Chapter 338: Relax

Chapter 338: Letting Loose

Lu Liu endured for a long time but finally couldn't hold back, snarling, "Your grudge is with me. Why vent on the leopard?"

"..."

Lu Liu frowned. "I was the one who tied you up, slipped mental suggestions into you, and put you through hell in the White Tower. Why are you kicking the leopard?"

"???"

Qi Yi's head swam with question marks.

He was supposed to be the one demanding answers, yet under the guide's furious gaze, he found himself stepping back half a pace, inexplicably feeling a twinge of guilt.

The hell?

At the same time, his Spirit Sea stirred.

Qi Yi looked down and saw his Spirit still mooning the guide, but its tail had unconsciously twitched upward, conveying emotions of "smugness" and "happiness" to its owner.

Qi Yi: "?"

—What exactly are you so smug and happy about?

Qi Yi coughed, forcing himself to shift his attention away from his Spirit and back to the guide, continuing his threat. "Guide, stuck in this mess, I don't think you've fully grasped your situation yet."

Lu Liu remained expressionless, his face a frozen mask.

—He would have liked to act scared, but his acting skills didn't allow it, so he had to rely on the Facial Paralysis System to fake it.

Qi Yi: "..."

After delivering such a fierce warning, the guide's reaction made him feel totally deflated.

Seeing that the cheetah, still flopped on the ground, was of no use, Qi Yi had no choice but to draw the pistol from his waist. It was a small-caliber handgun—not lethal with a single shot, but capable of putting a hole in a limb and making the soft guide cry out in pain.

Qi Yi lazily spun the gun in his fingers, the safety still on, spinning it carelessly before grinning. "Guide, ever seen one of these before?"

Lu Liu's stone-faced look didn't change.

He thought to himself that he'd seen plenty—Major General Lanen of the Insectoids was a crack shot, capable of hitting moving targets in space and taking out the Imperial Crown Prince's head from a kilometer away. Su Zhu Lin You wasn't bad either, and later Ye Wang and Jiang Qi could all make guns dance. Lu Liu had even seen the barrels of planet-cracker artillery—how could he not have seen a gun before?

But since Qi Yi asked, Lu Liu obediently bit back his pride and replied, "No, I haven't."

Qi Yi adjusted the gun, pulling the safety pin with a soft click as he racked the slide. The Sentinel warned, "Guide, we’re not like those Sentinels who coddle you and plead for psychological comfort. You should know what kind of place this is—and who I am."

He grabbed Lu Liu by the collar, forcing those ice-blue eyes to meet his own, his golden-brown gaze narrowing slightly. "Everything you did to me in the White Tower back then—I'll return it all to you, without missing a single thing."

Lu Liu: "..."

The guide shot Qi Yi a sidelong glare, swallowing back his complaints.

Qi Yi was skipping lines again!

Large chunks of threats and intimidation had been skipped, leaving only a few limp warnings. None of the scripted actions—pinning him against the wall by the shoulders, jamming the gun to his collarbone, or tightening his grip to restrict his breathing—had happened!

How was he supposed to respond to this?!

Lu Liu thought to himself; this guy was truly a complete pain—kicking the leopard, skipping the script, not even pressing the gun to him. He was utterly detestable, even more so than the host he despised the most, Xiao Shao!

So, Qi Yi was astonished to find that the handsome guide wasn't scared at all. Instead, he raised his eyes to meet Qi Yi's gaze, his own filled with hurt and disbelief.

"..."

Knowing full well that staying here any longer would completely ruin the authority of a Dark Sentinel, Qi Yi narrowed his eyes slightly and released his grip on Lu Liu. "Lord Lu Liu, it seems you're not thinking straight right now. You're going to a cell for now. Hopefully, the iron walls and tomorrow’s labor will teach you to understand where you stand."

He turned and walked away.

Lu Liu: "..."

He! Still! Had! So! Many! Lines! Left! Unsaid!

His waterworks, his heartfelt apology—none of it had been delivered!

No matter what, saying something was better than nothing.

Lu Liu closed his eyes and, ignoring the lack of a scene partner, plowed ahead with his lines.

"No." Suddenly, Qi Yi heard the guide's voice from behind. His tone remained icy, almost inaudible, yet laced with an urgent, choked-up tone. If not for the super-sharp senses of an SS-rank sentinel, Qi Yi wouldn’t have caught a single word.

The guide said, "I'm sorry. I didn’t mean for this to happen."

"Actually, I... I’m sorry..."

"Apologies, I really... I didn’t mean to do anything..."

The sentinel’s steps stopped short.

He thought indifferently, "Just the usual smooth talk of a guide."

Deceiving sentinels into opening their Spirit Seas, planting false mental suggestions—behind every seemingly benevolent spiritual cleansing lay a lifetime of payback.

It was a pity. The longing for a guide was buried deep in a sentinel’s subconscious. They were natural-born fighters, yet prone to frenzy; guides were physically weaker, yet naturally gifted with the power to soothe. If not for the lies and deceit, if not for so many guides exploiting sentinels for selfish gain, sentinels and guides should have been a perfect match.

But even someone as iron-willed as Qi Yi, when weakened after battle and his spirit sunk into darkness, would crave a guide’s hand to pull him back—it was an instinct for survival.

Yet, in the end, it remained just a craving.

Qi Yi lowered his gaze and quickened his pace, leaving the smooth-talking guide behind.

Then he noticed the leopard hadn’t followed.

Caesar was looking hopefully at the guide, tilting his chin up. "Meow?"

—No chin scratches today?

Lu Liu gestured for him to leave. "Caesar, go back."

