Chapter 345: Memory

Chapter 345 Memory

When Ji Xiuyun came to find Lu Liu, Bai Wen quietly remained in her room.

As an envoy from the White Tower, the sentinels hadn't imprisoned him but instead kept him under house arrest in a one-bedroom apartment with a living room. At the moment, he was sitting on the sofa, holding the teapot with poised wrist as he poured hot water into a teacup.

—Outside, all hell was breaking loose, yet there he was, calmly sipping tea.

Another guide fidgeted nervously. "Madam Bai Wen, are we just going to wait here?"

Bai Wen examined the teacup, watching the tea leaves unfurl and dance, then smiled. "All we need to do is wait here. Within three days, Qi Yi will come crawling to me."

In the entire White Tower, there were only a few guides capable of tending to an SS-level sentinel. Aside from those too far away to arrive in time, only two remained—himself and Lu Liu.

Bai Wen said calmly, "Lu Liu was captured and thrown into prison by them. He hasn’t been released yet—I heard he’s been doing hard labor on the deck this whole time. Qi Yi can’t possibly ask him for help. Otherwise..."

He lowered his voice. "I know how Lu Liu operates. If he were to conduct the soothing, he’d most likely destroy the sentinel’s Spirit Sea outright. So, that leaves only me."

Under these circumstances, the sentinel had no choice but to swallow his pride and beg before him.

The other guides exchanged glances. Seeing Bai Wen so confident, their unease lessened slightly. "Is... is that so?"

"Indeed." Bai Wen chuckled softly, absentmindedly twirling his teacup as if contemplating how to toy with the sentinel himself. "Many years ago, when he was still following that foster brother of his, I wanted to try. Unfortunately..."

Unfortunately, the sentinel chose to go rogue right after graduation. After all these years of comings and goings, he still hadn’t found an opportunity to act.

*

Meanwhile, Lu Liu had already arrived at the door of the isolation room.

Rogue sentinels often lost control. The ship had a specially reinforced steel cell with just a hand-sized window on the door for delivering food and water. If they lost control, the sentinels would lock themselves inside, riding out the prolonged frenzy—or dying outright.

Ji Xiuyun took a deep breath, his face grim. "Grey Wolf, Elephant Tortoise, prepare the sedatives. Bring the restraint bed and straps, then grab a muzzle and bite guard. Once I open the door, Elephant Tortoise, you’ll defend and restrain Qi Yi. Grey Wolf and I will try to take him down..."

An SS-level sentinel was terrifying enough in a normal state—never mind one who's lost it completely. If not for Qi Yi’s subconscious understanding that he couldn’t leave, it was doubtful whether even this steel-forged room could hold him.

Lu Liu was a guide with zero combat skills. There was no way they could let him face Qi Yi directly—Ji Xiuyun and the others had to get things under control first.

But just as Ji Xiuyun tensed up, waiting for everything to be ready, he suddenly heard a click.

Lu Liu knelt down and opened the small window on the door.

A sliver of light cut through the pitch-black space. Through the window, Lu Liu peered inside.

Qi Yi wasn’t frenzied, wasn’t violent, and wasn’t trying to attack the walls to escape. He sat quietly in the corner, curled up in the endless darkness, as if only this posture could grant him a shred of fleeting comfort.

Just like the first time Lu Liu had entered his Spirit Sea and seen him.

The cheetah huddled close to him, the two leaning against each other. The leopard’s tail rested atop Qi Yi’s head, making them look like a pair of children clinging to each other for survival.

Lu Liu called softly, "Caesar?"

The cheetah slowly lifted its eyes. Its pupils had shrunk to pinpricks, icy and threatening.

Lu Liu tapped the window and called again, softly, "Caesar?"

He beckoned. "Come here."

After several taps, the cheetah hesitated, then took a step forward, moving toward him—while the sentinel remained curled in the corner, motionless as a statue.

The cheetah reached the door.

Lu Liu: "Are you okay?"

Caesar, normally docile and fond of food, drink, play, and affection, now had icy eyes and emitted a low growl from his throat, as though in agony.

Lu Liu extended his hand through the window, intending to stroke him.

