"?" Seeing Lin Yang signing up, Kong Xuan felt quite displeased. It was only 5000 meters, yet he actually lost to Lin Yang??

Lin Yang hid behind the homeroom teacher under Kong Xuan's gaze. Xiao Bro was unreliable now, he could only rely on Teacher Ji!

Tan Xiao pulled Kong Xuan, "Look at the other events, do you want to sign up for the relay with me?"

Kong Xuan's attention was immediately diverted. What kind of event was this that they could participate together?

However, with the most troublesome 5000 meters already taken by Lin Yang, people were quite enthusiastic about many other events. Events like sprints, high jump, and long jump had many people signing up.

After tallying up everyone's preferences, it turned out that for a few events with too many applicants, an additional class selection would be needed during PE class. As for the relay race, members could be directly selected from the top few in the 100-meter dash.

Tan Xiao was persuaded to choose the 3000 meters and relay race. The chances of making it in the 3000 meters should be quite high. The relay was hard to say, so he would also have to compete in the 100 meters. Kong Xuan also chose the relay race, which was equivalent to also competing for the 100 meters.

Kong Xuan didn't really have a concept of the differences between these events. Since Tan Xiao told him to choose, he just chose.

"Everyone is quite enthusiastic. Then let's do the selection this

Friday during PE class. You can practice these next few days." Seeing Kong Xuan's passionate participation, Ji Huiming felt quite gratified. Although he caused some trouble earlier, Ji Huiming was willing to guess that perhaps he had confused long-distance and short-distance running.

Ever since Kong Xuan and Tan Xiao became deskmates and rented his family's place, Kong Xuan had been integrating better and better with the class.

"Great God, if you really want to compete, then practice well before the selection." Tan Xiao had just chatted with Lin Yang, who said he planned to run to and from school every day, including practicing at noon. The 3000 meters was no easy task either.

"Me, practice?" Kong Xuan felt this statement was truly a great joke under heaven. "Practice running slower? You think I lack control?"

He also knew that he might have spoken too exaggeratedly without thinking, but speed control - how could he need practice for that? Whatever speed he wanted, it would be accurate to the second. Like last semester's PE exam with the 50-meter and 1000-meter runs, he had simply run alongside Tan Xiao the whole way and easily passed.

Tan Xiao was thinking the same thing. Last semester's fitness test, Kong Xuan ran beside him. With his distraction, no one noticed. But the school sports meet was different.

Tan Xiao looked at him, "I mean, practice your acting."

Kong Xuan: "?"

Tan Xiao: "What if after running, your face isn't red and you're not out of breath like last semester? What if you even look down on the other competitors while running?"

Kong Xuan: "..."

...For a moment, he was actually unable to refute.

The reason Tan Xiao had Kong Xuan choose the 100 meters wasn't due to any scientific principle. He simply considered that since Kong Xuan insisted on showing off, then the shorter the time the better, to lower the chances of being exposed.

Furthermore, Tan Xiao specifically collected data from previous years and referenced world records, reminding Kong Xuan to be careful not to get carried away and break a world record.

"Why not?" Kong Xuan still wanted to be stubborn. His previous few appearances didn't seem to shock the world, so could breaking a world record really scare people?

"If you break a world record, the national team will take you away on the spot," Tan Xiao threatened. "You want to go to the capital to be an athlete? It's all the territory of the house spirits there. There's no market for peacocks. You'll be competing with fox spirits for jobs."

Kong Xuan: "...I don't want to."

If you don't want to, then restrain the peacock's nature to show off.

Under the guidance of Tan Xiao, this temporary acting coach, Kong Xuan started practicing with him on the way home from school that day.

"You need to learn proper running posture too, the scientific running posture. Also, I'm practicing the 3000 meters, but you can observe the state of normal people running. Then when practicing on the school track, you can also observe others and learn comprehensively," Tan Xiao said to Kong Xuan while warming up.

Kong Xuan naturally didn't need to warm up and even wanted to carry Tan Xiao's backpack. "Oh."

Tan Xiao noted the time and started running, trying to maintain an even pace and breathing, feeling his body heat up and heart rate increase.

Kong Xuan effortlessly carried the two backpacks and followed beside him. As per Tan Xiao's request - it was Tan Xiao who insisted he do it - he listened to Tan Xiao's stipulations, so he stared at Tan Xiao the whole way.

With Kong Xuan's keen senses, amidst the noisy bustle of the city, he easily distinguished that one thread he wanted to hear - it was Tan Xiao's accelerating heartbeat, rising in frequency with the rise and fall of his thin chest, all within Kong Xuan's grasp.

This wasn't difficult at all.

What was so hard about acting? It was just changing from controlling speed to controlling other organs to create an illusion.

Next, blood circulation also sped up, capillaries dilated, and a flush gradually rose on Tan Xiao's face, with even his earlobes and neck revealing a redness from the white jade-like skin, and his tender lips an even deeper red, making the boy look ever more vibrant.

Then, his soft black hair was slightly dampened by fine sweat, a few strands sticking to his cheeks, the black blacker and the white whiter, shining under the sunlight.

"Phew." Tan Xiao focused on running until his phone reminded him to stop. He tried his best not to breathe through his mouth, but couldn't help opening it, wiping sweat with a parched mouth and tongue.

Turning his head, Kong Xuan's cheeks were flushed red.

"Your blushing control is pretty good. If it was just a tiny bit lighter, it would be even better," Tan Xiao praised.

"..." Kong Xuan came back to his senses and touched his face. In the mirror of a roadside shop, he saw that his own face had turned even redder than Tan Xiao's at some point. From a passerby's perspective, they indeed looked like two students with flushed faces and panting breaths from running.

