Chapter 62

The communicator vibrated once, and not long after, it vibrated a second time.

Ji Xun was already annoyed. Furious, he flung off the quilt to grab the communicator, snapping, "You'd better have a good reason!"

Ji Xun picked up the communicator from the table. Seeing Fu Shuhang's name, he froze for a moment, his heart pounding violently. But when he clicked on it and saw the unfamiliar yet familiar chat history, he finally came to his senses—this wasn't his communicator.

It was Zhao Zhanlei's.

The two of them had swapped communicators the day before yesterday.

Looking at those characters, Ji Xun felt a surge of stifled frustration and anger. He tapped open the input box and frantically typed out several lines.

Yet he didn't send them.

Ji Xun took a deep breath and fell back flat onto the bed.

*Calme down...*

Ji Xun calmed down quickly and typed out a reply.

[“Zhao Zhanlei”: Doesn’t seem very good.]

Fu Shuhang had asked so “urgently,” yet after getting a reply, he had grown so “hesitant.”

Ji Xun sent the message and waited for ages, but the other side remained completely silent.

He grew irritated and distracted.

At that moment, the Great King Egg rolled over to Ji Xun and nudged him.

Ji Xun lowered his gaze to look at it, picked it up, gave it a squeeze, and absentmindedly began tossing it up and down to play.

The Great King Egg clearly loved this game. Every time it landed precisely in his palm, it would wriggle around with delight!

Until the communicator vibrated.

Ji Xun hurriedly went to tap on it.

Left unattended, the Great King Egg dropped right onto the bedding.

The Great King Egg: “……”

It didn't matter. Recently, the Great King Egg had thoroughly mastered a new skill: rolling around.

It could now flexibly manipulate its tough eggshell to deform and achieve the goal of “climbing.” This time was no exception; it quickly “climbed” onto Ji Xun's arm to see what he was up to.

[Fu Shuhang: You go coax him.]

Four words.

Even if you stared at the screen until your eyes crossed, there were only four words.

Did it really take this guy over ten minutes to type that?!

Ji Xun figured Fu Shuhang must have gone to take a shower.

Asking questions while running off to take a bath—it seemed he cared, but not by much.

Who cared if he cared or not?!

Cold-shouldering him to his face, and then pulling stunts like this afterward—did it do any good??

Ji Xun tossed the communicator aside and lay straight back down.

Seeing his chance, the Great King Egg immediately rolled over, swiftly shoved the communicator off the bed so it dropped to the floor, and then went back to acting cute and cuddling up to its owner.

A moment later, however, Ji Xun got up again to retrieve the communicator from the floor.

He typed.

[“Zhao Zhanlei”: Can't be coaxed. Xunxun seems to know why you moved.]

This time, Fu Shuhang replied very quickly.

[Fu Shuhang: That's not how it is. Tell him not to overthink it.]

He hadn't even mentioned “why” yet, but he was already in such a rush to deny it.

Wasn't this simply protesting too much?

Ji Xun immediately imitated Stone's tone and typed—

[“Zhao Zhanlei”: Brother Xing, you should tell him yourself. Anyway, I can't handle that little ancestor anymore.]

As soon as he sent the message, Ji Xun immediately called Zhao Zhanlei.

Zhao Zhanlei answered.

Ji Xun said, "Fu Shuhang is going to message me in a while. Keep an eye on it, and contact me the moment there's any movement!"

Zhao Zhanlei: "…Fine."

Five minutes later, Ji Xun sent a message to his own communicator.

[“Zhao Zhanlei”: Did he come?]

[“Ji Xun”: None]

Twenty minutes later.

[“Zhao Zhanlei”: ？？]

[“Ji Xun”: None]

One hour later.

[“Ji Xun”: None]

Well played, Fu Shuhang.

Ji Xun glanced at the time—it was almost ten o'clock at night. He typed to Zhao Zhanlei:

[“Zhao Zhanlei”: Don't bother telling me anymore. If he messages, do not reply!]

