Desert Team

The optical computer screen was still lit.

But the young man in front of it had gone rigid, as if he had fallen into an abyss and been sentenced to death.

When a member of Firmament Squad came knocking, he was so dazed that he only reacted when the visitor came up beside him.

"Vice captain." The young man, whose white hair was streaked with black, waved a hand in front of Lin Sheng's face. "What are you spacing out for?"

"Xiao Xue." Lin Sheng turned, did his best to compose himself, and smiled at him. "What is it?"

Something was wrong. Very wrong.

Xiao Xue's spirit entity was a snowy owl, and as the squad's scout, he had always had excellent eyesight. Though Lin Sheng was pretending nothing was wrong, he could still see three parts bitterness, four parts anguish, and five parts helplessness in the vice captain's eyes.

Thinking back over recent events, Xiao Xue searched his mind for a reason the vice captain had ended up like this. Putting together the captain's strange behavior over the past two days and the S-class guide who had inexplicably turned around and gone home today, he felt he had found the root of the problem.

Alas, Xiao Xue couldn't help sighing. He stepped forward and patted Lin Sheng on the shoulder. "Vice captain, don't blame yourself too much. After all, that guide was the one who said he wanted to leave!"

None of them knew what had happened. All they had seen was the male guide storming over that afternoon and launching into a tirade at Lin Sheng. Apparently, he thought the Black Tower and Firmament Squad had slighted him and had ulterior motives for asking him to purify the captain... and all sorts of other nonsense.

They didn't know what the two had talked about afterward, only that the vice captain and the guide had parted on bad terms.

Xiao Xue pouted. "I don't know what that S-class guide is so cocky about. Even if he did come to purify the captain, he might not be able to solve the captain's problem. After all..."

After all, ever since he had met the captain, he had never seen him seek out any guide.

It was as if the captain could keep his mental domain calm without any purification.

Everyone in Firmament Squad knew about this.

They had all had a suspicion for a long time, but none of them had said it aloud.

Dark sentinel.

The words flashed through Xiao Xue's mind, and he couldn't help heaving a deep sigh.

One was gazing at the optical computer in sorrow, while the other was sighing away. Though their thoughts were headed in different directions, they had somehow lined up.

"I know." Lin Sheng nodded. "You don't need to worry about the captain. I've already asked another S-class guide from North Star to come. She should arrive tomorrow."

"That's good, then. Oh, right, how was the new guide who purified you today?"

In fact, aside from the captain, their entire squad was severely contaminated, with everyone's contamination level above 90%. Xiao Xue's was at 92%, and some of his physical signs had already begun to show symptoms of mutation. If he didn't undergo purification soon, he would follow in the captain's footsteps sooner or later.

Appointments with the other guides at the Black Tower were extremely hard to get, and the waiting list was already more than a month long. Although Xiao Xue had heard that the new guide had been a death-row prisoner not long ago, he wasn't in a position to be picky.

He waited for Lin Sheng's assessment. If she was generally decent, Xiao Xue was prepared to give her a try.

But whether it was Xiao Xue's imagination or not, the vice captain's expression grew even gloomier at the mention of the new guide, like a child who had done something wrong.

Lin Sheng lowered his head and murmured, "She... was excellent. I really did get it wrong."

"Whether she forgives me or not, I still have to do what's my duty."

With that, Lin Sheng pulled himself together, straightened up, and walked past Xiao Xue and out, leaving Xiao Xue alone where he stood, utterly bewildered.

What?

"Vice captain-where are you going?"

"To apologize to Miss Anna Bolin." Lin Sheng's final words faded into the air.

Huh?

Xiao Xue scratched his head vigorously. What did this have to do with Guide Anna???

She woke up to find herself with a pile of work.

Luo Ruzhuo patted her face and looked at the list of sentinels that filled her schedule for the week. She felt as though she were still dreaming.

What had she done? How had she suddenly gone from being ignored to being in such high demand?

Luo Ruzhuo pondered it for a long while but couldn't figure it out, so she decided to let it go.

Luo Ruzhuo didn't think she had arrived particularly late, but when she got there, she found several people already crowded outside her purification room.

They were all tall, with hair in every color, and wore matching black sentinel uniforms. Their faces and figures were all quite attractive. They were easy on the eyes, but unfortunately, they completely blocked her purification room.

Of the group, only the young man standing at the very back was a little shorter. His face was more youthful too, and he looked like he might be underage.

Luo Ruzhuo also spotted a familiar face among them.

Deep-set features and a stern face—that was how he had looked originally. But the moment Luo Ruzhuo looked over, a smile bloomed on his face, as if an iceberg had melted, and his whole bearing softened.

"Good morning, Heisha Draven." Luo Ruzhuo didn't hold back her own smile. Seeing him reminded her of the sweet little berries she had eaten before bed, putting her in a very good mood. "Thank you again for the sea buckthorn berries you sent. I really liked them."

She stepped forward and greeted Heisha, then frowned almost imperceptibly at the wall of bodies. "But could I trouble your friends to make way? I need to open the purification room door."

The black-haired guide had delicate features and was almost excessively beautiful. Her cupid's bow was pronounced, and when she spoke, every word seemed like a pearl or a piece of jade rolling from her lips.

As she approached, the floral fragrance in the air, like flowers after melting snow, grew stronger, pure and fresh.

Sentinels had keen senses, and Heisha Draven could clearly tell that Luo Ruzhuo hadn't had this fragrance when she purified him before.

She seemed to have become even more attractive to sentinels.

Only then did Heisha come back to his senses. He forcibly pushed his dazed teammates aside and silently reproached them with a look:

Didn't you hear what she said? Why are you all embarrassing yourselves like this?

Before they had come, everyone except the captain had been rather unfriendly toward Luo Ruzhuo-especially Luo Xi.

At the thought, Heisha shot him a glare, only to find Luo Xi standing at the back with his gaze darting away, his cheeks faintly flushed and his ears completely red. The corners of his mouth had lifted unconsciously, and he was smiling in Luo Ruzhuo's direction.

Heisha Draven: ...

A strange stillness settled over the atmosphere.

Luo Ruzhuo didn't know what so many sentinels were doing here. She was still taking only two appointments a day, so there should have been only one that morning.

With Heisha's help, she got the door open without trouble. Luo Ruzhuo went inside and turned on the optical computer to check the name of the sentinel scheduled for that morning, then poked her head out and asked Heisha, "Excuse me, which one of you is Luo Xi?"

Before Heisha could answer, the slightly shorter young man at the back immediately raised his hand and called out, "Me!"

Luo Xi squeezed out of the crowd and walked into the purification room without a moment's hesitation, not even looking back at the teammates he had tearfully begged to come along and give him courage that morning. Then he reached back and, without hesitation, shut the door.

The whole sequence of movements was smooth and seamless, without the slightest pause.

Just like that, the group of big cats found their view blocked by the door.

All members of Desert Team: ...

What a black-hearted Siamese cat, killing the donkey once it's done grinding!