Chapter 10: Wu Nian

Sitting on the hotel bed, Wu Nian looked at the balance in his Communication Terminal—less than three digits—and felt a headache coming on.

He had no job, and he had no Sentinel. The Bank only allowed him a pre-approved credit limit of ten thousand. And now, that ten-thousand Credit Point limit was nearly spent!

Wu Nian felt this credit limit was ridiculously small. In his last life, his pre-approved limit had been one hundred thousand.

Originally, it should have been a million, but Ying Li had gone to the Bank and gotten his credit limit restricted to one hundred thousand per month. As a result, whenever he wanted to buy something a little expensive, he simply couldn’t afford it. It was incredibly embarrassing whenever he went out shopping with others.

Thinking of Ying Li, Wu Nian also recalled the situation at this exact time in his last life.

Back then, after graduation, he had moved directly into the house Ying Li rented.

Ying Li’s place was much bigger than this hotel room. Ying Li had also given him money and pre-purchased ingredients for him. At that time, he never had to worry about running out of money for food. His life had been considerably better than it was now.

Realizing he was actually missing Ying Li a little, Wu Nian frowned and immediately shoved that thought out of his mind.

Ying Li was nothing special. On this very day in his last life, they had already clashed unpleasantly.

That day, Ying Li had just come home and immediately shoved a small piece of mushroom in his face, insisting he eat it.

He had wanted to cook it first, but Ying Li refused, coaxing him to eat it raw.

He had eaten it in the end, but he was very unhappy. So, he asked Ying Li to buy him some clothes. Ying Li had refused, saying he was out of money.

But he had seen it! Ying Li’s account still had over twenty thousand in it!

Besides, how could a Sentinel just back from outside the city possibly have no money? Ying Li was a B-Rank Sentinel; he had been out for several days. Even if he hadn’t hunted a B-Rank Mutant Beast, he definitely would have caught a few C-Rank ones. He should have earned at least a hundred thousand Credit Points.

Ying Li’s claim that he had accidentally fallen into a cave and hadn’t hunted anything for those few days… Wu Nian didn’t believe a word of it.

He had been very unhappy and waited for Ying Li to coax him out of his bad mood. Instead, Ying Li just went straight to sleep.

Recalling this, the faint trace of longing for Ying Li that Wu Nian had just felt vanished instantly.

Ying Li was truly stingy, so miserly whenever he spent money.

Yu Mingwei was so much better.

The problem was, in his last life, he hadn’t met Yu Mingwei until two months from now. Even if he wanted to find Yu Mingwei now, he wouldn’t know where to look.

Yu Mingwei lived in the Central District, and Wu Nian didn’t have a pass for the Central District.

He could only wait until two months later, when Yu Mingwei would come to the Upper City District.

But right now, he was completely broke.

Thinking of this, Wu Nian grew irritated. After all, he had rarely ever had to worry about money in the past.

Wu Nian’s father was a D-Rank Sentinel born in the Upper City District. Without a Guide, he had formed a family with an ordinary woman and had Wu Nian.

A D-Rank Sentinel venturing outside the city to hunt would have difficulty catching any prey, and naturally wouldn’t earn much money.

But a D-Rank Sentinel was still a Sentinel, unafraid of Corrosive Energy. Wu Nian’s father worked at the Surface Exchange. His income couldn’t compare to those Sentinels who went out to hunt in the wilds, but he could still earn twenty to thirty thousand Credit Points a month.

Wu Nian was the family’s only child and had awakened as a Guide at the age of ten, making him deeply cherished by his father.

His early childhood was quite comfortable. But at fifteen, his father suddenly fell ill and passed away.

His mother had no job. After his father’s death, the household had no source of income.

Even though he was studying at the Guide Academy at the time, with the academy covering his room and board, that period was still incredibly difficult for him.

Later, his mother remarried. Then he met Ying Li, and only then did his life become easier—to the point where he at least didn’t have to worry about affording skincare products.

After he reached adulthood… Ying Li was stingy and always penny-pinching, but up until his death in his last life, he never truly lacked money.

Now, not only was he out of money, but he had also maxed out his credit limit. He had no choice but to figure out how to earn some.

The easiest way for a Guide to make money was to find a Guardian and have a Sentinel provide for them, while the Guide provided Mental Guidance in return.

But he wanted to be with Yu Mingwei. He absolutely couldn’t find a Guardian.

In his last life, when Ying Li discovered his relationship with Yu Mingwei, Ying Li had initiated the breakup. At that time, he had been determined to be with Yu Mingwei.

But because he had a history with a Guardian, the Yu Family had never accepted him.

In this life, he absolutely couldn’t take another Guardian.

That being the case, his only option to make money was offering Mental Guidance services to Sentinels.

The number of Guides was somewhat smaller than the number of Sentinels. Consequently, many lower-ranked Sentinels in the Upper City District didn’t have a Guide of their own.

