It’s hard to describe, but Xiao Jiali felt like he was submerged in deep blue water, gently rocked by the ebb and flow of the tide, sinking into a peaceful, undisturbed sleep… It was a tranquility he had never experienced before.
Suddenly, a day like any other over the past thousand nights.
In the warm midday sun, he regained consciousness and slowly opened his eyes. His chaotic memories surged back, flooding his mind like a tidal wave.
—Xiao Jiali had become a fifteen-year-old boy, with a new face.
His amber almond-shaped eyes had changed to blue ones, not the smoky blue of Xiao Zhenyun, but a brighter, lake-like blue. It was familiar yet strange; these were Xiao Nian’s eyes.
When Xiao Jiali’s previous body died, he was only twenty-five, but his hair was completely white, and his face was full of wrinkles, looking like an old man. Xiao Nian saved his life and gave him an extra ten years, from fifteen to twenty-five, the very years Xiao Jiali had lost when his father sold him for experiments, leading to brainwashing and memory loss.
“What a wonderful administrator, returning kindness with even greater kindness,” Xiao Zhenyun said, crossing his legs and sipping tea on the couch. “But why didn’t he give me back the ten years I lost? Before entering the book, I was only twenty-six, but now I’m thirty-six for no reason.”
Si Di, reading the lunchtime headlines on the Star Network beside the tower, chuckled and took a sip of coffee from the table. “You should think about it. Xiao Jiali is always sweet-talking, helping people, and making himself very likable. And you? You go around insisting on playing the ‘dad’ role all day long, but you’ve made such a mess of his work that his year-end bonus is probably ruined because of you.”
“He chose the kid’s body himself; what am I supposed to do, not be his dad?” Xiao Zhenyun retorted righteously. “As for the plot issues, it wasn’t something I wanted. Do you really think I wanted to mess up the storyline?”
“Hard to say,” Si Di replied with a mischievous smile. “Who knows if you did it on purpose?”
“We share our thoughts now, so you know I didn’t do it on purpose.”
Amidst the playful bickering, Xiao Jiali nervously walked into the room.
His memories were stuck on the dark cliff, filled with chaos and despair. Even though he wasn’t a real sentinel, he had their senses. He hated sensory inhibitors and the feeling of being blindfolded and deafened. On the cliff, he had ripped off the inhibitors, feeling like the sprouts breaking through the soil, stretching his senses, greedily breathing in the fresh air, everything around him vividly clear.
At that moment, he was also acutely aware of his life force slipping away.
When the bullet pierced his body, Xiao Jiali didn’t feel pain. The icy sensation of his blood draining away spread slowly. He knew he was dying…
With a hole in his lung, every breath was agonizing, but Xiao Jiali held on for fifteen minutes. No matter how terrible his situation was, he desperately wanted to live.
Yet, in extreme unwillingness and unbearable pain, Xiao Jiali finally gave in.
“Teacher Xiao, Captain Si, I still can’t believe it,” Xiao Jiali said, his mind still in a fog, touching the soft, white feathers growing randomly all over his body. “Is Xiao Nian really the administrator of this world? He left his body for me, what will he do? Will he come back?”
While talking, a fluffy, monkey-like Horned eagle appeared on Xiao Jiali’s shoulder. Its black, beady eyes looked like two Go pieces, and it clung tightly to Xiao Jiali’s clothes, screeching anxiously.
Xiao Zhenyun handed over a strand of guide elements. “Call me Dad.”
The eagle trembled at the scent of the guide elements, the pale gray fluff on Xiao Jiali’s temples stopped growing, his emotions stabilized, and he blushed in comfort, stammering, “D-Dad Xiao.”
Not wanting to show favoritism, the obedient child then said, “Dad Si.”
Si Di took a sip of coffee and suddenly understood why Xiao Zhenyun enjoyed being called dad by others… it had an oddly satisfying feeling.
When young people first awaken to their special abilities, their spiritual bodies go through a juvenile phase. Xiao Jiali’s eagle, in its newly hatched form, looked like a fluffy white cotton ball. Its wings were too weak to fly, and it was often carried around by Tian Lu. When it was tired of playing, it was then placed on Tai Ji’s back to bask in the sun.
Initially, Xiao Jiali was mistaken for a dark sentinel with a very narrow spiritual threshold. The body Xiao Nian left for him simply followed this setting. When Xiao Jiali underwent his awakening at the hospital, his spiritual threshold remained narrow, typical of a dark sentinel.
Interestingly, Xiao Zhenyun had an 80% compatibility rate with him.
When the results came in, Si Di’s face looked like he was passing a kidney stone.
“This is deliberate. Xiao Nian did this on purpose,” he grumbled, crushing the waiting chair armrest. “What’s his goal? To create family strife? Should I eliminate Xiao Jiali?”
“It wasn’t intentional?” Xiao Zhenyun retorted calmly. “Seems like he always planned to resurrect Xiao Jiali, but didn’t tell us to spite me.”
Xiao Jiali felt guilty, holding his fluffy white eagle, standing meekly by the hospital wall, not daring to approach, and avoiding looking at the two elders with his blue eyes.
Xiao Zhenyun and Si Di exchanged a look.
In their spiritual link, Xiao Zhenyun: Jealous of a baby eagle? How embarrassing.
Si Di: I’m not jealous of this Little Bird. That’s ridiculous!
Soon, Xiao Jingfeng rushed to the hospital after hearing the news, dragging ‘Xiao Nian’ back and forth, his expression dark and stormy.
