Ning Li grabbed the crown of the Queen of Flowers, making Xiao Hei yowl in protest.
【I was wrong. I was wrong.】
Ning Li let out a cold laugh, “And yet you’ll still dare to do it again next time, right?”
Xiao Hei mumbled, falling silent.
Not going to the Frontline was impossible, not in this life or the next.
The Frontline was so lively, full of ugly things, little trinkets to pick up, and all sorts of interesting sights.
Everything there had a fatal attraction for Xiao Hei, luring it back time and again to explore.
Ning Li wasn’t too bothered about Xiao Hei heading to the Frontline.
In fact, she herself was quite concerned about the situation there.
After all, it determined whether she could continue staying here.
She had finally gotten used to the rhythm of the Peripheral Guide Academy, and she didn’t want to leave just because of some Abnormal Species.
“If you get caught, don’t you dare say you’re my Spirit Entity.”
This line echoed the one the Bodhi Patriarch said to Sun Wukong when he drove him away, “Don’t say you’re my disciple.”
The Frontline was fine, but if trouble came, Ning Li didn’t want her name dragged into it.
Xiao Hei chuckled, 【I won’t get caught.】
【I’m very careful.】
Maybe necromancers were naturally sensitive to danger and better at avoiding crises.
According to Xiao Hei, it moved freely on the Frontline, slipping in and out seven times like it was at home.
Ning Li let go of the flower crown and turned to examine the little puppy Xiao Hei had just picked up.
The puppy was scrawny, its eyes wet and pitiful.
Ning Li scratched its chin, and the puppy let out a contented rumble.
Thanks to Xiao Hei, she now had both a cat and a dog.
Ning Li took the puppy to the school infirmary for a checkup.
The school had given the Guides three days off, so at this hour, quite a few Guides were in the infirmary receiving treatment for injuries.
The doctor still remembered her.
Seeing her with a puppy in her arms, he teased, “Picked up another little animal, huh?”
He took the puppy, patted its head, and checked for distemper and parvovirus.
After the checkup, the doctor smiled, “Just like the little kitten last time, this one’s a healthy little guy too.”
Ning Li took the puppy back, relieved.
“Thank you.”
A poor family couldn’t afford a sick puppy, but thankfully, this little one was strong.
Every year, the government provided subsidies for impoverished Guides, but the amount was limited—barely enough for daily living, certainly not enough to raise pets.
Ning Li now faced a very real problem—she was out of money.
Even a single coin can stump a hero.
She wasn’t a hero, but she was indeed stumped by a single coin.
【So many beads on the Frontline.】
“Are they as good as the first bead you picked up?”
【Not really…】
If circumstances allowed, Ning Li would have sold the Amber Eye by now.
Such a flawless, translucent bead would surely fetch a good price, right?
But unfortunately, this bead was deadly.
Even if Ning Li was willing to part with it, she couldn’t; she was stuck with it.
Yet she couldn’t bear to throw it away either.
With the puppy in her arms and Xiao Hei by her side, Ning Li left the infirmary and headed toward the dorms.
It was then that Yuan Zi, wandering nearby like a headless fly, finally found her.
Yuan Zi hurried over, lowering her voice and speaking rapidly, “Deal with the bead. I just saw those two heading for the girls’ dorm again. Scarface is dead, but now there’s a new leader.”
“That person’s from the Imperial Guard. I don’t know what his Spirit Entity can do, but they’re definitely after you.”
Ning Li made a quick decision.
“School’s on break for three days, so I won’t go back for now. You should stay with Lu Shuangshuang for a while. Even though they’re openly looking for the bead, they’re still Sentinels, and their duty is to protect Guides and ordinary people. They wouldn’t dare go too far in public.”
Even Scarface only dared to try to kill her inside a Domain.
Inside the Academy, no matter what, they couldn’t act recklessly—unless they wanted to ruin their reputation completely.
If a Sentinel attacked a Guide Academy student, it would be a huge scandal.
The leader searching for the bead wouldn’t let that happen.
Yuan Zi nodded.
After the Domain incident, she had matured a lot.
She used to panic in situations like this, but now she just wanted to get through it smoothly.
Ning Li handed the puppy to Yuan Zi.
“I’ll leave my cat and dog with you for now. Once this is over, I’ll treat you to something good.”
Yuan Zi’s serious expression relaxed, and she gave a small smile.
“Okay.”
Ning Li left the Guide Academy with Xiao Hei as quickly as she could.
The world was vast, but as an outsider, she suddenly had nowhere to go except the Guide Academy.
【Go to the Frontline! The Frontline!】
【It’s lively there.】
Ning Li had already planned to go to the Frontline.
