Chapter 100.2

Noon.

After finishing the final physical fitness test, a 9,000-meter run, Lian Yu feasted in the Tower cafeteria. With four laps ahead of the A-ranked Sentinel on the neighboring track, Lian Yu earned himself a well-deserved S-rank from the system.

When Lian Yu finished, the B-ranked Sentinel next to him had just finished his first lap. He listened to the system announce Lian Yu’s results in astonishment; its cold, ruthless, and mechanical voice nearly made him shed tears.

This marked the third S-ranked Sentinel in the third grade of the Tower. This Sentinel had been a D-ranker just half a semester ago and had been absent from school due to illness before that. Suddenly, a rumor spread throughout the Tower, legend has it that one can reach the pinnacle of Sentinel life because Mental Space Atrophy Syndrome has the ability to mutate one’s spiritual power.

Because of the physical fitness test scheduled in the afternoon, Cen Zhen didn’t eat much. He and Lian Yu chatted casually. Lian Yu was still pressing him about how much water he had drunk that morning and how much he had shaken after going to the bathroom. Then, a strange Guide appeared beside their table.

“Hello, is this Lian Yu?” The man’s voice was gentle. He held up the Union Supervisor’s ID hanging from his chest and smiled. “Well, I’m affiliated with the third-ranked team in the Union, Lezi Ruilin. I observed your physical fitness assessment this morning and saw your previous student information. Our team is very interested in you. I wonder if you’d be interested in learning more about Lezi Ruilin?”

Cen Zhen and Lian Yu exchanged a glance, each reading a lack of interest. But before they could say anything, another voice echoed nearby, “Brother Li, you’re quick.”

A Sentinel with a flamboyant hairstyle approached, also wearing a Supervisor’s ID around his neck. Seeing the pair of Sentinel and Guide fixed their gazes on him, his eyes narrowed to a crescent shape with smile. “What’s there to know about the third-ranked team? I belong to the first-ranked team. Zhenghui, are you two students free to chat with me?”

“You—” the Guide, known as Brother Li, glared at the newcomer. “First come, first served, you know?”

“Pfft, you’re serving food? First come, first served?”

Just as the representatives of the first and third teams were arguing, another team representative approached from a different direction. A burly, tough guy with a taciturn face, he placed the second team’s electronic business card floating screen in front of Lian Yu. Then, he bowed solemnly and left.

“……” Cen Zhen and Lian Yu exchanged another glance, silently put down their chopsticks and knives, and slipped away in tacit understanding.

On the way to the White Tower, Cen Zhen asked, “Which team were those two Sentinels from yesterday?”

“The ninth-ranked team this year.” Lian Yu had just gotten to the bottom of the matter, so he knew everything. “In addition to them, there are two Guides and a Sentinel leader who came for this final exam. They were originally in charge of the Tower, but they requested to be transferred to the White Tower specifically to see you, or rather, to see us make a fool of ourselves.”

“Why bother?” Cen Zhen shook his head. This was even more confusing than Fan’s vying to be his grandson.

Outside the White Tower test site, YaoJin and Pan had been waiting for a long time. Pan, for some unknown reason, is biting his bread viciously, his nose twitching.

YaoJin explained helplessly and heartbrokenly, “Those two caught Pan and thought he was the Guide we talked about taking the exam with the Sentinels. They stared at him and taunted him all morning. And since we were gone, Pan went through so much wrong.”

“You’re such a loser, hahaha.” Lian Yu grinned, his mouth almost reaching the back of his head. “Swear back! Just yell, ‘My big brother is Cen Zhen!'”

“I did yell,” Pan said, his eyes red. “I said the students at the White Tower can all attest. Yet, they mocked us students for being ignorant, and said Cen Zhen’s name alone made him look like a boastful, pretentious loser.”

Lian Yu’s face instantly turned cold, and even his voice was icy. “What did they say?!”

YaoJin, who had witnessed Lian Yu break a Sentinel’s ribs with a kick, quickly held him back. “Brother Yu, forget it! Forget it, Brother Yu! Those are union members. It will be hard to deal with them if they’re beaten to death!”

“……” Why does it feel like the upright and sunny hero becomes quite strange after spending so much time with the villain?

Off to the side, Cen Zhen, who had been quiet all this time, reached out and patted the gloomy little seagull perched on Pan’s shoulder. He said calmly to the other three, “The first event is the 3,000-meter race. I’m heading out.”

