Chapter 31: Behead (TEOTW)
"You little brat! Take your stinky rat away!"
Just as dawn was breaking, Qin Chu angrily pushed open the door and stomped over to the adjacent room, pounding on the door with force. Her hair was still slightly disheveled from sleep but she had no mind to care about that now, breathing heavily with anger, her chest heaving up and down.
The morning air was still chilly, not keeping Qin Chu waiting for long. The sturdy door suddenly swung open.
"You little brat! I warn you, if you don't..." Her voice abruptly stopped as Qin Chu looked awkwardly at the man standing before her. "Young Master... why are you the one opening the door?" Her tone dropped by eight degrees and her expression softened.
The morning sun, bright but lacking warmth, shone through, illuminating Ji Chuancheng's handsome and aloof face. He lowered his gaze, pausing momentarily on the small black bundle in Qin Chu's right hand then raised his head to reply, "He hasn't woken up yet. What happened so early in the morning?"
At the mention of this, Qin Chu fumed but in front of Ji Chuancheng, she restrained herself from exploding, gritting her teeth as she said, "Young Master, this little thing is too hateful. Last night, I put it in a specially made cage. After we fell asleep, it somehow opened the cage door and ate most of the polygonatum and sanqi that I had prepared earlier!"
"Jijiji jijiji~!"
Listening to this, the mutant hamster suspended in mid-air proudly revealed its bulging belly, as if flaunting its treasures. The two dragon-like small horns on its head shimmered faintly gold in the sunlight, causing Ji Chuancheng to narrow his eyes.
"Uh... A’Chuan, what's going on? Did Yu Jie come back?" A crisp male voice tinged with fatigue sounded from inside the room as Jing Xia walked over, ruffling his messy hair and looking at Qin Chu with surprise. "Hey... Sister Qin? Why are you here? Are you also going to the research institute with us today?"
"You little brat!!!"—
"Jijiji!! Jijiji!! Jijiji!!"
The handsome young man mercilessly pulled on the tail of the mutant hamster, which swirled in mid-air with its feet up, dizzy and disoriented.
"You dare to squeak?!!" Jing Xia grabbed the little black bundle and brought it in front of himself, glaring at it. "This morning, Sister Qin and I argued until our mouths were sore, or else she would have thrown you directly into the oil pan. If you had more meat on you, I wouldn't doubt that Sister Qin would cook you!"
Cowering, the hamster shook its chubby head in a conciliatory manner and squeaked softly twice.
"Tonight, you'll stay in the drawer. No arguments, no negotiations and if you dare squeak again, I'll throw you to that mutated giant white rat we encountered yesterday as a mate!"
"Jiji jijijiji..."
Holding the little black bundle in his palm, Jing Xia scolded the disobedient old rat all the way, making the usually mischievous and troublesome hamster several times tempted to bite Jing Xia's fingers in frustration. However, every time it maliciously attempted to bite, a chill would emanate directly from the nearby humans, making the mischief-filled black ball obediently listen.
When they arrived at the research institute, Jing Xia's mouth was dry from talking, so he threw the little creature back onto his head.
The adorable pet, familiar with this routine, crawled a few times and found its most comfortable spot then lay down comfortably. The owner, who had just looked fierce moments ago, was now completely forgetful, happily continuing toward the gate, completely forgetting the man beside him.
Ji Chuancheng followed half a step behind, silently watching the duo's back.
Really carefree.
Jing Xia naturally didn't know the silent criticism from his childhood friend behind him. He passed through several corridors until he realized who he should be following today.
"A’Chuan, why are you walking so slowly?"
Ji Chuancheng: "..."
The central garden's green belt had turned into a huge pit, where the once imposing "Xiao Yu" was now nowhere to be seen. Jing Xia's gaze swept past the glaring pit, then hastened his pace to catch up with Ji Chuancheng.
The two of them zigzagged their way into a room. Before Jing Xia could wonder why there was no one there, a hearty voice came from behind him, "Major Ji, you're here early today. If my assistant hadn't seen you arrive at the lab and informed me, I would have made you wait."
Jing Xia turned to look.
He saw a middle-aged man in his fifties standing next to the metal gate, smiling as he entered the room. There were some graying hairs at his temples but he looked spirited and lively, wearing rimless glasses and a white lab coat.
Ji Chuancheng nodded slightly and said in a low voice, "Professor Qi."
