Chapter 24 Sentinel | Gazing into the Abyss 1 His Antidote

Above the city, the distorted dungeon entrance resembled a festering wound. The two waves of sentinels that were successively deployed seemed to have sunk without a trace, with only violent explosions and turbulent energy proclaiming the devastation inside.

The third batch of sentries, aboard helicopters, hovered at a safe distance, watching as the "scar" contracted violently and then abruptly closed.

The next moment, several dark figures fell from the center of the dissipating vortex, like expelled debris.

"Rescue! Quick!" The instructor's shouts echoed through the cabin.

The helicopter quickly descended, and the rescue team's sentries used their skills to rescue the badly injured survivors.

The rescuers' spiritual tentacles were burned away as soon as they got close, making it impossible for them to get any closer. They could only watch helplessly as he crashed straight down into the empty road below like a meteorite.

The new recruit, on his first mission, was deathly pale, his voice trembling: "That guy... he's definitely dead, isn't he?"

The instructor leading them stared intently at the still-burning black flame in the center of the pit, and said in a complicated tone, "Death? For him, that's not even an appetizer."

He grabbed the communicator and reported to the tower: "Report! Sentinel 001 has gone berserk! Repeat, 001 has gone berserk! Requesting emergency support!"

"001? Pei Heng?" The new recruit gasped, looking at the deep pit in disbelief.

The legendary "humanoid nuclear weapon" inside the tower, which never misses its target and whose mere number is enough to strike fear into the hearts of enemies, is actually that burning figure below?

Soon, a helicopter landed on the road near the pit. The door opened, and a woman in a white shirt and black trousers jumped out gracefully.

The wind whipped her long, black hair, but she paid no attention, her gaze fixed firmly on the center of the all-consuming black flame.

Yuezhi is a B-level guide in the logistics department of the tower, so quiet that she is almost invisible.

Without any hesitation, she walked toward the black flames that would deter even high-ranking sentinels. The raging flames, capable of incinerating everything, obediently parted to the sides when they touched the invisible barrier around her, making way for her.

Yuezhi walked step by step to the center of the deep pit, in front of the tall figure enveloped in black flames.

Pei Heng knelt there for a moment, then slowly stood up. He was dressed in a specially made black uniform, his shoulder-length white wolf-tail hair danced wildly without wind, his eyes lost their reason, and his chaotic gaze revealed a violent deep blue, the color of flames burning to their extreme. He exuded an aura of destruction.

When he sensed that familiar, soul-deep spiritual fluctuation, his raging fury momentarily faltered.

Yuezhi reached out and gently hugged him, pulling his tall chest down, standing on tiptoe, and pressing her forehead against his burning forehead.

"It's alright, Ah Heng." Her voice was soft, like a gentle stream, penetrating the thick barrier built by the rampaging energy.

Her powerful mental energy, completely disproportionate to her rank, unfolded gently, like moonlight falling on a surging sea, softly guiding and soothing his chaotic and rampaging mental energy, building a solid mental barrier for him, and isolating him from the information noise that would drive even the strongest sentinel mad.

The black flames surrounding Pei Heng contracted and weakened at a visible speed, eventually turning into tiny sparks and disappearing into the air.

The terrifying chaos in his eyes gradually faded, and although it remained empty, the violence had subsided.

After the deathly silence of the clamor, only that gentle "Aheng" remained in my ears, touching my soul.

...

Beside the helicopter parked on the road, Dr. Chen and the new researcher Su Jingyun stood at the edge of the crater, taking in the breathtaking scene that had just unfolded.

The doctor pushed up his glasses, his face full of amazement: "No matter how many times I see it, I still think it's a miracle. A B-level guide was able to so easily guide and calm down a rampaging S-level sentinel... If it weren't for Yue Zhi, Pei Heng himself would probably be the most uncontrollable disaster in the world."

Su Jingyun was completely stunned.

