SS-Class Guide - Chapter 17

It was time to clock out.

Wen Xiuyan sent a sentinel to deliver his car keys to An Yuan. He told him to head back first because he had a meeting and would be leaving work late today. An Yuan understood immediately; it was likely a meeting regarding the Zerg Queen.

An Yuan had hitched a ride with Wen Xiuyan this morning. If he took the car now, how would Wen Xiuyan get home? Wen Xiuyan replied that he had a spare vehicle kept at the Temple of Theon. Relieved, An Yuan took the keys and headed toward the underground parking garage.

The Temple was bustling with staff. People were constantly coming and going, and many greeted An Yuan along the way. He responded to each one politely. Suddenly, a familiar voice called out to him.

“Lord An Yuan.”

An Yuan’s footsteps faltered, and his eyelid twitched. He had a very gentle personality; it was hard for him to fall in love, but it was even harder for him to truly hate someone. However, he found it very difficult to like Ning Yuanqiao. Regardless of the reason, An Yuan felt that Ning Yuanqiao completely lacked a sense of boundaries. Without him, his relationship with Gu Hanqing would not have ended the way it did. There might have even been a high probability that they would have stayed together.

The voice called out again, “Lord An Yuan.”

An Yuan took a deep breath and turned to face Ning Yuanqiao. Even without actively following news of him, An Yuan had heard about his recent situation. Ning Yuanqiao had just undergone surgery. Due to the nature of the procedure, he had a large incision with dozens of stitches; theoretically, he should not have even been discharged yet. The Temple would not force a recovering A-rank Guide back to work so soon, so he must have come here specifically to find him.

Their eyes met. An Yuan’s face remained expressionless as he asked, “Guide Ning Yuanqiao, is there something you need?”

Likely due to the recent surgery, Ning Yuanqiao appeared extremely frail. His face was pale, and his lips were devoid of color.

“Lord An Yuan, I hope you do not misunderstand Hanqing and me,” Ning Yuanqiao said.

An Yuan remained silent.

“Lord An Yuan, from beginning to end, the only person Hanqing has ever loved is you.”

An Yuan truly could not understand Ning Yuanqiao. If he really felt that way, why would he act with such a lack of boundaries? At the very least, he should not have entered their home while An Yuan and Gu Hanqing were living together, and then allowed Gu Hanqing to kick An Yuan out.

Suddenly, Ning Yuanqiao dropped to his knees before An Yuan.

An Yuan froze, his mind going blank. He did not understand what Ning Yuanqiao was doing. Simultaneously, he felt the gazes of everyone nearby snap toward them. Whispers began to spread.

“What is happening? Why is Guide Ning Yuanqiao kneeling?” “Did Lord An Yuan make him do that?” “Is it because of Sentinel Gu Hanqing? Does Lord An Yuan dislike Guide Ning because of him? But did Guide Ning not just have surgery?”

An Yuan’s face went pale. He knew the situation was turning sour, but he did not know how to handle it.

Ning Yuanqiao looked up at him. “Lord An Yuan, I really do not know what to do. Please forgive me.”

An Yuan’s eyelid jumped. Ning Yuanqiao’s stitches were fresh. Perhaps he had knelt too forcefully, because a brilliant red stain began to spread across his pure white Guide uniform. The sight was jarring. An Yuan felt more eyes on him, eyes filled with questioning and doubt.

Fine beads of sweat broke out on An Yuan’s forehead. This was the first time in his life he had faced such a calculated situation. He did not know how to solve it or what to say. He had always treated everyone with kindness, so when faced with absolute malice and a deliberate frame-up, he was completely at a loss.

The mental barrier in his mind collapsed instantly. With his heightened senses, he was suddenly bombarded by a chaotic influx of information. His head spun, and sweat soaked through his clothes. A sharp pain began to radiate through his brain.

News that An Yuan was bullying the recovering A-rank Guide, Ning Yuanqiao, spread instantly.

At that moment, all high-level sentinels of the Divine Martial Hall were in a meeting. When the news reached them, most were surprised but not overly concerned.

“An Yuan is bullying someone? Instead of being bullied? Oh. Then it is fine.”

