Chapter 136

Chapter 136

Sun Xuan arrived to pick up his younger brother, timing it precisely with the activation of the protective shield. He pulled into the parking lot just as it opened and noticed Qinchi heading toward another car, immediately identifying the owner of the unfamiliar vehicle.

As the yellow turtle spiritual being and Sun Fushan were “hugging,” Sun Xuan parked in a vacant spot a few meters away.

Getting out of the car, Sun Xuan recalled his spiritual being.

Sun Fushan, rubbing his reddened nose, glared at his older brother. "You did that on purpose!"

Sun Xuan raised an eyebrow. "So, you’re not stuttering anymore?"

Sun Fushan didn’t want to answer and, looking at Meng Li, who was standing outside the passenger door, said awkwardly, "I thought Xu Qiao would be the first to greet me. I didn’t expect you to beat her out of the car."

Over the time the team had been together, he had become closest to Xu Qiao. He had probably spoken less to Meng Li than to Qinchi.

Meng Li: "..."

Xu Qiao, who had just opened the door to get out: "..."

Sun Xuan couldn’t detect any sign of welcome from Meng Li. Glancing through the window at Qinchi, who was sitting comfortably in the back seat, he kindly clarified his younger brother’s misunderstanding. "Maybe Meng Li just wanted to get some fresh air."

With that, he gave Xu Qiao a friendly nod.

Picking up on his meaning, Xu Qiao shot a glare at Sun Fushan and asked, "Do you want to go home first? We can get together another time."

Sun Fushan didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he asked his older brother, "Did you come just to pick me up, or is there something else?"

Sun Xuan: "I’m here on behalf of the whole family to congratulate you on your promotion and acknowledge your performance on the battlefield. Also, I’m here to tell you that everyone in the family is busy tonight and won’t have time to hold a welcome ceremony for you. I’m the only one free to have dinner with you. If you want to see Mom, Dad, and Grandpa and Grandma, it will have to be after nine o’clock at the earliest."

Sun Fushan: "...Fine, you can leave now."

Sun Xuan looked at Xu Qiao. "Are the four of you having dinner at a restaurant, or...?"

Xu Qiao: "At my place. Xiaoyang and Zhou Cheng will be there too. If you’re free, why don’t you join us?"

The neighbors in Ping’an Community had been overly enthusiastic. Xu Qiao didn’t want to have to constantly put on a smile and make small talk every time she went in and out, so she had decided to spend the New Year in the central district this year. Once things settle down, she’ll reconsider. Not going to a restaurant for dinner was for the same reason.

As for Sun Xuan, since he had been their instructor and had protected her during the beast tide, and was also Sun Fushan’s older brother, Xu Qiao wouldn’t hesitate to extend an invitation given his clear hint.

More people meant more fun at a gathering. Having an extra "add-on" would make another self-proclaimed add-on, Zhou Cheng, feel more comfortable.

Sun Xuan: "Thank you. I’ve heard Xiao Shan raved about Qinchi’s cooking. I’m finally getting a chance to taste it tonight."

Xu Qiao: "...Tonight’s dinner was prepared by Auntie Meng and Grandma Meng."

There was no way she’d let her boyfriend, who had flown all this way, miss out on dinner.

Originally, she and Meng Li had planned to prepare the meal with two cadets. When Grandma Meng heard that they were having a gathering at Xu Qiao’s place, she came over with Meng Qiuyan. She said that rather than cook separately for just the two of them, they might as well make a big meal to thank the heroes. However, the mother and daughter would take some food with them when they left, not wanting to intrude on the young people’s gathering.

Sun Xuan immediately said to Meng Li, "It’s an even greater honor to taste the cooking of Commander Meng’s family."

Meng Li: "..."

Sun Fushan, teasing his older brother, said, "You sound like a beggar. The person you should be thanking is me. Without me, you’d be drinking nutrient fluid tonight."

Sun Xuan: "I’ve found that you were more likable when you still stuttered."

