Ni Ji was doing weight training on the dormitory floor.
Put your fingers on the ground and exert force, stretch your legs straight and hang in the air, do the standard Russian push-up posture, and put a lot of weight on your shoulders and back.
The lines of the arm muscles and shoulder blade muscles were stretched beautifully, and the sweat on the forehead dripped down and gathered into a small pool on the floor.
A virtual screen popped up on the side of the personal terminal, playing neither music nor tactical knowledge, but a dessert-making video.
"You have changed, you have fallen, you have forgotten all your blood feuds."
Next to Ni Ji's hand was a pale dagger, with a crack on the bone-white handle, which made a strange, mocking sound.
Ni Ji didn't say anything, but his arm muscles contracted and lifted his body up and down.
"Have you forgotten them all? No more revenge? Now all you want is a warm blanket from the moon and stars every day, right?"
"At night? Can you sleep? Those dead people are still looking at you."
Amidst the strange and bizarre tone, Ni Ji's emotions did not fluctuate.
With arms straight, strong core strength keeping body parallel to the ground, legs steady, "You won't understand."
Dagger was enraged, and his tone suddenly rose.
"What do you mean I don't understand? I've lived hundreds of years longer than you. Aren't you just in love with that guide? You're busy opening the screen all day. You haven't given me blood for a long time. Where's my blood? Give me blood now!"
"Before, I didn't really want revenge. I just didn't want to live anymore." Ni Ji continued training, sweat dripping down and soaking the ground. "But now it's different. I really want to avenge them and do something."
He didn't say what he was going to do. But Yaodao's tone dropped, and he whispered, "Who would believe it?"
In fact, it believed it. Although it was a monster, it had been following Ni Ji closely for a long time, drinking countless of Ni Ji's blood, and watching Ni Ji running around every day. It was the creature that knew best what Ni Ji was going to do and could best understand Ni Ji's inner heart.
This guy has changed, he has become more careful about his life, and he has become busier. He has deeper and more far-reaching plans in his mind, and his heart has become firmer. He rushes to accompany the guide for training every morning, collects and studies materials in the afternoon, and quietly mixes with some sentries in the White Tower at night. He is very busy and fulfilled.
But this way, the chance of me being able to drink blood becomes smaller.
"What about my blood? No matter what, you still have to give me blood. I want a lot of it. I want you to be covered in blood."
Ni Ji was silent for a while, "Immediately? Go to the place without pupils."
"Hmm, going with that guide, that Kraken, interesting. Actually, I have always wanted to taste her blood."
"If you touch her once, I will break you." Ni Ji said this in a flat voice, and his hands moved steadily.
But the dagger shuddered. It knew that this guy was a little crazy at heart. Normally, it would be fine if he said a few words, but it was the most terrifying when he spoke in this tone.
Dagger was frightened and no longer dared to talk about this topic. The room became quiet. Only the breathing of the sentry during training and the sweet and moving voice of the food host in the video could be heard.
"Boil the sugar until it becomes a beautiful golden color. This kind of sugar will sweeten your heart."
After a moment, the hungry dagger began to whisper again.
"How dare someone like you like someone else? With what you want to do, you might lose your head tomorrow. Do you still think you can live forever?"
Ni Ji: “…”
"I know what you're thinking. You're thinking that you just like it yourself and you don't want her to know."
Ni Ji: “…”
"Accompany her in training, accompany her to the most dangerous places, and accompany her as she grows. When you are gone one day in the future, she will still have plenty of sentinels."
Ni Ji: “…”
"Hehehe, now that I think about it, I'm quite looking forward to that day. On the day you die tragically, I can drink all your blood. By the way, I can help you see who the Kraken will choose to be her exclusive sentinel. Hehehehe."
Ni Ji frowned, supported himself on the ground with one hand, bit off the glove on the other hand, and grasped the pale blade. The thin blade cut his fingers, and he licked a little red blood, gulping it down. He was finally satisfied and stopped talking nonsense.
The room fell silent again, and the sweet voice of a food host rang out on the virtual screen.
"Now, I will teach you how to make delicious sweet and sour fish~~~."
There was some noise from the street below.
The distance was actually quite far, but with the sentinel's keen hearing, he could clearly hear what happened.
There was the sound of car engines, the clatter of military boots, and the scream of a little girl.
Ni Ji walked to the balcony, took a look, put on his shoes, grabbed his knife, turned over and jumped down from the tall building.
A military vehicle was parked at the corner of the street with its door open. Several sentries in police uniforms stood beside the vehicle. One of them was trying to pull the little girl who was delivering the coal briquettes onto the vehicle.
