Application System
The superior raised his head from behind the terminal, took the file bag, pulled out the form, and stared at it for a while.
"What do you mean?" He raised his head suspiciously. "Does this guide really know you?"
Pei Zhi looked him in the eye without flinching: "Of course."
"..." The superior frowned, took a deep breath, and looked at the application form again. "Can you join the team during your vacation? Can you return to the team in time?"
Pei Zhi nodded and curled the corners of his mouth slightly.
The superior opened a drawer to look for a pen to sign, his gaze fixed on the thin piece of paper on the table. "Your profession is a spiritual beautician... What kind of profession is that?"
"It's a very good job." Pei Zhi seemed not to hear the hidden meaning in his words and answered quite seriously.
"Tsk... He won't be joining you, will he?" The superior twirled his pen and reluctantly signed his name. "As for the military system, I'll keep you as 'unmatched' until you have your own guide partner in combat."
Pei Zhi paused, suppressed his smile, but still took the file bag: "Okay, thank you for your help."
He said nothing more, turned around and left the office.
The border of Baita is covered with snow all year round. The vast snowfield stretches for thousands of miles and the cold wind is so strong that even the occasional flying birds have to roost on the rock walls, waiting for the wind and snow to stop and the sky to become clear.
After Pei Zhi left the office, he went to the post office on the first floor of the camp and witnessed with his own eyes the file bag being sealed and sent to the matching agency in the White Pagoda Center.
"Congratulations, Pei Zhi," the clerk said to him with a smile, "I didn't know you already had a guide lover."
"Yeah." Pei Zhi naturally accepted the other party's congratulations, leaned in to confirm the address again, straightened up, and said casually, "He doesn't know either."
"Oh." The clerk nodded and clicked "Confirm" on the terminal system.
It was not until Pei Zhi left the counter contentedly and closed the door, his figure completely disappearing in the office, that the clerk suddenly realized something and raised his head.
"What?"
-
Xu Youling stood awkwardly beside the operating table in his loose work clothes, unable to move his hands at all. The orange cat stood away from the three of them with a look of disgust, as if its ears would be disturbed by its resentment if it came any closer.
This was Duan Xingzhi's first day at work. It was obvious that Lu Heng was not satisfied with the result of this forced compromise. His originally smiling face turned extremely cold.
"Brush." He said coldly.
Duan Xingzhi glanced at the cart beside the operating table. The dazzling array of cleaning tools made him feel annoyed. He simply lost his temper: "How can I know which one it is if you don't tell me clearly?"
"What's the point of you coming here if you don't know anything?" Lu Heng threw away the towel and reached over the operating table to grab the brush without even looking up. "It's this! Use your eyes to see clearly!"
"That's enough! You should calm down after being slapped in the face all morning!" Duan Xingzhi said angrily.
Lu Heng was tidying up the spirit's hair, but she turned her head to glare at him: "Why should I calm down? I've endured so much anger from you before, and now it's only one tenth of what you've endured!"
The two men fired at each other as if in competition. The spirit Maine standing on the operating table and the guest sitting on the side were trembling. Xu Youling was terrified, fearing that something would be overturned in the next second.
"Okay..." he said feebly, "The guests are still watching..."
Duan Xingzhi took a deep breath and swallowed the fire with difficulty. His face was distorted and he gritted his teeth as he said, "You are always like this anyway!"
Lu Heng was about to retort, but Xu Youling grabbed her hand and pulled her aside, like a Buddha: "Hey? Didn't you sleep well last night? You look so bad. There aren't many customers right now, so why don't you go upstairs and rest for a while... I just really want to get back to work!"
While Xu Youling was pulling him, he also took the time to wink at the fox that was following him on the ground. The latter seemed unwilling to give up and took a long time before slowly following his master upstairs.
The orange cat cried out in disgust.
"I'm sorry, since I'm a new employee, there are some conflicts... Can I trim your spiritual body? The upgraded package will be compensation for this little episode." Xu Youling said to the customer apologetically.
Duan Xingzhi sat on the sofa by the door like an old man, with an arrogant look on his face. Xu Youling returned to the operating table to take over the mess left by Lu Heng. In his heart, he really wanted to travel back to yesterday and cover Lu Heng's mouth.
Our store is not just a part of your couple's play!
The Maine Coon rubbed Xu Youling's sleeve gently and timidly, then sat down obediently.
Although a spirit's ability to perceive other people's emotions was lower than its master's, it was still much higher than that of ordinary animals. The Maine Coon in front of him was obviously as good-tempered as his master. After being frightened just now, he was probably a little flustered.
It's better to let them get used to the job for a while before officially taking up their posts.
Xu Youling shook his head and stopped thinking about these things. He concentrated all his attention on the Maine Coon in front of him and slowly brushed off its loose hair.
Rub hair softener into your palms and apply to the kitten's back and tail. Trim any stray hair near the paw pads. Apply moisturizing ointment to the tip of the nose. Finally, wipe the chin and tear troughs, clean the ears, and spray with fragrant fragrance.
Doing these things always brings a strange sense of peace, like my part-time job at a pet shop back in the real world. A busy week passes, the shop buzzing with activity as I add water and millet to the foster parrots and trim the tails of the Bichon Frise into adorable round balls. Everything is gentle and peaceful, bringing a sense of tranquility.
It turns out that so much time has passed.