Yue Zhi? The quiet and gentle junior he had taken such good care of at school, the one who supposedly had a sickly younger brother who needed her care? She was actually Pei Heng's guide? The guide of Sentinel 001?

Sentinel No. 001 is one of the research subjects of Dr. Chen's project. He has just joined the project and knows that Pei Heng is an unparalleled leader in both explosive power and physical regeneration speed, and is the number one Sentinel.

Su Jingyun suddenly remembered that Yuezhi's full name seemed to be Pei Yuezhi... She had once said with a smile that she had a younger brother named "Aheng" who was quite a worry...

An absurd yet terrifying guess came to mind.

Su Jingyun looked at Dr. Chen, his voice trembling, and asked, "Professor, Pei Heng's guide... is his sister???"

The doctor turned his head, his expression a meaningful calm: "Yes, siblings."

Su Jingyun stood there, stunned, looking at the two people embracing in the deep pit, feeling a chill run up his spine to his brain.

Siblings?

*

The helicopter's deafening roar isolated the outside noise, but it also made the silence inside the cabin feel particularly oppressive.

Yuezhi sat by the window, watching the city below gradually shrink in silhouette. Beside her were Dr. Chen and Su Jingyun, whose face was somewhat pale.

"Yuezhi," Dr. Chen pushed up his glasses, breaking the silence, his tone carrying the rigor of a researcher, "has Pei Heng's mental pollution reached a critical point again this time?"

Yuezhi withdrew her gaze, nodded, and remained silent.

Her fingertips unconsciously curled up, as if she could still feel the scorching heat and the subtle tremors that followed the subsidence of Pei Heng's violent energy during their embrace.

“As you know, maintaining a pollution level of over 50% for a long time is like a ticking time bomb,” Dr. Chen continued, his voice steady amidst the noise. “I know Pei Heng is exceptionally gifted and has a strong self-healing ability, allowing him to maintain his rationality and fighting spirit even at such a high level of pollution. But ultimately, this is a huge burden on him. Having his mind under constant pressure and in a polluted state is not a good thing.”

He looked at Yuezhi and said, "Our project team recently tested and approved a drug-guided therapy machine. When used in conjunction with a specific mental calming agent, it can effectively strip away and purify deep-seated mental pollution. The effect is much more direct and faster than traditional guided therapy. You are someone he trusts, perhaps you could persuade him to try it?"

Yuezhi remained silent, her gaze fixed on her clasped fingers.

She knew what Pei Heng was carrying; that heavy pollution was like a bone-deep ailment, and every time she thought of it, her heart would clench.

They are siblings connected by blood. She used her spiritual power to build a barrier for him and to guide him, but this method does have its limits.

“I will consider it seriously, Doctor,” she replied softly, her tone devoid of much emotion.

At this moment, Su Jingyun, who was sitting opposite, spoke up. He knew that drug intervention was not a panacea, and that the so-called "mental calming agent" had extremely serious side effects, which could cause irreversible rigidity to the sentinel's mind and even damage his potential.

He couldn't directly refute her in front of his mentor, but he couldn't bear to see Yuezhi's family take such a risk.

Carefully choosing his words, he suggested to her: "Junior, there are many high-quality A-level and even S-level guides in the tower. Perhaps you could help Pei Heng apply to the upper levels of the tower to have a high-level guide specially assigned to him? After all, professional guides providing mental guidance is the safest approach."

Upon hearing this, Yuezhi said helplessly, "I've been submitting applications for him for three years now... and it's all been for nothing."

The year Pei Heng turned eighteen and began his missions, she applied for a guide for him as his guardian, and the tower quickly assigned him a very beautiful and capable A-level female guide.

She was just trying to get closer, slowly releasing her spiritual energy, but before she could even touch Pei Heng, he vomited.

Later, after listening to the female guide's complaints, Yuezhi learned that Pei Heng had a very serious aversion to mental counseling, similar to mental fastidiousness. It was not a physiological resistance, but a mental inability to accept it.

