"I think you're insane." Li Wei said to Li Jun with a scrunched nose after Li Jun explained his plan. Li Jun waved his hand. "It'll work. I know what I'm doing. I've thought about it for at least an hour."
"Yeah but-" Li Wei paused. "One second. Ji Ru got hurt." Li Jun shrugged at Li Wei who looked down at his own right arm.
It was tingling slightly beneath the skin. 'How did Ji Ru get hurt? But he's still with Tai Yang and Li Jun is here... Maybe he hit his arm on something again, my poor Ji Ru.' He mused. Not thinking further about what kind of injury Ji Ru may have had, he transferred Ji Ru's pain to himself through their Soul Link.
"As I was saying, you should- Ugh!" Li Wei let out a sound of excruciating pain. Li Jun raised both brows and leaned forward. "What, do you have a butt cramp or something?" Li Wei was biting his lip hard and couldn't respond.
Li Jun blinked. "Must be a cramp then." He then sniffed the air. "Hmm, breakfast is smelling really good today."
Li Wei let out a hiss as the pain in his arm intensified, and he removed his vambrace and sleeve to see that his arm seemed to have gotten severely burned.
It was utterly cooked. Li Jun's eyes widened.
"Oh shit, that's... Maybe your dearest had a failed experiment."
Li Wei stared at it with a frown as it began to heal. 'Ji Ru is extremely agile so long as his limbs work. Usually he can dodge things like this without a problem.'
"I'll ask him later." He said.
And so, an hour later everyone had regrouped. Ji Ru didn't give Li Wei any answers, instead hastily muttering that they'd talk before bed.
Then, Tai Yang was dragged around until evening. When night fell, he could barely move anymore.
"Don't worry Tai Yang, the day is almost over." Ji Ru said, rubbing his friend's back, noting how worn out he was.
Xiao Xia, Wu Ji, and Rai Lin on the other hand seemed to be running off bottomless cups of coffee. The moment Tai Yang or Ji Ru sat down, one of them would grab them and insist on some exhausting activity.
Li Wei and Li Jun were over their heads in annoyance; both for completely different reasons. Nevertheless, they were the perfect hosts all day long.
"Tai Yang, Tai Yang! Look here!"
Tai Yang looked up at Xiao Xia who was kneeling next to a large Koi fishpond. With a tired sigh, he stood from the bench with Ji Ru and walked over.
"Yes, princess?"
"Xiao Xia." She corrected, poking his side before pulling him down next to her.
"Have you ever played with Koi fish before?"
"No... Their mouths scare me." Tai Yang confessed. Xiao Xia laughed. "Come on, it's fun, here, roll up your sleeves and-" She started to roll up his sleeves when she caught sight of his bracelet.
Her eyes were transfixed for a moment before she blinked out of her daze and continued to talk about the Koi fish.
Ji Ru watched quietly, glancing at Li Jun every so often. The prince had been eerily quiet. Even Li Wei who was much curter and usually spoke lesser than him had been verbally thwarting any of Wu Ji's advances towards anyone all day. But Li Jun on the other hand had been very silent beyond being a thoughtful and courteous compere.
"Ji Ru."
Ji Ru jumped at the sound of his name and glanced toward Li Jun. In return, the prince elegantly beckoned him over.
"Yes, your majesty?" Ji Ru asked. Li Wei looked in their direction, with a look of concern, so Ji Ru smiled back at him reassuringly till he looked away from them.
They were standing far enough to not be heard by the others. Taking advantage of that, Li Jun sighed loudly.
"Firstly, what the hell did you do that your arm got fried like that? I thought that smell was bacon and beef until I saw Li Wei's arm."
"It... It's a bit complicated." Ji Ru said.
Li Jun regarded him carefully for a moment, deciding not to push any further.
"You completed a health check on Tai Yang today."
"Yes, your majesty." Ji Ru said vaguely.
"And? What did you find?"
"Physically, nothing out of the ordinary. In that aspect, he's almost identical to his predecessor." For some reason, Ji Ru didn't seem pleased by his observation.
"Have you done bloodwork and those other tests you do?"
"Yes." Ji Ru said, scratching behind his ear. He looked at the ground.
'Should I tell him? It would be better for Tai Yang in the long run if Li Jun knew... If Tai Yang picks up that research again, he's going to need Li Jun to protect him.'
Li Jun raised a brow.
"And?"
"He has an interesting genome. Usually, for humans of Earth 72, the epigenome is what changes in response to the environment or additional factors, but when I looked at his genome, it seemed that his genome itself mutates, but doesn't change his phenotype, or physical attributes if you will. With radiometric -"
"Mandarin, please."
Ji Ru slightly faltered. "When he was sleeping, I got his test results, which showed that his original genome was different from what he has now-"
"You're speaking as if I understand these terms, silly dog. Explain better. Restart."
