Handsome Men Are the Perfect Side Dish

He had underestimated that damn snake!

Chi Ming was usually so quiet and unsmiling that Wu Xi had thought he knew nothing about such things.

Who would have thought that he would not only trick the guide into coming to his territory with a few words, but also copy those low-level fellows and start posing and preening!

Disgusting! Shameless!

Wu Xi was so furious his lungs were about to burst. He hurried after Xin Lan, who had already been led away by Chi Ming, desperate to win her back.

"Miss Guide, I can take my clothes off for you too. My skin is paler than his everywhere."

Speaking of pale, Wu Xi really was the palest handsome man Xin Lan had ever seen.

And his pecs weren't small. They should be quite a sight too.

"All right, you can both do it later."

Handsome men would be the perfect side dish for her meal, good for the appetite.

Xin Lan didn't play favorites. Anyone who wanted to show off was welcome to do so for her.

Either way, she had nothing to lose.

The floors of the Sentinel Tower were assigned by rank. Lower-level sentinels couldn't enter the floors belonging to higher-level sentinels. Those below SS-rank lived in shared dormitories, while SSS-rank sentinels could have private rooms. Sentinels of deputy commander rank and above could even own an entire floor.

As the commander of the South Tower, Chi Ming owned the entire 88th floor.

It had every room and facility one could need, including a gym, bedroom, bathroom, and kitchen. The entire floor was decorated in an understated, luxurious black-and-gold color scheme.

Xin Lan fell in love with it at first sight.

"Miss Guide, there's clean hot water in the bathroom. You can go wash up first, and the food will be ready when you're done."

"We came back so suddenly that I haven't had time to prepare suitable clothes for you. If you don't mind, you can wear mine for now. They're all brand-new, washed and ironed. The women's clothes I bought you on the Star Network should arrive by the time you finish eating."

Chi Ming's incredibly muscular build and golden eyes made him look fierce and savage, but he was surprisingly thoughtful.

They had been together the whole time, yet she had no idea when he had bought her women's clothes online.

Xin Lan patted his arm approvingly, her tone softening considerably.

"Thanks for the effort. From now on, just call me by my name. Don't call me Miss Guide anymore. It sounds too distant."

Chi Ming seemed not to have expected her to be so approachable when she looked so aloof. His excitement made his golden pupils abruptly narrow into slits, and it took a full second for them to return to normal.

"Then, may I call you Lanlan?"

He knew he was pushing his luck, but apart from being attentive and considerate, he had no advantage over the other four.

He even had the darkest skin of the five and looked the fiercest. No guide liked a sentinel as aggressive-looking as him.

This might be his only chance to grow closer to Miss Guide ahead of the others.

It didn't matter if she refused, but as long as she agreed...

"All right."

Xin Lan liked attentive, considerate people, especially good-looking ones.

Chi Ming suited her tastes and met her standards, so she didn't mind him using a little harmless cunning.

She actually agreed!

Chi Ming was shaken to the core, his lips trembling slightly with excitement.

"Then, Lanlan, I've already run the hot water for you. You can soak in the massage tub for a while longer. There's a control panel beside it that can play soothing music. I'll come get you when the food is ready."

He did his best to keep his voice and expression under control, not wanting to disgust Xin Lan, but inside, his excitement had whipped up a towering tsunami.

"Chi Ming, I never imagined you were this kind of person."

Away from his own territory, Wu Xi couldn't get a word in and could only follow Chi Ming to the kitchen with a sullen face to cook.

The two chopped vegetables at speed, dividing the work between them in perfect coordination as they spoke with expressionless faces.

"Do you remember how much you hated those arrogant, vicious guides when you first came to K9 District? It's only been a few years. Have you forgotten it all?"

"I haven't. They're them, and Lanlan is Lanlan."

"Is that so? Guides are all like this when they first awaken. Within a few days, they all turn out the same."

Guides were humanity's hope, and their lives came before everything else. Wherever they went, they were the center of attention, precious pearls the Federation and sentinels held in their hands for fear of dropping them and in their mouths for fear of melting them.

For that very reason, even the lowest-ranked guides were arrogant and overbearing in front of sentinels. They treated all sentinels alike-as less than human.

Beatings, whippings, electric shocks—they chose whatever was most brutal and thrilling. It was normal for guides to toy with sentinels like pigs and dogs before soothing them.

