Rebirth was Ying Li’s greatest golden finger.
He knew many of the events that would transpire in Starlight City over the next decade. By leveraging these events, he could gain numerous advantages.
Boss Lin was a B-Rank Sentinel who had formed a mental bond with a Guide and had been at B-Rank for decades. His mental power was formidable and brimming with oppressive force.
But Ying Li was completely unaffected, continuing to look at Boss Lin calmly.
Boss Lin’s life was a tale that filled one with sighs and regret.
In his early years, he had been a member of a major family’s hunting team. When the team encountered danger, a member of that major family pushed him forward to shield against an Mutant Beast’s attack, costing him a leg.
Later, he built up considerable wealth through his auto repair shop, only to be targeted again.
Those great families of the Central District were very fond of having children.
If they only had one child, there was no guarantee that child would awaken as a Sentinel. Even if the child did, there was no guarantee of their talent.
And if a child’s rank wasn’t high enough, commanding respect was difficult, and inheriting the family was impossible!
A family head needed a high-ranking child to be the heir. As for the branch family members? If their child’s rank was high enough, perhaps the next family head could be their child.
In short, they tried everything to have more children.
But the more children there were, the thinner the resources spread.
Take Yu Mingwei, for instance. He was the second son of the Yu Family Head and an A-Rank Sentinel. Yet, because his mother was an ordinary woman with no background, the total he received from the Yu Family Head, aside from a fixed monthly dividend, was merely the leadership of a single hunting team.
If he weren’t so determined to find a wealthy Guide as a partner, he wouldn’t be so fixated.
If even the children of the Yu Family Head were in such a situation, the children of the branch families had it worse.
If such a child had high talent, they could find a good job within the family. But if their talent was poor, their days were quite bleak.
Of course, even their bleakest days were still far superior to those of the people in the Upper City District.
Yet many of them simply couldn’t accept it.
Their parents had high incomes, eating food produced in the Ecological Zone every day. Their siblings among them who had good talent could also enjoy the finest things day after day. But what about them?
Because their talent was too poor, they couldn’t find a good job. Their standard of living was drastically lower than the rest of their family.
This was something they found hard to accept.
Yang Lifei, the son of the Yang Family Head’s own younger brother, had very poor talent. He was a C-Rank Sentinel.
His parents had several children. His younger brother was an A-Rank Sentinel. Adding to that, Yang Lifei was uneducated, incompetent, and always causing trouble. His parents didn’t like him and gave him very little money.
Even including the dividend from the Yang Family, Yang Lifei only had eight hundred thousand credits of disposable income each month.
To the people of the Upper City District, that much money was an astronomical sum. But for Yang Lifei, it wasn’t nearly enough.
So he began to think of ways to get money.
But all the avenues for making money were already monopolized by people more capable than him. A good-for-nothing like him found it very difficult to get money.
Yang Lifei made some money through small-time schemes, but it was still not enough. It was at this point that he noticed a female Guide from a well-off family—none other than Boss Lin’s daughter.
Currently in Starlight City, ordinary people in the Upper City District and members of the great families liked having children. But those at the center of power were often rather unwilling to have children.
Especially those Sentinels who came from the Upper City District and fought tooth and nail to reach the core of power.
They couldn’t give their children much assistance and worried that if their children’s talent was poor, they would have to return to the suffocating life of the Upper City District. So, they simply didn’t have any.
Many people were like this. Ying Li himself had never considered having children.
Boss Lin was initially the same way.
He and his wife hadn’t wanted children in their early years. Later, as they grew older and their economic situation improved significantly, they began to want one.
Over a decade ago, Boss Lin and his wife had a child.
It was a girl named Lin Xinghai. She was somewhat frail at birth, but under Boss Lin’s meticulous care, she grew up healthy and even awakened as a Guide.
Although Lin Xinghai was only a D-Rank Guide, Boss Lin cherished her like a treasure.
Sadly, this girl’s fate was not good.
