Chapter 41

An adult nearby who had been watching the Bai family's advertisement with folded arms saw him take a fall and hurriedly stepped forward to help. But before he could even reach out, he saw the young man quickly push himself up from the ground as if he felt no pain at all, continuing to rush forward hurriedly.

Judging by that anxious appearance, something major must have happened.

That was what the adult thought.

However, not long after, he once again saw the little guide who had previously sprinted off in such a fluster walking slowly back into the hospital lobby, limping slightly, cradling a large, elongated egg in his arms, stroking it while murmuring something.

The egg looked quite unusual, prompting people to cast a few extra glances.

Ji Xun did not dare to run anymore. The floor tiles were as slippery as if they had been waxed, and now that he was holding the Great King egg, what if he fell again and Great King broke through the shell and suffered a "premature birth"?

If it ended up with congenital deficiencies, both he and Great King would cry their eyes out!

Besides, his earlier fall had hurt terribly, and even if he wanted to run, he couldn't summon the energy anymore...

Fortunately, he was right inside the hospital.

Wang Qian resolved these superficial aches and pains for him with minimal effort.

Ji Xun placed the Great King egg carefully on the table.

Experienced as Wang Qian was—having seen tens of thousands of mental avatars during her time as a military doctor—she had never encountered a mental avatar that manifested in the form of an egg.

She used her instruments to measure it and confirmed that there was indeed a mental power reaction, albeit an extremely faint one that would have been very difficult to detect without specialized equipment.

Could this even be considered a mental avatar?

Ji Xun firmly believed that it certainly could!

Next, he demonstrated to his mother and Aunt Wang Qian how he usually communicated with the Great King egg.

It was just like training a small animal.

Ji Xun told the Great King egg to roll to the left, and it rolled to the left; he told it to go right, and it went right. The Great King egg could even stand the entire elongated egg completely upright like an acrobatic stunt, though it looked somewhat shaky and unstable, as if it required a tremendous amount of effort.

Ji Xun hurriedly scooped the Great King egg back into his arms to stroke it, praising it for doing a fantastic job.

The Great King egg happily nudged his palm in delight!

The Great King egg did not reject the two guides inside the room, nor did it reject those young guide classmates of Ji Xun from the sanctuary classes. It only played dead in front of Fu Shuhang, and it did so with absolute thoroughness—the entire egg would stiffen up, feeling harder than a rock, practically sturdy enough to crack walnuts.

"My guess is this," Wang Qian offered her own deduction and hypothesis. "This mental avatar egg was originally about to hatch, but at that critical juncture, it encountered Xiao Xun's depleted mental power. As a result, it sacrificed a massive amount of its own mental power to help Xiao Xun maintain his consciousness. Because of that, it didn't have enough left to hatch itself."

Ji Xun nodded, deeply convinced. That was precisely what he had thought!

He hurriedly asked, "Auntie, when will my Great King egg be able to hatch?"

Wang Qian replied, "That depends on your own mental power stabilizing first. Once you are stable, it can gradually stabilize alongside you and continue accumulating mental power. Only when its mental power is fully replenished will it have the strength and capability to break open the eggshell."

"Then, what kind of mental avatar is my Great King?"

"Auntie doesn't know either, but given that it's oviparous, it's either a bird or a reptile."

Upon hearing the word "reptile," Madam Ji couldn't help a slight headache. "Our Xunxun has been afraid of insects since he was a child."

"No, no, Mom, I'm not afraid at all anymore!!" Ji Xun, holding the Great King egg, immediately declared, "Now, if I see an insect, I can pick it up and give it a kiss!"

Madam Ji: "..."

As soon as he said it, Ji Xun revolted himself. A chill ran down his spine, and he hurriedly corrected himself, "A kiss is out of the question, but I'm truly not afraid anymore."

Madam Ji said, "It's best if you're not afraid, of course."

Wang Qian rested her chin on her hand, watching the mother-and-son interaction. She looked at her friend first and then at the child, unable to hold back a smile. "Yueyue, Xiao Xun looks so much like you. Big eyes, long eyelashes, and dimples—it's like he was carved out of the same mold, both of you are so pretty..."

