I Was Forced to Become the Strongest Sentinel

The blurb for my ongoing story next door, The Brooding Sentinel Stares at Him from Afar, is at the end. (Bows~)

Sentinels are dying out, humanity's defenses are on the brink of collapse, and Guides are at a loss.

The good news: The White Tower found a Sentinel.

The bad news: She's a runaway beauty with no fighting ability.

Yun Yishan, an F-rank Sentinel. Wait, how does she even look like a Sentinel?

She looks more like a noble beauty from a portrait of a court lady. She can barely handle a gun.

The Guides shook their heads. Bonding with her? A complete waste of time.

Lu Feichen, an S-rank Guide, reluctantly took on the "hot potato."

He spent half the night psyching himself up: I'll take care of her for now. She can just be a well-behaved decoration.

Lu Feichen released enough mental pressure to make low-rank Sentinels submit.

Who knew she'd lazily raise her eyes and glare right back? "You're really throwing your weight around, aren't you?"

Lu Feichen: "?" There might be something to her.

The next day, he realized he'd been overthinking it.

She struggled to get up early as if crossing a tribulation, and Lu Feichen wanted to brush her teeth and tie her shoes for her.

He ordered coldly, "Run ten kilometers today, then do fifty push-ups!" He saw her mournful look and ended up adding:

"...Start with five kilometers."

"One kilometer. That's it!"

But she sat down after running just five hundred meters. "I'm tired."

"..." Lu Feichen's temple twitched. He was about to snap, but instead said, "Rest a bit, then keep running. We'll do extra training tonight. I'll join you."

Lu Feichen tried to console himself. His Sentinel might not have superhuman stamina or sharp senses, and she didn't even have a spirit form.

But that was all right.

He could teach her combat skills, buy her top-tier equipment, and as for her spirit form, he'd surely find a way... He hadn't even finished saying "way" when a mutant attacked, and Yun Yishan shoved Lu Feichen aside as he tried to protect her.

She swung her sword once, and the monster disintegrated as heaven and earth changed color.

She turned back with her sword lowered, her tone calm. "I didn't want to fight... but I never said I was weak."

Lu Feichen: "A way... to beat them!!!" See? I knew she was the strongest!

The Guides went wild. Bond with her! Right now, this instant!

*

Yun Yishan had a secret: she had once been empress of Yunhuang, a country in the Western Regions, before her kingdom fell and she became a Sentinel in the interstellar era.

When she first arrived, she was bewildered. Sentinels? Are those soldiers who stand guard outside the palace?

And I have to fight? I'm not doing that!

Better to lie flat and go home than spend my life fighting. After countless hardships, she found the ruins of Yunhuang and the long-sealed Star Sundial.

In her memories, the young emperor had once promised, "When the Star Sundial is activated and time turns back, no matter how far apart we are across time and space, we'll meet again."

She excitedly told Lu Feichen, "Look! My husband didn't lie to me. He's waiting for me to go back!"

Lu Feichen stood rooted to the spot, as if struck by lightning.

He slowly turned his head and squeezed the words through gritted teeth, one by one:

"...Who's your husband?"

[Mini-Skit]

Yun Yishan: "Wait, I'm a woman. I have to join the military too?"

Guide A: "Yeah. Never read a story that turns the tropes on their head?"

Yun Yishan: "I came from ancient times. I don't understand advanced technology."

Guide B: "No problem. I'll teach you."

Yun Yishan: "But my spirit form looks like a flying quail!"

Guide C: "Look more carefully. That's a phoenix."

Lu Feichen arrives carrying a giant sword: "All of you, get out!!!"

#A love triangle spanning time and space

[Reading Guide]

1. Female Sentinel, male Guide. A melodramatic love triangle. The male lead is set, but people keep trying to steal him away. (Not really.)

2. This is not a traditional Sentinel-Guide story. Lots of personal worldbuilding and abstract spirit forms. Please don't hurt me!

3. Both leads are strong! One-on-one romance, though the process involves one woman and multiple men. All the men are virgins~

4. A self-indulgent, lighthearted daydream of a sweet story. It's an unconventional take on Sentinel-Guide fiction. If you don't like it, please drop it as soon as possible. (Bowing.)

------- Divider -------

The Brooding Sentinel Stares at Him from Afar, ongoing

Qin Si is a rare S-rank offensive Guide in the Interstellar Alliance. She can hold her own without a Sentinel's assistance and is hailed as a genius of the Alliance.

Only Qin Si knows that she's no genius. An angel is secretly protecting her.

At first, she always felt there was an invisible pair of eyes watching her every move.

She searched everywhere in vain, until...

Her distress signal, sent when she was cut off, was "accidentally" received by headquarters; a rock falling from the sky "happened" to block a mutant's fatal strike.

Qin Si began to believe that angels really did exist in this world.

It's just that this angel is far too controlling.

The Alliance matched her with a kind, wealthy S-rank Sentinel, and everyone said they were made for each other.

But just as they were about to hold hands on their date, a flowerpot fell from above and hit her date squarely on the head. The night before their engagement, the Sentinel got into a serious car accident, and the wedding was called off.

Qin Si went from feeling relieved, to confused, and finally... a chilling dread crept up her spine.

*

Mu Xia is the strongest Sentinel in Alliance history. Give him any weapon, and he's never lost a fight. After retiring from the field due to an injury, he took a desk job at the White Tower, investigating case files. Everyone lamented that this handsome, mild-mannered war god had fallen from grace.

Only Mu Xia knows that he's cruel and obsessive, and never was a good person.

The White Tower is investigating a cold case from half a century ago: an entire operation team was wiped out in a contaminated zone, led by the legendary Guide Qin Si, now deceased. She was accused of betraying the organization. The case landed in Mu Xia's hands. He activated a newly developed time-reversal device, observing every detail of Qin Si's life in search of proof of betrayal.

On-screen, Qin Si was sharp and formidable in battle, but clumsy in everyday life. She could blow up the kitchen just trying to cook. Mu Xia's fingers twitched, and he used the device to intervene in the past and turn off her gas.

From then on, intervening became a habit.

His gaze seeped into every corner of her life, patiently eliminating every potential threat that came near her.

When he mindlessly traced her face with a finger against the screen, Mu Xia finally realized that, through all those days and nights spent watching her, he had already fallen in love with her in a nearly pathological, one-sided way.

Mu Xia was caught interfering with the past repeatedly, and the time-reversal device was about to be shut down forever.

He no longer hid the obsession in his eyes. "Qin Si didn't betray us. She's the only one who can prevent the real disaster."

"How can you prove that?"

"Send me back to the past and let me save her."

If you like it, please add it to your favorites! (Heart~)

Theme: Wipe away your tears, then get up and save the world