Cats and Dogs
When Xu Youling woke up, he saw a white ceiling and smelled the pungent smell of disinfectant. He coughed twice and tried to sit up, but a sharp pain shot through the back of his head.
I touched back and found that the painful area was tightly wrapped with gauze.
"Are you awake?" The nurse came in from outside the ward, carrying medicine, smiling. "How are you? Are you feeling unwell?"
"No, I'm fine." Xu Youling answered cautiously, his voice a little tense. "Where's Pei Zhi?"
When I first woke up, my consciousness was still a little confused, but as soon as I touched the wound on the back of my head, the memory of being pushed to the ground by Pei Zhi yesterday quickly came back to me. It was incredible.
"So you know him?" the nurse was a little surprised. "He should still be in the white noise room. What's wrong? Do you want to see him?"
"No, no need." Xu Youling swallowed the medicine and half-closed his eyes tiredly, "I just heard the examiner call his name yesterday."
"Well, that's normal. I was wondering how a junior guide like you could possibly know an expeditionary sentry?" The nurse adjusted his IV flow rate, her tone almost sympathetic. "You're unlucky to have run into something like this. You can count yourself lucky last night."
"Yeah." Xu Youling said in a low voice.
As soon as he closed his eyes, the snow-covered battlefield, the bodies of his fallen comrades, and a face with a twisted grin rushed forward like a slideshow, making him flinch. Those memories and emotions emanated from Pei Zhi's mental landscape, like the perpetual snow in this world, cold and hopeless.
It was a horrible catharsis experience.
"Then I won't disturb you. Get some rest." The nurse smiled at him. "Please ring the bell if you need anything. This level of distraction is likely to damage your mental state."
"Okay." Xu Youling also forced a smile at her.
As soon as the nurse walked out of the door, he immediately bent over and sat up at the bedside, retching for a while, and his stomach was full of acid reflux.
No wonder Pei Zhi turned evil. If Xu Youling had to endure these things every day, he would probably not only flatten the White Tower, but also the earth.
Concentrating his weak mental strength, Xu Youling searched in his mind and was relieved: Fortunately, there was nothing wrong with his mental picture, it was just affected by Pei Zhi, and it was a bit miserable.
Maybe it was because he was an outsider, or maybe it was just because he was lucky this time. Xu Youling gave a wry smile, stepped down to put on his slippers, reached out to take the IV bottle, and held it high above his head.
After walking to the ward door and looking outside for a while, Xu Youling tiptoed out. The orange cat spirit appeared at his feet with a "plop", humming and groaning, obviously a little depressed.
"I'm sorry," Xu Youling said apologetically as he squatted down and touched it, "Does it hurt?"
The orange cat meowed proudly and raised its chin for Xu Youling to scratch.
Thankfully, Pei Zhi hadn't forced Xu Youling into a union yesterday. While reviewing for the preliminary exam, Xu Youling had learned from textbooks that once a sentinel and a guide were bonded, they were bound together for life, like a pair of mandarin ducks. If one died, the other would also die of depression, and this bond was rarely severable.
Xu Youling had seriously considered the possibility of combining with Pei Zhi to prevent him from turning evil, but he quickly gave up the idea. After all, he would have to leave one day, and if Pei Zhi found out, it would be a big trouble.
Of course, the fact that he is a time traveler cannot be discovered by anyone, including Pei Zhi. This is certain.
Therefore, Xu Youling believes that the best way to prevent Pei Zhi from turning evil is to warm his heart, change his thoughts, let him gradually let go of his hatred and obsession, and become a kind and gentle person.
The interior of the White Pagoda was quite complex. Xu Youling had never been there before, and when he reached a fork in the road, he didn't know which way to go. He looked up at the sign, but it wasn't very clear either.
"Meow!" The orange cat lay down on the ground and yelled in dissatisfaction, as if it was too fat to walk.
"Alright, alright, I'll hold you." Xu Youling squatted down with a slight headache. In the real world, he worked part-time at a pet shop, often interacting with cats and dogs. Not to mention that this was his spiritual body, so naturally there were some emotional connections that were different from those of ordinary people.
The orange cat nestled comfortably in Xu Youling's thin arms. Although it was quite large, it was careful not to touch the needle. Xu Youling smiled and lowered his head to rub its ears.
"Mimi...why are you so well behaved..."
The only good thing about this world is that the Sentinels and Guides have their own spiritual bodies.
The orange cat purred twice and was about to respond to its owner's caress, but suddenly it meowed loudly, and the hair on its tail stood up.
"What's wrong?" Xu Youling was a little nervous. "Is there any danger nearby?"
Following the orange cat's gaze, Xu Youling looked towards the end of the corridor——
There was a German Shepherd with a black back squatting there. The dog was approaching stealthily. When it saw that it was discovered by the orange cat, it immediately stopped and pretended to lick its paws.
"Meow!" The orange cat jumped out of Xu Youling's arms angrily. It recognized this dog; it was the spirit form of the mad dog from yesterday!
"Mimi!" Xu Youling adjusted the IV in his hand and hurriedly chased after the cat. He couldn't guarantee that the German Shepherd wouldn't attack the orange cat. Maybe it was still in a violent state.
The German Shepherd wagged its tail excitedly. Seeing the orange cat approaching, it half-crouched down obediently, its round puppy eyes looking up nervously.
"?" Xu Youling and the orange cat, who arrived in a hurry, were both speechless.
"It seems like it wants you to get on it." Xu Youling explained to the orange cat in a low voice, "How about it, do you want to let it carry you?"
He really couldn't hold the orange cat anymore. God knew how the original owner had such a fat spirit body. Logically speaking, it didn't rely on ordinary food for food, so it shouldn't get fat.
