Chapter 18: Returning to the City

Xiang Ye wanted to hide the fact that a Guide had come knocking on their door. But if he really did that and it was exposed later, he would definitely lose Ying Li’s trust.

After considering it, he exported the video of the Guide’s visit and planned to show Ying Li when he returned.

Watching the video again, Xiang Ye was a bit curious.

He wondered who this Guide was.

The Guide who came knocking was, naturally, Wu Nian.

Over a month had passed since Wu Nian graduated from the Guide Academy.

From childhood to adulthood, Wu Nian had never had the habit of saving money, so upon graduating, he had no savings.

Over the past month, he could be said to have tried every method to get money.

He sold the gifts Ying Li had given him to raise funds, earned money by combing Sentinels’ Mental Seas, and borrowed money from his classmates.

But none of this was enough for him to live the life he wanted.

He clearly hadn’t bought much, but somehow his money vanished in the blink of an eye.

In his past life, he would also spend all his money, but he didn’t have to pay rent, and Ying Li would keep the fridge full of food. Even if he ran out of money, he wasn’t without a place to sleep or food to eat.

Now? Every day when he opened his eyes, the manager of the daily rental room would demand money from him.

The money he had previously borrowed in advance from the Bank also needed repayment.

Even his classmates had started asking him for money back.

Wu Nian truly had no other options. Remembering that Ying Li should still be in love with him at this point, he sent Ying Li a message, wanting to borrow money.

Ying Li wasn’t short on money. At this point in time, Ying Li could already hunt B-Rank Mutant Beasts!

In their past life, when Ying Li confessed his feelings, he’d given Wu Nian a B-Rank Mutant Beast crystal core worth a hundred thousand Credit Points.

If Ying Li would lend him a hundred thousand, he could hold out until Yu Mingwei came to the Upper City District.

Wu Nian had thought it through perfectly, but every message he sent disappeared like a stone sinking into the ocean. After much deliberation, he went to Ying Li’s residence to knock on the door.

Still, there was not the slightest response.

Had Ying Li gone outside the city to hunt again?

Ying Li especially loved money and was always explaining financial matters to him. He was also always leaving the city. He was probably outside the city right now.

Thinking this, Wu Nian left.

He headed back to his place, dejected, but on the way bumped into a Sentinel about his age who looked somewhat familiar.

“Sorry, I accidentally bumped into you. Let me treat you to a meal to apologize,” that Sentinel said, smiling at Wu Nian.

Wu Nian agreed without a second thought.

In the entire Starlight City, the number of A-Rank Guides didn’t even add up to ten. And he was a B-Rank Guide.

When he lived in the Central District, Sentinels constantly flocked to curry favor with him.

Yu Mingwei was always giving him gifts, and other Sentinels vied to treat him to meals.

Accepting their invitations was giving them face.

Seeing Wu Nian accept, a joyful look appeared on the Sentinel’s face.

This Sentinel’s name was Yang Jianghai, a classmate of Ying Li’s.

His father, grandfather, aunt, maternal grandmother, uncle—all of them were Sentinels. None of them were high in rank, unable to get passes to the Central District, so they couldn’t move to live in the Central District. But in the Upper City District, they belonged to the most elite stratum.

Yang Jianghai had awakened as a C-Rank Sentinel right away, showing promise of becoming a B-Rank Sentinel around adulthood and obtaining a Central District pass. This made his family especially doting toward him.

When he first entered the Sentinel Academy, he was a star student. Ying Li, in contrast, was just an errand boy he hired.

He had Ying Li go outside the school to buy food and bring it back for him, had Ying Li brush his shoes and equipment, and even threw tedious homework assignments at Ying Li.

He didn’t take Ying Li seriously at all. But later, Ying Li gained the affection of a teacher at the school. With that teacher’s help, Ying Li’s grades surpassed his!

Later, Ying Li also advanced early, becoming a C-Rank Sentinel.

