As the simulated shooting range in the personal training room gradually darkened, Lin Yao controlled the vines to complete the last set of accuracy exercises.

The ice-blue aerial vines left afterimages in the virtual air, wrapping the last suspended target into particles of light. Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief and exit the training mode.

The light computer on my wrist showed that it was already ten o'clock in the evening.

He rubbed his eyebrows and subconsciously swept his eyes across the friend list. Su Ye's avatar was still lit, and his location was marked in the viewing area of ​​the insect nest.

Lin Yao's fingertips hovered over the dialog box, and after hesitating for a moment, he typed a line of words: "Good night."

The moment the message was sent, I received a reply, the same two words "Good night".

It comes with a dark green star expression, like Su Ye’s bright eyes.

Lin Yao smiled and when he exited the login cabin, the ice-blue vines in his spiritual sea were still stained with energy particles from the virtual training ground, as if they had secretly brought back Xiao Hei's breath.

At the same time, in the infirmary of the Red Shadow Legion on the second line of the expedition battlefield, Ye Heng was wearing a neural connector, and his alias 'Su Ye' was still online.

Mumu’s avatar in the friend list has dimmed, and the last “Good night” is still at the top of the private message dialog box.

His fingertipsLooking at the edge of the screen, a barely audible laugh escaped from his throat, and he then chose to log off.

The account 'Su Ye' was registered in order to wait for 'Shadow'. The character image used was the most basic player image in the national training ground. The only thing that was not changed was his eyes.

It’s not that I don’t want to change, but that I can’t change.

Even the spiritual body Mo Yun was modified, his data was halved, and his appearance became that of an ordinary black python.

He didn't expect to meet Mumu before finding 'Shadow', a plant-based guide who was not afraid of his spiritual body and could even allow Shasha and Moyun to interact intimately.

The alloy wall of the infirmary reflected his figure in combat uniform, and the red shadow badge on the epaulettes glowed coldly under the emergency light.

The mental monitor on his wrist showed that Mo Yun's activity level was 30% higher than usual, and he was obviously still savoring the pleasure of playing with the vines.

"You've made some progress." Ye Heng tapped Mo Yun with his fingers, and it rubbed his fingertips affectionately.

He remembered the ice-blue vine jumping for joy when Mumu said "Kill Kill", and his chest felt as if warm water was injected into it.

Ye Heng came to Chiying at the age of fifteen and stayed here for thirteen years.

He had seen many guides' fear when they saw Mo Yun. When the current military doctor Yan Rufeng first met him, his spirit body Haiyan flew to the highest point of the starship and hid there.

The woody guide who grew up with Mo Yun at his mother's house was no longer afraid after years of desensitization training, but the spiritual body of the ginkgo tree still refused to let Mo Yun get close.

Not to mention those strange guides who were so scared that they took three steps back when they first met them.

The entire Red Shadow Legion is like this.

The list of the sentinels' spirit bodies was spread out, like an illustrated guide to cold-blooded animals: the chief of staff's spirit body was a seven-meter-long golden python, the logistics officer's was an alligator snapping turtle, and even the youngest recruit had awakened a poisonous lizard.

Rumor has it that they are a "cold-blooded killer army" that marches like a glacier and fights like a tsunami.

Fanboys and girls on Starnet were posting comments like "I want to join" and "So cool" on the Legion's homepage, but when the guides mentioned the Red Shadow Legion, they could barely hide the resistance in their eyes.

Ye Heng opened the internal forum of the Legion, and the latest post was still discussing "How to make the guide willing to cooperate with the synchronous training of mental power."

The responses below are varied:

"It is recommended to replace the crocodile spirit body with a plush toy."

"Bring a bouquet of flowers next time you go on a mission?"

In the end, the chief of staff rejected them all with the word "childish".

He knew exactly where the problem lay. The spirits of 70% of the Red Shadow sentinels were cold-blooded animals, and there was a natural food chain suppression between them and the spirits of most guides.

Although all the sentinels' spirit bodies are like this, some of the sentinels' spirit bodies have fur, which can make them look cute.

The spirits of the woody guides were in better condition, as they could rely on branches to barely resist snakes when encountering them; but those of the herbaceous and vine types were like young sprouts on a chopping board in front of crocodiles and sharks.

Not to mention that plant guides are rare, and this was the most exaggerated one Ye Heng had ever seen.

