Bodyguard Divine Light

Kaguya Seaview Hotel.

Beep, beep!

Xiaoxiao swiped her room card, carried her little suitcase inside, and reached back to shut the door.

Whoosh!

A hand caught the door and stopped her.

Ning Qing stood in the doorway, confusion written all over her face.

Xiaoxiao ducked her head and hurriedly opened the door for her older sister, watching her expression the whole time.

Scared...

Smack.

Her sister gave her a tap on the head.

Xiaoxiao did not dare say a word. She only glanced toward the doorway.

Chen Shu stood outside with a bright smile. "Take a break. We'll rent a couple of scooters and go out in a bit."

Xiaoxiao nodded obediently. After another glance at her sister, she closed the door.

Five in the afternoon.

Two scooters stood by the sea. The three of them, wearing slippers, walked slowly along the beach.

Chen Shu carried a bucket containing only a few scattered fish and several crabs no bigger than fingernails. He was baffled. "How come people in those shore-foraging videos catch giant lobsters, giant octopuses, and giant crabs without even trying, with razor clam holes all over the place? Why can't I find any?"

Ning Qing shot him a look, as if she were looking at an idiot.

Xiaoxiao also stole a glance at him but said nothing.

They played until dusk, then sat in a row on the sand, legs stretched out, letting the steadily cooling waves lick the soles of their feet.

They quietly watched the distance.

The setting sun sank into an orange sea.

Qingqing's legs are so long.

The scene had been perfectly harmonious until Chen Shu leaned toward Ning Qing. "Xiaoxiao, take a picture of us."

"..."

The girl got up with a blank expression, though she rose briskly enough.

The sun had vanished beneath the sea, leaving only a breathtaking gradient along the horizon, lovelier than any rouge in the world. People dotted the beach, strolling about. Some looked like young people who had also just finished their big exams and come traveling. At the far left end of the beach loomed the dark silhouette of a mountain: South Mountain.

It was only the second day of the fifth lunar month. They still had several days left.

Chen Shu glanced back and saw someone running along the embankment, so he said,

"I'll come running tomorrow too."

Ning Qing looked at him without speaking.

Click!

The girl returned with Chen Shu's phone and held it out for him to see. Then she stood before him with her hands behind her back, like an elementary schooler waiting for a teacher to grade her work.

"You took a great picture."

Chen Shu grinned at her, but she still said nothing.

She disliked talking, just like her sister.

They drank sweet soup, rode speedboats, ate seafood, went diving, and visited an island. Somewhere in between, they bought seafood rice dumplings and celebrated the Dragon Boat Festival. Four days slipped away.

By the evening of the sixth day of the fifth lunar month, it was time.

As he had on the preceding days, Chen Shu put on shorts, a quick-dry shirt, running shoes, and headphones, then went out for a run.

Running by the sea really was different. With the sea breeze brushing his face, even his steps felt lighter.

Along the way, he took a few night photos and asked a young woman passing by to take one of him. By the time he finished running, he had reached the foot of South Mountain.

He also took a screenshot of his running-app stats. Together with the earlier photos, that gave him a full nine-photo grid to share on social media, showing off a Second Tier cultivator's pace and a little travel atmosphere.

After posting, he looked up and saw South Mountain.

South Mountain was a fine place to visit. By day, one could overlook the sea; by night, admire the night view of Sea Beast Harbor. The climb did not take long either—perhaps half an hour for an ordinary person.

South Mountain was divided into a front slope and a back slope.

The tourists all used the front, where broad steps made for easy walking.

The back held a cemetery and narrow paths. Almost no one came at night, and throughout the year it only grew lively around the second day of the Lunar New Year and the Qingming Festival.

Naturally, Chen Shu took the front route.

After reaching the summit of South Mountain, he took a picture of the night view and sent it to Qingqing. Then he headed toward the back slope.

This path is a pain.

The cemetery on the back slope reached only halfway up the mountain, so the decent path ended there too. Between the summit and the cemetery lay nothing but a dirt trail already overgrown with weeds.

Chen Shu had no intention of going all the way down to the halfway point. After a few dozen meters, he stopped, humming absentmindedly as he undid his waistband. Meanwhile, his gaze drifted toward a corner of Section Three in South Mountain Cemetery, not far away in a straight line.

He saw nothing.

But he could faintly hear sirens.

Chen Shu looked toward the sound. Two police cars, lights flashing, were speeding along a distant road. There was no vehicle ahead of them; only when he looked closely did he spot a swiftly moving dark figure.

An ordinary chase.

After all, this was a world with supernatural powers. Though governments had introduced many policies regulating lethal spells and weapons of mass destruction, they could not prevent people from using their strength to break the law.

Public security was worse overall than in China in his previous life.

The person ahead ran extremely fast. They were either a martial artist or martial cultivator, or at least a fourth-tier cultivator.

The latter was much more frightening than the former.

Given Yi Nation's police force, even an ordinary officer had at least some martial arts training and usually carried a riot gun capable of firing electric-shock rounds and shock waves. That was enough to maintain order, but against a hardened criminal, victory was far from certain. They ought to call for backup.

Yet the runner only fled, not daring to fight back.

That was the right choice.

As the country with the greatest overall national strength in the world, Yi Nation could make even Blue Nation's agents keep their heads down within its borders. No one could challenge its official forces.

