Chapter 46: The Curse of a Sentinel’s Self-Healing Power
Mo Yin carried Xie Qiang on his back for quite a while before Xie Qiang finally spoke up. “Mo Yin…”
The black-clad youth continued walking straight ahead. “Mm.”
Xie Qiang asked gloomily, “Are you lost?”
Mo Yin’s steps faltered almost imperceptibly, but he continued to walk forward expressionlessly. “Mm.”
Xie Qiang: … You’re saying ‘mm’ quite confidently, aren’t you?
“First time here,” the taciturn youth defended himself briefly.
Xie Qiang couldn’t help but wipe her face. “Since you can’t find the way, ask someone for help.”
She reached out and tapped the black-clad youth’s nose. “What is under your nose?”
The tip of his nose tickled from the touch. The youth suppressed the urge to sneeze, his nasal voice sounding a bit cute. “The philtrum.”
Xie Qiang: … It’s the mouth! The mouth!
This blockhead!
Just as she was about to call Sen Ji to have him pick them up, the alarm overhead suddenly blared. Xie Qiang searched her memory and recognized it as a warning that a berserk Sentinel was nearby.
She was about to tell Mo Yin to go check it out when the door of a nearby room was kicked open. A beautiful woman in a white coat walked out, looking exhausted and irritable. “F*ck, which idiot Sentinel went berserk? And at a time like this!”
Sensing someone at the door, she looked up. The moment she saw Xie Qiang, her peach-blossom eyes trembled in shock.
In the next second, she cleared her throat, covered her mouth, pitched her voice higher, and said with a smile, “Imperial Daughter! Why are you here too~!”
Xie Qiang also recognized her. “Sister Shu!”
It was the Guide sister who could purify two A-class Sentinels simultaneously!
“Are you going to purify that berserk Sentinel?” Xie Qiang quickly hopped off Mo Yin’s back and volunteered herself. “Take me with you! I might be able to help!”
“Hmm…” Shu Fenghua was originally hesitant, but seeing that Mo Yin was also there, she figured the Imperial Daughter wouldn’t be in any mortal danger. She felt relieved. “Alright.”
She led Xie Qiang and Mo Yin in a hurry to the base’s purification center.
Upon entering, Xie Qiang noticed that the center was bare, with nothing but plain walls—no decorations, not even electric lights.
In the center of the hall, seven or eight A-class Sentinels were struggling to hold down a screaming, berserk Sentinel. Nearby, the floor was covered with other A-class Sentinels using the ground as their beds. They sat up irritably, all looking toward that direction with displeasure.
Shu Fenghua explained to Xie Qiang, “Sentinels with a mania value nearing 89% must rest here while waiting for a purification slot to avoid falling into a berserk state due to excessive agitation.”
“The Zerg sent high-level commanders and the Zerg King, who usually never fights, so the battle was a bit more tragic this time.”
Xie Qiang nodded. Her gaze swept over the entire hall, estimating that about two hundred A-class Sentinels were on the brink of going berserk.
Furthermore, they all suffered from various degrees of severe injuries. Some were covered in scars left by the Zerg, some had chunks of flesh carved out of their bodies, and some were even holding their severed limbs, forcibly trying to reattach them while waiting in pain and silence for their self-healing to kick in.
Xie Qiang felt a heavy weight in her heart. Even knowing this was a novel world and everything was fake, seeing them pale and clutching their severed limbs, waiting to be purified only to face the Zerg that had maimed them once more—Xie Qiang couldn’t imagine how mentally agonizing that must be.
Having a powerful self-healing ability was undoubtedly a blessing, but when God created dangerous, bloodthirsty creatures for them to fight, this self-healing became a curse—
[I curse you to experience ‘death and despair’ over and over again.]
Though the world was fictional, the experiences of these Sentinels were real and extremely cruel.
“Let’s go see that berserk Sentinel,” Shu Fenghua said to Xie Qiang.
“Mm.”
