Cen Zhen did not speak. He silently calmed down, like a new but capable resident on the operating table with very steady hands. He followed the method described in the book to strengthen the spiritual connection between him and Lian Yu.
On the other side, Lian Yu frantically flashed his middle finger at Zhou Qingchang and Qu. If he and Cen Zhen hadn’t agreed to kiss each other once they entered the rankings, he might have already given up the game and gone to beat them up.
The two presidents were interested in them. Both Lian Yu and Cen Zhen are well aware of this. The unexpected score of 391 points in the previous midterm exam, the use of the Tower/White Tower-wide broadcast without punishment, and the success of 1v6 in three seconds during the jump-off-the-roof incident. Ordinary students might just watch it for entertainment and won’t dig into the details, but as the student union presidents, it’s impossible for Ji Qingchang and Qu not to pay close attention.
If asked directly, Lian Yu probably would explain in the most random detail and come up with a hundred excuses to dismiss them. Regardless of whether they believe it or not, the story they made up is just as believable as the truth. However, these two were patient enough and didn’t ask anything. They wanted to witness the strength of Cen Zhen and Lian Yu with their own eyes, so they suddenly tricked them unexpectedly today.
“Forget about mental protection.” After Lian Yu ‘scolded’ the presidents, he turned to Cen Zhen and said, “If you change your strategy rashly and forcefully use a combat method that you are not familiar with, you may put yourself at a disadvantage. Let’s take the original approach and focus on attacking first.”
Cen Zhen was silent.
“We have the advantage of permanent union, if nothing works, we can adapt to circumstances.” Lian Yu said, patting Cen Zhen on the shoulder and smiling in a relaxed tone: “The presidents really don’t play by the rules. Shouldn’t they prioritize the more important things? Shouldn’t they give us a few novices in auditions where losers would be eliminated, and then make us suddenly encounter powerful opponents in the official competition? Because there would be rematch opportunities, after we lost the game, we learned from the experience and made it back to the finale in one fell swoop. Finally, after overcoming all the hardship, we won the championship.”
“What you are talking about is the protagonist’s treatment.” Cen Zhen understood that Lian Yu’s sudden remarks were partly to comfort him and relieve his tension, “but we are villains and cannon fodder.”
“So?”
“So we lack the halo of the protagonist, and there is no guarantee of victory.”
“No,” Lian Yu squeezed Cen Zhen’s hand, walking in front of him, firmly protecting his Guide behind his back. This was the most typical positioning between a Sentinel and a Guide, “We will win.”
The Sentinel paired with Man Feifei is named Ximu. Likewise, Man Feifei also stands behind her and is protected in all directions. In just three minutes, Feifei had scanned her opponent’s body countless times, analyzing the unwritten information on her opponent’s body from various subtle movements.
The virtual referee stood in the middle of the ring briefly read out the rules, and pointed out that the spirit of the game lies in learning from each other. Finally, it floated into the air, raised its hands high, “Both sides get ready…”, and waved heavily: “The game begins! “
As soon as the battle started, Ximu rushed over preemptively, so fast that Cen Zhen’s eyes only had time to catch her afterimage. Half a meter in front of Lian Yu, she feinted around, bent down to dodge, and actually took advantage of her petite figure to escape from the attack. Lian Yu’s arm quickly passed through, then she headed straight for Cen Zhen like a blue tumbling electric current.
Of course, Lian Yu couldn’t let her succeed. Before Ximu could completely move away from his shoulder, he had already turned around and grabbed Ximu’s forearm. Not to be outdone, Ximu quickly grabbed Lian Yu’s wrist and tried to break free.
At the same time, Cen Zhen swiftly escaped from the battlefield between the two Sentinels. His target had always been Man Feifei because the greatest threat to him and Lian Yu was this Guide.
Man Feifei’s movement is very flexible. She always stays two body distances from Ximu and is diagonal to Cen Zhen. In a position, she will not be affected by the attacks of the Sentinels and is always within Ximu’s protection.
The safer and more comfortable she is, the more dangerous and disadvantaged it will be for Cen Zhen.
Lian Yu and Ximu are still fighting. If this game is just a battle between two Sentinels, it will not take long for Lian Yu to completely suppress Ximu. Unfortunately, from the moment the whistle blew, a wave of powerful mental power penetrated Lian Yu’s mental space, severely squeezing the protective shield erected by Cen Zhen, and violently attacking his mental link like a violent storm, trying to occupy Lian Yu’s brain.
Cen Zhen did not dare to relax for a moment. He could imagine that directly inversely proportional to the narrowness of Lian Yu’s mental field was the endurance of his mental space. If he could usually stun Lian Yu with just a slight touch of his tentacles, now on the battlefield, once Man Feifei is allowed to break through the defense line, the consequences will be disastrous.
However, in just five minutes, the sweat on Cen Zhen’s back soaked his clothes. He did not move at all, but his whole body was so exhausted that he just wanted to find a place to lie down. It was as if he had run a full marathon. He was so exhausted that even just breathing required his full effort.
Man Feifei naturally felt the decline of Cen Zhen’s mental power. Her eyes filled with smiles, the corners of her lips raised, and she even had enough energy to blink at Cen Zhen through Lian Yu and Ximu.
A drop of hot sweat trickled down from his forehead, moistening Cen Zhen’s eyelashes and making his eyes hazy. Cen Zhen’s current mental defense is not much stronger than stretching the silk thread of a thousand-pound pendant, and it is crumbling on the verge of collapse every moment there is.
Zhou Qingchang put a fist with one hand to his lips and shook his head, “It seems that they have reached the limit…it has only been six minutes. Cen Zhen and Man Feifei are both A’s, so it stands to reason that they shouldn’t be beaten into such a mess.”
