Chapter 82: What is Your Quantum Beast Like?

Chapter 82: What is Your Quantum Beast Like?

Because they couldn't determine if there were any hollows beneath the sand layer, when the team set off again, they formed groups as they did when climbing the snow mountain—three people per group, consisting of senior, intermediate, and junior students, each holding one end of a long rope, with the other end tied to the cart at the front.

Everyone was very cautious. Chu Ya needed to detect traps on the ground and couldn't take Shen Juanjuan with him, so he handed him over to Wang Chengcai and Liu Zhen to watch.

"I don't want to, I want to go with you," Shen Juanjuan clung to Chu Ya's waist, refusing to let go.

Chu Ya picked up the water bottle from his chest, unscrewed the cap, and gave him a few sips, then leaned down to whisper in his ear, "You're so brave; you need to protect them. What if they fall into a hole? You have to be there to support them."

"What about you?"

"I need to find those traps. I need to protect you so that you can protect them."

"I want to go too. I want to protect you, and I want to stay with you."

No matter what Chu Ya said, Shen Juanjuan wouldn't listen, dragging himself along the sand. Seeing Chu Ya looking around, he even reminded him, "There are no clothes hangers here, no metal ones or plastic ones."

Chu Ya lifted him up, leaning close to his ear and whispered, "If you run, I'll break your legs with a wire hanger."

"There are no hangers, no hangers at all..." Shen Juanjuan kicked his legs against the sand, but seeing Chu Ya look down at him, he suddenly remembered something and stopped mid-sentence.

"Remember? Whenever I say this, you wait patiently without crying or fussing."

Shen Juanjuan still hung onto Chu Ya, but he didn't continue to make a scene. Chu Ya straightened him up.

"You must let me see you," Shen Juanjuan said reluctantly.

"Alright, I'll walk in front, and you can always see me." Chu Ya tightened the cap on his water bottle. "Go, we each have our roles."

Chu Ya walked at the front of the team, releasing a small thread of mental energy. Whenever he detected something suspicious, he would prod it with a stick, quickly finding seven or eight traps. Each time he found one, a supervisor would stand next to it as a marker, guarding the trap until the team passed.

"There are many traps here. There should be several Mutants. Everyone needs to be careful," Chu Ya said to Rong Chen.

As he spoke, he naturally glanced toward the middle of the team. Shen Juanjuan and Liu Sijin held hands, walking between Liu Zhen and Wang Chengcai, their eyes fixed on Chu Ya.

Receiving Chu Ya's gaze, Shen Juanjuan's eyes lit up, and he instinctively started to leave the line to go to him. Chu Ya quickly gestured to stop him and mouthed, "You need to protect them."

Shen Juanjuan looked around at the others and slowly retreated.

Chu Ya detected another trap and stood by it, waiting for the cart to pass. The plastic bucket on the cart still had more than half its water, which made everyone feel reassured and allowed the supervisors pulling the cart to chat.

"If the lake has disappeared, we'll turn back and find a new route. This water will be enough for us to return."

"The water isn't a problem, but the children are tired from walking."

"It's okay. We walk slowly, and the sand isn't too loose or tight, making it comfortable to walk on. They find it easier than walking in the forest."

Chu Ya listened to their conversation and waited for a supervisor to run up and take his place before continuing forward.

But just as he turned, his gaze fell on the horizon, and he suddenly stopped.

In the distance, the sky and the sand seemed to merge into a murky yellow, spreading rapidly toward them like a thick, dark yellow paint.

Chu Ya's pupils dilated, and he took an involuntary step back, bumping into the cart behind him. He then turned to Rong Chen and urgently said, "Sandstorm."

The desert usually had little wind, and the probability of encountering a sandstorm was low, yet they had somehow run into one. Rong Chen looked at the distance, her face gradually turning pale, while the other supervisors stood dumbfounded, unsure of what to do.

"Quick, hide! Get everyone to hide behind the sand dunes!" Chu Ya shouted, startling Rong Chen and the supervisors into action. They immediately blew their whistles and shouted at the students to find shelter.

Chu Ya rushed into the team, scooped up Shen Juanjuan, and ran toward the nearest sand dune. Wang Chengcai and Liu Zhen also carried Lin Duozhi and Liu Sijin, respectively, following closely behind.

As he ran, Chu Ya looked around. He saw the students running, but there were no large sand dunes in this area. Some students crouched behind small sand mounds, hugging their knees and burying their heads, with half their bodies exposed.

The junior students were even more at a loss, being led around aimlessly by the seniors, eventually standing still, nervously clutching their clothes.

Chu Ya stopped, and Liu Zhen and Wang Chengcai also halted. "What's wrong?"