The man known as Professor Qi exchanged a few words with Ji Chuancheng before turning to look at Jing Xia beside him. He sized up Jing Xia for a moment, then smiled and said, "Hello, Jing Xia. I heard about you from Old Lu before. Your abilities are very precious. My surname is Qi, you can call me Professor Qi." With that, Professor Qi extended his right hand in a friendly gesture.
"Hello, Professor Qi." Jing Xia nodded and shook hands with Professor Qi. "By the way, are you Mr. Qi Yang's father? I wonder how he's doing now?"
The atmosphere suddenly stiffened and Ji Chuancheng's expression darkened visibly. A palpable chill emanated from him, freezing the air.
But as the person involved, Jing Xia didn't realize what kind of trouble he had stumbled into again. He frowned, expressing his concern, "Although I don't know exactly what Qi Yang did, based on our interactions along the way, he just has a sharp tongue but he seems like a decent person. Could it be... has something really happened to him?"
Professor Qi looked up at Ji Chuancheng with a pensive expression, then smiled and said, "Jing Xia, my surname is Qi, pronounced as 'Qi' in 'Qiyang.' I'm not Qi Yang's father." Pausing, he added with a deeper smile, "I think Qi Yang would be relieved to know that you care about him. Later, you'll probably find out his situation for yourself. As for what he did... I can't say right now but just as you thought, it's not that serious."
Jing Xia was taken aback for a moment, surprised by Professor Qi's response. "Not serious?"
In Jing Xia's impression, Yu Jie had always been itching to get rid of Qi Yang. If it weren't for Ji Chuancheng standing by, Qi Yang might not have made it to S City smoothly. And from Yu Jie's words, Jing Xia felt like Qi Yang had done something really wrong. Although he vaguely felt that Qi Yang wasn't someone completely unscrupulous, he couldn't defend him either.
Professor Qi nodded with a smile, "Yes, but it's complicated. Anyway, let me take you to the Evolvers' training base first."
Seemingly unwilling to dwell on the topic, Professor Qi led Jing Xia and the others straight to the training site, introducing as they walked, "The land resources at the S City base are very precious, so our training base is not large but the basic facilities are complete. It is mainly divided into the self-training area and the combat zone. Among them, the combat zone is further divided into dueling arenas for battles against mutant beasts and arenas for contests between Evolvers."
Professor Qi's voice grew lower in Jing Xia's ears, almost as if there was a thick layer of water between them, rendering it all in one ear and out the other. Although he wasn't familiar with these old professors from his previous life, he had visited the training base several times. The equipment in S City had always been excellent until it was leveled by the tide of beasts, leaving the mutant beasts in ruins.
His gaze lingered on the bloodstain on the lower right corner of Professor Qi's white coat. The blood was glaringly conspicuous, as if it had just splattered there.
"Normally, Evolvers have time restrictions on using the training base but since it's Major Ji, you can come and use it anytime." Professor Qi turned around and noticed Jing Xia staring blankly at his coat, reminding him, "Jing Xia?"
Jing Xia shivered all over, reflexively answering, "Yes! I'm listening! We can come and use the training base anytime."
Seeing Jing Xia's absent-minded appearance, Professor Qi burst into laughter. He simply pointed at the bloodstain on his clothes and asked, "What's this? Are you very interested in this?"
Jing Xia nodded subconsciously, then quickly shook his head to deny it.
"Haha, this is the blood of that little monster Qi Yang, splattered quite a bit, probably when we chopped off his head."
"!!!!!!!!"
This statement was like a bolt of lightning striking directly at Jing Xia's head. He continued to follow Professor Qi in a daze, unable to absorb anything this time for real.
They... actually chopped off his head?!
"Jiji!! Jijiji!! Jijiji!!"
Lost in thought, Jing Xia almost bumped into a pillar near the corner. Ji Chuancheng quickly grabbed his arm and pulled him back, his sharp eyes looking at the youth's startled expression, his brows furrowing slightly as he let out a soft sigh, "Don't worry, it should be nothing serious."
"They chopped off his head!!!" Jing Xia exclaimed in horror, "Qi Yang seems to have killed quite a few people before and he's likely to get the death penalty. But... they actually chopped off his head!!!"
"..." After a moment of silence, Ji Chuan Cheng finally explained, "Yu Jie and Qin Chu brought some personal emotions into this. Qi Yang is not exactly as they described. Although he has done irreparable things, it's not entirely his fault."