In Ying Li’s past life, after Yang Lifei discovered that Boss Lin’s auto repair shop generated substantial income and that he only had one daughter, he deliberately approached the still-young Lin Xinghai and coaxed her into falling in love with him.
Then, Yang Lifei pretended that his mental sea was severely damaged and he urgently needed to form a mental bond with a Guide. He requested a high-ranking Guide from the Yang Family to intervene, leading Lin Xinghai to form a mental bond with him without informing her family.
In this way, Lin Xinghai became his possession.
He took Lin Xinghai to the Central District, preventing Boss Lin from seeing his daughter. Then, using Lin Xinghai as leverage, he threatened Boss Lin and demanded money.
He also used Boss Lin to threaten Lin Xinghai, forcing her obedience and making her tell her father only good news, hiding the bad.
Seven years later, Lin Xinghai, imprisoned by Yang Lifei in his home, died during a difficult childbirth.
Yang Lifei was away at his mistress’s place and wasn’t home. Lin Xinghai had no way to contact the outside world. Eventually, she bled out and died there.
Boss Lin naturally couldn’t accept such an outcome, but the law could not help him.
Later, he found a way to lure Yang Lifei out of the city and killed him in the wilderness.
He harbored a deep-seated hatred for the Yang Family who had aided Yang Lifei and even wanted to take revenge on them. But the Yang Family was clever and quickly traced the matter back to him. As a result, he too lost his life.
Currently, Boss Lin’s daughter was only seventeen and still studying at the Guide Academy. Yet Yang Lifei was already secretly dating her.
Once she reached adulthood, Yang Lifei would immediately put his scheme into action, tricking her into forming a mental bond with him.
“Who are you? What exactly do you want?” Seeing that Ying Li showed absolutely no reaction under his mental pressure, Boss Lin felt a wariness rise in his heart.
Ying Li replied: “I truly don’t want anything bad. Let’s just talk things over.”
Boss Lin had unleashed his mental power because his daughter was his reverse scale.
But since the mental power was useless against Ying Li, he retracted it and looked at Ying Li coldly.
Ying Li recounted how Yang Lifei was deliberately getting close to Lin Xinghai: “Boss Lin, you should be able to see that I’ve hidden my true strength. That day, Yang Lifei was eating with a few other good-for-nothings from wealthy families at a restaurant in the Upper City District. I scanned the area with my mental power and overheard Yang Lifei telling someone he planned to trick your daughter into forming a mental bond with him, and then use your daughter to get your auto repair shop.”
Forming a mental bond between a Sentinel and a Guide wasn’t easy. It required mutual feelings and trust.
However, the Guide held the initiative in the bonding process. Therefore, the most critical factor was actually that the Guide had feelings for the Sentinel.
To increase the success rate, one could also request the help of a high-ranking Guide.
Yang Lifei and Lin Xinghai were both low-ranked. Forming a bond between them wasn’t difficult to begin with, and if Yang Lifei further requested a high-ranking Guide to assist, the success rate would be even higher.
Yang Lifei was from the Yang Family, his status higher than Lin Xinghai’s. But his talent was terrible, he lacked any real ability, and he even had illegitimate children long ago… He couldn’t find a Guide in the Central District at all.
Coming to the Upper City District to find a Guide was normal, but his calculating, scheming approach was going too far.
Ying Li knew that without solid proof, Boss Lin wouldn’t fully believe him. So after finishing, he shifted the topic: “Boss Lin, I have an A-Rank crystal core for sale. Are you buying?”
Boss Lin, who had been preoccupied with thoughts of his daughter, snapped back to attention upon hearing this. He looked at Ying Li in shock: “You’re an A-Rank Sentinel?”
“Yes,” Ying Li smiled.
Having been crippled and losing his leg due to the schemes of a major family member, Boss Lin held a grudge against those great families and had come to know others like himself.
They had formed an organization.
To resist those great families was impossible. What they did was secretly process some resources behind the backs of those great families.
