qizi / 53
When Ling Xiao and Ying Feng passed by a certain dorm room, a loud noise suddenly erupted from inside. Ling Xiao instantly went on guard and stepped to the side; he even assumed a fighting posture, waiting for an enemy to burst forth.
But so far, after that one cry, there were no more sounds from that room. Ling Xiao wanted to go forth and investigate but was stopped by Ying Feng.
“What are you doing?”
“Taking a look at what happened.”
“Leave it alone.”
Ling Xiao could tell from his attitude that he was quite repulsed so he thought to ask, “Who’s room is this?”
“Zhu Yue.”
Ling Xiao immediately dropped the matter. They obviously weren’t the only ones who heard the unusual noises. The classmates who lived nearby heard more than just one loud clamour, but because Zhu Yue was unpopular, there was still no one who came over to check on him even after making such a huge racket. The classmate next door even forcefully smacked the wall to tell him to quiet down.
Everything finally settled down, and Zhu Yue also gradually regained his sanity, the remnants of a certain person’s sweet, fishy blood on the tip of his tongue.
He vaguely remembered Zhen He was caught off guard by his lunge and that his first reaction was to try to escape, except how could he possibly give him the chance? From the edge of the bed, he was taking his heart-tip blood in a split second. Zhen He had no choice but to engage in the Adult Ceremony, giving it his all to launch some counterattacks.
He truly was very strong, but unfortunately, no matter how strong, he could not be as formidable as Embers 2.0 which was twenty times more refined than the original Embers, so at the end, he was defeated at the hands of the far less powerful Zhu Yue.
Though of course their strengths now were basically equal.
Zhu Yue could sense that the drug’s effectiveness was draining away bit by bit, and at the same time, he was becoming more and more lucid—he needed to seize the chance to deal with the aftermath. He struggled to pick up the calming soul stone, returning it to its original place. From that same secret compartment, he took out a rope. He then tightly wound the rope a few times around Zhen He who was lying on the ground. If this were him previously, he would not have had the strength to bind someone so firmly.
Zhen He wore his personal terminal on his wrist. Zhu Yue roughly tore it off it and grabbed whatever was at hand to smash it to pieces. He then took out a case of tranquilizers he had long since prepared, pulling one of them out. He injected a dose into Zhen He.
After he finished all of this, he staggered towards the table, but just as he was about to reach it, he couldn’t help falling down—anxiously, he extended a hand out to feel around the tabletop. A number of introductory books on Qizi and Qizhu were knocked over, scattering onto the floor. Some of them fell open, exposing the key points that were underlined in red inside:
Qizhu will obtain all of the Qizi’s power and assets.
In addition to being triggered by the influence of hormones, the Adult Ceremony could also be initiated through the strong desires of involved parties.
After the Adult Ceremony, the two parties’ intimacy can kickoff the second stage of growth.
Zhu Yue finally latched on to the second syringe. He was completely ignorant of 2.0’s side effects before and didn’t realize that if he didn’t inject the purifier into his body, he would die. Many thanks Zhen He, he truly was a competent businessman.
His breathing was already chaotic, his blood was on the brink of boiling, and in his line of sight was a blurry image. After repeatedly trying a good number of times, he finally managed to stick the needle into his arm with difficulty, forcing the injection of the whole cylinder of clear liquid. Then he messily pulled it out, carelessly tossed it aside, and completely passed out on the ground.
Ling Xiao was still accompanied by a sore waist and an aching back when he woke up. When he thought of the events that happened the night before, his whole person did not feel too good.
Even if he was the one who crept over first——that was the psychological shadow left behind from the dangerous period, where he felt that if he didn’t lean onto the other party, he couldn’t sleep properly——but how did the events that followed next happen? Yesterday, the previously Ying “even-for-sex-I-always-have-a-rational-excuse” Feng actually took the initiative to break the balance, and in front of a desirous Qizhu, the body of their Qizi will always never be able to resist——but in the end, the one who took the lead to wrap himself around the other was him, so it’s embarrassing to say he was forced.
But no matter how he thought, he couldn’t be reconciled, “The time before the last was to pass the safe period, the last time was to vent excess energy, so what’s this time for?”
“Because I wanted to.”
“You’re even too lazy to give a reason?!”
Ying Feng was already sitting up. It wasn’t that he was too lazy to make up a reason. He already told him his personal reason. The first time they were entangled wasn’t for some sort of goal either, it was only because he wanted to.
But he didn’t want to over explain these matters. “Quickly get up,” he said with his back turned, “Aren’t you attending class today?”
Ying Feng’s words reminded Ling Xiao that after their vacation ended, it had been a long time since they’ve gone to class.
“Going!” After speaking, he leaped up; he was not at all afraid of injuries or bleeding, so how could he lie in bed aching over such small matters?
