I specifically taught this for you; if you don't go out and learn something new, you'll have no future...
Kuwano knew he was telling the truth.
She had thought Lin Changli would be a silent manipulator for a few rounds before he would tell the truth, but she never expected him to be so frank today.
Now the problem lies with her.
How should she respond?
Sangye had many thoughts on his mind.
If things followed the usual procedure, she should have appeased Lin Changli, gone along with his wishes, and agreed to everything. That's what a normal guide would do.
But Sangye is different; she will not yield to the will of others, nor will she compromise with their requests.
She shouldn't bear the consequences of this.
“I…” Lin Changli hesitated again before continuing, “I understand that this is all wishful thinking on my part, and I know that I’m putting you in a difficult position.” He lowered his eyes, his eyelashes trembling slightly, “I have been putting everyone in a difficult position.”
In the shattered and charred mental landscape, the human form appears so small, fragile, and vulnerable.
not good.
Sangye suddenly became serious.
If Lin Changli had maintained a cynical and carefree attitude, or remained incorrigibly sharp-tongued and sarcastic, she could still engage in serious conversations and think things through calmly.
But what she can't stand the most is showing weakness and a man's tears.
But it just so seems like a genuine expression of emotion.
Reason and emotion were like two demons, one black and one white, standing on Sangye's shoulders, pulling her back and forth, giving her a headache.
Finally, she shook her head sharply, shaking the two little figures off her shoulders. "I can't respond to you right now. I need time to think. Besides, confessing your feelings in a place like this is so lame."
She pouted, looking at the mental image with considerable dissatisfaction.
Lin Changli choked for once, then shifted the blame: "It wasn't me. He was too disruptive. If I didn't let him out, he would burn this place down."
Upon hearing this, the little phoenix outside seemed quite dissatisfied. It shuddered violently within its mental image, causing charred debris to fall from the sky, mixed with the smell of scorched earth.
Sangye steadied himself by holding onto the sycamore tree beside him.
Lin Changli was not fooled by Sang Ye. He took a step forward, his eyes lowered, making his aggressive stance less forceful: "Are you unwilling to respond to me now, or will you never respond?"
Her clear, sharp, golden eyes stared intently at Sangye, demanding an answer.
“If I don’t answer you, will you not go out today?” Sangye asked rhetorically, shrugging. “I don’t know what the future holds. But I do know that if you don’t go out, then we will never have a future.”
The phoenix tree had grown so tall that it could cover the two of them, constantly channeling spiritual energy into the cave.
The two stared at each other for a long time, but in the end, Lin Changli was the first to give in.
He looked away from Sangye, no longer staring at him, as if he was about to withdraw into himself again.
Sangye quickly stepped forward and grabbed his sleeve.
Only then did Sangye notice that he wasn't wearing his familiar combat uniform today.
He was wearing a black and gold casual outfit very similar to the one Lin Shuangqiao had just seen, with a phoenix feather pinned to his chest.
The sleeves hung down in a beautiful curve, and Sangye could even wrap them around his fingers twice when he grasped them.
Sangye did just that. She carefully hooked her sleeve, her slightly calloused fingers kneading the smooth fabric, making a rustling sound that amplified in their ears.
Her fingers weren't exactly smooth and soft like cream. They were hands that had worked in the kitchen for a long time, marked with lines and strong.
Sangye tugged at him, and unexpectedly, Lin Changli was pulled over immediately. His breath fell on Sangye's head, warm and gentle.
Sangye looked up at him.
In fact, Sangye has never liked the feeling of being looked down upon; she is instinctively and abnormally sensitive to any sense of oppression from others. Therefore, she really likes her current height of 1.8 meters, as there aren't many people who can look down on her.
But today, Lin Changli, having shed his fierce aura, is neither sharp nor oppressive in his spiritual world.
Her gaze was indescribably gentle, yet so pitiful.
He pursed his lips slightly, as if questioning Sangye about why he wasn't responding to him and why he was teasing him again.
Sangye was speechless. The two stood very close, their eyes meeting.
"If we go out, I'll make you sukiyaki, okay?" Kuwano finally spoke, but what she said was completely unrelated. "It's sweet, both sweet and salty. I learned it from an old book. It's delicious when used to fry beef."
She spoke earnestly, and Lin Changli listened attentively.
"You know I don't really like sweets, so I learned how to make sukiyaki especially for you. I was planning to come to Chaohai together to eat it, but you quietly ran back to the palace." Kuwano said, as if coaxing a child.
Lin Changli turned his hand upwards and gently grasped Sangye's hand, which was still clutching his sleeve.
She fell into his palm.
Sang Ye was caught off guard, her fingernails scraping against his palm.
It was damp and warm.
*
"Your Majesty, the temperature on the artificial island has returned to normal." The technicians were monitoring it closely. "The spiritual entity is no longer active."
The fog surrounding the artificial island is gradually dissipating.
Lin Shuangqiao stared intently out the porthole.
As a fellow guide, Wu Jinyue knew what she was worried about, so she spoke up, her tone calm and reassuring: "Based on my understanding of His Highness's mental strength level, it's impossible for him to so calmly exhaust his mental strength."
