Chi Zhou’s voice carried a hint of amusement as his gaze swept over the snow leopard at the foot of the bed. He reached out naturally and gave it a stroke.

“It’s still here?”

“Mm…” Xia Ye turned his head away, avoiding Chi Zhou’s eyes. “Something happened.”

His low-grade fever had only just subsided, and his psychic power was still at full capacity, so his senses were hundreds of times more acute than usual.

Emotions from all directions were flooding into his Mental Domain, leaving him slightly dizzy and unable to spare any attention for the snow leopard’s antics.

It had been a long time since he had experienced anything like this.

The last time had been shortly after his awakening, when he had been completely unable to control his psychic power. It had taken him some time to tame the snow leopard, only for the effort to leave him utterly drained. Other people’s emotions then crashed down on him like dark clouds, leaving him temporarily unable to speak.

He could feel their joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness. He could even hear fragments of their thoughts.

Xia Ye had looked it up in the library before. This was one of the abilities unique to Dark Guides.

When a Dark Guide’s Mental Domain became excessively powerful, their ability to perceive emotions would be amplified without limit. They could even read people’s thoughts through their Spirit Animal.

For example, right now, he could hear Chi Zhou thinking: Feels so good. Big cats really are adorable.

He sounded like he was in an exceptionally good mood.

Xia Ye looked at his spirit animal with mixed feelings. He had no idea what had happened last night, but somehow the snow leopard seemed to have become quite familiar with Chi Zhou.

Whenever Chi Zhou reached out to touch it, the snow leopard would lift its chin and let him gently scratch beneath it, even narrowing its eyes as it purred contentedly.

…It was no different from the kittens Xia Ye had seen at the pet shop outside the academy.

“Wow, it’s so well-behaved,” Lin Kezhi said eagerly from the side. “It looked so fierce during the entrance assessment. Everyone in the StarNet group was saying your snow leopard would definitely bite someone.”

“Really?” Chi Zhou said meaningfully. “It’s always been very well-behaved.”

Lin Kezhi’s hands were practically itching to pet it, so he cautiously reached out.

The snow leopard’s expression changed instantly. It glared at him, its eyes carrying an unmistakable warning.

“Okay, okay, I won’t touch you.” Lin Kezhi took a step back and apologised to the snow leopard. “I’m practically your owner’s best friend, and you’re still this wary of me.”

Denied his chance to pet the cat, Lin Kezhi figured Chi Zhou had come to see Xia Ye for something important. So he tactfully excused himself, claiming he was going to the library, and left.

—

Only Xia Ye and Chi Zhou remained in the infirmary.

The atmosphere was somewhat tense. Xia Ye wanted to send the snow leopard back into his Mental Domain, but the snow leopard clearly had no intention of cooperating.

His temples were throbbing faintly, making it difficult to force the snow leopard to obey.

“Don’t be so nervous.” Chi Zhou’s calm voice sounded beside him. “Being unable to control your spirit animal is normal.”

He placed a hand on Xia Ye’s shoulder. His palm was warm and dry, carrying a reassuring strength.

“Especially for you, Xia Ye.” Chi Zhou sat down beside him. “The higher a spirit animal’s level, the harder it is to control.”

Xia Ye asked quietly, “Are you like that too?”

His voice felt dry, as though something were stopping him from speaking.

“Mm.” Chi Zhou’s voice softened further. “I was the same when I first awakened. It took me a long time to learn how to control my spirit animal.”

His fingers shifted slightly. For a moment, he had the urge to reach out and pat Xia Ye on the head.

In Chi Zhou’s impression, Xia Ye possessed an almost stubborn pride that refused to accept defeat.

The boy seemed tireless and unyielding, like a young poplar growing in the desert, willing to do whatever it took simply to survive.

Even now, despite his psychic power being overloaded, his low fever having lasted through the night, and his inability to control his spirit animal… His back remained perfectly straight. He wouldn’t even lean against the headboard or allow himself to show the slightest trace of exhaustion.

