It's All Right, You Can Depend on Me Completely

Following the habits of an ability user, Yuqing instinctively raised a hand to touch the injured man's neck. Healing abilities released there would spread through his blood vessels to his entire body, healing him as quickly as possible.

But Ers had lost his reason and naturally refused to cooperate. He began struggling restlessly, leaving Yuqing no choice but to cup his face in both hands instead of touching his neck.

Ers froze. For some reason, the soft, gentle touch made him want to chase after it...

While he was dazed, Yuqing seized the opportunity and released her healing ability. But the next second, an invisible force seized her soul. Like a fallen leaf cast into a whirlpool, she was dragged violently toward an unknown abyss as the world spun around her.

When she opened her eyes again, a bone-deep chill crept up her spine.

She found herself in an extremely bizarre place, surrounded by mirrors of all shapes and sizes. Wherever she looked, a "self" stood in each mirror, looking back at her. It was oppressive and terrifying.

Yuqing walked up to a mirror and examined her reflection. Today, she had been wearing her base squad's combat-ready uniform, with camouflage paint on her face and a spray on her body to conceal her scent and keep zombies from tracking her. Yet the countless mirrors now reflected her in a white dress and delicate, light makeup... She had only worn that dress once, to the base's victory banquet two years ago.

She must have been drawn into a mental world...

Yuqing was not entirely unfamiliar with the situation. In the apocalypse, a very small number of ability users and zombie kings had awakened psychic abilities, including her best friend Yun Qi.

Psychic ability users were exceptionally powerful, capable of destroying anything with thought alone, but their abilities also had major drawbacks. Overusing them placed a tremendous burden on the brain and caused mental contamination. Yuqing had only ever been drawn into a mental world like this while treating Yun Qi.

A person's mental world was always the truest reflection of their inner self. Ers's cage full of reflections clearly concealed a heart so sensitive it was almost fragile. People like that often disguised themselves with a tough exterior to avoid being hurt by the outside world... And most such injuries were mental rather than physical.

"Ers? Are you here?" Yunqing pulled her gaze away from the mirror and slowly walked forward, passing row after row of mirrors as she carefully searched every inch. But she walked for a very, very long time, losing all sense of direction, until even her legs were growing weak with exhaustion.

"Meow~"

The soft, adorable meow startled Yunqing. She looked down at the little white kitten that had appeared in her arms at some point, then breathed a sigh of relief. She raised a hand to rub its head and asked, "Kitty, when did you follow me here?"

"Meow~" The white kitten rubbed against Yuqing's fingertips, then turned and walked to a mirror on the right. It looked back at Yuqing, and only after making sure she had followed did it raise a pink paw and touch the mirror.

The moment the cat's paw touched the mirror, ripples spread across its surface, and the paw sank into it.

"Baby, are you telling me to go in through here?" Yuqing rubbed the kitten's head and asked gently.

"Meow~" The kitten meowed, then jumped into the mirror first.

Seeing this, Yuqing hesitated no longer and stepped into the world within the mirror.

The environment inside the mirror was even worse. A wave of scorching heat hit her face, and the air was thick as boiled blood, filled with countless floating sparks that burned when they landed on her exposed skin. The obsidian ground beneath her feet was frighteningly hot, and golden-red magma periodically surged through its cracks, licking the rocks like venomous snakes flicking their tongues and hissing with a sizzle.

"Ah!" Yuqing sucked in a sharp breath as the flames burned her.

In an instinctive act of self-defense, her ability activated in an instant. A transparent protective glow surged around Yuqing, wrapping her tightly and completely shielding her from the flames outside. As she adjusted her breathing, she caught sight of a pair of lifeless purple eyes, and their gazes met.

It was Ers.

Yuqing slowly approached the young man, who seemed to have given up struggling and lost all desire to live. One step, two steps, three... Only when they were less than half a meter apart did Ers finally move.

He seemed to come back to himself then, jerking his head up, his purple eyes filled with sharp wariness. His fingers clenched around the broken stones beneath him, his knuckles so white they looked ready to split. A low, hoarse growl rose from his throat, but the threat caught there when his gaze fell on Yuqing's gentle face outside the cocoon of light.

Help me...

Beneath that defensive, aggressive posture, his scarred body trembled uncontrollably. He was like a young wolf that had once been very friendly to people, but had been hurt by humans countless times and put on a fierce front to protect itself.

"Ers, don't be afraid. I won't hurt you." Yuqing sighed softly and crouched down. She spoke extremely slowly, every word as though steeped in warm water, gently washing over Ers's taut nerves. The ferocity in his purple eyes gradually faded, but when Yuqing's hand touched his cheek, he still flinched violently, as if reacting to a trigger.

Yuqing frowned. Before the apocalypse, she had encountered psychology during her hospital residency, and Ers's reaction was so... like post-traumatic stress disorder. What on earth had he been through?

"Mmh..." Before Yuqing could figure it out, the muffled groan Ers suppressed in his throat pulled her from her thoughts. She put aside her distractions and focused entirely on her ability, only then discovering that things were more serious than he had imagined.

The forest of mirrors she had been drawn into and the magma volcano inside the mirror were not even the deepest part of Ers's mental landscape...

"Ers." Yuqing firmly cupped Ers's cheeks in both hands, then pressed her forehead against his. As she murmured soothing words, her psychic ability slowly spread across the entire mental landscape. Water ability flowed quietly around her fingertips, gradually smoothing away the agitation churning in his eyes. "It's all right, take your time... You can depend on me completely. Trust me..."

Ers's eyelashes trembled, and his clenched fists slowly loosened. His rapid breathing grew long and steady. Sensing him gradually lower the last of his defenses, Yuqing seized the opportunity to send her healing ability into Ers's mind-his true mental world, hidden beneath layer upon layer of concealment.

The instant she entered, a rending shudder mingled with indescribable excitement shot along his nerve endings and through every part of his body! His pupils contracted sharply, and an uncontrollable gasp escaped his throat.

Meanwhile, in the real world, the sentinel chained to the iron rings on the wall suddenly arched his back. His muscles bulged, and the chains snapped!

"Damn, why did Ers suddenly..."

"Quick, protect the guide!"

It all happened so suddenly. As vice captain, Shang Yu was the first to regain his composure. His right hand had already reached for the vial of blue medicine at his waist. This was the final fate of sentinels whose contamination levels exceeded the threshold-an honorable sacrifice.

Ers was their comrade who had fought at their side, the captain who had led them through life-and-death battles. As long as there was even a sliver of hope, none of them wanted to give up.

...But guides held a position above all sentinels. Even if she was a guide from an enemy nation, as sentinels who had not bonded with anyone, they had an absolute duty to protect her.