Yu Yan had agreed, but that didn’t mean You Fuzhou was in such a rush that he wanted to drag him off to find Rong Yao right then and there.
Instead, he told Yu Yan to go back and rest first. Once he was well rested, he could come find him again.
“You can think it over some more, too.”
You Fuzhou added, “Because this could be dangerous for you. It’s not your only value, and it’s not your duty. Don’t do it just because I gave the nod.”
The matter was truly risky, so You Fuzhou hoped even more that whoever helped Rong Yao would do so of their own free will, unbound by any obligations.
Yu Yan sighed softly to himself. After a moment’s thought, he came up with a perfect excuse—one that wouldn’t shatter his persona right away and might just convince You Fuzhou to let him help. “I belong to you. You’re my Sentinel… but you treat me differently from those others. I can feel it.”
He let a touch of bewilderment and confusion flicker across his face, then asked You Fuzhou, “If I help you, will it change my place in your heart?”
You Fuzhou nodded candidly. “You’ll be my benefactor. Any request you make, as long as it doesn’t cross my bottom line, I’ll do it for you.”
The words came out flat, without much inflection, but Yu Yan could sense the sincerity in You Fuzhou’s mental fluctuations.
He knew You Fuzhou was a man of his word.
Still so young…
No wonder the Freedom Alliance was using him as a tool.
Yu Yan sighed lightly.
He didn’t ask You Fuzhou, “In that case, why can’t you accept that I’m just repaying your kindness?” He knew the answer without asking: “You’re lacking a sense of self… I can tell you don’t even know where your own bottom line is.”
Yes.
That was the persona Yu Yan had only recently crafted for himself…
He’d meant it as a pity play.
But he’d ended up trapping himself.
In the end, You Fuzhou was different from most high-level Sentinels Yu Yan had encountered before.
And he’d originally planned to start with sympathy, to draw more of You Fuzhou’s attention and care, paving the way to stay by his side naturally. He hadn’t expected that You Fuzhou already had reasons for him to stick around.
So now Yu Yan said, “If this means I’ll hold an important place in your heart… that’s a good thing for me.”
He shifted tactics, emphasizing the benefit he stood to gain.
He knew You Fuzhou’s respect didn’t mean forcing his ideals on others. So when it came to something Yu Yan saw as vital—carving out a spot in his heart—You Fuzhou wouldn’t object.
Because everyone sought different things.
Some craved power, while others longed for love.
Forcing someone who wanted love to chase bread instead—that wasn’t true freedom. It was just selfish libertarianism.
You Fuzhou, at most…
Yu Yan watched as he cleared his throat awkwardly, his mental fluctuations and the faint pink at his ears betraying his embarrassment. This young Sentinel was a little shy.
…Such thin skin.
Yu Yan thought.
Teasing him like this would be adorable.
After that, they didn’t say much more. You Fuzhou walked Yu Yan back to his room, and Yu Yan didn’t refuse.
But as You Fuzhou turned to leave, Yu Yan softly said, “Good night.”
You Fuzhou paused, then flushed again.
Yu Yan—who truly hadn’t meant to this time—thought: “…”
Was he really this easy to fluster?
A Sentinel like You Fuzhou should be incredibly popular by rights… There had to be people dying to flirt with him.
Even so, You Fuzhou politely replied, “…Good night.”
His voice was low and soft. Yu Yan curved his eyes in a smile, his expression utterly different from before, leaving You Fuzhou momentarily stunned.
As he walked away, You Fuzhou couldn’t stop thinking…
Yu Yan… was truly stunning.
The kind of beauty that left a man speechless.
He was a little curious what Yu Yan’s Spiritual Body must be like to match such a presence—but asking a Guide about their Spiritual Body when they preferred to keep it hidden felt like prying…
You Fuzhou shook his head. Instead of heading to the training room, he went back to his quarters to sleep.
For once, he felt truly relaxed, so of course he prioritized a good night’s rest.
Perhaps because no one had performed Spiritual Guidance on him in so long, or maybe for other reasons, You Fuzhou dreamed of Yu Yan that night.
Nothing out of the ordinary—just Yu Yan, looking serene and peaceful, sitting beside him on a vast grassland, their backs against the White Lion…
That simple dream had him waking up with a slow curse under his breath, his ears burning red.
How could he!
How could he have such thoughts about a Guide he’d just met…!
Anyone who didn’t know better would think he’d had some scandalous dream.
