The Beloved Guide Was Forced in a Love-Rival Shura Field - Chapter 26

Xiao Lin’s gaze swept over the uninvited students. He didn’t say a word, but a powerful sense of oppression silently spread.

The air in the ward seemed to be sucked out, instantly solidifying.

The chattering students were now like quails whose necks had been wrung. Their faces paled, and they unconsciously held their breath.

Lin Yuan was the most brazen. He withstood the gaze that could almost freeze a person solid, forced himself to move half a step forward, and squeezed out a smile uglier than a cry. “Ning Ning! You… are you okay? We heard you fainted and were so worried.”

The red-haired male student next to him nodded vigorously, but didn’t dare to utter a word. He could only use his eyes to frantically signal his concern.

“I’m fine,” Ning Ning’s voice was still a little soft. He looked at Lin Yuan, his purple eyes a little hazy from just waking up, looking particularly innocent. “Thank you for coming to see me.”

“It’s good that you’re fine…” Lin Yuan breathed a huge sigh of relief, and his eyes were immediately drawn to the sacred and elegant Moon Rabbit by the bedside. “Wow, Ning Ning, your rabbit… no, your spiritual body, has it evolved? It’s amazing! I’ve never seen such a… such a divine rabbit!”

He struggled for a long time, feeling that using the word “beautiful” was an insult to it, and finally added awkwardly, “It… it just feels like when it looks at me, all the messy thoughts in my mind quiet down. It’s so comfortable.”

This statement immediately ignited the others.

“Right, right!” a short-haired girl nodded like a chicken pecking rice, her eyes full of stars. “When it glared at me just now, my legs went weak! Not from fear, but… but a kind of urge to kneel down! It’s too divine!”

This absurd description caused a ripple of low laughter, and the freezing atmosphere in the ward finally eased a little.

Ning Ning looked at his Moon Rabbit, which was indifferently scanning the crowd with eyes that seemed to contain an entire nebula. The moon wheel behind it emitted a gentle halo. He himself felt both a sense of novelty and a bit of bewilderment.

“This isn’t a simple evolution.”

A gentle and elegant voice interjected, like a drop of water in hot oil, instantly making the atmosphere subtle again.

Gu Qingfeng had unknowingly walked to the other side of the bed. He wore a flawless smile, his gaze on Ning Ning filled with undisguised appreciation and a hint of deep, bottomless scrutiny.

“Ning Ning, the power sleeping in your body has only woken up a little,” he deliberately lowered his voice, his tone as gentle as coaxing. “How do you feel now? Is there anywhere you’re uncomfortable? Do you want me to give you a deep-level mental soothing? Only I can ensure no sequelae are left behind.”

The hint and intimacy in his words made everyone in the room feel that something was off.

click

A soft sound.

The motion of the fruit knife in Xiao Lin’s hand, peeling an apple, stopped.

He didn’t even lift his head, but focused on cutting the peeled apple into small pieces. He naturally picked up a piece with a silver fork, as if he had practiced it thousands of times, and directly held it to Ning Ning’s mouth.

“He’s fine.”

Xiao Lin’s voice wasn’t loud, and could even be described as calm, but it carried an absolute dominance of “my person doesn’t need your concern.”

“No need to trouble yourself, Chief Instructor.”

Gu Qingfeng’s smile remained unchanged, but a chill ran deep in his eyes.

Lin Yuan and a few students stood in the middle, looking from one side to the other, feeling their necks were about to twist off. This atmosphere was even more terrifying than an S-class beast’s nest!

“Ah, haha, well, Ning Ning!” Lin Yuan’s survival instinct was on high alert. He quickly tried to smooth things over. “Since you’re fine, we won’t disturb your rest! Get well soon, we’ll visit you another day!”

With that, he gave a look and almost half-dragged, half-pulled the others out of the ward, fleeing as if for their lives. Before leaving, he didn’t forget to thoughtfully close the door.

The room instantly fell silent.

Ning Ning obediently opened his mouth and bit into the apple slice Xiao Lin offered. The sweet juice spread in his mouth. While chewing in small bites, he looked at Xiao Lin, who was focused on cutting fruit for him, then turned his head to look at Gu Qingfeng, who was standing opposite, smiling but with a clearly unhappy aura. He blinked slowly.

In the air, there seemed to be invisible sparks crackling.

Xiao Lin’s gaze fell back on Ning Ning, and the aura that could freeze a person into an ice sculpture instantly vanished, becoming so gentle that he seemed like a different person.

