Chapter 102. Shen Ji Reports to the White Tower
The fellow had planted a separate mole near him.
“Since when did these methods get used on your own comrades? Shen Ji, you’re really regressing the longer you live.”
Shen Ji’s laughter came through the metal mask, echoing in the dim room.
Yasuo stared at him with an unfriendly gaze, watching him slowly raise his hand, his fingertips tracing the cold collar around his neck bit by bit.
“Do you know the feeling of having these things hung on your neck, being restricted to a room, and not being allowed to step outside even once?”
“Like a dog they’re raising, waiting here without dignity for the collapse value to completely fill up, and finally stepping into a situation of no return. Do you understand this feeling of waiting for death?”
“Yasuo, I think you should be clear on this. We are the same kind of people. To work hard to stay alive, what’s wrong with using a few harmless little tricks?”
Suppressed violence and resentment surged in the depths of Shen Ji’s eyes.
“You weren’t like this before.”
“Before?”
Shen Ji let out a low laugh, his voice laced with heavy self-mockery.
“Before, I didn’t have to wear this thing, didn’t have to be locked in this dark cage, and even more so, didn’t have to watch all of you living such happy and free lives while I could only sink into endless darkness here.”
He clenched his fists, his knuckles striking the edge of the bed with a dull thud. The indicator light on the collar instantly flashed a dangerous red.
The red light of the collar flickered violently, making the patterns on his mask look even more sinister.
That green-scaled Jiaoshe slid restlessly along the floor, the black gas leaking from its scales carrying a thick scent of pollution. Sentinels were always exceptionally sensitive to such things, and Yasuo furrowed his brow in discomfort. No wonder those two didn’t dare approach; they were afraid of being guided into an increase in their own pollution values.
“On what basis?”
Shen Ji’s voice came through the mask. For some reason, Yasuo felt a hint of grievance in that raspy voice.
“In terms of how long we’ve known her, I clearly knew her earlier than you, earlier than Zhan Ye, and earlier than An Se. Why is it that all of you can get her soothing, yet when it comes to me, there’s nothing?”
He suddenly clenched his fist and slammed it hard against the edge of the bed. The solid wood immediately let out a humming sound.
“When your spiritual power went on a rampage, she didn’t hesitate to reach out. Zhan Ye was in such a state, yet she risked depletion just to save him… why is it that when it comes to me, there is only rejection?”
Yasuo looked at the obsession in his eyes and felt a chill rise in his heart.
“Shen Ji, a Guide has the right to choose. She has the right to decide who she wants to soothe and who she doesn’t. No one can force her.”
Looking at Shen Ji’s current state, Yasuo couldn’t help but turn his head away. They were, after all, comrades who had fought together. Seeing his current pathetic state made Yasuo feel an unstoppable ache in his heart. If he hadn’t been lucky enough to be saved by Su Tang back then, Shen Ji’s present would likely be his future.
“From what I understand, Su Tang is not a heartless person. If you speak to her properly, she won’t be too harsh on you.”
Getting even a shallow purification from Su Tang would be better than continuing to sink and wait for death here.
“Not harsh?”
The man sneered.
“I begged them.”
Shen Ji’s voice was flat.
“I submitted an application to Team 1 a while ago. I told them that as long as Su Tang helped me stabilize my spiritual power once, I would be willing to give half of Team 2’s resources to her. Not only that, in the future, Team 2 would unconditionally provide intelligence services for all of Team 1’s missions…”
Team 2’s intelligence services used exclusive channels, and sometimes their information was much more accurate than what the White Tower received.
The conditions Shen Ji offered were very generous, showing his sincerity. However, if they had agreed, how could Shen Ji have become like this?
“Guess what they said.”
The man couldn’t help but sneer.
“They didn’t even give a reason. They just rejected my application. Heh, how arrogant. To put it bluntly, they think I’m not worthy!”
He suddenly clenched his fist.
Yasuo pursed his lips. This didn’t sound right. The conditions Shen Ji offered were so generous that one could say no one could refuse. Even if Team 1 rejected it, they wouldn’t be so impolite as to not even offer a reason.
Unless… someone had interfered in the middle…
He opened his mouth to explain, but was interrupted by Shen Ji’s voice, which was filled with resentment.
“What do you want to say? Want to say she didn’t know?”
“Almost all the Team 1 Sentinels respect her. How could they not tell her about something concerning her? She is just biased toward you! In her eyes, I have long become a madman who could explode at any moment, already given the final notice. In her eyes, a person like me probably doesn’t deserve even a sliver of her spiritual power.”
He suddenly stood up, the red light of the collar flashing more frequently, and even the alarm on the wall began to buzz.
“Do you hear them? These sounds.”
“Every day I count the countdown on the collar, feeling the pain of pollution gnawing at my nerves. But what about her? She can use her precious spiritual power to soothe you, yet she won’t even think of an excuse to brush me off. On what basis?!”
The resentment of being rejected wound around his reason like a poisonous vine, and his emotions surged wildly.
“Since she is so heartless to me, then don’t blame me.”
Looking at how his eyes were slightly red, Yasuo felt a wave of unease.
Shen Ji was a man whose temperament was already hard to grasp. After such a long time with high rampage values and no soothing, his personality had become even more irritable. With him being this out of control now, it was truly going to be difficult.
“What do you want to do?”
“What do I want to do?”
Shen Ji laughed lowly, his laughter carrying a hint of distortion.
“All these years, the White Tower has become more and more afraid of us, frantically developing these tools, wanting to create a key that can control Sentinels…”
Shen Ji’s tone was flat, his voice carrying a sense of calm madness.
“A Guide who can mark a Super S-Class Sentinel and purify high-risk pollution… do you think if those people in the White Tower knew about this, they would still allow her to stay only in Team 1 as a minor accompanying Guide?”
As he spoke, Shen Ji even revealed a smile.
“By then, what she wants to do won’t be up to her. I may look down on the conduct of those people in the White Tower, but in the matter of resource distribution, those old fogies are fair to us.”
“Shen Ji! You’re crazy!”
Yasuo could no longer hold back; he clenched his fists and rushed toward Shen Ji.
“Listen to yourself. Is that even human speech?!”
Reporting a little Guide to those madmen in the White Tower—the mere thought of it made Yasuo feel disgusted.
He swung his fist hard toward the man’s cheek, but Shen Ji dodged by leaning sideways.
Shen Ji retreated to the wall, his eyes behind the mask staring fixedly at him, his tone carrying a strange sense of gratification.
“Isn’t this good, Yasuo? You should thank me. This way, at Su Tang’s side, each of us can receive fair treatment. It will no longer be just Mo Xiao and Zhan Ye splitting her between them. Isn’t that good?”
“Shut up.”
Yasuo raised his leg and kicked directly at the edge of Shen Ji’s bed.
The wooden bed shook violently, but Shen Ji leaned in the corner without moving. The man wore a strange smile on his lips that made one’s skin crawl for no reason.
“You clearly know what kind of situation that will bring her into! Those people in the White Tower will squeeze out every bit of her value. Do you still remember Si Yu? His end was witnessed by every one of us. Are you going to send her to those people in the White Tower like an experimental subject, making her the next Si Yu?”
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