Even so, they felt that An Yuan was not the type of person to bully others. However, the one person in the room who cared most was Gu Hanqing. With a dark expression, he stormed out of the meeting. The others exchanged looks.

“Before this, I did not even know who Ning Yuanqiao was,” an S-rank sentinel remarked.

“He is an A-rank Guide with decent stabilization skills,” another added. “He looks okay too, but I only know about him because of Lord An Yuan.”

“I just got word that the Guide knelt to Lord An Yuan. He is fresh out of surgery, and his clothes are covered in blood.”

Wen Xiuyan froze. Almost simultaneously, both he and Jing Lan stood up and rushed out. The remaining people in the room looked at each other.

“I think this Ning Yuanqiao is not simple.” “True. It is hard to say what An Yuan actually did, or if Ning Yuanqiao simply wants to drive a wedge between Gu Hanqing and An Yuan until their relationship is beyond repair.”

In the underground parking garage, An Yuan felt his world spinning. As a Double S-rank Guide, his stabilization power was immense, but so was his sensitivity. When his mental barrier collapsed outside of a containment room, it was like living in a personal hell.

He leaned against the car to keep from falling. His clothes felt like sandpaper; the sensation of the fabric against his skin felt like thousands of ants gnawing at him. The smell of the garage was overwhelming. The scent of Ning Yuanqiao’s blood mixed with gasoline, smoke, and a dozen different perfumes into a sickening stench.

He heard everything, the voices defending him and the malicious voices doubting him. He wanted to cover his ears, but he did not even have the strength to lift his arms. He wanted someone to save him. He wanted to be taken away from this chaos and put into a containment room.

He realized again the heavy price of his rank advancement. After the battle in the No-Name Zone, his level had jumped significantly. As a result, when he could not maintain his mental barrier, his acute senses became lethal.

Suddenly, a familiar voice reached him. It was Gu Hanqing.

“An Yuan!”

An Yuan forced himself to focus. He looked at Gu Hanqing with a deathly pale face. Using every ounce of his willpower, he pleaded, “Hanqing, take me to a containment room.”

If he were in his right mind, An Yuan would never have asked Gu Hanqing for help. But the extreme pain left him unable to think. He only hoped that the person he had spent years with would take him away from this agony. Sweat dripped down his face, soaking his bangs; he looked incredibly fragile.

The sentinels and guides nearby finally began to realize that something was wrong with An Yuan, not just Ning Yuanqiao. They moved to check on him, but Gu Hanqing reached Ning Yuanqiao first. He scooped the kneeling Guide into his arms and looked at An Yuan with cold eyes.

“An Yuan, why are you being so cruel?”

An Yuan’s eyes were vacant with confusion.

“What happened between us has nothing to do with A-Yuan,” Gu Hanqing said. “Even if you are a Double S-rank Guide now, that does not give you the right to use your status to bully others.”

In his extreme pain, An Yuan’s eyes grew wet. His white lashes were damp with moisture. He wanted to say he did not, he really did not, but he lacked the strength to even speak.

“An Yuan, I never thought you were this kind of person,” Gu Hanqing added.

Ning Yuanqiao grabbed Gu Hanqing’s clothes urgently. “No, Hanqing, do not misunderstand Lord An Yuan. He did not do anything. You.” He began to cough, and the red stain on his chest grew larger.

With a dark expression, Gu Hanqing carried Ning Yuanqiao away, walking faster. An Yuan could no longer hold himself up. He slid down the side of the car. In his final moments of consciousness, he saw two figures rushing toward him: Wen Xiuyan and Jing Lan.

An Yuan woke up in a containment room.

He opened his eyes to the soft sound of chirping birds and insects, a volume that was comfortable and soothing. Wen Xiuyan was in the room, sitting at the edge of the bed.

“Eat something first,” Wen Xiuyan said softly.

An Yuan had no appetite and wanted to refuse.

“If you do not want an IV, then be good and eat,” Wen Xiuyan added. He helped An Yuan sit up against the headboard and fed him porridge, spoonful by spoonful. “You have been unconscious for two days.”

An Yuan was stunned. “Two days?”