He reached out and tucked a strand of silver hair that had fallen onto Ning Ning’s cheek behind his ear. His rough fingertip deliberately and unintentionally brushed the boy’s warm earlobe.

A very light touch, but it was like a brand, carrying an unmistakable sense of possession.

The tips of Ning Ning’s ears instantly turned red.

“It… is it called Moon Wheel?” Xiao Lin asked in a low voice, his gaze on the light wheel floating behind the Moon Rabbit, as if the cold man from just a moment ago was just an illusion.

“I don’t know,” Ning Ning shook his head a little blankly. He tried to communicate with his spiritual body, but only felt a pure, serene consciousness, like a windless lake.

He raised his hand, curiously and tentatively, wanting to touch that moon wheel.

The holy Moon Rabbit was very docile and actively tilted the moon wheel behind it toward him. The moonlight-like glow softly flowed onto his fingertips.

It was cool and refreshing, yet it felt as if countless lives were pulsating within it.

“Its power… seems to be purification,” Ning Ning said in a small voice, feeling the comfortable sensation that spread throughout his body.

Xiao Lin didn’t say anything, just watched him intently.

He watched as his slender fingers were shrouded in moonlight, and as his purple eyes, which reflected the nebula, showed a child-like novelty and confusion.

It was so lovely that it made his heart clench.

The man suddenly leaned down, his high-bridged nose almost touching Ning Ning’s neck.

Ning Ning was startled and instinctively shrank back.

Xiao Lin’s movement stopped. He just took a deep breath, as if to inhale all the clean and fresh, slightly milky scent on the boy’s body, to engrave it into his lungs and bones.

Then, he extended his finger and, very naturally, tidied the slightly open collar of Ning Ning’s hospital gown, completely covering the fair and fragile neck with faint red marks.

“Keep it on, don’t catch a cold.”

His voice was low and hoarse, his movements extremely restrained, but the emotions surging in his dark golden eyes were so intense that they seemed to want to swallow Ning Ning whole and imprison him with his own flesh and blood.

Gu Qingfeng stood by, taking in everything. The curve of his lips was still perfect, but his fingers, hidden by his side, were already clenched so tight the knuckles were white.

Just then, the terminal on Xiao Lin’s wrist emitted an urgent alert.

It was a top-secret emergency communication from the military.

He glanced at it, and a barely noticeable frown creased his brow.

“Ning Ning, I have to leave for a moment.” There was a hint of suppressed reluctance and frustration in Xiao Lin’s voice.

He stood up, and his tall figure of over 1.9 meters cast a shadow, completely enveloping Ning Ning.

“Rest well, don’t go anywhere,” he bent down and tucked Ning Ning’s blanket again, his tone leaving no room for argument. “Wait for me to come back.”

Finally, he straightened up, and his ice-cold, dark golden eyes gave Gu Qingfeng a deep, warning look.

Gu Qingfeng returned a gentle and harmless smile.

Not until Xiao Lin’s figure completely disappeared from the ward door did the suffocating sense of oppression dissipate.

Only Ning Ning, Gu Qingfeng, and the quiet Moon Rabbit were left in the room.

Before Ning Ning could even let out a sigh of relief, he felt the mattress beside him sink slightly.

Gu Qingfeng had actually sat down in the exact spot where Xiao Lin had been sitting!

“Now, the person in the way is gone.”

He was still smiling, but that smile no longer held the gentleness from before. Instead, it was tinged with a chilling coolness. He reached out and took off the gold-rimmed glasses he used for disguise, revealing a pair of bottomless, vortex-like black eyes.

“Ning Ning,” he leaned in close, his voice as soft as a lover’s whisper, yet carrying an irresistible sense of pressure. “Can we… have a good talk?”

His fingertip, light and cool, gently touched the collar that Xiao Lin had just tidied for Ning Ning.

“Talk about you, talk about me.”

“And… the secrets between us that shouldn’t be disturbed by outsiders.”

The Moon Rabbit raised its head, its purple eyes, which contained the nebula, quietly watching Gu Qingfeng. This time, it didn’t immediately show any rejection.

It just cocked its fluffy little head, as if trying to distinguish something.

Gu Qingfeng walked to the bedside, maintaining a seemingly safe distance from Ning Ning. He didn’t act as possessively as Xiao Lin, or make any intimate physical contact. He just stood there, using an almost greedy gaze to trace Ning Ning’s outline, inch by inch.

