Chapter 11: Sen Ji’s Heavy Past
As soon as he finished speaking, the Testing Room became so quiet that you could hear a pin drop.
The Sentinels hadn’t expected Sen Ji to openly contradict Jiang Qingwan.
Jiang Qingwan looked up at him. After a moment, she recovered. “That’s right. Her Highness is an S-class Guide; her safety is naturally more important than all other Guides.”
“And you shouldn’t talk about Her Highness like that either.” She waved the form in her hand and smiled. “Her Highness says she performed a purification for Commander Sen yesterday, so we are here to test his mania levels.”
Hearing this, the Sentinels all wore amused expressions.
“Consultant Jiang, stop joking.”
“Exactly. Everyone in the war zone knows her temper. Every time she sees Commander Sen, she humiliates him. Purification? It’s simply impossible.”
“She’s never even looked at Commander Sen with respect!”
The Sentinels looked at Sen Ji with pity. Their eyes were full of: Commander Sen, you’ve suffered.
Sen Ji frowned but said nothing.
Jiang Qingwan and these Sentinels would never believe him. It was better to let the facts speak for themselves.
He looked at Jiang Qingwan. “Let’s go.”
“Alright.”
Jiang Qingwan nodded with a smile and instructed the reception Guide at the front desk, “Please let us cut in; let Commander Sen be tested first.”
“Understood, Consultant Jiang.”
The reception Guide operated the workstation, then stood up to lead the way. “Please follow me.”
Sen Ji turned and left. Jiang Qingwan paused, looked at Xie Qiang—who was sitting motionless in the waiting area—and then followed Sen Ji.
In the waiting area, Hong Que crossed his arms and watched the two leave. His handsome, rebellious face was full of disdain. “Truly cheap.”
Xie Qiang lifted her head. “What’s cheap?”
Hong Que originally didn’t want to talk to her, but seeing her staring with round cat-like eyes, looking at him with a face full of innocent confusion, he suddenly felt unaccustomed to it and scratched his red hair.
He had only ever seen Xie Qiang’s arrogant and annoying side; he never thought she could make such a soft and cute expression.
“You really don’t know?” Hong Que looked at her sideways.
Xie Qiang: “Mhm.”
“Mhm”? Was she acting cute on purpose?
Hong Que felt this was incredibly terrifying.
Xie Qiang was acting so strange today, as if she had taken the wrong medicine.
He quickly looked away, tilting his chin toward the direction of Sen Ji and Jiang Qingwan. “Didn’t you notice that the people surrounding them are all low-level Sentinels?”
Xie Qiang looked over and found that it was indeed so.
Sentinel combat uniforms all had their ranks marked.
The people surrounding Sen Ji and Jiang Qingwan were all low-level Sentinels below B-rank. The Sentinels above B-rank were all sitting in the waiting area, either watching from a distance or not even bothering to lift an eyelid.
“Why is that?” Xie Qiang asked curiously.
She had thought that Sen Ji and Jiang Qingwan would be surrounded by high-level Sentinels. But thinking back, the novel used “the Sentinels” to describe how popular the female lead was, rather than “the high-level Sentinels.”
When she read the book, she had taken for granted that high-level Sentinels were included.
“Why else? Because they’re both defective products,” Hong Que sneered, starting to explain to Xie Qiang.
Unlike the peaceful internal structure of the Guides, Sentinels had a clear hierarchy with a severe chain of discrimination. High-level Sentinels looked down on low-level ones.
When Sen Ji first awakened as an SSS-class Sentinel, he was adored and pursued by high-level Sentinels. The Imperial family and noble houses exerted all their effort to recruit him. For a time, Sen Ji’s prestige was unmatched.
But when it was discovered that he couldn’t be purified by any Guide, the direction of this adoration and recruitment shifted instantly. Sen Ji’s status in the Empire plummeted, and he became the target of public criticism.
“Fraud,” “defective,” “disposable Sentinel”—these highly insulting terms began to flood toward the young Sen Ji at the time.
Sen Ji escaped to the battlefield, rising step by step to the rank of Commander through his own strength. He guarded the Empire and even earned the title of God of War.
But the nobles and high-level Sentinels still didn’t think highly of him.
The more contributions he made, the more it meant he was “depreciating.” He wasn’t worth wasting effort on.
