Chapter 24: Just to Humor You

Wen Li arrived at Lin Zheng's surveillance room once again.

This time, Lin Zheng was neatly dressed. The handsome Sentinel had been waiting for her arrival. Wen Li noticed how Lin Zheng seemed to change his temperament daily; today, he appeared much more normal.

Yueli was in a state where he could not be moved. Lin Zheng, however, could be, but it remained to be seen if this Sentinel was willing to stoop to such a request.

Wen Li spoke softly, "General, would you mind moving to Yueli's surveillance room?"

The snow-skinned girl stood outside the glass, her waterfall-like golden hair cascading over her shoulders, her white eyes as pure as snow. Her long, dense eyelashes trembled slightly before lowering to hide the expression in her eyes. Her attitude was impeccably polite, but this was not what Lin Zheng wanted to see. It felt as detached as their intimate embrace yesterday, which had seemed like nothing more than a performance.

Lin Zheng replied coldly, "I won't go."

Wen Li pondered for a moment. She reasoned that if the reason Lin Zheng couldn't leave was the White Tower's fear of him going berserk, perhaps performing another purification on him would stabilize him temporarily. In truth, when Angus granted Wen Li access, it signified that the White Tower's mission was already underway. Everything was prioritized around Wen Li's mission, meaning Lin Zheng was obligated to cooperate—after all, his assigned mission was of a lower rating than hers. Wen Li, however, was unaware of this.

Lin Zheng simply disliked Wen Li treating him so formally. The usually unrestrained General Lin felt awkward for the first time. Why should that giant panda beast make her act so deferential? He wanted her to smile at him; he didn't want that damn sense of distance.

Wen Li offered, "I can perform another purification for you, how about that?"

This made Lin Zheng even angrier. His bone tail lashed out, shattering the light overhead. In the dim surroundings, Wen Li could no longer see his expression clearly. Well, she retracted her previous statement—he was not normal at all! If purification didn't work, she would have to...

*Beep.* Wen Li swiped her card and entered the surveillance room. Lin Zheng sat on the edge of the bed with his back to her, his bone tail hanging down, flicking rhythmically against the floor. As light footsteps approached from behind, Lin Zheng tensed and straightened his back, waiting for Wen Li to speak. Instead, he felt a gentle touch on the top of his head.

"Good General, will you help me, please?" Wen Li stroked his silky hair as if coaxing a child.

A flash of discomfort crossed Lin Zheng's eyes, though the dim environment hid the Sentinel's reddened ears.

"What... what are you doing?"

Wen Li chuckled softly, her voice sweet as honey, melting into Lin Zheng's heart. "General, I'm trying to make you happy."

His bone tail unconsciously wrapped around Wen Li's calf, rubbing against her like a puppy. The Sentinel stammered, "I... don't need that!"

Wen Li continued to stroke his hair, "Is that so? Then I'm leaving!"

In the next moment, Lin Zheng turned and hugged Wen Li. Since Wen Li was standing and Lin Zheng's bed was quite low, the half-kneeling Sentinel pressed right against the Guide's soft...

Wen Li pushed his head away from her chest, huffing, "Pervert!"

Lin Zheng let go quickly, an ambiguous atmosphere lingering in the air. Wen Li had coaxed him and done what she needed to; if... if he still refused, she would have to...

Lin Zheng stood up first and headed for the door. "Let's go."

The mental lock on Lin Zheng's neck was now green, indicating his mental state was very stable. Wen Li patted her face to calm down; the most important moment was yet to come.

Everyone outside the surveillance room knew that the SSS+ rated Sentinel, Lin Zheng, was coming out. Many people peeked at him, pretending to work while their gazes were drawn to the two walking one after the other. Everyone was curious: had the new little "cupcake" really tamed the only SSS+ Sentinel in the Federation? Wen Li endured the baptism of their gazes all the way to their destination. Once they arrived, she hurried inside.

Lin Zheng watched this and remarked, "Not used to it yet? You have a long road ahead of you."

Wen Li opened the glass door to Yueli's room, and they entered. The youth was still sitting there, motionless. Lin Zheng walked up to him and observed him closely. He thought sourly, *He doesn't look like much. So frail, how could he protect her? This little Guide has poor taste.*

Wen Li explained the procedure to Lin Zheng, but he had a question. "Since you already performed a purification yesterday, you should know that even if I drain his mental energy, your purification effect is only temporary."

The reason Wen Li's experiment on Evelyn had been effective was because Evelyn had no pollution core in her mental sea. Draining the mental energy was meant to force the mental sea to replenish itself; during this period, no mental energy would be generated, leaving the pollution core without nourishment, thus preventing the distortion index from increasing. If Wen Li managed the dosage correctly, the purification of the pollution core would be most effective at this moment. However, as soon as Lin Zheng stopped, any mental energy Yueli produced would be absorbed by the pollution core again. It was a vicious cycle.

But Wen Li had already anticipated this. She took out a vial of pale red liquid and injected it into Yueli.

Future-tech syringes were well-sealed, and Lin Zheng couldn't smell anything. He pointed at the syringe and asked, "What is this?"

Wen Li calmly put it away and lied, "A stabilizer from the latest Federation research."

He never left his room anyway, so he certainly wouldn't know. Lin Zheng became even more curious. "Is that so? Tell me the production number, the ingredient ratio, and who the lead researcher is."

Wen Li: "..."

*Oh no, I've been caught.* She threw the question back at someone else. "Angus gave it to me."

Lin Zheng snorted. "It’s not like I can't see that stinking snake."

Wen Li remained silent, busying herself with tidying up, though she was internally terrified. *Why is Lin Zheng so chatty today?*

The Sentinel looked at the Guide, who seemed somewhat pitiful from behind, and looked away. "Just this once."

Wen Li exhaled a long breath. She removed Yueli's helmet, and Lin Zheng faced the youth, unleashing his mental energy. The youth, who had just opened his eyes thinking it was Wen Li, was locked down by the overwhelming mental force before he could react. Yueli, only an SS-rank, could not withstand a full-power strike from an SSS+ rank. Very quickly, his mental energy was drained.

Seeing the boy about to collapse, Wen Li hurried to hold him and released her mental energy to purify him. Lin Zheng glanced at them, then turned his head away, focusing on regulating the extraction. The process was long; Wen Li chose to enter the mental sea directly for purification. The originally emerald bamboo forest had been stained black, with only a small portion remaining unpolluted. There was a cave there, which Wen Li guessed was where the giant panda beast resided. This was why the pollution core and Yueli were in a state of equilibrium.

Before Yueli had completely distorted, he had bitten Wen Li and consumed quite a bit of her blood. The injection she had just given him was also her diluted blood. Since the first time she encountered a distorted entity on the battlefield, Wen Li had begun to suspect that her blood had a special attraction for Sentinels. The second time was when Yueli bit her, and her blood had awakened the dormant Lin Zheng. The third time, Wen Li secretly conducted an experiment and finally confirmed that her blood was indeed unique.