Chapter 37

The future is bright, but reality is harsh.

It is so harsh that Ji Xun, who had been fully convinced his "Great King" was a giant python, now finds himself at the reptile house, unsure if his Great King is even a snake at all...

Ji Xun placed the Great King egg into a glass tank filled with fine sand. He turned up the desk lamp to shine on the top of the tank, switched on the humidifier, set the timer, and placed a thermometer and hygrometer side-by-side to monitor the conditions.

Ji Xun rested his chin on his hands, observing closely. He saw the Great King egg rolling left and right in the sand, as if struggling; it didn't seem to want to stay in the tank.

Ji Xun asked, "Are you uncomfortable, Great King egg?"

The egg rolled to the edge of the glass tank and bumped against it, as if nodding.

Ji Xun’s heart tightened! He immediately took the Great King egg out of the tank, gently brushed the fine sand off the shell, dimmed the lights, and turned off the humidifier.

"If you don't like it, we won't use it," Ji Xun said.

The Great King egg rubbed against his palm, looking aggrieved. Ji Xun went back to bed with the egg, feeling exactly like an overprotective parent who couldn't bear to see their child suffer—even if that suffering might be a necessary part of the egg's growth.

But... since Fu Shuxing had already decided not to go to the military academy, there was still plenty of time. There was no need to rush. Let the Great King egg stay in its shell a little longer!

Ji Xun stroked the egg and said, very patiently and gently, "Great King egg, we’re in no hurry."

Inside the shell, the Great King gently nudged Ji Xun’s finger with its head.

Ji Xun whispered, "Goodnight."

After saying goodnight, Ji Xun fell asleep quickly, but his sleep was restless. He dreamt of all sorts of strange, misshapen reptiles. Terrified, he ran blindly, only to trip over a stone and plunge into a massive thicket of thorns!

The thicket was horrifying. The thorny trees were covered in hard, fingernail-sized spikes; a single prick would break the skin, draw blood, and ache for ages. And this was a dense, sprawling patch of them!

Ji Xun screamed as he fell, but the thorny trees seemed to possess a life of their own—they parted, while sturdy thorny vines quickly wove together to form a small bed beneath him, catching him.

Ji Xun ended up landing on the bed of vines. The vines were covered in lush leaves and small red flowers. He didn't feel any pain. He sat up quickly and looked around, discovering with fear that he was surrounded by thorns so tall they blotted out the sky. There was no exit; the situation was dire.

However, as he stared longer, he noticed the thicket was clean, devoid of insects, and the occasional small red flower interspersed within looked harmless. A moment later, the tall, dangerous thicket slowly rustled and parted before him, revealing a wide path.

Ji Xun didn't bother to question if these images made sense; he immediately followed the path and ran away from the thicket!

Only after running a great distance did he stop to catch his breath and look back. As far as the eye could see was an endless desert. Very far away, there appeared to be a residential area with many houses. The most prominent were two small villas standing opposite each other, the entire area surrounded by high, dark, oppressive thickets with no entrance—as if no one could get in.

Suddenly, a gust of wind swept up, and yellow sand filled the sky. Ji Xun instinctively raised his hand to shield himself. Realizing the flying sand and stone didn't hurt when they hit him, he suddenly reacted—this scene was familiar.

*Knock, knock, knock.*

A knock at the door.

Ji Xun vaguely heard his mother saying she was coming in. His brain was still groggy, but his body reacted on its own, quickly raising his hand to pull the quilt over the Great King egg.

The door opened a moment later. Ji Xun sat up, rubbing his tired, sore eyes. "Mom, what time is it?"

"Seven o'clock." His mother didn't enter the bedroom, just stood at the doorway. She seemed to pause for a second, then looked at her son, who was still bleary-eyed and sleepy. "Xunxun, did you stay up very late last night?"

"No, I fell asleep after nine..."

"Then get up quickly," his mother said. "Breakfast is ready. Come down and eat."

She closed the bedroom door. Ji Xun felt exhausted. While brushing his teeth, he looked at the dark circles under his eyes in the mirror, feeling a bit depressed. He knew very well that before his mother knocked, he had still been... wandering? In the spiritual realm?

Calling it "trapped" wasn't quite right, either. Those strange thorny thickets had specifically opened a wide path for him to walk through. Anyway, compared to the sandstorms that blocked out the sky and the terrifying, pitch-black darkness, everything he encountered in the spiritual realm last night could be described as friendly.

Ji Xun felt this had something to do with him having the Great King egg now.

After washing up, Ji Xun put the Great King egg into his backpack and picked up his communicator. As soon as he touched it, a small red dot lit up at the bottom. It meant there were unread messages. He tapped to open them; there were two from Fu Shuxing.

[Fu Shuxing: [Bookshelf.jpg]]
[Fu Shuxing: Look at the mess you made. Come and fix it yourself.]

Ji Xun: ...

Last time, when Ji Xun went to the Fu family with his parents to visit Uncle Gao, he had a sudden whim and messed up all the books on the shelf in Fu Shuxing’s study, intentionally turning the spines inward so the titles were hidden.

So much time had passed that Ji Xun had almost forgotten. He hadn't expected Fu Shuxing to notice only now.

Ji Xun decided to deny it to the death. He replied in a very innocent tone.

