A sharp sword

The young man pulled out a chair and sat down at the table in a familiar manner, with an arrogant look on his face and his upper body slightly leaning back, as if he was extremely impatient to stay in such a small community store.

Xu Youling had always been the one being interviewed, never the one interviewing others. Furthermore, the other party was such an arrogant sentinel, so he couldn't help but become serious. He sat back and clasped his hands on the table.

"Could you please introduce yourself first?" Seeing that the young man didn't speak for a long time, Xu Youling could only remind him.

The young man seemed to find it ridiculous. He turned his head and snorted, pressing his tongue against his cheek. After a long while, he spoke reluctantly: "Duan Xingzhi."

"Okay, Mr. Duan." Xu Youling maintained the good qualities of an entrepreneur. "May I ask why you are applying for this position?"

"I came just as I wanted to." Duan Xingzhi closed his eyes impatiently and tapped the table twice with his fingertips. "When can I start work?"

"Uh..." Xu Youling didn't know what to say. This guy shouldn't be here to mess things up, right? "Mr. Duan, when we recruit people, we also have to consider whether the applicant's ability is suitable for this position. Do you know anything about our store's business?"

Although this sentinel does not seem to be suitable to be a spiritual beautician in any way.

Duan Xingzhi stared at Xu Youling for a moment with an expression of incredible pride, then glanced at Lu Heng, who was silent beside him, and then retracted his gaze, sneering, "I thought it was some great job, and you still have to talk about it. From what I hear, this store almost went bankrupt. They've been recruiting for half a month and no one has come to apply. Do you think you have any choice?"

"Duan Xingzhi!"

Xu Youling was irritated by what he said and was about to retort, but the one who shouted at Duan Xingzhi was Lu Heng, who had been silent since the sentry entered the room. This really scared Xu Youling. He placed his clenched fist on the table, trembling slightly.

"Do you... know each other?" Song Qi asked tentatively.

"know."

"I don't know him."

Two completely different answers came out at the same time, and Lu Heng's face suddenly became even uglier.

Seeing the two men deadlocked and the atmosphere in the store becoming particularly strange, Xu Youling could only reluctantly speak to comfort them: "Okay... Mr. Duan, I'm asking you questions not because I doubt your ability, but because the positions in the store do have their own requirements. We need careful and patient staff, which may be difficult for sentinels, so the interview is also a two-way selection process for us."

"Didn't I tell you when we'll process the onboarding?" Duan Xingzhi suppressed his anger. "Do you think I'm kidding?"

"Ah... so you are sure you can do this job, right?" Xu Youling was stunned by Duan Xingzhi's attitude.

"Nonsense, otherwise why would I come here?"

"I say, have a little courtesy!"

Unable to bear it any longer, Lu Heng turned around and spoke, glaring at Duan Xingzhi beside him.

"Stop pretending?" Duan Xingzhi let out a mocking smile. "I haven't seen you for a few years, and your ability to find a place to stay is getting worse and worse."

Song Qi and Xu Youling exchanged glances, their expressions a little panicked. Although he was annoyed with Lu Heng, once a more excessive character appeared, his annoyance would be transferred to Duan Xingzhi.

"Mr. Duan, I don't care what your relationship with Lu Heng was before, please don't say such things anymore." Xu Youling stood up. "If you can't respect your colleagues, I won't let you work in this store."

This is not only for Lu Heng's safety, but also for the smooth operation of the store. This store is small to begin with, and if there are serious conflicts between employees... Xu Youling suddenly felt overwhelmed.

Duan Xingzhi glared and was about to explode, but Lu Heng gritted his teeth and said reluctantly, "Keep him for now."

Duan Xingzhi shrugged indifferently.

"But when we find the next sentry, you get out of here immediately." Lu Heng turned around and glared at him.

"Whatever you want." Duan Xingzhi said coldly.

Xu Youling carefully observed the two men's states and felt that there was no possibility of a fight between them for the time being. He breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Your probation period is one week. Come to work tomorrow. Lu Heng, Song Qi and I will go back first. You've been working hard at the store."

Duan Xingzhi raised his chin arrogantly: "Got it!"

It seems that this sentry won’t be working in the store for long... Xu Youling packed up his work clothes and pulled Song Qi, who obviously wanted to listen again, out of the store.

"Could it be Lu Heng's ex? He's so aggressive." As soon as he turned the corner of the road and made sure that the two people in the store wouldn't hear what he said next, Song Qi immediately spoke up, "I can't believe that a stupid elite guy like Lu Heng would actually fall in love."

"Why do I feel like Lu Heng owes him money..." Xu Youling said weakly.

It was impossible to imagine that Lu Heng had a sentry. Moreover, he had been imprisoned in the White Tower for so long. If Duan Xingzhi was really his predecessor, why didn't he go to help him then?

"Well, let's not talk about it anymore. I feel very upset when I think about the sentry customers we will have to deal with in the future. If we run into a few irritable ones, they will smash our store in a while." Song Qi muttered.

"Ah...but if we don't accept any sentinel customers at all, we will lose at least half of our customers. What a pity." Xu Youling pursed his lips.

