Chapter 121: Requesting a Team Change
Su Tang practically didn’t dare to look at Mo Xiao again as she bolted out of the room. When had Mo Xiao learned to act like Zhan Ye? It was true what they said: one takes on the color of one’s company!
Watching her flustered retreat, Mo Xiao leaned back against the chair and let out a low chuckle.
He looked down at his chest. It really was swollen. He hadn’t lied to her about that. Part of it was because Su Tang had been… playing with it, and part of it was because the skin there had become so sensitive that the friction from his clothing was causing pain.
When he was taken away for confinement, he had been moved in such a hurry that he didn’t have time to grab his chest pads. Over the past few days, the constant rubbing against the fabric had caused a dull ache, but the overwhelming sensation was one of restless irritability. Mo Xiao felt as though the skin there had been trained by Su Tang to be exceptionally sensitive; sometimes, even he didn’t dare to touch it.
Outside the door, Su Tang leaned against the wall, clutching her racing heart. She felt as though her cheeks were about to catch fire.
She inwardly cursed Mo Xiao for being so “black-bellied” and vowed to herself that she would do everything in her power to limit the time Mo Xiao and Zhan Ye spent together. Look at the habits he was picking up from him!
…
As the internal meeting of the White Tower concluded, An Se and Yasuo returned, accompanied by a new guest.
“Good evening, Guide Su. Good evening, Mo Xiao. Have your wounds been tended to?”
Shen Ji, dressed in a meticulous deep purple shirt, walked into the room behind An Se.
The moment Shen Ji spoke, the atmosphere in the room froze.
Su Tang looked at his crisp purple shirt and felt an instinctive wave of resistance. Why was this man here?
Mo Xiao’s expression darkened as well, and he stared coldly at Shen Ji. “What are you doing here?”
“I chatted with An Se and the others for a bit during the meeting. It seems you haven’t conveyed my proposal to them yet.”
Su Tang looked at Mo Xiao in confusion, and the man immediately looked back at her.
“I wanted to wait until everyone was here before saying anything.”
I wasn’t intentionally keeping it from you.
Su Tang nodded. Since no one was hosting him, Shen Ji hosted himself, pulling over a chair and sitting down with an air of leisure.
He waited for Mo Xiao to repeat the proposal he had made earlier, then turned his gaze to Su Tang.
“What do you think?”
Seeing Su Tang remain silent, the light in Shen Ji’s eyes gradually faded into a still pool.
“My request really isn’t high. I only need you to perform a mental… clearing for me once when I’m on the verge of collapse. In exchange, all the resources in my hands are at your disposal.”
Recalling the pain of that day, Shen Ji’s fingers trembled uncontrollably when he mentioned the “clearing.”
“Cooperation is possible, but why should I trust your word?” Su Tang asked.
If Shen Ji hadn’t reported them in the first place, none of these troubles would have happened. For him to stand there as the culprit and claim he was doing them a “favor” by handling this incident—didn’t he find that a bit hypocritical?
“It seems you still don’t trust me,” Shen Ji said with a self-mocking laugh. With his pollution levels controlled within a safe range, his emotions had gradually stabilized. If he said he didn’t feel even a shred of regret for his past actions, he’d be lying.
However, if he had to do it all over again, he might still make the same choice.
“It doesn’t matter. We can put the cooperation aside for now. My intelligence lines remain open to you. Whenever you need something, come find me at Team 2.”
Su Tang didn’t respond to his words. Instead, her gaze moved past him to An Se and Yasuo. If it were merely to say those few words, An Se and Yasuo would never have allowed him into the Medical Department. Clearly, there was more to this.
“Why do you two look so grim? What was said at the meeting?”
The moment Mo Xiao asked, he felt the gazes of the other two turn increasingly strange. There was a hint of… pity in their eyes?
“Since the two of them find it hard to speak, I’ll play the villain and break the news,” Shen Ji said.
Unlike the other two, the smile on Shen Ji’s face was irrepressible.
“The meeting just now was essentially a discussion on how to handle the aftermath of the recent public outcry within the White Tower.”
Everyone knew exactly what that outcry was about.
“The high-level officials of the White Tower have decided that, given the malicious impact of this incident and the ‘indelible damage’ caused to the Guide, Su Tang will be reassigned to prevent secondary injury. Effective immediately, she is to be transferred from Team 1 to the White Tower’s Matching Center.”
“Transferred?” Su Tang snapped her head up, her face full of shock. The Matching Center was the absolute territory of the Tower’s high-ranking officials. It seemed Shen Ji was right—those people had indeed taken notice of her.
Mo Xiao’s brows instantly knit into a tight knot, and the air pressure around him dropped to a terrifying low.
“Whose decision was this? I don’t agree.”
Shen Ji let out a light laugh.
“Mo Xiao, you need to understand that this isn’t a matter of whether you agree or not. You carry the reputation of a Sentinel who reverse-purified a Guide. Whether through logic or the guise of ‘protecting the Guide,’ those old fogies at the White Tower will never allow Su Tang to stay in Team 1.”
As soon as Shen Ji finished, Mo Xiao slammed his hand onto the table. The movement pulled at his wounds, causing a jolt of pain, but he didn’t seem to notice. His eyes were as cold as quenched ice.
“The Matching Center is a nest of high-level spies. Moving Su Tang there—what’s the difference between that and throwing her into a cage?”
“That wasn’t for me to decide,” Shen Ji said, spreading his hands with a tone of amused observation.
“However, as you know, any decision proposed at a meeting must be put to a vote by the members present.”
Su Tang’s heart sank as she looked at An Se and Yasuo.
An Se stepped forward and said in a heavy voice:
“Yasuo and I voted against it. Two old hardliners from the Supervision Department voted for it, and one Elder abstained.”
An Se looked at Shen Ji, not revealing his vote, seemingly wanting the man to answer for himself.
“Me? I voted against it, of course.”
The man stared at Su Tang with a smile playing on his lips.
“So, congratulations, Guide Su. With more votes against than for, you won’t be transferred to the Matching Center.”
Su Tang’s racing heart finally settled. Good. As long as she wasn’t under the direct thumb of those old men.
“However,” Shen Ji continued, “even though the directive didn’t pass, the high-level officials made it clear: for the sake of the Guide’s safety, Su Tang must leave Team 1.”
“That is also why I followed these two here.”
“Su Tang, give me a chance to fight for you. Are you willing to come work for my Team 2?”
As Shen Ji’s words fell, the atmosphere in the room became subtle once again.
An Se stood to the side without a word, arms crossed, looking as though he intended to stay out of it.
Shen Ji simply stared fixedly at Su Tang, his eyes filled with the confidence of someone who intended to win.
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