Chapter Summaries

After dying in an apocalypse, Luo Ruzhuo awoke in a futuristic prison, where she used her psychic power to subdue a guard and discovered she had entered a world of sentinels and guides. Her guide awakening spared her execution but sentenced her to five years of compulsory service at the Black Tower, and she left for the front line under threat from the dead manager’s father.

• Luo Ruzhuo woke badly injured in a prison cell and overheard a guard and the manager’s father discuss her imminent trial and death sentence.
• When the guard entered her cell, Luo Ruzhuo attacked his mind with her psychic power, knocked him unconscious, and learned from his memories that she had died and been reborn in a world of sentinels and guides.
• Luo Ruzhuo returned the guard’s spirit body, and the guard later took her to the medical room, where a doctor confirmed she had awakened as a guide.
• At trial, the court changed Luo Ruzhuo’s sentence to five years of compulsory service as a C-rank guide at the Black Tower in War Zone A.
• Luo Ruzhuo boarded an aircraft for the front line after the manager’s father threatened her, and she silently resolved to see who would have to wait.

Luo Ruzhuo arrived at the Black Tower Guide Association in Zone A and learned that she had awakened as a C-rank guide without a developed spiritual entity. After resisting pressure to begin work, she accepted a limited purification job in exchange for growth potions and other benefits.

• Luo Ruzhuo signed a contract to work at the Black Tower Guide Association, where Weina explained her pay and restrictions on leaving Zone A.
• Luo Ruzhuo recalled that her parents had died in an Ankang Pharmaceuticals explosion and that she had later killed Phil Rice, the executive whose actions had trapped the workers.
• Luo Ruzhuo told Weina that her spiritual entity had not developed, leaving her unable to begin ordinary guide work.
• Fang Yingbai explained that Zone A's sentinels faced severe contamination and proposed contactless purification as a way for Luo Ruzhuo to help.
• Luo Ruzhuo rejected the proposal at first, but agreed after Fang Yingbai offered growth potions, reduced hours, limited duties, double pay, and a shorter service term.

Luo Ruzhuo settled into her new life at the Black Tower and began her work as a guide. During her first purification appointment, she restrained Heisha Draven, whose spiritual form turned out to be an affectionate black-footed cat.

• Luo Ruzhuo moved into her comfortable dormitory, named her robot butler Big Yellow, and ordered a meal from her favorite pre-apocalypse foods.
• On her first workday, Luo Ruzhuo received her guide uniform and mental power growth potions, then learned from Weina about the restraints and tranquilizer equipment used for dangerous sentinels.
• Weina warned Luo Ruzhuo that guides were precious to the Federation and needed to protect themselves.
• Heisha Draven arrived for purification, and Luo Ruzhuo secured his wrists and fitted a bite guard before asking him to release his spiritual form.
• Heisha's black-footed cat appeared, rubbed against Luo Ruzhuo, and purred loudly, leaving her to ask whether its contamination was severe.

Luo Ruzhuo purified Heisha Draven’s spiritual domain, dramatically reducing his contamination and revealing their high compatibility. After Heisha asked to become her permanent sentinel and she declined, Luo Ruzhuo left the purification room and encountered a squad carrying a struggling creature in a containment cage.

• Luo Ruzhuo entered Heisha Draven’s spiritual domain and watched its contamination recede as she stayed with him.
• Luo Ruzhuo’s treatment lowered Heisha Draven’s contamination level from 86% to 46%.
• Heisha Draven asked Luo Ruzhuo to become his permanent guide, but she refused and agreed to add him as a lightbrain contact.
• Luo Ruzhuo left the purification room and saw a sentinel squad carrying a cage toward the Special Containment Room.
• Luo Ruzhuo’s spiritual power revealed what was inside the cage as the squad passed.

Luo Ruzhuo met the severely contaminated captain at the sentinel facility, befriended Anna Bolin, and began soothing Lin Sheng. Inside Lin Sheng’s mental domain, she found contamination in the sky and explored the wetland with his red-crowned crane spirit form, reaching the domain’s unfinished boundary.

• Luo Ruzhuo saw a monstrous creature in a glass cell and learned from Lin Sheng that it was their captain, whose contamination had worsened.
• At lunch, Luo Ruzhuo ignored hostile gossip about her past, and Anna Bolin introduced herself and asked to be friends.
• Luo Ruzhuo reviewed Lin Sheng’s information, then welcomed him into her office and prepared him for mental soothing.
• Lin Sheng released his red-crowned crane spirit form, and Luo Ruzhuo’s gentle mental energy entered his domain, a wetland with black contamination clouds overhead.
• Luo Ruzhuo explored the domain by riding the enlarged crane and discovered that it ended beyond the mountains in a blank, mosaic-like area.

