Chapter 108
Director Liu asked Ilya to help the guide carry his luggage.
They said they were moving luggage, but Ilya wasn't really needed. Director Liu's exact words were, "Let's show those guides from out of town some of our Kush's treasures. Don't let them be scared away by those burly sentries. We Kush people have our own people too."
He didn't think there was anything wrong with comparing Ilya to a treasure. Ilya was the first place winner in the Western Military District's Youth Sentinel Competition and had a bright future ahead of him, but he resolutely returned to Kush for the sake of its development.
As for "zike," it means young adult in the Tanas ethnic group, and "huazike" means handsome young man.
There has always been a shortage of guides compared to sentries. In the remote and harsh Kush outpost, no new guides have come for seven or eight years. Although in recent years, Xia Kingdom's welfare policies have been tilted towards guides who apply for border outposts, the harsh living conditions simply cannot retain people.
In recent years, due to policy benefits, there have been many more guides applying for positions in remote border areas. Most of them come here to gain three months of short-term service experience in order to improve their chances of getting a higher score on exams when they return to the inland areas.
So Kush sent several groups of guides, but they all stayed for three months and then left without stopping, leaving behind a mess.
Director Liu was also very troubled by this situation. The young sentinels in the outpost had been fighting against the Zerg ant soldiers for a long time, and their abilities had been overused. They were craving the guides so much that they were practically begging for them. Therefore, no matter what, the new guides had to stay for a few more months, at least to check the mental landscape of the Kush sentinels before they left.
Therefore, he waved his hand and sent out Kush's sentry officers.
At that moment, Gray Wolf was squatting next to Ilya. Ilya had just finished a mission and was panting heavily. Upon hearing this, he silently snatched the towel from his teammate, covered his face, and wiped away the sweat. He felt that it was inappropriate to do this, but considering his teammate, he remained silent for a while and then agreed.
Just as he stood up, Director Liu said, "Wait a minute."
Director Liu reached out and ripped off Ilya's coat in one swift motion. He was surprisingly agile for a man of his size. He patted Ilya's well-built physique under his white vest, very pleased: "That'll do. A good sentry isn't afraid of being seen by the guide!"
The teammates around him started to cheer and make strange noises, laughing and winking. This subtle emotion was transmitted to Ilya, making the usually serious captain somewhat embarrassed and angry.
Sensing its master's emotions, the gray wolf howled and pounced on its companion, a spirit animal, giving it a sharp slap on the head with its paw as if to teach it a lesson.
Director Liu scoffed and waved to shoo the sentries away: "Go away, you bunch of ungrateful greenhorns! This is all for the construction of Kush. What are you laughing at? Go back to training."
The giant wolf bared its teeth at its sentry teammate, then turned and followed its master.
Ilya didn't have high hopes and went to pick up the people with the intention of getting things over with as soon as possible. When he arrived, the guides had already boarded the military vehicle. Alena greeted him happily and said that there were still guides in the vehicle.
Zhu Ning, who was sitting next to Alena, suddenly rolled her eyes and muttered under her breath, "Everyone else can get off, but he can't. What's he being so fussy about?"
“Even someone like Arno, who has never done any manual labor before, can lift it.”
Arno patted Zhu Ning on the shoulder reassuringly and said with a smile, "You must have been waiting anxiously. Someone's going to pick him up. He'll be leaving soon."
Alena stroked the lioness's chin without saying a word.
On the other side, Ilya walked straight to the green train. After entering the carriage, he paused and suddenly smelled a very faint scent. He was stunned for several seconds before he realized, "This... could it be a guide element?"
No wonder Ilya was surprised.
Guides naturally emit a faint guide essence, a scent so faint it's almost imperceptible. This is just right for the sentinels with their heightened senses, soothing their anxiety and serving as a gesture of goodwill.
However, the guides who came to Kush before sprayed themselves with inhibitor spray because they were afraid of being harassed by the sentries. They were afraid that if they exposed even a little bit of their guide essence, the sentries in Kush would bite them clean.
Even Alena and the others in the car didn't smell.
When Ilya smelled the guide's guide essence for the first time, the frenzied mental images in his mind quieted down for a moment.
He couldn't quite put his finger on what it resembled, and he really wanted to figure it out. He subconsciously twitched his nostrils, but then held back.
As they approached the carriage where the guide was staying, the scent became even more pleasant. The giant wolf's airplane ears perked up instantly, and it began to whimper softly. Its pace quickened, but as it neared the guide, it deliberately slowed down, shook its fur, and then strode in with its head held high.
Ilya: "..."
Ilya had seen Jiang Wenxing's photo in the documents. He was even more handsome in person than in the photo. The person in the photo looked mature and serious.
Jiang Wenxing was indeed much younger, with delicate features, fair skin, and a somewhat effeminate appearance. At first glance, he didn't seem to fit the raw and dangerous Kush at all; he was the typical 'delicate' city dweller.
He saw Ilya take a surprise, seemingly speechless with astonishment, his mouth slowly opening wide. Then Jiang Wenxing quickly wiped his hands and took the initiative to greet him: "Hello, my name is Jiang Wenxing, and I am the guide assigned to Kush."
"Kush Sentinel, Ilya."
Facing the person who suddenly squeezed into the sedan chair was an Arctic wolf with pale yellow eyes.
As the guide, Jiang Wenxing subconsciously looked at the spirit entity first. The Arctic wolf is a subspecies of the gray wolf and one of the largest wild canids in the world. The Arctic wolf in front of him was very large, with a body length of over four meters, pure light gray fur, and it made no sound when it walked.
Jiang Wenxing immediately recalled the Arctic wolf from his memory.
Upon receiving the guide's gaze, the Arctic wolf first raised its chin, then crossed its paws and gracefully lay down to one side.