You Fuzhou felt like he couldn’t face Yu Yan for a while. But then he sensed someone standing outside his door—no sound, but an S-Class Sentinel’s senses went beyond normal comprehension.
He sighed lowly, figuring it was probably Yu Yan. No helping it. After washing up and splashing cold water on his face, he opened the door.
You Fuzhou had never been one to fuss over his appearance, so he didn’t notice how the water had dampened his collar a bit.
He wore a simple white T-shirt; the dampness wasn’t enough to show through. But the droplets on his neck and the bit of collarbone peeking out, combined with the wet hem of his collar and his damp forelock, made him look even younger—hazy and fresh, like morning dew.
The lingering pink in his ears amplified his pure, youthful aura, making Yu Yan feel like a shy high school boy stood before him.
The kind where a crook of the finger could have him stripping off his pants…
Even the Suppressor made You Fuzhou look more obedient…
Yu Yan felt no guilt as he subtly released a thread of mental energy to relax You Fuzhou, smiling warmly. “Good morning.”
You Fuzhou cleared his throat. “…Morning.”
Seeing that face—the one that stole his breath—reminded him of last night’s dream. All of Yu Yan’s lack of guilt now weighed on You Fuzhou. “You don’t need to use your mental energy on me… Last night’s Shallow Guidance made me feel great.”
“A little mental energy is fine.”
Yu Yan was surprised by his perceptiveness but kept his composure. “One Shallow Guidance won’t fully heal your state. If you don’t want Deep Guidance, the best thing is steady, ongoing sessions like this… Otherwise…”
His voice softened. “If your sister comes back and finds you’re gone, she’ll be heartbroken too, won’t she?”
Yu Yan knew exactly how to twist the knife.
A single sentence struck at the softest spot in You Fuzhou’s heart.
He didn’t know You Fuzhou and Rong Yao’s history or why no records showed their connection. But even without that knowledge, he effortlessly pinpointed You Fuzhou’s greatest weakness—the very soft spot that let him yield again and again.
“…You’re right.”
You Fuzhou took a deep breath. “If it’s not too much trouble… thank you.”
Yu Yan’s tone warmed. “It’s no trouble at all. I’m glad to help.”
You Fuzhou hesitated, wanting to say more but ultimately just thanking him solemnly again. Then he asked if Yu Yan had eaten breakfast.
Yu Yan said no, so You Fuzhou led the way. “Let’s eat first.”
Yu Yan could sense You Fuzhou’s mind had settled into calm.
Rong Yao’s situation mattered deeply to him, but he wasn’t one to rush headlong. He’d told him last night to sleep well first, and now he was insisting on breakfast…
A twenty-year-old who could stay this composed— no wonder he had so many followers.
If You Fuzhou had a few more years to mature, he’d make an outstanding Leader.
A flicker of calculation passed through Yu Yan’s eyes.
The cafeteria had a few people at this hour. They didn’t chat much on the way—You Fuzhou wasn’t great at small talk unless someone else started, and with Yu Yan walking quietly beside him, they simply proceeded in silence.
Once they arrived, someone spotted You Fuzhou from afar and called out, “Boss!”
Seeing Yu Yan standing quietly at his side in his clothes—not Ye Songhua for once—their eyes lit up. “Mr. Yu! Good morning!”
Yu Yan didn’t hide behind You Fuzhou. He just offered a shy, shallow smile.
You Fuzhou nodded and sat, pulling up the electronic menu on the table. “See what you want to eat.”
This warship was top-tier, complete with AI cafeterias.
The AI setups relied on cooking robots for round-the-clock service, no need for shifts. Modern bots could even mimic the wok hei of human cooking—more consistent than chefs, who sometimes flubbed it.
Yu Yan said he wasn’t picky and would eat anything. Unsure if it was politeness, You Fuzhou ordered for him anyway: pan-fried buns, lean pork congee, steamed siu mai, and stir-fried beef ho fun. Then he got the same for himself.
You Fuzhou added, “If you don’t like any of it, give it to me and order something else.”
He paused. “No need to stand on ceremony.”
Yu Yan gazed at You Fuzhou across from him, committing the items to memory. “I’m not. I really am not picky.”
He lowered his eyes slightly and said softly, “Back when I was a kid, finding a steamed bun in the trash could make me happy for half a month.”
You Fuzhou froze.
He hadn’t pegged Yu Yan as a slum kid… Not out of prejudice, but high-level Sentinels and Guides tended to cluster in the upper echelons due to genetics these days.
