Chapter 44 How Jiang Chen Killed a Sentinel
Zhou Xuanyi did not answer and looked at her with an apologetic look.
Xu Nuo's throat was strangled.
She couldn't calm down, and like an obsessive-compulsive disorder, she kept comparing Qi Qian and Wei Yan in her memory.
Things that had never been noticed before, or that had never been possible to realize... now appeared one by one.
Qi Qian fell into a pond due to being chased by unknown people and was rescued by her. Wei Yan was once chased by his enemies and was rescued by an important person.
They all joined the White Tower at about the same time, and their service periods are the same. Calculating the time, they all finished their initial service this year...
She recalled Wei Yan's complete trust when they first met, his subtle intimacy and unpredictable social distance, the breakfast he handed her when he picked her up from school and took her to the capital's administrative center, that familiar smell...
There were so many things that seemed puzzling and surprising before, but when the mystery of this person named Wei Yan but with the core named Qi Qian was solved, they all made sense.
"He didn't dare acknowledge you, covering everything with lies. Even knowing you were confused and sad, he never explained..." Zhou Xuanyi said, "If you had revealed your identities when you met, perhaps things wouldn't have gotten to this point."
"You call me a liar, and I admit it. But what about him? Without Fino's interference, he might never have dared to reveal his true face to you until his death. You would always believe he was Wei Yan, living in this fabricated illusion, carrying the pain of losing Qi Qian."
"Can such a person be called a family?"
Zhou Xuanyi's repeated questions were like a small hammer, hammering into Xu Nuo's heart, causing an indescribable pain.
She didn't know whether she should be sad that she was deceived by lies and fell in love with an illusion, or sad that Qi Qian, who grew up with her like a family member, was unwilling to show his true face and even disguised himself as another person to contact her. Her heart was mixed with sourness and grievance, and even her lips and teeth were filled with bitterness.
"This is simply..." She lowered her head, her tone gradually becoming angry.
“That’s ridiculous.”
It's ridiculous.
She and Wei Yan even...
Shame, anger, and regret surged in Xu Nuo's heart, and his cheeks flushed red with anger, which was unusual for him. "Does he know what he's doing?"
Zhou Xuanyi shrugged: "It's hard to say."
"So…are you going to explore other parts of Fino?"
Do you still want to save him?
Xu Nuo clenched his teeth tightly, suppressing his turbulent emotions.
"Of course I have to wait and see. Who knows if you'll change your mind and not let me go."
Zhou Xuanyi smiled: "Okay, let's continue."
"Wait," Xu Nuo crossed his arms, "Your mission from now on is to follow me?"
Zhou Xuanyi: "Not much, what's wrong?"
Xu Nuo: "Following me is just sitting there doing nothing, why not find something to do? Teach me something?"
Zhou Xuanyi raised his eyebrows: "What do you want to learn?"
"Fighting, guns, cold weapons, whatever is powerful, learn it."
"Oh and...how to kill a Sentinel."
Three months later.
Finau training ground.
"Ah! F--!"
The muscular burly fell to the ground, gasping for breath with wounds all over his body. "Auntie, please spare me. I won't fight anymore. It's too embarrassing!"
A well-proportioned girl approached, her face red and swollen, and she spat out blood: "Who told you to break the rules? I agreed not to hit you in the face!"
The big guy covered his belly and cried out: "Auntie, you hit me where it hurts, I can't bear it, I can't stand it..."
The girl pulled the corner of her mouth, pulling at the wound, and grimaced: "Alright, let's end it today. I owe you a cleansing, I'll do it for you tomorrow."
The big guy's sad face instantly turned into a smile: "Thank you, Miss Xu, I will come early tomorrow morning. Now that it's over, can you let my wolf go?"
Xu Nuo glanced to the side and saw Xiao Gu with a fierce look in his eyes holding a much smaller grey wolf under his claws. The grey wolf let out a "woohoo" sound of grievance due to the pressure of his chubby body.
Little Gu is now even larger, almost twice as big as it was three months ago. Its beak is no longer pitch black, but has a faint red hue. Its feathers are less fluffy and more smooth, revealing a light yellow velvet sheen.
Xu Nuo and Xiao Gu were in tune with each other, and in a flash, Xiao Gu let go of the gray wolf, shrank in size, and flew onto his shoulder.
The gray wolf escaped from its shackles and whimpered at the big guy. The big guy didn't get angry. He laughed and said, "Alright, I know you're feeling wronged. Let's be patient. This guide is a great benefactor. Once the purification is done tomorrow, our pollution will be gone!"
"And me! Miss Guide, are you going to fight me sometime?"
"I want one too. I can take any beating I can get, but I won't fight back!"
The shouts of the onlookers formed waves that rose one after another.
Xu Nuo wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and waved his hand: "Stop arguing, take turns one by one, I'm going back now!"
She was quite loud, but the shouts of the burly sentries were even louder. She continued to wipe her face carelessly. As she wiped, the previously noisy training ground suddenly fell silent, as if someone had stifled all the noise.
Xu Nuo casually stuffed the handkerchief into his pocket and sighed.
"It ends so early today?" said the daily visitor standing not far away.
He also looked like he had just finished training, wearing a sports suit, his forehead hair was wet, and his face was slightly red.
Xu Nuo hummed, lowered his head, and wiped the blood off his body. In the blink of an eye, a clean handkerchief flew past his eyes, wiping the corners of his eyes before quickly being retracted.