At least when his younger brother typed to argue with him, he could choose not to read it.

The brothers teased each other, while Xu Qiao and Meng Li sat in the front seat.

Sun Fushan got in the car first, sitting next to Qinchi. Sun Xuan went to park his car and then joined them.

Sun Fushan faced away from his brother, focusing on talking to Qinchi: "Brother Qin has been back to the Northeast Base, right? How's the situation over there?"

Qinchi: "Thanks to Xu Qiao, we had far fewer casualties this time."

Xu Qiao: "Can you just speak normally?"

Qinchi: "It's the truth. There are already discussions on the forum about building a monument in your honor." The old man told him.

The lotus flower happily poked out from Xu Qiao's head, its blossom facing the back seat: "A monument? Are they going to carve statues for us?"

Qinchi: "Yes, if you all agree."

Sun Xuan: "In addition to expressing gratitude to Xu Qiao, it's also a way to curry favor with her. After all, there will be many more beast tides, and the four bases all need Xu Qiao's lotus pond to help hold them back."

Xu Qiao: "Can we change the subject? I'm already a newbie driver; don't put more pressure on me."

Sun Fushan was the first to cooperate, asking Qinchi: "It's already the 24th day of the twelfth lunar month (a few days before Chinese New Year). Are you planning to spend the New Year here, or will you go back on New Year's Eve?"

Qinchi: "I'll return after the New Year."

Sun Fushan: "Wow, you're going to spend the New Year with Xu Qiao! That's great, but if you don't go back for the New Year, won't your family be upset?"

Qinchi: "No, my father is already considering assigning me to the Southeast Base."

Sun Xuan: "..."

No wonder Marshal Qin has such foresight!

When they returned to the villa, Meng Qiuyan and her daughter had already left, and the sumptuous dinner was temporarily stored in Lu Yang's spatial crystal core.

There were seven people at the gathering: Xu Qiao, Qinchi, Sun Fushan, and Sun Xuan were the talkative ones, while Zhou Cheng, Lu Yang, and Meng Li were even more taciturn than the others.

Sun Xuan was curious about Zhou Cheng's beast transformation: "Qinchi can use beast transformation in battle. If you hand over control of your body to the wolverine during beast transformation, will it cooperate in the fight and then return control to you?"

He had secretly tried it. Without prior beast transformation, the spiritual being couldn't control the body, so it just moved slowly like a tortoise, which wouldn't be useful in battle. If defense was needed, the tortoise shell was enough.

Zhou Cheng, now the center of attention: "I've never tried it. Should we give it a try?"

Lu Yang: "It's your body to decide. If you don't want to try it, Major General Sun won't force you."

Sun Xuan smiled: "Right, I'm just purely curious, with no ill intent."

Zhou Cheng understood, and he also understood the significance of this for all psychics: "I want to try."

Xu Qiao: "Let's finish eating first. We have so many dishes, and I don't want anything to go to waste."

Before going to pick up Qinchi and Sun Fushan, Xu Qiao had specially cooked a dish of candied apples for Zhou Cheng, which was now placed in front of him.

Noticing Xu Qiao's hopeful look, Zhou Cheng quickly picked up his chopsticks. The sugar threads were still connected to the apples on the plate when the wolverine spiritual being suddenly appeared, jumping onto the sofa and lying down.

Just because it likes raw apples doesn't mean it enjoys candied apples!

Xu Qiao: "..."

Qin Chi used his wind manipulation powers to move the sugar-coated apples in front of Zhou Cheng to his own side and said with a smile, "There are no outsiders here, pick the dishes you like, no need to force yourself."

Zhou Cheng's face turned as red as a ripe apple.

Xu Qiao shot Lu Yang a glance. "Why didn't you tell me Zhou Cheng doesn't like sweets?"

Lu Yang replied, "There's no such dish in the cafeteria, and I didn't know he doesn't like it."

Zhou Cheng, his face still red, said, "Actually, the sugary coating is pretty good, and the apples aren't bad either."

