SDIWD - Chapter 96

Chapter 96

Bai Zhen carried Hua Mu through the main entrance and headed straight for the elevator. Outside the door, a chaotic battle was already raging.

Guides' physical fitness wasn't as delicate as the general public believed. They also underwent extensive physical training and mastered various combat techniques. It was only because Guides were almost all female and lacked the enhanced five senses of Sentinels that they appeared weaker in comparison.

As teachers, Xu Ying and Cen Sang were naturally more experienced. Coupled with the fact that the Sentinels had lost all reason and were competing with each other, the two women managed to successfully hold them off outside the door for the time being.

With tears in her eyes, Hua Mu watched the elevator doors slowly close and asked uneasily, "Will they… will they be okay?"

Bai Zhen was naturally worried about her two seniors, but Hua Mu's safety was more important. This wasn't just for Hua Mu's sake, but also for her classmates.

"Rest assured, they are very professional Guides."

"Is it my fault? They're all like this because of me… and those two are fighting for me too…"

Bai Zhen stroked her long hair and said with conviction, "Of course not. This is not your fault."

Hua Mu whimpered miserably, sobbing against Bai Zhen's shoulder. "But those women in the car all said it was because of me…"

"Beauty and power are never a mistake. Please don't think about it anymore." The Sentinel wasn't looking at the little girl in her arms. The sweat on her body was less from the intense exertion just now and more from restraint.

Beauty and power were certainly not mistakes. And wanting to possess beauty and wield power couldn't simply be called wrong either. But to lose oneself and resort to any means necessary for that beauty and power was a true defilement of beauty itself.

Hua Mu clutched the front of Bai Zhen's uniform, looking up at her through blurry, tear-filled eyes.

"Thank you…"

"Protecting you is my duty."

After the shock and self-blame passed, the girl found herself feeling a strange sense of familiarity and attachment to this embrace. The Sentinel was tall with sharp features, her black eyes deep and warm, and her jawline fierce and defined.

She was a very beautiful woman, both pretty and a little handsome.

"Have I seen you somewhere before?"

Was it when I came to the Tower with my aunt for a visit? Or did I see her at a military parade?

But if she had seen such a beautiful and distinctive woman before, she definitely wouldn't have forgotten.

Bai Zhen suddenly lowered her head and gazed deeply into Hua Mu's eyes.

Time suddenly seemed to slow down. Hua Mu felt inexplicably hot—no, that wasn't right. She was in the throes of her awakening; it was perfectly normal for her body to feel warm.

"Do you think you've seen me somewhere?"

Hua Mu shyly closed her eyes, her face flushed as she shook her head.

"I… I don't really remember…"

"Then perhaps it was just your imagination."

The elevator soon reached the top floor of the command tower. The control tower was still above them.

However, the moment Bai Zhen stepped out of the elevator, an ominous presence emanated from the end of the hallway.

"Bai Zhen!!!"

Bai Zhen was all too familiar with it. She had fought him countless times. Though they weren't in the same year, they had always been rivals. Her former senior, now a newly appointed instructor, Liang Jinshen, was charging menacingly toward them.

As last year's top graduate, his skills were not much inferior to those of teachers who had been instructing for many years. Three military units had extended offers to him before graduation, but he had insisted on becoming an instructor at the Tower instead.

"Senior!"

Bai Zhen immediately noticed something was wrong with Liang Jinshen. Her senior had clearly been affected by the Guide-hormone as well.

This was not an opponent she could handle while holding Hua Mu. In terms of speed alone, Liang Jinshen, whose spirit animal was a griffin, was slightly faster than her. Moreover, their destination was in the very direction he was coming from.

Bai Zhen made a split-second decision, turning and running down the opposite hallway. As she rounded a corner, she pushed Hua Mu into the nearest office.

"Miss, please find a place to hide and don't come out until I call for you."

"Bai… Bai Zhen!"

Hua Mu grabbed her helplessly, too flustered to know what to say. She didn't want to be alone, and she didn't want Bai Zhen to get hurt.

"I'll be fine."

The Sentinel didn't have time to explain further and quickly shut the door. Then, Hua Mu heard the loud sounds of a fight.

She instinctively wanted to scream but clamped her hands over her mouth, ducking down to hide under a desk.

It would be child's play for a Sentinel to find her. Bai Zhen had told her to hide here for fear that she would be accidentally caught in the crossfire.

Liang Jinshen's griffin couldn't maneuver freely in the hallway, and neither could Bai Zhen's spirit animal. The two were old rivals and old friends, and their familiarity made the fight all the more intense.

With his spirit animal possessing him, Liang Jinshen's speed was extreme. Although Bai Zhen could see his movements, her body's reaction was always a beat too slow. She had to feign an opening, attempting to grab Liang Jinshen's hands, but he didn't fall for it and leaped backward.