"I'm not a guide, I'm not a guide. I don't want to go to the White Tower." The little girl, her face covered in coal dust, kicked, hit, struggled and rolled around, refusing to get on the bus.
"It is a serious crime to conceal the newly converted Sentinels and Guides. The last time you replaced your own blood, it was already illegal. If you were not a Guide, you would have been in jail long ago. Stop it and get in the car with us."
"I won't go. My grandfather is sick and lying at home alone with no one to take care of him. I won't go, I won't go." The girl, with tears and snot all over her face and covered in coal dust, rubbed herself against the sentry.
"It's so dirty. Who of you can help me?" The sentry who was pulling her was very disgusted and said impatiently, "Go to the White Tower and I will feed you with good food and drink, wear beautiful clothes, and marry you into a noble family when you grow up. Don't live a good life. Why are you still thinking about your beggar grandfather?"
The others? Several sentries just laughed and watched, "Since you've got your hands dirty, you should handle it. Coal is just as black, and no one wants to touch it."
"I won't go. I want to go home. I want to go home. I just want to be with my grandpa." The little girl, whose teeth were as black as coal, had sharp teeth. She bit the sentry who was holding her hard on the hand, and when the sentry let go in pain, she slipped away.
Unfortunately, she was just a young child, a newly differentiated guide, how could she possibly escape from the hands of a sentinel.
The sentry stretched out his hand, grabbed her by her hair, raised his arm and slapped the little girl, who was about six or seven years old, to the ground.
"How dare you bite me, little bastard? I sent you to enjoy yourself, but you still don't know what's good for you. Is the White Tower a place you can go to whenever you want or not? If you run away, it will only be you and your grandfather who will suffer, and we will all suffer."
He raised his feet and kicked the small body that was curled up on the ground.
The other military boot caught my foot. The boot stepped on my foot with a swift movement, and the sound of bones breaking filled the air.
The sentry bared his teeth and screamed.
Several sentries who were watching the excitement by the car jumped up and angrily surrounded Ni Ji who was coming down from the upstairs.
Ni Ji was wearing boots and military pants, and only a black vest soaked with sweat on his upper body. In his hand he held an inconspicuous dagger.
He was tall and thin, without any identification armband.
But soon someone recognized him.
"Ni Ji. He used to work in our Public Security Department. Now he has been promoted to the Royal Guards." The man whispered to his companions beside him, "He is very strong and not easy to mess with."
The title of the head of the Royal Guard made several low-ranking sentries of the Sheriff's Office wary. The ruthless skills of the man who suddenly dropped from the sky and cut off people's hands and feet without saying a word made them feel that the person in front of them was not easy to deal with.
Ni Ji pulled up the little girl lying on the ground.
The girl who delivered the coal briquettes had half of her face swollen, but she didn't cry. She held back her tears, bit her lips, and stood behind Ni Ji.
"Give her some time, let her go home and say goodbye." said Ni Ji.
"You are from the security team, why do you care about the affairs of our public security department?" A sentry wanted to complain, but was immediately stopped by the people around him. The sentries were very sensitive and could sense the gap between the opponent's strength and their own from the aura of pressure.
"Captain Ni." The sentry who first recognized Ni Ji stepped forward. "It's not that I don't give you face. It's just that this girl is very cunning. Don't look at her young age. Not only did she dare to replace the blood sampled for inspection, she also ran away once. We are afraid that she will run away."
The little girl lowered her head and whispered, "I won't run away. I'll go back to see Grandpa."
At this age, she already knows that crying and acting cute are useless, and knows how to judge the situation and not cause trouble. She is so smart that it makes people feel distressed.
"Let her go back." Ni Ji said again.
"What if she runs away? Are you responsible?" the sentry with a broken leg shouted with a grin.
"What does it have to do with me if he runs away? Are you so incompetent that you can't even take care of such a young child?" Ni Ji's eyes were as cold as a glacier, and he was rude and unreasonable.
In this world, the most frightening thing is the strong and unreasonable people. They can't be beaten, and they have no place to reason.
The sentries had to suppress their temper and send the girl home.
Ni Ji stood on the roof, looking at the alley below.
The alley was damp and cold, with no sunlight coming in. Huge piles of garbage formed a mountain, and flies and cockroaches were everywhere.
The little girl with thin arms and legs was walking alone in the damp and dim alley. Not far behind her, several sentries were guarding the entrance of the alley, and their long shadows were dragging on the street like monsters.