At that time, although he was unhappy inside, he could still accept it. After all, normally speaking, Ying Li would stop at C-Rank for life, while he himself had a high probability of becoming a B-Rank Sentinel.

Then, before he himself could become a B-Rank Sentinel, Ying Li became one first!

Yang Jianghai was thoroughly sour with envy inside. After inadvertently learning that Ying Li had been rejected by Wu Nian, he orchestrated today’s “chance encounter” with Wu Nian.

If the Guide Ying Li had pursued for two years without success became his boyfriend, Ying Li’s expression would surely be something to see.

Yang Jianghai was in a good mood. Wu Nian, at this moment, finally recalled Yang Jianghai’s identity.

He had seen Yang Jianghai in the Central District in his last life.

That should have been a matter two years from now. At the time, Ying Li was only B-Rank, but because he had joined the Yu Family’s hunting team, his life was getting better and better, with considerable income.

As for Yang Jianghai? He had been ostracized after moving to the Central District and had slunk back to the Upper City District in disgrace.

This was the difference between relying on a major family and struggling alone.

Wu Nian felt that Ying Li’s growing wealth after arriving in the Central District was entirely thanks to the Yu Family.

He also felt that Yang Jianghai, like Ying Li, was a Sentinel who had struggled hard from the Upper City District to reach the Central District.

If Ying Li knew Wu Nian’s thoughts, he’d find it very ironic.

He and Yang Jianghai were clearly two completely different people. Yang Jianghai was essentially a low-budget version of Yu Mingwei.

People like them had enjoyed comfortable lives since childhood and therefore couldn’t endure hardship.

Back then, Yang Jianghai even found the training at the academy arduous, let alone leaving the city to hunt!

Furthermore, leaving the city to hunt was dangerous.

Even if there were very hardworking individuals among those pampered young masters, their performance when facing Mutant Beasts outside the city was always barely passable.

Because they valued their lives.

Their lives were so good; they definitely weren’t willing to risk life and limb fighting Mutant Beasts.

In the previous life, after Yang Jianghai moved to the Central District, he returned to the Upper City District because he found that in the Central District, a B-Rank Sentinel like himself was nothing, just blending into the crowd.

He’d rather be the head of a chicken than the tail of a phoenix, so he returned to the Upper City District and later used his connections to become an official in the Upper City District government.

By the time Ying Li died, he was already campaigning for votes to run for Deputy District Chief.

Ying Li peeled a Water Chestnut and took large bites of it again.

These Water Chestnuts were about two kilograms each. He ate one with his nutrient paste at every meal, and had two more as a midnight snack in the evening.

In this life, he wasn’t willing to mistreat himself.

Besides, the Water Chestnuts were really delicious. Eaten raw, they tasted like fruit, even better than the fruit produced in the Ecological Zone. Cooked and eaten, they were very filling.

If he weren’t worried that eating only Water Chestnuts wouldn’t provide enough nutrition, Ying Li wouldn’t even want to touch nutrient paste.

This trip out of the city had been very comfortable overall for Ying Li.

After all, he ate well and slept well.

What satisfied him even more was that Luo Qiming and the others hunted actively. The money they earned, after deducting their wages, vehicle rental, and equipment rental, still had a surplus.

His bringing these people out of the city hadn’t been in vain!

And the crystal cores from the Mutant Beasts he hunted himself, as well as the Water Chestnuts he dug up, were pure profit.

On this single trip, one could say his gains were immense.

After hunting D-Rank Mutant Beasts for three days, Luo Qiming and the others started hunting C-Rank Mutant Beasts.

The people responsible for pulling the C-Rank Mutant Beasts’ aggro, while being chased and beaten by them, more or less sustained some injuries. But their coordination was good, so the injuries were all minor.

Such minor injuries were serious to people like Yu Mingwei and Yang Jianghai, but for Sentinels like Luo Qiming who grew up in the Lower City District, they were practically nothing.

