“Xia Ye, this isn’t a place we should be,” Lin Kezhi said, looking around. He was clearly startled by the scene before him. “An underground fighting arena… If the disciplinary officer finds out, we’ll be expelled.”

It was Lin Kezhi’s first time in a place like this. Born with a silver spoon in his mouth, he was the young master of a wealthy family from the Upper Seventh District, someone whose life had never intersected with the chaotic, blood-soaked world of underground fighting rings.

A hoarse, piercing roar erupted from inside the arena. Despite its harshness, the excitement of the spectators was unmistakable.

Xia Ye had already placed his hand on the brass door. Noticing his companion’s unease, he paused.

“I know,” Xia Ye said, his voice carrying a hint of distance. “Lin Kezhi, thank you for coming with me. But you know this is risky…”

His words were polite and impeccable, but the implication was clear: he was asking Lin Kezhi to leave.

Lin Kezhi scratched his head, feeling a little embarrassed instead.

The truth was, he wasn’t particularly close to Xia Ye.

He had only met Xia Ye two weeks ago, when the Alliance Military Academy’s train made its circuit through all twelve districts to pick up the incoming freshmen.

—

Before meeting Xia Ye, Lin Kezhi had already heard plenty about him.

Xia Ye lived in District Twelve, the most chaotic district in the Alliance. Poverty was everywhere there, extraterrestrial contamination ran rampant, and to the residents of the Upper Seventh District, it was a lawless land. Some radical social Darwinists even openly claimed that the people living in the Lower Five Districts were no better than animals.

The fact that someone from District Twelve had been admitted to the Alliance Military Academy was news in itself.

Everyone knew that the military academy was an exclusive playground reserved for the Upper Seventh District.

After humanity left the Solar System and established the Human Alliance in a galaxy twenty million light-years away, admission to the military academy became a symbol of honor. The residents of the Upper Seventh District took immense pride in attending it, while the Lower Five Districts had all but disappeared from the Alliance’s consciousness, remembered only when the Upper Seventh District offered its hypocritical condolences during major holidays.

The moment Xia Ye boarded the train, he felt countless gazes filled with complicated emotions settle on him.

The malicious whispers were even more incessant.

“A Guide from District Twelve? Awakening as a Guide requires psychic power. Do those illiterates in District Twelve even understand what that is?”

“He’s bringing his little sister with him to military school. Someone so soft-hearted can’t possibly be strong.”

“I’ve got to admit, though. His little sister is pretty…”

Xia Ye withdrew his gaze from the scenery outside the window and swept a cold glance across the carriage.

By nature, he was aloof. He had never cared about idle gossip.

But talking about his little sister like that was unacceptable.

What’s more, while they gossiped about them, they were quietly releasing their psychic power.

An undercurrent surged through the carriage. The sentinel seated nearby stared at him with a provocative grin. Beside him, the guide curled his fingers slightly into the unmistakable posture of someone preparing to deploy a Mental Domain.

Another fool.

Another fool trying to pry into his sister, hoping to overwhelm him with psychic power and force him into submission.

The corners of Xia Ye’s lips curved upward. A faint sneer appeared on his usually expressionless face.

“So eager to die?”

His voice was even colder than his smile. Yet it was so indifferent that it carried no trace of emotion, as though he were merely stating a fact instead of issuing a threat.

Li Feile suddenly felt something was wrong.

He came from one of the elite families of the Upper Seventh District. His parents were a sentinelxguide pair—the textbook example of a privileged upbringing.

After awakening as a sentinel at sixteen, his parents introduced him to Qiu Luo. Once they proved to be a compatible match, Qiu Luo became his guide.

By the time they boarded this train, they had already trained together for two years.

According to his parents’ calculations, they should have been the strongest pair aboard this train, destined to stand above all their classmates.

And yet…

The guide from District Twelve standing before them was nothing like they had imagined.

In most people’s minds, guides were rational, gentle, like a spring breeze that soothed the turbulent minds of Sentinels.

Xia Ye was different.

Li Feile couldn’t sense that calming presence from him.

Instead, he felt the oppressive stillness before an approaching storm.

—

Xia Ye rose from his seat. He was tall and slender, his shoulders almost too thin, giving him a frailty that didn’t belong on a boy his age.

His skin was very pale. Bluish veins faintly showed beneath the skin on the backs of his hands, lending him an unhealthy appearance.

