Chapter 50: Like Training a DogĀ
Yasuo’s gaze fell on the potion Anse handed over. The liquid inside the syringe glowed with a faint silver radiance, like a glimmer capable of easily piercing the dark night.
He was silent for a few seconds, ultimately reaching out to take it. When his fingertips touched the coolness of the syringe, his Adam’s apple bobbed almost imperceptibly.
“Long-winded.”
Yasuo turned and left, his pace faster than when he came. The black cat on his shoulder looked back once; the hostility in its green pupils had mostly dissipated, leaving only a trace of listless exhaustion.
Watching Yasuo leave, Anse couldn’t help but rub his brow. None of these top-tier Sentinels of the White Tower were easy to talk to. Each had their own personality. Dealing with them truly required expending some mental energy. If not for those bonds of camaraderie from the battlefield, he really wouldn’t bother catering to these guys.
“Department Head Anse, is Captain Yasuo’s condition really that terrible?”
Anse turned his head, only to see the pretty little Guide holding his fox in her arms, her head tilted up slightly toward him.
“He won’t die for the time being.”
Anse’s tone recovered its peacefulness. Staring at the little fox comfortably snoring in the girl’s arms, his eyes gained a bit of darkness.
“But if he continues to waste away disobediently like that, something major will happen sooner or later.”
“I see…”
Su Tang’s fingers were very beautifulāslender and fair, like an exceptionally exquisite object. Her nimble fingers traced circles around the little fox’s chin. Inadvertently touching the neck area, the little fox subconsciously shuddered, and then rubbed even more vigorously against those fingers that brought it pleasure.
Sensing that the little fox liked her touching there, Su Tang put more effort into teasing that spot. Anse bit his lip, suppressing that soft moan rising from his throat.
“Guide Su.”
“Hmm?”
Anse’s voice was very strange, as if he were biting on something, forcefully enduring to keep himself from losing composure.
Su Tang looked up, only to see the corners of Anse’s eyes slightly red. His pupils looked sparkling under the sunlight’s illumination, as if separated by a layer of water mist.
“Xiao Wei sure hits it off with you.”
Su Tang smiled and didn’t think much of it, her fingertips gently scratching the fox’s ear.
“It’s very well-behaved.”
“Mmh~”
The sensation transmitting from the tip of the ear made Anse unable to control his hum.
Su Tang’s movements froze there. Having experienced the matters with Mo Xiao and Zhan Ye, she was no longer a romance novice. Naturally, she understood what it meant for a man, especially a Sentinel, to emit such a strange sound from his mouth.
Her head stiffened, not daring to look up at Anse’s expression. The little fox in her arms seemed to have sensed the weirdness of the atmosphere, its body stiffening in Su Tang’s arms, not daring to move a muscle.
Afterward, she heard the man in front of her seemingly let out a low sigh. And then, the little fox in her arms was grabbed by its scruff by him.
“Guide Su Tang, I apologize for my loss of manners. But I think, perhaps you are missing the most important lesson for establishing a foothold in the White Tower.”
“W-What?”
Because of that strange sound just now, Su Tang simply couldn’t even look straight at Anse’s face.
The girl lowered her head in front of him, her palms still stiff, maintaining the posture from before Xiao Wei left. It seemed he had terrified her.
Anse gently patted the bench aside.
“If you don’t mind, sit down, and I will explain it to you slowly.”
Although he was asking for her opinion, that domineering fellow Xiao Wei directly bit the hem of her clothes and yanked downward fiercely, forcing her to sit beside its master.
“Very good.”
The man uttered such an ambiguous sentence. It was unknown whether he was praising that hateful little fox in his arms, or…
Su Tang felt the atmosphere on the scene was truly weird, so weird that it made her feel the chair she sat on was boiling hot. She subconsciously wanted to get up but was held down by the man’s hand on her shoulder.
“Guide Su is very good.”
“However, such obedience should sometimes not appear in front of Sentinels.”
Anse spoke, his tone carrying a bit of profound meaning.
“What do you mean?”
Su Tang was momentarily stunned, not understanding why he suddenly brought this up.
“Why do you think Sentinels need Guides?”
“Because… Guides can stabilize their spiritual power?”
Su Tang answered tentatively.
“Yes, and no.”
Seeing that Su Tang had dropped her guard against him, Anse retracted the palm resting on her shoulder. As his hand left, whether intentionally or unintentionally, his fingertips couldn’t help but rub against the corner of her clothes.
“To Sentinels, Guides are like iron chains leashing ferocious beasts. Sometimes, if the chain is too loose or too light, it cannot leash a fierce beast.”
Su Tang pursed her lips, continuing to listen to Anse.
“Su Tang, you are too gentle with them.”
“Zhan Ye wanted you to channel for him, his actions not even that respectful to you, and you agreed. Mo Xiao wanted your complete mark outside, and you gave it to him just as easily. Even after returning, facing that insatiable mad dog Zhan Ye, you once again agreed to his request…”
“Even with Yasuo’s teasing just now, you didn’t truly get angry.”
Su Tang pursed her lips.
“That’s not it. Some situations were indeed urgent…”
“Those are fundamentally not important at all.”
Anse turned his head to look at her, his eyes clear.
“What’s important is that this appearance of yours, in their eyes, is like a piece of candy with zero obstacles, easily obtainable. The temptation it holds for those mad dogs is fatal. Everyone wants to come and take a lick. What you consider goodwill will only become bait for indulgence in the face of out-of-control spiritual power.”
Su Tang stopped speaking, lowering her head, slowly pondering Anse’s words.
Thinking carefully, what he said indeed made sense. Wasn’t it precisely because Zhan Ye grasped this mindset of hers that he came to find her again and again?
Even Shen Ji…
Su Tang’s eyes darkened. She indeed needed to change her perspective a bit.
The little Guide lowered her head, her eyes vacant, seemingly seriously pondering his words. A satisfied hue flowed from his dark eyes. He gently patted her shoulder, his movements subconsciously turning gentle.
“So, Guide Su Tang, when dealing with them, sometimes you don’t need to be so gentle. You can completely treat them like untamed vicious dogs. Don’t let them lead you by the nose; you can try to tame them.”
“Tame?”
“Does Department Head Anse mean that next time they come looking for me, I shouldn’t perform purification for them?”
“That’s not exactly what I meant either.”
Anse didn’t want to completely stifle the welfare he might enjoy in the future.
“Learning to tame doesn’t mean becoming mean, but rather letting them know that your spiritual power and your goodwill both come with conditions. Before giving candy, you have to first make them learn to sit properly.”
Like Zhan Ye’s unbridled overstepping todayāa large part of the reason was due to Su Tang’s indulgence.
Translator’s Notes:
- Guide Pheromones (å®å°ē“ ): The energy or scent elements that Guides emit to anchor and stabilize Sentinels.
- Riot Value (ę“åå¼): The level of spiritual instability in a Sentinel. If it gets too high, they enter a state of frenzy and risk becoming corrupted/insane.
- Consciousness Sea (čęµ·): A common term in Chinese web novels referring to the mindscape or spiritual core where a person’s mental power/spiritual entity resides.
- Seven inches (äøåÆø): A Chinese idiom referring to a snake’s vital weakness (the heart). Here, it means Shen Ji accurately exploited Yasuo’s deepest vulnerability.
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