Yet even after being abused half to death, sentinels still couldn't do without guides.

Without a guide to cleanse their Mental Landscape, the only fate awaiting a sentinel was to mutate into a mutant and be executed.

Most sentinels chose to endure it to survive, but a small number were unwilling.

Chi Ming had voluntarily moved to K9 District because he couldn't stand the arrogant guides of District K1. For all these years, he had hated and rejected every guide, never attending even when the Federation sent guides to soothe sentinels in groups.

But now...

Wu Xi frowned, swinging his spatula at a furious pace, his eyes dark as ink. "Chi Ming, aren't you afraid she might also..."

"Lanlan isn't like them."

Chi Ming interrupted him in a low voice, deftly sprinkling a layer of chopped scallions over the soup.

Although they had only spent a little while together, he could tell that Xin Lan merely looked aloof; at heart, she was kind and gentle.

At the very least, she hadn't looked down on the sentinels who had frantically declared their love for her as if they were filthy, stinking garbage. And the way she looked at him held admiration and approval.

That wasn't a look a guide who had considered themselves superior since their differentiation would have. At least, he had never seen one.

"You're that sure?"

"I'm sure."

Chi Ming's answer came without hesitation, and Wu Xi's light gray eyes dimmed slightly.

How could he not know why Chi Ming was so certain? After all, even he himself had begun to waver.

He admitted that he had gone to see Xin Lan out of curiosity at first, but after actually spending time and talking with her, his curiosity had long since been replaced by bewilderment and anticipation without his noticing.

Because Xin Lan really was different from other guides.

She was distant, and her words were cold and blunt, but she wasn't arrogant.

In her eyes, everyone seemed to be the same, including sentinels, who were regarded as expendable.

Even when that group of sentinels had rudely stripped and shouted in front of her, there hadn't been the slightest impatience or disgust in her eyes. She hadn't even told them to stop...

He couldn't help but be puzzled and moved by it.

Perhaps she really was different from other guides?

After plating the food, the two men, each occupied with his own thoughts, went to the bathroom door together.

"Lanlan, the food is ready."

"Mm, I'll be right out."

Since differentiating into a sentinel, Chi Ming's deep, mellow voice had gained a somewhat menacing edge, but now it was as gentle as water.

Hearing that affected voice, Wu Xi instantly frowned hard enough to crush a mosquito between his brows.

"Damn, aren't you disgusted with yourself? If your voice sounds awful, talk less. Why the hell are you forcing it like that? It sounds so unnatural you're giving me goosebumps!"

He rubbed his arms and muttered a few words of contempt, then sneakily released a shrunken version of his Spirit Body and tied a bow on its chest.

Hmph, damn fake voice!

Go on, keep forcing it! It won't do you any good! No woman can resist something fluffy!

You'll never come close to matching my advantage in your entire life!

Chi Ming ignored Wu Xi, his deep golden eyes fixed on the bathroom.

Soon, the bathroom door opened.

They knew Miss Guide was beautiful and would only look prettier after changing out of her filthy clothes.

But even though they had fully prepared themselves, the moment they saw her emerge, both men's pupils still contracted involuntarily, and even their hearts seemed to skip half a beat in unison.

Amid the dreamlike mist, Xin Lan's wet hair hung loosely down her back to her waist, black as ink and flowing like a waterfall. Her long, fair legs were half concealed beneath an oversized black shirt, and her smooth, bare feet sank shallowly into the dark gray, short-pile carpet with every step.

It was as if she were treading on their hearts.

Drawing them in.

Chi Ming's Adam's apple bobbed violently, and only after a long moment did he find his dry, hoarse voice.

"Lanlan... you're so beautiful."

Wu Xi stared at her too, his face full of undisguised astonishment.

"Miss Guide, you're the most beautiful woman I've ever seen!"

"Thank you."

Xin Lan was used to compliments and paid little attention to the words of these Western-looking handsome men.

She took the lead and headed out toward the dining room.

But she noticed that a little white teddy bear wearing a red bow had appeared beside the door at some point.

Thinking it was a toy, she instinctively stopped to take another look.

To her surprise, the little bear suddenly raised its head and scrambled toward her on all fours.

Xin Lan: !!!