novelzi Chapter 78
Chapter 78
the sun was setting, and the giant clock on the bell tower ticked steadily.
the pendulum cast a dim shadow in the evening light. in this campus-like educational complex, trees cast dancing shadows everywhere, flowers bloomed in abundance, and the academic buildings were built with bricks of pure sky blue, their walls adorned with soft, painted clouds.
at first glance, it might have been mistaken for a luxurious kindergarten. however, the students who roamed here were at least fourteen years old, enrolled in a six-year program at this comforting guide academy.
a regular class was in session at one of the outdoor teaching areas.
at this moment, all eyes were on nie yinzhi. her spirit animal was tiny, with soft tea-gold fur marked with black patterns, and round amber eyes that made anyone who looked at them unable to resist exclaiming how cute it was.
it was a black-footed cat.
around nie yinzhi stood five or six classmates, each accompanied by their own spirit animal - there was an elegant deer that looked like a fairy, a chubby puppy, a tiny flower mouse the size of a palm, and others.
the future role of comforting guides was to enter sentinel towers and provide mental guidance for easily agitated sentinels, soothing their emotions. those who could become comforting guides typically had spirit animals that were soft, cute, and harmless.
nie yinzhi's black-footed cat had once been classified as soft and harmless.
at this moment, however, the black-footed cat was absurdly pinning down a wolf, its sharp teeth firmly gripping the wolf's throat. the poor grey wolf, despite being several times larger, dared not move, completely subdued by her spiritual power.
this was a simulated sentinel spirit animal in an extremely agitated state, and the lesson required the guides present to calm it down.
everything had gone smoothly at first, with the agitated wolf gradually becoming quiet, until nie yinzhi's black-footed cat took its turn. the cat awkwardly approached the wolf, which had been temporarily pacified by the others. its spiritual values had stabilized somewhat, approaching normal levels - all nie yinzhi needed to do was provide a little more guidance and comfort to complete the task.
the black-footed cat cautiously approached the wolf, extending its spiritual tendrils, enveloping it with its gentle, harmless spiritual force. the wolf initially showed no reaction, accepting the cat's approach, even licking it once, flattening a patch of fur on the tiny cat's back.
through the spiritual tendrils attached to the wolf, she could see into its spiritual landscape and spotted the root of its agitation. her spiritual tendrils probed toward that spot.
that's when the wolf suddenly jumped up, as if triggered, snarling and lunging at the black-footed cat. the small cat nimbly avoided its sharp fangs and claws, ghost-like as it landed on the wolf's neck. its tiny paws seemed to carry the weight of a thousand pounds as it forcefully pinned the wolf to the ground.
the black-footed cat moved with lightning speed, catching the wolf's vulnerable throat, and with an incredibly forceful stance, roughly inserted its spiritual tendrils into the wolf's spiritual landscape.
rather than the gradual, gentle comfort that was expected, it clearly preferred this simple and brutal approach.
on the screen, the wolf's skyrocketing spiritual pressure was displayed in real-time, with warning exclamation marks indicating that everyone's previous efforts had been wasted.
"nie yinzhi! what are you doing? you're a comforting guide - your spiritual power must not be aggressive! it should be gentle like water, soft like clouds. you need to let the sentinel open their heart to accept you willingly. you're supposed to comfort it, not attack it!" the teacher shouted angrily.
nie yinzhi remained focused, not bothering to respond.
shortly after the teacher's outburst, the wolf's spiritual values fluctuated violently before miraculously settling back to normal levels, and the simulated sentinel spirit animal disappeared.
nie yinzhi raised her delicate eyebrows and happily announced, "report to teacher, mission completed."
teacher: "..."
"..." nie yinzhi looked at the hedgehog-like rabbit. this was 'much better'???
soon, nie yinzhi was arranged to enter the soundproof room. she was thoroughly sanitized from head to toe, changed into the softest fabrics, and walked barefoot into the room to help calm the agitated rabbit and provide mental guidance.
having just graduated from school, being assigned such a serious case was quite overwhelming.
everyone left the compartment, only monitoring the spiritual values in the soundproof room from outside. the light dimmed even further.
when a sentinel was in sensory overload, any sound, any light, even the slightest touch could cause them pain. he was now more fragile than a porcelain doll.
nie yinzhi listened to the faint sound of flowing water and released her spirit animal, a black-footed cat. the cat landed on the edge of the bed without touching gu jiang at all. she needed to approach his rabbit first, extending her spiritual tentacles to establish a mental barrier that would help control his out-of-control senses.
she released a small amount of spiritual energy to surround the rabbit. the black-footed cat slowly approached the rabbit, and she was more serious and patient about this than during any of her classes or exams.
perhaps because gu jiang had previously used her guide pheromones, the rabbit showed no aversion to the black-footed cat. the little cat successfully approached it and gently licked its not-too-prickly face.
nie yinzhi noticed the unconscious person on the bed shudder. to be precise, he wasn't really unconscious; his senses were just too sharp, receiving too much external information that he couldn't process, causing him to become lost in his own spiritual landscape, unable to wake up.
the rabbit suddenly retreated to a corner, its red eyes gleaming eerily in the darkness.
nie yinzhi kept reminding herself to be gentle as water. the black-footed cat rolled over on the bed, exposing its soft belly, and made a soft mewing sound. it extended a thin spiritual tentacle to entice the rabbit, carefully releasing a small amount of guide pheromones.
the rabbit was indeed lured by her, actively approaching the black-footed cat. nie yinzhi narrowed her eyes as her spiritual tentacles entwined with the rabbit. the black-footed cat placed both paws on the rabbit's head, licking from its ears to its face, softening its needle-like fur.
finally, it rolled over onto the rabbit, licked its nose, and stronger guide pheromones entered through the rabbit's nose, instantly turning it into a soft, white ball of fur.
nie yinzhi carefully walked over and crouched beside the bed, gently stroking the rabbit.
she heard gu jiang's increasingly rapid breathing and glanced at him. her spiritual tentacles completely wrapped around the rabbit, allowing her to see through his spiritual landscape.
his spiritual landscape was in terrible condition. the sensory overload had thrown his spiritual landscape into chaos, as if swept by a hurricane. nie yinzhi found his spiritual tentacles in the mess and entwined with them, establishing a temporary spiritual connection.
she had anticipated that gu jiang must be experiencing great pain, so she established a mental barrier the moment the spiritual connection was successful.
even so, she still felt that brain-splitting headache for a brief moment, though thankfully it only lasted an instant.
through the spiritual connection, nie yinzhi began to guide his tangled spiritual landscape, blocking out his out-of-control senses.
she was so focused and concentrated that she completely failed to notice her guide pheromones becoming almost uncontrollable during this process. by the time she became aware of the unusual heat in her body, she was already pressed against gu jiang.
at such close distance, she could clearly see his finely carved features and those ink-black eyes.
nie yinzhi blinked and said calmly, "don't panic, it's just bonding heat."
but in reality, her black-footed cat was already panicking, its fur standing on end.