SBWE Chapter 04

121L OP:

Mr. Spade has been given a sedative and should be able to hold out until his mother arrives. I’ve calmed down now. Thank you, little angels, for your concern.

Tomorrow, researchers specializing in Spiritual Bodies will come to investigate. According to the 《1988 Analysis of Guide Spiritual Body Behavior Analysis Research》 and the 《1898 Response Measures for 396 Sudden Phenomena in Sentinel Spiritual Bodies》, Mr. Spade’s and my Spiritual Bodies have likely only temporarily disappeared. The reason for their disappearance remains unknown, but for now, it doesn’t pose an immediate threat to the host’s life.

As for why Mr. Spade became an ‘annoying jerk’, we need to trace back to his time at Sentinel School.

Sentinel School was a fully enclosed boarding institution with four annual breaks—one each for spring, summer, autumn, and winter. During the first break, I went traveling and we didn’t meet. During the second break, Mr. Spade’s family went on vacation, so we still didn’t see each other. By the time we finally met again, I had already awakened as a Guide.

When Mr. Spade learned that my Spiritual Body was a bird, my nightmares began.

I was studying the Sentinel-Guide safety regulations at my desk, flipping to the next page when I discovered a flattened, intact insect carcass pressed between the pages.

During a picnic, I opened the prepared food basket only to find my sandwiches missing, replaced by a box of live beetles.

As I walked down the road, a Hanging Ghost (a type of silkworm that hangs from trees) dropped from the sky, while Mr. Spade sat in the branches, laughing triumphantly at me.

During that time, I felt like my life had become a real-life version of the movie 《Bug Invasion》.

Every day, in addition to countless insects, Mr. Spade would also release his snake to scare me.

Birds and snakes are natural enemies. My bird was a fledgling that couldn’t even walk properly, forced to roll around to move. Mr. Spade’s snake, on the other hand, was as thick as my wrist and taller than me when it stood on its tail.

Just as my Spiritual Body was learning to walk, one step at a time, Mr. Spade’s snake would suddenly appear, lunging at the bird and scaring it into tumbling over.

122L: Holy… shit… I need to change my opinion of Mr. Spade.

123L: +1

124L: OP, it’s a miracle you didn’t develop a phobia from all this… Bugs! [Vomits]

125L: Bugs are so cute! Ah, I wish my Sentinel was like Mr. Spade, catching bugs for me every day~

126L: …Could the person above be an incarnation of a bug?

127L: Aww, don’t expose me like that~

128L: Mommy, there’s a pervert here!

129L: Don’t you guys think Mr. Spade’s behavior are just like a little boy trying to get a girl’s attention?

130L: That makes sense. Mr. Spade only started acting this way after learning OP’s Spiritual Body is a bird. I think Mr. Spade might have assumed that birds like bugs, so he’s been catching them for you.

131L: How dumb do you have to be to conclude that just because someone’s Spiritual Body is a bird, their Host must like bugs?

132L: Love makes people blind, you know.

133L: Solid reasoning. The snake’s later actions also fit the ‘attention-seeking’ theory.

134L: WHAT?! The streets are crawling with rats! Spiders! Dung beetles! Caterpillars! I want to go home! I’d rather hug a scorpion than go outside, waaaah!

135L: Hahaha, OP, you’re scaring people!

136L: Don’t worry, OP. Spiritual Bodies are called ‘spiritual’ because they belong to the mental world—they’re virtual. While they have physical forms, they lack actual substances like blood or gastric acid. Although I’ve never encountered a phenomenon where a Spiritual Body swallows another Spiritual Body outside of combat during my years of research, I can assure you that OP’s Spiritual Body won’t be digested by stomach acid. My theory is that OP’s Spiritual Body was simply frightened and temporarily retreated into the Host’s mental world to hide.

137L: Someone actually answered the OP’s plea for help…

138L: If you all look down on insects like this, what about those whose Spiritual Bodies are insects? This is discrimination! This is blatant discrimination!

139L: I thought everyone’s Spiritual Bodies were adorable[mfn]萌萌噠 (méng méng dā): (neologism, slang) very cute; adorable; adorkable; a particularly cute and adorable expression.[/mfn] little animals.

140L: How can a Spiritual Body that only knows how to act cute[mfn]賣萌 (mài méng): lit. selling cute; (neologism, typically of a young girl, cute animal, etc.) to act cute; to play innocent. 賣萌 is a popular internet slang term that refers to deliberately displaying cute or innocent behavior in order to achieve a humorous or attention-grabbing effect. Because the Chinese characters for “October 10th [十月十日 (shí yuè shí rì)]” makes up the word “cute [萌 (méng)]”, October 10th is designated as “Cute Day” every year.[/mfn] fight?

141L: By acting cute, of course~

142L: The commenter above is so naive[mfn]傻白甜 (shǎ bái tián): (neologism, slang, especially of a girl) silly, innocent and sweet; innocent and cute; (neologism, slang, of a storyline) nicely smooth and sweet, although a bit clichéd; sweet, naive young woman. 傻白甜 is a popular internet term that emerged in 2015. It was originally used to describe a heartwarming love story that does not deliberately create conflict and the image of its simple and naive female protagonist. The term has two meanings: first, it refers to a type of film and television work with traditional plots but sweet emotions; second, it refers to female characters in such works who are naive and kind-hearted. As the online context evolved, the term was gradually extended by some netizens to a satirical evaluation of “saintly” characters whose acting was formulaic and lacked depth.[/mfn].