Ling Xiao arrived at the long-lost classroom, and the classmates who spotted him all greeted him warmly. As usual, Ting Lei wanted to give him a hug as a form of I-miss-you after not seeing him for so long. Good thing he peeked at the back row of the classroom first, and embarrassingly retreated, his heart in fear: Isn’t the establishment period for ownership over already? What’s up with the glare? Could it be that he had been added to the blacklist permanently?
During this period, many sweethearts in the class held the Adult Ceremony one after another, and almost a third of the seats in the class were vacant. Ling Xiao noticed that even Zhu Yue’s usual spot was empty.
“Even Zhu Yue became an adult?” It’s not because someone randomly bit him, right?
Ting Lei cast a disdainful glance at the empty seat, “Him? He’s been coming less and less each day for a while, even the teacher didn’t feel like keeping track of him.”
The instructor arrived so everyone returned to their seats to sit properly. When he saw that Ling Xiao and Ying Feng had resumed attending class and were both in good condition, he was very happy. After class, he singled them out to stay behind.
“Have you decided what major to apply for yet?”
“Yes,” replied Ying Feng, “We are going to apply to the Joint Combat Department.”
“Joint Combat Department?” The instructor was surprised, “This department has a really hard exam, will Ling Xiao be alright?”
Ling Xiao instantly felt devastated.
“No no no, that’s not what I meant,” the instructor quickly explained, “I’m very confident in your actual combat ability, but this department has written tests, is your culture class going well?”
“Huh?” Ling Xiao was dumbfounded. The military academy also tests on culture?
“Before I thought it was only Ying Feng who was preparing for the exam so I didn’t mention it.” The instructor pulled up the two’s performance results over the years. In the past, they were classified as personal information, but now, there were fewer and fewer secrets between them.
Ling Xiao always regarded himself as Ying Feng’s evenly matched opponent, but this was strictly limited to the domain of physical abilities. After he saw Ying Feng’s culture class grades, he suffered a blow.
“Your biology, astronomy, geography, these are all fine, math…barely enough, but what is this history? Ying Feng earns full scores on history every year. Even if you can’t achieve excellence, you still need to pass, right?”
“History is a compulsory subject for Yutian. If you truly decide to apply to the Joint Combat Department, you will have to act now.”
Ling Xiao certainly couldn’t give up just because of mere history so he held his chest out, “No problem!”
“Then I’ll briefly introduce how to train spiritual strength. In elementary institutions, we mainly do physical training, but at higher institutions, spiritual strength becomes extremely important. I’ll demonstrate the simplest training method.”
He kneaded a paper ball and held it in the palm of his hand. After concentrating on it, the paper ball actually floated up and swirled about in the air above the palm of his hand. Ling Xiao cried out in surprise at the sight.
“This ability is extremely important to us. It will catalyze all future skills. Originally it should be learned after entering a higher institution, but there are no drawbacks to practicing it in advance.”
“What must we do?”
“Focus. Concentrate on the air in the palm of your hand and then materialize it.”
Ling Xiao already got a paper ball in his hand and started to practice. The instructor chopped the back of his head, “This is secondary, focus on history. Ying Feng is in charge of supervising. If there’s anything you don’t understand, just remember to ask him for guidance.”
Ling Xiao followed Ying Feng from the classroom to the library, then returned to the dormitory with a stack of books. Along the way, Ling Xiao was not idle and was always trying to move the small paper ball, until Ying Feng confiscated it.
“First read the contents I wrote for you. Then you can continue practicing it,” stipulated Ying Feng.
Ling Xiao remembered that he had promised Ying Feng. No matter how much he hated history, he could only brace himself for it but couldn’t resist grumbling a bit.
“It’s so boring to read like this.”
“How to make it not boring?”
“If we can go back in time to see it personally then that’d be great,” he whimsically thought.
“Dream on,” Ying Feng arranged a task for him, “One hour of books. Then you can work on spiritual training for half an hour.”
“One hour,” haggled Ling Xiao.
“Forty minutes.”
“Forty-five.”
Ying Feng glared at him. Ling Xiao surrendered, “Fine, forty it is.”
Ling Xiao buried his head in the dry and dull history textbook while Ying Feng slyly held a paper ball in his hand.
Spiritual power?
He tried it like the instructor said, focusing his attention on the palm of his hand but couldn’t feel anything abnormal. The paper ball didn’t move at all.
The result was not right. Ying Feng immediately decided to switch out the approach and imagined the paper ball was Ling Xiao, using the ability to control Qizi as the driving force. The paper ball in his hand flew up into the air right away, spinning rapidly.
Of course.
Ying Feng copied it again while holding the paper ball. Whether it was manipulating Qizi or the paper ball, he was using the same ability. So this was the so-called “spiritual power”. Fu Yao pulverized the stone pillar with one punch and the principal flew to the rooftop in one breath. They were both using the same thing before and most likely the same principle. Since Ying Feng had experience already, it was not at all difficult to use spiritual power, but who knows whether Ling Xiao, as a Qizi, can master it quickly.
