to dislike releasing my rabbit before.” Qin Ge broke free from Xie Zijing’s grip. “You go upstairs and check if Anhui’s students are settled in properly, and maybe give them a scolding.”
Not mentioning it was one thing, but Xie Zijing suddenly realized that he hadn’t touched the long-haired hot water bottle since moving out of Qin Ge’s place.
“I want to cuddle the rabbit tonight.” He couldn’t control himself and blurted out, “If you let me cuddle the rabbit, I’ll let you see my ‘sea area’.”
Qin Ge: “…Deal.”
Xie Zijing was in a daze, and before he could process it, he continued, “At my place.”
Qin Ge: “Sure, sure, sure. Can you please let go first?”
Xie Zijing released the hand that was holding Qin Ge’s shoulder, and he slowly broke into a smile. To cuddle the long-haired hot water bottle at his own home and chat with Qin Ge was, rounding it off it was something… He still couldn’t come up with the word, but it made him feel light and excited.
Because he was too excited, Xie Zijing stood in the elevator for two minutes before realizing he hadn’t pressed the floor button.
He quickly checked the students’ accommodations, pretended to scold the several sentinels who had caused trouble fiercely, and then exited the elevator ten minutes later, waiting for Qin Ge with an excited heart.
Qin Ge had talked all evening, and his mouth was dry. He watched Bi Xingyi take his student upstairs to apologize to others, and only then did he truly heave a sigh of relief.
“Let’s go.” Xie Zijing supported Bai Xiaoyuan and said to Qin Ge, “Let’s first take Xiaoyuan home, and then… round it up.”
Qin Ge: “???”
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