"There's not much sweat, which is also normal. After all, it's a short run and the weather is still okay, so you won't sweat that quickly," Tan Xiao reached out and touched the back of Kong Xuan's neck, feeling that Kong Xuan's observation skills were quite on point. "But if you practice for a long time at school, pay attention to sweating a bit."

When Tan Xiao touched his neck, Kong Xuan's whole body shrank back and he jumped away.

"What's with you?" Tan Xiao was stunned for a moment and asked in surprise, "How can you react to pinching the back of the neck? Isn't it only mammals that have the sensitive nape?"

Kong Xuan was annoyed, "Aren't I pretending to be a mammal right now?"

"That makes sense too." Tan Xiao nodded seriously, then pursed his lips into a round bird beak shape and moved it twice, "Then do I look convincing in my performance?"

Directly using his school uniform jacket, Kong Xuan wrapped it around him and held him tightly, "Great! Mom sent me a pearl bird."

Tan Xiao laughed under the school uniform.

......

"I wonder how the Yorkshire Terrier is doing," Tan Xiao said, cupping his face after finishing his homework.

Kong Xuan keenly said, "You suddenly care a lot."

In the past, during their case-solving process, Tan Xiao would squeeze in time to do problems or keep thinking about going back to class. Now, after finishing his homework, Tan Xiao's mind is filled with thoughts of the Yorkshire Terrier.

Tan Xiao held up a stack of materials he had printed out, which were notes on the sequel to "The Classic of Mountains and Seas".

With the cooperation of the Bureau 404, this entry was compiled really quickly. "Of course, is that just a Yorkshire Terrier? This is my long-lost bonus for the college entrance examination!"

According to the contract between Tan Xiao and the Bureau 404, major cases would be considered significant contributions and would earn a lot of bonus points, so how could Tan Xiao not be obsessed with this case in his spare time?

He simply took out his phone and sent a WeChat message to Mu Fei: [Sister Mu, did you catch the dog? Remember to call me if you need help.]

Mu Fei directly sent a video over. When Tan Xiao clicked it open, he saw that it clearly showed a mountain forest on the other side.

"Crossing mountains and ridges! Just in a deadlock with Qiyun Ridge." Mu Fei said breathlessly. Qiyun Ridge belongs to the entire mountain range, so the scope is naturally very large. "Just found it, the place the sugar sprites mentioned, my goodness, went to the wrong place several times."

She turned around, "This is the place, it's a dragon lair."

As mentioned before, Qiyun Ridge also belongs to the Nanling Mountains and is one of the southern dragon branches split from the Kunlun Mountains. The place where the mountain range's energy gathers is the dragon lair, which is what the ancients called a feng shui treasure land. Finding the dragon and pointing out the acupoint is pointing to this place.

"It must not be a coincidence, what is it digging for to eat here?" Tan Xiao thought there was a point worth noting, "It should know that it's being hunted everywhere now, and Nanchu is the top priority. What's here that makes it worth the risk of committing crimes here?"

These Huodou should have pretty good IQs, plus there was that sniper. From the fact that they could still set up a trap for Fang Zhu, it was clear.

"Could it be that Qiyun Ridge also hides a monster that can tempt the Huodou?" Mu Fei quickly reacted, her heartbeat speeding up a bit, and quickly said, "It shouldn't have succeeded yet. Pan Dao Gong asked the nearby masters, and they seemed to have seen the traces of a Huodou, but nothing unusual happened. And we looked around here and there are no signs of a fight, it doesn't look like there was a confrontation."

With Nanchu's current level of vigilance, no other monsters have been found to be victimized. After all, monsters are strange and diverse, but they don't want to be eaten either, and will actively report the situation to 404.

In other words, at present, the Yorkshire Terrier's target seems to only exist in Qiyun Ridge, although it is still unknown what exactly that is.

"I'm afraid we'll have to keep a close eye on Qiyun Ridge, who knows what it's looking for." Tan Xiao said, "Sister Mu, be careful and bring more people."

"Brought them, brought them." Mu Fei turned the camera, and Tan Xiao found that it was very lively over there. In addition to Barry, Mr. Xu, and of course Fang Zhu following along, there was also Mu Fei's current disciple Aperture, the sugar sprites, and even Xiong Hui.

In fact, it's not just them. Now the whole of Nanchu is advocating traveling in groups to guard against the Huodou. It's no exaggeration to say that the monsters are in danger.

Xiong Hui had been waiting eagerly. It understood the rules and wouldn't interrupt if it wasn't its turn to speak.

At this time, it stood up straight, "The archaeological team's work has come to an end for now, and I'm honored to have completed the task. Now that I'm temporarily free, we are willing to work hard for the Spirit Master's bonus points on the college entrance examination!"

Wow...

Hearing this, Tan Xiao was a bit moved. To say the least, Xiong Hui's perseverance was something he admired.

Seeing that the Spirit Master seemed to be wavering, Xiong Hui was overjoyed.

"But the exam is nothing. Spirit Master, if you don't get first place, don't be discouraged. Are kings and generals necessarily of noble birth?" Xiong Hui also knew to prepare multiple options, indicating that no matter what, it would support Tan Xiao in restoring the glory of the Chu shaman. And it seemed that it had made up the lesson Liu Qingquan had mentioned before.

Tan Xiao immediately sobered up. Xiong Hui had perseverance, but it was still too feudal.

But before they could continue, a red object flew out from the side, bouncing hard and sticking to Mu Fei's phone screen with a slap, covering the whole thing, and then making a shameless sound, "Muah muah muah muah muah! It's the Spirit Master!"

Startled, Kong Xuan flipped open Tan Xiao's phone. What dirty thing was that?