Ji Xun went to sleep boiling with anger!

Guides were exceptionally skilled at emotional regulation.

At the breakfast table the next morning, Ji Xun calmly told his parents that he didn't blame them, that he understood them, and that he understood Uncle Fu and Uncle Gao as well. Moving away was the best choice; staying behind would only put them all in a difficult position.

Ji Mother hadn't slept well at all the night before, worrying that her son would blame himself and get stuck in a rut. Hearing Ji Xun say this, a weight lifted from her heart, but she still offered comfort: "You can still see each other at the Sanctuary, and once your spiritual power stabilizes, you can go play with Xiao Xing. Your relationship won't change."

"Right."

Ji Xun sounded exceptionally emotionally stable as he smiled and said, "Besides, absence makes the heart grow fonder."

Hearing this, Ji Father's expression stiffened, and he glanced at his wife.

Ji Mother couldn't help frowning slightly either, but noticing her husband looking over, she returned a look signaling him to say nothing.

After finishing lunch, Ji Xun didn't stay long at home. He told his parents he was heading out to find Zhao Zhanlei.

Just like before.

As soon as their son stepped out, Ji Father remarked, "See? We should have just told him sooner. At his age, he's hardly short of friends. All that worrying was for nothing."

Ji Mother wasn't as optimistic as her husband. Of course it was a good thing for their son to understand, but after a whole night of dead silence, for him to suddenly become so understanding and devoid of temper was rather unsettling. "You forgot how he threw a tantrum over falling out with Xiao Xing before and cried all night?"

"That was ages ago, and so much time has passed in between. Who knows, maybe he was worried about sleepwalking himself? Stop overthinking it, everything is fine now."

Ji Mother sighed. Naturally, she hoped things would go so smoothly.

However, when children were unusually quiet, it meant they were up to no good.

Ji Xun went to find Zhao Zhanlei.

Zhao Zhanlei immediately took out his communicator and said he hadn't received any messages from Brother Xing at all.

Ji Xun had guessed as much. He hadn't come for that; instead, he told Zhao Zhanlei about his plan.

Upon hearing it, Zhao Zhanlei felt the world go dark.

Zhao Zhanlei: "Bro, I'm begging you to be my bro, okay? Can we just behave ourselves? School starts soon."

"What's not behaving about this?" Ji Xun argued, "Who knows how many times we've been inside the Fu family home since we were kids? Besides, they've already moved out, so this is even less of a big deal."

"They've already moved out. What do you want to go look at?"

Ji Xun said, "I was only hospitalized for a day and a half, right? Can a 'Marshal's Mansion' like that be completely emptied out in a single day?"

"And if it isn't emptied out, what do you want to do?" Breaking and entering, and maybe stealing a few things along the way?

"No, I just want to take a look," Ji Xun said. "What if Fu Shuhang was lying to us about moving?"

"What benefit would he get from lying to you?"

"To make me feel guilty!" Ji Xun said. "Look at it this way: the mistake was originally his, but with this move, it makes it look like it's my fault, like I used moral blackmail against them."

Zhao Zhanlei said, "Nobody in their right mind would think you're using moral blackmail."

Ji Xun: "I think so!!"

Zhao Zhanlei: "…"

Seeing that Zhao Zhanlei still hadn't relented, Ji Xun pulled the communicator straight out of his pocket.

Ji Xun had already deleted the subsequent messages, leaving only the earlier ones. He flashed the chat log right in front of Zhao Zhanlei. "Your Brother Xing said so himself—he told you to coax me! Listen to me!"

Zhao Zhanlei: "?"

Could anything be this utterly absurd??

After seeing the messages clearly, Zhao Zhanlei couldn't help letting out a sigh and saying, "Fine, then how are we supposed to 'sneak' into the former Marshal's Mansion?"