There was a new sentry whose spirit body was a sea snake. The cooperating guide burst into tears on the spot. The other party's spirit body was a Venus flytrap, which wilted into dehydrated kelp the moment it saw the sea snake.

"Is that why you are so excited?" Ye Heng looked down at the happily twisting snake shadow. Mo Yun was rubbing the rustling afterimage of the vines on the light screen with his tongue.

Shasha was different. The ice-blue vine looked weak, but it could accurately predict Xiao Hei's movements. When the healing particles fell on the scales, even his spiritual sea began to warm up.

Mumu is even more different. There is no fear in his eyes when he looks at Xiaohei, only curiosity and calmness. He even smiles kindly as he watches the two spirits interact.

The optical computer suddenly vibrated, it was a new message reminder from the Legion Star Network homepage.

Ye Heng glanced around and saw the fans were praising him again: "The Red Shadow Army is the most handsome! Please give me a picture of the Sentinel brothers in battle!"

He casually crossed out the page and reopened the dialog box with Mumu in the training ground.

The dark green star expressions were still flickering, like sparks falling on the ice.

He really liked the guide Mumu, but...

Ye Heng gazed out the window at the sanatorium's fortifications, a complex expression flickering across his dark green eyes. His gaze passed over the layers of energy shields and landed on the distant beacon of patrol mechas, his thoughts drifting back to years ago.

The marriage with the De Lin family was decided by his grandfather, the previous generation head of the Ye family.

What the old man had his eyes on was the herbal healing spirit from Delinwei, the eldest daughter of the Delin family, as he felt that it could soothe the mental restlessness left over from years of battle.

He was nineteen years old that year, fighting on the front line of the Zerg mother nest in the expedition battlefield. Every time he swung his sword, he was accumulating merit for taking over the Red Shadow Legion.

When the signalman passed the marriage news to the command ship, he was leaning on the wreckage of the mecha to bandage his wounds. He just said "hmm" lightly when he heard the news, and there was no ripple in his heart.

At that time, all his data were at their peak, and his spiritual sea was as stable as a frozen glacier. He always felt that the legion medical guide and tranquilizers were enough.

What's more, Delinwei was only twelve years old at the time. He looked at the childish photo in the computer without frowning. He was not so perverted as to have any thoughts about a child.

Ye Heng understood his grandfather's concerns.

Most of the sentinel spirits of the Red Shadow Legion are cold-blooded animals. It is not easy to find a guide willing to combine with them, and the herbal healing ability is notoriously gentle.

So he acquiesced to the marriage, but firmly refused to let the twelve-year-old Delinwei join the army, and set the date for registering the marriage on the day she turned twenty-two.

The first time he met his fiancée was at the royal wedding three years ago.

The Lin family married their youngest daughter, an A-level herbal guide, to the third prince, and all the families in the Central Star were invited.

Ye Heng was sitting in the guest seats wearing a neat military uniform. Through the halo of light reflected by the crystal chandelier, he saw De Linwei standing in the corner wearing a pink dress. There was a lily spirit on her temples, and she was as cute as a doll in the window.

That appearance met all his stereotypes of a botanical guide, but that was all.

After just one glance, Ye Heng lost interest. His instincts told him that his fiancée would be afraid of Mo Yun.

Facts confirmed his guess.

As the banquet was coming to an end, a drunken second-generation rich man released his own Corpula Snake spirit, causing the surrounding guides to scream.

In the chaos, he happened to meet Delinwei's eyes. After a simple greeting, he saw three things in those doll-like eyes:

A dislike for snakes, a delight in his identity, and ambition hidden behind his eyelashes.

He didn't like this kind of guide, but Ye Heng didn't intend to break the contract. At worst, they could treat each other with respect after marriage, just to fulfill his grandfather's wish.

The old man has loved him the most since he was a child. In order to protect him, he even turned against the Elders' Council. He can never forget this kindness.

However, Ye Heng did not expect that more than a month ago, the De Lin family would take the initiative to request to change the engagement.

The De Lin family claimed that De Lin Wei and Cang Ye, the young master of the Cang family, were in love with each other and hoped that the Ye family would agree to it, and instead pushed her cousin Lin Yao out.

The communication records from that time were still stored in the optical computer, and the Delin family's reasons were both respectable and ridiculous.

