Every Sentinel I Dreamed of Came Looking for Me

"Cadet Yun Sheng, please hurry!"

Seeing Yun Sheng frozen in place, Wang Lin urged her again.

Su Wan, who was standing nearby, looked worried. "Shengsheng, why so sudden? Should you pack some more things? At least bring some..."

"That won’t be necessary, ma’am."

Yun Sheng took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down quickly.

She lifted her head to look at Wang Lin, her eyes calm once more.

"Instructor Wang, I understand. Please wait a moment. I’ll grab my essential belongings and go with you immediately."

With that, she didn’t linger, turning and hurrying upstairs.

She appeared composed from behind, but her fingernails were digging deep into her palms.

Back in her room, time was short. With no room for careful deliberation, Yun Sheng quickly grabbed a few sets of durable clothes and stuffed them into her backpack.

Glancing around, it seemed there was nothing else she really needed to bring.

Equipment was issued by the Tower, and even if it wasn’t, she didn’t have anything useful of her own to pack.

Her gaze fell on the terminal on her wrist, and her movements paused.

Her fingertips unconsciously caressed the cold screen. After hesitating again and again, she quickly opened the perpetually silent chat window and typed out a message.

Yun Sheng: I’m going to field combat training. I’m leaving right away. If... you’re all right, please send me a message. You have to be okay. I’ll do my best to get stronger. You... you have to wait for me.

The message was for "Lin Mo"—in other words, Si Jin.

The moment she hit send, her heart was in her throat, hoping to at least see it marked as ’read,’ even if he didn’t reply.

However, while the message status quickly changed to [Sent], it never switched over to [Read].

His gray profile picture remained silent.

A thread of disappointment and a deeper worry coiled around her heart like vines.

Yun Sheng took a deep breath and squeezed her eyes shut. When she opened them again, all that remained in her gaze was do-or-die determination.

She switched off the terminal screen, slung the backpack over her shoulder, and strode downstairs.

...

The atmosphere at the assembly point of the Tower’s Seventh Training Base was faintly tense.

Beneath a massive dome, several camouflaged military transport vehicles were parked. Cadets in standard-issue training uniforms were lining up, silently receiving basic equipment packs from a logistics officer.

The packs contained compressed food, water purification tablets, a first-aid kit, a signal flare, and a simple personal terminal.

When Yun Sheng arrived, most of the cadets were already in place, gathered in twos and threes, discussing something in low voices, their faces filled with tension and unease.

The unexpectedly early field combat training had cast a shadow over everyone.

"Yun Sheng, over here!" a familiar voice called out.

It was Li Wen.

She waved to Yun Sheng, and as soon as Yun Sheng was close, she nudged her conspiratorially with her elbow and lowered her voice.

"Hey, did you hear the news?"

"What news?"

Yun Sheng asked as she sorted through the equipment pack she had just received.

"The lead instructor for our training has been replaced! It was supposed to be Instructor Shen Tang, but they’ve been temporarily swapped out. And there’s a rumor that this new instructor is the one who strongly pushed for the training to be moved up!"

’Shen Tang was replaced?’

’A last-minute replacement instructor, and he’s the one who insisted on moving up the field training?’

Yun Sheng’s heart dropped. A terrible premonition quietly crept up on her.

At this critical juncture, any unusual change could mean unknown, or even targeted, risks.

She subconsciously looked up, her gaze sweeping across the noisy crowd as she searched for the supposed new instructor.

She didn’t spot anyone at first, but soon, someone finally stepped onto the high command platform overlooking the assembly point, taking the previously vacant position.

When the figure appeared in everyone’s line of sight, the noisy chatter died down for an instant, only to erupt into softer, yet more excited, discussions.

"It’s Major General Qi Yao!"

"It’s really him! He’s the one leading the training?"

"Didn’t he just come back after earning great merit? Why would he be here leading field training for us Preparatory Guides?"

Standing in the crowd, Yun Sheng’s pupils constricted when she saw Qi Yao’s handsome face, which bore a gentle smile that couldn’t conceal its sharp edge.

’How could it be him?!’

Qi Yao had just led a team to exterminate an S-Class Sandstorm Worm, earning great military honors. Even though he hadn’t been promoted to SS-Level and Admiral like in the original novel, he was absolutely a red-hot rising star in the military with a limitless future.

A person like him, by all rights, should be receiving awards, attending celebration banquets, or taking on a more important frontline command mission.

Why would he suddenly stoop to participating in the Preparatory Guides’ field training as a mere instructor?

It was simply unbelievable!

’Unless... there was another, more important purpose behind his identity as an instructor.’

’But regardless of Qi Yao’s motive, given his relationship with Lin Yueyao... he might target me during this field training. My own abilities are already lacking...’

’Do I have to be this unlucky!’

Qi Yao stood on the high platform, his posture ramrod straight, dressed in a well-tailored Tower combat uniform. He wore a smile as refreshing as a spring breeze.

"Greetings, Preparatory Guide cadets. I am Qi Yao, and I will be serving as your temporary head instructor for this field combat training. Due to some special arrangements, the training has been moved up. I hope you all adapt quickly, as this will be an important test of everything you’ve learned so far..."

His speech was concise, powerful, and encouraging—the model of a standard military officer’s address.

However, as his gaze swept casually across the crowd below, Yun Sheng keenly caught him sparing her a glance from the corner of his eye.

Though it was so quick one might mistake it for an illusion, the feeling of being targeted made her scalp tingle.

"Yun Sheng," Li Wen whispered, leaning in again with a gossipy and slightly envious tone. "I feel like... Major General Qi just glanced in our direction, didn’t he? Do you... know him?"

Yun Sheng pressed her lips together. "Not really. He’s a friend of Lin Yueyao’s. I just happened to see him at the house yesterday."

"Oh..."

Li Wen dragged out the syllable in sudden understanding, her eyes glinting with knowing mischief.

"So that’s how it is! I’d heard that several S-Class Sentinels in the Tower are quite close with Lin Yueyao. It looks like our newly decorated hero, Major General Qi, is one of her many suitors."

She paused, then pursed her lips and muttered under her breath.

"Then again, none of them can hold a candle to the War God, Bai Ye."

Hearing Bai Ye’s name mentioned out of the blue, Yun Sheng’s lip twitched uncontrollably.

’Bai Ye... isn’t all that impressive, either.’

She grumbled inwardly.

In the original novel, although he held the title of "Lin Yueyao’s fiancé," he was basically a walking, talking "mission-maniac."

He was either deep in a contaminated zone on a high-risk mission or at the Tower handling mountains of official business. His actual contact with Lin Yueyao was pathetically infrequent, and their romantic plotline was as bland as plain water.

Lin Yueyao’s circle, on the other hand, was where things were really "blossoming."

She had enough S-Class Flower Guardians to fill several mahjong tables. In the original novel, the space dedicated to describing her ambiguous interactions and jealous rivalries with those Sentinels was far greater than the scenes of her "engaged couple" drama with Bai Ye.

As for Bai Ye...

Anyway, by the time the original owner of her body had arrived, he and Lin Yueyao were still just an "engaged couple" in name only, with not even a hint of a wedding in sight.

As Yun Sheng’s mind wandered, Qi Yao’s speech on the platform concluded.

He gave a crisp military salute and turned to walk down from the command platform.

The crowd naturally parted to make way for him.

However, Qi Yao didn’t walk toward the command vehicle at the side. Instead, he walked with clear purpose, straight toward where Yun Sheng was standing!