Chapter 12: It Is Unreasonable

Page 1/3

Xu Yuangui fell to the ground, cursing fiercely as he immediately tried to get up. But the newcomer was faster! The sentinel grabbed him by the collar and then delivered punch after punch, each blow landing solidly. Xu Yuangui was powerless to fight back, unable to block the attacks. Just as he wanted to command his black dog to bite, he caught a glimpse from the corner of his eye—the spirit form of his Tibetan mastiff being bitten by a wild beast covered in bright yellow spots.

Distracted for a moment, he was kicked hard in the chest and sent flying. The impact was tremendous.

Xu Yuangui crashed onto the grass, trying to push himself up to escape, but he lost his balance and tumbled back down, swaying unsteadily.

The moment Ji Xun was freed, he rushed to vomit. After retching, he saw Zhao Zhanlei charging forward to continue the fight and hurriedly ran to hold him back. "Enough, enough, Shitou, it’s over. Don’t kill him!"

Zhao Zhanlei, panting heavily, looked back at Ji Xun, clearly having run all the way there. "Xun Xun, did he hurt you?"

Ji Xun replied, "Just a bit nauseous."

Hearing this, Zhao Zhanlei’s anger flared anew, and he turned to attack Xu Yuangui again.

Ji Xun grabbed his arm firmly. "But it’s much better now, really much better! Don’t hit him again! The instructor’s here!"

Xu Yuangui crawled a few steps on the grass before Instructor Alice helped him up. Along with her came Instructor Qiu Ji from Sentinel Class A.

Xu Yuangui looked pitiful—his face swollen in patches, his right eyelid bloodshot and so swollen he could barely open his eye, the corner of his mouth cracked and bleeding, his clothes torn. He hunched over, too pained to speak.

Instructor Alice gave him a quick treatment, then turned to Ji Xun. "Ji Xun, what happened?"

Seeing Xu Yuangui’s battered state and Zhao Zhanlei completely unharmed, Ji Xun feared Zhao would be punished. Quickly, he pulled Shitou behind him and, pointing at the severely injured Xu Yuangui, said indignantly, "Teacher, today in our exchange class, I was paired with Xu Yuangui. He pretended to be friendly but led me to a secluded spot intending to defile me!"

When Instructor Alice heard the word "defile," her temple twitched. This was not the proper place to handle such matters.

She said, "Everyone, come to my office first. Instructor Qiu Ji, I’ll take the student; please keep an eye on my class’s situation."

Instructor Qiu Ji replied, "Okay, you take him."

Inside the instructor’s office, Ji Xun nearly in tears said, "My spiritual power is weak; I couldn’t resist. I almost got assaulted by Xu Yuangui..."

He spoke with passion, then pointed at Zhao Zhanlei behind him. "Luckily, this Sentinel Class A student saw everything. He wasn’t afraid of danger, bravely intervened, and saved me in time!"

Instructor Alice looked at the silent, heroic Class A student.

"..."

Familiar face. Isn’t that your good friend?

Although the instructor soon took the students away, the incident quickly spread through all five sentinel and guide classes.

Sentinel class gossip:

"Xu Yuangui from Class B got beaten? He’s always been unruly with a nasty temper and foul mouth. Poor Ji Xun, the little guide, to have run into him."

"Poor? I think the unlucky one this time isn’t the guide but Xu Yuangui himself. Ji Xun is Zhao Zhanlei’s boyfriend from Class A—Xu Yuangui dared to mess with him? He got knocked out flat on the spot. Even his usually domineering black dog had a leg bitten off by Zhao Zhanlei’s spirit form."

"Zhao Zhanlei? Then Xu Yuangui is done for! Zhao’s dad is a colonel in the 12th District Army!"

"Hey, that Ji Xun, Zhao Zhanlei’s boyfriend—his name sounds familiar. Didn’t I hear someone mention he has no spirit form?"

"That’s me. I was in an exchange class with him."

"Oh right, that’s you. Without a spirit form, his spiritual power must be weak, right?"

"Weak? Not really, I passed my last assessment just fine."

Meanwhile, the guide class was buzzing:

"Hey, did you hear? Xu Yuangui from Sentinel Class B got beaten up real bad—he’s unrecognizable!"

"Xu Yuangui? Serves him right! His spirit form is vicious—last time he bit my little Snow. After a poor exchange class result, he even led a gang to block me at Reverse Flow Bridge."

"Really? What happened to you later?"

"Luckily, I was with Qiao Qiao and others that day. There were many of us, so we escaped. When he saw he couldn’t catch me, he gave up."

"That’s good for you. I heard he started dating a guide from Class E after the first exchange class and even talked about marriage. But they broke up within half a month—he thought the guide wasn’t good-looking and had weak spiritual power. That guide almost dropped out because of it."

"Then how did Xu Yuangui end up beaten?"

"He was paired with Ji Xun from Class C this time."

"Ji Xun? Wow! That’s it for Xu Yuangui!"

"Yeah, everyone knows Ji Xun has two powerful sentinel childhood friends in Class A. If Xu Yuangui dared lay a finger on Ji Xun, he’d definitely die a miserable death!"

"No wonder he got beaten so badly, a tag team from Fu Shuxing and Zhao Zhanlei..."

"No, Zhao Zhanlei alone did it."

"Ah? Fu Shuxing didn’t get involved?"

Page 2/3

In the office, Instructor Alice said, "I have a rough idea of what happened."