"This won't work. Too many people can't find places to hide; they definitely won't escape," Chu Ya muttered.

The yellow haze at the horizon was rapidly approaching, stirring up strong winds across the sand. The supervisors blew their whistles with all their might, directing the students to find shelter. The students, buffeted by the wind, stumbled and squinted, searching for hiding spots.

Chu Ya suddenly shouted, "Silver Wolf!"

The Black Wolf charged through the sandstorm, carrying three junior students on its back and one in its mouth.

"Put the people down first, then dig out the traps we found earlier! Quickly, open the holes!"

The Black Wolf obeyed without hesitation, dropping the junior students and rushing to the left to dig out a trap. Chu Ya summoned his mental energy, raising his hands to form a pillar in the air, which he then slammed into the sand.

The sand sank with a whoosh, revealing a winding underground passage. The mental energy then extended along the passage, killing several Mutants that were hiding.

"Everyone, enter the passage! Jump down quickly, into the passage!" Chu Ya turned and shouted.

The wind and sand were everywhere, drowning out his voice in the howling wind. Wang Chengcai and Liu Zhen also shouted, "Quick! Jump into the ground, jump into the ground!"

Shen Juanjuan and the other children, blinded by the wind, closed their eyes and shouted along.

The students, who had been hiding randomly, finally noticed the passage and rushed to the nearest entrance. The Black Wolf continuously dug open the traps, and the students jumped in one by one. However, the wind and sand grew stronger, and some distant children, after taking a few steps, were blown back, tumbling on the sand.

Chu Ya pushed Shen Juanjuan into Wang Chengcai's arms and gave a brief command, "You, hide quickly." Then he rushed toward the group of junior students who were struggling to stand.

Wang Chengcai also took a few steps forward, but another child was suddenly thrust into his arms. Liu Zhen darted past him, her voice carried away by the wind, "Take these three... hide... I'll help..."

Wang Chengcai looked at Chu Ya and Liu Zhen's backs, then at the approaching sandstorm, and finally at the two squinting children in his arms. He finally turned and ran toward the nearest trap entrance, carrying two and carrying one on his back.

Chu Ya ran, lifting the children and throwing them backward. The Black Wolf caught them mid-air and swiftly rushed to the trap entrance, shaking its head to toss them inside.

Liu Zhen also dug out two intermediate students from a sand mound, pulling them toward the trap entrance without checking below, pushing them in, and then turning to find more people.

Everyone moved quickly; no students were left in this area. The administrators stumbled toward the trapdoor, dragging away the nearest carts and pushing them directly into the tunnel. Liu Zhen was still searching for people when she was caught by the Black Wolf, who dragged her to the trapdoor and threw her down.

A sandstorm was approaching, with sand particles swirling up into the sky, visibility suddenly dropping, and the light dimming. Chu Ya covered his mouth and nose with his clothes, struggling through the sandstorm toward the tunnel while releasing his mental power for one last search.

To his surprise, he found a small body curled up behind a pile of sand.

"Silver Wolf!"

The Black Wolf appeared in the sandstorm. When it reached Chu Ya, he climbed onto its back and pointed in a direction.

The Black Wolf charged toward the pile of sand on the left. As they passed, Chu Ya bent down and pulled up a young student who was about to be buried by the sand, then held him tightly in his arms. The Black Wolf continued running without stopping, leaping into the tunnel just before the storm fully hit.

Inside the tunnel, it was dim, and the students were huddled together, coughing loudly. Rong Chen kept shouting hoarsely from somewhere, "This way, that side has no roof, this side does, come this way."

Chu Ya dismounted from the Black Wolf, carrying the young student deeper into the tunnel, and slowly sat against the wall.

His mouth and nose were full of sand, his throat so dry he couldn't make a sound. Remembering that the young student hadn't made a sound throughout, he placed him on his knees and took off the water bottle hanging around his neck to clean his mouth and nose.

"Cough, cough, cough." After half a bottle of water, the young student finally started coughing, and Chu Ya breathed a sigh of relief.

"Whimper, whimper..."

"Don't cry, don't cry, it's okay now." Chu Ya gently patted his back.

Sand particles collided in the air, making sharp sounds like countless demons passing by, causing the entire tunnel to tremble. Fortunately, the sandstorm came fiercely but left quickly, soon the noise diminished, and the wind gradually stopped.

The desert returned to calm, but the students were frightened, some huddled together crying, others calling out for the administrators in shock.

The energy lamps lit up, and the administrators began taking attendance. Chu Ya handed the young student over to an administrator.

"First-year middle class, come here, let Administrator Wu take attendance."