Lin Shuangqiao knew this, of course; otherwise, she wouldn't have been able to deploy two space fortresses and evacuate civilians.
In other words, the calm at this moment means that Kuwano has succeeded.
As the fog gradually dissipated, Lin Shuangqiao showed nervousness for the first time. She not only leaned closer to the porthole, but also ordered the monitoring device to zoom in on the surveillance footage of the artificial island.
However, the surveillance footage did not move.
The bridge was completely silent.
Wu Jinyue glared unhappily at the technician, who was terrified and sweating profusely: "Your Majesty, Marshal, it...it...it shows that the command cannot be connected."
The innocent technician pointed at the display screen.
Eve's gentle female voice rang out: "Highest privileges have been granted; all other commands have been disabled."
From its inception, the space fortress's core was connected to the supreme commander's mental energy, ensuring the commander's absolute control over the space fortress. It is replaced when a current commander retires.
However, due to Lin Changli's special status and Lin Shuangqiao's favoritism, the position of commander of Alpha Fortress has been vacant and has been temporarily held by Lin Shuangqiao. As a result, the highest authority within the core has never been replaced, and Lin Shuangqiao has only taken over the position.
And the highest authority...
“Mother, Empress Dowager,” Lin Changli’s voice rang out from the bridge. “Please don’t worry, I’m sorry for causing you trouble.”
Lin Shuangqiao herself managed to restrain herself, but her spiritual entities—two giant saber-toothed tigers—wouldn't care about such things. They pounced towards the window, transforming into black and gold spiritual energy that surged towards the artificial island upon contact with the metal glass.
On the island.
Lin Changli and Sangye stood by the pool. The entire island was covered by Sangye's sycamore trees and her companion plants.
The spirits of the phoenix and the parasol tree complement each other and flourish together.
The little phoenix was happily rolling around in the woods, playing and frolicking with the sycamore trees.
Until he sensed the familiar spiritual energy surging from the sky. This spiritual energy had appeared many times before when he disobeyed, giving him a good beating.
He's caused such a huge mess this time, he's going to be beaten to death!
The little phoenix was so frightened that it jumped up and turned into a cloud of golden-red smoke, rushing back into Lin Changli's body. As it ran, it cried out, "Mommy's here! Mommy's here! Mommy's going to hit me!"
After it ran over, it stretched out a claw from Lin Changli's forearm and grabbed him tightly: "You have to protect me!!"
It's both funny and pathetic.
Upon seeing the plume of smoke, Sangye suddenly remembered the sycamore tree she had planted in Lin Changli's mental landscape: "Huh? Didn't it come out with me?"
After Lin Changli came out, he reverted to his deadpan demeanor, looking at her with an inscrutable expression: "Do you know what it means to bring your spiritual body into someone else's mental landscape and leave behind branches?"
“?” Sangye rolled her eyes. “Tell me if you want, or don’t.”
Before Lin Changli could unleash his sharp tongue again, the saber-toothed tiger had already rushed up to him.
Even without seeing Lin Shuangqiao in person, just seeing her spiritual form was enough to feel the mental pressure from a top-tier guide.
They circled around Lin Changli, as if they could spot even a single hair that had fallen out.
One of them bared its teeth and said a few fierce words; the other gently nuzzled his face.
If Lin Changli weren't so big, Sangye would have suspected that the saber-toothed tiger wanted to lick him.
The fierce-looking creature glared menacingly at the little phoenix's exposed claws, which frightened the little phoenix into retracting them.
"Mom, don't scare him. He listens to everything I say." Lin Changli tried to defend him, but was also yelled at.
Kuwano laughed gleefully.
The saber-toothed tiger even wanted to go in, but Lin Changli firmly refused: "Not now, you can't come in."
The fierce one became even more dissatisfied, and in her anger, she slammed her hand heavily on the ground, causing the ground to crack open from her claws all the way to the pool.
Looking through the crack, Kuwano's gaze turned back, filled with admiration.
What is this, a combat-type guide? No wonder it's an S-rank.
The gentle one tilted her head and looked at him for a while, then at Sangye. She nudged the fierce tiger, signaling her to shut up.
The two tigers transformed into a cloud of smoke and returned.
Lin Shuangqiao, who was connected to them in consciousness, had already seen all of this.
Lin Shuangqiao's heart finally settled down when she saw it with her own eyes.
She took a few steps back, and Wu Jinyue kicked the chair, which slid right behind Lin Shuangqiao and caught her steadily.
Only in front of her confidants could Lin Shuangqiao reveal her worries and exhaustion.
Sain handed him a cup of hot tea.
"Thank you all." Lin Shuangqiao propped her head up with her hand. "Thankfully, he's alright."
Wu Jinyue didn't look at her. She seemed to have thought of something and turned to look into the distance, where the outline of the snow-capped mountains was faintly visible.
"Do you want to go see her?" Sain noticed and asked. "You haven't come back to see her all these years. After all, she was just a child back then, she didn't understand..."
"I'm not going." Wu's voice interrupted, without the slightest hesitation or other emotion, her tone firm. Behind her tailbone, nine snow-white tails hung low, motionless.
Sain glanced at Nine-Tails out of the corner of his eye and sighed.
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