Sentinels possess immense mental power, and correspondingly, their memory is exceptional.
For ordinary people, a photographic memory is incredibly difficult, but for Sentinels, it’s simple.
Even the lowest-ranked E-Rank Sentinel can achieve perfect recall.
Therefore, Ying Li never forgot a face he had seen, as long as he had wanted to remember it.
On this day in his last life, he had tossed down a box of Nutrient Paste and hurried off without paying attention to the child’s face. The only thing he remembered were those arms, thin as bamboo stalks.
But he remembered the face of that Dark Guide with perfect clarity.
That Dark Guide was called Xiang Ye. After Xiang Ye killed many members of the Shen Family’s Sentinels, the Underground City issued a wanted order for him, complete with his photograph on the wanted poster.
Ying Li saw the wanted poster the moment it was released and memorized Xiang Ye’s appearance.
By then, he was already an A-Rank Sentinel. Because he was close to the Yu Family, he had gained some understanding of the dirty dealings of those great families.
The official notice from the Underground City claimed Xiang Ye was an extremist who took pleasure in torturing Sentinels. However, according to the information he had gathered privately, Xiang Ye targeted the Shen Family because they had captured him for human experimentation.
Both Sentinels and Guides awaken at a very young age. Almost no one awakens after their physical development is complete.
After awakening, as they go through puberty, they gain full control of their mental power. Their bodies also undergo some changes, becoming different from ordinary humans.
But Xiang Ye was the only Guide in Starlight City to awaken as an adult. It was said he was already twenty years old when he awakened.
Other Guides, at the very latest, awakened by the age of fifteen!
Not only had he awakened exceptionally late, but Xiang Ye was a B-Rank Guide right from the start!
Someone like this naturally drew attention. The Shen Family suspected he must have had some extraordinary opportunity that allowed him to transform from an ordinary person into a Guide.
Among the great families of Starlight City, most of their descendants can awaken as Sentinels or Guides. But out of every ten, there are always two or three who fail to awaken.
So, they had been constantly searching for a way to turn ordinary people into Sentinels and Guides.
Among them, the Shen Family’s research was the most deranged.
The Shen Family wanted to find the secret to evolving ordinary people into Sentinels and Guides from Xiang Ye’s biology. They arranged for an A-Rank Sentinel to get close to him, lured him back to the Shen Family compound with lies, and then imprisoned him, subjecting him to all manner of experiments.
Xiang Ye was held captive by them for several years, but they yielded no results. Later, several of the Shen Family’s Sentinels were mind-controlled by Xiang Ye, who then used them to go on a killing spree within the Shen Family grounds.
In Ying Li’s view, Xiang Ye hadn’t done anything terribly wrong. If he were Xiang Ye, he might have gone even further.
So, even though capturing Xiang Ye would earn a rich bounty, he had never considered hunting him down for the reward in his last life.
Various thoughts flashed through his mind, but Ying Li’s gaze remained fixed on Xiang Ye’s face.
Xiang Ye was incredibly thin. Even his face lacked any flesh, making his eyes appear especially large.
In his last life, that’s exactly how Xiang Ye looked in his wanted poster photo. It was how Ying Li saw him when they encountered each other in the wild. He hadn’t expected he would still look like this ten years earlier.
Had this person never once had a full meal?
Just as Ying Li was thinking this, he watched Xiang Ye take the Nutrient Paste from his hand. Ripping open a box, Xiang Ye buried his face in it and devoured it in large mouthfuls.
“How long has it been since you last ate?” Ying Li couldn’t help but ask.
Hearing the question, Xiang Ye glanced up at Ying Li briefly, but didn’t answer.
He had turned eighteen, the age of adulthood, a month ago. After coming of age, he couldn’t find a suitable job due to physical reasons. Since then, he had been constantly starving.
Before reaching adulthood, the government didn’t provide much food, but at least there were three boxes of Nutrient Paste a day. What about after becoming an adult? Now, he didn’t even get one box a day.
Today, he had finally found a job cleaning walls. He had worked hard all morning to earn a few Credit Points and bought a box of Nutrient Paste. But before he could eat it, it was stolen from him.
Pushed to the ground by a few kids, he had even felt like he didn’t want to go on living.
He didn’t know what was wrong with him. For as long as he could remember, his appetite had always been larger than others’.
When his peers were full from eating half a box of Nutrient Paste, he could eat a whole box and still not feel full.
