Chapter 154: It wants to mark you

The little dragon expanded its golden pupils, flapping its wings in wild excitement as it dove into selecting a toy.

It scooped up one doll in its jaws, only to swap it for another, growing utterly dizzy with options.

Yet in the end, it chose none of them. Hopping down from the couch, it picked back up the tattered, threadbare rabbit toy it had salvaged from the radiation zone, clearly indicating that this was the only one it wanted.

Bunny gently retrieved the rabbit from the dragon’s mouth. One ear was completely missing, the seam across its rear was split wide open, and clumps of filthy, matted old cotton spilled out.

Without a second thought, she summoned Sunny to bring her a sewing kit and set to work restoring the toy for the little dragon.

She used to craft clothes for her own dolls back in the day; a quick repair job like this was a total breeze.

Kai and the little dragon sat quietly side-by-side on the sofa, waiting in rapt attention. Bunny stuffed fresh cotton inside, stitched on shiny button eyes, and crafted a delicate ribbon bow to replace the missing ear.

When she held the freshly refurbished rabbit back out to the young dragon, its eyes sparkled like stars in the midnight sky.

Clutching the rabbit in its jaws, it zipped joyfully around the room before landing right on Bunny’s shoulder, where it began enthusiastically licking her hair strands.

Finding that insufficient, it moved on to lick her cheeks and the crook of her neck.

Tickled by the rough tongue, Bunny giggled softly. "What is it doing?"

Kai kept his eyes pinned to her face, his tone low and unwavering. "It loves your scent."

It wants to mark you.

Bunny stood up to put the sewing kit away, but rising too fast caused a sudden spike of dizziness from severe mental exhaustion. Losing her footing, she pitched directly forward toward the floorboards.

A pair of powerful, steady arms wrapped around her waist, pulling her back from the edge of a nasty spill.

She tumbled squarely into Kai’s broad chest.

A delicate, cooling aroma of ambergris washed over her senses.

Gaining her bearings, Bunny murmured a quick thank you and attempted to push herself up out of his arms.

Yet the man suddenly caught her by the wrist, and right then and there, pressed an unreserved, lingering kiss directly onto the back of her hand.

A warm, damp sensation bloomed across her skin.

Bunny locked eyes with Kai’s deep violet pupils in total shock, catching not a single trace of remorse beneath his striking, heroic brows.

He quietly voiced the statement he hadn’t finished earlier:

"I love your scent, too."

Kai’s confession was so disarmingly direct and unreserved that it left Bunny momentarily speechbound, completely unsure of how to respond.

For a lingering beat, the two remained entwined in an overly intimate embrace.

It wasn’t until Kai slowly unclasped his arms that he gently lifted Bunny and set her down on the comfortable cushions of the sofa.

"I seem to have lost a portion of my memories," he admitted.

He took a seat across from her, maintaining a distance that felt neither uncomfortably close nor excessively distant—just right.

"Everything that transpired after I vanished into the radiation zone is a blur... just hazy, disconnected fragments."

Bunny paused to ponder. "Could it be directly linked to the structural corrosion of your spiritual sea?"

Perhaps once every last moth-eaten void was fully restored, Kai’s missing memories would naturally surface again?

Kai’s sharp jawline was partially buried within the high collar of his tactical jacket. With his hands loosely interlocked, he strained to piece together those scattered, fragile mental images.

"I only recall masked figures locking me inside a heavy glass cylinder. I had no idea what their objectives were, nor could I fathom how I managed to break free."

"I also caught glimpses of... countless others like me."

Yet all of them appeared trapped in an endless stasis. The masked figures spoke in an enigmatic dialect he couldn’t comprehend, though one particular phrase echoed repeatedly through their dialogue. "Reanimation Fluid."

Reanimation Fluid, baseline specimens, DNA cultivation, transcription, PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction)...

A chaotic torrent of technical jargon and specialized scientific terms—none of which made an ounce of sense to Kai.

The harder he fought to pull those memories to the surface, the more severe the agony etched across his face became, sending his spiritual threads into a dangerous surge of instability.

Bunny immediately intervened to halt his mental strain. "In clinical medicine, there exists a condition designated as dissociative amnesia. When subjected to profound trauma, an individual’s subconscious may selectively purge specific memories—a psychological defense mechanism hardwired to preserve the mind."

Or simply a form of self-induced emotional numbness.

"It’s entirely possible that once your spiritual sea stabilizes alongside your mental state, those missing fragments will return naturally."

Tapping open her tactical slate, Bunny offered a pragmatic alternative. "Here’s what we’ll do: I’ll design a customized rehabilitation protocol tailored specifically for you. It will map out your neuro-cleansing frequency, resting intervals, and targeted cognitive recovery drills."

"All you need to do is provide routine feedback and follow the therapeutic regimen."

Bunny was effectively treating Kai like a post-stroke rehabilitation patient.

Gazing at Bunny as her digital pen glided smoothly across the screen, Kai abruptly voiced an unexpected proposition.

"Why not attempt a direct spiritual link?"

Bunny’s digital stylus froze mid-stroke. While establishing a spiritual link between a Guide and a Sentinel was standard practice, it ultimately meant projecting her consciousness directly into the depths of Kai’s inner spiritual landscape.

Venturing into a Sentinel’s spiritual domain without a formal binding bond carried an exceptionally high operational risk.

Where did this absolute trust in her even stem from?

She lifted her eyes, offering a candid and grounded response. "Given our current level of mutual familiarity and operational synergy, I believe such a measure is premature."

To put it plainly: they barely knew each other.

Kai arched a brow, a subtle gleam in his violet eyes. "Is Miss Bunny hesitant to glimpse my past and my secrets?"

"Everyone is entitled to their private reserves. I have no business prying uninvited."

Having already learned that lesson the hard way during her deep sync with Rain, Bunny was not about to take unnecessary risks again.

Kai fell silent for a couple of seconds. Then, he delivered a line that caught Bunny entirely off guard:

"And yet... you have already seen my naked body."

With a perfectly impassive face, he tossed out the shameless assertion. "To a Sentinel, one’s physical form is no different from one’s innermost secrets."

"Both belong exclusively to their Guide."

In short: You’ve seen me uncovered, so you’re obligated to take responsibility for me.

Before Bunny could even formulate a rebuttal, Kai pressed his advantage further without granting her a single second to recover—