Seeing a Guide arrive, the Sentinels stood up excitedly. However, upon seeing Xie Qiang’s face, they sat back down with looks of despair.
One Sentinel spoke sarcastically, “Yo, our noble Imperial Daughter. How could you bear to come to such a wretched place?”
“What else could it be? She’s here to see our pathetic state.”
“Once you’ve seen enough, get lost. We wouldn’t want us ‘lowly’ Sentinels to dirty your eyes!”
The Sentinels spoke harshly; they didn’t welcome Xie Qiang’s presence at all.
“Don’t be angry with them,” Shu Fenghua said, looking at them with disdain before turning back to Xie Qiang. “Sentinels fight the Zerg year-round, so it’s inevitable for them to have violent temperaments and sharp tongues. If you’re unhappy, just give them a few lashes like you used to. Don’t let them upset you and ruin your health; it’s not worth it.”
Xie Qiang was a bit surprised. She looked at Shu Fenghua and asked, “The things I did before… don’t you think they were too much?”
“It was a bit much,” Shu Fenghua smiled. “But didn’t you also perform thorough purifications for those humiliated Sentinels afterward? It was just a fair trade. There’s no right or wrong in it.”
Xie Qiang was stunned.
A sharp pain hit her temples. Some images flashed by but vanished before she could catch them.
However, she keenly realized that she had no memory of the female antagonist “thoroughly purifying” those dozens of Sentinels.
It wasn’t written in the book either.
Was the world filling in the details on its own? Xie Qiang felt confused. She shook her head slightly and followed Shu Fenghua’s lead. “I won’t be like that anymore.”
“That’s good then,” Shu Fenghua smiled. She then pushed aside the people holding down the berserk Sentinel. “Make way, let me see.”
Seeing her, the Sentinels hurriedly stepped aside. “Guide Shu.”
Xie Qiang subtly felt that these Sentinels seemed a bit wary of Shu Fenghua, but mostly respected and obeyed her.
As for her…
The Sentinels turned to look at Xie Qiang, their faces darkening visibly, even more effective than a tanning salon.
Xie Qiang: Wow.
She really was unpopular.
Xie Qiang didn’t look for trouble. She lowered her head, ignoring the wary gazes of the surrounding Sentinels, and looked at the berserk Sentinel on the ground.
“Hm? It’s an acquaintance.” Seeing the familiar face, she was surprised and called out his name, “Shao Bo?”
One of the Sentinels holding Shao Bo down looked up and glared at her. “Who’s your acquaintance! He’s already berserk and dying, is the Imperial Daughter still going to mock him?”
Xie Qiang pointed to herself, her face full of shock.
Which of her words was mocking Shao Bo?
On the ground, hearing the words “Imperial Daughter” seemed to trigger something in Shao Bo. He suddenly erupted into violence, struggling frantically. “Let me go! I’d rather die than be purified by the Imperial Daughter!”
“Hold him down!” Shu Fenghua immediately ordered. She then snapped at Shao Bo, “Dream on! You think the Imperial Daughter wants to purify you? How many drinks did you have to act like such an idiot! Look in the mirror—are you an S-class Sentinel? If you aren’t that capable, don’t assume an S-class Guide would be willing to purify you!”
Xie Qiang: Whoa.
Sister Shu seemed even more temperamental than the berserk Sentinel.
Once Shao Bo’s riot was calmed, Shu Fenghua reached out to touch his forehead, channeling mental power into him. But soon, she withdrew her hand in disbelief. “Damn it, our mental powers don’t match!”
Most of the mental power she had just channeled dissipated. Her spiritual body couldn’t enter Shao Bo’s mental sea at all!
Translator’s Note: “Peach-blossom eyes” (桃花眼 – Táohuāyǎn) describes eyes that are shaped like petals, usually considered very attractive and flirtatious. Here, Shu Fenghua is shown as a tough but caring professional. Xie Qiang is starting to notice that the “villainess” she replaced might have had more depth than the original novel suggested.
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