The script didn’t include an emotional goodbye between him and the cheetah.

Caesar: "Meow."

—Don’t want to go back.

When the guide refused to pet him, the cheetah raised a paw and rubbed his head against Lu Liu’s.

Unable to resist, Lu Liu gave in and scratched him, then whispered silently, "I’ll find a chance to visit you, okay? Go back now, or your master will blow his top."

Caesar turned his head—Qi Yi had already reached the end of the corridor.

While Qi Yi wasn't paying attention, Lu Liu quietly gave the leopard's rump a nudge: "Go on."

Only then did Caesar finally leave, glancing back every few steps.

Left alone, Lu Liu headed toward his holding cell.

He had specifically emphasized to Ji Xiuyun that it had to be a cell, so Ji Xiuyun allocated him a large single cell equipped with a desk, a chair, a soft bed, and some basic necessities. In short, though it was still a cell, it was bright and roomy enough.

Lu Liu lay down on the bed, pulled the blanket over himself, and let out a long yawn.

Having stayed up late memorizing lines the night before, he was feeling a bit drowsy now.

Sprawled in the soft bedding, Lu Liu stared at the ceiling and thought, "Finally, I’ve made it into the protagonist’s prison."

At this point in the plot, there was nothing left for Lu Liu to do. He no longer needed to act or memorize lines—just lie back and wait for death, like a happy little slacker.

Though he’d missed a few lines, the overall plot was more or less intact, securing him at least a score in the seventies—enough to surpass everyone in the group except Xie Shu. Not bad at all.

Lu Liu happily daydreamed about the future.

Happiness and contentment wrapped around him, and in this unfamiliar prison, he felt an unprecedented sense of relaxation. He didn’t notice at all as his mental energy slowly flowed, something gathering and condensing in his Spirit Sea before manifesting in the real world.

It was a calico guinea pig.

Guinea pigs, also known as cavies, are pets that love to eat and sleep. They are gentle, quiet, but fussy eaters and sensitive to their environment. Timid and easily startled, they can be a bit delicate and hard to care for.

Lu Liu had no idea.

The guinea pig landed on the blanket, curled into a fluffy ball, and the guide didn’t notice a thing. Struggling to move, it wriggled toward the edge of the blanket before plopped onto the floor. Thanks to its soft body and light weight, the fall made no sound.

The guinea pig sneaked to the edge of the cell, only to turn and see a leopard clawing at the bars from outside.

"!"

Startled, the guinea pig curled into a ball and rolled out through the cell’s gaps. It smoothed its fur with tiny paws and caught a familiar scent.

It was Caesar.

Meanwhile, Qi Yi realized his Spirit was missing.

This cheetah had been acting strangely ever since it was released, as if spooked by something.

Qi Yi was busy in the command center, sifting through documents in the cramped command center of the starship. The room was packed with equipment and a large surveillance system displaying feeds from across the vessel—no place for a leopard to prowl. So when the cheetah didn’t return, Qi Yi didn’t bother chasing it down.

But as he worked through the files, Qi Yi glanced up absentmindedly at the surveillance screen.

He was curious—would the stubborn guide, now in prison, start sobbing and pleading?

Guides from the White Tower had been coddled since childhood, fragile creatures who could get sick from tap water. Qi Yi was eager to see how Lu Liu would fare in prison.

Would he break down? Cry out? Rage against the metal walls? Or would he kneel and beg for forgiveness, pleading to be released?

Qi Yi couldn’t wait to see.

He leisurely pulled up the prison surveillance feed, locating the guide’s cell. Through the iron bars, he spotted the guide buried under the blanket.

The guide wasn’t sobbing or pleading—he was fast asleep.

Qi Yi felt a faint twinge of disappointment and was about to look away when he suddenly caught sight of a streak of golden-brown fur.

It was his Spirit—the cheetah.

In front of the cheetah, there was an unidentified creature.

Qi Yi frowned, zoomed in on the surveillance footage, and fixed it on the prison scene.

At the same time, Caesar lowered his head and gently nudged the tiny thing in front of him, making the guinea pig stumble.

The leopard sniffed lightly, catching a familiar scent.

—This was Lu Liu's Spirit! He finally decided to let his Spirit out to play!

Being nudged around by a cheetah so much larger than itself, the guinea pig wasn’t scared at all. It wobbled and stretched out a paw, pressing it against the cheetah’s nose as if saying, “Stop, no more nudging.”

Once he confirmed whose Spirit it was, Caesar perked up visibly. He obediently stopped and then licked the guinea pig, slobbering all over its tiny face.

“……”

The guinea pig indignantly crossed its paws in front of itself.

—No, no licking.

Their size difference was so extreme that the guinea pig’s feeble resistance seemed almost like pretending to resist in the cheetah’s eyes. Caesar happily rubbed against the beloved Spirit until the guinea pig, annoyed, tried to leave. Only then did he calm down, lying down obediently and tilting his head with a soft, “Meow?”

—Want to ride? You can ride the cheetah.

“!”

Riding a leopard! That sounded so cool.

The guinea pig nodded vigorously.

And so, through the surveillance feed, Qi Yi watched as a Spirit no bigger than a booger used its tiny paws to grab onto his Spirit’s ears, clambered up, and planted itself right on top of the cheetah’s head. It stretched out a paw forward, striking a “charge!” pose.

Meanwhile, his Spirit held its head high, proudly marching forward with a guinea pig perched atop its head, dignified and regal, like an Emperor surveying his domain.

Qi Yi: “…”

Author’s Note:

Qi Yi: “What the hell is riding that thing? My Spirit? Not sure, let me check again.”