Ji Xun felt a bit embarrassed by the praise, but still corrected her, "Auntie, boys shouldn't be called 'pretty'."

Wang Qian immediately responded, "Oh my, right, right, right! We should say our Xiao Xun is truly cute and handsome! In the future, his romantic luck is going to be booming! Remember, when you're looking for a sentinel, you must keep your eyes wide open, choose carefully and slowly, and you must make sure your mom and dad agree."

Ji Xun nodded.

Madam Ji said, "Jealous? If you're jealous, hurry up and give birth to one yourself."

Wang Qian smiled and said, "I'll pass, not interested."

Wang Qian still had things she wanted to discuss with Hu Yuebai, so she sent the young guide away first.

As soon as Ji Xun left, she said, "Yueyue, tell me in detail about Xiao Xun's mental power depletion?"

Madam Ji walked over to sit beside her. "Alright."

Ji Xun wandered in the corridor outside for a while before heading down to the lobby on the ground floor.

This time, when the advertisement for the Bai family's fireworks display popped up on the large screen, Ji Xun did not ignore it.

It was only at this moment that it dawned on him—

This was District 10! Bai Huanche was right here!!!

It was the birthday of the Bai family's young master—wasn't that Bai Huanche's birthday?

No...

Following his initial surge of surprise, Ji Xun quickly calmed down. Fu Shuhang had mentioned that Bai Huanche was an illegitimate son of the Bai family, which meant his position within the family could only be difficult and awkward. How could the Bai family possibly make such a grand display to celebrate the birthday of an illegitimate son?

It had to be one of the other young masters of the Bai family!

However, whether illegitimate or legitimate, they shared the surname Bai, and they had the same father!

The entire family, and even the entirety of District 10, was celebrating someone else's birth.

The overlooked Bai Huanche must be feeling sad, right?

Thinking this, Ji Xun felt that as a friend of Bai Huanche, he could not simply sit by and do nothing.

Ji Xun took out his communicator.

Ever since they exchanged communication numbers at the celebration banquet, he had not contacted Bai Huanche yet.

Ji Xun found Bai Huanche's communication number and drafted a message.

However, he didn't send it. After reading it over and over, he deleted the entire contents and fell into deep contemplation.

After mustering a hundred thousand points of concentration and meticulously weighing every word, Ji Xun finally drafted a message he was barely satisfied with and pressed send.

——[Ji Xun: Huanche, seeing this message is like seeing you in person. Several months have passed since we parted ways without contact, and I have missed you dearly. I wonder how you have been doing lately? The last time I told you I would become the strongest guide, that matter has already made some progress, and I am eager to share it with you. This weekend, I wonder if it would be convenient to arrange a meeting? You decide the time and place, and I look forward to seeing you. Your friend in Star Navigation District 12: Ji Xun.]

After sending the message, Ji Xun admired it repeatedly himself.

He felt it was quite literary and could be considered a classic masterpiece!

So, with a "click," he directly took a screenshot to save it.

Madam Ji had finished talking with Wang Qian and came down to the first floor of the hospital.

Seeing her son sitting in the lobby, she called him over.

The two of them took an airspeeder and left District 10.

Ji Xun asked, "Mom, what were you and Auntie talking about for so long?"

"Just chatting about random things," Madam Ji said. "Haven't I been sleeping poorly lately? So I had your Aunt Wang prescribe some calming medicine."

"Are all these bags medicine?" Ji Xun pointed to the large bag of items he had just helped his mother carry.

"Not just for me, there's some for you too, to help regulate and stabilize your mental power."

Ji Xun was pleasantly surprised. "Wow! Then once I take the medicine, will my mental power stabilize quickly?"

"Yes," Madam Ji smiled, stroking the mental avatar egg in her hand. Noticing it gently nudging back and forth with great vigor, she couldn't help breaking into a smile. "The little fellow is so cute."

Hours later, the mother and son returned to the government residential compound.

Ji Xun carried a large bag of medicine in his left hand while pulling out his communicator with his right to check—there were no new messages.