Seeing him like this, Li Feile completely forgot the unease he had felt moments ago, replacing it with irritation.

It was obvious that Xia Ye wasn’t good at hand-to-hand combat.

In fact…he even looked weak.

As one of the Upper Seventh District’s renowned prodigy Sentinels, Li Feile couldn’t tolerate having been intimidated by someone like this.

He let out a scornful laugh.

“Sickly bastard.”

Xia Ye acted as though he hadn’t heard him. He merely looked at him, his gaze as sharp as a blade.

The girl sitting across from him seemed to sense something. Uneasily, she reached out and tugged gently at the hem of Xia Ye’s shirt. The boiling blood in Xia Ye’s veins cooled for an instant.

The snow leopard that had been on the verge of springing out was forcibly restrained.

Holding his younger sister’s hand, Xia Ye’s voice softened. “Don’t be afraid.”

Xia Zhi responded timidly. As she looked up, half of her face came into view, revealing a pair of eyes as lifeless as inorganic glass.

Li Feile stared at the siblings before suddenly bursting into laughter.

“Hahaha! A sickly bastard with a blind little sister… Such a pretty little blind girl. Come over here and let this big brother get a better look.”

His voice rang loudly enough for the entire carriage to hear. Even passengers from the neighbouring carriages poked their heads in to see what was happening.

Xia Ye lowered his eyes.

This wasn’t the first time he had heard such mockery. Over the past decade and more, he and his younger sister had grown up in an orphanage. They had heard these kinds of words from countless people.

Many told him he should get used to it, but he could never get used to it.

Extraterrestrial contamination had taken their parents’ lives, stolen his sister’s eyesight, and robbed him of his health.

None of that mattered to anyone.

People only saw what they wanted to see.

The piercing laughter pounded against Xia Ye’s eardrums. It felt as though he had been caught in a vortex.

Centred on Xia Ye, an overwhelming surge of psychic power burst forth uncontrollably and swept through the entire carriage.

Xia Zhi’s slender fingers slipped from the hem of her brother’s shirt.

She shrank back into her seat like a frightened kitten.

—

Two minutes later, Xia Ye looked up.

A fierce gust of wind swept through the jet-black train carriage, carrying with it the scorching breath of a midsummer desert.

Li Feile couldn’t help shivering. He had never experienced such overwhelming pressure from someone his own age.

To prevent untrained sentinels and guides from coming into conflict during the journey, this train had been specially built to transport them. It was equipped with a barrier that suppressed psychic power.

Under normal circumstances, none of them should have been able to release their psychic power on a large scale, nor summon their spirit animals. At most, they could have gotten into minor scuffles.

But Xia Ye seemed completely unaffected by those ‘rules’.

Simply standing there, the psychic power he released was enough to make everyone in the carriage tremble.

“Damn it!” Li Feile spat on the floor despite the crushing pressure. “If you’ve got the guts, fight me!”

At that moment, Xia Ye actually smiled—a smile devoid of warmth.

There was no mirth in his eyes. Only a cold curve at the corners of his lips.

“I don’t mind,” he said. “But are you sure you can handle it?”

As he spoke, his gaze swept past Li Feile’s shoulder with faint mockery.

Li Feile froze.

Only then did he turn around and realise that Qiu Luo had already collapsed limply into his seat, completely subdued by Xia Ye’s psychic pressure.

The sight pushed Li Feile over the edge.

He lunged forward, reaching for Xia Ye’s collar without the slightest restraint.

But Xia Ye moved like a nimble fish. He shifted slightly to the side, effortlessly evading the grab.

Li Feile grasped nothing but air. Planting his right foot, he pivoted on the spot and charged at Xia Ye like a predatory beast.

The carriage fell deathly silent; no one had expected them to actually come to blows.

Someone shouted, “Stop fighting! The instructor’s coming!”

Li Feile couldn’t hear it. Consumed by rage, he had forgotten everything else.

He only wanted Xia Ye dead.

Xia Ye had remained standing the entire time, quietly. The instant Li Feile reached him, Xia Ye suddenly moved. He caught Li Feile’s wrist.

In the blink of an eye, Li Feile was hurled to the floor.

No one had even seen how he had done it.

—

It was at that moment that Lin Kezhi first met Xia Ye.

The journey had been so long that he had been bored enough to practically start picking at his toes in his seat when a commotion suddenly broke out in the carriage behind him.

Several girls came running over in a panic.

“Someone’s hurt! Where’s the instructor?”