“It’s time!” Ling Xiao practically bounced up, then devoted every single second to the cause of making the paper ball fly. Ying Feng silently observed. When forty minutes were almost up, the paper ball still hadn’t moved. Just when Ying Feng thought he definitely couldn’t do it because it was his first time using spiritual power, Ling Xiao suddenly exclaimed.
“Look!”
Ying Feng was stunned. Sure enough, with Ling Xiao’s efforts, the paper ball had slightly left his hand and was half-floating in the air. Despite it only being a tiny distance, this performance was already amazing for someone who was trying for the first time.
If Ling Xiao could make the same progress in history, it would save a lot of trouble.
Ying Feng did not praise him but instead ruthlessly told him time was up and casually picked up the history book.
“I’ll test you on what you just read. Legends say that Tianxiu has two ancestors, what are their names?”
“Ah, I know, one of them looks like Xing Lou, he’s called…”
Ying Feng expressionlessly turned to the next page, “Name of the final emperor in Tianxiu history?”
“Uh…”
“Well…”
Ying Feng banged the ground, shaking the book, “Before the first year was the monarchy, after the first year was the republic, it’s such a simple question, how come you don’t know!?”
Straight up a dumbass!
Ling Xiao was unhappy, “Even if I don’t know, you don’t need to call me a dumbass.”
“If not a dumbass then what? This basic kind of question can even be answered by a first-year Nesting.”
There was a strange silence in the room for a few seconds.
“Wait,” Ying Feng suddenly realized something, “I didn’t call you a dumbass just now.”
Ling Xiao reacted, responding, “But I clearly seemed to have heard…”
Ying Feng searched his memory for a bit, then promptly grabbed a book from the bookshelf, accurately leafing through to a certain page. Ling Xiao also came closer to look:
——Spiritual communication: When the affections between Qizhu and Qizi and the spiritual powers of involved parties reach a certain level, it can lead to spiritual communication. Spiritual communication is restricted by distance, and distance is typically proportional to the amount of spiritual power. When using this ability, it will consume spiritual power.
The key details Ling Xiao should focus on are always off as he said, “What does it mean ‘affections reaching a certain level’, who could’ve reached a certain level of affections with you?”
Ying Feng closed his eyes, slowly concentrated, and gradually the feeling he had a moment ago returned.
——Ling Xiao!
Ling Xiao jumped up, “I can hear it!”
It was practically like he was shouting in his mind.
——Is it clear?
“Very clear!”
——Then…
“Then what? There’s nothing afterwards!”
Ying Feng opened his eyes again, “I don’t know, the spiritual power was likely used up.”
“That’s it?” Ling Xiao thought it would at least last for five minutes.
“I only just grasped it, how long did you think it would last?”
Ling Xiao was suddenly inspired, “At this rate I don’t need to read books, can’t you just tell me the answers when you take the test?”
Ying Feng’s eyes twitched, “You’re cheating, you know that?”
“Of course it’s not! Have you forgotten the recruitment brochure of the Joint Combat Department? This department’s primary focus is on the combined abilities of Qizhu and Qizi as well as the tacit understanding between the two parties. Wouldn’t being able to communicate spiritually be the best evidence?”
Ying Feng retorted expressionlessly, “Who just said affections didn’t reach a certain level?”
The corner of Ling Xiao’s mouth twitched awkwardly. He didn’t truthfully express his opinions earlier and now it was coming back to settle accounts with him.
On the other side, Ying Feng sunk into contemplation. Ling Xiao’s interpretation was ridiculous but not completely unreasonable. As Yutian’s only major that requires both parties to take the entrance exams, it was impossible to only employ traditional exam methods.
Ying Feng didn’t believe that the military academy did not know about the existence of spiritual communication. He also couldn’t say for sure what kind of unknown monitoring methods will be used, but this matter was not written into the rules for the exam, making it suspicious.
However, what surprised him even more was that he thought Ling Xiao never considered the Joint Combat Department when he toured it on the internet, so he didn’t expect him to so clearly remember the recruitment brochure in such detail. Could it be that he was already tempted by this major early on?
“How about this,” decided Ying Feng after pondering some, “I can help you but you also need to invest effort into this yourself. There are 100 points on the sheet. You just need to do 30 points, then I can tell you another 30 to help you pass the test.”
“So if I can score 50 points, you’ll help me get to 100 points?” asked Ling Xiao excitedly.
“Yes,” promised Ying Feng, “That’s what it means.”
Ling Xiao was immediately filled with fighting spirit, “No problem, I’ll learn history properly by heart but you also need to practice your spiritual abilities well so that when we are in the exam room, you don’t just say a few words and disappear.”
“Exchange successful.”
Ling Xiao extended out his fist up high in his direction and Ying Feng took two seconds to understand the meaning of this action before he also extended out his own. Ling Xiao slammed down hard and the two fists collided in the air.
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