Jing Xia stared blankly at Ji Chuancheng's serious and solemn expression, taking a long time to come back to his senses.
When he finally snapped out of it, he was already walking behind Professor Qi out of those few small buildings, faintly seeing some flickering flames. The clashing of metal weapons sounded particularly loud in the quiet contest area. Two black figures swiftly dodged each other's attacks, accompanied by flashes of lightning and thunder and the swirling of dust in the wind.
The group of Jing Xia was about twenty meters away from the contest area when they suddenly saw a young man in a white coat rushing over, panting heavily, "Professor Qi, I finally found you! There's something wrong with Xiao Yu, please come quickly!"
Professor Qi's steps faltered, "What happened? Wasn't the little monster dealt with?”
Just as a fierce bolt of lightning struck down, booming and creating a half-meter wide crater in the ground of the contest area, the loud noise drowned out Professor Qi's words. Jing Xia stared blankly at the two people in front of him, not understanding what was going on.
The young man was so anxious that his face turned red, "Qi... Qi Shaoxiao has stabilized the situation but he just discovered a new situation and intends to directly conduct a full-body experiment on Xiao Yu, but Professor Wang stopped him. Now everyone is hesitant to act!"
This time, Jing Xia finally heard some clear information and exclaimed, "Qi... Qi Shaoxiao?!"
Professor Qi's white eyebrows furrowed, "Didn't I hand over the command directly to the little monster before I left? What happened for Old Wang to intervene? Alright, I'll go with you first. Tell me in detail about Xiao Yu's situation. What exactly..."
"No need for him to say, I'll just tell you directly." A teasing laughter rang out from behind Jing Xia with a slight upward inflection at the end. "It's not a big deal, don't let it delay you from showing Major Ji around."
Jing Xia widened his eyes and turned his head, only to see a slender and tall man walking towards them under the warm golden sunlight, wearing a clean white coat with his hands in his pockets. His right sleeve was rolled up, revealing a layer of gauze wrapped around his forearm, with traces of blood faintly visible.
The man had handsome features, and his gaze paused abruptly on Jing Xia before his eyebrows raised slightly, and a deeper smile formed at the corner of his lips.
Jing Xia was horrified, "Where's your head?!!!!"
Qi Yang: "...”
Chapter 31: Behead (TEOTW)
"You little brat! Take your stinky rat away!"
Just as dawn was breaking, Qin Chu angrily pushed open the door and stomped over to the adjacent room, pounding on the door with force. Her hair was still slightly disheveled from sleep but she had no mind to care about that now, breathing heavily with anger, her chest heaving up and down.
The morning air was still chilly, not keeping Qin Chu waiting for long. The sturdy door suddenly swung open.
"You little brat! I warn you, if you don't..." Her voice abruptly stopped as Qin Chu looked awkwardly at the man standing before her. "Young Master... why are you the one opening the door?" Her tone dropped by eight degrees and her expression softened.
The morning sun, bright but lacking warmth, shone through, illuminating Ji Chuancheng's handsome and aloof face. He lowered his gaze, pausing momentarily on the small black bundle in Qin Chu's right hand then raised his head to reply, "He hasn't woken up yet. What happened so early in the morning?"
At the mention of this, Qin Chu fumed but in front of Ji Chuancheng, she restrained herself from exploding, gritting her teeth as she said, "Young Master, this little thing is too hateful. Last night, I put it in a specially made cage. After we fell asleep, it somehow opened the cage door and ate most of the polygonatum and sanqi that I had prepared earlier!"
"Jijiji jijiji~!"
Listening to this, the mutant hamster suspended in mid-air proudly revealed its bulging belly, as if flaunting its treasures. The two dragon-like small horns on its head shimmered faintly gold in the sunlight, causing Ji Chuancheng to narrow his eyes.
"Uh... A’Chuan, what's going on? Did Yu Jie come back?" A crisp male voice tinged with fatigue sounded from inside the room as Jing Xia walked over, ruffling his messy hair and looking at Qin Chu with surprise. "Hey... Sister Qin? Why are you here? Are you also going to the research institute with us today?"
"You little brat!!!"—
"Jijiji!! Jijiji!! Jijiji!!"
The handsome young man mercilessly pulled on the tail of the mutant hamster, which swirled in mid-air with its feet up, dizzy and disoriented.
