The sweet scent of cake filling his nostrils and the warm, soft sensation left Lu Qi stunned.
He never expected that not only was Yun Manman not scared away by him, but she even dared to hug him directly.
He was poisonous, fierce, an Ancient Singing Snake that could kill her with one swipe of his tail!
General Lu Qi, Kashida's top warrior, felt he had completely lost face.
Apart from his mother, no other female had ever hugged him like this.
Damn cat beast-human! Shameless cat beast-human!
Coming to his senses, Lu Qi transformed back to his small snake size with a "poof", wordlessly and laboriously crawling onto the bed, hiding his flushed and heated body under the covers.
Having lost all dignity inside and out, General Lu Qi gave up.
It didn't matter anymore.
He'd been discovered anyway.
But he didn't want to see anyone now, nor did he want guidance.
He would be fine dying like this.
Although the elf Alice's guidance had helped a bit, the recent transformation to beast form had still been quite forced.
Now Lu Qi's body ached as if his skin had been flayed and tendons severed. Even his mental sea, which had calmed somewhat, was once again filled with flashing lightning and rolling thunder.
He imagined his scales had fallen off even more, making him uglier.
The little snake tried hard to coil himself up, wanting to hide the areas of raw flesh.
Yun Manman crouched by the bed, looking at the small snake trembling slightly in pain, feeling angry all over.
Alice had told her that transforming into beast form was actually a manifestation of unstable mental power.
In Lu Qi's current condition, casually changing into beast form would only increase the burden on his mental power.
The little snake had really gone all out to scare her.
She also thought of how in the past, Qiqi was unwilling to be touched by her, also putting on a false show of aggression by pretending to bite her.
In reality, he never took any actual action, and in the end always allowed her to handle him as she pleased.
Internet users all said the General was a brutal and cold-blooded snake, and even Lu Xi had warned her to be careful of the General's violent temper before she came in.
Yun Manman didn't know General Lu Qi, but she knew Qiqi.
Her little snake was awkward yet attentive, a beautiful little snake who could be soft-hearted.
He didn't even extend his fangs when trying to scare her - how could intimidation without venomous fangs be considered brutal?
She looked at the little snake with heartache, her tone as gentle as if coaxing a child: "Will you let me give you guidance? You must be in a lot of pain right now, right?"
"After guidance it won't hurt anymore. I even brought in some meat floss cakes..."
No one answered her.
The little snake had buried his head, not saying a word.
Clearly refusing to cooperate.
Not getting a response, the cat puffed up her cheeks, her emerald green cat eyes rolling around twice, her mouth turning down:
"A certain snake ate so much beef from our home, cost me so much money, and then left without a word!"
"I was so careful about controlling the heat every day, so careful about cooking the beef to medium..."
"A certain snake also stole the meat floss I made, stole so many of my desserts."
"I spent several days making a little rattan nest, even scratched my fingers, just wanting to give my little snake a place to live, but the little snake left without a word."
"Hiding his identity is one thing, but not even an explanation. I already had no family, and now I'm just a lonely cat..."
Yun Manman sat on the edge of the bed, counting the snake's crimes on her fingers.
At first she was just pretending, but by the end she had gotten carried away with real emotion.
The cat's eyes reddened, and she sniffled: "I considered the little snake family, was so afraid he would die, rushed all the way here, but he doesn't care about me at all, wuwuwu..."
Yun Manman got more and more upset as she spoke, crying out "wuwu", seeming to want to release all the worry and grievance of the past few days.
At this moment, a cool snake tail touched her cheek, clumsily yet gently wiping away her tears.
After wiping, it coiled itself into Yun Manman's palm, feeling incredulous.
The salty tears stung the exposed wounds, irritating Lu Qi.
He lay exhausted in Yun Manman's hand, speaking in a tone of helpless surrender: "Whatever, guide me however you want."
Yun Manman broke into a smile through her tears.
See, she knew Qiqi was soft-hearted.
Before beginning the guidance, Yun Manman sent a message to Alice on her communicator: "Success, I'm starting the guidance now!"
Then she set a fifteen-minute alarm for herself.
