"Um……"
Yan Jingxing closed his eyes tightly and frowned tightly.
As he drifted into consciousness, he heard someone talking and moving around nearby, which sounded a little noisy.
Then, Yan Jingxing felt his head being lifted up in a daze, and someone stuffed something wet, slippery, cold and hard into his mouth.
A sweet taste blooms on the tongue, alleviating the dryness on the lips, and the sweet moisture penetrates the heart and spleen.
He slowly opened his eyes.
What caught his eye was Xie Yuzhi's face, as bright as the moon.
Looking directly at this face at such a close distance, and being mesmerized by the eldest lady's natural beauty before his consciousness was fully awake, the little boy's heart began to beat unsatisfactorily.
She was using her thighs as a "pillow", holding his head, holding a soup bowl in one hand and a spoon in the other to feed him.
After noticing that Yan Jingxing had woken up, the girl was stunned for a moment, and then a surprised smile broke out on her pretty face.
"Jing Xing, you're awake!"
"……Um."
Yan Jingxing was a little embarrassed. He found a soft and warm feeling coming from the back of his head. It was...
Feeling that his face was a little hot, he quickly broke away from the knee pillow and tried to get up on his own.
"Be careful not to push too hard."
Seeing this, Xie Yuzhi let go of her hand, but still looked at him with worry.
"Is there anything particularly uncomfortable in your body?"
Yan Jingxing held his forehead, took a breath, and began to move his limbs.
"No. I just feel... haha," he yawned mid-sentence and rubbed his eyes, "I'm still very sleepy, and I feel like I haven't had enough sleep."
"This is normal. I guess it's because your brain has been overused just now, similar to the symptoms of hypoglycemia."
Xie Yuzhi said as she handed over the bowl in her hand.
"After you passed out, I made sugar water and fed you chocolate. After replenishing emergency energy, you should feel better. Fortunately, the only luggage I brought over contained just the right things... ...Here, drink the rest of the sugar water."
Compared to usual times, the girl's demeanor and tone of voice at this moment were all extremely gentle.
In fact, since the first time he saw her after waking up, Xie Yuzhi, who takes good care of herself, has always exuded a special charm:
She is obviously still young, just a junior high school student like him, but she has an inexplicable sense of adult-like maturity and tolerance, which makes people want to rely on her.
Until now, Yan Jingxing was stunned.
"What's wrong?"
Seeing that he didn't move for a long time, Xie Yuzhi looked into the boy's eyes with confusion.
"No, nothing..."
His face turned slightly red, and he subconsciously wanted to change the subject.
"It's just...how to put it, I suddenly remembered that Chunzao said before that you are like her mother in the dormitory..."
Xie Yuzhi suddenly stopped stirring the sugar water with a spoon.
It’s over, what on earth am I talking about!
Yan Jingxing wished he could faint again now.
"Well, um, I think she was just joking..."
Yan Jingxing swallowed and explained carefully.
"I know, I also know you are joking."
Xie Yuzhi shook his head, his expression as calm as ever.
"I'll forget it. You can't make such a joke with other girls you don't know well, otherwise they might get angry. Come on, Jing Xing, drink the sugar water. You just woke up and need to supplement your nutrition."
Yan Jingxing quickly took the bowl and began to reminisce while drinking the sweet water.
"Speaking of which, I fell into a coma again? By the way, I did..."
Memories from before gradually come back like a tide.
To be honest, he didn't know if he should find a way to adapt to the situation where he lost consciousness at every turn.
In just a few days, Yan Jingxing has been unconscious twice in a row. The last time was because of seeing the astronaut's memory, and just now it was because of excessive energy consumption...
The latter is not "for no reason". In fact, before he fell into coma, he had already judged that this was the sequelae of mastering the ability for the first time.
"What's going on now?"
"The Predator King has flown to an unknown place. The place you chose for us is very strong. Other places in the palace later suffered secondary collapses, but the support structure here is not at any risk. The Hairless Man underneath It didn’t come up either, so it’s safe.”
Xie Yuzhi quickly introduced the current situation.
"Chun Zao went to explore the road. Her ability is suitable for gathering intelligence. As long as she is careful, there will be no problem. I will stay here to take care of you."
"...That's it. Well, that's good."
Yan Jingxing nodded.
Then--
...and then he didn't know what to say.
The two fell into silence for a while, and the atmosphere was a little awkward as no one spoke.
Do you want to express your gratitude properly? Yan Jingxing thought to himself that he really felt relieved to have two reliable companions, otherwise he would not have chosen to faint directly——
In that situation, Yan Jingxing could even tell when he was on the verge of collapse. He was calm enough to know how to protect himself, so he entrusted everything to the girls around him.
But... if you look at the compliments directly, Chun Zao might like others to praise her, but the eldest lady is obviously used to hearing good things from people around her.
Moreover, he knows that with his own personality, even if he bites the bullet and wants to praise others, his words will definitely be dry.
The reason why Yan Jingxing felt embarrassed was because he had just realized something: he was alone with Xie Yuzhi, and he was not used to it.
In the past, when the three of them acted together, there was another girl with a lively personality, so there was no need to think about the silence.
But when it was just him and the eldest lady...
