Ying Li did not leave camp the next day.
He had sold some vine sap to Ding Hua the day before and traded it for a lot of crystal cores. With plenty of money now, he simply decided to stay at camp.
He sent Luo Qiming and the other three out to hunt, then stayed behind to discuss methods of using mental power with Xiang Ye.
After their talk, he added a word of caution: “Xiang Ye, when you’re clearing the black spots out of the Mutant Beast meat, never exhaust your mental power.”
“Alright.” Xiang Ye agreed immediately and got to work.
Each time, he only used half his mental power to clean the black spots from the dried meat. After finishing, he immediately drank a small mouthful of vine sap to let his mental power quickly recover.
Once his mental power was nearly restored, he would proceed with the next cleaning session, cycling through the process repeatedly.
While doing this, Xiang Ye was extremely serious. He wanted to become stronger!
He wanted a life where he would never go hungry again, where no one would bully him. He also wanted to permanently occupy the spot beside Ying Li.
He had to become stronger!
Ying Li watched Xiang Ye for a while. Seeing Xiang Ye practicing so earnestly, he began to organize the several hundred jin of dried meat he had brought back two days ago.
Using his mental power, he separated the dried meat into two piles.
The perfectly roasted pieces went into one pile; the slightly burnt or undercooked pieces went into another.
The former he kept for himself. The latter, he would find time to deliver to Freedom City and sell to Ding Hua.
He would have to give her a few words of caution then, telling her to only share the meat with her trusted confidants and not let anyone else eat it.
This was the meat of an A-Rank Mutant Beast!
Ying Li could feel that eating this meat was beneficial for his body, making him stronger and more robust.
The sorting didn’t take too long. Once done, Ying Li began practicing the various combat techniques he had learned in his last life.
He needed to reach S-Rank as soon as possible!
While Ying Li and Xiang Ye were striving to become stronger, in Starlight City, Yu Mingwei had already thoroughly investigated Wu Nian’s background.
In his view, Wu Nian was an ordinary Guide, plain to the point of being utterly unremarkable. The man was delicate, loved fine clothes and luxury, and adored gourmet delicacies… a perfect fit for the public’s stereotype of a Guide.
Most importantly, Wu Nian had never been to the Central District, nor did he know anyone from there.
A person like that, by all logic, couldn’t possibly know him. Yet, from the way Wu Nian treated him, Wu Nian did know him! He was even very familiar with him.
What exactly was going on?
While investigating Wu Nian, Yu Mingwei also noticed another person: Ying Li.
A B-Rank Sentinel who had climbed up from the bottom.
Yu Mingwei was quite interested in Ying Li. He could never inherit the Yu Family, but his father was somewhat fond of him, so he had been given a hunting team to manage.
As the head of a hunting team, he could squeeze a lot of profit out of it.
Because of this, Yu Mingwei was wholeheartedly focused on making this hunting team successful.
And to make a hunting team successful, suitable members were needed.
The great families of the Central District each possessed more than one hunting team. The recruits these teams coveted most were B-Rank or A-Rank Sentinels from the Upper City District.
In wilderness hunts, combat prowess wasn’t always the deciding factor. The key was whether one dared to charge forward.
A fearless B-Rank Sentinel with hunting experience could single-handedly kill a B-Rank Mutant Beast.
But a cowardly B-Rank Sentinel might not even be able to defeat a C-Rank Mutant Beast; he would only flee.
And the Sentinels of the Upper City District were notoriously fearless.
Although Yu Mingwei had taken over the hunting team, its members didn’t listen to him. So, he planned to train some of his own confidants and insert them into the team.
As for where to find confidants… he would definitely look in the Upper City District!
Lately, Yu Mingwei frequently went to the Upper City District. Partly it was for romantic pursuits, but he also intended to pick a few suitable Sentinels there and have them join his squad.
This Ying Li fit his requirements perfectly.
However, he still hadn’t figured out Wu Nian’s situation, so he couldn’t approach Ying Li for negotiations yet.
Wu Nian, huh… Yu Mingwei decided he would have a proper talk with Wu Nian. Getting to the bottom of Wu Nian’s secrets was best, but if he couldn’t figure it out, he’d find a few people and subject Wu Nian to some intense interrogation.
The Underground City was crawling with surveillance, but there were no cameras inside private residences.
Find any random excuse to trick Wu Nian into his house and take away Wu Nian’s communication terminal. After that, no matter what he did to Wu Nian, Wu Nian would have no way to resist!
Deciding he wouldn’t play along with Wu Nian’s games anymore, Yu Mingwei brought Wu Nian to his residence in the Upper City District that very day.
Space in the Upper City District was worth its weight in gold, yet this apartment was a full 120 square meters—the living room alone was forty or fifty square meters.
Most people from the Upper City District would be stunned upon entering such a place, looking around in awe. But Wu Nian walked in without the slightest reaction.
In his past life, he’d been in the Central District and had seen much finer homes. Even Ying Li, at his request, had rented him an apartment this large.
Right now, Wu Nian had no mind to look at the apartment. What concerned him most was still his Guide rank.
If his rank didn’t improve soon, would Yu Mingwei refuse to take him to the Central District?
Even though Yu Mingwei liked him, people from the Yu Family were snobs who looked down on others.
