Chapter 18: Quantum Beast
Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations
Editor: Karai
“What do you think?” Jin Xuan waited for a while and found that Wu Chenghe’s expression was rather blank, so he had to ask again.
“What do I think about what?” Wu Chenghe hadn’t reacted yet.
“About us dating,” Jin Xuan explained. “How about being my boyfriend?”
Wu Chenghe finally understood that he wasn’t joking. His expression changed suddenly, and he said, “I! Disagree!”
Rejected… Jin Xuan felt a bit frustrated, but considering that Wu Chenghe had just gone through estrus and his emotions were unstable, and he himself was an intruder who had discovered his secret… So his attitude was understandable!
“It’s okay, I will try my best to pursue you,” Jin Xuan said earnestly.
Pursue you?! Fuck you! Wu Chenghe was almost speechless. The goth’s thought process was indeed not on the same channel as that of normal people!
“Don’t get excited,” Jin Xuan saw his bad complexion and immediately comforted him, saying, “What I said about raping you earlier was just a joke. I’m not the kind of sentinel who sees a guide and wants to mark them. I’ll pursue you in a normal way.”
This was his inner thought. As a pioneering artist, Jin Xuan always believed that possession driven by pheromones was unworthy of being called “love.” He advocated traditional love, believing that only feelings that extended from the spiritual level to the physical level were genuine. This was also why he was reluctant to indulge in his instincts to mark Wu Chenghe, even if it meant taking three doses of balancing agent. So even though he was infatuated with his little guide at first sight, he would pursue him in a traditional human way!
Hearing his confession, Wu Chenghe was speechless and choked up. What did “pursue you in a normal way” mean? King, every cell in your body is abnormal! You’re already extremely abnormal just saying these things to me! “I don’t need your pursuit, I’m not interested in you!”
“That’s because you’re still young and don’t know what love is,” Jin Xuan regretfully patted his head and found that his hair felt really good, so he patted it again. “We are one hundred percent compatible. When you grow up, you won’t think like this anymore.”
An awakened guide can feel the compatibility around them after reaching adulthood. When compatibility reaches over sixty percent, they will involuntarily secrete pheromones that attract each other. The higher the compatibility, the more uncontrollable it becomes. When a sentinel smells the pheromones emitted by the guide, they automatically assume it’s a love proposal and secrete their own pheromones in response. When the two pheromones overlap, it triggers bonding heat, making both parties intensely desire to mate. The higher the compatibility, the stronger the bonding heat.
Wu Chenghe hadn’t reached adulthood yet, so his body wouldn’t secrete pheromones after estrus, nor could he feel compatibility, so it was very normal for him not to have any good feelings in that aspect.
“I’ll patiently wait for you to grow up,” Jin Xuan said gently and firmly. “By then, you’ll find me handsome, strong, and perfect in every way, not to be missed.”
“Heh…” You’re already perfect now, a perfect emo, a perfect troublemaker! Wu Chenghe shuddered and pushed away his dirty hand, squirming away from him a little.
“You don’t have to agree with me now, but I will pursue you,” Jin Xuan realized that his little guide was still too immature to understand these things, so he decided to deal with the solvable problems first. He gently threatened, “But I hope you’ll respect my pursuit and not date anyone else before falling in love with me, or I’ll report you to the police, and you’ll be sent to guide school. I guess you wouldn’t want to go there, right?”
What does “not date anyone else before falling in love with me” mean? If I’ll never fall in love with you (which is certain), does that mean I’ll be single forever? Is this a “love me or die” rhythm?
Wu Chenghe desperately reminded himself to stay calm, not to provoke the lunatic in front of him, or else he would be reported, detained, re-educated, and set up on blind dates… Take a deep breath, grit your teeth, and say, “Deal!”
Since it’s probably difficult for him to find a wife with his identity in this life, let’s just take it slowly. It’s not like he’ll lose anything by being pursued. Both of them are men, and there’s no question of who loses or gains.