“Yes. Your rank has reached Double S. I should have warned you about the consequences of a collapsed barrier,” Wen Xiuyan said.

“What happens?”

“Sentinels undergo training where they deliberately drop their barriers. In that state, our senses reach their absolute limit. It is agonizing, every second is torture, but it is also when our abilities are strongest.” He explained, “That is why berserk sentinels are much more powerful than those in a normal state. The downside, as you can guess, is that without the barrier, our mental landscape is much more vulnerable.”

An Yuan nodded.

“Unlike us, a Guide’s mental landscape is very stable,” Wen Xiuyan continued. “No matter what happens, it will not collapse. However, you still feel the physical and mental pain.”

An Yuan nodded, remembering the agony.

“It took a heavy toll on your psyche. You were out for a full two days. From now on, no matter what happens, you must keep your barrier stable. You are not yet used to the impact of the senses without it.”

An Yuan turned pale just thinking about the pain.

“I heard about what happened that day,” Wen Xiuyan said.

An Yuan frowned. It was a terrible memory. Wen Xiuyan set the bowl down and cupped An Yuan’s face with both hands. An Yuan’s lashes grew moist. Wen Xiuyan tilted An Yuan’s chin up so their eyes met.

“Ning Yuanqiao is sick,” Wen Xiuyan stated.

An Yuan thought of the blood on the Guide’s chest. He really is sick.

“He is sick in the head,” Wen Xiuyan added.

In An Yuan’s memory, Wen Xiuyan was always poised and elegant. This was the first time in all their years of knowing each other that he had heard him insult someone so bluntly. Yet, strangely, hearing Wen Xiuyan curse at Ning Yuanqiao made him feel a little better.

“That day, he just suddenly knelt down,” An Yuan whispered. He pushed at Wen Xiuyan’s hand on his chin. “I did not bully him.”

He remembered catching those voices, the people saying he bullied Ning Yuanqiao because of Gu Hanqing.

Wen Xiuyan caught An Yuan’s hand in his own. “Of course you did not.”

An Yuan’s lips trembled, his face still paper-white. “But.”

Wen Xiuyan gently wiped a tear from An Yuan’s cheek. “Your world has been very simple. You were at the Wen house, and then you entered the Temple. Everyone protected you. You do not know how much malice exists in the world.”

“At that moment, my mind went blank,” An Yuan said. “I felt like I should do something or say something, but I did not know what.”

“A-Yuan.” Wen Xiuyan said his name seriously.

“Yes.”

“A-Yuan, you are a Double S-rank Guide. Forget that you did not do anything, even if you had done something, so what?”

An Yuan asked, “What?”

Wen Xiuyan smiled. “Even if you bullied him, even if you ordered him to kneel, even if you struck him and trampled his dignity into the dust, so what?”

Wen Xiuyan’s smile widened, but his gaze was razor-sharp. “Understand this: you are a member of the Temple, but more importantly, you belong to the Shuhuan District. The entire Shuhuan District is your strongest backing.”

An Yuan thought about it and said, “I feel like you are teaching me how to be a bully.”

Wen Xiuyan’s smile turned tender. “Yes. It is a pity my A-Yuan has never done it.”

An Yuan’s mood improved significantly under Wen Xiuyan’s persuasion. However, thinking of Gu Hanqing made his heart sink again. He decided not to dwell on it.

“Xiuyan, what is the status on the Zerg Queen?” An Yuan asked. No matter what, he still wanted to participate in that battle.

“Everyone is very busy,” Wen Xiuyan said. “Almost every sentinel will be deployed for this fight.”

An Yuan grew tense. “And the Guides?”

Wen Xiuyan fell silent. An Yuan urged him with his eyes to continue.

“Currently, including you, there is one Double S-rank and seven S-rank Guides in the Temple. There are many S-rank sentinels, but Guides of that rank are rare. If nothing changes, four S-rank Guides will be sent into battle.”

“I want to go,” An Yuan said.

“The Masters do not want you to participate,” Wen Xiuyan replied.

“I am going,” An Yuan repeated.

“A-Yuan, the Masters will be there, and the four chosen Guides are all older. If the outcome is bad, the Divine Healing Hall needs you to remain as its future.”

