Chapter 334: Hint

Chapter 334: The Hint

Ji Xiuyun followed the guide into the guide's private room.

Lu Liu handed him the prepared route map: "The red icons mark the ventilation shafts, and the blue ones indicate the underground gates. As for route planning, you're more experienced than I am."

Ji Xiuyun accepted it cautiously. "Right."

He lowered his gaze to scan through it.

The map was detailed and aligned with architectural principles. Based on Ji Xiuyun's experience, it was likely authentic.

Such top-secret information was handed to him so casually by the guide.

Between readings, Ji Xiuyun couldn't help but glance up at Lu Liu.

The guide sat by the windowsill, as indifferent as ever while gazing at the starry sky.

Meanwhile, Lu Liu was actively chatting in the group.

"Hosts, I'm done, I've met an NPC even more impossible to handle than you all, QAQ."

"I force you to deliver lines, and no matter how uncooperative you are, at least you manage to grunt out a few words—even Xiao Shao! He still muttered a couple of lines!"

Xiao Shao had been his least cooperative host in the early stages, but even he had at least scared Qi Yan a bit.

The unfairly targeted Xiao Shao protested, "Hey, aren't there others with lower scores than me? Why single me out? @Wen Xian @Ye Wang, why not drag these two into this?"

Ye Wang: "Leave me out of this. Unlike you deadbeats, I'm still alive, so the contract doesn't bind me."

Xiao Shao shot back, "Fine, you win. What about this one? @Wen Xian, care to step forward?"

Lu Liu: "Don't @ him! He actually gave me chocolate!"

This was the host who had offered the most snacks—Lu Liu wouldn’t tolerate anyone badmouthing him!

Xiao Shao: "..."

Wen Xian: *shrugs* *shrugs again*

To prevent the argument from escalating, Wen Xian intervened, "So, Lu Liu, just how bad is this guy? Worse than me?"

"Pretty much the same." Lu Liu wiped sweat. "I put the words in his mouth, and he still didn’t know what to say."

After ranting about Ji Xiuyun's "infamous" behavior, Lu Liu concluded, "Honestly, it's just... seriously, how does that saying go again? Jiang Jiang?"

He poked Jiang Xun. "That phrase your teacher used to scold you?"

Jiang Xun: "."

He once again realized the system's language skills needed work. "You can't carve rotten wood."

Lu Liu: "Right! A complete blockhead! Utterly hopeless! Can't take a hint! And he’s supposed to be the Dark Sentinels' strategist? The right-hand man? With brains like that, the Dark Sentinels are doomed. I’ve never had to deal with such a difficult NPC before!"

"True."

"Ridiculous, even worse than me."

The low-scoring hosts in the group wiped sweat and jumped in nervously.

The highest-scoring host, Xie Shu, wasn't one for group chat. He preferred lurking quietly, watching their conversations, but then unexpectedly jumped in.

Xie Shu: "@Lu Liu, hold up, quit whining for a sec. Your mission might be in trouble."

Lu Liu froze instantly, like he'd been caught red-handed: "!!!"

He absolutely trusted the judgment of Xie Shu, the all-business CEO.

Xie Shu: "Even though it was just to stick to the script, you helped too obviously, Lu Liu. Did you think about what happens to your plot if Ji Xiuyun speaks well of you in front of Qi Yi?"

Bai Yu quietly thumbs-upped Xie Shu.

Lu Liu: "QAQ?"

...What?

He sent a sobbing emoji.

Everyone in the group choked simultaneously, their minds conjuring the image of a teary-eyed little character on the screen.

Lu Liu: "Xie, Xie Shu, is there still a way to fix this? QAQ?"

Xie·Reliable·Shu lived up to his reputation as always. He said gently, "Hold your horses, 66. Explain the world setting and plot to me in detail again."

After Lu Liu finished his spiel, Xie Shu asked, "Your world has psychic suggestion, right?"

"Place a psychic suggestion on the NPC in front of you, preventing him from talking about this matter to your protagonist. Then place another psychic suggestion on your protagonist, making him unable to listen if the NPC brings it up. Since your plot originally required you to place a psychic suggestion on the protagonist anyway, this just fits perfectly."

Lu Liu, the lightbulb went off.

He hammered out: "But why place two separate suggestions on two people?"

Xie Shu: "I like backup plans when I do things."

Lu Liu: "!"

Xie Shu, coming in clutch!

With the solution in hand, Lu Liu logged off, problem solved.

Ji Xiuyun was done reading. Lu Liu glanced at him and continued the plot: "Next Tuesday, Valentine’s Day, there’s a lantern festival in the main city. Most guides will go out with their sentinels, so the White Tower’s defenses will be relatively weak. Mr. Ji, you catch my drift."

If Ji Xiuyun still didn’t get it after such obvious hints, Lu Liu would be ready to strangle him.

Ji Xiuyun was sweating bullets: "Yes, I understand."

In their original plan, D-Day was set for then.

In the original story, Ji Xiuyun was supposed to seduce Lu Liu. As their feelings deepened, he would invite Lu Liu out to see the lanterns on Valentine’s Day, then tag along with the guide back to the White Tower naturally that night.

His companions would also seek out lone guides, attempting to infiltrate the White Tower.

When the night grew deep, the two would, as usual, be hot and heavy. When the clock struck midnight, after Lu Liu fell asleep, Ji Xiuyun would retrieve a sedative needle hidden in the roses, inject it into the guide’s veins to knock him out cold, and steal his iris and fingerprint data.

Then, he would rendezvous with the other Dark Sentinels who had sneaked into the White Tower, open the prison cells, and spring Qi Yi through the air vents.

But now, Lu Liu had perfectly anticipated their plan.

