Chapter 3: Undercurrents in the Matching CenterÂ
The road back to the dormitory was quieter than when they came.
Mo Xiao walked half a step ahead, his back taut like a fully drawn bowstring.
The silver wolf walked by her side. Perhaps because spiritual entities are connected to their masters, the silver wolf seemed to be affected by Mo Xiao’s mood and actually appeared somewhat serious, no longer circling her cheerfully like before.
Su Tang could sense the low pressure radiating from him. She knew clearly that Zhan Ye’s motives for approaching her weren’t pure, but she had her own considerations.
There were still many unstable factors in her life within the White Tower. One more chip in her hand meant one more guarantee for her life.
Pushing open the dormitory door, the moment Mo Xiao turned around, his gaze fell on that feather again. The scent of another Sentinel on the woman made him instinctively irritable, as if his property had been tainted by someone else.
Seeing that she intended to enter the dormitory he prepared for her while still wearing another man’s itemâlike a competitor boldly barging into his private territoryâhis brows furrowed almost imperceptibly.
“Pull it out.”
His tone this time was heavier than in the corridor, carrying an unquestionable sense of command.
Su Tang didn’t move; she just looked up at him.
The irritability surrounding the man was too obvious to ignore. She knew that if she pulled the feather out and handed it to him, Mo Xiao would absolutely destroy it.
“It’s very special,” Su Tang said softly, her fingertips lightly brushing the texture of the golden feather.
“I can feel that there seems to be Zhan Ye’s spiritual power in this feather.”
So what?
Watching the irritability in the man’s brow intensify, Su Tang continued to explain unhurriedly:
“It might help me research the anomaly of my spiritual power.”
This was the reason she refused to pull out the feather for Mo Xiao. Her own spiritual power was truly too special. She believed Mo Xiao was definitely aware of the brief spiritual resonance with Zhan Ye just now.
She needed the residual spiritual power in this feather to help verify her thoughtsâto verify if her spiritual power could really resonate with other Sentinels as well.
Mo Xiao stared at her for a few seconds, his Adam’s apple bobbing. In the end, he didn’t insist. He just turned around, took a silver wristband from a storage locker, and tossed it to her.
“Wear it well.”
The wristband landed in her palm. The cold metal pressed against her skin, engraved with fine patterns, looking like some kind of energy-sensing device.
“Starting tomorrow, go help out at the Matching Center.”
Mo Xiao walked to the window, turning his back to her. “Since you’ve come to the First Squad, try to find some work. The Sentinels of the First Squad have had frequent spiritual power fluctuations recently. You can try to help out.”
Su Tang squeezed the wristband.
The Matching Center was one of the core areas of the White Tower, specifically responsible for the spiritual matching and channeling of Sentinels and Guides.
Letting an outsider, an F-Class Guide like her, help out thereâit seemed she already had a certain status in Mo Xiao’s heart.
Only…
“They won’t accept me,” Su Tang stated bluntly.
In the original host’s memory, the Sentinels of the First Squad were famous for being arrogant. It was said that once, an S-Class High-Level Guide wanted to be their accompanying Guide but was rejected by the First Squad. If they didn’t even necessarily regard an S-Class Guide, how could they accept an F-Class like her?
“They will.”
Mo Xiao’s voice came through the glass, carrying a cold certainty. “I will inform them.”
He paused, then added, “Don’t cause trouble for me.”
Su Tang nodded.
After Mo Xiao left, Su Tang finally took down the golden feather, turned on the desk lamp, and placed it under the light to examine it closely.
The luster of the feather flowed under the light, and she could indeed feel a faint fluctuation of spiritual power.
Su Tang mobilized her own spiritual power to wrap around the feather. Then, she felt that familiar comfortable sensation transmit to her body.
Sure enough, her spiritual power could also resonate with Zhan Ye.
Su Tang stayed holed up in the dormitory for the whole day without going out. Early the next morning, after eating breakfast sent by Mo Xiao’s people, she prepared to head to the Matching Center.
The Matching Center was on the third underground level of the White Tower. The air was filled with a denser energy aura than the Testing Center.
As soon as Su Tang walked in, she was forced back half a step by a heatwave hitting her face.
“You are Su Tang?”
A researcher in a white coat came up to greet her. His name tag read “Li Mo.” He pushed up his glasses, his eyes holding curiosity and a trace of imperceptible scrutiny.