That was why, when Ying Li came to him before with a pile of crystal cores, he had been willing to deal with them.
But now, Ying Li wanted to sell him an A-Rank crystal core!
An A-Rank crystal core! In Starlight City, practically all A-Rank crystal cores were held by those great families!
Boss Lin said: “I’ll take it.”
There was an A-Rank Sentinel in their organization, so handling an A-Rank crystal core wasn’t entirely impossible.
The main point was that buying an A-Rank crystal core for one million credits meant he could make a lot of money.
As for his daughter, the moment he returned to the city, he would definitely investigate thoroughly!
Boss Lin had always hoped his daughter would find a partner—a Sentinel with good character and a stable job in the Underground City. He would save up as much money as possible for her. Then, his daughter could naturally live a peaceful, smooth life.
If she got entangled with someone from those great families, there was no guarantee he could protect her!
Ying Li left his truck, along with the materials inside it, all with Boss Lin, asking Boss Lin to use those materials to modify his truck.
Additionally, he sold one A-Rank crystal core to Boss Lin in exchange for one million credit points, which were transferred directly into Xiang Ye’s account.
Xiang Ye looked at that A-Rank crystal core with some reluctance.
This was a gift Ying Li had given him!
But once he followed Ying Li into the city and connected to the wireless network, he had no time to dwell on that crystal core.
His communication terminal kept buzzing ceaselessly. Many people were asking him about conditions in the wilderness. The Guide Academy was also asking him to visit the academy once more.
Xiang Ye was busy replying to messages.
He had agreed to the Guide Academy’s request not to post on his public Moments feed. But privately messaging photos of the wilderness scenery to his friends—that was no problem!
Xiang Ye even showed off to the Guide Academy teacher who messaged him: “This time outside the city, Ying Li took me to see even more scenery!”
“Teacher, I’ve gotten fatter again! I’m worried I’ll turn into a giant fatty, but Ying Li says he likes me a bit plump.”
“Ying Li looks so incredibly handsome when he’s killing Mutant Beasts!”
…
Ying Li, laden with large and small bags, entered the city alongside Xiang Ye, who was busy looking down and replying to messages.
Inside his bundles were their clothes and daily necessities, as well as dried meat and lard.
Thinking about those supplies put Ying Li in a very good mood.
He shifted the duffel bag in his left hand, hanging it around his neck, freeing up a hand to pull Xiang Ye along: “Watch where you’re going, don’t trip.”
“Mhm mhm.” Xiang Ye nodded. He came to Ying Li’s side and looked up ahead.
At that glance, he saw Wu Nian.
Xiang Ye subconsciously straightened his posture, wanting to tidy up his appearance. But he had just come back from the wilderness. Though he hadn’t suffered hardship and his complexion was rosy, his clothes were dusty and dirty, and his long-unwashed hair was greasy.
Standing next to the impeccably dressed Wu Nian, Wu Nian was like a white swan, while he was an ugly duckling.
Anxiety rose in Xiang Ye’s heart. He instinctively looked at Ying Li beside him.
He feared nothing else, only that Ying Li would dislike him like this.
But with this one look, Xiang Ye felt gleeful.
The average-quality combat suit Ying Li wore had tears in it, and he was carrying several hundred jin of gear. Because he’d worn a helmet the entire time in the wilderness, his hair was pressed into a strange shape, and his face was tanned unevenly.
Ying Li looked even more disheveled than he did! He definitely wouldn’t be disgusted by him, so it was fine!
Thinking this, Xiang Ye looked back at Wu Nian. Then he noticed that Wu Nian’s eyes were full of disdain for them. The man beside Wu Nian was the same.
That man was even scanning them with his mental power!
How terribly rude! Xiang Ye was very displeased.
Ying Li, however, remained very calm. Methodically, he used his mental power to conceal the things he was carrying that he didn’t want Yu Mingwei to see.
He hadn’t expected that Wu Nian would get to know Yu Mingwei even earlier than in their past life.