The girl standing next to the garbage dump raised her head and secretly glanced at Ni Ji on the roof.
That look triggered Ni Ji's memories.
He remembered that many years ago, on a snowy winter day, when he was young, he once stood on a roof like this and saw the young guide sitting next to the garbage dump.
At that time, many sentinels were dispatched to search for the guide who escaped from the White Tower, but only I found her.
At that time, they still couldn't understand why the guide who lived in the White Tower, who had no worries about food and clothing, lived a rich life and was a treasure of the empire, would want to escape? Causing them to run around in the ice and snow.
But now I understand.
They are just prisoners, but they are imprisoned in a more gorgeous cage under false pretenses.
The little girl delivering coal briquettes arrived at her home. The house was narrow, with a shabby door lintel, but it was her home. It was the small world where she and her only relative depended on each other.
There were no lights on in the room, and the corners were filled with collected waste.
A shabby TV that was probably picked up from a scrapyard was on. The palm-sized screen was flashing with a flickering white light, and it was playing a scene of a royal princess meeting with the new students of the Orientation Academy.
The princess, the symbol of the royal family, was wearing a jeweled dress and standing with the little guides in exquisite dresses, with cheerful and noisy music playing in the background.
Opposite the TV was a rusty iron bunk bed. The bleak light from the screen could not illuminate the inside. One could only vaguely see a hunched figure lying motionless on the dark bunk.
"Grandpa?" The girl called softly, with a hint of grievance in her cautious voice, "I'm back."
Ni Ji, who was on the roof, suddenly frowned.
Something is wrong.
It's too quiet.
The Sentinel's powerful perception spread.
That little room is so quiet.
There was no sound except the TV.
There is no heartbeat or breathing, no breath of a living person.
Ni Ji's heart sank. Soon, he heard a small cry in the dark room.
It wasn't the kind of crying that sounded loud. It was like a kitten, sobbing softly with its breath held in its chest and lungs, gasping for breath.
He was just a six-year-old child. He lived tenaciously and struggled hard, but he still lost his only relative.
During all these years on sentry duty, Ni Ji had witnessed countless tragedies in the world.
But no matter how many times I have experienced this, I can never get used to it.
The sentries who followed knocked on the dilapidated door and said, "Don't cry, since the person is gone, there is no need to waste time. Come with us to the White Tower to enjoy life."
They even wrinkled their noses and said, "What a stinky smell!"
The next moment, a huge, piercing scream rang out.
It was a sharp cry in silence, without any real sound, spreading out from the hut like a shock wave. All the sentries present, including Ni Ji on the roof, felt a strong pain in their heads.
A raw, uncontrollable, psychic attack.
Several low-ranking sentries covered their heads and wailed in frustration.
Ni Ji jumped down from a great height and saw a huge bird with white flames burning all over its body, dragging its long tail, flying out of the house.
Its newborn appearance was not yet finalized, and its features were unclear. It flew in the air with trembling wings, pale flames burning all over its body. It raised its head and let out a mournful cry towards the sky, and its blurry figure dissipated and disappeared.
It is the child's immature spirit.
Several sentries from the Sheriff's Office staggered to their feet, took the unconscious guide out of the house, and stuffed him into the car.
"Is this the first time I've seen such a fierce guide?"
"Aren't the guides in the White Tower very gentle people?"
"What bad luck! This is the first time I've met such a powerful guy. My head hurts so much."
The sentries in the police station drove away swearing.
Ni Ji stood in the dim alley, clenched his fists, and watched the car that had received the guidance, emitting exhaust fumes, heading towards the distant Baita Tower.
All guides in the empire must belong to the White Tower and be registered. No one is allowed to keep them privately or conceal them.
Except for the nobility, no one can leave the White Tower before reaching adulthood.
This is something Ni Ji can't do anything about.
The car was driving very fast and disappeared from sight in a blink of an eye.
Ni Ji turned around and entered the dark and narrow house.
The old man's cold body lay on the small iron bed, his back bent, his fingers resting on the edge of the bed, covered with curled-up tape.
The shabby TV in front of the bed was still playing a show.
The bleak light from the TV screen flickered on the old man's dead face.
Ni Ji looked at that face.
Having been on the battlefield for so many years, he has seen countless deaths.
Whether a person died of illness or an accident, nothing could escape the sentinel's sharp eyes.
The announcer's sweet and moving voice echoed in the dim hut. "Guides are the companions of sentinels and the treasures of the empire. Let us take care of these gentle and beautiful guides like we take care of flowers."
Ni Ji's face darkened and his brows were deeply furrowed.