The girl looked up impatiently, and he said calmly, "It's not clean."
Xu Nuo: "I can do it myself."
Zhou Xuanyi: "It's not like you kept saying thank you three months ago when I said I wanted to learn guns and fighting. Now that you've learned it, you don't recognize me anymore. After all, I'm still your master."
Xu Nuo said angrily: "Thank you, Master. Thank you so much. Are you satisfied?"
"It's okay, but I'm a bit tired of hearing it too much. Do you have any other words?" Zhou Xuanyi smiled.
Xu Nuo decided to quit while he was ahead: "I have something else to do. I'll leave first."
"Wait," he quickly grabbed the girl's arm, "Don't go back yet, I'll show you something good."
Xu Nuo crossed his arms. "What kind of artificially cultivated grass, gardens, and fruits are these? It's a little strange, but I still have to practice shooting."
Zhou Xuanyi didn't explain to her and called out Nanfeng: "Don't practice today. Let's go and take a look."
Xu Nuo's physique improved greatly after three months of training, but the time was too short. The man lifted his small body, which had just become much stronger, and lifted it onto the eagle's back.
"It better be something more exotic, otherwise I'll have to go back to practice shooting early."
"I know, I know."
Nanfeng's flight altitude rose rapidly, and the training ground and a group of buildings under his feet quickly shrank in his sight. In the strong wind, Xu Nuo struggled to open his eyes and looked at the buildings below.
This was the first time in three months that Zhou Xuanyi took her to fly over Fino.
Flying is prohibited over Fino. Even though Xiaogu has the ability to fly long distances, he has never had the opportunity to take off.
"Did you see it clearly?" Zhou Xuanyi said into the wind.
The south wind lifted into the clouds, and the scene below was almost invisible.
Xu Nuo retracted his gaze: "No."
The reason why Nanfeng was asked to quickly rise into the clouds was because he didn't want her to see the whole picture of Finod.
She was not surprised.
During this period, Zhou Xuanyi, perhaps out of guilt or something, was almost obedient to her. Whether it was exploring the terrain distribution of Fino or learning how to fight, he taught her everything. He didn't care about her sarcasm and ridicule. Recently, he even made an exception and took her to the border for a trip.
Despite this, Xu Nuo also understood that his good attitude was only because she gave up the idea of saving Wei Yan and did not struggle in vain, which saved him a lot of energy.
He appears to be trusting, but in reality he is extremely tight-lipped and defensive, and he has absolutely no integrity or moral integrity as he appears to be. Instead, he has inherited his father's deep scheming.
In the past three months, Xu Nuo was not even sure whether she had gained any of his trust. She was also wondering whether her obedient behavior now was part of the plan of the father and son.
Is their chess game still going on?
"arrive."
The south wind landed on the rooftop of the tallest building in the complex.
Xu Nuo jumped off Nanfeng and stepped onto the red velvet carpet on the rooftop: "You've never brought me here before."
Zhou Xuanyi: "It's not too late now. Let's go to the next floor and change into our formal wear."
Xu Nuo raised his eyebrows: "What do you mean?"
"I'm taking you to a party. Only my father's close associates and distinguished guests can enter this mansion. If I want to take you in, I'm afraid I can only use the title of my future partner."
Xu Nuo lost interest: "I'm not interested."
Zhou Xuanyi coughed pretentiously a few times. "I thought we'd developed some feelings after training together for so long. Why are you so unwilling to be my partner?"
Xu Nuo glared at him.
She had been doing this lately whenever he said something ambiguous.
Zhou Xuanyi had no choice but to move closer and whisper, "What if there's someone you want to see at the party?"
Xu Nuo's pupils shrank, and countless possibilities filled his mind.
Wei Yan...? Or someone else?
Zhou Xuanyi extended his hand towards her: "Okay, stop being so mad, let's go and change clothes."
"Change and go see whoever you want to see."
This is a long gallery covered with red velvet carpet. The faint sound of piano and several musical instruments floated from the end of the corridor. Xu Nuo, wearing an elegant red dress, walked into the banquet hall with Zhou Xuanyi on her arm.
The hall was decorated in a gorgeous and elaborate style. The clinking of wine glasses became louder, mixed with the intoxicating aroma of wine and the sweet scent of food and bouquets of flowers. The huge and complicated crystal chandelier on the ceiling reflected the elegantly dressed figures below. Well-dressed people of all kinds raised their glasses and talked and laughed in low voices, as if they were not in the apocalypse of alien crisis, but in the peaceful world of a hundred years ago where they had no worries about food and clothing.
Xu Nuo's eyes swept across the faces, wanting to see but also afraid to see.
"We are late. Let's go say hello to father first." Zhou Xuanyi patted her hand that was on his wrist.
Xu Nuo withdrew her gaze and followed his steps towards Zhou Junlin. This was the second time she saw him.
At the banquet, Zhou Junlin lost his private arrogance, his eyes filled with kindness and warmth. He was greeting someone, and when he saw them coming, he waved, "Xiao Yi, come quickly and say hello to your Uncle Jiang."
"Hello, Uncle Jiang. It's been a while since we last met. You're still as energetic as ever," Zhou Xuanyi responded enthusiastically, shaking the other's hand. "Where's Jiang Chen? Didn't he come with you this time?"
"Here they come, over there! This time he insisted on bringing along some friends from a certain team. I saw they were guys around the same age, so I let them play with their peers. At their age, they still find gatherings like us old guys boring, hahaha..."
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