An Yuan bit his lip and did not speak.

“And A-Yuan, I do not want you to go either.”

An Yuan looked at him. Familiar faces flashed through his mind: Wen Xiuyan, Jing Lan, so many colleagues and friends. Even Gu Hanqing would be there. He thought of Madame Wen, whom he cherished; he could not imagine her losing Wen Xiuyan. Compared to the others, he knew that with his Double S-rank power, he could better protect everyone.

“I know you and the Masters are looking out for me,” An Yuan said. “But I will not stay behind. If you do not let me join, I will find a way to sneak there myself.”

Wen Xiuyan frowned, his voice rising. “An Yuan!” It was the first time in his memory that Wen Xiuyan had called him by his full name.

“Do not call me that,” An Yuan said. “I do not like it.”

Wen Xiuyan took a deep breath, his expression returning to its usual gentleness. “A-Yuan, I cannot bear for you to be in danger.”

Their eyes met. For a moment, An Yuan wanted to ask why. He thought of the night at the market, when Wen Xiuyan’s vines had pierced a berserk sentinel’s heart to protect him. He thought of Wen Xiuyan saying he would do it again. He thought of his own long-buried first love. He thought of how Wen Xiuyan always told everyone they were just brothers.

An Yuan’s eyes burned. He thought of what Madame Wen had told him recently, how she wondered when Xiuyan would find a girlfriend and give her a grandson. He thought of the Five Districts’ laws, where same-sex relationships had no protection.

An Yuan looked away. He could feel Wen Xiuyan’s heart in that moment, but he could not respond. He could not.

He felt a suffocating pain in his chest. He wanted to cry, but not in front of Wen Xiuyan. Wen Xiuyan placed a hand on his cheek and forced him to look back. “You are sweating again.”

An Yuan did not speak. Wen Xiuyan gently wiped his face with a handkerchief. “A-Yuan, we do not know what the future holds.”

An Yuan gave a muffled response.

“The Zerg Queen’s scream can cause a sentinel’s mental landscape to collapse instantly,” Wen Xiuyan said. It would be a living hell. He cupped An Yuan’s face with both hands, their faces so close they could feel each other’s breath. “A-Yuan, if I make it back alive, I want to tell you something. It is my true heart that I have kept hidden.”

An Yuan’s hands clenched into fists. He knew what Wen Xiuyan wanted to say. But he could not let him.

An Yuan drifted back into a dazed sleep. When he woke again, Wen Xiuyan was gone. Listening to the artificial rain in the containment room, he checked his phone and found a message from Wen Xiuyan. He told An Yuan that his barrier was still unstable and his emotions were fragile, so he had turned off the alert system. He reminded An Yuan to turn it back on once he was awake.

An Yuan stood up and walked across the cold floor to the control panel. The moment he flipped the switch, the cold mechanical voice urged him to establish a barrier. He calmed his mind and did so. He then ate the porridge Wen Xiuyan had left for him.

Once finished, he called Master Lin of the Divine Healing Hall.

“Master Lin, I know you are looking out for me,” An Yuan said directly. “But I want to protect the people in the Temple. They are my friends and colleagues. We have worked together for years. I want to guard them.”

Master Lin sighed. “Others pray to avoid such a battle. Why can you not just stay where it is safe?”

“I read once that with great power comes great responsibility,” An Yuan replied. “I have this stabilization power. If I do not use it to help, and a winnable battle is lost because of it, what then? I have seen District 5. It is so different from Shuhuan or the Center. If we lose to the Zerg, our lives will be worse than the chaos in District 5. You want to keep me as a seed for the worst-case scenario, but should we not give our all to prevent that scenario from happening first?”

There was a long silence on the line.

“And just as I want to protect them, they will want to protect me,” An Yuan added. “I trust them. Even if I go to war, it does not mean I will die.”

“Guide An Yuan,” the old voice said sternly.

“Yes,” An Yuan replied, expecting a profound counter-argument.

“Are you stupid?” Master Lin asked.

An Yuan asked, “Ah.”

It was too much. He felt Master Lin was being unfair by using such a serious tone to call him stupid.