"Meow!" The orange cat suddenly changed from cautious to arrogant, stepped on the German Shepherd's back with its front paws, turned over and jumped up.
The German Shepherd woofed and excitedly led the way for Xu Youling, carrying the orange cat on its back.
"How did you know I was coming to see your master?" Xu Youling asked in a low voice, "Didn't you even ask me?"
"Woof woof!" The German Shepherd pretended not to understand, stuck out his tongue and ran quickly to the white noise room.
-
Pei Zhi was awakened by the German Shepherd's licking. The wet, hot, rough tip of its tongue touched his palm, and the white noise room hummed with a regular, rhythmic sound that soothed the sentry's violently sensitive nerves.
“…” Pei Zhi sat up on the bed and stared at the wall in a daze.
I can't count how many times I've woken up in the quiet white noise room, filled with post-war mania and confusion. The air here is particularly stagnant, making even the sound of breathing heavy and the grogginess and confusion of thoughts.
The German Shepherd eagerly went around to the other side of the bed and barked twice.
"Sit down." Pei Zhi scolded in a low voice.
"Woo..." The German Shepherd sat down obediently, then lay on the ground with its front paws covering its nose, looking at Pei Zhi with its round eyes.
Pei Zhi ignored it and turned his gaze to the bedside table. Usually, every time he woke up from a frenzy, there would be some sedatives there to soothe and numb his overly sensitive nerves.
But today, there was no medicine bottle or warm water, only a white scarf stained with blood.
“!”
Pei Zhi took a short, quick breath, and regardless of the pain all over his body, he rushed to the bedside table and clutched the scarf almost neurotically.
"This is crazy... Who brought this in?"
He gritted his teeth and whispered, but he couldn't help but let the remaining guiding elements on the scarf penetrate into his nasal cavity and explore the spiritual picture.
Yesterday, while in a frenzy, Pei Zhi accidentally opened his mental image to the junior guide, attempting to force him to complete the guidance. Fortunately or unfortunately, the other party was clearly a novice, lacking even the ability to absorb mental energy, and fainted.
The connection lasted only a brief moment, and afterward, Pei Zhi was subdued by the troops and fell into a sedative sleep. The young guide's courage in throwing away his tranquilizer gun only brought him deeper pain.
Pei Zhi was holding his scarf, thinking about something, but the German Shepherd could not sit still. He jumped up, turned his tail around twice, and started to whine again.
"What? Do you want to go out?" Pei Zhi frowned.
The German Shepherd took the question as an agreement, barked, pushed the door open with his nose, and walked out quickly.
Pei Zhi watched the German Shepherd walk away with a gloomy face, put the scarf back on the bedside table, and stood up to walk around the white noise room.
So quiet.
Something suddenly vibrated in the air, and a buzzing sound could be heard from not far away. Pei Zhi froze, his mental energy, which should have been at rest, being mobilized once again, keenly scanning his surroundings.
The silhouette of something appeared in my mind, slowly approaching.
The German Shepherd is back... so soon?
There is also an orange cat lying on its back?
besides……
Pei Zhi stopped abruptly, hurriedly opened the wardrobe and put on a military jacket, then tiptoed onto a chair and sat down at the table, covering his lower body with the hospital gown.
Damn, why is that guide here?
-
The German Shepherd bent down again, letting the orange cat roll and crawl on the ground, then raised his wet nose to touch Xu Youling's hanging hand, and scratched the door of the white noise room twice.
"You mean it's right here?" Xu Youling carefully squatted down and touched its head, "Good boy, be good, be good."
The German Shepherd opened its airplane ears and enjoyed it for a while, then used its paws to scratch the door of the white noise room.
"Okay... I'll go in now." Xu Youling comforted in a low voice.
He stood up, put his hand on the door, hesitated for a moment, and still felt unsure.
No matter how downtrodden Pei Zhi may be now, no matter how constrained he may be, he's still the villain in the original novel who turned the White Tower upside down. In his later years, he not only reached the pinnacle of combat but also mastered political maneuvering, his mere gestures earning countless lives for the vain ideals he portrayed. Besides, the pain of yesterday's forced venting still lingered in his mind.
While hesitating, he kept his left hand, which had the needle inserted in it, raised high for too long, and blood flowed back into the infusion tube.
"Ah..." Xu Youling quickly lowered his left hand and tried to raise his right hand higher. Distracted, he failed to notice the movements of the two small animals below him. By the time he realized what was happening, they had already joined forces and used their noses to push open the door to the white noise room.
“…”
Xu Youling, who was holding the IV bottle high, and Pei Zhi, who was sitting behind the desk with a gloomy face, looked at each other for a few seconds and quickly took a big step back.
As expected of a villain, his mental strength is already so strong at such a young age. Xu Youling sighed in his heart and shrank back a little to protect his fragile mental barrier.
Why did he retreat? Was it the White Tower that forced him to come? Pei Zhi stared calmly at the obviously flustered guide at the door, looking at his slender wrist holding an IV drip, which was exposed from the sleeve of his hospital gown, and at his gentle and peaceful face.
The blood on the scarf was probably not only Pei Zhi's own, but also Xu Youling's. When he was thrown to the ground, his hand did not have time to cushion the back of his head.
"Does it hurt?"
"How are you?"
The two asked the question almost at the same time, and then fell silent awkwardly at the same time.
The German Shepherd eagerly nudged the orange cat's body to invite it in, but the latter broke the friendship of pushing the door together just now and held on to the threshold without letting go.
Just like Xu Youling who was still standing outside the door cautiously at this moment.
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