Because he ate too much, his parents abandoned him when he was three years old. He grew up in an orphanage.
And because he ate too much, none of the other children at the orphanage liked him.
Even though he had never stolen anyone’s food, they still detested him.
He had no friends. No one cared about him. He was never full, constantly plagued by hunger… Living was agony. He didn’t know why he kept on living.
And then, this person in front of him had given him a few boxes of Nutrient Paste.
Once he had food, all he wanted to do was eat. He had no time to dwell on thoughts of life or death.
Towards this person who had given him food, a spontaneous feeling of goodwill surged within him.
Food was an incredibly precious thing. No one had ever given him food before.
After devouring one box of Nutrient Paste at lightning speed, licking even the container spotlessly clean, Xiang Ye felt that the gnawing, scratchy hunger coming from deep inside his body had finally eased a little.
He raised his head again to look at the kind stranger who had given him the nutrient paste.
He was a young man who seemed to be in his twenties, very handsome, tall and thin.
There were very few fat people in the Underground City; most were thin. And the person in front of him was even thinner than average by a noticeable margin.
Of course, he was still a bit plumper than Xiang Ye.
Not only was this person thin, but his clothes were a bit old. His skin was rough, and his hair was a little long…
Xiang Ye figured the other person was an ordinary guy, probably someone like him who had just reached adulthood recently and was struggling to support himself.
“Thank you,” Xiang Ye said quietly. “Let’s exchange contact details. I’ll pay you back later.”
The Nutrient Paste in his hand was the cheapest kind, but still cost ten Credit Points per box.
This man had given him four boxes, which meant forty Credit Points.
These days, he drifted around doing odd jobs. Even a whole day’s work might not earn him forty Credit Points. To ordinary people like them, forty Credit Points was a considerable sum of money.
For all he knew, this was the man’s food supply for the next two days.
Thinking of this, Xiang Ye hastily held out the three boxes of Nutrient Paste he hadn’t touched yet. “Eating one box is enough for me.”
Although Xiang Ye said one box was enough, Ying Li could see the desire for food in his eyes.
Xiang Ye, looking like this, was clearly still hungry.
Ying Li thought of the gnawing hunger he himself had endured a few days ago and pushed the three boxes back toward him. “These are all for you. Have some more.”
Normally, Xiang Ye was very capable of enduring hunger.
But that was when he had no food to eat and had no choice but to endure.
Now, however, food was right in front of him.
He swallowed hard and couldn’t resist opening another box to eat.
After finishing the second box of Nutrient Paste, Xiang Ye’s stomach bulged slightly, but he still wanted to eat more.
Ying Li noticed this too. “Eat some more. If it’s still not enough when you’re done, I’ll take you to buy more.”
Xiang Ye froze upon hearing this, then looked at Ying Li with astonishment.
Seeing Ying Li’s completely serious expression, the rims of his eyes reddened slightly. He opened the third box of Nutrient Paste.
It wasn’t until he had finished all four boxes that Xiang Ye finally felt full.
Before reaching adulthood, the government provided him with free food and water. But his daily food rations were only three boxes of Nutrient Paste.
The orphanage wouldn’t even give it to him all at once, distributing it three separate times.
He had never experienced eating four boxes of Nutrient Paste in one sitting. This was the first time in his memory that he had ever felt truly full.
A feeling of total comfort washed over Xiang Ye. It felt wonderful.
He suddenly had energy. He felt he could go find a good job, work hard to earn money, and then pay back the Credit Points to this person in front of him.
“Are you full?” Ying Li asked.
Xiang Ye nodded. “Full.”
Ying Li smiled. “Good, glad you’re full. How about coming home with me? I’m short on someone to help clean the house and cook. You can do the housework for me, and I’ll provide you with food. What do you say?”
In the Underground City, almost all Sentinels hired people to handle household chores and cooking at home. After all, labor was very cheap.
Hiring a part-time housekeeper by the hour cost only ten Credit Points. If your standards weren’t too high and you hired minors or the elderly, it could be as cheap as five Credit Points an hour.
His own place was tiny. He originally hadn’t planned on hiring anyone. But after meeting Xiang Ye, he thought hiring Xiang Ye to help out at his place was also a viable option.
It could be seen as building a good connection.
After all, in just a few more years, Xiang Ye would become the most powerful Guide in all of Starlight City.