Chairman Xiao, who knew the truth of the world’s origin, had been silent for almost a year. The only unusual scene he had witnessed firsthand was Xiao Nian making the world book disappear. Now, what he saw was the second—Xiao Jiali’s soul appearing in Xiao Nian’s body and Xiao Nian’s soul returning to his own world.
Xiao Zhenyun knew his uncle’s dark face was silently piecing together his shattered worldview and mending his broken materialism. Xiao Jiali, pitifully, had no idea.
The world of the Little Bird was still stuck four years ago. Only Xiao Zhenyun, Si Di, and a few others knew the secret that this world was just a book.
So, Xiao Jiali quickly tried to mimic Xiao Nian’s usual expression from memory, putting on a stern face as he looked at Xiao Jingfeng.
Then, he suddenly remembered an old topic: Xiao Zhenyun had once mentioned that Xiao Nian had a secret crush on his Grand Uncle, Chairman Xiao Jingfeng.
“…”
So, how far did their relationship go? Did Chairman Xiao know about Xiao Nian’s feelings? Did he respond? …Or maybe he didn’t?
To avoid blowing his cover, should he try to imitate an admirer’s longing gaze, with eyes full of unspoken affection?
A whirlwind of thoughts raced through Xiao Jiali’s mind. Finally, he decided to go all in, lifting his head and staring into Xiao Jingfeng’s eyes. His cheeks uncontrollably reddened, his gaze darting around, unable to meet Xiao Jingfeng’s eyes directly.
Xiao Jingfeng: “…???”
“Uncle… granduncle…” Xiao Jiali awkwardly said, “Your guide elements… they’re too strong, I can’t breathe.”
“…” Xiao Jingfeng loosened his grip on Xiao Jiali, puzzled, and checked their compatibility rate—
80%, exactly the same as Xiao Jialii’s data with Xiao Zhenyun.
“Isn’t he a dark sentinel?” Si Di asked, confused. “How does he have an 80% match?
Xiao Jiali was indeed a true dark sentinel. Xiao Nian, probably worried about Xiao Jiali’s spiritual domain being damaged, had specially set it so that Xiao Jiali would have a high compatibility with two guides. His thorough consideration was evident in every detail.
Xiao Zhenyun felt a mix of gratitude, jealousy, and confusion. Really? He, an already marked guide with C-level spiritual strength, was usually exhausted just calming a single person. If Xiao Jiali’s spiritual domain was damaged, there was little he could do to help. On the other hand, Xiao Jingfeng, an unmarked S-level radiant Guide specializing in spiritual attacks, had spiritual soothing skills that were similar to an amateur painter slapping paint on a wall.
What was this 80% match between the two of us and Xiao Jiali all about?
After raising the Little Bird for a few days and Xiao Jiali getting used to his new identity, Si Di handed him over to Hedgehog for training.
The official reason was that both were S-level dark sentinels and would have much in common. Privately, it was because Si Di feared Hedgehog was getting too idle, always looking for fun. Giving him a burden might keep him busy and make him useful.
Incidentally, by introducing Hedgehog to Xiao Jiali, he could also promote the glory and benefits of the Storm Team, hoping Xiao Jiali would join after graduation. An S-level dark sentinel was a precious asset, hard to find. If they could secure two, their team wouldn’t just be the Storm Team; it’d be the Cool Team.
Initially, Hedgehog was reluctant to babysit. However, upon seeing Xiao Jiali, his eyes lit up, and his snake tail almost coiled around Xiao Jiali’s leg.
“Xiao Nian left his body for him, reviving a dead man?” Hedgehog was astonished, circling Xiao Jiali, observing him with great interest, looking like he’d found something exciting.
The short-tailed viper slithered up Xiao Jiali’s leg, coiling around his thin waist and straight back, its triangular head fixated on the little eagle. The hawk shivered and tucked in its wings. The viper, feeling cocky with its foe subdued, strutted around until the eagle turned the tables, chasing the red-brown ‘string’ around.
Xiao Zhenyun and Si Di, having handed Xiao Jiali over to Hedgehog, found themselves troubled by his misguided teachings. Every week, at family meetings, Xiao Jiali would dramatically recount Hedgehog’s radical teachings: how dark sentinels should be proud, unique, and stand out from the crowd. Other special individuals were there to serve them, and as dark sentinels, they stood atop the food chain, vastly different from ordinary sentinels, needing no guide assistance…
Dark sentinels! Need no guides! Dark sentinels stand alone!
“Ha,” Si Di sneered. “Did Vice Captain Han not mention about his attempt to flirt with a S-class Guide, and ending up being beaten without a competition?”
“Yeah, that guide whipped him with spiritual power straight in the face so much that the snake played dead out of fright,” Xiao Zhenyun added, fanning the flames.
Xiao Jiali: “…”
Despite his dads’ teasing, Xiao Jiali’s admiration for Hedgehog remained intact. He still saw Hedgehog as a model sentinel, following him around and calling him ‘Teacher Han’ with starry-eyed reverence.
One summer, without Xiao Zhenyun and Si Di knowing, Hedgehog sneakily took Xiao Jiali for some ‘real-world training.’ Vice Captain Han, always up for trouble, secretly accepted a side job and took Xiao Jiali to train in a neighboring city.
By the time the busy Si Di found out, Hedgehog was already in the ICU on a stretcher.
Hello, everyone ヾ(＾∇＾). I hope you enjoyed the story! If you’re feeling generous, please buy me a coffee, share/comment on my translated works! Check out the link below for early chapters. (๑>ᴗ<๑)