Luo Ruzhuo purified Lin Sheng and learned that their high match value made the treatment unusually effective. While shopping with Anna, she clashed with an S-rank guide who claimed he had been invited to treat Xianzhu, War Zone A’s only double-S sentinel, whose spiritual entity was a dragon.

• Luo Ruzhuo returned from Lin Sheng’s mental domain, removed his restraints, and found that his contamination level had fallen by 10%.
• Lin Sheng explained match value and asked to exchange contact information, and Luo Ruzhuo added him to her friends list.
• Luo Ruzhuo met Anna and went with her to Seona’s Sky City Shopping Center, where they browsed clothes and accessories.
• An S-rank guide from Northern Dipper District tried to take a bracelet Anna wanted, but Luo Ruzhuo stopped him as he boasted about treating Xianzhu.
• Anna told Luo Ruzhuo that Xianzhu was the red-crowned crane’s captain, War Zone A’s only double-S sentinel, and the only known dragon spiritual entity.

Luo Ruzhuo stopped Anna from giving her bracelet to a coercive S-rank guide and challenged Anna’s belief that guides existed only to heal sentinels. The chapter left Anna questioning why guides could not purify contamination directly on the front lines.

• Anna explained that the dragon sentinel Xianzhu was severely contaminated and considered giving the S-rank guide her bracelet so he would purify him.
• The guide threatened to refuse purification unless Anna handed over the bracelet, but Luo Ruzhuo stopped her and used her power to compel him to buy a pig bracelet before the two women left.
• At a restaurant, Anna worried that their conflict might prevent Xianzhu from being purified, and Luo Ruzhuo reminded her that guides could not save every sentinel.
• Luo Ruzhuo asked why guides had to purify contamination in sentinels instead of going to the front lines to purify it directly, leaving Anna to question what she had been taught.

After Luo Ruzhuo’s spirit form hatched as a tiny naked sea butterfly, she completed a compatibility assessment at the matching center. Back at the dormitory, she opened the results and was stunned by an eighteen-page report.

• Luo Ruzhuo’s growing appetite and itchy head prompted Anna to take her to the Black Tower testing center.
• A round-faced tester identified Luo Ruzhuo’s newly hatched spirit form as a juvenile naked sea butterfly and updated her records.
• Fang Yingbai congratulated Luo Ruzhuo and asked her to complete compatibility testing, and she agreed after Anna confirmed his request was legitimate.
• At the matching center, Luo Ruzhuo provided information about her guide pheromones and glands, then learned that only she would see the results unless she arranged a one-on-one test.
• Back at the dormitory, Luo Ruzhuo opened her compatibility report and found that it was eighteen pages long.

Luo Ruzhuo received messages from Lin Sheng and Heisha Draven, then rejected Lin Sheng’s attempts to apologize because she believed he should apologize to Anna Bolin instead. Meanwhile, Heisha decided to pursue a temporary bond with Luo Ruzhuo and booked his teammates purification appointments with her.

• Luo Ruzhuo discovered that every sentinel listed in her high-potential match report had a 100% match value and replied to Lin Sheng and Heisha Draven.
• Luo Ruzhuo received Heisha’s sea buckthorn berries, enjoyed their taste, and told him she had eaten one.
• Heisha told Chiya and the Desert Team that he wanted to bond with Luo Ruzhuo, and Chiya suggested he try becoming her temporary sentinel.
• After Luo Xi called Luo Ruzhuo a murderer, Heisha defended her and booked purification appointments for his teammates.
• Lin Sheng explained that his family had invited the S-class guide who mistreated Anna Bolin and invited Luo Ruzhuo to observe a replacement guide’s purification.
• Luo Ruzhuo told Lin Sheng to apologize to Anna Bolin instead and ordered him not to bother her again before going to sleep.

Lin Sheng realized he had misjudged Luo Ruzhuo and planned to apologize to her, while arranging another guide for the captain. Luo Ruzhuo arrived to find Desert Team waiting outside her purification room, and Luo Xi went in for his appointment.

• Xiao Xue comforted Lin Sheng, who said he had invited an S-class guide from North Star to see the captain.
• Lin Sheng admitted Luo Ruzhuo had been excellent and said he would apologize to Miss Anna Bolin.
• Luo Ruzhuo found her schedule full and arrived to see several members of Desert Team gathered outside her purification room.
• Heisha Draven greeted Luo Ruzhuo, who thanked him for the sea buckthorn berries and asked the sentinels to clear the doorway.
• Luo Ruzhuo called for Luo Xi, and he quickly entered the room and shut the door on his teammates.

