The restaurant near the academy was bustling with people. Shen Huaiyun had thought they would have to wait in line for a while, but fortunately, Shen Tangmo had the foresight to reserve a seat in advance and even ordered their favorite dishes.
While waiting for the food to arrive, Shen Tangmo noticed the boy’s unease and asked again, “Why didn’t you tell me about taking the grade-skipping exam? I could have helped you.”
“Uh… I” Shen Huaiyun hadn’t thought much of it before, but now, after being questioned, he felt a pang of guilt. “I thought I could handle it on my own, so there was no need to bother you.”
“It’s fine this time since you managed on your own. But if you ever face something you can’t solve, come to me, okay? Don’t keep everything bottled up. I’m here for you.”
He looked somewhat dejected. “I’d feel like you’re pushing me away.”
“Of course not!” the boy hurriedly replied. “It’s just”
A sudden communication request interrupted him. He pulled out his communicator and glanced at the caller’s name, quickly finishing his sentence. “I just wanted to catch up to you.”
Answering the call, the booming voice of Professor Ning Yanfeng came through the communicator. “Huaiyun, the intensive training lately has been quite effective, huh? I see you’ve broken another record.”
Shen Huaiyun glanced at the person beside him, nervously responding a few words, a sense of foreboding creeping over him.
“By the way, the backend logs show you entered the mental strength enhancement training module twice yesterday. Did it help?”
‘Oh no!’ he thought, panicking, but it was too late to lower the volume. Shen Tangmo, who was in the midst of his differentiation period with heightened physical abilities, had already clearly heard the question.
After making a vague excuse and hanging up, Shen Huaiyun was met with the older boy’s guilty expression.
“I still have the contact information for that doctor. Should I take you to see him again this weekend?”
Shen Huaiyun firmly refused. “No need. I was just curious whether this mental strength could be utilized.”
After the test results came out, his parents had taken him to see a doctor, hoping to help him develop a mental landscape. Months of treatment yielded no results, while the family’s savings dwindled rapidly. After accidentally overhearing his parents discussing the exorbitant cost of mental strength treatment, Shen Huaiyun refused to continue.
He pouted. “I think the doctor’s treatment approach is definitely flawed. Brother, once your differentiation is complete, could you take a look for me?”
That doctor was a B-rank Guide. If Shen Tangmo truly differentiated into an S-rank Guide, he would undoubtedly see far more than that doctor ever could.
For now, they couldn’t find a better doctor. After all, higher-ranking Guides were all on the front lines, and a child his age was absolutely not allowed to go to such dangerous places.
Shen Tangmo furrowed his brows slightly, gazing at the boy across from him. After a long pause, he sighed and silently agreed to the suggestion.
He understood exactly what his adoptive brother was thinking. This kid simply didn’t want the family to continue bearing the burden of expensive treatment costs. He didn’t want to be the one to drag the family down.
Such treatment expenses weren’t covered by medical insurance. Each session cost several thousand, with ten sessions a month. Adding in travel expenses, their parents’ savings were quickly depleted over the seven months of treatment. Yet, they never considered giving up the last recorded patient with only mental strength and no mental landscape had died at sixteen due to an explosive overgrowth of mental energy.
Upon hearing about the situation at home, Shen Huaiyun chose to end his treatment on his own.
Well, if Huaiyun doesn’t want to go, then he won’t.
He would absolutely not let the worst-case scenario happen.
To ease the slightly awkward atmosphere, Shen Huaiyun suggested visiting a nearby night market, and Shen Tangmo was naturally delighted.
He followed leisurely behind his younger brother, carrying a red-fleshed pomelo picked from a fruit stall, while Shen Huaiyun curiously glanced at one stall after another, naturally smiling and chatting with the uncles and aunties at the stalls.
It seemed he had finally shaken off the torment of those nightmares, Shen Tangmo thought with a gentle smile.
Back when he was just a few years old, little Huaiyun was constantly plagued by chaotic dreams, progressing from waking up in the middle of the night to staying awake all night. His energy and spirit were extremely poor, and he often appeared lifeless, curling up in a corner or hiding in a closet, trembling.
During those years, their parents had already been transferred back to Borealia Tower and couldn’t stay by his side for long. It was always Shen Tangmo, just four years older, who watched over him, comforting him, wrapping his young arms around that small bundle, patting his back and smoothing his hair, wiping the cold sweat from his forehead until the little body stopped trembling, closing his eyes and nestling into his brother’s embrace, like two furry little animals grooming each other.
Fortunately, as he grew older, those nightmares seemed to no longer disturb Shen Huaiyun’s sleep, and their lingering effects gradually faded. He slowly began to smile, became more cheerful under his brother’s influence, and developed his own confidence and self-assurance.
Recalling the past, Shen Tangmo felt a pang of nostalgia for those nights spent sleeping in each other’s arms.
After returning to the dormitory and washing up, he patted the empty space beside him before Shen Huaiyun got into bed, his deep brown eyes conveying a silent invitation.
Shen Huaiyun naturally wouldn’t refuse. Shen Tangmo looked like a large canine bowing its head, pleading for a pat, and he could only be captivated by those gentle eyes, moving closer of his own accord.
Besides, they were such close family, what was wrong with being a little more intimate?
As with every time before, Shen Tangmo’s arms wrapped around his waist, his forehead pressed against the freshly washed, fluffy, and soft back of the younger boy’s head. Shen Huaiyun breathed in the familiar scent, now mixed with the faint fragrance of pomelo, which, as always, filled him with warmth and comfort.
