Chapter 7: The Human Guide (Part 1)
“A human guide?”
After cutting off the other party’s mental tendril attack, Jin Chi’an raised his hand and fired several energy cannon shots in succession, trying to shatter the black robe that concealed the person’s true appearance. The mental attack from this human guide felt especially familiar to him.
The attacks from the energy gun were dodged one by one by the black-robed guide. Jin Chi’an seized the right moment and sent out his mental tendrils to attack the other party’s consciousness cloud, but in that brief opening, they were blocked by the black-robed guide’s mental defense.
“Looks like an S-rank guide.”
A trace of interest flashed through Jin Chi’an’s eyes. His mental tendrils, spreading like growing tree branches, launched another attack at the enemy, but just as they were about to touch the other person, they were forced back by a wave of coldness.
A poison dart frog mental body covered in red spots crawled onto the other party’s shoulder. In an instant, it forced Jin Chi’an’s mental tendrils back several steps.
“Heh.”
The black-robed guide controlled his mental tendrils, making them split and spread continuously. Taking advantage of the moment Jin Chi’an was preparing to defend, he crushed the smoke bomb in his hand and turned to flee.
Seeing this, the white stork was about to fly up and capture him, but unexpectedly, its legs went weak. Jin Chi’an grabbed it by the claws and dragged it back.
“Don’t chase him yet. You can’t beat him.”
Jin Chi’an turned and walked up to the cheetah. At this moment, the sentinel on its back had red-tinged eyes, but the struggling movements of his hands were no longer as violent as before.
Jin Chi’an sent his mental tendrils into the sentinel’s consciousness cloud. A thin membrane that interfered with stabilizers blocked his way. He immediately turned his tendrils into sharp blades, tore open the membrane, and skillfully massaged the other party’s chaotic consciousness cloud.
After sorting it out, Jin Chi’an endured the nauseating discomfort and injected the sentinel before him with a stabilizer.
A communication line from Lin Chuan connected through his optical computer, but the voice that came through was Felix’s.
“Head toward three o’clock now and rendezvous with Frontline Reconnaissance Team Two. Do not act on your own.”
Inside the command room, Lin Chuan sat upright, staring straight at the screen. The murderous chill coming from Felix behind him made him not dare turn his head at all. Only after his mental-power perception sensed that Felix had left did Lin Chuan let out a breath of relief and look resentfully at Jin Chi’an in the video feed.
Jin Chi’an said, “That was a human guide just now.”
“Mm, I saw. A poison dart frog mental body. No wonder the mental attacks suffered by the rear reconnaissance guides contained mental-power toxins that destroy the consciousness cloud.”
“Notify the rear reconnaissance guides to pay attention to interception and avoid contact with his mental power as much as possible. Judging from the direction he fled, he’s most likely still in the forest.”
“Got it. Be careful. The rear reconnaissance guides just found more than a dozen energy-gathering explosives while sweeping the eastern and western forests. Personnel have already been arranged to dismantle them, but we can’t rule out the possibility that some were missed. Qin Hua and the medical team have already been sent to rendezvous with you.”
Jin Chi’an turned and glanced at the sentinel on the cheetah’s back. Instantly, his stomach churned violently, and a wave of nausea surged up his throat. Jin Chi’an abruptly shoved aside the white stork blocking him and ran toward a nearby tree, where he vomited up stomach acid.
“Jin Chi’an, you…”
Lin Chuan looked in shock at Jin Chi’an, who was panting slightly after vomiting.
“Are you pregnant?”
Jin Chi’an shot him a speechless glance. “I performed mental guidance on him.”
Hearing the explanation, Lin Chuan relaxed with relief.
The fact that Jin Chi’an could not perform mental guidance on sentinels was probably known only to him and Qin Hua. Logically speaking, only guides who had bonded with a sentinel would resist performing guidance on unfamiliar sentinels, yet Jin Chi’an was unexpectedly abnormal. As a guide who had never bonded with a sentinel, Jin Chi’an had been attacked during an academy-dispatched mission, and after that, he developed the condition of being unable to perform mental guidance on sentinels.
It was precisely because of this that Lin Chuan had always firmly believed that, during that mission, Jin Chi’an had had a one-night stand with some unknown sentinel.
“Have you really never bonded with a sentinel?” Lin Chuan asked suspiciously.
Jin Chi’an was rendered speechless. He helplessly rolled his eyes at him.
“Don’t you already know that? A mental examination couldn’t detect any sentinel-guide marking at all. Besides, during those missions, there weren’t any sentinels of suitable age to bond with. There was only a bunch of little tagalong kids.”
After cutting off the communication, Jin Chi’an grabbed one of the white stork’s wings. He glanced at the severely injured sentinel and gestured to the team members.
“You’re all injured. Let this guy carry him.”
The white stork angrily hopped in place to protest, but Jin Chi’an slapped it into obedience. It was forced to let another sentinel place the injured man on its back. Only the beastmen around them understood its dissatisfaction, and they awkwardly turned their eyes away, pretending not to see.
“Chi’an!”
From the other side of the forest, Qin Hua jumped down from his combat mecha device, stored it back into the storage unit, and jogged toward Jin Chi’an.
“On your way here, did you encounter that black-robed guide?” Jin Chi’an looked at Qin Hua and the others.
Qin Hua scratched his head. “You mean that poison dart frog guide? We received notice of his movement trajectory. But the commander told us to avoid contact with him as much as possible.”
“Commander?”
“The supreme commander of Iskan. Don’t worry. He has already gone to intercept that guide.”
“Felix!”
