Chapter 15: Suppression
Zhu Hui left unscathed.
Thanks to Yi Chengli—that was the handsome Sentinel’s name, who nearly fainted from anger when he realized Zhu Hui had forgotten it—and thanks to the fact that he had been the one to provoke, had been loud in the academic affairs office, that Zhu Hui hadn’t laid a hand on him (it was only the snow wolf that bit him), and that he hadn’t won the fight… for all these reasons and more, it didn’t escalate. After leaving the office, he was even cornered by Zhu Hui and interrogated for information about Xu Xunyue.
“Ah, yes, someone saw him eating with the dean of the Guide Academy. He’s probably going to be a teacher at the Guide Academy,” Yi Chengli said, his facial muscles stiff, his previously harsh eyes now like a dead fish’s. “I say, if you want more details, why don’t you just go back and ask him directly? Aren’t you married? Is he not allowing you to ask?”
“If that’s really the case, even I would feel sorry for you. The youngest Chief Sentinel in the Empire’s history, treated so coldly and ruthlessly by his bonded Guide? And your compatibility is 60.01%, it can’t get any lower.”
As he spoke, Yi Chengli’s tone started to become provocative again.
“Sigh, you’re the only Sentinel with a qualifying compatibility for him, but he’s probably not the only Guide with a qualifying compatibility for you, right? I’ve never heard of a Sentinel’s compatibility list having only one person. Although he probably doesn’t need a Sentinel, you’ll definitely need a Guide in the future. With things as they are now, will he be willing to give you mental soothing in the future?”
“It’s very tiring for a Guide to perform mental soothing. You’ve never been to those mental soothing chambers in the Imperial Capital, have you? Every time I go, the fees are so expensive, and the soothers have so many demands. Tsk tsk, and this marriage was designated by the Emperor. Without a special reason, it’s really not easy to dissolve…”
Zhu Hui turned and walked away.
“Hey, hey, hey, what are you doing? How have you become even more unreasonable after three years in the army? Make your spiritual body let go… Make it stop, stop running! The floor is so cold, ahhhhhh…”
A massive white figure shot out from mid-air, bit Yi Chengli’s pant leg, and dragged him to the ground. Then, without any pause, it dragged him toward the other end of the empty corridor.
It ran faster and faster, until the fluffy creature was almost a blur. The person it had knocked down had no chance to get up and could only be dragged along, mopping the floor.
Beside them, the Sentinel in casual clothes walked with his hands in his pockets, as if strolling through a courtyard.
His steps were infrequent and not large, but for some reason, he could always keep up with his spiritual body.
If this scene were made into a frame-by-frame animation, one would find that his position was different in every frame, and there were several meters between each position.
Soon, they reached the end of the corridor, where there was a window.
The window was very clear, and one could easily see the scenery outside through it. At the same time, one could also see that there was nothing outside, no platform or any other place to stand.
“Zhu Hui, are you crazy? This is the tenth floor!”
Yi Chengli’s lips were almost raw from being dragged across the tiles of the administration building. He shouted at the top of his lungs, but his body couldn’t move. He could only watch as the window got closer and closer.
Just as his pupils dilated infinitely, he suddenly heard the cold and deep words of the culprit.
“He is very good. We had a mental soothing last night.” ???
What the hell is he talking about?
Yi Chengli’s mind went blank. Before he could react to what he had heard, the two-meter-long snow wolf, gripping his leg, raised its front paws, leaped high, and jumped out of the window.
“Ahhhhhhh, awoooooo…”
The sound went from near to far, from loud to soft, and soon dissipated into the air.
“Student Zhu? Student Zhu?”
The series of events had only taken a few moments. The person was already gone by the time the administrative teacher came out of the office, calling out with a worried tone.
Zhu Hui’s voice was calm.
“It’s fine. I had my spiritual body carry him to the training grounds. I’m going to re-test my physical data and have a match with him while I’m at it.”
The administrative teacher breathed a sigh of relief.
“I see. Then you two be careful.”
“We will.”
The administrative teacher nodded and didn’t ask any more questions.
The White Tower was a landmark of the Imperial Capital, the foundation of the Empire built over hundreds of years, symbolizing supreme power and a certain faith rooted in the soul.
