The Beloved Guide Was Forced in a Love-Rival Shura Field - Chapter 36

Inside the office, Ning Ning clutched the official notice to head for the Seventh Star Domain, his fingertips icy cold.

He, a B-rank guide, was being sent to the frontlines as a “member of the delegation)”?

【The frontline? Is this some kind of interstellar joke?! I’m a fragile little support character with no combat ability—going there is the same as delivering fresh Tang Monk meat to demons! System, get out here! I want to file a complaint! I demand occupational injury reserve status!】

“Frontline environments are complicated. Take this for protection.”

A voice, warm and gentle like jade, cut off Ning Ning’s inner roar.

Gu Qingfeng had entered without him noticing, carrying a delicate velvet box in his hand.

He smiled as he opened the lid. Inside lay a charm carved from moonstone: a small curled-up rabbit, smooth and luminous, looking almost identical to Ning Ning’s spirit form.

“This is made of high-density energy crystal. It can block most mental attacks,” Gu Qingfeng explained softly. He picked up the little rabbit, and without hesitation, naturally held Ning Ning’s pale slender wrist, preparing to fasten it for him.

The moment his warm fingertips brushed skin, a faint yet penetrating thread of mental power—like a sly fox’s tail—slipped in silently, trying to leave behind a hidden spiritual mark.

【Hey hey hey! What do you think you’re doing?! In broad daylight, not only are you grabbing me but you’re also trying to mark me? You smiling fox!】

Before Ning Ning could pull back, a large hand clad in a black tactical glove suddenly shot forward, seizing Gu Qingfeng’s wrist with brutal precision.

The force of the grip was so strong that Gu Qingfeng’s ever-present gentle smile stiffened for an instant.

“No need to trouble yourself, Second Prince.”

The icy voice came from above. At some point, Xie Lin had appeared right behind Ning Ning, his towering figure casting the boy completely in shadow—like a wolf guarding its prey.

Expressionless, Xie Lin pried the charm from Gu Qingfeng’s hand, then firmly pulled Ning Ning’s wrist free, enclosing it within his own broad, calloused, heated palm.

“His things, I’ll handle.”

There was no room for negotiation in his tone. Dropping his golden gaze, he personally—almost clumsily—fastened the charm around Ning Ning’s wrist. The cold moonstone pressed against delicate skin, but his rough fingertips deliberately rubbed hard over the boy’s slender wrist bone, radiating a fierce possessiveness.

A domineering surge of mental power belonging to the dark-gold wolf swept over the area, scrubbing away every trace of Gu Qingfeng’s attempted mark.

Gu Qingfeng slowly withdrew his now-empty hand. The gentle smile returned to perfection, but thin ice had crept into it.

“Marshal is right—I overstepped. After all, only the Marshal’s protection is the safest… isn’t it?”

That last “isn’t it” was drawn out, light and lilting, steeped in green-tea sweetness.

【Help! The gunpowder in the air! The vinegar in the air! I’m just an innocent office worker—why do I have to survive daily in the crossfire of top-tier alpha rivalry?!】 Ning Ning looked down at the charm on his wrist and wished he could transform into a rabbit and dig a hole on the spot.

When the heavy doors of the Marshal’s flagship slowly opened onto the Seventh Star Domain, a suffocating stench—metal rust, ozone, scorched earth—seized Ning Ning’s throat like an invisible hand.

【Ugh… what kind of hellish smell is this…】

His stomach lurched, acid rushing up his throat. His face turned paper white.

The next instant, a strong hand steadied his back, patting gently. Xie Lin was already by his side, shielding him with his tall frame from most of the cold wind and acrid odor, half-enclosing him in an impenetrable cocoon of safety.

“Unwell?” The man’s deep voice carried a thread of worry and regret, as though Ning Ning’s mere discomfort was his failure.

Ning Ning shook his head but was silenced by the sight before him.

Thunderous roars echoed from every direction. Huge cranes lifted shredded mech wreckage, sparks flew from the repair docks. The sky overhead was eternally gray, choked by rising smoke. Soldiers ran past in dust- and blood-stained uniforms, their expressions numb, eyes as hard as stone.

War.

No longer just two characters on the news—it was alive, breathing, pressing down on him.

Chilled by the atmosphere, Ning Ning’s hands and feet froze. His body instinctively leaned closer to the only burning-hot presence by his side.