Luo Ruzhuo examined Luo Xi, a young Desert Team sentinel, and entered his sealed mental domain to treat its contamination. There, she found a bloodied Siamese cat being attacked by shadowy figures.

• Luo Xi introduced himself as a nineteen-year-old sentinel and showed Luo Ruzhuo his muscular build.
• Luo Ruzhuo restrained Luo Xi and asked him to release his spirit animal, revealing a Siamese cat.
• The Siamese cat eagerly sought Luo Ruzhuo's affection, and she petted it before entering Luo Xi's mental domain.
• Luo Ruzhuo explored a sealed training-room mental domain and heard a distressed cat's cries.
• Luo Ruzhuo found a bloodied Siamese cat cornered and beaten by dark figures, stirring her urge to kill.

Luo Ruzhuo discovered that her mental attacks could erase contamination, reducing Luo Xi’s level from 85% to 0%, and decided to hide the result. She summoned Desert Team captain Chiya to help with the next purification, leaving him restrained in the purification room.

• Luo Ruzhuo repeatedly attacked the shadows in Luo Xi’s mental domain until they stopped returning, and the Siamese cat recovered.
• Luo Ruzhuo scanned Luo Xi and confirmed his contamination level had fallen from 85% to 0%, then decided she needed to conceal the result.
• Luo Ruzhuo used an anesthetic to knock out Luo Xi and told the waiting Desert Team members that she had given it to him for her safety.
• The Desert Team members identified their captain, Chiya, as the highest-ranked sentinel available, and Luo Ruzhuo invited him into the purification room.
• Luo Ruzhuo scanned Chiya and found that he was an S-rank sentinel with 89% contamination, then asked him to put on Luo Xi’s restraints.

Luo Ruzhuo entered Chiya’s mental domain, collected a sphere of pollution, and lowered his pollution level before repeating the process in Luo Xi’s domain. She left the Desert Team with both sentinels unconscious, while Chiya and Luo Xi woke with no clear memory of what she had done.

• Chiya released his golden lion, which eagerly approached Luo Ruzhuo and exposed its belly before she entered his mental domain.
• Luo Ruzhuo found black pollution beyond the visible grassland, condensed some of it into a sphere, and left Chiya’s domain.
• Luo Ruzhuo entered Luo Xi’s mental domain, contained the pollution in a separated area, and confirmed his pollution level had fallen to 40%.
• Luo Ruzhuo checked Chiya’s pollution level at 80%, then left the two unconscious sentinels behind to go to lunch.
• Shuangya and Changgeng questioned Chiya and Luo Xi about their experiences, but neither could explain what Luo Ruzhuo had done.

Luo Ruzhuo learned about the risks of a 100% match between a sentinel and a guide while discussing match values and friendship with Anna. After researching the topic, she reflected on the unequal status of male and female guides, while the Firmament Squad faced chaos at the Black Tower's special containment facility.

• Heisha Draven told Chiya and Luo Xi that Luo Ruzhuo's match values with all of them were unbelievably high.
• Anna explained to Luo Ruzhuo that a 100% match created an exclusive bond, dependence, and the risk that both partners would die if one did.
• Luo Ruzhuo told Anna that her report showed no sentinel in the green range, and Anna advised her to avoid sentinels who made her feel bad and check their IDs.
• Luo Ruzhuo and Anna discussed Lin Sheng's apology, thanked each other for their friendship, and exchanged optical computer contacts.
• Luo Ruzhuo searched online for match values, read a romance story, and concluded that high matches could constrain female guides while male guides often benefited from their social status.
• The Firmament Squad faced chaos at the Black Tower's special containment facility.

An S-rank guide’s attempt to purify the Firmament Squad captain triggered his full dragon mutation, while Luo Ruzhuo successfully purified the hostile Ping Tian and learned Fang Squad had sent him to provoke her. Afterward, the Black Tower notified Luo Ruzhuo that she needed to donate Guide Element.

• An S-rank guide secretly touched the captain’s mental barrier, suffered severe mental backlash, and left the captain transformed into a raging dragon.
• Lin Sheng ordered the Firmament Squad to inject all four stored vials of Guide Element, but the captain showed no improvement.
• Luo Ruzhuo purified Ping Tian, lowering his pollution level from 95% to 65%, and buried the remains in his mental domain.
• Ping Tian apologized and warned Luo Ruzhuo that Fang Squad had arranged his appointment and told him to cause trouble.
• Ping Tian explained that his teammates had died on their last mission and that Fang Squad had misled him about Luo Ruzhuo.
• Luo Ruzhuo received a message saying her spirit body had hatched and she needed to donate her Guide Element.

