Why Are You Taking Off Your Clothes?!

Jonah was terribly shy. His fingertips turned white as he accepted the cup with both hands. After thanking her, he lowered his head and sipped at the water, his eyelashes drooping so low that he didn't dare so much as glance at Yuqing.

Yuqing sat across from him, her gaze drifting again and again to the lop-eared rabbit by his feet.

The rabbit crouched obediently beside her, its gray fur as fluffy as a ball of cotton candy. Its drooping ears covered half its face, leaving only its pink nose visible, twitching gently now and then.

The sight made Yuqing's fingers itch. Jonah had kept his head down the whole time, so if she secretly touched the rabbit, he probably wouldn't notice, right?

The thought had barely crossed her mind when her body moved faster than her brain.

Yuqing quietly lowered her fingers and gently laid them on the little rabbit's head...

The instant they touched, Jonah's whole body gave a slight shudder, and the cup in his hands wobbled.

The little rabbit froze too, its round red eyes widening as if it couldn't believe the guide had touched it of her own accord. It hesitantly raised its little head and rubbed its soft forehead against Yuqing's palm. When she didn't pull away and instead gently rubbed its ears, it instantly grew bolder.

It edged closer, burrowing its little head into the guide's palm again and again...

Ahhh, it feels amazing!

The rabbit's fur was even softer, fine and downy, like holding a handful of clouds. She stroked from its ears down its back, then rubbed its round little body. The more she petted it, the more absorbed she became, utterly lost in the joy of petting the rabbit. She didn't notice that Jonah, sitting nearby, was already struggling to hold himself together.

Jonah's fingers tightened around his cup until his knuckles turned white.

The warmth of the guide's fingertips and their gentle touch traveled clearly to him through their connection.

A tingling itch spread from the top of his head down his spine and rushed through his entire body.

He struggled to keep himself from making any strange sounds, but his cheeks were already bright red, and even his neck had turned pale pink. The cup wobbled in his hands, and though its rim touched his lips several times, he couldn't manage a single sip.

"S-sorry..." He finally couldn't take it anymore and abruptly set down the cup. His voice was barely louder than a mosquito's as he buried his head even lower. "It... it isn't usually like this. It's just... it's never been around a guide before, so it doesn't know how to behave."

Yuqing's hand paused on the rabbit.

Does this guy have eyes in the back of his head?!

He never even looked up, so how did he know I was happily petting the rabbit?

[Host, Spirit Entities share their five senses with their owners. Didn't you know?] 01010 slapped its forehead, having forgotten about that. The host's Spirit Entity was still in its infancy and spent most of its time in her Mindscape, so it was no wonder she didn't know.

"Heh... heh heh... well..." The corners of Yuqing's mouth twitched. Recalling all the times she had enthusiastically petted different Spirit Entities, she suddenly wanted to find a block of tofu and bash her head against it.

"...Let's begin the mental treatment." Looking at the innocent young man before her, Yuqing awkwardly changed the subject. "Go lie down on the examination bed over there. I'll get some soothing medication ready."

With Yuqing's abilities, she actually had no need for auxiliary medication at all. But the situation was so awkward that she needed an excuse to compose herself.

Yuqing pulled open the built-in metal medicine cabinet. Cool white light strips came on automatically, illuminating the items on the shelves.

Oral medications were neatly arranged on the upper shelves, all sealed in foil tubes. A temperature-controlled freezer was built into the lower section, and through the glass she could see rows of injectable medications lying horizontally in their slots.

But whether oral or injectable, there were only three grades of medication: A, B, and C.

There were category A basic soothing medications in blue packaging, category B Mindscape expansion aids in green, and category C potent sedatives in orange...

There was also a fourth category of special emergency medications in red packaging, which were highly addictive and had severe side effects. She couldn't obtain them here; only the medical office downstairs could prescribe them.

"A01 basic injection, A03 oral extended-release tablets... That should be enough."

Yuqing ran her fingertips over the labels, took out a vial of injectable medication and a blister pack of pills, then casually closed the cabinet door and turned around.

But the moment she turned, a well-proportioned, powerful body came straight into view.

The young man had already taken off his shirt and draped it over the arm of the sofa beside him. His shoulders were sharply defined, and his lean waist and abdomen had a wiry strength to them, with the taut musculature that came from years of exercise.

Worse still, his fingers were hooked around his belt, his knuckles tensing slightly. He was clearly about to keep undressing.

"Why are you taking off your clothes?!" Yuqing floundered, unsure whether to cover her eyes first or stop him from taking off anything else.

"Guide... Miss Guide, did I do something wrong?" Jonah stood there at a loss, his voice tinged with panic.

[Host, calm down. This really is the standard treatment procedure.]

[Sentinels above B rank are extremely mentally unstable, and outside stimuli could trigger a Berserk State at any moment. The standard procedure is to fit them with a bite guard and restrain their limbs to ensure the guide's safety as much as possible.]

[Ah, I was so focused on training your mental power before that I forgot to give you a crash course in the common knowledge of this world...]

The system had a bit of a headache. Common knowledge permeated every aspect of daily life. Yuqing wasn't a native of this world, and unlike the system, she couldn't absorb a vast body of knowledge in an instant. For the moment, it really didn't know where to start.

Yuqing: ...

"Miss Guide, what's wrong? Are you feeling unwell?" Seeing that she hadn't spoken for some time and that her expression was strange, Jonah couldn't help taking half a step toward her in concern.

"N-no, it's nothing."

Don't ask. If you did, she was contemplating life.

Yuqing took a deep breath and forced her expression to remain composed. Pretending she knew all about it, she said, "You don't need to take anything else off. Lie down on the bed first."

"Okay." Jonah obediently agreed and lay down on the bed.

Beep.

As soon as he settled down, the examination bed beeped as if he had triggered a switch. Shackles suddenly extended from beneath the metal frames on either side of the bed and fastened Jonah to it.

Yuqing: ...

Silence was tonight's Cambridge.

Yuqing took ten thousand points of shock, but her expression barely changed. She selected the examination option on her intelligent-brain terminal, and the instruments connected to it automatically began scanning and analyzing.

[Mental power rank: S+. Contamination level: 73.54%. Moderate contamination.]

"I'll give you an A01 soothing injection. That way, it won't be as uncomfortable when my mental threads enter." Yuqing glanced at the examination results. They were not much different from those provided by the medical office, which meant he probably hadn't gone out on a mission recently.

"Okay." Jonah nodded.

Yuqing put on gloves, disinfected the area, and injected A01 into a vein. The medication took effect quickly, and the contamination reading, which had been 73.54% just moments ago, instantly fell to 73.12%.

"Close your eyes and clear your mind." Yuqing released her gentle healing ability.

The ability was far more effective than the injection, and Jonah soon felt his body relax. Unlike the forceful soothing treatments he had undergone before, this was an experience unlike any other. Without any physical pain or sensory stimulation, his mental world opened its doors of its own accord, letting the guide's mental power enter.

"Mmh~"

The moment the guide's mental power entered, Jonah's mind went blank. He couldn't describe the feeling. It was several times more comfortable than what he had felt through his Spirit Entity earlier. The toxins raging inside him quieted down for a few seconds, and his body felt as though it had returned to the time before it was first infected by them.