Even though they used the same brand of shower gel and shampoo, he always felt that his brother’s scent was a bit more fragrant, or perhaps a bit warmer, always able to dispel the damp, cold feeling deep in his bones left by years of nightmares.
He liked it very much. And he liked being held like this.
After days of overcast weather and rain, a sunny day finally arrived. Shen Tangmo entered the critical period of his physical differentiation, with growing pains striking him wave after wave, more relentless than a summer thunderstorm. After helping him to the infirmary, Shen Huaiyun hurried back to the dormitory to air out the bedding as instructed. With his heart tied to his brother like a kite on a string, he quickly hung out the quilts and pillows before rushing back to his side without a moment’s delay.
Unexpectedly, upon returning, he overheard a conversation between others and Shen Tangmo in the infirmary.
Or rather, it shouldn’t be called a conversation it was more like one-sided belittlement.
“Shen Tangmo, how could your brother just leave you here alone and run off? He doesn’t even know to stay and keep you company he must be jealous of you. A guy without even the potential for differentiation, yet he has the nerve to say he’ll catch up to you. It’s laughable.”
Shen Huaiyun couldn’t understand why this person was speaking with such a sarcastic and biting tone, or why he harbored such intense malice toward him. But he could tell that this hairless monkey didn’t show much respect for his older brother either.
Just as he was about to push the door open and chase the guy away to avoid disturbing his brother’s rest, Shen Tangmo’s voice, hoarse from discomfort, had already issued the “order to leave”: “I think you shouldn’t be in the infirmary you should go straight to the hospital to check if there’s a tumor between your ears. How my brother is isn’t for you to judge. Did no one ever teach you manners? Don’t flaunt that mouth of yours that’s connected straight to your rectum here.”
Brother, if you lick your lips, you might poison yourself.
Shen Huaiyun couldn’t hold back a laugh. He pressed the door handle and walked in to back his brother up: “Yeah, don’t disturb the people resting in the infirmary.”
The guy was left red-faced and flustered. He glared hatefully at Shen Huaiyun before slinking away.
Shen Huaiyun closed the door behind him, poured a cup of warm water for Shen Tangmo, who was leaning against the headboard, and handed it over. The mocking expression on his face had completely vanished, replaced only by concern in his eyes: “Is the painkiller working?”
It wasn’t really doing much, but Shen Tangmo forced a reassuring smile: “Yeah, it doesn’t hurt as much now.”
Shen Huaiyun clearly didn’t believe him. He stared at his brother’s pale lips, drew the curtains around the care bed, then leaned against the headboard, wrapping an arm around Shen Tangmo’s shoulders. He began massaging his scalp, mimicking the technique Shen Tangmo had used on him in the past.
The technique was clumsy, but as Shen Tangmo leaned against the boy’s slender frame, he truly felt the pain in his body lessen.
Whether it was the painkiller finally kicking in or just a placebo effect, he couldn’t tell.
He chuckled softly, closed his eyes for a light nap, and savored the moment of peace.
The secondary physical development lasted two weeks. When the pain between his bones finally subsided, Shen Tangmo knew his differentiation was complete.
The test results came as no surprise: an S-class Guide. Eagerly, he wanted to examine Shen Huaiyun’s spiritual energy and mental landscape in detail, but his mentor stopped him: “Do you know how to handle cases where there’s no mental landscape or where it’s difficult to observe? Do you know how to use spiritual energy to promote the development of someone else’s mental landscape? This isn’t something to rush into recklessly.”
She handed him Shen Huaiyun’s physical examination report: “Your brother’s spiritual energy growth is currently stable. Professor Ning told me his spiritual energy training has shown some results too he can now control a hair’s worth of spiritual energy for a few seconds. His situation is different from patients with a missing mental landscape, so there’s no need for you to be so anxious.”
“But that just means he has a different illness…” Shen Tangmo’s furrowed brow remained tense.
His mentor cut him off: “Maybe his mental landscape is just developing a bit slower. He’s only thirteen the results from that test after enrollment don’t define everything. First, focus on learning how to use your spiritual energy and treatment methods. Only then can you help him better, right?”
Shen Tangmo nodded slowly: “You’re right. But can’t I at least take a look at his condition first?”
His mentor said, “Come here, then. Try observing my deep-level spiritual energy.”
He took a step forward, extending a spiritual tentacle from his sleeve. The tip of the tentacle touched his mentor’s forehead, connecting with her spiritual energy as he delved deeper to observe
The tentacle retracted abruptly. Shen Tangmo stared blankly at its rigid tip: “What’s going on.”
When he reached a certain depth, his mental connection abruptly severed. He had only managed to reach the middle layer and hadn’t even detected the instructor’s mental landscape.
“So you kids really have such a shallow understanding of mental power. Do you truly think everything is determined by your level and that you’ll master it naturally after differentiation? It’s just like those parents who believe their children automatically unlock knowledge about sex when they turn eighteen.” The instructor’s mental tendrils extended and formed an “X” shape. “Mental power requires training. The online course materials for the Guide General Knowledge class will automatically unlock after your assessment report is uploaded. Go back and study them carefully they were all meticulously prepared by me.”
“Yes, instructor.”
Better to focus on furthering his studies for now. Shen Tangmo sighed.
Back in the dorm, Shen Tangmo recounted his conversation with the instructor truthfully to Shen Huaiyun. He wasn’t particularly disheartened; instead, he said, “Brother, your own future is important too. Oh, by the way, Mom called and asked if we have any plans for the weekend. They have a monthly break and want us to come home.”
“Alright.”