A one-armed commander strode up, saluting crisply. When his gaze landed on the delicate boy the Marshal was shielding with extreme care, his eyes widened in disbelief.

Silver hair, violet eyes, skin porcelain-pale and fragile. Too delicate for the battlefield—one gust of wind in this base might blow him away.

“Marshal, this is…”

“ delegation.” Xie Lin’s cold, clipped reply cut off all further questions.

The medical zone was even more shocking.

The vast hall reeked of disinfectant and blood—a cloying, nauseating mix. Beds stretched endlessly, each filled with writhing sentinels. Many bore no external wounds, yet they convulsed violently, faces contorted, veins bulging, trapped in nightmares from which they could not escape.

In the air, countless erratic waves of mental force stabbed at Ning Ning’s temples like steel needles, splitting his head apart.

A female military doctor in a white coat rushed forward. Exhaustion weighed down her face; shadows beneath her eyes were ink-dark. Her voice rasped with despair:

“Marshal… their mental seas have been polluted by a strange Zerg psychic wave. Conventional tranquilizers have completely failed! At this rate, they’ll… they’ll become ruined husks! We… we can’t hold on much longer…”

Her desperate gaze slid past the Marshal and latched onto Ning Ning like a drowning woman clutching driftwood.

“You’re a guide, aren’t you? B-rank is fine! Please… please try! Even just to calm them a little!”

“No.” Xie Lin rejected without hesitation, pulling Ning Ning tighter into his arms.

But Ning Ning, watching those twisted, suffering faces, couldn’t bear it. He peeked out from Xie Lin’s embrace and whispered: “I… I’ll try. Just once.”

Before the Marshal could stop him, Ning Ning had hurried to a bedside. The young sentinel there was clawing bloody gashes into his own arms.

Taking a deep breath, Ning Ning closed his eyes and carefully sent his gentle mental tendrils into the chaotic sea.

But the instant they touched—

A sharp, icy, venomous psychic force lashed back like a serpent lurking in a swamp, biting down viciously!

It wasn’t wild power—it was deathly, malignant intent, intent on dragging all life into cold darkness. In his mind, it shrieked with the most hateful whispers.

“Ah—!”

A stabbing pain pierced Ning Ning’s head, as if an ice pick had skewered his skull. Darkness swallowed his vision; his body collapsed backwards.

“Enough!”

A furious roar exploded.

Xie Lin caught him the very second he cried out, cradling him tightly against a broad chest, one steady hand at his waist.

Raising his head, his golden eyes blazed with lethal fury, his S-rank aura erupting like a storm, crushing everyone in the room to their knees.

“He is not your expendable resource!”

He glared at the pale-faced doctor, spitting out every word with deadly force.

“I’m fine…” Ning Ning leaned weakly against him, clutching at his uniform, breath ragged. “Marshal… that power… it’s strange. It… it seemed to be… calling to something…”

Xie Lin’s brows furrowed dangerously. Without sparing a glance at anyone else, he lifted Ning Ning into his arms and strode away.

“Raise the medical zone’s defense levels!” he ordered the one-armed commander coldly, voice sharp as a blade. “I don’t want a repeat!”

An armored patrol vehicle rumbled over the cratered wasteland. Xie Lin let Ning Ning rest against his shoulder, holding his hand tightly, sending a steady stream of calming mental energy.

Then, as the vehicle passed a massive impact crater—chaos struck.

“Boom—!”

A colossal blast hurled the patrol car skyward, as if a giant hand had ripped it from the ground!

The vehicle spun violently. Gravity vanished, the world twisted. Ning Ning let out a panicked cry.

“Don’t be afraid.”

The low voice murmured in his ear.

In the moment of chaos, Xie Lin didn’t hesitate—he shielded Ning Ning beneath him, his steel back and arms taking the brunt of every brutal impact.

“Crash!”

The vehicle slammed down, glass shattering into a web of cracks.

Ning Ning, unharmed, felt only dizziness. He lifted his head, peering out the fractured window—

And froze.

From the scorched earth outside, monstrous Zerg creatures were erupting from beneath the ground!

Their massive bodies loomed like hills, armored in dark green chitin glinting coldly under the bleak sky. Segmented limbs ended in scythe-like bone blades.

And their countless disgusting compound eyes all gleamed with the same greedy, feverish light—locked unerringly onto a single target.

The one trapped in the car, radiating deadly allure—

Ning Ning.

Support The Beloved Guide Was Forced in a Love-Rival Shura Field