"Second-year elementary class, come out, don't stay inside, come, come, we all come out, to Chief Administrator Chen, let me count you."

...

"Shen Miaomiao."

"I'm here."

"Shen Wangwang."

"We're all here."

Chu Ya hugged Shen Juanjuan, asking, "Were you scared just now?"

"Not scared." Shen Juanjuan reached out to touch Chu Ya's face, carefully brushing away the sand and dust, "The young students were scared and cried, I told them not to be afraid, to go inside, not to stay outside, to go inside. Two of them fell and couldn't get up, so I pulled them and dragged them inside."

Chu Ya touched his head with his chin, "Very brave."

Shen Juanjuan wrapped his arms around Chu Ya's neck and looked at the Black Wolf lying beside them.

The Black Wolf noticed his gaze and slightly turned its head, glancing at him sideways.

Shen Juanjuan withdrew his gaze and stared straight ahead, "I saw you, you threw a few people in."

The Black Wolf moved, still looking sideways, but its ears perked up.

Shen Juanjuan mumbled, "...You're very brave too."

The Black Wolf's face seemed to say, "Is that it?" It turned its head away disdainfully but smiled subtly where Shen Juanjuan couldn't see.

After the administrators counted all the students and found no one missing, they led everyone up the slope at the end of the tunnel to the surface.

Next to the slope lay the corpse of a sand wheel bug mutant. The children could see it as they passed. Some who were afraid of bugs shrank back, and Rong Chen and two administrators stood there to block the view of the corpse.

Two students who had entered the differentiation period also leaned forward curiously. Rong Chen felt a chill, suddenly remembering that they were forming quantum beasts at this time, and became extremely cautious, shouting sternly, "No looking! No one is allowed to look!"

"I'm not afraid of this," a student muttered.

Rong Chen blocked even more firmly, "Can't you think of something nice? Think of those little cats and dogs, think of those little monkeys—"

"Little monkeys? Like the mutant monkey we fought last night?"

"Not that one! That's an ugly monkey! Don't think of that either!" Rong Chen waved his hand repeatedly, "Quick, quick, keep moving, no lingering here."

As Chu Ya carried Shen Juanjuan past, Rong Chen sighed, "There are no animals in the orphanage, the children haven't seen much else, who knows what kind of quantum beasts will appear."

"The animals in the orphanage?" Shen Juanjuan suddenly perked up, "We have lots, big cockroaches and small cockroaches, big rats and small rats."

Rong Chen felt even more frustrated, but Chu Ya unslung Shen Juanjuan's backpack and took out a sketchbook, "Uncle Chen, show them this, it contains various animals I've drawn."

Rong Chen took it and flipped through it, his face lighting up, "These drawings are great, these forms are so handsome, these would make excellent quantum beasts, I'll show them right away."

"Also, I'll explain the details of their shapes tonight."

Everyone left the tunnel and emerged onto the surface, finding the desert had changed dramatically. Several dunes that were originally there had vanished, and new sand hills had formed where there was once flat ground.

The administrators were digging out the carts half-buried in the sand, and someone exclaimed, "Oh no, our water is gone."

When the sandstorm hit, the carts were thrown into the tunnel. Other items were fine, but the lids of the water buckets had been jolted open, and the water had all leaked out.

The students didn't realize the severity of losing their backup water supply, only chattering excitedly about their experiences. The administrators, however, all changed expressions, and even Rong Chen was at a loss, all looking at Chu Ya.

Chu Ya put Shen Juanjuan down on the sand, "Go find Lin Duozhi and see if they're hurt."

Shen Juanjuan responded and ran off quickly.

Chu Ya gazed into the distance, and the administrators did not disturb him, watching his every move anxiously. No one realized that now, regardless of the situation, they first waited for Chu Ya to decide, as if this twelve-year-old boy was their mainstay, and everything needed to follow his lead.

Chu Ya furrowed his brow in thought, then said after a moment, "Since we’ve run out of backup water, the only way now is to keep moving forward. At this pace, we should reach that freshwater lake in about two hours."

"What if the lake’s dried up?" asked one of the managers.

Chu Ya replied without hesitation, "I’ll make sure we find water."

He spoke firmly, his gaze steady and calm, inexplicably inspiring trust and reassurance. Rong Chen clenched his teeth and said, "Then let's go, let's keep moving."

Chu Ya added, "I remember the instructor once said that there wouldn’t be more than ten sand scorpions in a single patch of desert. The nest we just destroyed was probably theirs. We can move ahead without worrying about falling into another trap."