Typically, they would spend money to hire a Guide to perform Mental Combing for them.

And many lower-ranked Guides in the Upper City District made a living this way.

Wu Nian opened his Communication Terminal and started browsing the listings there.

He was a D-Rank Guide. The fee for his Mental Combing service was two thousand Credit Points per hour.

Seeing this price, Wu Nian was stunned.

This price was way too cheap! Two thousand Credit Points wasn’t even enough for one meal in the Central District.

He was currently staying in a hotel, where the room cost eight hundred Credit Points a day. Even eating simply, he’d still spend a thousand Credit Points a day on food. Plus other miscellaneous expenses, he was spending at least two thousand Credit Points a day.

This meant he’d have to do Mental Guidance for someone every single day just to earn enough money to support his current lifestyle.

Wu Nian immediately didn’t want to do it. But over this period, to pay for food and the hotel, he had already sold off most of the gifts Ying Li had given him in the past. His credit limit was completely drained.

In the end, he still accepted a booking for a Mental Combing session and scheduled it for the next morning at nine.

After all that turmoil, Wu Nian finally fell asleep. Because he went to bed so late, he also woke up a little late.

The money he had left was only enough for Nutrient Paste, but he couldn’t stand the strange taste of Nutrient Paste. Even the more expensive kind, he had no desire to eat. He had to head to the Guidance Center on an empty stomach.

Navigating through dirty and disorderly streets, Wu Nian finally arrived at his destination. As soon as he entered the reserved guidance room, he saw the Sentinel—scruffy-faced, utterly exhausted, dressed in old and somewhat sloppy clothes.

Wu Nian couldn’t help but frown.

Sentinels from the Upper City District really had no standards at all. Coming out to find a Guide for Mental Combing, yet they couldn’t even be bothered to change into something presentable or trim their beard.

Sentinels from the Central District would never act like this!

Sentinels were very perceptive. The Sentinel who had booked Wu Nian noticed his expression of disgust and instantly flared up in anger. His already unstable Mental Sea churning, he glared at Wu Nian, his mental power pressing down on him. “What’s your problem?! You’re late, and now you’re giving me attitude!”

Wu Nian was so startled that the rims of his eyes instantly reddened. After all, all the Sentinels he had ever dealt with in the past were courteous and polite. Even Ying Li, the least refined among them, had never been so “aggressive”.

But the Sentinel wasn’t about to let it go. “We agreed on nine o’clock! It’s already nine-thirty! I called you earlier and you didn’t even pick up! Who do you think you are, some pampered young master from the Central District?!”

After speaking, the Sentinel even muttered a curse under his breath.

Wu Nian had never been cursed at like this before. Tears of fury welled up in his eyes. “I’m not doing Mental Guidance for you!”

“Ha! Like I even want you to! One look and I can tell you’re completely inexperienced,” the Sentinel spat angrily, standing up. “I paid a hundred Credit Points to reserve this guidance room. You pay me back!”

Wu Nian refused indignantly. “Reserving the guidance room is the Sentinel’s responsibility!”

“If you had actually done the guidance, then sure, I’d pay! But you didn’t! And you were half an hour late! This guidance room charges by the hour, a hundred Credit Points per hour. Even if you had done the Combing, you’d owe me fifty Credit Points for the wasted time,” the Sentinel retorted righteously.

His money didn’t just fall from the sky. Wu Nian had wasted his money and absolutely had to compensate him!

The argument between the two drew the attention of the Guidance Center staff.

It was true that Guides were precious, and their Guardians would pamper them endlessly.

But that was only when a Sentinel wanted to form a Mental Bond with that Guide.

The D-Rank Sentinel in front of him had no intention of forming a Mental Bond with Wu Nian. For them, it was purely a straightforward transaction, payment for a service. There was no reason for him to indulge Wu Nian.

After all, there were plenty of lower-ranked Guides in the Upper City District. Offending one didn’t stop him from finding another.

The Credit Points were in his hands! In his eyes, Guides were utterly weak creatures wholly dependent on Sentinels for survival.

The Guidance Center staff were ordinary people. They were afraid of powerful Sentinels. And on top of that, the Sentinel was the paying customer… They urged Wu Nian to pay the compensation.

But Wu Nian simply couldn’t pay.

Under the staff’s mediation, Wu Nian ultimately performed the Mental Combing for this Sentinel.

In his last life, he had only ever done Mental Combing for Ying Li and Yu Mingwei.

Their Mental Seas weren’t difficult to comb, and they only needed it at most once a month. So, he had never seen it as a burden.

But the Mental Sea of the Sentinel before him was extremely troublesome and tiring to comb.

After finishing the hour-long session, Wu Nian was drenched in sweat and completely exhausted.

At the same time, he felt deeply wronged. During the Combing, this Sentinel hadn’t been cooperative at all!