“I heard about you and Guide Ning Yuanqiao,” Master Lin continued. “Because of that, there are rumors that you use your high position to bully A-rank Guides. These are the people you want to protect?”

An Yuan was silent for a moment before replying stubbornly, “That is only some of them.”

“And many more believe that since I have authority, I have the right to use it,” An Yuan added, smiling as he remembered Wen Xiuyan’s words. “So what if I bullied him?”

Master Lin chuckled. “Fine. Then you had better bully him properly in the future to make the rumors true.”

An Yuan seized the opportunity. “Master Lin, I want to join the Zerg Queen battle.”

Master Lin sighed. “Alright. I hear your determination. But I have to consult with the other Masters. If they do not allow it, there is nothing I can do.”

An Yuan breathed a sigh of relief.

After hanging up, An Yuan received a call from Madame Wen. She asked how he was feeling and then spent several minutes insulting Gu Hanqing and Ning Yuanqiao without using a single curse word. She was clearly unhappy.

“Our A-Yuan is the best. Gu Hanqing does not deserve you, and that Ning Yuanqiao will not come to a good end,” she said. Eventually, the conversation shifted to the upcoming war. As a member of the powerful Wen family, she knew the clash with the Zerg was imminent. “Xiuyan will definitely be there,” she said with a shaky breath. “At least A-Yuan does not have to go.”

An Yuan hesitated. “Master Lin said I will be going.” He did not mention he had begged for it.

The other end went silent. “How can that be? The original plan.”

“Auntie Wen, I think this is for the best,” An Yuan interrupted. “I am a Double S-rank Guide. If I am there, I can protect Xiuyan, and he can protect me.” He gently explained the benefits.

“But I do not want you to go,” she whispered. “I cannot lose both of you.”

“You will not. We will come back together,” An Yuan promised. She tried to convince him otherwise, but he skillfully steered the topic back to the Wen brothers.

“A-Yuan, has Xiuyan been spending time with any girls lately?” she asked, her curiosity piqued.

An Yuan’s hand shook. He almost dropped the phone. He forced himself to stay calm. “I have been in the containment room lately, so I am not sure.”

“Watch him for me once you are out, okay? He has someone he likes,” she said.

An Yuan was silent.

“He told me himself,” she added. “He did not say who, but he said he would confess to her once the war is over. I only just found out he has been secretly liking a girl all this time. If Xiuyan confesses, she will surely accept, right? I am so looking forward to having a grandson soon.”

After they hung up, An Yuan felt a dull ache in his chest.

That same day, the high-level leaders of the Five Districts held a meeting. All three Double S-rank sentinels attended. An Yuan, still unable to maintain a stable barrier, participated via video projection from his containment room.

In the meeting, he saw the leaders of the Center, the Shuhuan District, the Yunhai District, and the Jiuming Region. The atmosphere was heavy.

Opinion was divided on An Yuan’s participation. The three Double S-rank sentinels were all opposed. Madame Wen argued that he should be kept back as the Child of Hope for the Five Districts’ future. A leader from the Jiuming Region argued that An Yuan would be the strongest defensive wall for the sentinels.

As the debate grew heated, the cold mechanical voice rang out in An Yuan’s room.

“Detection: Dissipation of Guide’s mental power. Your mental barrier has collapsed.”

The meeting fell into a strange silence as everyone looked at An Yuan’s projection. The alert continued, signaling his instability. On the screen, An Yuan sat in his chair, wearing special-material clothing. His white hair was a bit messy, his lashes damp, and his gray eyes looked like polished glass. Despite the background noise of the alert, he appeared incredibly calm.

Of course, they knew the calm was an illusion.

An Yuan looked at them and smiled. The mechanical voice kept exposing the reality of his state. Usually, An Yuan’s temper was so good that he was easily overlooked or talked over in meetings. But now, no one dared to dance in his sensitive zone while he was in this state.

“Gentlemen,” An Yuan said. The high-definition projection made his striking features even more vivid. “Regarding this discussion, I believe your opinions are not important. What is important is my decision.”