Jin Xuan was very satisfied with the wit and calmness of his future boyfriend. He extended his right hand, indicating that they should fist bump. Wu Chenghe had no choice but to clench his fist and bump it against Jin Xuan’s, indicating that the deal was made.
After retracting his fist, the two of them stared at each other, creating a somewhat awkward atmosphere. After a while, Wu Chenghe broke the silence and said, “Aren’t you supposed to pursue me?”
“Huh?” Jin Xuan nodded inexplicably. “Yes.”
“Then go clean the room,” Wu Chenghe shamelessly commanded. He was still sore all over and couldn’t move, but it was already late. If he didn’t go to school, Marlow would definitely tell Hannibal, and Hannibal would come to see him here soon.
The fridge downstairs still needed cleaning, and the kitchen must have a strong smell of pheromones, as well as the sheets he used and the floor he stepped on, all of which needed to be cleaned. He couldn’t handle such a big workload by himself, so it was perfect to make the goth do some work.
Jin Xuan had never been bossed around like this by anyone other than his brother. He felt a strange sense of disharmony, but he was instantly captivated by his little boyfriend’s cute, petulant, and queenly expression and tone—what a sweet command!
“Okay, no problem!” Jin Xuan was in a very good mood. Actually, even if Wu Chenghe didn’t say anything, he would have helped him with all these things. As a meticulous doctoral student in engineering and a non-mainstream study guru (hacker), who was good at covering up evidence, he would never let anyone have the chance to smell Wu Chenghe’s pheromones. Just thinking about it made him extremely irritable!
“Rest well, leave everything to me,” Jin Xuan comforted Wu Chenghe, patting his head before turning to leave. His lion finally recovered from the previous mental attack and looked at Wu Chenghe with awe before following Jin Xuan out, tail tucked between its legs.
Watching the two somewhat pitiful figures disappear outside the door, Wu Chenghe heaved a long sigh of relief and collapsed onto the pillow. He thought he would be too upset to sleep, but to his surprise, he fell asleep as soon as he closed his eyes, only waking up when he felt someone poking his cheek.
Wu Chenghe was poked, causing him to drool, and he said angrily, “What are you doing?!”
“Do you need help putting these on?” Jin Xuan held up a pair of white underwear with two fingers. “I’ve sorted out the room, are you hungry? Do you want me to make some nutrients for you?”
“I can do it myself!” Wu Chenghe snatched the underwear. “I’m not hungry, I don’t want to eat!”
“Then how about some snacks?” Jin Xuan didn’t care about his coldness, ready to showcase his talents in all aspects. “I saw there were a lot of ingredients in your kitchen. I can make dumplings, potstickers, and hand-pulled pancakes…”
Wu Chenghe was actually starting to feel a bit hungry…
“Stop talking!” Wu Chenghe swallowed a mouthful of saliva and stopped him. “Can we just leave it here for today? Can you leave now?” Seeing Jin Xuan’s eyebrows furrow, he had to explain, “My dad might be coming soon.”
“Oh.” Jin Xuan thought for a moment and decided to heed Wu Chenghe’s advice. One should eat one’s rice one grain at a time and take one step at a time on the road. Before dealing with his little boyfriend, it was best not to provoke his dad, as that might bring even greater resistance.
“Well then, I’ll come back later to check on you. I also have a paper to finish,” Jin Xuan opened his personal terminal and wiped out all traces of himself in the system. His lion seemed a bit reluctant to leave, circling around Wu Chenghe, hesitantly sniffing around him.
“Can you keep your lion away from me?” Wu Chenghe couldn’t stand it anymore. “Is it trying to mark its territory around my bed?”
Jin Xuan sorted out the system, put away the terminal, and said, “It’s looking for your quantum beast. Speaking of which, I find it strange. Where is your quantum beast?”
