CH 22.1

“No need.” Cen Zhen had even rejected Lian Yu earlier, so how could he agree to Fan.

“(Sigh)…You still like to push yourself.” Fan smiled helplessly as he shook his head, “Then I’ll be by your side, so I can protect you in case of danger.”

“……” This doting sigh almost made Lian Yu’s eyebrows go up into his temples, he was a little confused. Cen Zhen was even more confused about why Fan suddenly became so thick-skinned feeling good about himself. He began to think seriously about where the plot started going wrong, and what he personally did that caused this Sentinel whom “Cen Zhen” could only dream of for many years in the novel to unintentionally have a crush on him and even started to pursue him.

The expression on Lele’s face was full of jealousy, fear, and grievance. Along with his swollen left cheek, it was distorted looking scary, but he was terrified in his heart. He had never told anyone about the compatibility, and things were done well. It was well hidden, and there is almost no possibility of being known by a third person. What went wrong, how did Cen Zhen know?

Hong Xing could only carry one Guide on his back, but he couldn’t just leave Lele here under the rock wall alone, so he had to say to Fan, “Come back soon, Fan, the competition is important, you need to carry Lele up.”

Fan turned his head reluctantly, hesitated for half a second, and said: “Here, you wait here for now, I will accompany Cen Zhen up first, and then come to pick you up.”

Although Cen Zhen had clearly refused, it can’t help that this Sentinel couldn’t understand human speech. He stopped talking and took two steps back, and immediately jumped up under the disbelieved eyes of Hong Xing and the female Guide, leaping nearly two meters up. He grasped a rock and used his strength to lift himself another meter. With the other hand, he grabbed a branch between the rocks and leaned over to avoid a small hidden bomb among the rocks.

Cen Zhen’s series of movements flowed smoothly, swiftly, and flexibly, as if they had been rehearsed thousands of times, and every landing point seemed to have been carefully calculated, which needed no hesitation to take the next jump.

“This, can he still be considered to be a Guide?”, The delicate female Guide was so startled that her mouth was opened so wide it could fit a few eggs. Although Hong Xing had seen the video of Cen Zhen grabbing the badge, he still couldn’t help but let out a heartfelt sigh when he saw him climb the mountain so smoothly.

Lian Yu admired Cen Zhen’s climbing posture for a while and felt his glands getting a bit hot and itchy. He couldn’t help scratching through the neckband, and he always felt that the more he scratched, the more impatient he became, and he immediately turned to Fan and made a provocative hand gesture, then took off climbing too.

Fan naturally chased after him not to be outdone. At this time, Cen Zhen had already climbed to the top of the cliff, and he saw the so-called “Ten Heavenly Kings who Guard the Flag” standing not far away at a glance. The other party had already discovered their pheromones and voices, and they all waited in full force, looking at the approaching people with vigilance, but not actively launching any attack.

Cen Zhen glanced at them, then looked back at the cliff. After all, Lian Yu and Fan were Sentinels. Their rate of climbing is several times faster than his, and they have sharp eyesight, so they could always dodge in time before encountering the traps.

The two were climbing at the same speed, but for some reason, Lian Yu suddenly paused at the last two meters. After Fan turned over and landed gracefully with a proud face, Lian Yu suddenly let out a tooth-piercing coquettish voice: “Cen Zhen …Help me quickly, the Tower is too much, they placed an arrow machine on the raised stone, and it cut my palm…”

Cen Zhen: “……”

Fan: “……”

“Look.” Lian Yu pitifully raised his right palm. There was a wound so small that he needed to squint his eyes or use a microscope to see. No blood came out, but it was a little red.

Normally, Cen Zhen would just walk away from this kind of troublesome behavior of ‘the baby has fallen and needs to be kissed to stand up’, but today Fan is here, he has to do something to make Fan recognize his position. In addition, he already established a spiritual link with Lian Yu, and the instinct of a Guide prompted Cen Zhen to ‘drive the steamroller to come and kiss Baby Lian Yu’.