They are friends, but they don't seem to have a good topic to talk about each other.
Yan Jingxing recalled it and found that the rare times he and Xie Yuzhi acted together, it seemed that they were all about Chun Zao.
He finished drinking the sugar water and put down the bowl, intending to secretly glance at the other person's expression, but found that the girl was staring at him with a burning gaze.
Yan Jingxing was startled and said subconsciously:
"By the way, when will Chun Zao come back?"
"I don't know. She left for almost half an hour and should be back to rest soon."
Xie Yuzhi shook her head and moved her sitting position so that she could be closer to her companion.
Although Yan Jingxing felt that there was a lack of topics between the two of them, she didn't think so——
In other words, in Miss Xie's view, this kind of thing doesn't matter at all.
Wouldn’t it be nice to create what is missing later?
Whether it's the feelings between each other or the common hobbies during communication, everything will become logical after becoming partners.
"Yan Jingxing, let's talk about your abilities. How do you feel now that you have become a 'warrior'?"
I don't know if it was because of the dim light in the surrounding environment, but the girl's pupils became brighter and brighter, full of curiosity and desire for knowledge.
…
After that, based on Yan Jingxing's description and supplemented by the results of repeated exchanges between the two, they determined the essence of this new ability.
In short, when Yan Jingxing takes the initiative to regard the target as his enemy and opponent, he can activate the "warrior's instinct".
In this state, emotional states such as fear and panic that can affect thinking will be forcibly suppressed; at the same time, his attention will be highly concentrated and his thinking speed will also speed up.
Under this situation, Yan Jingxing was able to consider a combat strategy suitable for the current situation and make the most appropriate judgment in the shortest possible time.
Just like Ji Chunzao gained the ability to understand knowledge on another planet after becoming a "sacrifice" and strengthened his ability to perceive radio waves, his ability was obviously brought about by the inheritance of the "warrior".
He is clearly a warrior, but what is enhanced is his mind - but this is not surprising, because a real warrior does not rely solely on personal force and bravery.
Once ordinary people encounter a panic situation, their minds tend to go blank. At ordinary times, they are always distracted by chaotic thoughts... Being habitually controlled by emotions is a human weakness.
"Warrior instinct" exists to overcome this natural weakness.
"Suppose you were just an ordinary junior high school student, but after activating your 'instinct', you are already like a veteran who has experienced many battles in terms of consciousness and mentality."
Xie Yuzhi said thoughtfully.
"It's really interesting. How is this change achieved? Is it just by transplanting a 'spine'?"
Yan Jingxing was about to answer when he suddenly heard footsteps in the distance, followed by the little girl's overjoyed voice:
"Hey, are you awake?"
He turned his head and looked deep into the passage, saw Ji Chunzao not far away, smiled and waved to her,
She ran over quickly.
…
The three of them gathered together again.
Ji Chunzao introduced the situation he had observed to the remaining two people.
"I have found the route to the first room. In addition, I also discovered one thing, that is, all the hairless ones on the road have disappeared, including the huge hairless leader. They are all using their abilities to search carefully, but there is no trace of them anywhere.”
"...I guess he fled somewhere else to avoid the predator."
Yan Jingxing said.
"Maybe. In short, this way, we can walk directly back to the deepest part of the palace without any hindrance."
He and Miss Xie looked at each other.
"In other words, we can try to go back? I mean, back to Earth?"
"That's right!"
Ji Chunzao had a smile on his face.
"Not necessarily, what if the 'Nepenthes' device is a one-time transmission machine..."
"No, you can definitely go back."
Xie Yuzhi was stunned for a moment and then reacted.
"I see, have you been there and seen it with your 'eyes'?"
The knowledge of alien civilizations was also recorded on those three machines, which Ji Chunzao called "pods".
The information the aliens left on the pods was sparse and vague, saying only that they were devices built to "preserve important records of life forms."
For some reason, they have turned into machines that can be used to travel between two planets... Judging from the information read by Ji Chunzao alone, it is really difficult to match the number.
But no matter what, it can be confirmed that it can be used repeatedly.
"Just in case, go back if you can."
Yan Jingxing made a decision immediately.
"The forest outside is still too dangerous for us now."
*
Thus, the first extraterrestrial expedition of the Baiyue Town "searching for aliens" trio came to an end.
They returned to the room deep in the palace along the original path, and the journey was uneventful without any accidents.
After packing their luggage and compose their mood, the boys and girls said "see you later" to each other before climbing into their respective pods.
Yan Jingxing was the last one.
Before the "nepenthes" closed, he once again set his sights in the direction of the palace.
He knew this would not be their last adventure.
Although the process was a bit embarrassing, they had to rely on luck to bump into a "great god" to escape the threat of the Hairless Ones and find their way home; but the abilities they gained in the palace made this adventure seem very rewarding.
And this is just the first step; next, they have to find a way to get out of the forest outside the palace and find the lighthouse that is closely related to their future.
Yan Jingxing looked deeply into the room for the last time.
The light in the field of vision quickly disappeared, leaving only the silent darkness in the pod.
…
After a dizzying flash of light and a huge shock, the abandoned palace once again returned to the dead silence of the past.