Ji Xiuyun shouted sharply, "Danger!"

An out-of-control Spirit was far more dangerous than any wild beast.

Yet, the guide's hand found its mark precisely on the cheetah's head.

Lu Liu gently scratched the big cat's head, pinched his semicircular ears, his voice thick with concern: "Caesar, are you in a lot of pain?"

The cheetah remained silent but turned his face to nuzzle the guide's palm.

At that moment, a tranquilizer dart whizzed through the air, aimed at the Spirit's neck. It struck with a soft thud. Ji Xiuyun pulled Lu Liu behind him and kicked the door open: "Grey Wolf, Elephant Tortoise - restraints ready!"

Lu Liu: "Wait—"

Before he could finish, he could only watch helplessly as Ji Xiuyun and the other two charged into the cell. Their Spirits materialized behind them as they seized Qi Yi, clamped his shoulders, and secured the muzzle and restraints onto him. Their movements were hurried, inevitably rough. Lu Liu stood at the doorway, his brow furrowing deeper.

Qi Yi did not resist.

He lay limp as a ragdoll, letting the muzzle press into his jaw and the restraints dig into his thigh muscles, as though insensate. Yet Lu Liu clearly saw his body trembling, spasming, his nails biting into his palms until blood dripped onto the floor.

Even while out of control, Qi Yi was fighting to hold back, unwilling to harm his comrades.

"Ji Xiuyun," Lu Liu suddenly spoke, "Enough. Get out."

Ji Xiuyun turned, his face a mask of disapproval: "You don’t understand how dangerous a berserk Sentinel can be. He could tear off those restraints and bite through the muzzle in an instant. He could end you in seconds—"

"Enough," Lu Liu insisted. "I know what I'm doing. Get out. Now."

"..."

Sentinels were indeed physically formidable, but the mental pressure from a high-ranking guide was equally real. A crushing pressure emanated from the guide.

Ji Xiuyun battled the compulsion to retreat: "I'm sorry, but—"

Lu Liu: "He won’t hurt me."

Then he turned his gaze to the cheetah on the floor, his voice gentle and indulgent: "Right, Caesar?"

The tranquilizer hadn’t fully knocked Caesar out, but it left his muscles paralyzed, leaving him sprawled on the ground. Hearing the guide's voice, he managed a feeble turn of his head and nuzzled the Sentinel's palm with difficulty.

Ji Xiuyun took a deep breath and gave a slight bow: "Good luck to you."

He led the others out.

The door snapped shut, leaving only Lu Liu and Qi Yi inside. Ji Xiuyun and the others stood outside, anxiously monitoring the situation.

They saw the guide edge closer to the Sentinel.

Qi Yi was curled in the corner, eyes tightly shut, completely withdrawn. The guide knelt a step away, slowly reaching out to place a hand on the Sentinel's skin.

Ji Xiuyun held his breath.

The Sentinel didn’t lash out as he had feared. His arm trembled slightly, and he buried his face even deeper.

Lu Liu's hand came away sticky with cold sweat.

The skin beneath his palm trembled incessantly. Qi Yi shivered faintly, veins standing out at his temples. Lu Liu brushed his fingers along the other's cheek, brushing against the edge of the bite guard, and coaxed softly, "Let me take this off for you, okay?"

He felt certain—Qi Yi wouldn’t hurt him.

Qi Yi, still clinging to a shred of rationality, swatted Lu Liu’s hand away and shook his head frantically, his voice muffled by the muzzle, just audible: "No... can't..."

What he wanted to say was: *No, don’t, you can’t take it off—I’ll hurt you.*

Lu Liu: "You won’t."

Anyway, the original owner was already gone. Even if Qi Yi bit Lu Liu to death on the spot, it would just be following the script. Lu Liu gripped the muzzle and bargained in a whisper: "I’ll take it off, and you control yourself—don’t bite me, alright?"

The sentinel kept frantically shaking his head, sweat dripping from his hair. "No, no..."

But Lu Liu had already removed it.

Carefully avoiding the sentinel’s teeth, he ditched the cold metal restraint, then carefully slid an arm around Qi Yi’s back, trying to coax him out of the corner. "It’s okay, it’s okay. Qi Yi, come here, lean on me."