Only his voice betrayed the weakness he was desperately trying to hide.

Too stubborn.

Chi Zhou didn’t know what Xia Ye had gone through in District Twelve, but he knew it couldn’t have been anything worth remembering.

Perhaps he should have insisted on his original idea and brought Xia Ye and Xia Zhi to District One when Xia Ye was fourteen.

“Try taking a deep breath and controlling your psychic power,” Chi Zhou instructed. “Think of it as steering a sailboat across the ocean. The broader your Mental Domain, the longer it takes to learn how to control it.”

He deliberately lowered his voice, sounding almost like a teacher leading a meditation class.

If anyone from the Special Operations Department were here, they would have been utterly stunned. They would never have imagined Chi Zhou capable of being this patient.

Xia Ye gave a quiet “En” and followed his instructions.

His psychic power, surging like a turbulent tide, gradually settled. The snow leopard stretched lazily, hopped off the bed, and disappeared into Xia Ye’s Mental Domain.

With Chi Zhou’s guidance, Xia Ye seemed to have grasped a key that allowed him to begin controlling his heightened senses.

“Feeling better?” Chi Zhou asked.

“Much better.” Xia Ye nodded, visibly more relaxed. “Thank you.”

The formality of his gratitude caught Chi Zhou off guard. He couldn’t help laughing helplessly.

“What is it with you, kid? You’re always thanking me for everything.”

Xia Ye instinctively wanted to argue, but Chi Zhou beat him to it.

“Xia Ye, don’t try to figure everything out on your own.” Chi Zhou’s tone turned serious. “Your abilities are very powerful. They’ll make a lot of people afraid of you, and they may even make you afraid of yourself. But you need to remember that you’re not alone.”

Xia Ye lowered his head. It took him a long time to answer.

“En.”

He understood what Chi Zhou meant.

The Alliance had never had a Dark Guide before. He was the first. No one could guide him from experience except Chi Zhou.

Chi Zhou patted him on the shoulder.

“If something happens, come find me.”

—

Ten minutes after Chi Zhou left, Xia Ye received an express message.

It was an invitation from the Special Operations Department, asking him to participate in an A-class contaminated-zone mission led by Chi Zhou: [Operation Codename XII].

“What if I don’t go?” Xia Ye asked.

The little delivery robot shook its head so dramatically that its entire body rattled, a string of mechanical noises spilling from its mouth.

“No, no, no! The Special Operations Department is the Alliance’s highest-ranking department. It can freely mobilise any resources it needs. As a military academy student, you are also considered a mobilisable resource. Don’t tell me you’re planning to run away before the battle!”

The robot’s incessant chatter gave Xia Ye a headache.

“I was joking. It’s not that serious.”

“I am a robot that has passed the Turing test! You were not laughing; therefore, you were not joking.”

With a ‘click’, the little robot pulled a thick stack of papers from its pocket.

“Refusing a mission requires a thirty-thousand-word report.”

“I was only wondering why the Special Operations Department would invite a freshman to participate in a mission.”

Xia Ye signed his name on the invitation without changing his expression.

“Please don’t put anything strange in my records. Thank you.”

The little robot collected the signed invitation, then gave him the time and location, reminding Xia Ye to report on time.

Xia Ye nodded and got up.

He headed for the school next door, intending to visit his younger sister first.

The Special Operations Department had given them very little time. They would be leaving at midnight that night for District Ten.

Before then, he needed to make arrangements for his sister.

—

Next to the military academy stood an elite private middle school with exorbitant tuition fees. Most of its students were the sons and daughters of wealthy families from Upper District Seven.

Before taking the military academy entrance assessment, Xia Ye had made one condition clear to his interviewers: his blind younger sister needed someone to look after her, and he had to bring her with him to school.

Given his outstanding assessment results, the academy readily agreed and arranged for Xia Zhi to attend the middle school next door.