The growing prosperity of the shop is inseparable from the efforts of him, Lu Heng and Song Qi. Of course, he also hopes to expand the scale of business so that his employees and colleagues can live a better life.

But every time he made a new major decision, he would have the thought that "this doesn't have to be done this way."

Time flies. In the blink of an eye, Xu Youling has been in this world for almost half a year. During this time, he has experienced many things, from having to read textbooks and memorize spiritual knowledge to being able to use his abilities skillfully, and slowly adapting to the rules of the world of Sentry.

But he is always an outsider, and there is always a sword of Damocles hanging over his head, constantly telling him: You will leave one day.

Leaving was once a carrot-like bait, the source of all his courage to appease Pei Zhi and redress his wrongdoing. But for him now, its meaning seemed to have subtly changed.

This is probably the feeling when a person devotes all his energy to something that seems forced at first, but finds to his surprise that he actually gains pleasure from it and a sense of tension that he does not want to get out of it.

What's more, there is Pei Zhi.

When Xu Youling thought of Pei Zhi, he fell silent for a moment, and his breathing became lighter, as if he was afraid that the only remaining breath in his head would be taken away.

But why, even though Pei Zhi's fate had been reversed, didn't Xu Youling return home? Didn't he consider his mission complete?

Pei Zhi was probably still serving in the expeditionary force. Was the border still as desolate as the snowy plains he had once imagined? Had he found his guiding partner?

I can't think any further.

Xu Youling blinked hard. Song Qi was still chattering away, but the two of them had already entered the familiar corridor. The hot summer breeze blew gently, and the scorching heat spread in circles in the air.

Just keep living like this, and let fate take you wherever it takes you.

-

Lu Heng sat for a while, then stood up and turned off the lights, plunging the store into darkness.

The young sentry's eyes sparkled brightly in the night, and he never looked away.

"What do you want?" Lu Heng said tiredly, "I'm already in jail. I've hidden so far away. Why are you still looking for me?"

"I don't want to do anything." Duan Xingzhi pursed his lips. "I just want to cause you some trouble. Is that okay?"

"Haven't you caused enough trouble?" Lu Heng raised his hand to rub his temples.

"Compared to the benefits I brought you, it's far from enough." Duan Xingzhi said bitterly.

Lu Heng was silent for a moment, then suddenly laughed out loud: "Your whole family are crazy."

"Be careful with your words." Duan Xingzhi warned in a low voice.

He stopped looking at Lu Heng and stood up in the darkness. "Let's go."

"No thanks." Lu Heng was too lazy to look up.

The crisp sound of the wind chimes on the glass door sounded particularly harsh at night. They rang for a while and then became quiet again.

Lu Heng stared at the door handle for a while, then got up and went upstairs to sleep.

-

Expeditionary Force Camp at Baita Border.

"Is it your turn for vacation?" A colleague nudged Pei Zhi's elbow with a smile. "Where are you going?"

Pei Zhi frowned, obviously not used to the sudden physical contact, but he suppressed his irritation and replied vaguely: "Let's go home."

"Oh," my colleague said with an understanding smile. "Two months is a short time. It will pass in the blink of an eye. You must cherish it."

"I know." Pei Zhi got up from the bar and went back to his room.

The colleague was treated coldly and felt a little embarrassed. He clinked glasses with another comrade who was wolfing down his food next to him and said, "Why is he so difficult to get along with?"

"Tsk, just arrogant." The comrade shrugged. "After returning to the team, he opened his eyes and went on missions. I wonder how many merits he has accumulated. What do you think?"

"That's not surprising. I'd rather slack off more and go on fewer missions." A colleague expressed understanding. "But wouldn't his mental pollution be very serious?"

The comrade shook his head to indicate that he didn't know: "The boss has his own solution."

The two began to change the subject and chat aimlessly.

Pei Zhi returned to the dormitory, looked at the falling snow outside the window for a while, then picked up an unsealed file bag on the desk and looked at it.

Inside was a piece of paper without any creases, with the table of the White Tower Sentry Matching System printed on it, straight and horizontal, with black words on white paper.

In the photo, Pei Zhi pursed his lips, had thick eyebrows and deep eyes, and a section of his standard military uniform collar was visible.

The photo next to it was of a pretty young guide with soft black hair and bright eyes. The photo looked like it was taken recently, and her expression was the kind of concentration and a little nervousness that one would have if they didn't take photos often.

Pei Zhi's fingers slid across the guide's gently curved jaw and then retracted. He sighed very lightly and put the form back into the file bag.

Seal it. Hold it in your hand.

The battalion's superior in charge of sentry-direction matching was always idle. After all, with such intense combat, there were very few sentries and guides who hadn't been paired up. He sat bored at the terminal, browsing the system information.

Pei Zhi knocked on the door and went in, handing the file bag to the table, and said in a low voice: "Sir."

"Yeah." The superior replied absentmindedly, "What's up?"

"I've found a guide I like," Pei Zhi whispered. "During this two-month vacation, I'll marry him."