You Fuzhou came from an excellent background. Without the upheaval in his family, none of the troubles that followed would have happened. He wasn’t even sure that, if he’d grown up in such an environment, he wouldn’t have turned into the exact kind of person he now despised most.
Nanzi was just a genetic lottery winner—a C-Class Sentinel, which counted as high among orphans. His standout hacking skills didn’t mean his rank was anything special.
The A-Class Ye Songhua hailed from the Ye Family, one of the top clans on Ares Planet. On Ares, there was only one Ye Family.
It all boiled down to genetic monopoly.
Empires endured in the interstellar age precisely because the elite hoarded superior genes.
Members of the great families and the Royal Family intermarried, carefully skirting three generations of close blood ties to guarantee offspring with exceptional Sentinel or Guide potential.
Among the common populace, the odds of birthing a Sentinel or Guide were less than one in a thousand. Most people were neither—just ordinary humans.
Even in those families, the drivers and gardeners were Sentinels or Guides.
They lorded over ordinary folk from their lofty perches, seldom mingling with non-Sentinels or Guides. Plenty of people from those bloodlines went to their graves without exchanging a single word with a commoner.
So even if infidelity or thrill-seeking crept in, any “seed” sown still came from Sentinel-Guide pairings. It never upset their precious “genetic order.”
The Yashe Empire, first to champion this genetic order, enforced it with ironclad rigor. S-Class and A-Class talents clustered at the pyramid’s peak, nestled within the Royal Family and its loyal great clans. Now and then, a genetic lottery miracle popped up from the lower strata, only to be swiftly elevated—surname changed, showered with benefits so generous the family had no grounds for complaint—folding that A-Class talent into the Royal Family or a great clan.
That explained You Fuzhou’s flicker of surprise. After weighing his words, he finally asked, “You… grew up in the slums?”
Yu Yan nodded faintly. “You could say that. From what I remember, that’s where I was raised. My foster parents warned me never to let anyone know I was a Guide—or even suspect it.”
Yu Yan knew full well how a tragic backstory paired with his face could rack up sympathy points. And he wasn’t making it up; it was all true, just with a few details glossed over. “But not long after my foster parents died, because of this face…”
He lowered his gaze, his voice soft. “I accidentally revealed I was a Guide. They took me away. I escaped eventually, but then it was nothing but running, getting caught, breaking free… only to get caught again.”
All true. Except Yu Yan’s “captures” weren’t accidents—they were deliberate.
Yu Yan met You Fuzhou’s eyes. “Guides develop slower than Sentinels. We don’t fully ‘mature’ until around twenty-five. Since I’m S-Class, they recognized my value. No one’s ever touched me. I’m clean.”
He repeated softly, directly to You Fuzhou, “No one’s ever touched me.”
You Fuzhou blinked, caught off guard by why Yu Yan would share that with him. “…”
He assumed Yu Yan was deeply hung up on his purity. After a moment’s thought, he replied, “I get it. But honestly, you don’t need to dwell on it. Anyone worth your time won’t care about your past. They won’t judge you or score you on it.”
He paused, then flashed Yu Yan a grin. That face—raw with wildness, etched with defiance—suddenly bloomed with sunlight. It was blinding, like the sun scorching across an open plain, radiating warmth that made you want to dive right in. “But if anyone messes with you, tell me. I’ll smash their skull in for you.”
Yu Yan paused, then let out a low chuckle. “Even if it’s the Empire’s King?”
You Fuzhou shot back without a second thought. “What’s a king to me? It’s not like I haven’t scrapped with one before. You want to kill Yashe Empire’s King?”
He asked with utter seriousness laced with nonchalance—serious because he’d honor Yu Yan’s answer, nonchalant because he held those people in true contempt.
The instant Yu Yan nodded, You Fuzhou declared, “We’ll map out a plan later. Let’s take him out early.”
In that moment, a hint of his Sentinel’s rugged edge surfaced. “You want his head? I can hack it off and tote it back for you to mess around with.”
Yu Yan: “…”
Who the hell had turned a perfectly good man into a bandit chief?
He smiled tenderly. “No need. Hanging it from their palace walls would look so much better.”
You Fuzhou considered it. “Fair point.”
And just like that, they were in sync—once the heat died down, they’d lop off the King’s head and string it up on the palace as a lucky charm.
~~~
This had to be the most tragic framing job a weather doll had ever endured.