The wolverine lifted its head, its furry face twisted with disdain.

Xu Qiao sighed. "Alright, I won't make this dish again. I'll change it to honey-glazed chicken legs next time."

The wolverine's eyes lit up immediately.

After dinner, the men went to the kitchen to wash the dishes, while Xu Qiao and Meng Li moved the furniture in the living room to make space for Zhou Cheng and the wolverine to switch bodies.

Everything was prepared, and Zhou Cheng said nervously, "Should we change the location? I'm afraid it might damage the villa."

Sun Xuan replied, "There are four generals around you now; even if you break something, Xu Qiao's villa won't be damaged."

Zhou Cheng awkwardly rubbed his head, then closed his eyes, trying to let the wolverine take over his body, asking for its help for the first time without any evasive emotions.

In the next second, the nearly 1.8-meter-tall cadet disappeared, replaced by a wolverine's physical body over a meter tall and about three meters long.

For psychics with animal spirit forms, the higher the psychic's level, the larger the spirit form's normal size. Zhou Cheng was an A-level psychic, so his normal size should have been even larger, but because he had been malnourished for the first sixteen years of his life, his spirit form was only the size of a normal wolverine when it first awakened. Although Zhou Cheng had received enough nutritional supplements at The Second School, his physical form had grown to a more normal size, but his spirit form's growth hadn't kept up, and there was still much room for it to grow.

Surprisingly, the wolverine didn't rip through Zhou Cheng's clothes, though they were now stretched tight around its bulk, its two hind legs confined in the pants, and the waistband of the pants had to be moved to the hip position, making it look...

Sun Fushan couldn't hold back his laughter, doubling over with a chuckle.

The wolverine, seeing this, bared its teeth and suddenly pounced toward Sun Fushan.

Sun Xuan stepped in front of his brother and, seeing the wolverine stop as well, asked, "Do you want to attack Xiao Shan, or are you angry because he laughed at you?"

The wolverine formed the words, "Angry!"

Sun Xuan asked, "What do you want to do to get back at him?"

The wolverine, now free of the restrictive clothes, growled, "I'm gonna take his pants off!"

Sun Xuan stepped aside.

Sun Fushan hesitated, then decisively hid behind Qin Chi.

Qin Chi looked at Xu Qiao and Meng Li. "Why don't you two go upstairs first?"

Even if the wolverine couldn't get back at Sun Fushan, Zhou Cheng would be left without any clothes when he returned to human form.

Xu Qiao smiled and led Meng Li upstairs, only coming back down after getting a message from Qin Chi.

Zhou Cheng was already gone, having reportedly returned to his room wrapped in a bathrobe offered by Qin Chi. The Sun brothers were about to leave, and before leaving, Sun Xuan asked Meng Li, "Should we give you a ride home?"

Meng Li, who lived not far from Xu Qiao's place, replied, "No need to go out of your way, I'll just walk back."

Sun Xuan didn’t push the issue.

The villa felt eerily quiet once their friends left. When Qinchi closed the front door, Lu Yang immediately said, "I’m hitting the hay. Catch you in the morning."

He bolted upstairs like he was terrified of being a third wheel.

The memory of their last alone time made Xu Qiao’s cheeks flush. Without looking at him, she started up the stairs and said, "I’m going back to my room. You should rest early."

There were no footsteps behind her, only a line of flame text flying over: "Keep the door unlocked for me. See you in an hour."

Xu Qiao pretended not to notice, but the message tilted to match her gaze.

Xu Qiao gritted her teeth, stopped mid-stair, and glared down at him from above. She replied with water text: "Both of them are A-level cadets; they’ll hear every sound."

Even though it happened in the water last time, Xu Qiao knew exactly how strong he was.

Qinchi: "I just want to hold you while we sleep. My breathing won’t be that loud, I promise."

Xu Qiao: "..." She didn’t respond, leaving the message hanging in the air.

The silence between them stretched, thick with unspoken words.