“Captain Mo has already informed us. Follow me.”
Passing through layers of corridors, the doors to the rooms on both sides were closed, but suppressed growls could be heard from inside.
Su Tang’s fingertips went slightly numb, and the spiritual power in her body was also affected, beginning to stir somewhat.
“The Sentinels of the First Squad are all warriors who have retired from the battlefield,” Li Mo explained as he walked, his tone carrying reverence.
“But precisely because they have experienced too much slaughter, their spiritual barriers are incredibly fragile and very susceptible to infection.”
He stopped in front of a door. Sounds of heavy objects crashing came from inside, accompanied by a man’s low roars and muffled sounds of pain.
“Inside is Shi Lei, a B-Class Sentinel. He encountered a spiritual entity ambush while on a mission yesterday, and his state is very unstable right now.”
Li Mo entered the password, and the heavy alloy door slowly opened.
In the center of the room, a muscle-bound man had his back to the door, his hands tightly restrained. Brown-black energy mist swirled around him. A black bear spiritual entity paced anxiously at his feet. Seeing the newcomers, it immediately flashed its sharp claws, emitting a threatening growl from its throat.
“Which trash Guide is coming to die again?”
Shi Lei turned around abruptly, his face covered in cold sweat, his eyes scarlet. He was clearly on the verge of losing control.
Seeing Su Tang’s figure, Shi Lei couldn’t help but mock:
“Is Captain Mo out of people? Sending such a weak thing over… does he want her to die?”
His words were ugly. Su Tang frowned in dissatisfaction but had no intention of arguing with him. She knew that this man’s spiritual power was on the verge of collapse; some words were spoken not to mock, but to vent the pain in his heart.
“How about it, are you scared? If you’re scared, we can switch to another one.”
Li Mo really disliked Sentinels talking to Guides like that.
Su Tang shook her head. It wasn’t that she suddenly developed a saintly heart and felt she could definitely save Shi Lei, but she could feel that Shi Lei’s spiritual power had suddenly become gentle upon touching her. This spawned some guesses in her heart that she wanted to test personally.
“I’ll try,” Su Tang said softly, taking two steps forward.
“Then be careful.”
Li Mo stood to the side, his right hand tightly gripping the emergency button. Captain Mo had instructed that this person absolutely could not be harmed.
Su Tang stood three meters away from Shi Lei and took a deep breath. Right now, making active contact with Shi Lei was impossibleâshe valued her life quite a bit. Thus, she could only try extracting her spiritual power to wrap around Shi Lei from a distance to see if she could soothe him.
Thinking this, Su Tang did exactly that. The moment her spiritual thread touched Shi Lei, she saw him groan abruptly, his body trembling violently.
Even more obvious was the black bear. It collapsed on the ground and rolled around. It didn’t look like it was in pain; rather, it looked like it had been petted thoroughly, emitting a few soft whines from its mouth.
“This… This is…”
Li Mo couldn’t believe the scene he was witnessing. Although he had heard about the special nature of Su Tang’s spiritual power, it was his first time seeing this uniqueness with his own eyes.
He could feel that Su Tang’s spiritual power intensity was weak, yet this wisp of spiritual power wandering over Shi Lei was soothing his near-collapsed spiritual power bit by bit.
To achieve such an effect with just a little bitâhe couldn’t imagine what kind of shocking scene it would be once Su Tang’s spiritual power intensity rose.
“Relax…”
Seeing the effect, Su Tang curled her lips slightly, softening her voice further.
Shi Lei’s breathing gradually stabilized, the scarlet in his eyes faded, and his body stopped trembling.
Ten minutes later, Su Tang slowly retracted the spiritual threads wrapped around Shi Lei. The little black bear had been soothed. Its current simple and honest appearance was actually somewhat cute as it slowly crawled to her side and rubbed against her calf, looking like it was thanking her or acting spoiled.
“S-Success.”
Li Mo couldn’t help but clap. It was truly a perfect purification.
“Guide Su, thank you for your hard work.”
Su Tang accepted Li Mo’s praise with a smile. Shi Lei stood where he was, first looking at his palms in disbelief, then gratefully thanking Su Tang.
When Li Mo and Su Tang walked out of the room, several Sentinels were already standing in the corridor. All were members of the First Squad, and they had obviously heard the commotion inside just now.
