Conflict

No wonder Luo Ruzhuo hadn't been able to tell what animal had mutated inside the cage.

Who would have thought that a creature from fantasy actually existed in interstellar society?

At the mention of it, Anna couldn't help sighing. "Dragons really are an important force in the war zone. His contamination is extremely severe this time. If he doesn't pull through, the contaminated area will probably expand again."

She paused, her gaze falling on the bracelet in its box. "If that jerk really can purify his contamination... I suppose I could give him this bracelet."

Luo Ruzhuo had spent so long in the apocalypse that she hadn't met anyone like Anna in a long time. She was momentarily stunned. "Are you doing that of your own free will?"

Anna was actually reluctant to part with it too. She bit her lower lip. "Whether I want to or not, what choice do I have? He's an S-rank guide."

Guides were already few and far between in interstellar society, and high-ranking ones were even rarer. This S-rank guide... presumably could indeed purify sentinels they couldn't.

Seeing her like that, Luo Ruzhuo breathed a sigh of relief instead.

As long as she's not doing it willingly.

The man was used to being fawned over wherever he went. Now that he realized he'd been talking to thin air for so long without a response, he paid no attention to what they were discussing and simply flew into a rage.

"Hey, don't think I didn't see that!" He'd seen it perfectly clearly: the low-ranking guide in front of him had quietly paid for the bracelet. "I'll give you a chance. Give me that bracelet now, and I'll overlook your rudeness."

"Hmph, otherwise..." He sneered. "I'll go straight to the Black Tower and tell them I'm heading home! Purification? Don't even think about it!"

Was he threatening them already?

At his words, the hesitation on Anna's face deepened, and she nearly pulled out the bracelet to hand it over.

Her hesitant hand stopped halfway as a soft but irresistible force pushed it back down.

She looked up and saw her new friend give her a slight shake of the head, mouthing: I'm here. Don't be afraid.

The next second, Luo Ruzhuo sneered, her face darkening. When her eyes swept toward him, they were as sharp as a hawk's.

"Is this how you've always been a guide?"

The man froze, then flushed red. What did she mean by that?! He was an S-rank guide. Did he need some low-ranking nobody to teach him how to do his job?

He was just about to curse her out when he was startled to discover that he couldn't make a sound.

It was as though a barrier in his mind had cut off the part of his brain that controlled speech. His movements grew sluggish, and he couldn't even raise his hand to slap the rude woman across from him.

The man was horrified!

Yet the woman in front of him kept talking on and on. Her words seared themselves into his brain like a brand, replaying over and over.

Luo Ruzhuo said, "If all you use your rank for is fighting other guides, then I suggest you stop being one. Go get reincarnated now, and maybe in ten-odd years you'll get lucky as hell and differentiate into a sentinel. Oh, right, I forgot-even being reincarnated as a sentinel would be useless, because all the guides you'd meet would be idiots like you."

"Because you made things difficult for other guides, you wouldn't get purified in time, and you'd croak in the end. Then you'd be reincarnated again. Let me think what would be suitable..."

She paused, her gaze sweeping over a row of bracelets in the shop before settling on one engraved with a round little pig.

"I think you look a lot like it. It must have been your brother or sister in a past life, right?"

"Go on, buy one of your own kind. You'll like it."

That last sentence was like a stamp pressed into the man's mind. To his horror, when his gaze fell on the bracelet, he really did feel a strange flicker of fondness for it.

What was more, as soon as the girl finished speaking, the man's feet turned him around against his will. Stiff as a puppet, he headed in the direction Luo Ruzhuo had pointed.

I've run into a ghost! In a daze, the man bought the bracelet and only belatedly looked for the other party to settle the score.

The faces in his mind suddenly blurred.

Huh, what did they look like again?

After that tirade, Luo Ruzhuo felt refreshed, but she was afraid Anna would notice something if she looked too closely. So she pulled Anna along and ran, sharing her experience as they went.