Ji Xiuyun’s shirt was already soaked through with cold sweat.

He folded the map and stuffed it into the breast pocket of his suit. After several attempts, he barely managed to stuff it in. "Master Lu Liu, thank you for your assistance. If there's nothing else, I'll take my leave now."

He didn’t want to stay near the Guide for even a second longer.

Lu Liu: "Wait."

As he spoke, he opened a mental group chat in his mind and rapidly sent a long message.

The Guide's indifferent gaze turned toward him. "Summon your Spirit and grant me access to your Spirit Sea. I need to implant a suggestion."

Ji Xiuyun's situation was different from the leopard's. When the leopard and Qi Yi reestablished their bond, Lu Liu was already dead, so he could freely stroke the leopard. But there was a long stretch of time between Ji Xiuyun rescuing Qi Yi and Lu Liu's death.

Now that Ji Xiuyun was refusing to play his part, Lu Liu had to drag him through it. If Ji Xiuyun later said a few words in front of Qi Yi and accidentally painted Lu Liu—the primary villain—as a hero, how would the plot proceed?

The only solution was to use a psychic suggestion to force him into silence.

Ji Xiuyun involuntarily stepped back, his back hit the door.

No Sentinel would willingly accept a psychic suggestion from a Guide, let alone a fiercely independent Dark Sentinel.

Ji Xiuyun: "This..."

Lu Liu stared at him calmly. "You know damn well that without my permission, you can't leave the White Tower."

"..."

His lips twisted into a bitter smile. "You're right."

Now, he was utterly at the Guide's mercy. Whatever the Guide intended to do, he had no means to resist.

A soft white glow emanated from him, coalescing into a pure white fox. The fox timidly approached the Guide and offered its tail.

Lu Liu grabbed it.

He silently tested the fur between his fingers and concluded, "Not as nice as scritching a big cat's chin."

Just before the fox could bristle, Lu Liu closed his eyes and began implanting the suggestion.

The wider the gap in their ranks, the more potent the suggestion. Ji Xiuyun was an S-rank, so Lu Liu repeated the process several times. As he worked, his mind drifted: "I wonder what my Spirit is?"

Lu Liu had tried calling it forth before but always failed. He consulted the texts, which stated: "The first attempt to release a Spirit often fails. A relaxed and pleasant environment is needed to ease the mind, and the Spirit will emerge unconsciously."

He had tried during baths and before sleep, but to no avail. A shame, but he had no choice but to let it go.

After all, the plot didn’t require his Spirit to appear. It didn’t matter.

Ten minutes later, the psychic suggestion was complete.

Ji Xiuyun shut his eyes in pain, his voice trembling before he finally managed to speak hoarsely, "Sir... what exactly did you implant in me?"

Lu Liu saw no reason to hide it. "After you rescue Qi Yi, you must not speak of today’s events—or mention me."

The moment the words left his mouth, Ji Xiuyun abruptly looked up, his eyes darkened with unreadable emotion.

He rasped, "Why?"

Lu Liu thought to himself, *Why else? Because Xie Shu, the ever-reliable, suggested it.* But he couldn’t say that, so he maintained his cold expression. "No reason."

Ji Xiuyun remained silent.

After a moment, he suddenly chuckled dryly: "So that's how it is. I understand now. It's truly enviable that he can receive such favor from a guide."

Lu Liu: "?"

What do you understand? What nonsense?

The guide was utterly perplexed and gave him a doubtful stare.

But from Ji Xiuyun's perspective, the guide's blue eyes remained as calm and indifferent as ever.

Ji Xiuyun slightly bowed: "...I will respect your wishes. I shall return as promised next Tuesday. Once again, thank you for your help."

He pushed through the door and left.

Meanwhile, Lu Liu checked the time and decided to go find the big cat.

There wasn't much time left to pet the leopard. The thought of not being able to stroke the big cat's head once Ji Xiuyun rescued Qi Yi made Lu Liu feel somewhat down.

Inside Qi Yi's Spirit Sea, the cheetah was waiting impatiently.

It skillfully nudged an empty cola cup back and forth with its paw.

This had become its new toy.

Qi Yi's Spirit Sea was pitch black, not even a single hair growing there. With nothing to entertain itself, the cheetah was bored every day and often resorted to biting its own tail. However, when the beautiful guide arrived, bringing roasted chicken and cola—even the empty cup could be turned into a ball—the cheetah adored it immensely.

Still, pushing the cola cup around was becoming tiresome. The cheetah had already jumped on and off the sofa fifty times and destroyed two cola cups, so it handled the last one very carefully. If the guide didn't come today, it would have absolutely nothing left to play with.

So, would the guide come today?

The cheetah waited eagerly.

Suddenly, its eyes brightened.

A familiar ripple appeared, and the guide materialized beside the sofa. He sat down to choose a movie and glanced at the cheetah in surprise: "You didn't hide this time?"

Usually, the leopard would hide in the darkness.

Cheetah: "Meow!"

—No more hiding!

Joyfully, it leaped onto the sofa, slid to a stop beside the guide, then sat properly and offered its head.

Lu Liu, satisfied, stroked the big cat's head and scratched under its chin.

The cheetah narrowed its eyes contentedly, but before it could start purring, it suddenly caught a strange scent on the guide's fingertips.

The smell of another Spirit!

The cheetah felt somewhat irritated.

So when the guide reached out again, the cheetah opened its mouth and suddenly licked his fingertips.

Gross!

Only after the foreign scent had completely disappeared, replaced entirely by its own, did the cheetah happily nuzzle against him.

Author's Note:

Ji Xiuyun (sudden realization, enlightenment, envy)

Cheetah (jealousy mode activated)