143L: Objection! How can a Spiritual Body be virtual? It’s my real partner! Just because ordinary people can’t see it doesn’t mean it’s virtual. I can’t see black holes in space either—does that mean black holes are virtual?

144L: Are you blind? Use a telescope or aerial photography.

145L: I firmly believe that great scientists will invent glasses that allow ordinary people to see the world through the eyes of Sentinels and Guides.

146L: OP, please tell us more about yourself—your mood, feelings, etc.

147L: Or say a bit more about Mr. Spade, too~

148L: OP, aren’t you supposed to be unafraid of Mr. Spade’s Spiritual Body? Why would you still be scared by a snake?

149L: Maybe it’s the difference between the buyer’s review and the seller’s advertisement…

150L: You’re all misunderstanding the question! The insects scared the person, and the snake scared the bird.

151L: Let’s hope the bird didn’t get limp from fright.

152L: Has the bird ever been hard before?

153L: OP’s bird only knows how to roll.

154L: This is inexplicably hilarious.

155L: Has OP fallen asleep?

156L: Probably. It’s already 3 AM. Good night, OP.

157L: Good night night~

158L: Has Mr. Spade’s Spiritual Body been found yet? If the snake doesn’t attack OP after being found, OP could try stroking its head and engaging in friendly communication. Once it relaxes, gently grasp its three-inch spot—don’t squeeze, absolutely do not squeeze. Generally, a Spiritual Body will instinctively retaliate when its vital point is held, so OP needs to continue soothing it. After the snake fully trusts you, you can stroke its abdomen while simultaneously use your mental connection to your own Spiritual Body and imagining the scene of your Spiritual Body being spat out by the snake.

159L: 4:30 AM… Is upstairs a cultivation enthusiast or just an early riser?

160L: Neither. I’m just dealing with jet lag.

161L: 158L, is there any basis for your method?

162L: It’s related to my current research area, but I can’t go into specifics right now. Since OP’s description of the symptoms is too vague, further analysis is difficult. I agree with the earlier commenter who suggested this is a Spiritual Body concealment phenomenon. The key point is that OP believes their Spiritual Body has been eaten, so in OP’s consciousness, their Spiritual Body exists within Mr. Spade’s Spiritual Body’s stomach. According to behavioral psychology’s principle that ‘psychological suggestion guides behavior’, when OP imagines the scene of being regurgitated, their Spiritual Body should reappear.

163L: That actually sounds plausible. OP, try it quickly!

164L: Good morning, OP.

165L: OP, try it right away!

166L: Is OP awake yet?

167L: It’s already 9 AM. Has OP still not woken up?

168L: Probably slept late, so they woke up late…

169L: Your Spiritual Body is in trouble, yet you can sleep this long?

170L: So… could something have happened to the OP…?

171L: Why didn’t anyone offer any reliable suggestions last night?

172L: After all, the cultivation faction is mostly just a bunch of hedonistic, lazy layabouts.

173L: Or the type who are so obsessed with studying they’re completely out of touch with the real world.

174L: Could 158L’s suggestion actually be working? Mr. Spade’s Spiritual Body is also missing. What exactly do you want the OP to caress? Caress Mr. Spade and gently say, “Good boy, quickly open your mouth and spit out my bird?”

175L: …So dirty!

176L: I should be worried about the OP, but allow me three minutes to laugh at this description first.

177L: Didn’t they say last night that Mr. Spade’s mother was rushing back? Has she arrived yet?

178L: OP! OP! Calling the OP!

[dropdown title=”List of Idiom in Chapter 04″]
春夏秋冬 (chūn xià qiū dōng): spring, summer, autumn and winter—four seasons; one year; all year round. Refers to the four seasons of the earth in a year, which is the result of the earth’s movement around the sun.

不翼而飛 (bù yì ér fēi): lit. to be wingless and yet flying or airborne; (of news) to spread quickly; to spread like wildfire; to spread fast as if on wings; (of an object) to disappear suddenly; to disappear without a trace; to vanish into thin air; to vanish all of a sudden; to spread fast; be gone without a trace; fly away without wings; mysteriously vanish. Chapter 26 of Guanzi: 無翼而飛者，聲也；無根而固者，情也。, Sound flies without wings; feelings are firm without roots.

取而代之 (qǔ ér dài zhī): to take the place of; to substitute for; to replace; to remove and replace; take over; supersede; facilitate a takeover; to take someone else’s place; to seize someone else’s position and replace them, or to replace one thing with another.

從天而降 (cóng tiān ér jiàng): lit. to drop from the sky (idiom); fig. to appear unexpectedly; to happen all of the sudden; to happen out of the blue; to come out of nowhere; very unexpectedly; descend from heaven; come down from heaven; something suddenly falling from the sky. It describes something that appears suddenly and unexpectedly.

得意洋洋 (dé yì yáng yáng): smug; puffed up; joyfully satisfied; to be immensely proud of oneself; proudly; an air of complacency; jauntiness; exaltation; elation feel oneself highly flattered.

吃喝玩樂 (chī hē wán lè): lit. eat, drink, play and be merry—idle away one’s time in pleasure-seeking; (derogatory) to eat, drink and be merry; to seek pleasure instead of doing work; to abandon oneself to a life of pleasure.

不學無術 (bù xué wú shù): without learning or skills (idiom); ignorant and incompetent; to be tactless due to the lack of knowledge; to be not keen on learning anything; be good for nothing.
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