Wu Nian felt he had done more than enough, but the Sentinel wasn’t satisfied. “Your Mental Guidance work is terrible! And you were so slow and dawdling, completely not worth two thousand Credit Points!”

And this was the honest truth. Wu Nian had no experience performing Mental Guidance on unfamiliar Sentinels. At first, he couldn’t even enter the man’s Mental Sea, wasting a lot of time.

In the end, under the mediation of the staff, the Sentinel grudgingly gave Wu Nian fifteen hundred Credit Points. As he left, he was still muttering curses. “Totally useless, and still acting all wronged. Get over yourself! If it weren’t for us Sentinels, you wouldn’t even have food to eat!”

Wu Nian couldn’t hold back his tears.

The people around watched Wu Nian crying nonstop, feeling rather speechless. That Sentinel had been a little rude, but Wu Nian arriving half an hour late without any notice was genuinely very out of line.

Still, Wu Nian was young, so an older Guide came over to offer a few words of comfort, reminding him not to be late again in the future.

Most D-Rank and E-Rank Guides never got the chance to go live in the Central District. They lived together with their Sentinels in the Upper City District.

Their Sentinels were not high-ranked, C-Rank at most, and lacked connections, so they didn’t earn that much.

Therefore, to have a better life, they would come out to provide Mental Guidance for other Sentinels, earning a bit on the side.

This type of work, in their view, was excellent.

In just one hour, they could earn money that would take an ordinary person an entire month to make. How could it get any better?

Listening to the older Guide’s comfort and advice, Wu Nian’s expression turned subtly unpleasant.

This person was actually telling him to flatter and please these Sentinels! On what grounds?!

Without Guides, Sentinels’ Mental Seas would descend into chaos!

And Sentinels waiting for their Guides… wasn’t that just how it should be?!

Couldn’t even bear to wait a little for a Guide—these Sentinels deserved to be without Guides!

Wu Nian had great difficulty accepting his current life.

Ying Li, on the other hand, was extremely satisfied with his current life.

That morning, he didn’t have Xiang Ye cook. Each of them simply ate three boxes of Nutrient Paste, and that was considered their breakfast.

After that, Ying Li opened his Communication Terminal and started shopping for clothes.

The clothes he had worn before were the most standard, cheapest kind—a hundred Credit Points for a full set. Clothes like that weren’t super comfortable to wear, but they were durable.

Now that he had passed those clothes on to Xiang Ye, he planned to buy a few better-quality outfits for himself.

Of course, true to his nature, he wouldn’t buy anything too expensive. The clothes he picked out cost around three to four hundred Credit Points for a whole set.

He had never understood why Wu Nian wanted to spend several thousand, even tens of thousands of Credit Points on a single garment that had no defensive power or special functionality.

And he rarely even wore them after buying them.

After finishing his clothes shopping, Ying Li also bought toothpaste, Cleanser, and other daily necessities.

The daily necessities he had used before were the cheapest kind. In his last life, Wu Nian had heavily disapproved and just threw away all his half-used products. And in this life…

Ying Li had similarly given those items to Xiang Ye, while buying himself some slightly more expensive products with better cost-effectiveness.

He didn’t have high demands when it came to quality of life. He actually didn’t despise his own clothes or those daily necessities.

But Xiang Ye needed these things.

Buying new ones specifically for Xiang Ye would inevitably lead to another round of flustered, humble refusals. He had simply given his own half-used things to Xiang Ye.

Of course, there were certain items Xiang Ye couldn’t be given second-hand… Ying Li bought new towels, a toothbrush, bowls and chopsticks, toilet paper, seasonings, and various bits and bobs for Xiang Ye.

Before buying, he even searched online for reviews, picking products that balanced quality and affordability.

By the time he was done with all the purchasing, it was already noon.

Ying Li had once again bought several hundred Credit Points’ worth of fresh ingredients, so there were delicious dishes to accompany their Nutrient Paste.

He ate with great satisfaction. As for the Xiang Ye sitting across from him, there was no need to even say—his expression looked as though he was eating the rarest of delicacies.

After eating, Ying Li thought of something and looked at Xiang Ye. “I’m going to exercise this afternoon. Would you like to train along with me?”

In his last life at this time, Ying Li had spent most of his money on settling Wu Nian in.

During those few days outside the city, he had also spent all his time focused on that cave, with no time to hunt Mutant Beasts.

He was the type of person who felt uneasy if he didn’t have much money in his pocket. And Wu Nian’s expenses were high…

So, after resting at home for just two days, he had hurriedly rushed back outside the city.

In this life, however, he had no intention of doing that.

He was going to focus on resting, recovering his health properly at home, before going back outside the city.

Of course, while recuperating, he needed to pair it with some exercise. If Xiang Ye was willing, he could train together with him. It would be good for Xiang Ye’s health.