Yu Mingwei’s own brother even looked down on Yu Mingwei himself.
Seeing Wu Nian’s complete lack of surprise at his apartment made Yu Mingwei even more suspicious. “Wu Nian, you’re very familiar with me. You knew me before, didn’t you?”
He smiled as he spoke, but his eyes were cold.
Yu Mingwei was prepared for Wu Nian to deny everything. He never expected that in the very next second, Wu Nian would say: “Yu Mingwei, I’ve been reborn!”
Wu Nian felt he couldn’t handle the current situation. Since that was the case, he might as well tell Yu Mingwei outright and let him deal with it.
He had planned to tell Yu Mingwei about the beast tide anyway.
For Wu Nian, the beast tide was his nightmare. What he feared most was the beast tide.
By telling Yu Mingwei about it early, perhaps Yu Mingwei could stop the beast tide from happening. Even if he couldn’t prevent it, at least he could arrange for them to flee early.
Yu Mingwei had already arranged people to torture Wu Nian, but then Wu Nian voluntarily confessed, revealing such a monumental secret.
Rebirth? Such a thing could actually happen?
Yu Mingwei suppressed the chill in his eyes and looked at Wu Nian with a face full of shock.
Wu Nian hadn’t noticed anything amiss with Yu Mingwei at all. Once he spoke the words “reborn,” he just kept going.
However, he didn’t recount every single detail of his past life.
He certainly didn’t intend to say much about Ying Li.
“In our past life, at this exact time, we met in the Upper City District. It was love at first sight for you…”
In Wu Nian’s description, Yu Mingwei fell in love with him at first sight, treated him exceptionally well, and brought him to the Central District. Later, his Guide rank rose, and the two became a couple.
Basically, everything went smoothly… until the beast tide appeared.
They had died together in the beast tide. And then, Wu Nian was reborn.
At first, Yu Mingwei thought Wu Nian was spinning a wild tale.
Him? Fall in love with Wu Nian at first sight? Bring Wu Nian to the Central District? How could that even be possible!
A Guide like Wu Nian wasn’t worthy of him at all.
So, he began casually asking some questions.
And through these questions, Yu Mingwei discovered that Wu Nian was deeply familiar with the Central District, even with the inner workings of the Yu Family.
If he hadn’t been involved with Wu Nian, there was no way Wu Nian could know these things.
So… he really did end up with Wu Nian?
It wasn’t entirely impossible. If Wu Nian possessed something he desired, Yu Mingwei wouldn’t have minded pretending to be deeply affectionate and loyal.
As for what he might desire from Wu Nian… Given that Wu Nian could continuously rise from D-Rank to B-Rank, perhaps he could even reach A-Rank!
Would forming a mental bond with such a Guide allow his own mental power rank to increase?
However, what Wu Nian said couldn’t be entirely true. There was one person missing from Wu Nian’s story: that Ying Li.
Earlier, he had been puzzled, not understanding why Wu Nian rejected Ying Li’s confession. Now he understood.
Wu Nian had been reborn, so naturally, he looked down on Ying Li.
Yu Mingwei softened his expression, coaxed Wu Nian for a while, and then said: “Wu Nian, I really did fall for you at first sight. So, I had someone look into your background and learned about this Ying Li… In our past life, what happened to him?”
Wu Nian didn’t want to bring up Ying Li in front of Yu Mingwei, but since Yu Mingwei had mentioned him… Wu Nian said: “In our past life, he joined the Yu Family’s hunting team. Didn’t do much else.”
Yu Mingwei pressed for more details. Although Wu Nian was vague, Yu Mingwei managed to piece together the general story.
In his past life, he came to the Upper City District, met Wu Nian, and then the two had contact.
At that time, Wu Nian probably already chose Ying Li as his Guardian. Recognizing Ying Li’s skills, he would bring Ying Li to the Central District and have him join his hunting team.
Wu Nian likely followed Ying Li to the Central District.
And later… Wu Nian’s rank kept rising, catching his attention. Then, he became involved with Wu Nian.
From the fact that Wu Nian could describe the Yu Family’s compound layout, Yu Mingwei deduced that he must have been serious about Wu Nian.
Of course, he was serious! Not only did Wu Nian’s rank continuously improve, but the man could even be reborn! This person was extraordinarily special!
Just a short while ago, Yu Mingwei had been planning to torture Wu Nian. Now, all he wanted was to build a good relationship with him. Best of all, he might be able to uncover the reason Wu Nian was so special.
A prized opportunity like rebirth… why would Heaven grant it to a foolish Guide and not to him?
Once they had their “honest” talk, Yu Mingwei treated Wu Nian even better.
Wu Nian also held absolutely nothing back from him, spilling many things about the future.
As a Guide, Wu Nian couldn’t remember every single thing like a Sentinel could. But he remembered the major events clearly. He especially knew all the gossip swirling around the major families of Center City.
This information was all useful to Yu Mingwei. He could use it to show the Yu Family what he was capable of.
Maybe then, he could even inherit the Yu Family!
After all, Heaven had delivered a reborn person right to his doorstep!
Initially, Yu Mingwei had wanted to recruit Ying Li. But after hearing Wu Nian’s tale, that idea vanished completely.
Wu Nian’s utter disdain for Ying Li after rebirth had to be because Ying Li never amounted to anything in their past life.
