Extra 2 : Kidnapping
First-year students spend most of their time learning to control their powers, trying to condense their mental strength into quantum beasts.
Two months into the school year, nearly half of the Sentinels had successfully formed their quantum beasts. However, Guides of the same rank were generally weaker; only about ten had managed to form theirs, and even then, they were unstable.
Chang Qi was one of the first Guides to condense a quantum beast. It was this achievement that made her feel superior to others.
A soft, warm spiritual aura radiated from Wan Tong, enveloping the classroom and putting the Sentinels in the back rows at ease. The lazily sprawled-out quantum beasts were proof of this.
One little wolf even trotted up to Wan Tong’s leg and nuzzled her.
*Awoo~*
“Lang Qi… Have some dignity!” A flustered boy quickly rushed over, dragging the little wolf away.
For a moment, the classroom fell into an eerie silence before bursting into laughter.
“He’s cute.” Wan Tong smiled. She had only lightly released a few strands of her mental energy, not expecting it to make so many Sentinels lower their guard around her.
The boy’s hand trembled, and the little wolf immediately broke free, dashing back to Wan Tong’s leg and howling again.
Laughter erupted once more. The boy had no choice but to retrieve his quantum beast, his face flushed red as he hurried back to his seat.
As soon as he sat down, his friends shot him teasing looks.
“Wow, didn’t expect you to be such a simp…”
“Didn’t you say she’s just a little girl and that you’d never like her? Then why does Lang Qi look so smitten?”
The boy, now thoroughly embarrassed, shouted back, “You said the same thing, damn it! And your quantum beast looked just as lovestruck!”
“…It was just dozing off!”
…
The commotion around Wan Tong made the Guides in the front rows look on with admiration.
Even in that brief moment, they could feel her immense power, greater than Chang Qi’s.
In the world of Sentinels and Guides, strength was everything. And at that moment, Wan Tong’s position shifted.
Chang Qi’s face turned pale. A deep, instinctual pressure weighed on her, a threat unlike any she had ever felt before.
Almost reflexively, she launched a mental attack on Wan Tong.
Among the first-year guides, she had always been unmatched. The only one capable of using her spiritual power offensively. But to her utter shock, her attack slammed into an impenetrable barrier.
That barrier didn’t just block her attack, it sent it rebounding right back at her.
“Ah!” Chang Qi let out a pained cry, collapsing to the ground while clutching her head.
The girl beside her hurriedly supported her. “Chang Qi, are you okay?”
The other guides, startled, didn’t dare approach. Many of the sentinels in the back row were Chang Qi’s supporters, and in their anger, they rushed toward Wan Tong.
But the next moment, they all froze in place.
An invisible force pressed down on them, as if crushing their heads. Their minds went blank, and even breathing became difficult.
It was terrifying.
They had always thought of Guides as mental support, a source of comfort rather than a true force to be reckoned with. But for the first time, they realized just how terrifying a powerful Guide could be.
Their teacher had warned them, strong Guides could be just as destructive as Dark sentinels.
Now, they believed it.
In the eerie silence, Wan Tong slowly crouched down, tilting her head as she looked at Chang Qi. The quiet cat on her shoulder mimicked her movement.
“This is backlash. Because I’m much stronger than you.”
Her voice was soft and sweet, but devoid of emotion.
Before she turned eleven, she was her parents’ beloved treasure. After eleven, she was the little princess of the General’s estate. She had never been taught to be humble or to endure grievances.
She had restrained her power before simply to avoid unnecessary attention and trouble.
Chang Qi bit her lip, unwilling to accept defeat. Her spiritual energy still surged restlessly, but after a moment, an invisible force pressed down on her, forcing her to lower her head.
At that moment, the Guide professor on the podium coughed lightly and said, “Students should get along with each other, Chang Qi, go back to your seat. Wan Tong, you—”
“I’ll go reflect on my actions.” Wan Tong interrupted, standing up and looking toward the professor.
The teacher, holding back a smile at her serious little face, nodded. “Go on. No need to attend today’s class.”
Truthfully, the scene just now had been rather satisfying to watch. These students all came from powerful backgrounds and were used to being arrogant. But today, they had been completely subdued.
Still, such an immense level of spiritual power, if not properly controlled, could be dangerous.
As Wan Tong quietly left the classroom, the silence finally broke.
“Shit… so cute.”
“I finally understand why she has so many privileges. Hey, does anyone know her background?”