The Ye family and the Cang family have always had a good relationship. The old man finally nodded and accepted the incident with a pinch of his nose.

However, the Ye family has never announced their new engagement partner. After all, being treated as a replacement is not glorious, and this is also what his grandfather meant.

The De Lin family didn't seem to care either. They thought that the guide named Lin Yao was too useless and even they themselves felt that he was not worthy enough.

Ye Heng had only heard of this name before. Rumor has it that he was a person who had been seriously injured, his mental body was damaged and later recovered. His mental power was only that of a D-level guide. He was so useless that the De Lin family didn't care about the Ye family's neglect at all.

He didn't care about it at all at the time. His grandfather had already made the arrangements, and it was just a matter of fulfilling the engagement, so it didn't make much difference who the partner was.

But now, looking at the darkened wooden statue on the screen, Ye Heng had the thought of disobeying his grandfather for the first time.

His fingertips left faint red marks on the edge of the optical computer. In the silence of the infirmary, he could almost hear the sound of his own heartbeat getting out of control.

The guide who smiled and said "I'm not afraid of snakes" on the training ground, and Mumu who could make Mo Yun willingly sheath his fangs.

Mumu and Lin Yao, these two names appeared alternately in his mind, making the conflict in his heart more acute.

Ye Heng closed his eyes, and two images flashed through his mind: Mumu's calm smile when she looked at Mo Yun, and the image of ice-blue vines and pitch-black snake tails entwined, suddenly overshadowing all rules and responsibilities.

Maybe... I can talk to grandpa and cancel the engagement with Lin Yao.

As soon as this thought came to his mind, he suppressed it forcefully. The old man was in poor health and couldn't stand the stress.

Moreover, Ye Heng knew that Lin Yao had endured a lot of criticism due to his own lack of ability, and the exchange marriage had only added to his troubles.

The Ye family did not say anything, but they did not deny it either. The onlookers from the interstellar world were talking about it in a pretty good way. They simply felt that the Ye family had lost face, so they were looking for revenge.

But once the Ye family proposes to cancel the agreement, the overwhelming malice will instantly engulf this poor guide.

Ye Heng felt that he couldn't treat such a guide who was more innocent than him. He was not the one at fault.

But he couldn't bear to leave Mumu, the guide who could cooperate with him perfectly and was not afraid of his spiritual body. He was the light he had finally encountered in the vast sea of ​​stars.

Ye Heng took a deep breath and turned his laptop upside down on the table, as if he was avoiding something.

Mo Yun came out and rubbed the back of his hand uneasily. It could feel the master's spiritual sea was restless, half of which was the joy of meeting a compatible guide, and half of which was the irritation of being bound by the marriage contract.

"It's okay." Ye Heng whispered soothingly, his fingertips running across the snake's scales.

A warning light flashed from the fortifications outside the window, and Ye Heng's eyes became sharp again.

But this time, the coldness and hardness of the Red Shadow Legion Marshal was mixed with a hint of hesitation that he himself was not even aware of.

The lights in the treatment room were completely turned off, leaving only a faint light on the monitor, reflecting the struggle surging in his eyes.

-

Lin Yao was completely unaware of Ye Heng's struggle and continued to work as usual.

At nine o'clock in the morning, the doorbell rang on time.

Lin Yao stood up and opened the door. Standing outside was a tall sentry. The epaulettes on his shoulders showed that he was a reserve member of the legion, and his cheeks still looked a little immature.

"Guide Lin! Hello! I am Gu Yang." The sentry's voice was a little nervous, and he unconsciously straightened his back while speaking.

"Come in." Lin Yao stepped aside to let him in, his eyes falling on his feet.

A fluffy golden shadow was sniffing the carpet curiously. It was a golden retriever, its tail wagging like a blooming sunflower.

Gu Yang was obviously a little embarrassed and hurriedly tried to retract the spirit body: "It..."

"It's okay, let it stay there." Lin Yao smiled and waved his hand, pointing to the floating sofa in the waiting area, "Sit there!"

The golden retriever seemed to understand and ran over first, rolling on the carpet. The carpet was bought yesterday and Lin Yao had already laid it out when he came in the morning.

It raised its head and looked at Lin Yao with wet eyes, making a comfortable whimper in its throat.

Gu Yang's cheeks turned even redder, and he sat down on the floating sofa. The monitor on his wrist showed a fluctuation value of 38.

