Chapter 27: Freedom to Eat Meat Part 1

Ying Li looked at the leaf in his hand, utterly devoid of Corrosive Energy. His breathing quickened slightly as he focused intently on Xiang Ye.

Xiang Ye didn’t hide anything and told Ying Li about his discovery.

“Black Spots?” Ying Li looked puzzled.

This time when Xiang Ye came out, he was holding the Mutant Beast egg from which he had already removed some of the Black Spots. Ying Li scanned this egg with his own Mental Power but found nothing at all.

Of course, if he could have noticed the Black Spots, he would have discovered them in his previous life. He wouldn’t be completely ignorant now.

“I can’t see the Black Spots. It must be due to the differences in our Mental Power. A Guide’s Mental Power is gentler and more meticulous—completely different from mine,” Ying Li said.

His Mental Power in this life was already much calmer than in the previous one, to the point of not even needing a Guide to calm his Mental Sea.

But it was still different from a Guide’s.

A Sentinel’s Mental Power was like fire, full of aggression. Their Mental Sea was like a volcano.

Guides? Their Mental Power was like water. Their Mental Sea was a puddle, a pond, or could be a large lake.

It made sense for Guides to see Black Spots that Sentinels couldn’t.

But Ying Li quickly thought of some puzzling things.

First, in his previous life, when Xiang Ye escaped outside the city, he had been so hungry he robbed passersby for food. Why hadn’t he discovered these Black Spots then?

Because Xiang Ye’s Mental Power back then hadn’t been as calm as it was now?

In the previous life, Xiang Ye had been tormented by the Shen Family for years. His Mental Power was no longer gentle water but a tsunami, a blade of ice.

It was normal that he wouldn’t notice the Black Spots.

Another thing that puzzled Ying Li was… could other high-level Guides see these Black Spots? If they could, why had he never heard of it?

After thinking for a moment, Ying Li concluded that they probably could.

But they had no shortage of food. Even if they saw it, so what?

If they wanted to eat meat, they’d just eat meat produced in the Ecological Zone. Would they take a piece of meat and painstakingly pick out Black Spots one by one?

Moreover, according to Xiang Ye, he needed Ying Li’s method of concentrating Mental Power to observe the Mutant Beast egg to see the Black Spots.

High-level Guides in Starlight City never observed ingredients like that. They only concentrated their Mental Power when performing Mental Guidance for their Sentinels.

The vast majority of high-level Guides had probably never seen a Black Spot in their entire lives.

Before this, Xiang Ye himself had never noticed any Black Spots inside the Water Chestnuts.

Of course, all this was his speculation. It was also possible Xiang Ye’s Mental Power was special, allowing him to see the spots.

Regardless, this was a good thing for them.

The method to train Mental Power was precisely to manipulate it to perform meticulous tasks.

Catching Black Spots was an exceptionally meticulous task. That meant Xiang Ye could use “catching Black Spots” to train his Mental Power and afterward obtain edible meat.

Ying Li shared all his conjectures with Xiang Ye.

Xiang Ye was incredibly excited. “So, once I catch all the Black Spots in an Mutant Beast egg, I can eat as much of it as I want without any problem, right?”

“This type of beast egg isn’t poisonous. If the Corrosive Energy scanner shows green, then you can eat as much as you want without issue,” Ying Li said, then scanned the egg Xiang Ye was holding in his arms.

The result was pleasantly surprising.

The scanner had previously shown yellow for this egg. Now it showed something between yellow and green.

Sentinels and Guides could eat more of food rated at this level without problems.

“Big Brother Ying, I’ll definitely work hard to catch the Black Spots from now on. But how do we eat these things?” Xiang Ye asked Ying Li.

Ying Li considered and then said, “From now on, I’ll take you out every day to eat privately.”

When Ying Li taught Luo Qiming and the others, he held nothing back. That was because the old him had longed for someone to teach him like that.

He had always opposed the practice of great families monopolizing knowledge.

But the ability to remove Corrosive Energy from Mutant Beast meat was Xiang Ye’s secret. He couldn’t let others know.

In that case, the only option was to take Xiang Ye out privately for special meals.

Speaking of which, Mutant Beast meat without Corrosive Energy was far more nutritious than the meat from the Ecological Zone. If Xiang Ye ate more, he might grow to be a full 1.8 meters tall.

Xiang Ye was even happier hearing Ying Li’s words!

Coming out hunting with Ying Li this time was definitely the right decision.

He got to ride on the back of Ying Li’s motorcycle during the journey, sleep in the same tent as Ying Li, and go out to eat privately with Ying Li.

This was practically a date!

