# 152
Chapter 152: I’m Sick
At the gate of the training camp.
A man in plain clothes and a peaked cap slipped in furtively. He glanced around warily, tugged his mask higher until it covered his entire face.
“Who are you?” the duty instructor asked, puzzled.
The man pulled a badge from his pocket and handed it over, lifting the mask just enough to whisper:
“It’s me!”
“Old Gu?” The instructor’s eyes widened. “Why… are you dressed like that?”
Instructor Gu sighed. After two months away, his face was haggard.
“I stayed in the hospital for a while. Came back to pick something up, but the doctor warned me not to meet anyone directly connected to my… illness. Basically, I’d better not be recognized.”
“Ah, I see…” The instructor nodded. “Hurry in, grab it and leave. The rookies are in the mess hall—take the long way around.”
“Thanks.”
Gu pulled the mask up again and sprinted toward the instructors’ dormitory like a gust of wind.
Just as the gate guard said, the recruits were eating; the camp was nearly empty. A few stragglers passed, none of them the person Gu most wanted to avoid.
Still…
Those stragglers looked at him oddly.
Gu shook it off—paranoia, surely. He was wrapped up like a mummy; who could recognize him? Even if they did, what harm—
“INSTRUCTOR GU IS BACK!!!!!”
One recruit stared, sucked in a lungful, and shrieked at the top of his voice.
The cry ignited a human chain of烽火 beacons all the way to the mess hall.
“Instructor Gu’s back!! Outside the instructors’ dorm!”
“Target spotted—Instructor Gu, dorm entrance!”
“Report! Visual on Instructor Gu at dorm entrance!”
“……”
Instructor Gu: (???皿??)？？？？！！！
What the hell?!
A bad premonition flooded him. He bolted.
“He’s east of the training field!”
“He’s crossed the field!”
“He’s at the special-tactics zone—heading for the offices!”
“……”
Every rookie was a walking radar, broadcasting his coordinates in real time. Gu nearly coughed blood. He’d only come for a folder—how had it turned into a manhunt?!
A figure flashed ahead, blocking his path.
Gu’s heart sank.
Lin Qiye cleared his throat and waved cheerfully. “Instructor Gu—long time no see!”
Long time my foot!
Gu fought the urge to flee. He was still an instructor; he couldn’t bolt from his own soldier. Since they’d met, he’d brazen it out.
“What do you want?” he forced himself to ask calmly.
“Well… I just wondered what the doctor told you. How did he cure you?” Lin Qiye scratched his head. “I mean, what was the treatment?”
Gu’s mouth twitched. So they all knew he’d cracked…
Damn, mortifying.
“Nothing special. A little counseling, some pills, relax—bingo, cured.” He fudged.
“What kind of counseling? Which pills?”
Gu: …
“Are you sick?” he burst out.
Lin Qiye pondered, then nodded solemnly. “Yes. I am.”
“……”
“After I asked you that question, I couldn’t sleep, couldn’t think straight. Sometimes I space out completely…” Lin Qiye rubbed his temples, voice hoarse. “I think I might’ve… caught it too.”
“You’re also sick?” Gu wavered.
“So I need to know how you recovered—maybe it’ll work for me!”
Gu stared at him a long while, then sighed in defeat. “…Fine. Follow me.”
Joy flashed in Lin Qiye’s eyes as he trailed Gu into the office building.
Twenty minutes later Lin Qiye emerged, satisfied.
Got it, at last!
…
Asylum of the Gods.
“Stop! Don’t run!!”
“Ah-hahaha!! Octopus bro, octopus bro! You can’t catch me! Hahaha!!”
“…Lunatic! Stand still!”
“Jellyfish! Huge jellyfish! Octopus bro, let’s go jellyfishing!”
“Fish my butt! Stop!”
“Slow down, grandson, don’t fall…”
“……”
Under the courtyard sun, Nyx rocked gently in her chair, watching the pink starfish dash wildly and Li Yifei chase in exhaustion, a benevolent smile on her face.
Li Yifei clenched his teeth, poured on speed, and slammed a sedative into the starfish’s body.
The pink limbs wobbled, slowed, and collapsed—morphing back into Merlin.
Li Yifei flopped beside him, gasping at the sky.
A white-coat figure appeared over him.
Tears welled in Li Yifei’s eyes; he clutched Lin Qiye’s hem and wailed:
“Qiye! This job isn’t for humans! I wash, cook, coax Nyx, feed her meds, then race this perverted starfish—
I—I’m dying here!!”
Lin Qiye patted his shoulder. “Li Yifei, be strong. After all, you’re not human… you’re a snake demon!”
Li Yifei: (?﹏?)
“So when’s the next orderly coming? I can’t hold the fort alone…”
“…Might take a while.” Lin Qiye scratched his head. “I’m stuck in camp; I can’t bag new mysteries.”
He’d checked—human souls he killed outside the director’s office weren’t absorbed, let alone turned into orderlies.
The light of life died in Li Yifei’s eyes.
Lin Qiye hauled him up. “Cheer up—go make lunch. I’ll chat with Merlin.”