“Even Chang Qi got crushed…”
“I saw a news report once. An S-ranked Guide concealed her rank and locked up three sentinels in a basement. Nearly drove them insane… in bed…”
“Damn, don’t be so creepy! But seriously, what’s Wan Tong’s rank? To overpower an A-rank like Chang Qi… she has to be at least S-rank, right?”
“S-rank?! No way! I need to tell my dad about this!”
…
The instructor glanced at the restless quantum beasts among the sentinels and found the whole thing amusing. These students had yet to undergo rigorous training, making them highly sensitive and lacking self-control. If Wan Tong had been just a little bit more malicious, she could have played them all like puppets.
As Wan Tong left the classroom, her personal terminal beeped.
The principal was looking for her.
She had met the white-bearded old principal before. He was a retired Sentinel, injured in battle, but a kind man.
Inside the principal’s office, three young men in black military uniforms stood waiting.
They were tall, their expressions cold and stern, and a suffocating aura of bloodshed hung around them.
Wan Tong frowned.
Are these three soldiers, whose hands have been stained with blood for years, returning from the interstellar battlefield? Are they under the general’s command?
“The higher-ups sent us to escort you to the assessment bureau,” said the blond young man in the middle.
“Why?”
“A re-assessment of your ability level, plus an additional test.”
Wan Tong looked at the old principal, her gaze seeking confirmation.
The old principal nodded. “Go ahead, I did receive the notice. It’s just a simple test, nothing to be afraid of.”
After thinking for a moment, Wan Tong followed the soldiers.
She didn’t overthink things when she got into the hovercar. She had been improving every day, growing more proficient in controlling her psychic power. She monitored the three soldiers but noticed nothing unusual.
It wasn’t until the hovercar landed on an ordinary starship and the cabin doors sealed shut that she realized she had been tricked.
She attempted to wrap her psychic power around the entire ship but found that many areas were shielded. Then, a man approached her.
As she stepped out of the car, the surrounding lights flickered on. The three soldiers had already stepped aside, standing there casually.
On the other side, a metal gate slid open, and a tall young man stepped out.
Wan Tong rarely left the general’s estate, but she had seen enough news online. The man was undeniably handsome, but his features carried a seductive and unruly air. His intense gaze made her uncomfortable.
“Wan… Tong?” His voice carried an almost languid allure.
“Who are you?”
“Enoch Moore,” the man answered honestly, his peach-blossom eyes fixed on her, scrutinizing her without blinking.
“Never heard of you.” Wan Tong’s voice was calm, her expression unchanged.
Enoch’s thin lips tightened, and he let out a faint scoff.
Wan Tong grew curious. She blinked her beautiful eyes and asked, “Why did you kidnap me?”
Enoch didn’t answer directly. Instead, he said, “I was injured and in a coma some time ago. When I woke up, I kidnapped a few scientists. Guess what I learned from them?”
Wan Tong waited for him to continue.
“The news of Su Ming’s awakening hasn’t been announced yet, but I know he went to the front lines.”
His words were disjointed, and Wan Tong looked a little puzzled. “Can you speak properly?”
As soon as she finished speaking, the three young men standing nearby couldn’t help but chime in.
“Girl, watch your tone.”
“Enoch, you’ve confused me too.”
“Girl, you haven’t heard of Enoch, but surely you’ve heard of ‘War Domain’?”
Their voices carried both arrogance and bloodlust. They didn’t sound like subordinates to Enoch but rather his comrades.
As for ‘War Domain’… Wan Tong did have some recollection. It was an interstellar crime syndicate that Su Ming had wiped out five years ago. But according to what she had heard, ‘War Domain’ had been completely annihilated.
“Then why aren’t you all dead?” Her tone was innocent. There was no deliberate mockery, but it still struck a nerve.
The four men’s expressions darkened instantly before they erupted in rage.
“Shit, do you want to die right now?!”
Wan Tong had withdrawn all her externalized psychic power, making her appear like an ordinary person. They didn’t take her seriously at all, even though they had heard rumors that she might be SSS-ranked.
“Go ahead, try me,” Wan Tong tilted her head, glancing at the three young men stepping toward her. Out of nowhere, a cat suddenly appeared and landed with a soft *duang* on her shoulder.
But before the men could do anything, Enoch lazily raised his hand to stop them, his gaze sweeping over Wan Tong as he said, “You… lost your memories?”
Wan Tong froze for a moment. She lowered her eyes, thinking back over her sixteen years of life, but found no blank spots.
She shook her head. “No.”
Enoch studied her serious expression and suddenly chuckled, his smile growing even more devilish.
He didn’t look like a good person at all.
