Contamination

Heisha Draven: ...

"N-no, it's not that!" The young man grew even more embarrassed, stammering, too awkward to say it.

Puzzled, Luo Ruzhuo returned to her desk and searched on her lightbrain. A moment later, she understood what was going on.

Luo Ruzhuo's expression relaxed. Sitting in her office chair, she beckoned to the kitten. "Good kitty, come here."

Heisha Draven saw a fawning side of his Mental Entity that he had never seen in his life.

Meowing, the black-footed cat jumped onto the desk and into the young woman's arms. It rubbed its head against the buttons on the front of her uniform, purring like thunder, and arched its body beneath her stroking hand. The base of its tail rose especially high, refusing to stay down no matter how she pressed it.

Luo Ruzhuo felt the soft fur. "Good baby."

Thinking over the next step in the purification course, she held the kitten under its front legs and pressed its forehead to hers.

Heisha Draven, who had long since turned red all over, immediately felt an unfamiliar spiritual power in his Mental Domain.

A sentinel's Mental Domain could take the form of different scenes, a tangible manifestation of the Mental Entity. Most were places where the sentinel felt at ease, such as their bedroom, a children's playground, or a favorite natural landscape.

Heisha Draven's Mental Domain was a desert.

It was not desolate. On the contrary, shrubs and clumps of grass dotted the landscape, and judging by the sounds, there were also small animals for the black-footed cat to hunt. It matched the description of a living environment the sentinel trusted.

Yet this haven stretched only about two kilometers; the rest was shrouded in a thick black fog.

From the training she had received at the Guide Association over the past few days, Luo Ruzhuo understood that this was the so-called "contamination."

Her Mental Entity had yet to fully develop, so she could not purify the thick fog. She could only follow Fang Yingbai's instructions for contactless purification: "Even if a guide doesn't purify the contamination, just staying inside a sentinel's Mental Domain will cause it to dissipate on its own at a certain rate."

But Fang Yingbai had not told her that the rate depended entirely on compatibility. Only a sentinel and guide with high compatibility would see a noticeable effect; for everyone else, it was merely a desperate last resort.

Even a desperate last resort was better than no treatment at all.

Luo Ruzhuo did not know what Fang Yingbai had left unsaid. She saw only that the thick fog was dissipating before her eyes while she simply stood there, and thought her overtime was fairly effective.

Heisha could sense what was happening in his Mental Domain and was astonished.

Their compatibility was very high. Realizing this, Heisha felt his heart skip a few beats.

The black-footed cat had followed Luo Ruzhuo back into his Mental Domain and was even more at home there. It caught a mouse in the desert, carried it over and set it down in front of Luo Ruzhuo, then meowed at her.

Luo Ruzhuo glanced at the mouse formed from spiritual power. It was quite realistic. "You eat it. I don't eat that."

Standing around was a little boring, so she wanted to try attacking the black fog with her spiritual power to see if it would have any effect. But mindful that Heisha Draven himself was still conscious, and that Fang Yingbai had never taught her anything inclined toward attack in her guide lessons, she restrained herself.

When most of the thick fog had receded and traces of blue sky and white clouds appeared on the desert horizon, Luo Ruzhuo withdrew.

Luo Ruzhuo picked up the scanner and scanned him again.

Name: Heisha Draven

Mental Entity: black-footed cat

Sex: male sentinel

Rank: B

Contamination level: 46%

Squad: District One · Desert Squad

The contamination level had dropped by a full 40%!

Seeing the number, Heisha was even more shocked.

Luo Ruzhuo had a general idea that this meant the treatment had worked very well. A hint of a smile came into her eyes. "The results are excellent, Heisha Draven."

The young man blushed and murmured, "Y-yes."

The purification was over, and by rights, he should have offered to leave.

But looking at the young woman holding the black-footed cat in her arms and squeezing its paw pads, Heisha Draven privately wished this could last a little longer.