With that, he stepped straight through the gates of the testing ground. Many Guides’ eyes lit up when they noticed him. Even those who had just finished their assessment and wanted to rest turned back the same way, skipping their meals to follow Cen Zhen and witness history.

Lian Yu, Pan, and YaoJin were just a step behind and instantly felt like they had no place around Cen Zhen. The bustling crowd surrounded Cen Zhen, and the noise was so deafening that Lian Yu and YaoJin had to shut their ears and run to the upstairs auditorium.

As luck would have it, upon taking their seats, they spotted the two Sentinels from yesterday in a corner of the auditorium. Next to them sat a stranger, who looked like their leader.

The two Sentinels chuckled maliciously upon seeing Pan. YaoJin immediately pulled Pan behind him and coldly said to them, “You ignorant fellows.”

“Who’s ignorant?!” One of the Sentinels suddenly stood up. The leader beside him looked at him curiously and scolded him, “What are you yelling about? What happened?”

The two Sentinels suppressed their anger and bent down to quietly explain the whole situation. When they mentioned taking the test together, they glanced at him intentionally, or was it unintentionally, their tone of voice full of mockery.

The lead Sentinel was clearly unconvinced after hearing this, but at least he didn’t show the same disdainful expression as the other two. Instead, he sternly lectured them, “Next time you encounter something like this, just pretend you didn’t hear it. Don’t stir up trouble and bring shame upon the team.”

“…Yes sir,” the two Sentinels nodded reluctantly. Pan, however, became even more furious. He turned to look at Lian Yu, only to find that he had already run to the front, his gaze fixed intently on Cen Zhen, who stood at the starting line.

The test field was bustling with activity, thronged with onlookers gathered to witness the ‘Light of the White Tower’ take his test. The Guides on the track next to Cen Zhen were incredibly stressed. Except for one, who seemed optimistic, suggested that Cen Zhen’s fast speed would allow him to lead the pack, allowing them to unleash their potential.

This initially sounded reasonable, but in practice, let alone lead the pack, Cen Zhen vanished from view the moment the whistle blew.

Perhaps for a Sentinel, B-rank speed wasn’t impressive enough, but for a Guide, it was an unbearable mountain to overcome.

Just as the other Guides had finished the 500-meter run, one-sixth of the track, Cen Zhen was already panting as he left the track. The system also displayed an S-rank result at that moment.

Because the audience was filled with Sentinels, Pan was forced to remain silent. He shouted silently, leaped with excitement, and clung to YaoJin’s arms, shaking violently as if he were the S-rank Guide.

The other Guides were no better off than Pan. The unprecedented S-rank Guide undoubtedly brought the atmosphere to a climax.

Someone took the lead and shouted, “Brother Zhen!! I want to marry you!! Let us have a Guide Guide love!” Suddenly, the entire White Tower became Lian Yu’s new love rival.

Off to the side, the leading Sentinel, unbelievably in shock, also made his way to the front of the audience. He gazed at the black-haired, blue-eyed Guide surrounded by the crowd below while contacting the guild headquarters, presumably to report the news.

Behind him, the two previously arrogant Sentinels completely lost their composure. Their faces paled as they stared in disbelief, unable to believe there was actually a Guide with S-level fitness inside the White Tower.

“Hmph!” Pan smirked at them, reminiscent of the way the two Sentinels had treated him when he’d received a B grade that morning.

One of them, his face flushed with rage, angrily demanded, “What’s the point of having high fitness? With the Sentinels present, does a Guide really need to take action? His abilities are at best those of a B-rank Sentinel. It’s more important for a Guide to—”

Lian Yu clicked on Cen Zhen’s recently updated student information, magnified the Spiritual Power level in red, and threw it in front of the two Sentinels. Without another glance at them, he left the auditorium and headed for the next testing room.

The crimson S-rank made the two Sentinels’ faces paler still. The one beneath them was a rare double-S-rank Guide?! The leading Sentinel, observing their expressions, understood everything. He panted in exasperation and shouted, “I told you to mind your words and not to stir up trouble! …..Just wait!”

There were so many people around that even the upper auditorium gradually filled up. Cen Zhen couldn’t see Lian Yu, but through the mental link, he could sense his direction.

Cen Zhen disliked being surrounded by too many people and attracting attention; he is also aware that Sentinels hated noisy surroundings. He stood in line expressionlessly, thinking about how to quickly conclude this physical fitness test.