“…” In the end, Cen Zhen could only sigh, stepped forward, bent down, and stretched out his hand to hold Lian Yu’s paw, with a light force, Lian Yu stood firmly on the ground.

“Cen Zhen, you are so kind, I knew you would protect me when I was in danger.” Lian Yu continued his pretentious career. Fan, who thought he had won the mountain climbing competition and overwhelmed his rival, got so angry. He almost shouted and scolded Lian Yu for being phony, “Making the Guide protect you, can you even call yourself a Sentinel!”

“Why am I not?” Lian Yu ‘cocked his tail’ and snorted, “What are you still doing here, why don’t you go pick up your crying Guide?”

“You——!” There’s nothing Fan could say and he can’t start a fight, so he could only turn from an angry shark into a puffer fish, and start returning to the bottom of the cliff. Before he left, he had to sternly advise: “Cen Zhen, you can’t be in contact with this kind of useless Sentinel any longer!”

The golden-haired lion clings to Cen Zhen’s thigh and circles around, and then briskly returns to Lian Yu’s side. Obviously, after teasing Fan, the Sentinel is in a very good mood now.

Cen Zhen’s mood is very complicated. He wants to laugh a little, especially when he thinks of the Dark Sentinel 1802, who is so powerful and in control of everything, is here to bully a little Sentinel in the third grade. Cen Zhen let out a light cough, and Lian Yu immediately let go of his villain-holding sway expression and pointed at the Ten Heavenly Kings, and said solemnly: “Over there, the flag is in the hands of the leader Sentinel.”

Cen Zhen nodded and walked over first. Lian Yu immediately held the electromagnetic gun in front of him and glanced back quickly before he followed. Hong Xing is already halfway with the female Guide on his back. Fan and Lele seem to get into an argument and are still arguing about something at the bottom of the cliff.

The spirit body of the leading Sentinel, who is holding the flag, is a cheetah with bright patterns. Looking at Cen Zhen and Lian Yu as if they were looking at two overwhelmed prey, full of disdain. The Guide closest to the Sentinel shouted from far away: “Within five meters of the flag is regarded as entering the attackable range, please think carefully before approaching.”

When Cen Zhen heard that he didn’t hesitate at all, the Guide frowned, “Didn’t you hear it, or are you planning to challenge all of us together? Us upperclassmen don’t believe in the one-to-one spirit, so don’t get caught up in it.”

Cen Zhen straight up just stepped within the 5 meters zone with one foot and stopped at 4.9 meters. The Guide narrowed his eyes slightly and spoke the prescribed lines with great interest: “Welcome juniors, congratulations on coming to the last stage of your exam. If you want the flag in our hands, you have to exchange it with something the same as the flag, otherwise, you’ll have to step over us.”

Word by word as Lian Yu repeated it, with no change in tone or punctuation. Cen Zhen said flatly, “I choose to exchange.”

As soon as this answer came out, the Ten Kings became interested. In fact, on the first afternoon of the exam, some Sentinels were already rushing straight to the flag point. After that, scattered teams came here one after another, but after everyone heard this sentence, they either fell into a long period of contemplation, or tried to fight, and then were beaten to the point of crying.

The ability gap between the tenth grader and the third grader is almost earth-shaking, and only S-level or a team with absolute numerical advantage can stand a chance.

“Oh? You find the thing that’s the same as the flag?” The Guide walked forward slowly, a Burmese cat meowing softly on his arm, and gracefully walked over to his shoulder.

From the Translator:

Thank you so so much for the Ko-fi support! For every supporter, I’m hoping to post an additional chapter, but I currently have no buffer chapter and am posting everything I got. So, please give me some time and I promise to make it happen! Two additional thank-you chapters are on its way. 

On a side note, this chapter is a bit longer than the other, so I cut it to two. The next chapter (23) is even longer, like scary long, and I’m planning to cut it into 3 parts.