Wu Chenghe was stunned. Since he woke up, he had been in a state of anxiety and hadn’t noticed the issue with his quantum beast. So where was his quantum beast? Looking around, even the usually pretending-to-be-dead little light bulb was gone.
This was embarrassing. As a guide, he couldn’t even find his own quantum beast… Sweat was dripping from his forehead, but he absolutely couldn’t tell Jin Xuan about this, or he would definitely die laughing. So he smirked mysteriously and said, “Guess.”
So cute… Jin Xuan was delighted, looking at his little guide’s silly face with a queenly expression, he couldn’t be cuter!
“I can’t guess,” Jin Xuan smiled indulgently. “Tell me when you like.”
The lion protested indignantly in the higher-dimensional space, but received no response. Its master, who had been crazy about it for a hundred years, was deeply in love now and completely disregarded its single status as a quantum beast just to please his guide!
What abandonment!
With the all-rounder emo leaving with his sobbing lion, Wu Chenghe finally relaxed, locked the door, and began to focus on summoning his quantum beast.
A quantum beast was a companion beast that shared consciousness with its owner. Generally, it doesn’t need to be consciously sought out; just a thought can summon it. Although the little Light Bulb was an egg and its sensing ability was a bit lacking, he could usually pinpoint its location with a little attention. But today, despite summoning and sensing repeatedly, he couldn’t find the little Light Bulb!
What’s going on? Wu Chenghe was starting to get anxious. He felt that his quantum beast was in this room, but for some reason, he just couldn’t find it. After observing for a while, he suddenly felt a tingling sensation on the back of his right ear.
Huh, is it here? Wu Chenghe felt a surge of joy. He gently touched his ear and brought it in front of his eyes, then was stunned—it was a light orange caterpillar.
A caterpillar? Fuck! Why is my quantum beast a caterpillar?! Wu Chenghe was about to lose it. Although he was mentally prepared and knew that the little Light Bulb would hatch into something, maybe a quail, maybe a sparrow, maybe a turtle, or even a somewhat silly black-capped chickadee… he never thought it would be a caterpillar!
Goodness, could this setting get any more bizarre? As if sensing its master’s frustration, the caterpillar wriggled in his palm, its light orange body slowly becoming transparent, soon resembling a long bubble stuck to his hand. What does it mean? What does it want to do? Is it trying to prove its usefulness? Or show off its skills? Or prove that it’s a caterpillar with style?
Just as Wu Chenghe was wondering if it was trying hard to please his guide to reduce his anger value, he was surprised to see that this time it didn’t turn completely transparent. Instead, a row of somewhat unclear numbers appeared on its body— “2333”.1
It turned out to be a mockery…
Completely-caught-off-guard-Wu Chenghe was holding his sky-high caterpillar, feeling utterly helpless. Now he finally knew how Totem Li, the Heavenly King, felt when he found out his wife had been pregnant for three years and gave birth to a lump! What’s ridiculous is that he doesn’t even have a wife; he gave birth to it himself.
Wu Chenghe was about to kneel down to the heavens—just as he transmigrated, he encountered a hijacking, then found out he was a guide, staying at home peacefully, and suddenly a punk came saying he wanted to chase him. And now, his quantum beast turned out to be a caterpillar that knows how to mock.
This isn’t life, it’s like being cast in a Hollywood disaster movie! Does he even have a reason to live anymore?
As if sensing his inner turmoil, his magical quantum beast changed color again, and soon two words appeared on the transparent bubble—”Hehe.”
Well, there’s absolutely no reason to live anymore.
Author’s note: Doctor Wu: Why is it a caterpillar?!
Author: Because you’re underage.
Doctor Wu: What about after I’m grown up?
Author: Guess~
Doctor Wu: Fuck you!
Author: Haha…
Since it’s hard to imagine a caterpillar, I had to reference from the anime world, and Pokémon was used:
A caterpillar?! That’s a first lol!