By now, no one dared to disturb the taciturn Guide. Everyone held their breath, waiting for the S-level Guide to accomplish what they couldn’t.

As expected, during the strength test, Cen Zhen’s grip strength exceeded the maximum testable range of the Guide’s gripper, and the system temporarily dispatched another from the Tower. Only then did it record the specific values ​​for Cen Zhen.

From beginning to end, Cen Zhen remained expressionless, having long known the answer. This was his body, after all. He had speculated that perhaps he should have been a Sentinel, but because Lian Yu needed a Guide, he became a Guide.

By the time of the last test, all the Guides who had followed him this entire time barely recognized the letter “S.” Pan, calmed down from his overflooding admiration, simply stared at the Guide who was the center of attention with bright eyes.

How fortunate he was to be friends with Cen Zhen.

After receiving the results for the final test, Cen Zhen wiped his forehead and finally spoke his first words of the afternoon to the still-large crowd at the testing site:

“Make way. I need to get out.” Just like when he’d gone alone to the Tower B training ground to compete with the Sentinels, the crowd slowly parted, making way for Cen Zhen to leave.

Pan looked at Cen Zhen expectantly, ready to give him a big hug when he arrived and vividly describe how shocked those two clueless Sentinels were by him and how they’d been reprimanded by their superiors.

But then he saw Cen Zhen’s figure gradually fading away, finally leaving the testing ground and heading straight for the Tower.

“Huh? Where’s he going?!” Pan was a little confused. YaoJin, standing beside him, holding Little Seagull, couldn’t understand why this little fool was so slow. “Look around, you see Lian Yu?”

“……” Pan was startled. “Where’s Lian Yu?! Wasn’t he right next to us just now?!”

“…His mental power test time is up, and he left ten minutes ago.”

“Huh?!” “

As soon as Cen Zhen left the venue, countless Sentinels and Guides bearing spectator badges rushed out, including the first, second, and third-ranked team leaders who had been arguing over Lian Yu’s recruitment at noon.

They were acutely aware that this was a certified pair of S-level Sentinel Guide. No, to be more precise, triple-S-level…

Cen Zhen was walking hurriedly. Having just finished a nearly two-hour physical fitness test, his breathing was erratic, but he continued to run towards the Tower.

The leaders chasing him suddenly realized… This must be the way to the Sentinel that he was with earlier. That Sentinel had undergone a physical fitness test in the morning and thus had his mental strength test in the afternoon…

Could it be… that this was a pair of 4S-level Sentinel Guide? ? ?

The group of Sentinel Guides wearing blue badges chased him even more vigorously, frantically negotiating offers with their teams. One team even declared that they would spend whatever it took to recruit this pair of Sentinel Guide.

Suddenly, Cen Zhen stopped.

A smile broke across his usually expressionless face. This was also the first smile the group behind him had seen. Their previous assumptions about the Guide’s cold and aloof personality were instantly shattered, like a pebble falling into a mirror-like, calm lake, sending ripples through the air.

The leaders, initially overwhelmed with excitement, paused, looking at each other, not daring to disturb the Guide, whose ice-cold appearance had suddenly melted.

Cen Zhen still rarely smiles, but he couldn’t help but raise his lips unconsciously when it comes to Lian Yu.

The man stood before them, his index finger tracing an S made, the same way he had that morning.

Cen Zhen’s smile deepened, and he quickly stepped forward to greet Lian Yu with open arms.

Original Author’s Note:

In order to celebrate the hundredth chapter together, I actually managed to double the update?!

It’s over, it’s over. My endings are always like this, you all know that. I’ll improve next time, next time.

Well, my next journey is the apocalypse novel, as you already know. It’ll start in early August, which means we’ll see each other again soon!

Thank you everyone for liking Cen Zhen and Lian Yu’s story~ See you next time~

Translator’s Note:

1. Peach Garden refers to the Chinese classic novel [Romance of the Three Kingdom], where three historically influential individual claim brotherhood within a Peach Garden and thus started their journey to change history
2. Hat, especially green hat represents cheating in a relationship

Two years and ten months! It was such a long journey; I appreciate every reader who took an interest in reading my translation. I have apologize for how slow I am, but we are finally here! Last chapter of the novel ^^ I hope you enjoy the story, and let us meet in another heartwarming story.