The weather was terrible.

The sun poured its light onto the ground without restraint, its scorching rays nearly melting everything in sight.

“Forty-nine degrees Celsius,” Xia Ye reported flatly, reading the number from the thermometer. “Over the past thirty years, the Alliance’s highest recorded summer temperature has been around forty-one degrees Celsius.”

“Way above the limit.” Chi Zhou snapped his fingers. “Full-area mutation. Environmental pollution level three.”

Jian Feiyang lowered his head and continued taking notes, entering Chi Zhou’s conclusion into the system. At that, he looked up blankly.

“That serious?”

“Mm.” Xia Ye added, “The vegetation here is generally much more luxuriant than usual. Some tree species are twice their normal height.”

Jian Feiyang followed his gaze. The greenery along both sides of the road displayed a vitality so unnerving that it made one’s skin crawl. Thick leaves, each like a kite, hung from unnaturally stout branches, blocking the sunlight from the pavement completely.

Despite the forty-nine-degree heat, the pedestrians on the street wore long sleeves, seemingly unbothered by the heat at all.

“This is seriously fvcked up.” Jian Feiyang looked at those people bundled up from head to toe. “Is there even one normal person left in this place?”

“Hard to say.” Chi Zhou frowned slightly. “Until last week, the status uploaded by the Longgu Town Social Administration Bureau to the Pollution Research Institute was still listed as normal. But these things obviously didn’t grow like this within a week.”

He was holding the protective pouch containing the receipt the toll station had forced Xia Ye to take.

The receipt was covered in densely packed tiny characters, reflecting a golden sheen beneath the sunlight.

It was not an ordinary receipt.

Xia Ye reached out and covered the writing on the receipt with his hand.

“It can cause mental contamination. Don’t look at it.”

“You’re quite responsible.” Chi Zhou was startled by the gesture, then smiled. “As expected of our guide captain.”

Under Special Operations Department regulations, each squad was assigned two captains.

One was responsible for leading the sentinels, while the other was responsible for leading the guides.

Under normal circumstances, the captains were the strongest sentinel-guide pair in the entire squad.

There was only one exception.

Chi Zhou had never participated in matching and had never bonded with a guide. He led the squad’s sentinels and guides alone.

That was, until Xia Ye joined the Special Operations Department.

As an SSS-ranked Dark Guide, Xia Ye automatically became the squad’s other captain.

Chi Zhou returned the receipt to Xia Ye, indicating that he should explain.

“The Longgu Town toll station has already been contaminated,” Xia Ye said seriously. “To facilitate parasitism, they’ve attached mental suggestions to the receipts they hand out. Looking at the writing under the sunlight will cause people to answer the call of their ‘sun’.”

“If an ordinary person accepts one of these receipts, there’s a high probability they’ll be parasitised by the flower’s stamen and transformed into a human-faced tree.”

“Wow, Little Captain, you know so much.” Jian Feiyang was exceptionally enthusiastic, chatting away as he drove. “How did you figure that out?”

Jian Feiyang was far older than Xia Ye, both in age and experience. Xia Ye was accustomed to being alone, so hearing Jian Feiyang call him Little Captain suddenly made him feel a little embarrassed.

Before he could answer, Chi Zhou had already curled his finger and flicked Jian Feiyang hard on the forehead.

“Jian Feiyang, and you call yourself a guide.” Chi Zhou sounded rather speechless. “Can’t you sense the fluctuations in psychic power?”

Jian Feiyang yelped dramatically after being flicked.

“Captain, do you have no sense of humour at all? Xia Ye’s on his first mission. I was worried he would be nervous, so I was just joking around to help him relax, all right?”

“Who said you could joke around with him?” Chi Zhou said disapprovingly. “You need to file a report before joking around with him. Understood?”

Amid his teammates’ laughter, Xia Ye silently turned towards the window, hiding his slightly burning ears.

In the reflection of the glass, he saw Chi Zhou raise an eyebrow at him slightly, a hint of roguishness in his smile.

It was a side of him Xia Ye had never seen before.

—

Fifteen minutes later, Ying Jiawei executed a sharp drift, bringing the off-road vehicle to a halt in front of the Longgu Town Central Hospital.

“We’re here.”

