The Heartthrob Guide: Dodder of S-Class Sentinels

Chapter 296 Breakthrough to S-Rank

She broke through to S-class!

By the time Lin Nan realized what had happened, this was the only reaction left in her mind.

In the surrounding chaotic space, tiny starlight slowly emerged, as if awakened by the power of her breakthrough. They slowly rotated around her spiritual tree, outlining the exclusive domain of an S-class guide.

The spiritual threads at the fingertips became soft yet resilient, like vines soaked in warm water, gently meandering with the rhythm of the fluctuations in consciousness.

Without colliding or pulling, it simply rubs gently against that hard barrier.

The barrier that Hosen had previously been unable to budge even an inch with all his might was now quietly showing tiny cracks due to the entanglement of these gossamer threads.

The man pinned beneath him was so aroused that he gasped for breath, the green bud mark on his throat shining even brighter, almost as if it wanted to break free from the skin's restraints, trembling gently with his breath.

Lin Nan blinked her emerald-green eyes, a glint of light flashing within them. Without the slightest hesitation, she tightened her spiritual threads and gently pulled along the crack in the barrier—

"Well……"

"Crack!"

A muffled groan from the man and the sound of something shattering rang out simultaneously. Lin Nan's consciousness was drawn in by a gentle yet irresistible force, completely penetrating the other's most hidden mental world—

What greeted my eyes was not the desolate desert I had imagined, but a night sky filled with stars.

The vast sea of ​​sand shimmered with a delicate silver glow under the dim light. The wind swept by, carrying fine sand without any harshness, but rather a unique, refreshing scent that gently brushed against Lin Nan's consciousness.

She succeeded—

Lin Nan stood there in a daze in this world, her heart churning with an indescribable excitement.

Deep within Hosen's mental world, it was quieter than she had imagined. Compared to the storm-like fragments of memory on the outside, it was so quiet that you could hear the soft sound of sand falling.

As her spiritual energy gently brushed across the sand, the points of light slowly rose to the surface.

Tiny and fragmented, like fireflies, they subtly reveal the owner's truest desires through the hazy, shimmering light.

She saw everything about this man.

Before the guides who invade the spiritual world, the sentinels are completely open, without secrets or pretense; even the most hidden folds of their souls are laid bare.

This is an extremely dangerous yet supremely trusting connection.

Hosen's consciousness floated above the warm sand, letting Lin Nan's spiritual threads brush past him.

Those emotions that he had deliberately suppressed all flowed into Lin Nan's perception without reservation, following the lines of spiritual resonance.

His good, his evil, his stubborn and surging desires, and that initial feigned intention with a clear purpose—

"Director, this is the fifth guide to fail." The subordinate's voice was filled with barely concealed anxiety. "The mental link has been completely severed, and even the most basic awakening of consciousness is no longer possible."

“Claude has been corrupted… there’s no sign of it being reversed. There are no guides in the unit who can match him,” another adjutant said in a deep voice, his tone full of helplessness.

"The central government has already issued a warning letter." Someone couldn't help but raise their voice, anxiety piercing the heavy atmosphere in the monitoring room. "If this kind of attrition continues, even our guides who do basic maintenance will be recalled, and then what about the others..."

Amid the murmurs, the tall officer remained ramrod straight. He didn't turn around, but stood quietly in front of the one-way glass, his gaze fixed intently on the depths of the cell.

Another frail guide, terrified and crying, staggered away under the escort of two soldiers. In the darkness behind them, only a wild beast with disheveled fur and scarlet eyes remained.

This was his prized subordinate, a comrade-in-arms who had fought alongside him since childhood. He rescued him from the slums, watching him grow stronger day by day... only to be crushed by the spiritual corruption day by day...

Alienation is the ultimate fate that every Sentinel will eventually face.

He has witnessed countless tragic endings here.

The buzzing of the instruments mingled with the screams coming from deep within the cage, creating an extremely tragic scene.

He pulled down the front of his hat to cover his eyes.

Silence washed over the entire monitoring room like a tide, each second feeling incredibly long. Finally, the man's Adam's apple bobbed, and he said, "Execute it—" A gust of sand swept by, and Lin Nan seemed to hear the man's silent yet angry voice from a distant horizon:

The gap between guides and sentries is widening...

This is the consequence of those people's dictatorship and autocracy...

The system of succession that had lasted for centuries had long since decayed and degenerated; the once-lofty king was no longer the figure revered by all at the beginning of the apocalypse.

If things don't change... humanity will eventually perish at its own hands.

He must find a new, suitable person.

However, the high-level guides in this world have already been controlled by those people. Who could be that special person...?

The man tossed and turned in countless sleepless nights, and the god-level guide who was persecuted before graduating is a good example.

He can no longer act rashly...

Each whispered murmur, seemingly weighing a ton, was like the distorted, amplified noise filling the ears as one sinks into deep water, constantly exploding in Lin Nan's perception and crushing her nerves.

It wasn't just sound; it was the emotion that the master of this world had deliberately suppressed. At this moment, it broke free of its restraints and transformed into tangible waves of sand that crashed against her.

[Rank E? There's actually such a rank?]

His connection with her began by chance when he picked out her resume from a list of people who were about to be expelled from the college.

This was the first thought that popped into his head when he saw her mental strength level assessment.

"This student's spirit is strange. Despite being a healing plant-type being, it can't even perform the most basic purification..."

"The qualification assessment showed that she was mediocre. More importantly, she caused the sentries she was assigned to to go into a state of out of control and madness twice in a row."

"The college has made it clear that if she fails the next basic assessment, her enrollment will be officially revoked."

Giss stood in front of his desk, reporting on the tasks that needed to be handled recently.

Every year, the academy removes a number of unqualified guides, and there are quite a few like this who are unable to provide proper guidance.

He was completely focused on the report and didn't notice that the person opposite him, who always had a cold expression, had subtly furrowed his brow as he scanned the student's various test scores.

"You actually define an E-rank guide who can cause an S-rank Sentinel to lose control as 'mediocre'?"

A low, amused question echoed in the office, like a sharp-edged piece of ice thrown into boiling water, sizzling and exploding in the sweltering heat.

And so, having just arrived in this world and still filled with anxiety, she stood before him...

Lin Nan understood somewhat why Huo Sen had always been unwilling to let her enter his mental world.

From his initial probing of her to the deliberate creation of interactions, and then his gradual, conscious cultivation of her... everything he did was driven by a clear purpose.

[An E-rank character actually dares to challenge an S-rank character? Interesting...]

[The spirit form looks strange, but the human form is surprisingly cute.]

[It smells very good, isn't fussy, and can be tamed; with a little training, it's perfectly capable of serving as a military guide.]

[…What just happened? The black wolf's mutation stopped? Did she do it?]

"My dear child... let me see what's going on..."

【…】

Having experienced so much, his mind is always complicated. At first, his attitude towards her was more like examining a prop of unknown purpose.

Like his countless guides before him, he was both dissatisfied with their frailty and delicate nature, yet he was trying every means to squeeze every last drop of value out of them—