In the two academies of the White Tower, noble status was of little use. No matter how much wealth you had or what social class you belonged to, here, collaborative ability and combat level were the most important.
Moreover, the nobles of the Empire had their own pride, and regardless of whether this “pride” was truly respectable, they did care more about face than most people.
And the Sentinel Academy had an unwritten rule:
All students, if they have a real issue, will settle it in the training grounds.
Considering the super-strong recovery ability of Sentinels and the special setup of the training grounds, as long as no one died, any kind of sparring was allowed within the training grounds.
As for a snow wolf carrying someone?
Wasn’t it just a spiritual body that had momentarily escaped from its master’s spiritual domain? It happened when a Sentinel was excited or relaxed. It had dragged Yi Chengli all the way without breaking his leg, which showed it had a good sense of propriety.
The administrative teacher believed from the bottom of her heart that the master of this spiritual body, the Empire’s newly selected Chief Sentinel, the genius student of the Sentinel Academy, would also have a good sense of propriety.
Zhu Hui walked to the window from which the snow wolf had jumped out two seconds ago.
The next moment, his figure disappeared from the administration building.
The central villa district of the Imperial Capital, the residence of the Minister of Finance, Luo Mingxu.
Luo Mingxu was a suave middle-aged man. It was said that his political career in his youth was quite legendary, but that was a story from over twenty years ago, before the Cataclysm. It was too long ago, and not many people remembered it.
In a sturdy and spacious storage room in his house, a conversation was taking place.
“So, you’re visiting me just to check a compatibility list?” Luo Mingxu teased. “I thought it was because you left the banquet early yesterday. Sending a message in the middle of the night to say you’re visiting today—it seems your wedding night was very busy.”
Xu Xunyue smiled and didn’t take the bait of his teasing words.
Luo Mingxu didn’t mind. He changed the subject and said, “Didn’t you check Zhu Hui’s compatibility list a few months ago? Checking again now… is there a problem with him?”
“No, I just have some new discoveries and wanted to see if I could find some inspiration.”
Xu Xunyue paused and added, “It’s about me and Zhu Hui, a personal matter, unrelated to the plan.”
“Oh, a personal matter now.” Luo Mingxu sighed, stood up, and walked toward the door. “I’ll go spend time with my kids. You can take your time looking.”
Click.
The door of the storage room was closed.
The room fell into complete silence.
This room was filled with all sorts of books and equipment of various sizes, on the tables, on the floor, on the shelves… a dazzling array. At first glance, most of them were rare items from the pre-Cataclysm era.
Among them was the instrument in Xu Xunyue’s hand, used to test compatibility lists. This was also why it was only circulated among relevant departments and a few noble families.
After the Cataclysm, most cities became forbidden zones, and much of the high technology was left in the past. Without the technology, it was difficult to manufacture the high-tech products from before the Cataclysm.
Before a technological breakthrough, people could only use the remaining supplies produced in the past, or enter the cataclysm zones to search for old items—the latter being a completely life-threatening endeavor.
In short, these instruments were very rare.
When the Empire announced the compatibility lists every year, it would limit the age range to twenty-five and above. But the testing instrument itself did not have this limitation. If one were to check personally, it was possible to check those under twenty-five, and even students from the White Tower.
Xu Xunyue followed the standard procedure.
Inputting the relevant information, confirming the program was correct, clicking to start the test, waiting for the results…
A few minutes later, the notification sound indicating the end of the test rang out.
Beep, beep, beep, beep! Beep, beep, beep, beep!
Xu Xunyue looked down, watching the lines of characters appear one by one on the instrument’s display screen, from top to bottom.
He first saw his own name, followed by 67.61%.
It had increased by 0.6% compared to last night’s test, which should be the bonus from this morning’s kiss.
As expected.
But…
The following numbers were different from what he remembered.
Xu Xunyue clearly remembered that the last time, the values on Zhu Hui’s compatibility list were mostly distributed between 62% and 67%, with the highest value being 67%.
But the column before him—no, it couldn’t even be called a column anymore—that small section of values clearly showed:
63.21%.
62.45%.
61.98%.
60.02%.
…
The name that had corresponded to 67% now corresponded to 63.21%; and what was even more shocking was that the names whose compatibility had only been in the low sixties had disappeared completely.
Now, the number of people on Zhu Hui’s compatibility list could be counted on two hands.