It's not dangerous, but constant mental tension can easily lead to irritability.

"What's its name?" Lin Yao sat on the chair opposite and tapped the light brain with his fingertips to call up Gu Yang's information.

He did not ask about Gu Yang right away, but instead asked the name of the spirit body.

"Zhuifeng!" Gu Yang scratched his head embarrassedly. Normally, the name of this kind of furry child would be softer, but Gu Yang wanted to go to the battlefield, so it got a name that was very suitable for the battlefield!

Lin Yao looked at the golden color scattered on the carpet and said, "That's a good name!"

"Have you been having trouble concentrating lately? Do you suddenly get distracted during training and occasionally have trouble sleeping at night?"

Gu Yang was stunned for a moment, then nodded quickly: "How did you know? The captain only asked me to do a routine counseling..."

"Your spirit is very honest." Lin Yao raised his chin towards the golden retriever. Although the little guy was having fun, his tail was slapping the ground from time to time, with a little imperceptible anxiety.

However, Gu Yang's condition was very mild and he didn't need Lin Yao's drainage warehouse.

"The Wind Chaser is very sensitive to emotions, and its anxiety is often a mirror of the Sentinel's mental fluctuations."

As he spoke, a soft spiritual power gathered at his fingertips and landed gently on Gu Yang's brow like a feather.

Gu Yang's whole body stiffened, then he relaxed, and the value on the monitor began to slowly decrease.

"Don't be nervous," Lin Yao's voice became softer. "Try to breathe along with my rhythm. Imagine you are on a meadow, with the sun shining on your back, it's very warm..."

The ice-blue aerial vines silently emerged from Lin Yao's cuffs and gently wrapped around Lin Yao's fingertips.

Ice-blue healing particles slowly fell as the vines swayed. Zhuifeng jumped up excitedly, used his nose to catch the particles, and wagged his tail even more happily.

Lin Yao smiled, and guided Gu Yang's thoughts with his spiritual power. "Your stress mainly comes from the anxiety of the new recruit assessment, right? You're always worried that you'll fall behind."

Gu Yang's eyelashes trembled, and he murmured "hmm": "My comrades in the same batch are all A-level and B-level, and the worst is C. Only I am E-level..."

"E-rank doesn't mean you're incompetent." Lin Yao's spiritual power gently soothed the ripples of restlessness in his mind. "You must understand that 'I was born with a purpose,' otherwise why would the Legion accept you?"

As he spoke, he controlled the vines to send a virtual young leaf towards the golden-haired man.

The little guy immediately pressed it down with his paw and started chewing it happily, making a satisfied purr in his throat.

Gu Yang looked at the appearance of the spirit body, and his tense shoulders completely relaxed. The fluctuation value on the monitor had dropped to 15, entering the stable range.

"Alright." Lin Yao withdrew his mental power, and the vine gently wrapped itself around his wrist. "Don't put too much pressure on yourself when you get back. Have some fun with it during your breaks from training."

Gu Yang stood up and felt a lot lighter, as if a heavy burden had been lifted off his shoulders.

He looked at the golden retriever still rolling on the carpet, then looked at Lin Yao and scratched his head: "Thank you, Guide Lin! Thank you for enlightening me!"

"You're welcome! Remember to give me a good review!" Lin Yao said playfully and smiled as he walked him to the door.

"Five-star praise, plus a thousand-word review!" Gu Yang said confidently!

Lin Yao jokingly said, "Okay! I'll wait for you to write!"

Zhuifeng ran over, rubbed his trouser leg affectionately with his head, and then happily followed Gu Yang away.

The moment the door closed, Lin Yao looked down at the vine on his wrist. The leaves swayed gently, as if recalling the time he had just interacted with Zhuifeng.

The white noise in the counseling room continues, quiet and warm.

-

Time just passed by, and Lin Yao's life was like this: working during the day and teaming up with Su Ye at night. Half a month passed in a dull yet meaningful way.

That day, driver Xu took Lin Yao to work. When he was about to leave De Lin's house, he encountered an oversized hover truck, which blocked Lin Yao at the door.

The inertia caused by the sudden brake almost made Lin Yao fall down: "What's going on?"

"Sorry, young master! There's a traffic jam ahead!" Driver Xu's voice came with an apology.

Lin Yao looked out through the window of the hovercraft and saw De Linwei's figure.