“You’ve definitely forgotten,” Inoch said with certainty. Then he turned to the three young men. “If you’re idle, hurry up and relocate. Su Ming will come looking.”
“Su Ming is at the interstellar front lines. How would he have time to come here, let alone for a little girl?” The blond young man shot a disdainful glance at Wan Tong.
“You never know,” Enoch said, his tone unreadable.
Wan Tong frowned deeply, feeling uncharacteristically annoyed. Her pitch-black, crystal-clear eyes locked onto the blond young man as she enunciated, “I’m an adult.”
She had awakened her powers early, and when she applied to join the battlefield, she was rejected with the excuse that she was too young.
The four men were momentarily stunned, then burst into laughter.
A scar-faced man let his gaze roam over her in an unabashedly insolent manner. “An adult, huh? Then it’s time to enjoy adult pleasures.”
But before he could finish his sentence, he was struck in the abdomen. Clutching his stomach, he cursed, “Enoch, are you insane?!”
“Don’t taint the kid with your filthy thoughts,” Enoch said.
In the Dale Galaxy, the Kroll Empire’s defensive line had shifted formations once more. Across the vast interstellar void, seven fleet formations stood in perfect order, like slumbering behemoths awaiting the call to strike.
At the heart of the First Fleet’s flagship, Su Ming stood on the bridge, his dark eyes locked onto the observation window ahead.
Beyond the front lines lay a massive black hole, swirling like a vortex in the abyss. The unidentified fleet they had just repelled had vanished into its depths.
“General, we’ve sent multiple messages, but they haven’t responded at all. We have no idea which galaxy they come from,” An Xi reported from behind him.
Based on the power of that starship, the other side was undoubtedly from a high-level civilization as well. However, their method of attack was far more aggressive.
“How long has this black hole been open?” Su Ming asked.
“According to the current data, nearly six months,” came the reply.
Opening a black hole required immense energy. The fact that the enemy had created such a massive one, large enough to allow an entire squad to pass through, meant that the energy consumption must have been astronomical.
It was clear that the waters on the other side ran deep.
When high-level civilizations clashed, one side was often doomed to be annihilated. Before General Su woke up, they had only dared to hold their ground here, building new defensive lines.
At that moment, An Xi’s personal terminal lit up.
Seeing that the call was from the Sentinel-Guide Management Academy, he immediately projected it. A white-bearded old principal appeared before the two of them.
Su Ming turned his gaze slightly toward the projection.
“Ge, General Su!” The old principal exclaimed in shock, hurriedly rising from his seat.
He had only known that the girl was sent by the military and that her records were classified. But he hadn’t expected her to be directly connected to Su Ming.
Su Ming gave a small nod, while An Xi spoke up, “Principal Bai, did something happen to Wan Tong?”
Principal Bai quickly responded, “Yes. I initially received a message from the Assessment Bureau saying they needed to take Wan Tong for a re-assessment. So when someone came to pick her up, I let her leave with them. But now… the Assessment Bureau personnel just arrived at the school. They said they were attacked en route, and Wan Tong… she’s missing.”
An Xi turned to Su Ming upon hearing this. “General…”
“Is there surveillance footage?” Su Ming asked expressionlessly.
Principal Bai immediately sent over a video clip. An Xi enlarged the faces of three young men in military uniforms and quickly identified them. “They’re from the War Domain. A few of them managed to escape last time.”
“I’ll send someone to search. Keep this quiet at the school,” Su Ming said in a low voice.
Hearing this, Principal Bai breathed a sigh of relief. Since the General had spoken, the matter was as good as resolved.
Once the call ended, An Xi immediately said, “General, I’ll have my men track them down.”
But Su Ming raised a hand to stop him. “I’ll go myself.”
An Xi froze, glancing at the massive black hole outside the observation window. “But this situation here—”
“They lost two squads and fourteen starships this time. They won’t be making another move anytime soon. You stay here and keep watch.”
With that, Su Ming turned and walked out, his expression even more serious and grim than when he was commanding the battle earlier.
An Xi rubbed the back of his head, sensing that something about the general had changed.
Back when Blair had placed the young Guide into the Awakening System, he had joked that maybe the General would finally find a partner. After all, they had spent an immeasurable amount of time together in the system, and their Sentinel-Guide compatibility was an astounding 99%. They were bound to influence each other.
So… the general actually cared about that girl?
Still, it was hard for An Xi to imagine the stone-faced general in a romantic relationship with a soft, delicate girl.
Would he know how to comfort someone? Show affection? Take care of the other person?