Lin Kezhi had always loved excitement. Hearing that, he stopped one of them. “What happened? I’ll take you to the instructor.”

He led the way with practised ease while listening to the whole story.

Fifteen minutes later, Lin Kezhi returned to the carriage with the instructor. Li Feile lay on the floor, all his previous arrogance gone, glaring furiously at Xia Ye.

Qiu Luo knelt beside him, weakly holding his hand. His eyes were dim and lifeless.

The instructor frowned. “Your sentinel is injured. Why aren’t you giving him mental guiding?”

Li Feile’s injuries weren’t serious. Xia Ye had merely thrown him to the ground, spraining his ankle.

Lin Kezhi secretly clicked his tongue.

Sentinels possessed extraordinary physiques. Their muscle density and bone density were several times greater than those of ordinary people. Injuring a Sentinel was no easy feat.

“I…” Hearing the instructor’s question, Qiu Luo stammered for a long time before finally giving up in defeat. “I can’t.”

The instructor was momentarily speechless.

Only then did he notice the faint but unmistakable psychic power still emanating from Xia Ye.

It seemed Xia Ye was still suppressing them.

“Xia Ye, remember the school rules,” the instructor said with a light cough. “Withdraw it.”

At last, a trace of emotion appeared in Xia Ye’s indifferent eyes.

He stared directly at the person on the floor.

“Apologise.”

Displeasure crossed the instructor’s face.

He remembered Xia Ye—the only student from District Twelve on the entire train, and one who had even brought his younger sister along. It was impossible not to notice him.

The instructor had always believed that boys from poor families should keep their heads down.

Who would have thought that before even enrolling, Xia Ye would get into a fight with one of the Upper Seventh District’s prodigy sentinels?

The instructor was about to reprimand Xia Ye when Lin Kezhi stopped him.

Giving the instructor a meaningful look, Lin Kezhi grinned as he helped the fallen sentinel to his feet.

“We’re all classmates here. Let’s not damage our relationship, okay?”

The instructor shuddered.

He suddenly understood the situation.

A prodigy Sentinel from the Upper Seventh District…

And a Guide capable of beating that prodigy Sentinel into this state…

Neither was someone he could afford to offend.

The students aboard this train had all passed layer upon layer of rigorous selection. They were the elite chosen to fight against extraterrestrial contamination.

They were the hope and future of the Human Alliance.

Even if Xia Ye came from District Twelve, he was not someone the instructor had the authority to interfere with.

“Lin Kezhi is right,” the instructor said, instantly changing his attitude. “If there’s been some misunderstanding, everyone should just sit down and talk it out.”

The moment those words left his mouth, Li Feile felt the mental pressure weighing on him intensify again, nearly suffocating him.

Qiu Luo’s fingers went limp.

His voice trembled.

“I’m sorry. We shouldn’t have spoken about you and your little sister like that. I promise it won’t happen again.”

Xia Ye looked toward his sister. Seeing Xia Zhi smiling at last, he gave a slight nod and let the matter rest.

After the instructor left, Lin Kezhi plopped down beside Xia Ye and asked eagerly, “Xia Ye, before the entrance assessment there’s going to be a compatibility exchange meeting. What kind of sentinel are you hoping to find?”

Author’s Note:

It’s my first time writing a danmei novel, so I’m a little nervous.

Feel free to leave a comment if you stop by!

—

Setting Notes

The setting of this novel generally follows the standard “Sentinel & Guide” lore as described in the fandom encyclopedia. Any original settings unique to this story will be explained throughout the text.

Sentinels: Sentinels possess senses, physical abilities, and psychic power that far surpass those of ordinary humans, making them natural-born combat specialists. However, because their heightened senses are excessively acute, they frequently fall into berserk states and require a Guide’s mental guidance to stabilise them.

Guides: Guides possess psychic resonance and Mental Domains, allowing them to soothe and guide a sentinel’s emotions. Because of their exceptionally strong psychic power, they are easily affected by the emotions of others and can likewise influence those around them.

Dark Sentinel: The strongest class of sentinel and a born leader. The only type of sentinel capable of remaining calm without requiring a guide’s mental guidance.

Dark Guide: The strongest class of guide and a born beast tamer. They are capable of using their Mental Domains as offensive weapons against others.

Spirit Animal: The physical manifestation of a sentinel’s or guide’s psychic power, most commonly appearing in the form of an animal.