“Ning Ning.”

He spoke, his voice lower than usual, even with a hint of a tremor that he himself hadn’t detected.

He raised his hand and pressed his long fingers firmly against his temple. The perfect smile on his face showed its first crack, his brows furrowed in pain.

“I’m sorry… the mental power clash with the Marshal just now made my mental sea a little… out of control.”

Under the cuff of his white shirt, his wrist was slightly white from the excessive force, showing a kind of restrained vulnerability that would never be seen on him normally.

Seeing him in this state, Ning Ning’s heart softened.

After all, in his impression, Gu Qingfeng was always so composed, as if nothing could shake him.

“I… should I check on you?” he asked in a small, uncertain voice, as he had only just gained this strange ability.

Gu Qingfeng looked as if he had grasped a lifeline, and his eyes shot up.

A terrifying gleam instantly ignited in his deep black eyes. He almost lost control and took a small step forward, his voice filled with an extreme, repressed longing: “Can you?”

“Mm,” Ning Ning nodded.

Gu Qingfeng sat on the chair by his bed. His posture was still elegant, but his slightly tensed back betrayed his nervousness.

Ning Ning reached out and tentatively, gently placed his hand on Gu Qingfeng’s cool hand.

At the moment of contact, Gu Qingfeng’s body subtly stiffened.

Ning Ning closed his eyes, trying to recall the feeling from before and attempting to summon that new power.

The Moon Rabbit behind him seemed to receive a command. It raised its head, and the moon wheel floating behind it suddenly lit up.

The light was not dazzling, but as gentle as a handful of crushed, pale purple stardust, slowly pouring out from the edge of the moon wheel, filling the air with a thin layer of light mist.

An extremely fine energy thread, made of countless pale purple light points, extended from the moon wheel, as if it had a life of its own. It meandered down Ning Ning’s fair and slender arm, and finally converged at the fingertips where he and Gu Qingfeng were touching.

The moment the light entered, the string in Gu Qingfeng’s mind that had been stretched for countless years and was on the verge of snapping, finally loosened.

No, it completely disappeared.

The of noise that had been a constant presence in his mental sea, as if countless people were screaming in his ears, was instantly silenced by an invisible hand of God, returning to absolute stillness.

The monotonous “beep” of the medical equipment in the ward became clear for the first time, so clear that it was almost piercing.

The persistent, needle-like pain in his temples disappeared.

The tangled and twisted mental threads that had given him a headache day and night were smoothed and flattened one by one by a cool and gentle force. He could even clearly “see” them; each one had regained its smooth and soft texture, lying there quietly like a tamed cat, no longer tangled, no longer clashing.

There was no ecstasy, no release.

There was only a feeling of… being completely emptied, a kind of unprecedented, absolute peace.

It was like a room filled with sharp junk and noise for over twenty years was completely cleaned in a few seconds. Even the walls were wiped spotless, leaving only emptiness and tranquility.

So empty that it made him… panic.

Gu Qingfeng’s eyes snapped open.

What he saw was not some divine vision or a mental landscape, but Ning Ning.

The boy’s brows were slightly furrowed, his expression focused. The edges of his soft silver hair glowed with a dreamy purple halo in the moonlight of the moon wheel. His long, slender eyelashes cast a small patch of quiet shadow on his fair cheeks.

The source of this power that gave him a moment of salvation was him.

This realization was like a hot branding iron, searing itself deep into Gu Qingfeng’s soul.

He turned his hand and grabbed Ning Ning’s hand.

The grip was surprisingly strong, his knuckles white from the force, as if he wanted to embed the boy’s hand bones into his own flesh and never let go.

“Ooh…” Ning Ning was startled by the sudden force and pain, and he opened his eyes. His pure purple eyes showed a clear sense of confusion and bewilderment.

“Ning Ning…”

Gu Qingfeng spoke, his voice so hoarse it was unrecognizable. It was stripped of all its gentle and elegant pretense, leaving only the most primitive, undisguised greed and desire.

“Don’t stop,” he stared at Ning Ning, every word almost a plea. “Please… don’t stop.”

He was afraid that the moment of peace was just an illusion, and he was terrified that the noise would come flooding back.

He couldn’t lose this.

While Ning Ning was at a loss due to his uncharacteristic behavior, a silent invasion was taking place in the academic district of the Imperial Capital late at night.