Xu Youling looked at the Maine Coon carefully, making sure there was no more area that needed care. Then he gently shook its paw and turned to the waiting customers: "It's all washed!"
The customer took Maine's check and left, looking quite happy about the extra service he had received. Xu Youling breathed a sigh of relief and secretly patted his chest.
The wind chimes on the door were activated, emitting a series of crisp sounds.
Xu Youling thought it was the sound of the previous guest leaving, so he didn't look up. However, Duan Xingzhi, who was sitting by the door, stood up impatiently, walked to the door and said something.
He then quickly returned to the door and threw a registered letter onto the operating table: "Yours."
"Ah?" Xu Youling was stunned for a moment, picked it up, and looked down at it in surprise, "Mine?"
Even in the real world, he rarely receives letters or anything like that, so how come he suddenly receives one here?
The sender is still the White Tower Center.
Duan Xingzhi threw down his things and sat back down without saying anything. Xu Youling saw that there were no other customers in the store, so he simply stood at the counter and opened the letter.
The paper pages were stuck so tightly to the envelope that he had to shake the opening open with his fingertips and then slowly pull them out.
“!”
Xu Youling gasped as the paper fluttered onto the operating table. He hastily picked it up and forced it back into the envelope.
Wait, wait, wait.
"It must be a mistake." Xu Youling pretended to be relaxed and comforted himself, "Maybe it's because I didn't look carefully."
He pulled out the paper again and stared blankly at the heading "White Tower Sentry applies to the matching system".
Why is his own name on it?
What does Pei Zhi next to him mean?
He stared in amazement at Pei Zhi's increasingly stern face in his ID photo. His gaze gradually shifted downwards, taking in the residential and work information at the back, the sentry guide ability rating at the back, and finally...
Please match both parties' signatures here.
"What is that?" Xu Youling cried out.
Although he knew that unmatched sentinels and guides of appropriate age might be automatically matched under the allocation of the White Tower, he never expected it to be such a coincidence.
Pei Zhi?
"What are you doing?" Duan Xingzhi asked in a hoarse voice when he heard the noise coming from the other side of the operating table.
"Nothing!" Xu Youling yelled back, his voice trembling with guilt. He quickly stuffed the application form back into the envelope and then stuffed the envelope into the big pocket of his work clothes.
But even though the outside looked completely put in order, the inside was still a mess.
What does Pei Zhi mean? Didn't he already use mental interference? Did it fail?
What should he do? He couldn't possibly be united with Pei Zhi. If one day he left this world... The Sentinel couldn't leave the Guide they were already united with, and Pei Zhi would probably really die.
What should I do? What should I do?
Xu Youling felt as if a scorching fire was stabbing in his pocket, prickling his fingertips as they occasionally touched the hard edge of the envelope. His heart was restless, and a myriad of thoughts surged up alongside the throbbing of his blood vessels, transforming into any of countless possible answers.
Lu Heng was probably still sulking upstairs, Duan Xingzhi was sitting by the door, simmering his anger, and Song Qi was working away from the shop, where customers could come in at any moment, forcing him to immediately dive into the next second of work. But even if they were there, no one would share Xu Youling's anxiety and confusion, because to them, Pei Zhi was a faceless person.
But for Xu Youling, Pei Zhi is a secret that cannot be let go.
The secret was frozen in the snowfield that had melted into spring grass, but it was still a secret.
He took a deep breath, covered the letter in his pocket, and quickly made a decision.
Pei Zhi couldn't escape the dark ending he had planned, only to end up in loneliness and death under the guise of love. As an outsider, he should have seen things more clearly than Pei Zhi and should have fully understood this.
-
Although the temperature in Baita is low throughout the year and there is snow in spring and autumn, at least in early summer it is in accordance with the seasonal laws, and the heat slowly climbs up the city.
Two hours before closing, it started raining heavily outside the window.
Lu Heng angrily told Duan Xingzhi to get out, seemingly out of no concern, but the latter stiffened his neck and refused to listen, acting as if he didn't care whatsoever.
So when the shop was closing, facing the rain outside the window that was like pouring water, Xu Youling fell silent.
"Um...how about spending the night in the store?" he asked tentatively.
"Impossible!" Lu Heng gritted his teeth.
"You think I'm special?" Duan Xingzhi turned his head and glared at him. "If you don't like me, it's okay for me to sleep downstairs, right?"
Lu Heng ignored him and went upstairs. Xu Youling had no choice but to let Duan Xingzhi sit on the sofa with a gloomy face and cover his face with his coat.
"Then I'll go upstairs? Remember to lock the door." He whispered.
Duan Xingzhi uttered a muffled "hmm" from under his coat.
Although Xu Youling was a little worried, he still went upstairs. It was raining so heavily outside the window that it was probably impossible for him to go back alone.
Lu Heng was in a bad mood today, and Xu Youling was completely unable to persuade him, so he could only turn off the lights and go to sleep for the time being.
Until there was a knock on the door downstairs, the noise sounded quite heavy and even a little strange.
"Who else would come at this time..." Xu Youling half sat up.
He heard Duan Xingzhi curse something angrily, then he got up and went to open the door.
A flash of lightning flashed outside the window, illuminating Xu Youling's face. He felt something was wrong and his heart began to beat violently.
Then the next second, two annoyed "woofs" rang out all the way to the second floor, interspersed with the muffled sound of Duan Xingzhi being thrown to the floor.
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