Embraced Again

He impatiently assembled the successful array together with the other qualified components he had carefully made during sleepless nights.

When the final clasp clicked shut, a small object slightly smaller than his palm, its casing gleaming with a bluish metallic sheen, lay in his hand.

Though it was still mute and required pairing and further debugging, and might even be merely a one-way Spiritual Power signal transmitter—the "Prototype One"—its birth carried extraordinary significance.

Knock, knock.

The door was knocked on again.

"Teacher, are you... still busy? It's almost evening. You haven't come out all day, so I brought you dinner."

Immersed in the joy of success, Qian Xunji had not noticed that time had slipped from morning to evening.

Upon hearing Bibi Dong's voice, he rushed to the door in a few strides and yanked it open.

Bibi Dong clearly had not expected the door to open so suddenly. One hand remained raised, ready to knock again, while the other held a food box.

Then she saw Qian Xunji inside.

Her teacher, who was normally always impeccably dressed and meticulously groomed.

At that moment, his eyes were bloodshot, strange dust and metal powder clung to his face and clothes, and several unruly strands of hair stuck up. His entire body radiated a peculiar aura of exhaustion and extreme exhilaration.

"Teacher, what... what happened to you?" Bibi Dong was startled by his appearance, and she had barely finished speaking.

The next second, a powerful force pulled her into an embrace.

Qian Xunji held her tightly, his chin resting lightly atop her fragrant hair.

"I did it, Dong'er. I made it!"

"..."

Bibi Dong's body froze completely, and the food box in her hand fell to the floor with a thud.

Her mind went blank.

Thump, thump, thump...

It seemed to overlap with the heartbeat from the boat last night, but this time it was even more fervent.

She... had been hugged by Teacher... again?

Not because of an accident, not because he was pulling her away.

It was... an embrace Teacher had initiated himself.

The things Ling Yuan had said yesterday suddenly echoed uncontrollably in her ears.

Her face flared hot.

The dull sound of the food box hitting the ground made Qian Xunji, who was immersed in the joy of success, regain a little clarity.

He released her and stepped back half a pace, only then clearly seeing Bibi Dong, who had been petrified by his sudden embrace.

"Cough, cough..."

Only then did Qian Xunji realize his lapse in composure, and he also noticed how grimy and disheveled he looked.

He rubbed his nose, somewhat embarrassed. "Did I scare you? Sorry, your teacher was just too happy."

He stepped aside from the doorway and pointed at the table in the room that had been temporarily serving as a workbench, littered with tools and scraps.

"Look, this!"

As if presenting a treasure, he held Prototype One out before Bibi Dong, completely unaware that he looked like a child who had just completed a masterpiece and could not wait to show it off.

"I succeeded. It took almost a day and a night. I failed four times, but I finally made it."

Bibi Dong's attention was finally drawn to the exquisite object in his hand.

"Teacher, this... what is this?"

"The patterns on it are so strange. It feels like Soul Power is flowing through them."

Qian Xunji's eyes brightened even further. Pulling her into the room, heedless of the mess everywhere, he began explaining without pause.

"This is called a Soul-Guided Communicator. Well... for now, let's call it Prototype One."

"Simply put, it is a special Soul Tool that can transmit sound across extremely long distances, and perhaps even images in the future."

"Transmit sound? Across extremely long distances?"

Bibi Dong was even more confused. "Like... the ability to transmit one's voice through the air? But that requires at least the Spiritual Power control of a Titled Douluo..."

"No, no. The principle is different."

"It does not rely on an individual's powerful Soul Power or Spiritual Power to transmit sound, but on the arrays inside it."

"These are Soul-Guided Arrays. Their function is resonance and conduction."

"Imagine that we have two such devices, each engraved with special arrays capable of sensing one another. Then, within a certain range, once activated by infusing Soul Power, the spiritual vibrations produced by one person speaking can be received by the other and restored into sound."

"As for distance, this initial version may only work over a short range for now. But in theory, as long as the arrays are powerful enough, the materials good enough, and the energy supply sufficient, crossing thousands or even tens of thousands of miles would not be impossible."

Bibi Dong only half understood, but the very concept of transmitting sound across thousands upon thousands of miles was shocking enough.

The look she gave Qian Xunji gradually shifted from curiosity to astonishment. "T-Teacher... did you come up with this? Did you invent it?"

She knew Qian Xunji was powerful, but she had never imagined that he could create something so inconceivable.

This had already exceeded her understanding of power and entered the realm of genius—perhaps even mad genius.

"Cough, cough. More or less."

"I borrowed some incomplete ideas from ancient texts and added a bit of my own sudden inspiration."

"The world of Soul Tools is vast and boundless. The Storage Soul Tools we use now are merely the tip of the iceberg."

"True Soul-Guided Technology can change the way the world connects. It can even be used in war."

As he spoke, he carefully put Prototype One away in a small box.

After working for an entire day and night, the exhaustion came flooding in once the rush of excitement faded.

"Teacher, eat something first."

She placed the food box on the only small round table in the room that was still relatively clean and opened its layers one by one.

Inside were four dishes, one soup, and a large bowl of white rice.

Qian Xunji no longer cared about appearances. After washing his hands, he sat at the table, picked up the bowl, and began eating in huge mouthfuls.

After several bites had settled his stomach, he looked at Bibi Dong, who was still standing nearby, and asked, "Have you eaten?"

"Huh? I-I ate with Ling Yuan."

"Oh."

Qian Xunji nodded, picked up a piece of tenderly stewed soul beast meat, and held it to Bibi Dong's lips. "Then have some more of this. This piece is well-seasoned."

"!!!"

Bibi Dong stared at the chopsticks suddenly held before her lips, and her whole body froze again.

Teacher... was feeding her?

This, this was even more than that hug just now...

"Hmm?"

Qian Xunji held up the chopsticks. "Try it. It's really good."

"Or... does Dong'er dislike using chopsticks that Teacher has used?"

"N-No!"

Bibi Dong instinctively denied it. Looking at the food so close before her and the smile in her teacher's eyes, she could not bring herself to say no.

Gritting her teeth, she closed her eyes, opened her mouth, and bit the piece of meat into her mouth. Then she immediately lowered her head, pretending to chew attentively while her heart was in utter turmoil.

Qian Xunji suddenly remembered something and asked, "By the way, Dong'er, have you ever eaten cake?"