"It’s not like that!" Xu Yuangui pressed his hand to his chest, his expression ugly and fierce. "Ji Xun slandered me! He said his spiritual power was weak and wanted to help me with spiritual guidance in another way, leading me to a less crowded place near Class A to lure me over. It was all a setup to gang up on me!"

Hearing this, Zhao Zhanlei’s fury surged. Ignoring the setting, he charged toward Xu Yuangui again.

Xu Yuangui cowered, clutching his head.

Instructor Alice used her spiritual power to restrain Zhao Zhanlei on the spot.

Zhao Zhanlei could only curse at a distance, "Nonsense! If you’ve got guts, don’t leave after class today! I’ll beat you to death!"

Instructor Alice said, "Other students might have witnessed the scene. Instructor Qiu Ji has brought them over. Let’s hear their side."

When Fu Shuxing and Instructor Qiu Ji arrived, several guides who had made excuses to listen in quietly gathered outside Instructor Alice’s office.

Instructor Qiu Ji asked, "Aren’t you supposed to be in class?"

The guides obediently left but couldn’t help glancing back and whispering gossip:

"It’s Fu Shuxing!"

"Oh my god, so handsome! He’s definitely the most handsome sentinel in our sanctuary!"

"What’s Fu Shuxing here for?"

"I heard he’s Ji Xun’s childhood friend, probably here to support him."

"Xu Yuangui’s really daring. Fu Shuxing’s childhood friend and Zhao Zhanlei’s boyfriend—he dares to mess with such people..."

They chatted as they walked away.

"Is Ji Xun Zhao Zhanlei’s boyfriend?"

"Of course! You didn’t know?"

Fu Shuxing’s eyes darkened, his expression unreadable.

In front of everyone, Fu Shuxing put his hands in his pockets and said flatly, "I was talking to my teammates and didn’t see anything."

Zhao Zhanlei turned, surprised, to look at Fu Shuxing.

Xu Yuangui, swollen-faced, saw Fu Shuxing defending him and immediately shifted from worry to ecstatic joy, saying, "See! Teacher! Fu Shuxing said he didn’t see anything! It really wasn’t me— they all ganged up on me!"

Ji Xun also looked at Fu Shuxing, puzzled.

Did Fu Shuxing really not see?

At that distance, it seemed unlikely...

Ji Xun said, "I even called you."

Fu Shuxing didn’t look at him. "Maybe it was too far; I didn’t hear."

Ji Xun pouted in dissatisfaction, thinking: Even if you didn’t see or hear, with two instructors present, couldn’t you at least take our side and say a word?

Instructor Alice said, "We will continue to investigate. You may go back for now. Xu Yuangui, come with me to the treatment chamber."

"Thank you, teacher."

As they left, Xu Yuangui glanced at Ji Xun, his expression dark with a hint of smugness.

The afternoon exchange class ended, and school was dismissed.

Ji Xun felt very upset over Xu Yuangui’s incident. He actively sought out Zhao Zhanlei, hoping to vent their anger at Fu Shuxing together.

But Zhao Zhanlei said he had something to do and asked Ji Xun to go back first.

"You're not thinking of fighting Xu Yuangui again, are you?"

"No," Zhao Zhanlei said loudly, "We already beat him up. Leaving him like that, he won’t dare bully you again."

"Then what are you going to do?"

"Instructor Loude wants to see me. He called me during the exchange class this afternoon."

"Oh. Alright then, I’ll head back first!"

"Bye."

When Xu Yuangui left the instructor building, it was already dark.

He stayed in the treatment chamber for two hours. Most of his bruises had healed, but his chest still ached.

He wore a grim expression, thinking the pain was secondary.

The real problem was his ruined face.

He blamed that useless guide from Class C and the meddling Zhao Zhanlei.

Xu Yuangui thought: Let’s see how much luck Ji Xun has!

He took a few steps and suddenly saw a figure standing not far ahead.

At first, he didn’t quite believe it, but as he approached...

Fu Shuxing tilted his head.

"Fu Shuxing?!" It really was him! Xu Yuangui was overjoyed. If it hadn’t been for Fu Shuxing speaking up for him this afternoon, he would have been forced to write thousands of words of self-criticism!

He stepped forward quickly. "Brother Xing, thanks for speaking up for me this afternoon. I was so helpless then."

Fu Shuxing said flatly, "Let’s go."

"Okay, okay." Xu Yuangui was thrilled to be associated with such an influential figure in the sanctuary. He even thought: What use is having a colonel for a father? Fu Shuxing shares the surname with Marshal Fu Shenyuan!

As long as Fu Shuxing stood by him, how could Zhao Zhanlei stay arrogant for long?

He grew more excited.

"Brother Xing, you and Zhao Zhanlei are in the same class, right? How’s your relationship?"

"Ordinary."

"Wow! Good thing you’re not close. That kind of friend is no good! That guy is reckless and untrustworthy. He beat me up over a little guide. Brother Xing, don’t you think that’s unreasonable? We’re supposed to be brothers who live and die together on the battlefield..."

They had already left the three buildings behind and were passing through a small forest used for sentinel practical training.

The small forest was protected by high-intensity barriers.

Fu Shuxing asked, "Unreasonable?"

Perhaps because it was dark and chilly around them, Xu Yuangui suddenly felt a tightening in his chest and stammered, "Ah, ah?"

Before he could react, a hand as hard as steel clamped around his neck, shoving him violently into the forest!

From a distance, Zhao Zhanlei, crouching and lying in wait, saw this and froze.

Then, with a sharp curse in his heart, he immediately strode forward!

Page 3/3