Just as Xiang Ye was thinking this, a Flying Mutant Beast suddenly dive-bombed him from the sky, talons reaching for his head.

Those claws were huge, razor-sharp, and gleamed with cold light. Xiang Ye felt his skull would shatter if he were caught.

He instinctively crouched down and, following Ying Li’s teaching, unleashed his Mental Power…

The moment his Mental Power attempted to attack, it was pushed aside. Ying Li’s immense Mental Power surged forward, stabbing into the beast.

Then, the beast couldn’t even let out a dying cry before hitting the ground.

Ying Li glanced at the dead creature and said to Xiang Ye, “That was a C-Rank carnivorous beast. They say carnivore meat doesn’t taste as good as herbivore meat… Next time, I’ll see if I can catch a Mutated Chicken.”

Chicken meat was edible, so Mutated Chicken should be too.

He wondered if Mutated Chicken was tasty. Ying Li felt a craving.

The sudden appearance of this beast was terrifyingly powerful and scary. Xiang Ye had been somewhat frightened, his heartbeat accelerating involuntarily.

But seeing Ying Li complain that the beast wasn’t tasty and talk about catching Mutated Chicken, Xiang Ye suddenly wasn’t scared anymore. He just wanted to eat chicken.

Swallowing his saliva, Xiang Ye said, “Big Brother Ying, you’re incredible! Killing a C-Rank beast without breaking a sweat!”

Ying Li thought for a moment and said to Xiang Ye, “I’m currently at B-Rank, but I’m just a step away from A-Rank. I’m confident I can raise my strength to A-Rank within a year.”

Returning home wealthy without showing off is like walking in brocade robes at night.

Ying Li actually quite enjoyed letting others know his abilities. In his previous life, he never hid his strength and loved telling Wu Nian about the beasts he had killed and how his strength had improved.

He had hoped for praise, but Wu Nian thought he was bragging.

Now, unable to help himself, he showed off a bit in front of Xiang Ye.

Xiang Ye looked at Ying Li with delighted surprise. “Big Brother Ying, you’re just too amazing! It hasn’t been long since you reached B-Rank and now you’re about to reach A-Rank? I think you’re the most hardworking and most outstanding Sentinel in the Upper City District—no, in all of Starlight City!”

Ying Li felt immensely satisfied. “You’re also the most outstanding Guide in Starlight City… Xiang Ye, let me take a few photos of you?”

He didn’t usually enjoy taking photos, but right now, he wanted to take some of Xiang Ye.

“Alright!” Xiang Ye nodded.

He let Ying Li take photos of him, then took photos of Ying Li, and even pulled Ying Li into a few selfie-style group shots.

He’d already decided: he would use a photo of the two of them together as his profile picture from now on.

Their Mental Power let them know precisely which angle would produce the most perfect photo. So even though Xiang Ye was wearing oversized old clothes, Ying Li still captured him beautifully.

Xiang Ye himself was in a wonderful mood and had a brilliant smile. The joy seemed about to overflow from the photos.

The photos were excellent. After looking them over, Ying Li kept them all.

After taking the photos, Ying Li scooped Xiang Ye up in a one-armed child-carrying hold, grabbed the beast with his other hand, and bounded back towards their camp.

Back at the camp.

Watching Ying Li leave with Xiang Ye, Hu Xiangyang was surprised. “Xiang Ye wanted to go out, and Captain Ying just took him?”

Ying Li usually showed no tender care towards Xiang Ye, so Hu Xiangyang had assumed Ying Li didn’t care about him. But maybe that wasn’t the case?

“Even though Captain Ying doesn’t buy Xiang Ye new clothes and forces him to train, he’s never skimped on food and drink; he’s actually very good to him,” Luo Qiming said. “And that’s normal. Xiang Ye is a Guide after all, and a good-tempered, decent-looking one at that.”

At this moment, Shi Tai suddenly spoke up. “You all think it’s Captain Ying not buying Xiang Ye new clothes and forcing him to train, but did you ever consider that maybe Xiang Ye wants to wear Captain Ying’s old clothes and chooses to train by himself? Like this trip outside the city—it was probably Xiang Ye who insisted on coming along.”

The others paused, recalling Xiang Ye’s behavior. That might actually be true!

“So what exactly is their relationship?” Hong Mayi asked, puzzled.

“Captain Ying doesn’t have a Guide right now, and they live together. What else could it be?” Shi Tai countered.

He thought there was definitely something going on between these two.

It was just that Xiang Ye’s rank was too low, so Ying Li didn’t intend to marry him and hadn’t signed a Guardian Contract, publicly calling Xiang Ye his younger brother.

“In that case, isn’t Xiang Ye getting the short end of the stick?” Luo Qiming hesitated.