Hong Que glanced at Xie Qiang. “Until the Imperial family discovered you could purify Sen Ji, his value was re-evaluated, and everyone flocked back again.”
As for the rest, Hong Que didn’t need to say it; Xie Qiang understood.
The villainess’s refusal to purify Sen Ji made him a joke once again. The high-level Sentinels who had once pursued him felt embarrassed and began to despise and discriminate against him.
It was a bit like a modern-day fan turning into an anti-fan.
“But surely there are high-level Sentinels who recognize Sen Ji?” Xie Qiang thought of Wu Zao, who had tried to assassinate her. “Yesterday’s assassin wanted to kill me because he was standing up for Sen Ji.”
“Did he say that himself before he died?” Hong Que asked with a scowl.
Xie Qiang: “Well, no.”
Hong Que: “Then why are you talking nonsense?”
Xie Qiang: Whatever, I just know!
“So, only low-level Sentinels sympathize with Sen Ji now?” Xie Qiang blinked and asked in confusion.
“Sympathize?”
Hong Que sneered, mocking Xie Qiang’s naivety. “The lower the Sentinel’s rank, the stronger their jealousy. Seeing a high-and-mighty SSS-class Sentinel fall to the same fate as them—being despised by high-level Sentinels—what do you think they feel?”
Fellow sufferers, pitying sympathy… and an unspeakable, subtle schadenfreude.
“If Sen Ji were a fully functioning SSS-class Sentinel, do you think these low-level Sentinels would dare approach and talk to him?” Hong Que mocked.
Xie Qiang hadn’t expected that beyond the plot, Sen Ji was carrying such a heavy past.
She couldn’t help but let out a soft sigh.
Fine, I’ll be better to him from now on.
Beside her, Hong Que was still complaining. “Sen Ji and that woman—one is a defective Sentinel, the other is a crippled Guide. Tsk tsk, don’t you think the two of them are a perfect match?”
Xie Qiang lifted her head. “Do you hate Consultant Jiang? Why call her a cripple?”
“What? I’m just stating a fact.” Hong Que shrugged, his whole aura radiating the arrogance of a noble house. “She lost her purification ability; isn’t that being a cripple?”
“But she used to be an S-class Guide and sacrificed a lot for the Sentinels.” Xie Qiang felt he shouldn’t describe Jiang Qingwan that way.
“So? I’ve never received her purification.” Hong Que said indifferently. “In my eyes, she’s a crippled Guide.”
Xie Qiang disliked this way of speaking. She corrected him seriously, “From a medical standpoint, ‘crippled’ refers to a body that has lost significant physical function due to severe injury or disease, making it impossible to perform normal activities or work.”
“Consultant Jiang has only lost her purification ability, but she can still function and work normally. Furthermore, she has diligently persuaded other Guides to purify Sentinels, which significantly reduces the pressure on the battlefield.”
She looked at Hong Que. “So, stop talking about her that way.”
Hong Que stared at her, dumbfounded. “Xie Qiang, is your brain broken?”
Didn’t she used to despise Jiang Qingwan the most? She used to say Jiang Qingwan only acted that way to maintain her “Goddess of the Galaxy” image and that her brown-nosings of those “lowly” Sentinels was simply a disgrace.
Hong Que felt Xie Qiang was simply too strange today. Not only did she say she purified Sen Ji, but now she was even speaking up for Jiang Qingwan.
Could it be that when he kicked her into the water prison yesterday, he kicked the water into her brain as well?
“I’m going to find you a thermometer.” Hong Que muttered as he walked toward a physical exam room in the distance, his expression both disdainful and worried. “You’ve definitely fried your brain from a fever to be talking such nonsense.”
Xie Qiang: I did NOT fry my brain!
Reflecting on Hong Que’s words, Xie Qiang felt a bit heavy-hearted.
To suddenly fall from grace—when people mentioned Sen Ji, it wasn’t about his great contributions to the Empire, but about his disability and “depreciation.”
Depreciation. When applied to a “person,” what a cruel and cold word it was.
Surely the female lead was the same.
The Goddess of the Galaxy who saved the masses, becoming an ordinary person overnight. Once the high-level Sentinels could no longer gain tangible benefits, they discarded her like old shoes.
They were all pitiful people.
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