There were lots of beads and plenty of Sentinels—maybe she could find out more about the bead there.
This matter needed to be resolved, one way or another.
Either get rid of it or use it—there was no third option.
She had to settle this trouble as soon as possible.
After a long journey, Ning Li took a bus, then a motorcycle taxi, and finally, for the last stretch—since nobody was willing to go—she had to walk.
After trekking five kilometers, she finally reached the Frontline in the early hours before dawn.
The moment she saw the Frontline, Ning Li was left speechless.
If life at the Guide Academy was comfortable, and even though Border District 191 was poor and backward, it was still relatively stable—then the Frontline was already riddled with scars.
Everywhere she looked, there were black stains where blood had dried, and sometimes even severed limbs.
There wasn’t a single patch of green—only withered yellow, the color of decay and death.
It was supposed to be the height of summer, when plants were at their lushest, but there was no sign of life at the Frontline.
This place was already a land of the dead.
Thick, oppressive resentment hung in the air—these were the remnants left behind when people died, likely full of regret and longing at the moment of death.
The resentment pressed down on Ning Li, making it hard for her to breathe.
Makeshift tents were everywhere, with wounded soldiers coming and going.
Severed limbs littered the ground, but no one had the time to deal with them—there were too many wounded to care for.
The air was thick with the smell of blood.
The world had finally shown Ning Li its cruel side.
She hid behind the trunk of a dead tree.
Many such trees, killed in the flames of war, dotted the Frontline, and the deep night made it easier for Ning Li to stay hidden.
Xiao Hei had already run off somewhere.
“Where did you go?”
【I’m picking up beads.】
From the sound of it, Xiao Hei was busy, busy gathering things.
“No more picking up living things!”
【Got it, got it.】
Ning Li thought for a moment and didn’t act rashly.
She planned to wait until deep into the night, when most of the wounded had fallen asleep, before making her move.
So far, it seemed the Frontline was just as Qi Sigui had said—settled down for now.
She waited patiently as time slipped by.
At this hour, aside from Guides busy treating the wounded and tending to their Spirit Seas, there wasn’t a sound.
No insects, no frogs—as if, apart from Guides and Sentinels, nothing else alive remained.
This was the Frontline, but not the real Frontline.
The real Frontline was further ahead—the true battlefield between humanity and the Abnormal Species.
If things were already this bad here, what must the real Frontline be like?
Ning Li thought she could safely wait until midnight, but trouble came sooner than that.
The once-quiet tents suddenly became restless.
The less seriously wounded crawled out of their tents, instruments in hand, and began searching everywhere.
In an instant, the area was filled with the beeping of instruments.
The sound was painfully familiar, stirring up some unpleasant memories.
Crap!
Time to go.
Ning Li instantly realized what they were doing.
They’d found the bead!
The range of their device was enormous—she was still nearly a hundred meters from the tents, and she’d been detected!
Realizing this, Ning Li slowed her breathing and pressed herself against the tree, calling out to Xiao Hei in her mind, ready to have Xiao Hei take the bead away—
But it was too late.
More and more people poured out of the tents.
“The device is reacting.”
“The bead’s nearby?”
“We’ve got action, boys! Get up!”
“Search! Everyone, go search! Whoever finds the bead gets a huge reward!”
The once-silent camp was suddenly awake, flashlights piercing the darkness.
The voices of Sentinels, footsteps, the beeping of instruments—all kinds of noise blended together, forming an invisible net that trapped Ning Li.
A surge of anger and helplessness rose in Ning Li’s heart.
From the moment Xiao Hei had picked up the bead, there had been no way out.
She was walking a tightrope, and one wrong step would send her plunging into the abyss.
She hated her own helplessness.
She hoped this would be the first and last time she felt so powerless.
She didn’t know if coming to the Frontline had been the right choice.
But—
With wolves ahead and tigers behind, she had almost no paths left.
She couldn’t go back to the girls’ dorm, couldn’t stay at the Guide Academy—if she did, those three Sentinels would find her sooner or later.
Once she left the Academy, she had nowhere else to go but the Frontline.
She’d hoped for clues here, but these people were so sharp.
The bead must be important, or else they wouldn’t have their devices running all the time.
But—
Want to find the bead?
In your next life!
Scarface’s ferocious face flashed through Ning Li’s mind, as did the helpless look in Yuan Zi’s eyes when she came to warn her—her gaze now filled with desperate resolve.
She didn’t have many choices, but at least, she could choose what to do with the bead.
She opened her mouth and, with a leap of faith, swallowed the bead!
The moment she swallowed it, every single beeping sound vanished without a trace!