Chapter 139. I Need It Too
For some reason, Su Tang only felt her heart creeping up into her throat bit by bit. The Anse before her seemed somewhat different from his usual self.
“You seem to always be attentive in places you shouldn’t be, yet so careless in places where you should be attentive.”
“What do you mean?”
Anse’s gaze landed on Su Tang’s face, the tranquility in his eyes gradually replaced by complex emotions.
“If I call you careless, yet you managed to notice the bloodshot veins in my eyes. But if I praise your attentiveness, you arranged the pre-battle preparations for everyone else, yet failed to realize that I, too, need spiritual soothing.”
Su Tang was stunned. She opened her mouth but didn’t know what to say.
She had always assumed Anse’s spiritual power was stable enough, assuming he didn’t need it, but she had forgotten that he was also a Sentinel, and would likewise be affected by the red mist’s pollution.
What surprised her even more than this was that such a request for soothing would actually come from Anse’s mouth.
Anse could be considered to have acted as a bystander during her channeling sessions with the others several times now. Every time, he had appeared very serene—so serene that she thought he had no interest in being soothed.
She hadn’t expected him to suddenly say something like this today.
“Do you need it?”
Faced with the girl’s blunt question, Anse couldn’t help but sigh helplessly and shake his head.
“I am also a Sentinel, Guide Su.”
“No matter how cautiously I control myself in my daily life, it doesn’t change the fact that I am a Sentinel susceptible to pollution.”
Therefore, he naturally needed a Guide’s channeling.
“My apologies, it was my lack of consideration.”
“However, Department Head Anse has always been admired by all the Sentinels in the White Tower for your strict self-control. Moreover, judging from Department Head Anse’s monthly examination results, I don’t believe the pollution within your body is severe enough to require channeling.”
Anse furrowed his brows slightly. Weren’t Mo Xiao and Yasuo in pretty good condition too? How come someone was giving them soothing, yet turning a blind eye to him?
“You can’t put it that way; you still can’t just look at the surface of things. Perhaps some people only look perfectly fine on the outside, while their insides are a complete mess.”
It was the first time she had heard someone describe themselves this way.
Su Tang couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow. It seemed Anse was dead set on having her perform purification and channeling on him today, but on what grounds?
She did it for Mo Xiao and Yasuo because those two already had an underlying base of pollution. Plus, this upcoming mission was perilous, and fearing they might not make it back, she was providing them with a layer of insurance in advance.
But Anse was different.
Having stayed in the Medical Department recently, she had heard quite a few legends regarding this Department Head.
In the current era where Guides were severely scarce and ranks were mismatched, Sentinels couldn’t survive for long without the control of suppressants. Yet, this Department Head Anse, relying purely on his own formidable willpower and precise level of spiritual power management, forcefully suppressed his pollution values to a healthy state year-round.
He rarely even used a single vial of suppressant a year. Such a terrifying degree of self-control was truly admirable.
Furthermore, on this mission traveling alongside Anse, there was also the escort sent by the White Tower. Even if something unexpected happened, she could still respond in time.
Therefore, if Anse couldn’t provide a flawless reason to convince her, she wouldn’t perform this channeling for him.
“For Department Head Anse to degrade yourself in such a uniquely refreshing way—do you really just want one channeling session from me?”
Anse curled his lips into a smile.
“I’m not entirely doing this for myself; it’s mostly for the sake of this mission.”
“Oh? How so?”
She wanted to see how he could spin this excuse into a blooming flower.
“For this mission, the toughest bone to chew—the core area—has been handed over to us. Although everyone in the Medical Department is an expert in spiritual power control, they severely lack practical combat experience. Even though the White Tower said they would send him to assist us, we all know the temperaments of the folks at the White Tower. Unless it’s an absolute last resort, a situation where we’ve suffered disastrous casualties, they will absolutely be reluctant to send their guardian deity out.”
Su Tang raised her eyebrows slightly, signaling for Anse to continue.
“As the Head of the Medical Department and Captain of the Sixth Squad, I have a responsibility to bring them back just as perfectly as I took them out. I won’t hide it from you, Guide Su Tang, although I’ve controlled my pollution values quite well, after so many years of self-restraint, my spiritual barrier is the weakest among all the Sentinel Captains in the White Tower.”
“So, just consider it for the sake of this mission. I implore you to perform one channeling session for me, to dispel those things I’ve been desperately suppressing, and buy me a little time to reinforce my spiritual barrier.”
Anse’s words were true. The outside world spread rumors that, as a mere Sentinel, suppressing his pollution to such a perfect degree through his own ability made him an absolute genius.
But only he knew the agony within.
He was using his own spiritual power to combat the pollution values invading his body, monitoring the dynamics of those pollution values internally at every single moment. He hadn’t expelled those things; he could only siphon off his spiritual power every moment to suppress them.
Over time, the vast majority of his spiritual power was used to suppress the pollution, and his spiritual barrier had become increasingly fragile. He had assessed himself; relying on his current spiritual barrier, if he were to enter the red mist zone, no matter how many vials of that potion he had, he feared it couldn’t guarantee he wouldn’t be infected.
Su Tang fell silent for a moment, her fingertips unconsciously rubbing the hem of her shirt.
Anse’s reasoning was indeed fair and logical. By directly revealing his weakness in front of her, Su Tang felt he was right. She was going to be going on a mission with Anse anyway. In the spirit of ‘what’s good for him is good for me’, learning about her teammate’s shortcoming right before departure and helping him patch it up was indeed perfectly justifiable.
“You should have made that clear sooner.”
Su Tang’s tone was calm as she slowly walked over and stood in front of Anse.
“Relax, Department Head Anse.”
Anse followed her instructions, relaxing his body, yet his spine remained straight. A trace of imperceptible submission flickered in the depths of his eyes.
“My spiritual barrier is fragile. If you were to enter directly, it would consume a lot of time for me to rebuild the barrier after you finish the soothing.”
“Then where should I enter from?”
Without passing through the Sentinel’s barrier, it was impossible to enter his body for purification. Su Tang looked at Anse in confusion.
Anse pursed his lips. After a moment of silence, he took the initiative to raise his hand and unbutton the top two buttons on the collar of his combat uniform, exposing the clear blood vessels on his neck.
“What are you doing?”
Startled by Anse’s sudden movement, Su Tang took a step back.
It was high noon, and Yasuo had just left. What was he doing taking off his clothes in her room?
She wasn’t the kind of woman to accept a seduction so casually.
Su Tang looked at Anse with a serious expression. Faced with improper temptation, she was going to directly say no, okay!
Anse shot Su Tang a strange glance but didn’t stop the movement of his fingers.
He pulled his collar open slightly, revealing a fair, slender neck where pale blue veins were faintly visible.
That was the critical node where his spiritual power circulated, and it was also the thinnest part of his entire body.
“Here, try to slowly seep your spiritual power into me from this spot.”
“Entering from here will minimize the impact on me.”
Oh, oh, so he was just finding a suitable entry point for her.
Su Tang hurriedly breathed a sigh of relief.
“Su Tang, what were you thinking just now?”
Su Tang looked up and met the man’s smiling gaze.
He seemed to have seen through everything, a playful smile lingering on the corners of his lips as he stared fixedly at her.
“What could I be thinking…” Feeling rather guilty, Su Tang averted her eyes from Anse’s gaze.
“Alright, alright, I understand, Department Head Anse. Let’s not talk about anything else and start now. Don’t worry, I’ll be gentle when I enter you.”
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