Su Tang knew that the entire First Squad knew she would be coming here for channeling and purification today, and there were plenty of people waiting to see the drama.
And what she had to do was turn these people who wanted to see her become a joke into the best tools for promoting her abilities.
“Next.”
Su Tang looked at Li Mo, her tone calm and unwavering.
Throughout the day, she dealt with three cases of Sentinel spiritual riots in a row. The time taken was shorter each time, and her proficiency in handling spiritual power grew stronger with each attempt.
The White Tower was big, yet small; news traveled very fast.
When she walked out of the last room, she ran head-on into a familiar figure.
Zhan Ye was leaning against the wall at the end of the corridor, playing with a metal lighter in his hand. Seeing her, his eyes lit up, and then that frivolous whistle arrived as expected.
“Little beauty, I’ve heard everything. You have quite the skills.”
“Makes sense. That guy Mo Xiao never keeps useless people around.”
Just like last time, the little Golden Eagle circled her again.
Seeming to think she liked its feathers, it stood on her shoulder, displaying its most beautiful back feathers for her to see.
“How about it? Little beauty, which one do you think is the prettiest? Just pull it out; Big Brother gives it to you.”
He didn’t tell Su Tang that a part of the spiritual entity was connected to the main body. The moment that feather was used by Su Tang to verify the spiritual resonance, Zhan Ye had felt it.
This little beauty seemed to be somewhat special.
“Appearing casually in the First Squad’s Matching Centerâhas the Third Squad’s family fortune been squandered by you?”
Mo Xiao’s voice came from the other end of the corridor. Zhan Ye clicked his tongue in helpless resignation.
“Right in front of the little beauty… Mo Xiao, your tactics to smear my image are really uncalled for.”
Zhan Ye shrugged nonchalantly, then looked at Su Tang.
“Don’t worry, little beauty. I still have more than enough to support you.”
Su Tang didn’t respond. Mo Xiao had already walked to her side.
“Let’s go back.”
Su Tang nodded. Just as she was about to follow him and leave, passing by Zhan Ye, she could feel his gaze fixed tightly on her back.
“Zhan Ye won’t give up,” Mo Xiao’s voice suddenly sounded. “He has never let go of anything he wanted.”
“What does Captain Mo mean?”
“He’s a madman. Most of the squad members under him don’t follow the rules. If you want to go to the Third Squad, the living environment will be far less comfortable than staying in the First Squad.”
Understood. He was afraid she would be poached by Zhan Ye, so he was analyzing the pros and cons for her.
“Stay in the First Squad. I can give you the stable life you want.”
Su Tang’s heart skipped a beat, and she subsequently curved her lips.
“I know.”
She wasn’t stupid enough to switch to a strange environment just when she had built some reputation in this one.
Walking out of the Matching Center, the sun was shining brightly. Such gentle and warm light was most pleasing to the mood.
She knew clearly that as her abilities were gradually revealed, more and more people would notice her and covet her. Zhan Ye was just the first to pop up. Purifying those Sentinels today, she knew very well in her heart that her spiritual power was far more than just specialâit could likely resonate with all Sentinels.
And if used properly, it could even guide a Sentinel’s violent spiritual power back to peace and repair their damaged spirit.
This was what she had gradually figured out today, and it was the final trump card she held tightly in her hand.
As for the competition between Mo Xiao and Zhan Ye today, in the final analysis, it was because they saw her value and both wanted to hold that value in their own hands.
She was more worried about whether Mo Xiao alone could protect her if the news that she was compatible with all Sentinels leaked out.
Of course, it was impossible. Even if he wanted to protect her, the higher-ups of the White Tower wouldn’t agree. For what purposes would a rare Guide who could resonate with all Sentinels be used? It was simply self-evident.
At that time, she would completely become a toolâa tool for purifying Sentinel pollution, a pawn in their hands.
That wasn’t the result she wanted. Therefore, before that day arrived, she had to have enough chips in her hand. This was also why she didn’t reject Zhan Ye’s goodwill.
She needed to hold enough leverage. As the chips in her hand piled up bit by bit, she wanted to reach a height where she couldn’t be easily manipulated as a pawn.
Only in this way could she live with peace of mind on this turbulent planet and in this chaotic world; only then could she truly achieve the stable life she wanted.
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