Deep Purification

She had been meaning to ask about Deep Purification.

But they were in a restaurant now, with too many people around, so it wasn't convenient to discuss such things. After thinking it over, she decided to wait until she returned to her dorm and ask Anna by typing on her optical computer.

Every dish on the table had a special heating device that kept it warm, so the food remained delicious no matter when she ate it.

Hot soup slid down her throat, and the roasted gelatin bugs, crisp on the outside and tender within, burst with flavor on her tongue. At last, they brought a little comfort to Luo Ruzhuo's utterly exhausted heart.

She ate slowly, using the food to push down her chaotic thoughts one bite at a time.

When she returned to the dorm and closed the door, the familiar surroundings gave her a sense of security. Luo Ruzhuo sat down on the edge of the bed, opened her optical computer, and eagerly tapped away in the chat window.

Luo Ruzhuo: I wanted to ask you just now, but it wasn't convenient outside.

Luo Ruzhuo: Dear, what exactly is Deep Purification? Why can't I find anything about it on the Star Network?

Anna had just returned to the room next door when she saw the message and sprang out of her chair in shock. Her hands grew clumsy as she typed, and her chest tightened. She felt as though she could hardly breathe.

Anna: So you agreed to Fenrir Talo's request to become your permanent sentinel without even knowing what Deep Purification was!?

Luo Ruzhuo stared at the pair of punctuation marks on the screen, stunned for a moment.

Luo Ruzhuo: Uh... is there a problem with that?

A huge problem! Anna was so exasperated that she wanted to knock herself on the head. She should have warned her friend sooner. How could she have overlooked something so important?

Anna: Do you know why you can't find the details of Deep Purification on the Star Network? Because of the Star Network cleanup campaign, it's content that minors are restricted from learning about—it can't appear on the Star Network at all. Everyone uses the word "bonding" instead of Deep Purification.

Well, that explained it. Thanks to her experience browsing the Star Network, Luo Ruzhuo might not have known what Deep Purification was, but the moment bonding came up, she understood.

If she had known Deep Purification meant bonding, she wouldn't have been so confused!

But not a single person on the Star Network had mentioned something so important. Everyone had been so secretive about it, even steering the discussion in unrelated directions. Luo Ruzhuo couldn't help feeling puzzled.

Luo Ruzhuo: But isn't bonding something only married sentinel-guide couples can do?

What did it have to do with having a permanent sentinel? That was what she understood least of all.

Anna: ...

Anna stared at the line of text, at a loss for words. Her fingers hovered over the keyboard for a long time without coming down. This was bad. That part really wasn't easy to explain. Sentinels and guides who awakened as children didn't need any explanation for such things—they grew up surrounded by these established social relationships and naturally knew about them. But Luo Ruzhuo was an orphan...

At that thought, Anna's heart suddenly softened. She supposed she could understand why Luo Ruzhuo knew nothing about the common knowledge shared by sentinels and guides.

She had spent the first twenty-odd years of her life in the world of ordinary people, with no goal but to avenge her parents. She paid no attention to other people or the outside world. After her parents died, she had lived like a walking corpse, intent on dying, fanning her hatred into a raging fire and planning to offer herself up as a sacrifice once her revenge was complete. How could someone like that have cared about the romantic affairs of the world's small, privileged group?

The tenderness Anna felt was beyond words. She could only choose her words carefully, trying to ensure Luo Ruzhuo wouldn't be left regretting her decision after learning the truth.

Anna: Actually, sentinels and guides who formally marry are the real minority in this world.

Anna: Generally, only those with an extremely high compatibility rating of over 95 percent, where neither partner can tolerate the other crossing any boundaries with the opposite sex, choose to marry and use the law to bind their partner.

Anna: Most of the so-called "married couples" on social media are actually permanent sentinel partners. A guide can have several permanent sentinel partners. The higher the guide's rank, the more permanent partners she can have. Their compatibility isn't high enough for the guide to remain faithful to just one of them, so several sentinels can share the same guide. The guide is responsible for purifying and bonding with the sentinels, while the sentinels share all their contribution points and star coins with the guide after "marriage."

Anna took a deep breath and added another message.

Anna: If every sentinel and guide had to be in a one-on-one relationship with high compatibility, 95 percent of the world's sentinels would die without a guide's soothing. This system protects sentinels and guarantees guides' safety too.

Luo Ruzhuo leaned back in her chair, slowly processing the information.

She finally understood. Sentinel-guide relationships in this world weren't one-to-one, but one-to-many. So agreeing to Fenrir Talo's request to become her permanent sentinel was equivalent to accepting his marriage proposal in modern society?

If that was the case, she couldn't help thinking of the first sentinel she had purified, Heisha Draven. That man had asked to become her permanent sentinel as soon as the purification ended. Had he wanted to pursue her from the very beginning, then?

While Luo Ruzhuo was pondering this, another message came from Anna.

Anna: Because there are so few guides, the number of permanent sentinels a guide can have is always limited. So there's another kind of bonding that's popular now, called Temporary Marking.

Anna: This kind of bonding only exists on the surface of the body and can't affect the mind, so it only lasts about a week. And once the mark wears off, the change in pheromones can easily trigger a sentinel's susceptibility period. So if you ever do temporarily mark a sentinel, make sure you soothe him through his susceptibility period, or he might come knocking and demand you make the relationship official.

Luo Ruzhuo stared at the screen and immediately understood. Oh, so it was like a one-night stand—a fuck buddy arrangement that lasted a week and came with side effects.

Seeing no reply for a long time, Anna worried that Luo Ruzhuo regretted agreeing to Fenrir Talo so easily and couldn't help trying to comfort her.

Anna: Although it was a little hasty, the Insect Jade itself is extremely valuable, and that leader of the wolf pack has both the rank and the looks. He really is the best choice for a permanent sentinel. Don't blame yourself too much.

She could tell her friend's mind wasn't on the complicated relationships between sentinels and guides at all. Instead, she cared only about matters related to purification. Anna was a little worried that she might be averse to bonding.

Anna: Bonding is Deep Purification, and it also helps improve the guide's own mental power. The higher the sentinel's rank, the greater the benefit. Overall, it benefits you without doing you any harm, so I hope you can come to terms with it soon. If there's anything you don't understand in the future, just ask me. I'll always be on your side.

Luo Ruzhuo felt a warmth in her heart as she read the message, and the corners of her lips curved up involuntarily.

Luo Ruzhuo: Thank you. I don't regret it. I just understand what all of this means now. Thank you so much, Anna. (beaming smile sticker.jpg) (finger heart sticker.jpg)

Anna's anxiety eased a little when she received the reply. But she still couldn't breathe entirely easy. For no other reason than that her good friend's first permanent sentinel partner appeared to have no flaws at all.

Yet his one flaw was hidden where no one could see it.

Right from the start, she had bound herself to a collective will-as a partner, she was shared by the wolf pack and its leader, in both body and mind.

With someone like that, whoever it was would find it hard to feel completely at ease.