Resistance would only escalate a simple pursuit, bringing the runner no benefit unless death was already certain.

As Chen Shu watched, the runner headed for South Mountain.

South Mountain had no roads, making it the perfect place to shake off vehicles.

Upon reaching the foot of South Mountain, the runner looked back twice to make sure the coast was clear, then headed straight up toward the cemetery.

Chen Shu found somewhere to hide and watched the runner enter Section Three and reach the corner. Then he watched the runner slip into the woods, descend by another route, and get chased all over the place by arriving police reinforcements.

"The quality of the personnel is worrying...

"Mister Cat's mystique just took a nosedive."

Chen Shu strolled down openly, picked up the package, and put it inside his crystal.

Carrying lemon chicken he had bought on the way, Chen Shu returned to the hotel and knocked on Ning Qing and Xiaoxiao's door.

Knock, knock.

Ning Qing opened the door wearing a black face mask. She seemed to have just washed up. Her pajamas were light, their silk fabric showing her figure more clearly than her everyday clothes. A sash at her waist effortlessly outlined its slender shape, while above it, her curves looked soft and springy. Her freshly dried hair had a fluffy look, and her neck and collarbones were striking.

"Why are you back so late?"

"Running made me hungry, so I had a late-night snack. I brought you two some." Chen Shu lowered his gaze slightly. "Lemon chicken. It's pretty good."

"I've brushed my teeth."

"Brush them again."

"Oh."

"We're going back tomorrow. Get some rest."

"Mm."

"Qingqing, you're not gentle at all."

"What would count as gentle?"

"Tell me good night."

"Good night."

"Good girl..."

Chen Shu watched Ning Qing's door close, then returned to his own room.

Only then did he take the package out of the crystal.

It was an ordinary parcel: a flat cardboard box slightly larger than his palm, wrapped in tape. Inside was a slightly curved, metal-like plate about half a centimeter thick and the size of his palm. There was nothing else.

It was a military defensive insert.

In this world, mercenaries were almost all martial artists. They were strong, fast, and agile enough to carry heavy equipment. Fully armed, they grew a whole size bulkier, and that equipment gave them the power to challenge cultivators.

This insert was probably meant for the chest of a protective suit. Once activated, it could continuously provide a soldier with the Bodyguard Divine Light normally available only to cultivators.

If he could successfully decode it, both sides would win. He wanted the spell behind the world's most advanced Bodyguard Divine Light, too.

"Let's begin."

Chen Shu inspected it first, checking for problems.

Good. No tracking runes or anything like that.

Next came the preliminary analysis.

It contained rune arrays for activation and other functions, allowing non-cultivators to use the device easily. He could simply ignore those.

The remaining Bodyguard Divine Light was stored as spiritual energy, not as the spell's runic structure.

Reconstructing a runic structure from spiritual energy was extremely difficult. Even then, the reconstructed structure might not be something a cultivator could learn directly: Rune arrays on a production line were usually modified versions of the original spell, adapted to a casting environment different from the human body.

The work required a deep understanding of spiritual energy and the principles behind runes.

It was also a substantial undertaking.

Ordinarily, this sort of work required a professional team.

A top expert could do it alone, but top experts would not be interested.

Nor could the team come from a small country.

Small countries lagged in education and lacked talent. Unless one had a government behind them, the only option was to find a team in a developed country.

Mr. Cat clearly did not represent a government.

Chen Shu settled in and concentrated on the work.

The seventh day of the fifth lunar month, aboard a high-speed train.

Ning Qing sat beside the aisle, listening to music through her headphones.

Chen Shu sat in the middle, scrolling through videos.

Xiaoxiao sat by the window with a bag of turkey-flavored crispy rice in her hands, her head turned toward the passing scenery.

By now, the buzz around Ning Qing had almost run its course. Such attention never lasted long. Everyone was only enjoying a laugh, and in a few days they would forget all about it.

Chen Shu opened the videos one by one and read the silly comments beneath them, grinning from ear to ear.

Highness Cinnabar had even joined in personally and posted a video:

[For Student Ning]

The young woman danced for two minutes in a skirt over shorts.

Chen Shu watched it several times, grew a little bored, and delivered his verdict:

"Hmph. Riding my coattails."

Just then, Xiaoxiao turned from the window and glanced at her sister and brother-in-law. She also saw what was on his screen.

The girl blinked, thoroughly puzzled, and asked, "Brother-in-law, don't you already have a pretty woman at home who's tall, with long legs and a big chest? Isn't my sister even prettier than they are?"

"Huh?"

Chen Shu froze for a moment, then took off his headphones and explained, "It's just a passing fancy with them. I'll soon like someone else. But I'll always like your sister."

The girl nodded thoughtfully.

Then she stole another glance at her sister.

Her sister was absorbed in her music, her face as still as water.

"Go back to looking at the scenery."

"Oh."

Once the girl turned back, Chen Shu reopened the comments. A whole crowd below was thanking Student Ning.

He liked the comments from several of the funniest people near the top who had said the nicest things.

Then he went back to scrolling through other videos.

The most popular short-video platform in this world was much like Douyin in his previous life, as though everyone had found the same best route through trial and error. But to Chen Shu, this world's recommendation algorithm still needed work. It hardly ever showed him pretty women in skimpy clothes.

Hopefully, it would improve soon.

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