Outside Huo Ze’s laboratory, the corridor was lit only by a few emergency lights, casting a pale, distorted shadow on the smooth metal walls.

A dark figure glided along the wall like a phantom. He wore special gloves to block biological information, and his movements were precise and professional, silently bypassing all conventional surveillance cameras.

He skillfully hacked the physical door lock of the laboratory. His figure flashed, and he blended into the deeper darkness of the room.

Inside the lab, there was only the faint humming of precision instruments. The dark figure’s goal was clear; he walked straight to the constant temperature cabinet that stored top-secret S-class files.

However, when he opened the cabinet door, it was empty.

Only a few discarded report papers with fringe data were scattered in the corner.

The dark figure’s eyes instantly became sinister.

He was one step too late!

At the same time, Huo Ze, who was in a secret base, was facing a huge light screen. On the screen, a red dot was moving quickly in the three-dimensional structure map of his laboratory.

The corners of Huo Ze’s mouth curved into a cold, wicked smile.

He had already transferred all the core data about Ning Ning, leaving only a special, high-sensitivity mental power beacon he had made as a trap.

“I’ve got your tail, little mouse,” Huo Ze whispered softly, his fingertip tapping the light screen.

The man in black in the laboratory suddenly stiffened. A sense of a reverse lock-on, a sharp pain, came from the depths of his mental sea!

“A trap!” He immediately realized this and turned around without hesitation, retreating at the fastest speed.

Even though he managed to escape, that unique, malicious and twisted mental power fluctuation had been completely recorded, analyzed, and archived by Huo Ze’s device.

An invisible net was slowly opening.

The next morning, the canteen of the First Imperial Military Academy was bustling with people.

Students with trays gathered in groups of two or three. The air was filled with the aroma of food and the vitality of young people. The discussion about the thrilling mental power riot from a few days ago was still a hot topic at every table.

“Did you hear? Senior Ning Ning is fine now. Someone saw the Marshal and Instructor Gu almost fighting over him at the medical center yesterday!”

“Oh my god, for two S-class people to… that’s too much! What kind of divine Guide is Senior Ning Ning?”

“Shhh! Be quiet! But seriously, I also want to be comforted by Senior Ning Ning, even if it’s just a glance…”

Amid the discussions, a handsome and delicate-looking boy appeared at the entrance of the canteen.

He had soft, flaxen short hair, gentle light brown eyes, and a sunny and cheerful smile on his face, which easily made people feel good about him.

He introduced himself as Xia Yu, an exchange student from a border star region academy. His appearance immediately attracted a lot of attention, especially from the female students.

Ning Ning was sitting by the window, eating a strawberry pudding in small bites, with a fluffy cloud beast plushie in his arms. It was an “anxiety-reducing plushie” that Gu Qingfeng had insisted on giving him before he left yesterday. The little thing was sleeping soundly, with only a small, snow-white head exposed.

As he was eating, a gentle voice sounded above his head.

“Excuse me, are you Senior Ning Ning?”

Ning Ning looked up and saw Xia Yu’s kind smile.

“Hello, I’m the new exchange student, Xia Yu,” Xia Yu’s smile was just right, neither fawning nor distant. He glanced at Ning Ning’s tray and continued, “I heard that seniors like strawberry desserts the most. It seems the rumors are true.”

Ning Ning blinked, looking at him with a little confusion. “Rumors?”

He didn’t know he had such rumors about him.

“Yeah,” Xia Yu naturally sat down in the seat opposite him, propping his chin with both hands and smiling like a harmless little fox. “Everyone in the academy is talking about you now. They all say you’re a once-in-a-century genius Guide of the Empire.”

His gaze fell on the cloud beast in Ning Ning’s arms, and a quick but incredibly precise look of scrutiny flashed in his eyes.

“So cute, is this your spiritual body?” he asked curiously.

“No… it’s not,” Ning Ning shook his head and said in a small voice, “A friend gave it to me.”

“I see,” Xia Yu nodded, his tone carrying a touch of well-placed envy. “It makes me so jealous to be friends with Senior Ning Ning.”

He leaned in closer, lowered his voice, and said in a tone of sharing a secret, “Senior, before I came, my mentor specifically told me that I must come and visit you. He said you have… the power to change the world.”

Xia Yu’s eyes were sparkling, full of adoration and curiosity, making it impossible to see any flaws.

“He said you are like the legendary… Moon God.”

Support The Beloved Guide Was Forced in a Love-Rival Shura Field