Luo Ruzhuo sold her Guide Element to Lin Sheng, who planned to use it to treat his injured captain, and received a large payment. After returning to her dormitory, she saw news confirming that Fang Squad was active in a contaminated zone.

• Luo Ruzhuo learned that guides earned a buyout fee when a sentinel purchased their Guide Element, and she asked who had bought hers.
• Lin Sheng revealed that he had bought the vial for his captain and told Luo Ruzhuo how an S-rank guide had damaged the captain’s mental domain.
• Luo Ruzhuo agreed to let Lin Sheng use the Guide Element, then returned to her dormitory and celebrated the money in her account.
• Luo Ruzhuo watched the news and spotted Fang Squad, confirming that the honey badger had told her the truth.

Luo Ruzhuo learned that Firmament Squad had rewarded her for helping their captain, then went to the City in the Sky on her day off. In a crowded gravity pod, a bloodied sentinel identified her as a guide while his squad watched her with glowing green eyes.

• Luo Ruzhuo blacklisted Fang Squad after discovering its sentinels were notorious for robbing other squads, despite guides praising their manners.
• Luo Ruzhuo found an unexpected hundred-thousand-unit transfer from Firmament Squad, and Lin Sheng thanked her for helping their captain regain two human legs.
• Luo Ruzhuo celebrated news that a male guide who had bullied her and Anna had been hospitalized with a damaged mental domain, then planned to eat roasted gel worm on her day off.
• Luo Ruzhuo went to the City in the Sky mall to wait for Anna and entered a gravity pod alone.
• Several bloodied sentinels crowded into the pod, and the nearest one sniffed Luo Ruzhuo's neck before declaring that she was a guide.
• Luo Ruzhuo noticed the other sentinels staring at her with glowing green eyes, like a pack of wolves.

Luo Ruzhuo discovered that Fenrir Talo’s wolf pack had automatically added her as a contact and pledged loyalty to her, then tried to enjoy a restaurant meal with Anna. Several sentinels gathered around her table, leaving her surrounded and unsure how to explain the attention.

• Fenrir Talo introduced himself as an SS-rank sentinel, pledged the Talo Wolf Pack’s loyalty to Luo Ruzhuo, and warned her to disable automatic friend permissions.
• Luo Ruzhuo turned off the setting, accepted several sentinels’ requests, and posted a picture of roasted grub worms at the Starry Sky Restaurant.
• Fenrir Talo saw the post and announced that he was coming to find Luo Ruzhuo.
• Lin Sheng thanked Luo Ruzhuo and Anna for their guide essence and gave them gifts suited to their spirit forms.
• Luo Xi and Heisha Draven joined Luo Ruzhuo’s table, and Heisha reminded her to try the cactus juice he had sent.
• Fenrir Talo arrived in casual clothes as more sentinels crowded around Luo Ruzhuo, who sighed at the gathering and Anna’s surprised gaze.

Fenrir Talo offered Luo Ruzhuo a priceless piece of Insect Jade in exchange for a purification and becoming her permanent sentinel partner, and she accepted. After the other sentinels left, Anna worried aloud about whether Luo Ruzhuo could handle Fenrir Talo and his Wolf Pack Team.

• Fenrir Talo pinned a piece of Insect Jade to Luo Ruzhuo's hoodie and explained that it would nourish her newly hatched spirit form.
• Fenrir Talo asked Luo Ruzhuo for a purification and to become her permanent sentinel partner, and she agreed because she needed the Insect Jade.
• Lin Sheng and the Desert Team members left, while Luo Ruzhuo told Fenrir Talo to book a purification appointment at the Black Tower.
• Anna asked Luo Ruzhuo whether she could handle Fenrir Talo and his Wolf Pack Team on her own.

Luo Ruzhuo learned from Anna that Deep Purification meant bonding and discovered what accepting Fenrir Talo as her permanent sentinel involved. She did not regret her decision, though Anna remained uneasy because Fenrir Talo was bound to the wolf pack’s collective will.

• Luo Ruzhuo returned to her dorm and asked Anna what Deep Purification meant.
• Anna explained that Deep Purification was bonding, which was restricted from the Star Network, and described how permanent sentinel partnerships worked.
• Anna told Luo Ruzhuo that guides could have multiple permanent sentinels and explained the risks of temporary marking.
• Luo Ruzhuo understood that accepting Fenrir Talo was like accepting a marriage proposal and wondered whether Heisha Draven had wanted to pursue her.
• Anna reassured Luo Ruzhuo that bonding could benefit her, and Luo Ruzhuo thanked her and said she did not regret her choice.
• Anna worried that Fenrir Talo’s bond to the wolf pack’s collective will made him an unsettling permanent partner.