SBWE Chapter 03

71L OP: I’m fine. I’m at the hospital and have already contacted Mr. Spade’s mother. She’s on a plane now. Mr. Spade is lying on the other side of the glass, restrained by straps. If I had been more careful during his mental soothing treatment and kept my Spiritual Body close to me, none of this would have happened, right?

72L: I… feel like… OP’s… state… is… really… off?

73L: You’re not alone upstairs!

74L: +1

75L: +10086[mfn]T/N: A mobile service number in China and also a Chinese internet slang for ‘I completely agree’.[/mfn]

76L: Are there any hackers who can dox OP’s location?

77L: What do you want to do, upstairs? Hacker’s Code Article 246: Do not arbitrarily dox another person’s information. P.S. I checked OP’s IP without violating the Hacker’s Code. Rest assured, OP is indeed at the hospital.

78L: ‘Rest assured’ my ass[mfn]毛線 (máo xiàn): knitting wool; wool yarn. 毛線 is a popular internet slang term, mainly used to express negation or strong exclamation. Its usage varies in different dialects. For example, in Sichuan dialect it means ‘nonsense’, in Hunan dialect it is used to deny someone else’s point of view, and in Lanzhou dialect it expresses disdain or brotherly affection. In online communication, this word often replaces swear words, achieving an exclamation similar to the English word ‘fucking’.[/mfn]! Haven’t there been enough suicide incidents at hospitals recently?!

79L: Holy shit, what should we do? Call 911?

80L: OP, tell us what’s going on between you and Mr. Spade?

81L: Right, right, right! OP, why did you call Mr. Spade an ‘annoying jerk’?

82L: Same question! Also, what kind of Spiritual Body does Mr. Spade have?

83L: A bird’s natural enemy—a cat?

84L: It can’t possibly be a cat! Cats are so cute! At most, they’d tease birds, not cruelly swallow them in one gulp.

85L: The person upstairs is clearly a cat lover.

86L: Let’s not get off track! Our priority is to make sure OP is okay!

87L: Right, right! Calling OP!

88L: O~P~! O~P~!

89L: A bird-eating spider[mfn]食鳥蛛 (shí niǎo zhū): lit. bird-eating spider. 巨人食鳥蛛 (jù rén shí niǎo zhū), Goliath birdeater (Theraphosa blondi) is a very large spider that belongs to the tarantula family Theraphosidae. Found in northern South America, it is the largest spider in the world by mass (175 g (6.2 oz)) and body length (up to 13 cm (5.1 in)), and second to the giant huntsman spider by leg span.[/mfn]?

90L: Holy shit, a spider?! If it’s really a spider, I can’t accept it.

91L OP:

No. Mr. Spade’s Spiritual Body is a snake.

92L: A SNAKE?!

93L: I admire you, OP! How did you manage to get along with him so well? Aren’t you scared?

94L OP: Mr. Spade and I have known each other since childhood. Our families were close because our parents were in contact with each other, so Mr. Spade and I often played together. When Mr. Spade turned ten, his Sentinel bloodline awakened. I couldn’t see his Spiritual Body, but I knew it was a snake, and I was terrified. Whenever I saw him, I wanted to run away. Mr. Spade was very unhappy, and the more I ran, the more he clung to me.

To get me to accept his Spiritual Body, Mr. Spade would describe his snake coiled around my ankle whenever he saw me. The first time he said this, I was so frightened that I fell to the ground and cried uncontrollably. He tried to soothe me, saying his snake was very small, only as thick as a thumb, and that when it coiled around my ankle, it looked like a black anklet—very beautiful.

Only then did I begin to form a concrete image of his snake.

Seeing that I no longer avoided him, Mr. Spade drew closer. “See? My Spiritual Body might be a bit scary, but it won’t hurt you.”

He grasped my ankle and coaxed me gently, “I’ve taken the snake off and it’s right here in my hand, coiled up like a mosquito coil. Would you like to touch it?”

His hand was empty.

Mr. Spade used his other hand to grasp mine and gently placed it about ten centimeters above the palm where he claimed to be holding his Spiritual Body. “This is its head. It’s very small and triangular, with eyes as black and bright as tiny pearls. It really likes you. Can you feel it flicking its tongue against your skin?”

I recoiled in fright, but Mr. Spade firmly grasped my hand. “It wants to be on your hand. Is that okay?”

“It won’t hurt you,” Mr. Spade assured me.

After a long hesitation, I nodded in agreement.

95L: Childhood sweethearts are the best[mfn]竹馬賽高 (zhú mǎ sài gāo): lit. Bamboo Horse is the highest. 竹馬 (zhú mǎ) means Bamboo Horse/Hobby Horse. It means childhood friend/sweethearts, from the idom 青梅竹馬 (qīng méi zhú mǎ), lit. green plums and a bamboo horse (idiom); fig. a girl and a boy playing innocently together; childhood sweethearts; a couple who grew up as childhood friends; a man and a woman who had an innocent affection for each other in childhood; from a poem by Tang dynasty poet Li Bai: 妾髮初覆額，折花門前劇。郎騎竹馬來，繞床弄青梅。同居長干里，兩小無嫌猜。十四為君婦，羞顏未嘗開。, My hair had hardly covered my forehead, I was picking flowers, playing by my door. When you, my lover, on a bamboo horse, came trotting in circles and throwing green plums. We lived near together on a lane in Ch’ang-kan, both of us young and happy-hearted. At fourteen I became your wife, so bashful that I dared not smile. […] The same poem was also the source of the idiom 兩小無猜 (liǎng xiǎo wú cāi), which has a very similar meaning. 賽高 (sài gāo) is an ACG term originating from Japanese word 最高 (さいこう; saikō), meaning highest; supreme; the most. It is used to describe something as the best or most amazing.[/mfn]!!!