Qi Yi’s back was drenched in sweat, his shirt clinging to his skin. Lu Liu’s fingertips registered the icy chill of his body.

Qi Yi remained frozen, trembling but unmoving, stiff as a board, utterly unsure how to react.

Lu Liu ran his fingers up the sentinel’s spine, lightly brushing the nape of his neck, then his soaked hair, before drawing him gently closer.

Qi Yi instinctively resisted. His constricted pupils flickered, and he bared his teeth, clamping down on the guide’s shoulder.

Yet Lu Liu didn’t stop his soothing motions, murmuring softly, "It’s alright, it’s alright."

The teeth pressed against flesh but didn’t bite down, hesitating instead, leaving only saliva-damp marks on the skin.

Lu Liu cupped his face, pressing their foreheads together, and met the sentinel’s golden-brown eyes. "It’s alright," he murmured. "I’ll go into your Spirit Sea now to help you sort it out. Just relax, relax..."

Maintaining the contact, he submerged himself into Qi Yi’s Spirit Sea.

What greeted him was the same gloomy swamp as before.

Unlike the previous surface layer, real treatment meant going deeper—into the recesses where a sentinel’s most hidden, most excruciating pain lay buried.

Lu Liu glanced around. The lantern and cat toys he’d left earlier had been swept away by the currents of the Spirit Sea. He materialized another lantern, but the raging winds blew it out almost instantly.

Pausing, he shielded the lantern with a layer of windproof glass.

Slow but steady, he pushed forward into the raging storm.

The gales battered against him, as if barring him from the abyss of memories. Yet the moment the winds reached him, they softened, merely rustling the hem of his coat—almost like Caesar begging for attention.

Without hesitation, Lu Liu found the right path.

As if the sentinel, too, yearned for his presence.

Time lost meaning. Gradually, the storm subsided. Lu Liu surveyed his surroundings, hearing the faintest hiccup of sobs.

The first memory to surface was Qi Yi’s childhood.

He froze mid-step.

The depths of the Spirit Sea were also the depths of a sentinel’s memories—often holding the memories they most wanted to forget. Tracking the whispers, Lu Liu spotted a small figure: a young Qi Yi.

It was a very dark storage shed, with almost no light, just a small ventilation hole the size of a window. Qi Yi was probably only ten years old, wearing dusty clothes, huddled in the corner, much like he was now.

For a child, an empty, pitch-black storage shed must've been terrifying.

Harsh voices rang in Lu Liu's ears.

"He broke another bowl."

"You're the worst child among them all."

"You'll clean the woodshed tonight—no dinner."

Young Sentinels during their first awakening often struggle to control their bodies, making them prone to accidents.

Lu Liu scanned the room in the woodshed and made out the words "Relief Orphanage" on the cupboard.

He thought, *Right, the book mentioned Qi Yi was adopted.*

In the story's opening, Qi Yi had no parents or siblings. He was like his dull, barren Spirit Sea—empty and lonely.

Looking at the trembling little Qi Yi, Lu Liu's chest softened involuntarily.

Orphanages often hide many dark secrets. The reason his Spirit Sea was so dark and lifeless might be because, as a child, he had been locked in dark storage rooms more than once.

Lifting his lantern, Lu Liu walked up to Qi Yi and crouched down.

The young Qi Yi was far more subdued than he'd be later, his features already strikingly handsome. He shrank back, warily sizing up the stranger, visibly frightened, as if afraid of being hurt.

Lu Liu: "Hmm..."

How does one comfort a child?

So, he switched off his Facial Paralysis System and gave Qi Yi a gentle smile, said softly, "Can I sit here with you for a while?"

The lantern light washed over the guide's face, his soft white hair falling in soft waves. His features were as beautiful as a fairy-tale angel's. Qi Yi stared at him blankly, obediently making space beside him.

Lu Liu patted his head. Despite Qi Yi's terrible temper, his hair was surprisingly soft—just as soft as Caesar's.

The guide thought to himself, *This little Qi Yi... how come he's as gentle as Caesar?*