Guide Her to Nowhere (NPH) - Chapter 31: You Won't Like It

Chapter 31: You Won’t Like It

Shen Qi fell asleep instantly again.

Qu Tang was held tightly by him and felt uncomfortably hot. She didn’t care if she would wake Shen Qi up; she twisted and turned in his arms, trying to find a more comfortable position until Shen Qi pinned her down.

“Let go a little, I’m very hot,” Qu Tang had to soften her stance. “I won’t move around anymore.”

Shen Qi indeed loosened his grip a bit. Qu Tang turned around, her back to Shen Qi, resting her head on his strong arm.

Shen Qi’s arm was stretched out straight on the carpet, palm up; he wore a short sleeve, and his entire left forearm was exposed. Then Qu Tang saw the serial number tattooed on the inside of his left forearm.

Yes, a serial number. It was about half a centimeter wide and three centimeters long, marked S4-0023, with a small design in front of it, resembling a leaf or perhaps an eye.

Qu Tang’s attention was completely drawn by this serial number; she even selectively forgot about Shen Qi, its owner, simply because she had seen one before.

She had seen a similar serial number on herself.

Qu Tang turned her arm over. The inside of her left forearm was smooth and pale, showing no signs of anything unusual, but she remembered that there had been a serial number there when she was little.

W4-0011, with a similar small design in front of it, more like an eye than a leaf.

She was a transmigrator, so she recognized and remembered it. One day, she woke up from a nap to find a bandage where the serial number used to be. After a few days, when the bandage was removed, the serial number was gone.

She was less than a year old at that time.

Children’s bodies recover quickly, especially with scar removal medication; not even the slightest trace remained on her skin.

If she hadn’t seen Shen Qi’s serial number today, this memory might never have surfaced.

She had always looked different from her parents, and she hadn’t ruled out the possibility that she wasn’t their biological child, but whether she was or not didn’t matter to her. They treated her well, and she loved them, that was enough.

But she thought she was just an ordinary adopted child. Now, she had doubts.

S-Sentry, a sentinel.

W-Wizard, a guide.

This bit of information was enough for Qu Tang to start wildly speculating.

No, stop.

Qu Tang quickly reined in her runaway thoughts. No matter what, the serial number was gone, so it was as if it had never existed.

Yes, it had never existed.

Qu Tang forced herself not to think about it, but a lump of frustration remained in her heart. As soon as five minutes were up, she began to struggle again. “Time’s up, you can let me go now.”

Her tone was somewhat irritable.

Shen Qi’s snoring stopped. He sat up, releasing Qu Tang, his elbow on his bent knee, pressing his index and middle fingers on either side of his temples.

He didn’t look well.

Qu Tang wouldn’t feel sorry for a sentinel. She got up, moving away from Shen Qi. “When will you take me out of here?”

“The soonest is three days,” Shen Qi said. “I need to contact someone to come pick you up; it takes time for them to get here.”

Things were going too smoothly, so smoothly that Qu Tang doubted its authenticity. “You’re not tricking me, are you?”

Shen Qi turned his head to look at her. “Would I need to?”

Qu Tang was at a loss for words. She changed the subject. “What about Xie Li? He won’t come back in these three days, will he?”

She was afraid that Xie Li would drain her bl00d.

“I don’t know,” Shen Qi shook his head. “He went to the Central District; it’s uncertain when he’ll return.” After a pause, Shen Qi asked again, “Are you really not a Guide?”

“If I were a Guide, would I end up here? Wouldn’t it be better to be an admired, protected first-class citizen?”

Shen Qi looked at her for a long time before speaking. “Others might not know, but I think you wouldn’t like it.”

Qu Tang sneered. “How many times have you seen me? What do you know about me? And why would you say that?”

“Indeed, I don’t know you well, nor do I understand you. But I can tell you don’t like being constrained; it’s quite obvious.”

Qu Tang was speechless.

She knew she wasn’t one to keep her thoughts hidden. Before her transmigration, she was well-protected by her parents and the state; the darkest thing she had encountered was classmates talking behind her back in the bathroom. She didn’t need to be cunning or calculating.

After transmigrating, for the first sixteen years, she was well-protected by her parents until they passed away, forcing her to learn some things, like how to disguise herself, how to act, and how to scheme. But her personality was already set, and she lacked acting talent; she couldn’t learn what she couldn’t learn. It was enough to deal with ordinary people, so she didn’t engage deeply with others because deep interactions risked exposure. Plus, she was wary of sharp people like Shen Qi, who could see through you with just a simple interaction.

However, Shen Qi wasn’t entirely right.

No one likes being constrained, and she was no exception, but she couldn’t accept being part of this world’s narrative; she always remembered she was Qu Tang from Earth, from 21st-century China. Some things she just couldn’t accept, like being a Guide.

On the surface, Guides were noble and protected by all humanity, but in reality, they were completely controlled by the White Tower, like higher-quality bricks moved wherever needed without the right to refuse.

In plain terms, they were just tools, and Qu Tang didn’t want to be a tool, especially not one involved in s3x work.

Qu Tang didn’t respond, and Shen Qi didn’t press further. He watched her, his Adam’s apple moving involuntarily. “Before I send you away, can I still come to you?”

“Huh?” Qu Tang was lost in her thoughts and didn’t catch the meaning of Shen Qi’s words at first.

“What I mean is, can I still hold you…”

“No way, don’t even think about it!”

“Okay.” Shen Qi’s eyes showed a rare glimpse of disappointment. “It’s almost dawn. I’ll take you back.”

This was Shen Qi’s tent.

“I’ll go back by myself.”

“Sure, if you want to get caught by someone else.”

“What do you mean?”

“Do you know how many people were watching you just now? You think you were being careful, but the noise you made in the rain sounded like thunder to us sentinels.”

Qu Tang: “…”

This damn sentinel-guide world.