Chapter 7: What Are You Doing?

An adult Tyrannosaurus rex stands 12 meters tall... Wow!! Twelve meters!! That's as tall as a three- or four-story building!! Ji Xun marveled as he continued reading, "Weight: seven tons..."

"Oh my god!! Seven tons!!"

After expressing his astonishment, Ji Xun fell silent.

Seven tons, twelve meters.

It seemed his home wouldn’t be able to accommodate such a creature. Fu Shuxing’s family had a yard and lawn, but surely they wouldn’t raise it there, right? After all, they were destined to clash in the future.

Looks like he’d have to earn a lot of money, then buy an uninhabited, abandoned planet.

Ji Xun kept reading.

The T. rex could run at 40 kilometers per hour.

“Only 40 km/h?” Ji Xun muttered disdainfully. “That’s way too slow—less than half the speed of General! If we ever fought, if General ran, it would be impossible to catch up!”

But the bite force...

“Wow! Ten tons??!”

A complete victory over General!

He could crunch General like a crispy snack!!

Wait...

Ji Xun’s expression turned serious.

This spiritual body seemed a bit too fierce and brutal.

What if he lost control and actually ate General? That would be a huge problem!

It seemed that making the T. rex his spiritual body was a matter that required further consideration.

Still, over the two-day weekend, Ji Xun devoured a great deal of information and popular science about the T. rex.

Though much of it was forgotten as soon as he finished reading.

Yet he found great joy in it!

His father, however, was somewhat innocent in all this.

Every time his mother saw him seriously engrossed in his books, she would ask her husband if their son had been overly stressed again.

His father always insisted, “No, no.”

Early Monday morning, Ji Xun went to Fu Shuxing’s place to hitch a ride on his flying vehicle.

No cook auntie was around.

Fu Shuxing made a simple sandwich himself.

Unlike Fu Shuxing’s two fathers, who were often away and busy with work, Ji Xun had grown up surrounded by the love of his parents.

He still remembered how, as a child, he eagerly awaited trips by Uncle Fu and Uncle Gao, because then Brother Xingxing would come over to eat, sleep in the same room, and play with him.

Ji Xun had never cooked before.

Watching Fu Shuxing methodically prepare everything, he felt a twinge of envy and flattered him by draping over the table, “Brother Xing, you’re really amazing—you know how to do everything!”

Fu Shuxing drizzled sauce over his sandwich and coolly said, “Isn’t making a sandwich something anyone with hands can do?”

Ji Xun thought Fu Shuxing was taking a sly jab at him, so he pouted and fell silent.

He pulled a book out of his backpack.

Fu Shuxing carried his tray over to the table and glanced at Ji Xun, noticing the picture book in his hands. Seeing how absorbed he was, he asked, “What are you reading?”

Ji Xun showed him the cover: "The Tyrannosaurus Dynasty of the Cretaceous Period."

“Why suddenly this?”

“Hobby!”

Fu Shuxing replied dryly, “...That’s quite a unique hobby.”

Ji Xun shot back, “I call it wide-ranging interests!”

“Hmph.”

Day and night, Ji Xun read almost nothing but T. rex books for nearly half a month.

He became so obsessed that even in his dreams he was raising a litter of baby T. rexes.

Yet not a single sign of a spiritual body appeared.

One day in history class, Instructor Tina continued teaching about the development of the Federation government.

In the first half of the semester, she covered the ancient Earth extinction wars, the wandering battleships, and the quest to rekindle the fire of hope across the vast cosmos to rebuild the Federation government.

Today’s lesson was about Awakeners and spiritual bodies.

Ji Xun rested his head on one hand, appearing to listen attentively to Instructor Tina while sneaking glances at the "Legend of the Tyrannosaurus" picture book resting on his lap.

Suddenly, he heard Zhou Xiaoyun whispering, “Yingying, Yingying.”

Zhou Xiaoyun was calling Zhu Liying.

Ji Xun immediately leaned forward, pricking up his ears to eavesdrop.

“What’s up?” Zhu Liying leaned in.

“I’m telling you, Instructor Tina’s spiritual body isn’t a phoenix.”

“Huh?”

“I took Little Chirp for a follow-up yesterday and asked Instructor Tina one question. Turns out, it’s not a phoenix but a flamingo. Instructor Tina laughed at me, saying a phoenix spiritual body can’t exist in this world.”

Ji Xun: “????”

Zhu Liying: “Why not?”

Zhou Xiaoyun: “Instructor Tina said that although spiritual bodies exist in higher dimensions, they are derived animal forms of Awakeners. That means they must be creatures that actually exist in this world. Even insect species might be possible, but definitely not phoenixes or dragons.”

Ji Xun’s heart sank to the bottom!

No phoenixes or dinosaurs?

Had he wasted half a month for nothing???

Zhu Liying: “I knew it had to be something real, otherwise everything would be messed up! I even wanted Sun Wukong as my spiritual body! Then I could do the seventy-two transformations!”

Zhou Xiaoyun laughed, “You might as well have the Buddha himself as your spiritual body.”

“The Jade Emperor works too, hahaha.” Zhu Liying laughed, then suddenly asked, “By the way, what’s this thing you said about spiritual bodies and frequent contact?”

“Oh, that’s something I made up! Otherwise, I couldn’t explain how Instructor Tina could have a phoenix spiritual body.”