"After talking trash, you have to leave quickly. Otherwise, once they come to their senses, we won't be able to win the argument!"

The two went all the way up to the starry sky restaurant on the top floor. Its dome was transparent, offering a view of the deep expanse of stars outside.

The roasted jellyworms here were highly rated on the optical computer's City in the Sky food rankings and were said to be a specialty of Planet Saiona.

A plate of brown, gelatinous matter was brought out, its tail end still wriggling slightly.

Even as Luo Ruzhuo prepared to cut into it, she was still doubtful that the thing was actually edible.

Then she put it in her mouth—the outer layer was crisp and charred, while the inside had a firm, meaty texture. It was a little like a crispy sausage from before the apocalypse, while the meat had a savory flavor similar to crab.

One bite was enough to delight her. Her eyes narrowed slightly as she savored it, even slowing down with her knife and fork.

Anna, sitting across from her, had little appetite. Still caught up in the sudden incident, she absentmindedly hacked the roasted jellyworm on her plate to pieces with her knife and fork, leaving it a mess. After a while, she looked up, her expression troubled. "Luo Ruzhuo, what if... that guide flies into a rage once he comes to his senses and really goes home without purifying Xianzhu? Wouldn't we have done a bad thing?"

"Oh." Luo Ruzhuo stopped eating. "You're still worried about that?"

She swallowed the last bite in her mouth and looked at Anna seriously. "But lots of sentinels at the front lines mutate every day because they can't get purified. Why can't that dragon be one of them?"

"That's different, of course..." Anna tightened her grip on her fork. "That dragon is the strongest. He can reduce a lot of contaminated areas!"

"But what does any of that have to do with you?"

"If that dragon doesn't get purified because of me, and the contamination spreads as a result, of course I'll feel guilty!" Anna's voice grew a little tight. "It's really just a bracelet... If I'd been a little more respectful just now and given it to him as an apology..."

"Stop." Luo Ruzhuo made a gesture for her to stop, then nodded gently. "Anna, you really are kind."

Anna's face turned slightly red. "I'm not. I believe any normal guide would think the same way."

"All right, then you really are kind." Luo Ruzhuo smiled, an indescribable meaning in her smile. "Except for that abnormal guide just now."

She paused, then continued, "But the truth is cruel. Sometimes kindness is useless."

"Even if we hadn't had a conflict with that guide, that dragon might not have been saved. Even if he were saved, everyone would only thank the guide who purified him. No one would know or care about the grievance you suffered behind the scenes. Even if you became an S-rank like him and saved this dragon today, there would be a snake tomorrow, and even more severely contaminated sentinels the day after."

"Guides are a minority, after all. We can't save every sentinel."

Anna's voice grew quiet. "Then... does that mean there's no point to guides existing?"

"Of course not." Luo Ruzhuo put down her knife and fork, her tone as calm as if she were stating something obvious. "Why is a guide's purpose to save sentinels?"

Anna was stunned.

Luo Ruzhuo was puzzled too. "Isn't the source of everything troubling you the contamination itself?"

"Why do guides have to purify the contamination in sentinels' minds? Why can't they go directly to the front lines and purify the contamination there?"

Anna felt as if something had struck her. She opened her mouth, but couldn't say a word.

Yes... why can't we?

Ever since she was little, she'd been taught that guides were mainly healers, and that guides were the only ones who could purify a sentinel's contamination. So they had to protect themselves, leaving the sentinels free of worries.

But.

Since guides could deal with contamination directly, why did they only deal with the contamination in sentinels?

Luo Ruzhuo looked away, gazing into the boundless darkness beyond the starry sky restaurant. She'd struggled through the apocalypse for too long and seen too many healing-type ability users kept by others. Every one of them had been confined to a base or locked away in a prominent ability-user family. They weren't allowed to go out or meet strangers, supposedly for fear they'd get hurt.

Even though, if they were hurt, they could heal themselves in a second.

What they feared wasn't that the healers would get hurt.

What they feared was that the healers possessed power.