Bai Huanche hadn't replied to him.

"Is it very heavy? Give some to Mom to carry."

"It's fine, it's fine," Ji Xun dodged, put away his communicator, switched the bag to his other hand, and said, "I've got it."

——"Xunxun!"

Ji Xun turned around.

Zhao Zhanlei, wearing a combat uniform and carrying the scent of gunfire and smoke from the battlefield, hopped down from an airspeeder.

Ji Xun asked, "Stone, where have you been?"

"Oh, clearing the battlefield with my dad." Zhao Zhanlei had long legs and took big strides. As he spoke, he reached Ji Xun's side in a few steps, very naturally taking the heavy bag of medicine from Ji Xun's hands. He then greeted Madam Ji and asked, "How is Auntie feeling? Are you alright?"

Madam Ji was momentarily startled when he asked that, but then she reacted and smiled, "I'm fine, just sleeping poorly, taking some medicine to regulate it will do."

The three of them walked together.

When they reached the crossroads in front of the Zhao family's door, Ji Xun reached out to take the medicine back to carry himself.

Zhao Zhanlei said, "I'll help you carry it inside first, this is quite heavy."

Ji Xun didn't stand on ceremony with him and said, "Stone, shall we go see the fireworks display?"

Zhao Zhanlei looked puzzled. "? Didn't you say you weren't going? You said you had to study."

Ji Xun answered, "I can bring my books along and study while watching the fireworks!"

Zhao Zhanlei: "..."

"Xunxun, you chat slowly with Xiao Lei," Madam Ji told her son. "Mom's going back first to cook."

Ji Xun: "Okay, Mom~"

As soon as Madam Ji left, Ji Xun tugged at Zhao Zhanlei's sleeve and pleaded, "Really, take me there~~ Big Brother Stone."

Zhao Zhanlei, gently shaken by Ji Xun, thought smugly to himself: *So there comes a day when you're begging me too, Ji Xunxun.* But out loud, he said, "Then honestly give me a reason, why did you suddenly change your mind?"

Ji Xun first confirmed with him, "Is the fireworks display you mentioned in District 10? The one hosted by the Bai family?"

"Right," Zhao Zhanlei asked in return, "What's wrong?"

Ji Xun said, "I have a friend in District 10, and I want to take this opportunity to meet up with him."

Hearing Ji Xun's words, Zhao Zhanlei casually guessed, "Your friend wouldn't happen to be from the Bai family, would he?"

Ji Xun replied, "Yes, he is."

Zhao Zhanlei was stunned, looking at Ji Xun with surprise. "It really is? Who is it?"

Remembering Fu Shuhang's attitude toward Bai Huanche, Ji Xun hesitated slightly, but ultimately decided not to hide it from Zhao Zhanlei, answering honestly: "Bai Huanche."

Zhao Zhanlei pieced things together instantly.

It seemed that the sentinel Ji Xun had been talking to at Uncle Fu's celebration banquet that night was indeed Bai Huanche.

Unlike Fu Shuhang, Zhao Zhanlei wasn't particularly repulsed by the idea. He asked, "Did the two of you meet the night of the banquet?"

"Right," Ji Xun asked back, "You know him too, don't you?"

Zhao Zhanlei said, "I just heard other people mention him that night."

"What did they say?"

"They said Bai Huanche is a year younger than the Bai family's true young master, and he's an illegitimate child. His mother passed away when he was young, so ever since he was brought into the Bai family as a child, his situation has always been miserable. They call him a young master of the Bai family, but in reality, no one respects him, and he's treated about the same as a servant."

Hearing this, Ji Xun felt his heart ache. "Because he doesn't have a mental avatar. Without a mental avatar, life is miserable, and everyone looks down on him and bullies him."

Zhao Zhanlei thought to himself that Bai Huanche wasn't being bullied for that reason, but looking at Ji Xun, he figured Ji Xun was reminded of his own experience of being bullied by Xu Yuangui, so he comforted him, "You'll have a mental avatar sooner or later. If you want to play with one, I'll let you play with Jason for a couple of days."