After walking for a while, Chu Ya confirmed that there were no more traps ahead and took Shen Juanjuan’s hand. Listening to Shen Juanjuan's chatter, he recalled Rong Chen's earlier words.

They had been on the move constantly, and he hadn't let Shen Juanjuan sketch the raccoon. He worried it might hinder the formation of his Quantum Beast.

For Sentinels and Guides in the differentiation period, the shaping of their Quantum Beast was key in determining when they would successfully break through. If the Quantum Beast was slow to form, the breakthrough would be delayed. Some spent years before succeeding.

Chu Ya’s breakthrough had taken a modest five months. Shen Juanjuan had only been differentiating for just over two months, so his Quantum Beast was likely still forming.

Thinking this, Chu Ya asked Shen Juanjuan, "Do you know what your Quantum Beast looks like?"

Shen Juanjuan immediately raised his hands to the sides of his head, "It has two round little ears." Then he framed his eyes with his fingers, "It also has two big, shiny black eyes, and its fur is smooth and shiny..."

Chu Ya wasn’t convinced by this rehearsed response and probed further, "When you drift off at night and roam around, haven't you entered your own mental domain?"

He’d never brought up Shen Juanjuan’s mental domain before, fearing that he might not understand it was his own, which could lead to confusion and interfere with the formation of his Quantum Beast.

As expected, Shen Juanjuan looked confused, "My own mental domain..."

"It’s a place that feels perfect the moment you see it. No one needs to tell you; you know it belongs to you and has nothing to do with anyone else."

Shen Juanjuan’s face lit up, "I know where you're talking about! There’s so much grass there, all the kind you love."

"The kind I love? So much grass?"

"Yeah, when you brought me to the welfare home, you always said on the way how nice it would be if this place were covered in grass." Shen Juanjuan’s tone changed, his expression full of curiosity, "What kind of grass?" Then he turned his head in another direction, his tone and expression shifting again, "Just green grass, covering this whole area, stretching all the way to the horizon..."

As Shen Juanjuan said this last part, he raised his hands and stretched them forward, his eyes gazing into the distance, his expression a blend of nostalgia and yearning.

Chu Ya recognized the imitation but knew he wasn’t that dramatic. Watching Shen Juanjuan close his eyes in rapture and sigh deeply, Chu Ya’s mouth twitched.

"Such beautiful grass, how can there be such beautiful grass..."

Chu Ya interrupted him, "So you've seen that grassland?"

Shen Juanjuan opened his eyes, his expression serious as he nodded firmly, "Yes, I go to your place to play every night, then return to my grassland to play."

Chu Ya now knew the grassland was Shen Juanjuan’s mental domain, and a subtle feeling arose in him. He never imagined his casual remarks would shape Shen Juanjuan’s mental domain.

He continued, "Have you noticed anything on that grassland? Anything strange?"

"Strange things..."

Chu Ya whispered, "Like a big cocoon?"

"Big..."

"Round, with slightly pointed ends, like the silk that wrapped you all today. Think about Tang Yuanyuan’s appearance; that’s a cocoon."

But Shen Juanjuan's attention was caught by something else, and he started giggling, "Tang Yuanyuan looked so funny, hahaha, he only had two eyes left, hahaha..."

Chu Ya paused his questioning, waiting for Shen Juanjuan to finish laughing before continuing, "Have you seen that cocoon? What you should have seen is a cluster of white light, and you can make out its general shape."

He himself had been able to see the rudimentary form of the cocoon about a month after his differentiation, like a cluster of condensed light. But his mother had said that his Quantum Beast formed faster than others, and Shen Juanjuan probably couldn't see it yet.

Shen Juanjuan was already playing with a small handful of fine sand, scooping and pouring it between his hands. Hearing Chu Ya's question, he replied half-heartedly, "Yeah, I saw it, a big cocoon."

"You saw it?" Chu Ya's heart skipped a beat.

"Yep, a big cocoon, with my Raccoon living inside, who loves to pull me in and scrub and wash me..." Shen Juanjuan held his hands up to Chu Ya, "Look at all this sand I grabbed, when I squeeze it tight, it slips through my fingers."

Hearing that the Raccoon was totally living inside the cocoon and was scrubbing and washing him, Chu Ya felt that Shen Juanjuan was talking nonsense. He originally wanted to ask more, but Shen Juanjuan was already playing with the handful of sand, and it seemed he wouldn't pay attention to any further questions, so he let it go.

"Then tell me what the Raccoon looks like."

Shen Juanjuan raised both hands, clutching the sand beside his head, "It has two small round ears."

Chu Ya knew his answer was a rote response, but he could only repeat it mechanically.

"And what else?"

"It also has two round, black eyes."

...