Jiang Wenxing noticed a petal-shaped tear on the Arctic wolf's right paw, resembling the mouthparts of an insectoid creature. The wound was covered by light gray fur, making it impossible to tell whether it was a new or old injury.
Jiang Wenxing looked up at the owner of the spiritual entity.
At that time, the green carriages were still old-fashioned sedan chairs. They weren't considered low by the guide, but now that people were coming in, they seemed like a wall, making the carriage feel cramped.
He had striking short black hair, was taller than the average sentry, had a slim waist and long legs, and wore the earth-brown camouflage training uniform of a border sentry. He wore a tight white vest that was bulging out by his chest muscles, and his arm muscles were very eye-catching.
Jiang Wenxing instinctively wanted to call out "Captain," but he held back.
Ilya glanced around to make sure the luggage could be moved all at once, then fixed his gaze on Jiang Wenxing, only to unexpectedly meet the guide's eyes.
Jiang Wenxing looked at the younger version of Captain Ilya with a mixture of curiosity and delight. Although many Sentinels were handsome, it had to be said that Ilya's appearance was absolutely outstanding.
Kush stronghold is the gathering place of the Tanas people of Xia Kingdom. The people have obvious Caucasian features, with white skin, high nose bridge, big eyes, and a strong exotic look.
Jiang Wenxing knew him in his past life, but their relationship wasn't very good.
He knew that the sentry was named Ilya, the leader of the Kush sentries. Ilya had once sought treatment from Jiang Wenxing, but at that time Jiang Wenxing was only focused on passing the exam to return to the city and didn't care about this matter. Later, he really fell in love with Kush and was willing to stay, but Ilya never contacted him again.
Jiang Wenxing remembered that Ilya was always very serious and indifferent to him. The only time he spoke with emotion was when he sent the seriously injured Jiang Wenxing away from Kush.
The once-strong sentry, as he was being carried onto the ambulance in the provincial capital, suddenly had tears in his eyes, and, holding his hand, said, "Kush, I'm sorry."
As the ambulance drove away, he looked out the window and saw Ilya standing there, watching the ambulance disappear into the distance, becoming a tall little black dot, until Jiang Wenxing could no longer see it.
Having grown accustomed to the serious and ruthless Sentinel Captain, Jiang Wenxing was still somewhat unsettled upon suddenly seeing a younger version of Ilya.
He always felt that although the sentry in front of him had a faint smile, he didn't seem as official and rigid as he had been in his previous life; he had a youthful and vibrant air about him.
However, Ilya was proud, so his expression lacked the enthusiasm most sentinels showed towards guides; instead, it was somewhat arrogant and indifferent.
Ilya looked away, did not shake Jiang Wenxing's hand, but ran his hand across his eyebrow, returned the salute, and then bent down to pick up the bag that Jiang Wenxing had placed on the ground.
In his past life, Jiang Wenxing absolutely refused to accept help from others and refused to let others help him carry his luggage. Because of his bad attitude, rumors spread that he looked down on the Kush people.
This time, Jiang Wenxing didn't want to compete with Arno anymore. He just wanted to do something practical for Kush. So when he saw Captain Ilya for the first time after his rebirth, he was filled with emotion. He quickly swept the bag on the table into his backpack, pulled it up, and was about to put it on when the gray wolf snatched it away.
As expected, the captain is still as reliable as ever. Just as Jiang Wenxing was feeling a little sad, he noticed that Ilya had frozen in place.
Jiang Wenxing glanced over instinctively, then froze.
Suddenly, a small gray mouse appeared on the back of Ilya's hand. The mouse was only the size of a sparrow. It squatted on the back of Ilya's hand with its paws folded. After a few seconds, the mouse suddenly opened its front paws and gave Ilya's hand a hug. It rubbed its round cheeks against Ilya's hand with great affection and even made a squeaking sound.
Given the sensory abilities between the sentinel and the guide, neither Ilya nor Jiang Wenxing could possibly mistake it for an ordinary mouse.
Now, he's the only guide in this carriage, and it's obvious to anyone who knows whose spirit entity it is.
However, precisely because of this, Jiang Wenxing was struck dumb, almost bursting with shock. He disregarded his strained relationship with the spiritual entity and desperately cried out in his heart, "This is my beloved, upright, and highly respected old captain! What are you doing?!"
A guide's spirit form extends a friendly gesture to a sentinel.
Ordinary people know very well that the relationship between the spiritual entity and its master is that of consciousness and subconsciousness, id and ego.
So what does this mean...?
Jiang Wenxing's spirit body harassed his upright and incorruptible captain.
Jiang Wenxing was anxious and was about to order the little mouse to come back when he suddenly froze. The connection between him and his spiritual body had always been very weak, but now he was able to sense the spiritual body's current emotions through the spiritual link, something he hadn't done in a long time.
It feels safe.
How long has it been? How long has it been since Jiang Wenxing felt the emotions of a spiritual entity?
Jiang Wenxing felt a sudden sting in his eyes and nose. He tried to hide it by taking out a bag of snacks from his pocket, sniffing the air, hoping to coax the little mouse back. But when the little mouse saw Jiang Wenxing, it squeaked and scurried under the Arctic wolf's belly.
The serious expressions on Arctic Wolf and Ilya's faces suddenly turned strange. Two words flashed through Jiang Wenxing's mind: synesthesia.
Jiang Wenxing: "..."
What's with the sentimentality? Where the hell are you hiding and get out here?!
His heart was in turmoil, but his face remained calm. Jiang Wenxing was embarrassed and at a loss. He looked at the old captain tremblingly and tried to explain, "I'm sorry, it's my fault for not teaching him well. He should disappear in a while."
Ilya and the Arctic Wolf stared at him intently.
Author's Note:
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