Hati seized the opportunity to disengage from possession, pouncing toward Liang Jinshen from the ceiling.

Bai Zhen rarely used Hati's freezing ability when sparring with classmates, but under these circumstances, she couldn't afford to hold back, not even against her senior.

A ray of cold air seemed to shoot from the giant wolf's mouth, looking as if it could be dodged. In reality, it was the opposite. The ice wolf wasn't emitting cold air; it was absorbing heat. This was an ability that could only be used after locking onto a target, and once Bai Zhen had locked on, escape was nearly impossible.

Liang Jinshen slid backward, a layer of frost already forming on his clothes. He was forced to release his spirit animal, Griffin, to interfere with the ice wolf. At that moment, Bai Zhen appeared before him and slammed her fist into his face.

Without their spirit animals possessing them, the Sentinels' fight was more like a pure brawl. Although Bai Zhen was female, she was not inferior to Liang Jinshen in strength or physique, and they were locked in a fierce struggle. The battle between their spirit animals was even more brutal. Griffin and Hati tore at and wrestled with each other, their wings and limbs dematerializing one after another as they couldn't reform in time.

Fighting in a confined space was more disadvantageous for a flying-type spirit animal. Griffin was soon at a disadvantage, grabbed by its last remaining wing by the giant wolf and thrown violently.

The griffin suddenly let out a piercing shriek. The sound waves, inaudible to ordinary people, could severely affect a Sentinel's five senses.

Bai Zhen, who had been pinning Liang Jinshen down, grew dizzy and was instantly countered by her opponent.

In terms of combat ability alone, Liang Jinshen was Bai Zhen's equal. Even having lost his reason, his combat instincts remained incredibly sharp. And just as the two Sentinels and their two spirit animals were locked in a desperate battle, a small, round, black head suddenly poked out from the wall.

"Eee?"

It was a black unicorn, its body the size of a foal due to its immaturity. Its black eyes were filled with curiosity, its face a picture of innocent animation.

Almost the instant it appeared, the griffin abandoned its fight with the ice wolf and rushed toward it, as if it had spotted some delectable treat.

Spirit animals could pass through physical objects as incorporeal beings, but because they shared a sensory link with their Sentinels, their senses were usually synchronized during intense combat to prevent spatial disorientation in the Sentinel. This was also why non-corporeal spirit animals were restricted in confined spaces.

When the griffin charged toward the unicorn, Liang Jinshen was affected as well.

"Wuwuwu!" The terrified unicorn immediately shrank back into the wall, flapping its wings and rushing toward its host's location.

Hua Mu had been dizzy for a few seconds from the griffin's sound waves, and the sudden appearance of the black unicorn in the room left her at a loss. But the creature seemed completely non-threatening, and her natural affinity for spirit animals immediately told her what it was.

But the unicorn had no understanding of its own or its host's situation. It frolicked around the room and even poked its head out into the hallway.

Hua Mu had no idea how to control it, let alone command it, but through the unicorn's eyes, she "saw" the situation in the hallway—Bai Zhen, her face covered in blood, was pinned beneath the man from before.

Startled, Hua Mu instinctively tried to stand up but hit her head on the underside of the desk. The image of Griffin pouncing toward her, seen through Luna's eyes, made her shut her own eyes tightly.

The unicorn ran toward Hua Mu, and half of Griffin's body passed through the wall. After being bumped by the unicorn, Hua Mu finally couldn't help but scream. Griffin immediately let out a sharp cry as well.

But unlike its earlier attack, this was a cry of pain and fear.

Hua Mu forced her eyes open, only to see the half-visible griffin struggling as if something had grabbed it tightly, before disappearing back to the other side of the wall. And the culprit, the unicorn, was trembling and hiding behind her small body, burying its round face in its forelegs.

Hua Mu had no time for her hopelessly foolish spirit animal. She scrambled up from the floor again and ran toward the door. She didn't know what she could do; she only knew that Bai Zhen was in grave danger and she had to help her.

But when she opened the door, who else would be standing outside, uniform neat and posture ramrod straight, but Bai Zhen?

"Bai Zhen!" Hua Mu hugged her excitedly, then tried to look past her. "You're okay!"

But Bai Zhen gently covered her eyes and picked her up again.

"I'm fine. I'll take you to the control tower."

This embrace was truly reassuring. Hua Mu realized this once again.

"But… but I saw your face covered in blood."

Although her face was quite clean now.

"It's nothing serious."

Hua Mu looked at her with teary eyes. "Really? Does it hurt?"

The bruises and swelling on the Sentinel's face were very noticeable.

Stepping over Liang Jinshen's prone body, Bai Zhen ran toward the end of the hallway, reassuring her, "It's alright. It doesn't hurt."

Hua Mu couldn't help but wrap her arms around the Sentinel's neck and start crying.

Whether it was her fault or not, Bai Zhen had been injured protecting her.

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