"You dare to squeak?!!" Jing Xia grabbed the little black bundle and brought it in front of himself, glaring at it. "This morning, Sister Qin and I argued until our mouths were sore, or else she would have thrown you directly into the oil pan. If you had more meat on you, I wouldn't doubt that Sister Qin would cook you!"
Cowering, the hamster shook its chubby head in a conciliatory manner and squeaked softly twice.
"Tonight, you'll stay in the drawer. No arguments, no negotiations and if you dare squeak again, I'll throw you to that mutated giant white rat we encountered yesterday as a mate!"
"Jiji jijijiji..."
Holding the little black bundle in his palm, Jing Xia scolded the disobedient old rat all the way, making the usually mischievous and troublesome hamster several times tempted to bite Jing Xia's fingers in frustration. However, every time it maliciously attempted to bite, a chill would emanate directly from the nearby humans, making the mischief-filled black ball obediently listen.
When they arrived at the research institute, Jing Xia's mouth was dry from talking, so he threw the little creature back onto his head.
The adorable pet, familiar with this routine, crawled a few times and found its most comfortable spot then lay down comfortably. The owner, who had just looked fierce moments ago, was now completely forgetful, happily continuing toward the gate, completely forgetting the man beside him.
Ji Chuancheng followed half a step behind, silently watching the duo's back.
Really carefree.
Jing Xia naturally didn't know the silent criticism from his childhood friend behind him. He passed through several corridors until he realized who he should be following today.
"A’Chuan, why are you walking so slowly?"
Ji Chuancheng: "..."
The central garden's green belt had turned into a huge pit, where the once imposing "Xiao Yu" was now nowhere to be seen. Jing Xia's gaze swept past the glaring pit, then hastened his pace to catch up with Ji Chuancheng.
The two of them zigzagged their way into a room. Before Jing Xia could wonder why there was no one there, a hearty voice came from behind him, "Major Ji, you're here early today. If my assistant hadn't seen you arrive at the lab and informed me, I would have made you wait."
Jing Xia turned to look.
He saw a middle-aged man in his fifties standing next to the metal gate, smiling as he entered the room. There were some graying hairs at his temples but he looked spirited and lively, wearing rimless glasses and a white lab coat.
Ji Chuancheng nodded slightly and said in a low voice, "Professor Qi."
The man known as Professor Qi exchanged a few words with Ji Chuancheng before turning to look at Jing Xia beside him. He sized up Jing Xia for a moment, then smiled and said, "Hello, Jing Xia. I heard about you from Old Lu before. Your abilities are very precious. My surname is Qi, you can call me Professor Qi." With that, Professor Qi extended his right hand in a friendly gesture.
"Hello, Professor Qi." Jing Xia nodded and shook hands with Professor Qi. "By the way, are you Mr. Qi Yang's father? I wonder how he's doing now?"
The atmosphere suddenly stiffened and Ji Chuancheng's expression darkened visibly. A palpable chill emanated from him, freezing the air.
But as the person involved, Jing Xia didn't realize what kind of trouble he had stumbled into again. He frowned, expressing his concern, "Although I don't know exactly what Qi Yang did, based on our interactions along the way, he just has a sharp tongue but he seems like a decent person. Could it be... has something really happened to him?"
Professor Qi looked up at Ji Chuancheng with a pensive expression, then smiled and said, "Jing Xia, my surname is Qi, pronounced as 'Qi' in 'Qiyang.' I'm not Qi Yang's father." Pausing, he added with a deeper smile, "I think Qi Yang would be relieved to know that you care about him. Later, you'll probably find out his situation for yourself. As for what he did... I can't say right now but just as you thought, it's not that serious."
Jing Xia was taken aback for a moment, surprised by Professor Qi's response. "Not serious?"
In Jing Xia's impression, Yu Jie had always been itching to get rid of Qi Yang. If it weren't for Ji Chuancheng standing by, Qi Yang might not have made it to S City smoothly. And from Yu Jie's words, Jing Xia felt like Qi Yang had done something really wrong. Although he vaguely felt that Qi Yang wasn't someone completely unscrupulous, he couldn't defend him either.
Professor Qi nodded with a smile, "Yes, but it's complicated. Anyway, let me take you to the Evolvers' training base first."
Seemingly unwilling to dwell on the topic, Professor Qi led Jing Xia and the others straight to the training site, introducing as they walked, "The land resources at the S City base are very precious, so our training base is not large but the basic facilities are complete. It is mainly divided into the self-training area and the combat zone. Among them, the combat zone is further divided into dueling arenas for battles against mutant beasts and arenas for contests between Evolvers."