Jin Chi’an’s heart jolted. He gritted his teeth and looked at Qin Hua.
“Take me there.”
“No,” Qin Hua said firmly.
Jin Chi’an looked at him in confusion, a hint of suspicion showing in his eyes.
Seeing that Jin Chi’an had seen through his thoughts, Qin Hua stopped hiding it.
“We received orders from the supreme commander. He said you are not allowed to act alone.”
Jin Chi’an heard this and let out a cold snort. He directly extended his mental tendrils to attack Qin Hua’s consciousness cloud, forcibly issuing an order to him.
“The two of us don’t count as acting alone. Take me there.”
Qin Hua, whose mind had been mentally brainwashed, had unfocused pupils. He summoned the mecha from the storage compartment.
Jin Chi’an directly sat on the shoulder of the mecha device. Facing the two confused teams, he extended several mental tendrils and altered their memories. Without another word, he controlled Qin Hua and headed toward the area in his memories.
In the central forest area, Jin Chi’an rode on the mecha controlled by Qin Hua as they quickly shuttled through the woods. Both of their connections with command had been forcibly cut off by him.
At this moment, Felix, who had transformed into his beast form, had just intercepted the black-robed guide fleeing toward the western forest. The bright-colored white tiger crouched and hid behind a thick tree trunk, his gaze locked onto the black-robed guide moving in that direction.
Like a wild beast hunting prey, he sprang out the instant the other party came close, trying to pin him to the ground.
However, he had overlooked the mental perception ability of a human guide. The black-robed guide, who had extended his tendrils in advance to sense danger, quickly dodged aside and fired several shots in the white tiger’s direction.
“Oh, you’re that guide’s…”
The black-robed guide’s expression carried a trace of amusement as he sized up the white tiger, who had dodged the energy bullets.
Felix let out a low growl and took an attacking stance, about to launch a second attack at him.
Seeing this, the black-robed guide let out a mocking laugh.
“Little tiger, it seems your guide never told you. For a beastman who has bonded with a guide, the mental barrier is very fragile.”
As soon as he finished speaking, the black-robed guide activated his mental tendrils and launched an attack on Felix’s consciousness cloud.
At first, because beastmen were born with their own mental barriers, the black-robed guide was unable to break in and fell into a disadvantage. But there was no trace of panic on his face.
The black-robed guide manipulated his mental tendrils while dodging the beastman’s attacks, searching calmly around the outside of Felix’s mental barrier for something. When he finally discovered a broken opening, joy appeared on the black-robed guide’s face.
“So this is it.”
The invasion of the mental tendrils made Felix’s movements slow for an instant.
But it was only for a brief moment. Felix regained the upper hand and lunged, biting at the human before him.
The black-robed guide looked at the white tiger in disbelief. He thought that the severing of the consciousness cloud just now had clearly taken effect. Yet in that brief moment of stunned hesitation, Felix’s fangs bit into his shoulder.
The black-robed guide was pressed painfully to the ground. After reacting, he immediately pulled out his energy gun and fired at the white tiger.
But the energy gun’s attacks were all deflected. The white tiger on top of him seemed to lose control, tearing at his shoulder with his jaws. His pupils narrowed into the smallest possible points.
Unwilling to give up, the black-robed guide launched another mental attack, but no matter which branch of the other party’s consciousness cloud he severed, it was useless.
By the time Jin Chi’an arrived at the scene, the white tiger was lying beside the black-robed guide, licking his front paw, which was soaked with blood.
As for the black-robed guide, he had already fainted from excessive use of mental power and the pain of being bitten and torn.
Jin Chi’an jumped down from the mecha and tentatively approached the white tiger, whose entire body radiated a murderous aura.
“Felix?”
Hearing the voice, the white tiger immediately turned his head to look at him. He rose again and took an attacking stance, though his movements were no longer as agile as before.
Jin Chi’an held his breath and approached carefully.
“It’s me, Felix.”
Clearly, the white tiger before him did not relax because of his soothing voice. He maintained his battle posture and lunged at Jin Chi’an.
The other party’s swift movement left Jin Chi’an with nowhere to dodge, but the expected pain did not come.
Jin Chi’an slowly opened his eyes and saw that the white tiger had stopped in front of him, biting his own front paw.
A frenzy period.
The moment this thought appeared, Jin Chi’an immediately extended his mental tendrils and rushed into the white tiger’s consciousness cloud.
The instant he sensed the consciousness cloud, what met him was a complete mess: ruins of broken walls where several mental pathways had been severed.
“Felix…”
Jin Chi’an murmured the name. He immediately crouched down and hugged the white tiger’s head, stopping him from continuing to bite at his front leg.
In his mind, he controlled his mental tendrils and rebuilt the consciousness cloud for him. Like coaxing a child, he stroked the slightly prickly fur on the other party’s back and kept comforting him aloud.
“It’s all right, Felix. I’m here.”
Under Jin Chi’an’s mental guidance, the white tiger finally stopped trying to bite himself. Exhausted, he collapsed against Jin Chi’an. Within his chaotic consciousness, an image he had not seen in a long time gradually took shape.
The little white tiger in its frenzy period had blood-red eyes. Unable to suppress itself, it attacked the young beastmen around it.
As luck would have it, a tabby cat beastman fell to the ground and was pinned beneath one of its paws.
Immediately afterward, countless tranquilizer darts were fired at it.
The little white tiger angrily roared at the humans in work uniforms around it, until a gentle, familiar voice broke through its mental barrier and entered its consciousness cloud.
“Whose little tiger skipped lunch again?”