The following year, after much pleading and cajoling, Pei Heng finally agreed to give it a try.

As a result, when he politely shook hands with the new guide, he lost control of his mental energy, and black flames directly burned the other person's arm, causing severe injuries. The other person had to stay in a medical center for more than two months.

In the third year, her application was rejected by the tower, and she could only assist from the sidelines, helping Pei Heng to control his mental fastidiousness and providing him with some guidance and counseling during this period.

This is the fourth year, he is twenty-one years old, and he is still on the Tower's matchmaking blacklist. She can only be his temporary guide.

Yuezhi rubbed her temples and tried to lighten the mood by saying, "There are gains and losses. Someone who awakens early like him and has unbelievably strong power is bound to have shortcomings that are different from ordinary people."

Su Jingyun nodded in agreement, and the cabin fell silent, with only the continuous roar of the engine.

Yuezhi returned to her temporary dormitory inside the tower and worked on documents on the sofa. Not long after, she heard a soft "beep" and the door lock was unlocked by fingerprint.

Looking up, I saw Pei Heng walk in.

He closed the door behind him, smoothly took off his black uniform jacket, and casually tossed it onto the single sofa, revealing a black turtleneck sweater underneath that perfectly outlined his muscular upper body.

Pei Heng didn't look anywhere else and walked straight towards her.

Before Yuezhi could even speak, he leaned over, grabbed her hands which were still resting on the tablet, knelt on the sofa cushion, and cast his shadow over her, trapping her in a corner of the sofa.

"Aheng?" Yuezhi's back sank into the soft sofa back as she watched him bury his head in her chest and abdomen, breathing greedily and deeply, as if her scent was a life-saving antidote.

She knew that his mental landscape was still 50 percent polluted, and that he wasn't exactly lucid at the moment, so she let him be.

She gently smoothed the white hair at the back of his head, and was hesitating about how to bring up the topic of guidance or medication, but he moved first.

The young man slightly raised his head, his eyes dark and unfathomable, as if they held too many unspeakable emotions and turbidity. He tightened his arms, pulling her closer into his embrace, almost pushing her down into the corner of the sofa armrest.

“Ordinary methods of intervention are becoming less and less effective.” His voice was low and hoarse, with a slight, almost imperceptible stickiness, like a damp mist clinging to him.

Yuezhi hummed in agreement.

Indeed, recently, after returning from missions, simply holding him like this has slowed down his calming process.

Then she heard his next sentence, which was flat in tone but made her heart skip a beat.

"Then... could we try mucosal drainage?"

Yuezhi was stunned, meeting his dark eyes.

The chaotic violence of his rampage was gone from his eyes, replaced by a deeper, more obsessive emotion, like a bottomless deep sea, seemingly calm but hiding a whirlpool that could drown a person.

The primary form of mucosal stimulation is kissing.

Yuezhi looked at him. His brows and eyes were deep-set, his nose was high and straight, and the young man's face was so handsome that it was almost aggressive. But at this moment, because of the "well-behaved" deliberate thing he did, which he only showed in front of her, he exuded a strange sense of incongruity...

She hesitated.

But Pei Heng knew how to soften her heart and how to penetrate her defenses. That damp, scheming desire, hidden beneath his seemingly submissive exterior, seeped out bit by bit.

He is extremely disgusted by even the touch of other people, and may vomit at best, or lose control and hurt others at worst.

Only with her did he suffer from a morbid skin hunger; hugs, closeness, and intertwined breaths were far from enough, and now he was making even more outrageous demands.

He looked at her in silence, his eyes growing even darker; if his desires were not met, more gloom would grow within him.

The young man lowered his head, his high, straight nose almost touching hers, his hot breath brushing against her lips, carrying a silent pressure and intense longing, awaiting her answer.

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Author's Note: PS: This story is set in a fictional world. The true relationship between the male and female protagonists will be revealed in later episodes. The plot will primarily focus on emotional entanglements, and the style leans towards a wet and sticky tone.