A sentinel shared his Mental Entity's senses. Heisha could smell her faint fragrance, a little like a clear mountain spring, clean and pleasant. He felt her hand grow dissatisfied with merely touching the paw pads and begin to wander over the soft fur on the black-footed cat's belly.

Heisha Draven's abdomen tightened. He breathed softly, his bound hands clenched tight.

Time began to pass slowly. Heisha Draven did not know how long it had been when he opened his eyes again and stared blankly into space. Through his misty vision, the young woman walked slowly toward him.

Having put away all the equipment, Luo Ruzhuo turned to look at the dazed young man slumped on the sofa. A thin sheen of sweat covered his forehead, and he looked damp all over. "Today's treatment is over. Aren't you leaving?"

He was her only sentinel that morning, and she was going to the cafeteria for a meal.

Heisha Draven closed his eyes and composed himself. He stood and slowly gave Luo Ruzhuo a gentlemanly bow.

His tone was polite and restrained. "May I ask if you're interested in finding a permanent sentinel, Miss Luo?"

Ah... a permanent sentinel. Luo Ruzhuo recalled the exact words from her training.

"If you meet a sentinel you like, you can bind yourself to him in a permanent relationship. A C-rank guide can bind two. Afterward, the guide only needs to purify the sentinel regularly, and all the contribution points and star coins the sentinel earns after binding belong to the guide." Miss Weina had winked, her tone very strange as she said it.

As Luo Ruzhuo understood it, it meant binding a patient who would come in for regular treatment.

As for why the money a sentinel earned after binding belonged to the guide, that was easy to understand too.

Doctors were simply too rare in this world. Patients had to sell their labor in exchange for the chance at long-term treatment.

Luo Ruzhuo did not think she could take responsibility for a patient for life, so she refused outright. "Sorry. I have no plans for that at the moment."

Heisha Draven bowed his head. He was not disappointed. He raised his still-watery eyes. "Then might I have the honor of adding you as a lightbrain contact?"

Then he added, "There's a distinctive fruit called sea buckthorn in my hometown. I'd like to send you some to try, Miss Luo."

What a thoughtful patient, bringing a local specialty when he came for treatment. Luo Ruzhuo knew about sea buckthorn berries; they grew in the desert before the apocalypse too. But she had heard they were sour and astringent and not very tasty.

Still, it was a token of the patient's goodwill, and she had no intention of refusing.

And so Luo Ruzhuo gained her first lightbrain friend in this world. She casually saved his contact as "black-footed cat," then realized that was not very polite and added his name in parentheses: "(Heisha Draven)."

After seeing the kitten off, Luo Ruzhuo happily clocked out.

The Black Tower's requirements for guides could be considered very relaxed. As long as they soothed the assigned sentinels within the allotted time, their activities were generally unrestricted for the rest of the day.

There was about an hour before the cafeteria began serving food. With nothing else to do, Luo Ruzhuo decided to look around.

She had barely taken two steps out of the purification room when a commotion reached her, accompanied by a jumble of voices and footsteps. They were heading in the direction directly ahead of Luo Ruzhuo. She had noticed the building when she came to work that day; it was marked "Special Containment Room."

A group of people were carrying a cage. Its sides appeared to be some kind of "glass wall," but the glass seemed highly flexible. Luo Ruzhuo could see quite a few dents and bulges in it, and with the occasional sound of impacts, something enormous seemed to be struggling inside.

Luo Ruzhuo stopped and moved out of their way.

Perhaps whatever was inside had grown tired of struggling, because the noise gradually died down, allowing the group to breathe a little easier.

They were a sentinel squad. The man leading them wore a uniform similar in style to Heisha's. He stopped not far from Luo Ruzhuo. "Honored Guide, to avoid accidentally injuring you, please keep your distance from us."

Luo Ruzhuo wondered whether this distance was not enough, but stepped back another two paces.

Even farther away, it was only a few meters. Luo Ruzhuo was accustomed to keeping her spiritual power alert at all times.

So, the instant they passed, Luo Ruzhuo's spiritual power saw clearly what was inside.