"Easy, I've already got a foolproof plan. Here's the map." Ji Xun pulled a piece of paper from his pocket and unfolded it in front of Zhao Zhanlei.

Zhao Zhanlei choked visibly.

Why did there even have to be something like this?

Hadn't they been to the Fu family home countless times since they were kids? Weren't they supposed to be able to walk in blindfolded?

After carefully explaining the infiltration route to Zhao Zhanlei, Ji Xun said with utmost seriousness and solemnity, "We can only execute the plan after my parents both leave for work. But climbing walls during the day is too conspicuous, so we're going at night."

"Okay," Zhao Zhanlei said.

Ji Xun continued, "Then, I'll sneak inside while you stay outside to keep watch. In case Uncle Fu, Uncle Gao, or Fu Shuhang come back, you can warn me in time. The Fu family's barrier hasn't been deactivated yet, and if you aren't standing outside, I'm worried I won't hear anything."

Zhao Zhanlei: "…"

Zhao Zhanlei, whose entire role in the operation was reduced to being a lookout, felt utterly aggrieved. "I'll lend you Jason, and I won't go. Let it keep watch."

"No way!!" Ji Xun put on a stern face.

Zhao Zhanlei: "Then let Jason keep watch, and I'll go into the Fu house with you."

"Deal."

They each compromised a step!!

After turning in "early" that night, Ji Xun locked his bedroom door from the inside, left the Great King Egg behind to cover for him by keeping watch, and then opened the window and jumped down.

A month of training was already starting to show results.

Though he wasn't quite light as a swallow from a two-story height, at least he wasn't clumsy either.

Zhao Zhanlei was waiting below to catch him, beckoning with his fingers as he whispered, "Xunxun, just jump straight down."

Ji Xun said, "Stone, move aside."

Zhao Zhanlei stepped aside a bit.

After finding a firm footing on a support point below, Ji Xun psyched himself up, took a deep breath, and jumped!

Mid-air, Ji Xun timed it precisely, shifting his center of gravity the instant he hit the ground and rolling twice over the courtyard lawn to absorb the impact that might otherwise have injured his knees.

With his heart in his throat, Zhao Zhanlei watched Ji Xun execute the standard landing move in one fluid motion. He let out a soft "whoa" and immediately gave him a thumbs-up. "Not bad!"

Ji Xun gave Zhao Zhanlei a smug little eyebrow raise.

The fruits of training!

However, the Fu family estate was different from the Ji family home; it had been heavily renovated, and the perimeter wall alone was four to five meters high.

In other words, Zhao Zhanlei plus Ji Xun still fell far short of reaching the top of the wall.

They would definitely need to add one more layer.

Only when he stood by the perimeter wall did Zhao Zhanlei realize this. He looked back, thinking that if he took a running start, scaling the wall alone might not be impossible. But just as he was about to speak, he saw Ji Xun sneaking over to rummage around in the shrubbery.

And pull out two chairs…

"When did you hide these?"

"This afternoon, of course," Ji Xun said. "I told you I had a foolproof plan. We're going to stack these chairs."

Zhao Zhanlei was one meter eighty, and Ji Xun was one meter sixty-three. Stacking two stools together would make a height of about one meter forty.

Combined with their own heights, it was roughly four to five meters.

Ji Xun's plan—"Build a human pyramid and climb up!"

The two chairs would be stacked at the very bottom, Zhao Zhanlei would stand on them first, and then Ji Xun would step onto Zhao Zhanlei's shoulders to reach the top.

Though his footing was slightly shaky…

It wasn't a major problem. Ji Xun successfully managed to stand straight, his hands reaching the edge of the wall.

Ji Xun took a deep breath, intending to do a pull-up and hoist himself over!

However, Ji Xun had overestimated himself. "Jumping out the window" and the "human ladder" had already expended a portion of his stamina, and the Fu family's wall offered very poor purchase. He was just a little too short, his palms were sweating, and after trying a few times without success, he couldn't manage to pull himself up.