“One is A+, one is A-, one is in third grade, and one is in fifth grade. Don’t compare all Guides to geniuses like you.” Qu said, “There is one thing that I am very concerned about. Lian Yu has been peeking at Cen Zhen, as if hesitating, waiting for something.”
Zhou Qingchang is a Guide. He does not have the abnormal vision of a Sentinel, so he cannot see Lian Yu’s movements as clearly. “Huh? What is he waiting for? It couldn’t be that he’s waiting for Cen Zhen’s limit, could it? Does he have any big moves that he hasn’t unleashed yet?”
“Nothing is impossible, right? Have you ever seen a D who can persist under A’s hand for such a long time, and even vaguely overwhelm A?”
“He is definitely not D.”
“Then what’s his level?”
“……” Zhou Qingchang was silent for a long time, and Qu didn’t expect him to answer. The two of them looked at each other and returned their attention to the ring at the same time.
Sweat flowed down Cen Zhen’s cheeks, down to the tip of his chin, and also flowed down his neck and soaked silently into the neck brace. Finally, Cen Zhen couldn’t hold on any longer. He gritted his teeth and let out a low groan. His mental strength was like a broken bracelet, pearls strung on a thread. It immediately fell apart and shattered into pieces. Man Feifei couldn’t help but feel ecstasy in her heart. Her mental tentacles condensed and formed, and they were about to attack the Sentinel’s unsuspecting mental space.
However, at this moment, a snow-white leopard with black spots pounced on her fiercely. Man Feifei was caught off guard and scratched her thigh, so she had to give up the attack temporarily and quickly distanced herself from the snow leopard.
After a moment of panic, Man Feifei’s smile became even stronger, with a hint of ridicule: “You are seeking your death.” After that, she commanded into the air: “Xiao Fei, peck it!”
Man Feifei’s mental power is A+, and Cen Zhen’s is A-. In some cases, Guides who are both A can see each other’s spiritual animal, but this time, the difference in mental power between the two meets the suppression conditions. Man Feifei can see the snow leopard, but Cen Zhen cannot see her ‘Xiao Fei’.
The snow leopard lowered its body, a threatening roar roaring in its throat. The next second it jumped up quickly again, almost biting Man Feifei’s wrist to pieces.
Even though it was a little off, it still managed to use its sharp claws to leave three bloody scratches on Man Feifei’s arm.
A patterned cheetah appeared out of thin air, protected Man Feifei in front of the snow leopard with its ferocious mouth open, and roared viciously.
This can only be Ximu’s spiritual body. Ximu was inevitably distracted in order to protect Man Feifei. Lian Yu naturally could not let go of this perfect opportunity and punched Ximu right in the lower abdomen, where the nerves are the most dense, which is also one of the most fragile parts of the human body. Ximu cried out in pain and fell directly.
Lian Yu did not take advantage to pursue the victory. He quickly retreated to Cen Zhen and stared at Man Feifei warily. The other party also knelt beside Ximu with an anxious look on her face. The two sides silently and tacitly reached a consensus on the halftime break. Only then did Lian Yu turn his head, and ask Cen Zhen with concern: “Are you okay?”
As he said that, he stretched out his hand to wipe away the sweat on Cen Zhen’s face, but he didn’t expect that just as he grabbed Cen Zhen’s waist, the other party seemed to be pressed by the last feather and fell limply into Lian Yu’s arms.
Lian Yu frowned, feeling that Cen Zhen tried to connect to the spiritual link several times, but failed repeatedly, “Stop moving, your mental power has been completely drained… The snow leopard was not summoned by you at all! It is your instinctive feeling. When you sense the danger of mental exhaustion, your subconscious summons your spiritual body to protect you!”
“Yes.” Cen Zhen responded lightly without even having the strength to nod.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Lian Yu seemed a little angry. His tone was strong but his voice was very soft. “Don’t you know how to conduct the spiritual link fluctuation?” He felt that Cen Zhen wouldn’t be able to hold on any longer a few minutes ago. But no matter how he looks at him, Cen Zhen’s back is straight, like a tall and proud cypress, and he seems to still have some strength left.
“Want to hear the truth or lies?” Cen Zhen’s breath gradually subsided. His mental sea was still dry and exhausted due to overuse, but his physical strength recovered quickly.
“……” Lian Yu glanced at Ximu and Man Feifei. With Man Feifei’s support, Ximu held her stomach and struggled to get up from the ground. The holographic referee was asking them if they wanted to continue.
“Let’s hear the lies first.”
Cen Zhen knew that Lian Yu would make this choice. He even smiled slightly and said, “You are behind me. Unless I’m down, I will keep you safe.”
“……” Lian Yu paused for a moment, and then quickly said: “Okay, you don’t have to tell the truth anymore. In my heart, this is the truth.”
“The truth is, I also want to take this opportunity to test my strength on the mental level…”
“Shut up, the reason before was the truth, you liar!”
Ximu made an all-good gesture to the referee and stared at Lian Yu and Cen Zhen eagerly. In conjunction with the female cheetah beside her, she showed her domineering aura. Man Feifei’s eyes were not friendly either. She stared at the snow leopard guarding Cen Zhen and was both confused and wary.
“Cen Zhen, do you want to win?” Lian Yu suddenly asked, and he solemnly handed over the decision to Cen Zhen, “We can definitely win, but if we win this game, we will for sure lose the mixed melee… Your choice?”
Original Author’s Note:
Sorry for the long wait! ! !
There will be an update tomorrow and the day after tomorrow (because there is a word count requirement this week…
Then I would be updating every other day. I’m so busy with both schoolwork and work. My hairline is becoming balder than Brother Yu’s, yet it wasn’t because I got kissed to bald by Brother Zhen qwq