After the assessment report confirming him as a Dark Guide was released, the academy had clearly become even more attentive to Xia Zhi’s education and daily life. Apparently, they wanted to eliminate any concerns Xia Ye might have and allow him to devote himself entirely to the Special Operations Department.

By the time Xia Ye arrived, his sister was already waiting for him at the school gate.

Xia Zhi was wearing her school uniform, the snow-white skirt embroidered with pure white doves. Her long, chestnut-coloured curls fell over her shoulders, and in the soft afternoon sunlight, she looked almost like an angel.

Xia Ye stopped when he was still more than ten metres from the gate. After only a few days apart, his sister suddenly seemed strangely unfamiliar.

His Mental Domain spread silently, enveloping the entire school.

The school was particularly peaceful on a day off. Golden sunlight painted indescribable patterns across the white walls.

From a distance, Xia Zhi waved at him.

“Gege! Over here!”

“En.”

Xia Ye walked over to her.

“How have you been lately? Your teacher said someone was bullying you. Who was it?”

Xia Zhi smiled innocently. “No one. They heard that my brother is really strong, so they stopped bothering me.”

Xia Ye studied his sister carefully.

Xia Zhi had lost her sight in the extraterrestrial contamination incident. Her eyes were now an empty, milky white. She had always been physically frail and had been carefully cared for since childhood, yet she still fell ill from time to time.

During the extraterrestrial contamination incident in District Twelve, Xia Zhi had been caught in the attack alongside him.

When the adults pulled the siblings from the rubble, Xia Zhi had been covered in blood from head to toe. The doctor at the underground clinic had said there was nothing they could do for her.

Even their experienced parents had been helpless. All they could do was let her lie in bed and rely on nutrient supplements to keep her alive.

Then, a week later, a miracle happened.

All of Xia Zhi’s injuries had healed, and the only thing she had lost was her eyesight.

Her parents had wept with joy, grateful that their daughter had survived.

Xia Zhi quickly learned to navigate by sound, and her blindness no longer caused her any significant difficulty. It was almost as though she had been born blind.

Yet Xia Ye could see nothing unusual in her eyes. They remained that same empty, milky white.

Lifeless.

There wasn’t even the slightest spark of a young girl’s natural liveliness.

By then, Xia Ye had already finished scanning the entire school with his Mental Domain.

There were only ordinary people here. He couldn’t detect the presence of any sentinels or guides.

That made sense. Students this age had yet to awaken, so there was no need to assign sentinels and guides as their teachers.

“Gege, what’s wrong?” Concern filled Xia Zhi’s voice.

“Are you too tired lately? I’m sorry. You’re so busy with your studies, and you still have to make time to come and see me.”

That familiar feeling returned. Xia Zhi’s voice hadn’t changed in the slightest. It was just as sweet and gentle as he remembered.

“I’m your brother. Coming to see you is my responsibility.” Xia Ye slowly withdrew his Mental Domain. “If anyone bothers you again, tell me directly.”

“Okay.” Xia Zhi smiled sweetly. “You’re the best big brother in the world.”

Xia Ye gave her a few simple reminders, then walked around the campus with her for a while, familiarising himself with the layout of the school.

Before leaving, he told her, “I have a mission and need to go out of town for a while. Study hard while I’m gone. If anything happens, call me. I’ll ask a friend to come and help you.”

“Thank you, gege. I’ll be good.”

Xia Zhi tilted her head curiously.

“Where are you going? Is it the place where people turn into trees?”

Xia Ye frowned slightly. “The place where people turn into trees?”

He had no idea what she was talking about.

“Oh, I heard it from one of my classmates. Something happened somewhere in the Alliance, and the people there are turning into trees.” Xia Zhi’s smile remained innocent.

“It sounds really scary. Be careful, gege. I’ll wait for you to come home.”

 

Support the author by buying the author’s works and/or throw some bombs~
(It’s very easy to buy for jjwxc because they support Paypal payments~)

We have a discord server for those who want to receive an update ping and various announcements~
Join here ^^

And please buy me some kofi if you like the translation~

Also leave some ratings if you like this series here~