[Huh?? What is this???]
[Fu Shuxing: [Surveillance.jpg]]
[Ji Xun: ...]
[Ji Xun: Brother Xing, you really are a creep. You put a camera in your study? Is there no other joy in your life?]
[Fu Shuxing: Come organize it after school. Behave.]

Ji Xun replied with an "Oh" and tucked the communicator into the side pocket of his backpack.

When his mother saw her son come downstairs, her expression was a bit unnatural. She smiled slightly and asked, "Xunxun, you carry an empty backpack back and forth every day. What are you hiding in there?"

Ji Xun said, "It's not empty, it has books and clothes in it."

His mother didn't press further. "Come and eat. After you're done, I'll take you to the Sanctuary."

"I can just take a flying taxi at the gate myself."

"Then eat quickly; don't be late."

Ji Xun sat down and picked up his bowl, glancing at his mother with confusion. Why was she in such a rush today? Was something wrong?

After finishing breakfast, Ji Xun said goodbye to his mother and left. His mother waved at him, and after watching him leave, she immediately turned around, closed the door, and went upstairs. She pushed open Ji Xun’s bedroom door and strode toward the bedside table.

The desk lamp shone on the sand-filled fish tank. There were depressions in the sand where something had rolled, and the thermometer, hygrometer, and humidifier sat to the side. Her heart sank, and she hurried back out.

After school, Ji Xun obediently followed Fu Shuxing to the Fu residence to clean up the mess he had made. The study was huge. Looking at the wall-to-wall bookshelves and the densely packed gray-white pages, Ji Xun felt his head spin. He couldn't even remember where he had found the energy to flip them all one by one back then.

Ji Xun put down his backpack, moved a stool in front of the bookshelf, and resigned himself to pulling them out in small stacks and putting them back one by one. It was a classic case of "the joy of making a mess, the hell of cleaning it up."

He had truly shot himself in the foot.

After a while, Fu Shuxing walked into the study. He casually pulled a book from a shelf Ji Xun hadn't finished organizing yet. Ji Xun watched as he sat down, flipped through dozens of pages, turned back one, and began to read.

Ji Xun was surprised. "Brother Xing, what book are you reading?"

"The Origin of Spiritual Entities."

Ji Xun clearly saw that Fu Shuxing had pulled the book from the shelf where he hadn't yet turned the titles around, so he asked, "Didn't you just pull a random one?"

Fu Shuxing didn't answer, just showed him the book cover. The title was indeed *The Origin of Spiritual Entities*.

Ji Xun was suspicious. Was that whole shelf *The Origin of Spiritual Entities*? He climbed off the stool and pulled one book from each side of where Fu Shuxing had pulled his. One was *Detailed Explanation of Spiritual Power*, and the other was *The Significance of Spiritual Entities for Awakeners*.

Ji Xun: "..."

Ji Xun held up the two books and asked, "Brother Xing, look at me. What are these two books in my hands?"

Fu Shuxing glanced at him dismissively. "Have you forgotten how to read?"

Ji Xun thought, *I'll endure this*, then said, "I'm just testing you!"

Fu Shuxing didn't even look up. "*Detailed Explanation of Spiritual Power* and *The Significance of Spiritual Entities for Awakeners*."

"Did you peek?"

"Hah!"

Seeing this, Ji Xun went back to the bookshelf, called for Fu Shuxing to watch, and under his gaze, pulled one out blindly. Ji Xun didn't even look at the cover, covering it with his hand first. "What is this one?"

Fu Shuxing: "Volume Two of *The Federation*."

Ji Xun looked at it—it really was. He suddenly felt mocked and grew extremely angry. "You remember the position of every book on this shelf, so why did you make me organize it?!"

"You're the one who made the mess."

"..."

Ji Xun gnashed his teeth. Seeing that Fu Shuxing had gone back to reading and was ignoring him, he had no choice but to honestly organize them one by one.

The sun set in the west. Ji Xun was sore and aching from the work. He leaned against the bookshelf to rest, looking at the half-wall of books still left to organize. Just as he was about to sigh, he caught a glimpse of something black and white out of the corner of his eye. He looked closely and was shocked to see a white tiger, and next to it, his backpack.

The zipper of the backpack was open, a wide gap gaping.

The Great King egg!!

Ji Xun jumped off the stool in terror and ran over. The backpack was empty. He looked at General, who was sniffing a large egg. It touched the egg with its left front paw, rolling it to the right, then touched it again with its right paw. Probably deciding it wasn't a threat, the tiger leaned in and opened its large mouth.

Ji Xun was so terrified his heart nearly stopped. "No—!"

General turned its head, the egg in its mouth. Ji Xun lunged at the tiger, tugging hard on its massive head, trying to pry open its jaws, which were lined with sharp, long teeth. "Let go, let go, let go!! General, let go!!"

General released its grip. Ji Xun hurriedly snatched his Great King egg back from the tiger's mouth.

The entire eggshell was wet, covered in the white tiger's saliva, and it was currently trembling in Ji Xun's palm. Ji Xun was on the verge of a breakdown. He turned to look at the culprit.

The large white tiger was lying on its back on the floor, looking completely innocent. Its two-meter-long body was twisting, exposing the white, fluffy fur on its belly, and it blinked its round, amber eyes, as if asking for a belly rub.

Ji Xun: "Ahhhhhhh—! Brother Xing!"