Just as Su Yingli was starting to question her life choices, the identification panel displayed a notice: “The Commander-in-Chief and Chief of Staff have come to visit.”
She leaned in for a closer look.
Sure enough, besides Charon, there were two tall Sentinels in high-ranking uniforms.
Two rows of Sentinel guards stood outside the garden, making it clear that the visitors were no ordinary people.
Uneasy, Su Yingli opened the door.
Charon’s fiery red hair came into view. She shifted her gaze and saw two men whose temperaments were completely different from his.
One had platinum-blond hair tied high, narrow eyes, and a straight nose. His manner was cold and aloof.
He wore a black uniform trimmed in gold and stood ramrod straight. He carried himself with the easy confidence of someone in power, though his pale, thin lips lent him a rather frail, aristocratic air.
But Su Yingli knew he was a bona fide SS-rank Sentinel, as well as the Commander-in-Chief of the twelve districts: Laizesi.
The other man had a much gentler air.
His smoky-rose hair was half-tied, giving him a languid, careless look. His jade-white face framed a pair of captivating, peach-blossom eyes; when he smiled, even the beauty mark at the corner of his eye seemed bewitchingly seductive.
He was Shen Qingyan, the Danger Zone’s Chief of Staff and an S-rank Sentinel.
They were also two people who, in the original story, would add fuel to the fire that led to the original Su Yingli’s death.
Su Yingli gripped the doorknob tightly and asked from inside, “What can I do for you, officers?”
As far as she remembered, the original Su Yingli hadn’t gotten involved with them yet.
Surely they wouldn’t come all the way here in person just to make trouble for her?
Before either man could answer, Charon stepped into the doorway, nearly blocking Su Yingli’s entire view.
“Heh. You don’t know what you’ve done?”
He crowded her, forcing her to retreat again and again.
Top-tier Sentinels were not only exceptionally handsome, but also notably tall. The three men in the doorway nearly blocked out all the light behind them.
Su Yingli was already feeling guilty, so it was hard not to be nervous now.
She could only brace a hand against the wall and do her best to stay calm.
Laizesi noticed her movement and said coolly, “Charon, step back.”
“But this crazy woman—!” Charon protested.
“Step back.”
Charon stayed where he was inside the house and glared at Su Yingli.
She lifted her chin and glared right back.
The two of them were locked in a standoff.
“If you want your mission application canceled, by all means, keep going.”
Laizesi’s expression was indifferent, but his voice was colder than before.
Charon stiffened.
Sentinels ranked A or higher had a set quota of purge missions. If an application was canceled, they would also be subject to a one-week cooling-off period.
If they failed to complete their required missions, they would face punishment personally assigned by the Commander-in-Chief.
Charon had gone through that when he first arrived in the Danger Zone. He didn’t want to think about how brutal it had been.
At those words, Charon finally flicked his hand in reluctant dismissal and turned to leave the house.
The atmosphere was tense.
Shen Qingyan smiled, trying to ease it. “There’s no need to be nervous. Think of it as routine business.”
“Normally, we shouldn’t be bothering a Guide at this hour, but Sentinel Charon submitted a special report to the Command Room.”
Su Yingli had guessed as much.
She had things she wanted to say, too, which was why she’d opened the door.
They had come because of what happened that morning.
Charon came from a military family; he was the Eldest Young Master of the family compound, with a short temper and a fiery disposition. There was no way he would tolerate being treated like that.
As soon as he left the Guidance Room, he went straight to the General Command Room and demanded that the White Tower discipline Yingli. Otherwise, he would resign his general’s rank.
Charon had always been quick-tempered, but he’d never gone this far before.
As an S-rank Sentinel, he was indispensable to the Danger Zone.
And since he had also submitted a medical report documenting his injuries, procedure required them to come here.
Shen Qingyan had business with the General Command Room anyway, so the three of them had come together.
After hearing Charon’s account, Su Yingli was so exasperated she laughed.
“So you’re saying that after I used my spirit to make you hallucinate, I verbally abused you repeatedly, then whipped you with all kinds of implements, refused to provide guidance, and inflicted severe psychological torment on a Sentinel?”
“Isn’t that exactly what happened?!” Charon declared with complete conviction.
That wasn’t how you embellished a story!
The original Su Yingli had only whipped him once on the side of his waist after inducing the hallucination. She hadn’t had time to do anything else before this unlucky soul had transmigrated into her body.
She’d wanted to guide Charon, too, but he’d nearly strangled her!
Su Yingli folded her arms and raised her chin at him.
“Then tell me what I supposedly called you. Aside from the wound on your waist, what other injuries did I inflict on you?
“And who was it that left without finishing the guidance, then nearly strangled me before he went?”
Su Yingli spoke rapidly, her mouth firing off one retort after another.
Charon was left speechless.
After a long pause, all he could manage was a few strangled “you”s.
Then, furious, he blurted, “Do you really need me to spell out all the other things you did? If I hadn’t reacted in time, you’d have already made a move on me!”
It was proof that people really did laugh when they were at a loss for words.
Su Yingli shot back without holding anything back. “I’m not like certain Sentinels—narcissists who love to make things up and add extra drama.”
“You!”
Charon was livid.
How had he never realized before that this woman’s mouth was as vicious as her heart?
“That’s enough.” Shen Qingyan pulled them apart. “So, do you both admit you hurt each other?”
Su Yingli said nothing.
Charon snorted and turned away.
Shen Qingyan shrugged and looked helplessly at Laizesi.
The Commander-in-Chief, who had been listening the whole time, spoke coldly. “Charon, for harming a Guide, you’re sentenced to one week of confinement, with two sessions a day in Training Room Three. Your merit for this mission is revoked. Any objections?”
“…No.”
Then Laizesi lowered his eyes to Su Yingli.
“We’ve done our best to accommodate your many requests, Guide Su, but you failed to complete the guidance as agreed and have repeatedly harmed my subordinate.”
He paused, then asked, “Miss Su, are you planning to break our agreement?”
His silver eyes, glinting coldly, swept over her.
The meaning was clear.
She could break the agreement.
But everything they had previously made an exception to give her would be taken back, and the original Su Yingli’s old offenses would be dredged up as well.
Su Yingli sat up straight at once.
She only had a problem with Charon right now; she had nothing against the others.
After a moment to collect herself, she said diplomatically, “Commander, you’ve misunderstood. But there are some things I’d like to discuss with the two of you in private.”
She emphasized the word “private.”
Laizesi glanced at Charon. “Go outside.”
Charon looked deeply displeased.
“What can’t I hear? Laizesi, you’re not planning to let Su Yingli off just because I’m not here, are you?!”
Laizesi said sternly, “Whatever the punishment, the General Affairs Office decides it. If you have an objection, raise it afterward.”
Charon wanted to keep arguing, but remembering his missions, he had no choice but to leave, still disgruntled.