96L: Can childhood sweethearts get any cuter? *Clutches chest and falls to the ground*

97L: Mr. Spade is so adorable! *Starry-eyes* So doting and so considerate. Waaah, I want a childhood sweetheart like that too!

98L: Mr. Spade definitely likes you, okay? I believe the phenomenon of Mr. Spade’s snake swallowing your bird in one gulp reflects his inherent desire to top you—to devour you whole!

99L: Heh heh heh heh.

100L: My heart is fluttering with spring fever~~~

101L: Agree with 98L! Mr. Spade’s been abstaining for too long. He must have been drooling over you. He probably just wanted to lick your bird with his snake’s tongue, but he couldn’t control himself and swallowed it whole.

102L: Highlight! A Spiritual Body reflects its host’s subconscious desires.

103L: Um… I was wondering, OP, could your Spiritual Body be the juvenile form of a large bird?

104L: Question for OP: Can hypothetical thinking really overcome a person’s fear of snakes? My older brother awakened a few days ago and turned out to be a scorpion. I’m too scared to go home now (ㄒoㄒ). In my dreams, all I see is a giant scorpion crawling on me…

105L: Impossible. Judging by the situation, OP must be independently assisting Mr. Spade with his mental soothing treatment. Guides in their juvenile Spiritual Body stage aren’t allowed to treat Sentinels alone.

106L: Science Popularization[mfn]科普 (kē pǔ): to popularise science; (neologism, slang, by extension) to explain in simple terms to someone unfamiliar with it; to help someone understand something; to fill someone in (on).[/mfn] Floor.

Sentinels awaken between the ages of eight and twelve, with their growth period lasting until sixteen at the latest. After sixteen, their Spiritual Body enters maturity, and its size stops changing.

Guides awaken one to three years later than Sentinels, with their growth period extending until eighteen. Their Spiritual Body development mirrors that of Sentinels.

Both Sentinels and Guides can attend comprehensive universities for the first three years after awakening to gain foundational knowledge. Afterward, they enter specialized schools for relevant professional training.

Sentinels and Guides who have not obtained a specialized school graduation certificate are prohibited from working independently. When engaging in combat or treatment, they must be accompanied by a teacher.

This is for all you ordinary folks and unawakened little angels out there, if you’re satisfied with this explanation, please click on my profile picture in the top left corner to visit my space and give me a like! Muah!

107L: Little angel upstairs!

108L: Liked!

109L: Why do I keep seeing you everywhere, 106L? Aren’t you tired of popularizing knowledge under every thread?

110L: I like doing it. What’s it to you?

111L: Is it just me whose attention is focused on why Mr. Spade, who’s so sweet, is called an ‘annoying jerk’?

112L: Oh right! [suddenly realize.jpg]

113L: So what else happened?

114L: Don’t tell me Mr. Spade force himself on OP [Can’t bear to look]

115L: Holding my melon[mfn]瓜 (guā): T/N: From the slang 吃瓜 (chīguā), (literally) to eat melon or melon seed; (figuratively, neologism, slang) to be a mere bystander or onlooker. Derived from 吃瓜群眾 (chīguā qúnzhòng), (neologism, Internet slang, humorous, often used as self-address) onlookers (who are unaware of the situation); clueless commoners; peanut gallery.[/mfn], waiting for the follow-up.

116L OP: Replying to 104L: Did you run away from home? ou should know that at home, you might only have to face a juvenile scorpion, but out on the streets, you might encounter swarms of adult rats, spiders, dung beetles, and caterpillars.

117L: First[mfn]sf: Short for 沙發 (shā fā), sofa (loanword); (Internet slang) first person to reply or comment on an online forum; the first reply or replier to a forum post. 沙發 is a popular internet slang term referring to the first reply or comment in a forum, post, or video comment section, commonly found in forum culture and platforms such as TikTok. There are various theories about its origin, including the transliteration of the English “so fast”, the misspelling of “first post”, and the evolution of “sofa” from the comment “moving the sofa to watch the show” left by early MOP forum users when marking long posts. The act of scrambling for the sofa led to subsequent location designations such as “bench” (second floor) and “floor” (third floor). This term was once among the “Top Ten Internet Buzzwords of 2004”. However, due to its short popularity period, it has gradually become the default term for online replies.[/mfn]!

118L: Snatching the sofa[mfn]搶到沙發 (qiǎng dào shā fā): lit. grabbing the sofa; snatching the sofa. On online forums, blogs, or social media, being the first to post a reply or comment is often a way of seeking honor and recognition.This behavior stems from the habits of early online forums, where the first person to reply was like ‘sitting on the sofa’, and the next person would sit on the ‘bench’, ‘floor’, and so on in turn.[/mfn]! The OP has appeared! OP, what’s the situation with you and Mr. Spade?

119L: Aaaah, more and more people are reading this thread! The two comments above me were practically instant replies!

120L: OP’s gone dark! Dung beetles and caterpillars, hahahaha! 114L, you should hurry home—the world’s a dangerous place!

[dropdown title=”List of Idiom in Chapter 03″]
垂涎三尺 (chuí xián sān chǐ): lit. to drool for 3 feet; to drool (over); to yearn for (certain food or an item); to covet; to crave; mouth watering three feet down the lips; spittle three feet long—drool with envy; covet eagerly (for); cast greedy eyes (at); having saliva hanging from one’s mouth for three feet, describing extreme greed. It can also describe extreme envy and a strong desire to possess something.

恍然大悟 (huǎng rán dà wù): to suddenly realise; to suddenly see the light; suddenly realize what has happened; to suddenly understand or realize something.

離家出走 (lí jiā chū zǒu): to run away from home; to elope; to leave home (to live somewhere else).
[/dropdown]

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