They hadn’t even planned to go to the hospital.

The group stayed in the wild for seven days and seven nights, driving back to the city on the morning of the eighth day.

Ying Li first went to return the equipment and vehicle, then bought four sets of equipment at the Surface Exchange, planning to give them to Luo Qiming and the others for future use.

Of course, these sets of equipment belonged to him. If Luo Qiming and the others left his hunting team, they couldn’t take the equipment.

After that, Ying Li bought some other items, like camping tents.

He spent part of the crystal cores earned from this trip before taking Luo Qiming and the others back into the city.

While in the wild, Ying Li himself ate, and shared with Luo Qiming and the others, around two hundred jin of Water Chestnuts. The remaining three hundred jin he didn’t sell, bringing them all back to the city.

This once again drew envious praise from the staff handling the entry inspections, who also demanded to use Water Chestnuts as tax payment.

Ying Li had long anticipated this and readily agreed.

After entering the city, Ying Li gave Luo Qiming and the others one D-Rank crystal core each as their city-exit fee.

After distributing them, he shouldered the Water Chestnuts and hurried off to his residence.

As soon as he left, Luo Qiming and the others chatted excitedly.

“I can’t believe I got a D-Rank crystal core!”

“These past few days, we even got to eat one Mutant Water Chestnut every day. Those Water Chestnuts aren’t cheap. I feel like they must taste just like the fruit from the legends.”

“It might even be better than fruit.”

“Those staff at the city entrance clearly liked the Mutant Water Chestnuts a lot. The price of these Water Chestnuts is probably even higher than what Captain Ying said.”

“Captain Ying also taught us so much knowledge!”

…

As they spoke, their eyes reddened.

The path they’d walked up to now had been extremely difficult.

But now, they saw hope.

Ying Li could roughly guess Luo Qiming and the others’ thoughts.

And the reason he did this was that he knew one thing very clearly: to make team members obedient, the pay had to be sufficient.

What did Sentinels leave the city to hunt and fight Mutant Beasts for? In the final analysis, it was for money.

Of course, he also needed these people’s loyalty, and that would need to be cultivated slowly over the coming time.

Ying Li arrived home carrying two large bags of Water Chestnuts. As soon as the door opened, he saw Xiang Ye.

Upon seeing Xiang Ye, a look of surprise crossed his face.

He hadn’t seen him for a while, and Xiang Ye had become much better-looking.

In Starlight City, aside from those Sentinels who constantly left the city to hunt, everyone else was very pale. After all, they never saw sunlight year-round.

Xiang Ye was naturally very pale too.

Before, he was too thin. His entire body was deathly pale, like a ghost, somewhat terrifying. But now, having put on a bit of weight, he had become a fair, slender, handsome young man.

“You must have been eating well lately. Good job!” Ying Li smiled.

Hearing Ying Li’s praise, Xiang Ye smiled and then said, “Mr. Ying, I’ll go cook for you!”

“Alright, I’m going to shower,” Ying Li said.

Since Xiang Ye cooked quickly, he wouldn’t stop him. When they ate later, he could also let Xiang Ye taste the Water Chestnuts.

These Mutant Water Chestnuts weren’t prone to rotting. Fresh ones could keep for about a month. If dried, they could be preserved for half a year without issue. They were perfect for keeping at home to improve Xiang Ye’s diet.

Back when Ying Li had a good relationship with Wu Nian, he really enjoyed seeing Wu Nian grow plump and fair under his care. Whatever demands Wu Nian had, he was willing to fulfill them.

His own childhood had been so miserable that he yearned for the people around him to live well.

Now, his feelings towards Xiang Ye were the same.

Xiang Ye closely resembled his childhood self. Being good to Xiang Ye felt like making up for what his own younger self had lacked.

After coming out of the shower, Ying Li saw the food already laid out on the table.

He truly loved the feeling of having someone waiting at home for him when he returned.