“I see…”

Ji Xun: ……….

Later, when Zhao Zhanlei came to the guide teaching room after school looking for Ji Xun, he found Ji Xun slumped over the desk in utter despair—a stark contrast to his diligent efforts over the past two weeks.

“What’s wrong?” Zhao Zhanlei pulled out a chair and sat beside him. “Xun Xun, why the long face?”

“Nothing,” Ji Xun’s face was pressed against the desk, eyes vacant, voice faint. “Just a small setback every man faces. I’ll get over it soon.”

Hearing that, Zhao Zhanlei smiled, knowing it wasn’t too serious.

Ji Xun couldn’t smile back. He sighed deeply, sat upright, looked at Zhao Zhanlei, then realized, “Stone, what are you doing here?”

Zhao Zhanlei said, “Brother Xing has been training extra lately and asked me to bring you home.”

“Oh.”

Ji Xun reached for his backpack, but thinking about how it was filled with T. rex books, he felt a sudden pang of sadness.

Before he could feel sorry for himself for more than two seconds, Zhao Zhanlei had already grabbed the bag. “Let’s go.”

Ji Xun followed behind him, downcast.

After walking a while, he said, “Stone…”

“Hmm?”

“Let Jason out so I can hug him…”

“?”

Zhao Zhanlei was surprised. Had the sun risen in the west? He asked, “Ji Xun, what did you just say?”

“Never mind…”

“But you haven’t been on good terms with him lately, right?”

Zhao Zhanlei whistled, and in the next moment, a small, droopy-headed, silent little leopard—looking thoroughly depressed—appeared at his feet.

The little leopard had suffered a heavy blow and hadn’t recovered for half a month.

Melancholy and thinner by a noticeable margin.

Ji Xun picked up the little leopard and, seeing its pitiful and wronged expression, felt it was the truest reflection of his own heart at that moment. He pressed his face against the leopard and murmured, “Wuwu, Jason, I missed you so much!!”

Jason meowed dully, still not quite comprehending.

Ji Xun continued, moved, “Look at your long legs, look at your beautiful spots! How could the feline family have such a handsome little cub like you!”

As Ji Xun finished speaking, Zhao Zhanlei saw the little leopard, withdrawn for over half a month, suddenly start licking its paws.

It was grooming itself carefully, loving cleanliness.

Zhao Zhanlei: “...”

Unbelievable.

The scene was almost too much to bear.

Ji Xun pinched one of Jason’s paws. “Wow, Jason’s paws! So cute!! Heart-shaped pads! Look, Stone, look!!”

Zhao Zhanlei graciously glanced over.

Seeing the little leopard’s proud expression and the particularly gentle “meow,” he choked up, then sighed, “Little Xun.”

Ji Xun turned to look at him. “Hmm?”

“Do you know what Jason just said?”

“What?” Ji Xun was puzzled. “Did Jason say something just now?”

“Didn’t it just call out? You guides should have training on how to communicate with spiritual bodies, right?”

“No.” Ji Xun said, then hesitated and lowered his voice. “Maybe I don’t have that training.”

Seeing this, Zhao Zhanlei realized he’d misspoken and casually threw an arm around Ji Xun’s shoulders, speaking cheerfully, “Nah! That’s impossible! Everyone in the Sanctuary learns the same things. You just haven’t gotten to that part yet. Basically, spiritual bodies and their owners are connected.”

Ji Xun was surprised. “What does that mean?”

“It means the things a spiritual body does are basically what the owner wants it to do.”

Ji Xun: “?”

Zhao Zhanlei quickly clarified, “Of course, what Jason does isn’t what I want! As the owner, I’m deeply embarrassed by it!!”

Ji Xun didn’t quite understand. “Stone, what exactly are you trying to say?”

“Just that you’ve been ignoring Jason these past few days, so it’s been really sad, not eating or drinking, not paying attention to me. But just now, when you interacted with it and praised it, it came back to life and started grooming itself.”

Ji Xun thought to himself, I have that kind of power?

After finishing, Zhao Zhanlei suddenly felt something was off. “Hey? I’m the same way! If you ignore me, I get really upset. If you don’t pay attention to me for a whole day or even half a day, I get really distressed.”

Ji Xun pinched the little leopard’s paw pads and curled his lips, thinking that was obvious.

They had been close friends for so many years; if Stone ever ignored him, he would definitely be upset too!

After all, humans aren’t cold and unfeeling.

Oh, except for Fu Shuxing.

Fu Shuxing was truly as stoic as a tree!

“Shuxing?” the instructor called.

Fu Shuxing withdrew his gaze. “Hmm?”

Instructor Loude followed his line of sight.

Outside downstairs, a few students were scattered about heading home after school. Among them, two were crossing the Reverse Flow Bridge, one of whom was Zhao Zhanlei from his class—a close friend of Fu Shuxing.

Instructor Loude joked, “Wanting to go home with Zhanlei too, huh?”

“No.” Fu Shuxing’s tone and eyes were cold and indifferent. “We’re going to the training room.”

“Let’s go.”

Back at home, Ji Xun’s mother noticed something was wrong with him.

He used to often go over to Fu’s house, but recently he’d been clutching dinosaur books nonstop. Today, he slumped onto the sofa like a wilted eggplant after frost, motionless and despondent.

“What’s wrong with you?” his mother asked, sensing the problem was serious, reaching out to touch his forehead.