Professor Qi's voice grew lower in Jing Xia's ears, almost as if there was a thick layer of water between them, rendering it all in one ear and out the other. Although he wasn't familiar with these old professors from his previous life, he had visited the training base several times. The equipment in S City had always been excellent until it was leveled by the tide of beasts, leaving the mutant beasts in ruins.
His gaze lingered on the bloodstain on the lower right corner of Professor Qi's white coat. The blood was glaringly conspicuous, as if it had just splattered there.
"Normally, Evolvers have time restrictions on using the training base but since it's Major Ji, you can come and use it anytime." Professor Qi turned around and noticed Jing Xia staring blankly at his coat, reminding him, "Jing Xia?"
Jing Xia shivered all over, reflexively answering, "Yes! I'm listening! We can come and use the training base anytime."
Seeing Jing Xia's absent-minded appearance, Professor Qi burst into laughter. He simply pointed at the bloodstain on his clothes and asked, "What's this? Are you very interested in this?"
Jing Xia nodded subconsciously, then quickly shook his head to deny it.
"Haha, this is the blood of that little monster Qi Yang, splattered quite a bit, probably when we chopped off his head."
"!!!!!!!!"
This statement was like a bolt of lightning striking directly at Jing Xia's head. He continued to follow Professor Qi in a daze, unable to absorb anything this time for real.
They... actually chopped off his head?!
"Jiji!! Jijiji!! Jijiji!!"
Lost in thought, Jing Xia almost bumped into a pillar near the corner. Ji Chuancheng quickly grabbed his arm and pulled him back, his sharp eyes looking at the youth's startled expression, his brows furrowing slightly as he let out a soft sigh, "Don't worry, it should be nothing serious."
"They chopped off his head!!!" Jing Xia exclaimed in horror, "Qi Yang seems to have killed quite a few people before and he's likely to get the death penalty. But... they actually chopped off his head!!!"
"..." After a moment of silence, Ji Chuan Cheng finally explained, "Yu Jie and Qin Chu brought some personal emotions into this. Qi Yang is not exactly as they described. Although he has done irreparable things, it's not entirely his fault."
Jing Xia stared blankly at Ji Chuancheng's serious and solemn expression, taking a long time to come back to his senses.
When he finally snapped out of it, he was already walking behind Professor Qi out of those few small buildings, faintly seeing some flickering flames. The clashing of metal weapons sounded particularly loud in the quiet contest area. Two black figures swiftly dodged each other's attacks, accompanied by flashes of lightning and thunder and the swirling of dust in the wind.
The group of Jing Xia was about twenty meters away from the contest area when they suddenly saw a young man in a white coat rushing over, panting heavily, "Professor Qi, I finally found you! There's something wrong with Xiao Yu, please come quickly!"
Professor Qi's steps faltered, "What happened? Wasn't the little monster dealt with?”
Just as a fierce bolt of lightning struck down, booming and creating a half-meter wide crater in the ground of the contest area, the loud noise drowned out Professor Qi's words. Jing Xia stared blankly at the two people in front of him, not understanding what was going on.
The young man was so anxious that his face turned red, "Qi... Qi Shaoxiao has stabilized the situation but he just discovered a new situation and intends to directly conduct a full-body experiment on Xiao Yu, but Professor Wang stopped him. Now everyone is hesitant to act!"
This time, Jing Xia finally heard some clear information and exclaimed, "Qi... Qi Shaoxiao?!"
Professor Qi's white eyebrows furrowed, "Didn't I hand over the command directly to the little monster before I left? What happened for Old Wang to intervene? Alright, I'll go with you first. Tell me in detail about Xiao Yu's situation. What exactly..."
"No need for him to say, I'll just tell you directly." A teasing laughter rang out from behind Jing Xia with a slight upward inflection at the end. "It's not a big deal, don't let it delay you from showing Major Ji around."
Jing Xia widened his eyes and turned his head, only to see a slender and tall man walking towards them under the warm golden sunlight, wearing a clean white coat with his hands in his pockets. His right sleeve was rolled up, revealing a layer of gauze wrapped around his forearm, with traces of blood faintly visible.
The man had handsome features, and his gaze paused abruptly on Jing Xia before his eyebrows raised slightly, and a deeper smile formed at the corner of his lips.
Jing Xia was horrified, "Where's your head?!!!!"
Qi Yang: "...”