Yun Manman sat cross-legged facing Lu Qi, recalling Alice's instructions, condensing her mental power into a thin thread to connect with Lu Qi's mental power.
It went smoothly, unbelievably so.
Yun Manman felt none of the thick, solid mental barrier Alice had mentioned.
As if piercing through a thin paper or popping a bubble, Yun Manman's mental power went through with a "pop".
Inside the mental sea, waves surged and lightning flashed, so chaotic that its original color couldn't be seen.
Yun Manman carefully controlled her strand of mental power, lest it be overturned by the waves in Lu Qi's mental sea.
She thought for a moment, then transformed her mental power into a small white cloud floating on the sea, which then turned into fine raindrops gently falling from the cloud.
The fine raindrops were utterly insignificant compared to the boundless sea, disappearing as soon as they fell into the water.
But miraculously, where the raindrops fell, the fierce waves began to calm, and the murky seawater gradually became clear.
Alice had said that people with high mental power purity have a gentle, calm mental sea, with bright but not harsh sunlight, and clear blue water.
The elf lady was connecting mental power with Yun Manman when she said this, demonstrating how to perform guidance.
Yun Manman would forever remember that warm, sun-soaked feeling during guidance, pleasant and comfortable.
She wanted to convey this relaxed, warm feeling to the little snake.
Whether it was the mental sea or Qiqi's entire life, she hoped it would all be sunny and calm, without wind or waves.
Seeing the guidance was working, Yun Manman focused even more intently on transforming her mental power into raindrops, working hard to calm this sea.
Lu Qi hadn't expected Yun Manman to pass through his mental barrier and enter his mental sea so quickly.
He hadn't even controlled his mental power yet, but the storms in his mental sea automatically avoided that small cloud.
He was extremely shocked - when had he started trusting this cat beast-human so much!
Before he could recover, he was already immersed in the comfortable feeling of guidance.
Lu Qi couldn't remember the last time he'd had such a relaxed, effortless guidance session.
So much so that he gradually let himself go, allowing his mental power to float in this warm, sweet fragrance.
Time ticked by, but no one turned off the alarm on the communicator.
At some point, an orange and white cat about the size of three palms appeared on the bed.
She lay with her eyes tightly closed and brows slightly furrowed among the thick, winding coils of a snake's body, her long fur disheveled, gently wrapped by a white snake tail.
The huge white snake had coiled its body into a circle, carefully encircling the orange cat in the center, like a giant dragon guarding its treasure.
Outside the isolation ward.
Lu Xi stared at the time, seeing fifteen minutes had passed, and grew anxious.
He asked Alice, who was eating pudding with a spoon beside him: "It's been fifteen minutes already."
"Did you tell Miss Yun to be careful about depleting her mental power? I'm worried the General's mental power might hurt Miss Yun."
When there's too much difference in mental power strength, it's easy for the stronger party to drag the other along. Their mental powers become entangled, and the weaker party loses control of their mental power and can easily get hurt.
Alice also knew fifteen minutes had passed. She flew to the door: "I told her. General Lu Qi should also be able to control himself."
After all, when she gave the General guidance, he was able to firmly suppress his instincts. This time it was Yun Manman, whom he trusted, so there shouldn't be much of a problem.
Seeing the elf lady's calm, unconcerned demeanor, Lu Xi suddenly had an ominous premonition.
"Do you know what happens when beast-humans' mental powers become entangled?"
Alice turned her head, frowning slightly, her violet eyes showing a hint of annoyance at being doubted: "Of course I know."
"Increased mental sensitivity, loss of emotional control."
Lu Xi: No, you don't know!
He suddenly remembered that previously, Alice had only given guidance to elves, with almost zero experience in mental power guidance for beast-humans.
Lu Xi began to despair.
The "Kashida Beast-Human Guidance Manual" states: "If a beast-human's mental sensitivity increases, their emotions can easily become unstable. They may also exhibit symptoms such as increased heart rate and elevated body temperature. Blood tests may show increased secretion of sex hormones, commonly referred to as 'going into heat.' This phenomenon is unique to beast-humans. If triggered by guidance techniques, it can typically be alleviated within a few minutes."