"His DNA..." Ji Ru tested the word with Li Jun who crossed his arms behind his back and nodded for Ji Ru to continue.
"... His DNA is currently consistent with the DNA structure of someone born on Earth 394. Except, through testing, I found that it had changed four times. It changed from being like Earth 72 human DNA to Earth 394 DNA, to a combination of Earth 394 and Earth 72 DNA with several additional mutations, and the last change was to Earth 394 human DNA, but the mutations were maintained. The last change happened yesterday."
Li Jun frowned.
"So that means his origin is most definitely Earth 72... But he's transmigrated to Earth 394 before now?" Li Jun spoke slowly, trying to make sense of Ji Ru's explanation.
"It's possible, but at the same time, it isn't possible at all. He's 28 years old, the changes happened when he was a child. If a child that young transmigrated, their body would have been obliterated. Besides that, how would he have gotten to Earth 394?"
Li Jun looked over at Xiao Xia and Tai Yang, looking at the Koi fish.
"If he was here before, then it would explain their familiarity. But it would also imply that they're both hiding something." Li Jun said.
Ji Ru looked at Tai Yang. "I don't think he is. He's still in shock, from being here at all. But then again..." Ji Ru trailed off.
"What? Spit it out." Li Jun said.
"He was... Well, he was having a nap, then he started having a nightmare."
"He has nightmares?" Li Jun narrowed his eyes.
"He's really quiet when he has them it seems. He whimpered once and was completely silent for the rest of it."
"So he may have some sort of trauma."
"The trauma is the least of our concerns right now. When I tried to look into his mind with Second Sight, his body let out this massive electric, fiery explosion. It was like a protective mechanism of sorts. And Tai Yang's aura is usually a golden color. What came out of him was something like jade, or turquoise."
Li Jun blinked in shock. "So you're saying Tai Yang did that to you?"
"Unintentionally, your majesty. He was in a deep sleep."
"But how would he do that? Did you give him his knowledge? He's been living on Earth 72. His body shouldn't know magic. And how can his aura be a different color?"
"That's just it. I didn't give him his knowledge. But somehow his body does know magic, and somehow his aura isn't gold anymore. For now, I don't think I should give him his knowledge yet." Ji Ru said. He rubbed his neck. "But that surge... the most surprising thing was that at that moment, I really couldn't react, your majesty."
Li Jun tilted his head.
"It was too quick. It was as if I was frozen while he charged up to send out that surge."
"... And you have the ability to always dodge attacks with ease no matter the speed of the attack, so long as you have your limbs functioning. So it can't be that you weren't quick enough." Li Jun spoke in a tentative tone.
Ji Ru nodded with pursed lips.
"Exactly."
Li Jun's eyes widened.
"Which means that he actually..."
Ji Ru nodded and looked at Tai Yang who was pleading with Wu Ji to put a Koi fish back into the pond. Li Jun stared at Tai Yang for a moment and then exhaled.
"Xiao Xia." Li Jun said. Ji Ru turned his attention back to Li Jun. "It's possible there's a connection between them."
"Why would you think so?"
"I can feel it." Li Jun said.
"How would we go about proving that, your majesty?"
"We can't. It's too risky." Li Jun looked down at Ji Ru again.
"I'll help him level up."
Ji Ru's eyes widened. "Really, your majesty?" He asked in awe.
"It's not free."
Ji Ru scratched his ear sheepishly. Why did he think Li Jun would do something out of the goodness of his heart?
"Let's assume she's behaving like this out of admiration and attraction. Whatever he's doing, Xiao Xia likes it. That shouldn't be the case. She needs to like me. So, he'll be my personal advisor on what Xiao Xia likes after she leaves."
Ji Ru blinked. He had no clue what to say to that. "As my personal advisor, he will need to accompany me everywhere, so he'll learn and level up quickly. And, since I promised Xiao Xia that he'd be under my personal protection, I'll be feeding two birds with one loaf." Li Jun waved a hand as he spoke.
Ji Ru smiled lightly. 'Personal advisor? Really, Li Jun?' He thought. He was sure that Li Jun was too proud to say that was trying to help Tai Yang.
"Oi! Li Jun! I'm hungry!" Wu Ji suddenly said. "Ji Ru, look, look, I caught you a fish!"
"Ji Ru doesn't like fish." Li Wei glared as he spoke.
"Please put it back, it's going to die-" Tai Yang said. "It's only a fish!" Rai Lin said. "Come with me to Valor and I'll get you all the fish you want, sweetheart." Rai Lin winked. Tai Yang slightly mashed himself unconsciously into Xiao Xia's side. "No, he won't be going anywhere." Li Wei said as Li Jun and Ji Ru started walking back to the group. "He's too busy of a body to be humoring anyone, I'm afraid."
Li Jun looked at Ji Ru before they reached the others. "We'll talk more when they're gone. For now, let's make sure he survives the next two days."
Ji Ru nodded. "Understood, your majesty."
"Good."