Ying Jiawei switched off the engine and stared at the dark, gaping entrance. “The first reported case of human-faced tree mutation in Longgu Town appeared at this hospital.”

She had a fiery temper. She pulled the weapons bag from beneath her seat and quickly geared up before reaching for the door.

“Wait.” Chi Zhou suddenly spoke, stopping everyone in their tracks. “The Alliance just sent over some new information.”

“An update?” Ying Jiawei could not hide her surprise. “At a time like this?”

They were already outside Longgu Town Central Hospital. Unless the information was particularly important, they wouldn’t have been sent it at this moment.

“Yeah.” Chi Zhou’s expression darkened. “Trouble’s come knocking.”

He pressed the play button. A transparent panel immediately appeared before them and slowly played a video.

In the blurry footage, a person in military uniform clutched his head with both hands and shouted at the sky, “The trees have come alive! They’re going to eat us!”

He screamed until his voice was hoarse, the sound dry and rough as though it had been scr4p3d with sandpaper. It hurt just to hear it.

After shouting at the sky for a while, the man suddenly turned and moved straight toward the camera.

Through the nearly pixelated image, Xia Ye saw his blood-red eyes.

It was proof of a guide gone berserk.

“I belong to the Third Squad of the District Ten Military Command, where I serve as the guide captain. I swear upon my loyalty to the Alliance that everything I’m saying is true.”

Those blood-red eyes stared into the camera as he spoke each word slowly.

“The Third Squad of the District Ten Military Command has been wiped out. Longgu Town has fallen completely.”

“Don’t come closer! Don’t come closer! Don’t come closer!”

“Run!!!”

……

That final cry of ‘Run’ seemed to have been squeezed out from deep within his bones, carrying a despair so chilling it made one’s blood run cold.

The off-road vehicle fell silent. Everyone was stunned by the video.

After a long moment, Jian Feiyang finally stammered, “W-what… What is he saying?”

Chi Zhou’s expression was solemn.

“Half a month ago, the District Ten Military Command took control of Longgu Town. The Third Squad was the one sent there.”

“He said they were all wiped out.” Jian Feiyang felt a chill run through him. “But the Third Squad was still reporting to the Military Command yesterday, saying that Longgu Town was in normal condition and everything was under control.”

“They were all contaminated.”

In a moment like this, Xia Ye instead showed extraordinary calm. “The Third Squad was a team made up of sentinels and guides. Their psychic power was stronger than that of ordinary people, so when they were contaminated, they didn’t gradually degenerate into trees as ordinary people did. They retained their consciousness and believed there was nothing wrong with them.”

“They continued working as usual, patrolled the town, and reported its status to the Alliance… Sometimes, having the abilities of a sentinel or guide isn’t necessarily a good thing.”

Xia Ye pointed at the blood-red eyes in the video.

“He was the strongest among them. He hadn’t been completely contaminated by the human-faced trees, but his Mental Domain collapsed as a result, causing him to go berserk.”

Guides going berserk were extremely rare—almost unheard of.

A sentinel who lost their guide could go berserk from excessive mental pressure, but a guide could not.

A guide would only go berserk when subjected to a psychic attack several times stronger than themselves, leaving them unable to resist the collapse of their Mental Domain.

Silence spread through the off-road vehicle.

Those blood-red eyes stared at them from the screen like a warning.

—

After a brief moment of silence, Chi Zhou’s gun clicked as he released the safety.

“Get your weapons ready. We can deploy our mecha if necessary,” he said. “Since they’re no longer human, there’s no need to negotiate with them.”

According to the original plan, once they reached Longgu Town Central Hospital, they were supposed to contact the District Ten Military Command in their capacity as members of the Special Operations Department, take over the hospital from them, and then begin their investigation.

Now, none of that was necessary.

Chi Zhou was preparing to force his way inside. It was his usual style.

“Xia Ye and I will take the main entrance,” Chi Zhou said briefly. “Jian Feiyang and Ying Jiawei, left side. Fang Shike and Yu Yucheng, rear.”

The central hospital’s map unfolded across the transparent panel, clearly outlining the building’s layout.

Two red dots appeared on the map: the dissection room on the second underground level and the director’s office on the fourth floor.