He spoke clearly, word by word. “I am participating in the battle against the Zerg Queen. And,” he scanned the room with a sharp gaze, “I do not accept any objections.”

The meeting ended. With An Yuan’s forceful stance, his name was added to the roster. The departure was set for five days later.

Five days was a short time, the final chance to say goodbye to family and friends. No one knew if they would return. Investigations showed the Zerg Queen was using pheromones to hatch S-rank soldier ants. Unlike humans, who rely on luck for an S-rank birth, the Queen could cultivate them, though it required her to remain stationary and vulnerable during the process. Every batch yielded at least twenty S-ranks. If she succeeded, and some were Double S-rank, the consequences would be catastrophic.

Because An Yuan still could not leave his containment room, others had to come to him. His assistants, Xing Lulu and Ludo, came to visit him with red, swollen eyes. Wen Xiuyu skipped class and came with Madame Wen to see his brother and An Yuan. Normally, Wen Xiuyan would have returned to Shuhuan for his final days of rest, but he stayed to accompany An Yuan.

When Wen Xiuyu saw An Yuan, he threw himself into his arms. Even though he was now taller than An Yuan, he acted like a clingy child. An Yuan stroked his hair. “How old are you now? Still so clingy?” He did not push him away.

“Usually he is so arrogant and ignores everyone,” Madame Wen remarked, “but in front of A-Yuan, he is like a little bird.”

An Yuan laughed. Wen Xiuyan grabbed Wen Xiuyu by the collar and pulled him away. “Do not lean on A-Yuan like that. He is not supposed to have physical contact right now.”

They all knew An Yuan’s senses were raw; any touch could be painful. If it were not for the limited time, so many people would not even be allowed in the room at once.

Meeting (Part 2)

 

Even with the protection of the isolation room, the time everyone could spend inside was limited. After less than an hour, everyone was asked to leave.

 

Mrs. Wen was the last one to depart. She turned and locked eyes with An Yuan, her own eyes glistening with tears.

 

An Yuan gave her a small smile.

 

“A-Yuan,” Mrs. Wen said softly.

 

“Yes?” he replied.

 

“Could you call me Mom?”

 

An Yuan froze for a moment, then smiled through his own tears. “Mom!”

 

Mrs. Wen took a step forward. Even though she knew she probably should not, she could not resist giving An Yuan a gentle hug. “Good boy. My treasure, please come back alive.”

 

An Yuan responded obediently, “I will, Mom.”

 

Mrs. Wen gave him a tender smile before the door finally closed.

 

Although it was not a definitive goodbye, it felt like a final parting. On the battlefield, one fact remained indisputable: in every engagement, the Zerg legions prioritized Guides as their primary hunting targets. Consequently, Guides were often in far greater danger than Sentinels. This was the reason why the first rule for any Sentinel was to protect the Guide.

 

There was no doubt that in the final battle, An Yuan would be in more danger than anyone else. For him to survive would be incredibly difficult. This was exactly why so many people had opposed his participation in the war from the very beginning.

 

An Yuan also heard rumors that the An family was using the news of his participation in the insect queen battle to demand benefits from the five major districts. Afterward, his father and stepmother came to visit him. An Yuan refused to see them. There had never been much affection between them, and at a time like this, he had no desire to see people who were essentially irrelevant to his life.

 

In addition to them, Gu Hanqing came to find him multiple times, but An Yuan rejected him every single time. He did not believe there was any necessity for them to meet again.

 

To An Yuan’s surprise, Ning Yuanqiao also came looking for him. An Yuan could not begin to understand what Ning Yuanqiao was thinking. He had no interest in seeing him and chose to ignore his presence entirely.

 

Later that same day, Xing Lulu told him that Wen Xiuyu had specifically gone to find Ning Yuanqiao and slapped him several times across the face. When Gu Hanqing rushed over to stop it, Wen Xiuyan stepped in to protect Wen Xiuyu.

 

Mrs. Wen said in a gentle voice, “Xiuyu is still just a child, after all.”

 

Jing Lan happened to be passing by. He glanced at Wen Xiuyu and agreed, “Indeed. He is just a child who has not grown up yet, that is all.”

 

An Yuan was greatly shocked by the news.