“Enter according to your assigned routes. Meet in the director’s office in ten minutes. Focus on gathering intelligence.”

“The director’s office is currently the Third Squad’s base. According to the video, the entire Third Squad has been wiped out, but some of them still retain human consciousness. Once we meet up, Jian Feiyang will attempt to communicate with them. Everyone else is responsible for security.”

Jian Feiyang immediately answered, “Copy that.”

He had been so cowardly on the highway earlier that, when they were surrounded by the human-faced trees, he had not even dared to release his Spirit Animal.

Now that he had answered so decisively, Xia Ye could not help glancing at him again.

“What, what, Little Captain? Why are you looking at me like that?” Jian Feiyang noticed Xia Ye’s gaze and hurriedly explained, “Don’t let the way I act fool you. I’ve been knocking around the Special Operations Department for more than ten years, after all. I’ve got at least this much courage.”

“He just has no filter,” Ying Jiawei said, patting Jian Feiyang on the shoulder. Her ponytail bounced with the movement, making her look rather lively. “Don’t worry. We’re all reliable.”

Chi Zhou added, “Mm. You can count on the Special Operations Department when it comes to getting things done.”

“I didn’t mean anything by it,” Xia Ye said.

“Stop right there. No apologies or ‘sorry’ talk. I don’t like hearing those words.” Chi Zhou waved a hand. “Ready?”

Xia Ye nodded.

Following Chi Zhou’s hand signal, all four car doors opened at once. The team members jumped out together and disappeared into the trees’ shadows.

The Mental Domain expanded silently, transforming into a barrier that gently enveloped Chi Zhou.

A scene he had never witnessed before unfolded before his eyes. Semi-transparent lines traced the building’s contours, letting him see inside without even entering the hospital.

Depending on the degree of mutation, the lines surrounding the people inside the hospital varied. For some, all four limbs had almost turned completely white. These were patients who had nearly become human-faced trees.

Others had only thin lines running over their bodies. Their mutation had only just begun.

This ability was unique to guides: using psychic power to construct the clues of a world within their domain.

“Quite something.” Chi Zhou rubbed his chin. “So this is what it feels like to be with a guide.”

“You’ve never had a guide?” Xia Ye asked.

“Do you really need to ask?” Chi Zhou looked at him in surprise. “Everyone in the Alliance knows I don’t have a guide.”

Xia Ye nodded, neither quite agreeing nor disagreeing.

Of course he had heard about Chi Zhou. A Dark Sentinel who had never participated in matching had given the Alliance a considerable headache. They had even stayed up all night making enquiries through the Military Command to find out what type of person Chi Zhou liked.

A snow leopard leapt out from behind him, leading the way with a nimble stride.

It seemed to be in an excellent mood.

The hospital’s automatic glass doors clicked open. The interior was dimly lit, and a crowd of patients was packed together in a queue.

The nurse shouted until her voice was hoarse as she tried to maintain order.

“Stop pushing! Everyone get in line! You two who just arrived, go to the back!”

She wore a pink nurse’s uniform and a white cap bearing a bright red cross, making her look almost like a cartoon character.

Xia Ye’s gaze fell upon her wrist. It was slender, adorned with a delicate emerald-green jade bangle, and the hand itself was fine and graceful.

Her fingers were smooth and lustrously pale, like white jade, with black nail polish. It was not pure black. A dark red seeped through the black-brown colour.

Like bloodstains.

Xia Ye exchanged a glance with Chi Zhou, and they immediately understood each other’s intentions.

“Hello. Could you tell me how to get to the director’s office?”

At Xia Ye’s polite question, the nurse’s neck twisted a full 360 degrees, and she stared straight at him.

“The director’s office? Your illness isn’t that serious. You don’t need to see the director.”

“Is that so?”

Chi Zhou took half a step forward and asked her leisurely, “Then what degree of illness do you think would require someone to see the director?”

The author’s note:

I’ve been a little stuck with the writing lately, qwq, so the update schedule hasn’t been very stable.

Sometimes I end up writing until after midnight.

If it hasn’t appeared by 10 p.m., you can just come back and check tomorrow. Most likely, it’ll be updated sometime after midnight.

My little angels, please don’t stay up late every day like I do, okay? It’s bad for your health.

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