Boundless – Chapter 75

2333: “This is too ridiculous, isn’t it?”

Wen Qianshu raised an eyebrow and smiled, “No way. You’ve managed so many world lines, and you still haven’t discovered that whenever something big happens, it’s bound to be related to the protagonist?”

2333: “…”

Why do I feel like you’re getting more and more proficient at this?

Wen Qianshu: “Help me look up everyone diagnosed with ‘Sentinel Hypersensitivity Syndrome.’ Pull up their files—their life stories, the people they’ve come into contact with, no matter how significant or insignificant. As long as it’s related to them, find it all.”

2333 agreed.

While receiving the data on her optical computer, Wen Qianshu was pulled out of the shuttle by Wen Qianhua.

Seeing the familiar hospital, Wen Qianshu loosened her hand, letting the cat jump to the ground. She smiled, “Does this mean I get to see Mu Lian again? That’s great.”

2333, who was busy retrieving data: “…”

2333 had thought Wen Qianhua would stop her. After all, as soon as she entered the hospital and went to the self-service kiosk, she had directly grabbed Wen Qianshu’s wrist, scanned the back of her hand on the scanner, and entered her identity information—their ID cards were all very thin microchips, implanted subcutaneously on the back of the hand.

Wen Qianhua’s posture clearly indicated she was going to register Wen Qianshu for an appointment. But she stared at the electronic screen for a long time, her expression growing fouler by the second. Compared to the injury on Wen Qianshu’s back, Wen Qianhua was more worried about her mental body, but at this time, all the Guide doctors in the Sentinel-Guide Psychiatry department were already fully booked. The only ones left were Sentinels.

Among them, the one with the most availability was Mu Lian.

She was a Sentinel doctor without a Sentinel-Guide Lock, so she had very few patients. Both Sentinels and Guides preferred Guide doctors, and if they had to choose a Sentinel doctor, they tended to pick one with a Sentinel-Guide Lock.

Wen Qianshu saw her standing there rigidly for a long time, leaned in, and tapped Mu Lian’s portrait. “Let’s go with her. We know her, after all.”

The electronic screen displayed: Registration successful. Please proceed to the department and wait.

Wen Qianhua looked like she could grind her silver teeth to dust. She bit her lip, her face sullen, looking like a string of firecrackers that would explode and shoot into the sky if someone lit a match.

Wen Qianshu was very satisfied. “I finally feel like I’m using a cheat.”

After all, she knew that Mingyue’s medical skills couldn’t be bad.

2333: “Using a cheat to get yourself covered in injuries?”

Wen Qianshu: “Is there a more natural way to get close to a doctor than this?”

2333: “?”

Why is your train of thought always so strange?

After the screen showed “successful,” a small door opened in the bottom right corner and spat out a small metal ball. The metal ball spun twice, unfolded into a robotic hummingbird, and flew up to lead them.

The little ocelot tilted its head to look at the robotic hummingbird. Just as it was about to pounce, Wen Qianhua pulled it back by the scruff of its neck and warned, “Behave!”

The little ocelot bared its teeth, and Wen Qianhua glared at it.

Guided by the robotic hummingbird, they successfully arrived outside Mu Lian’s office.

Wen Qianshu knocked on the door. A voice from inside said, “Please come in.”

Wen Qianhua watched Wen Qianshu go in resentfully, then pouted and leaned back in a chair outside the door.

Doctor Mu had her long hair tied up and was wearing silver-rimmed glasses, her eyes lowered as she looked at some documents. The light shone on her profile, tracing the line of her long neck down to where it disappeared into her collar. She wore a white coat, buttoned up to the very top. A stethoscope pressed against the side of her neck, making her appear cold and abstinent.

Wen Qianshu: “…”

She wanted to look away but couldn’t help but keep staring. She didn’t forget to say to 2333, “I suddenly feel like my back doesn’t hurt anymore.”

2333, who had finished retrieving the data and was now filtering it for Wen Qianshu: “…”

Mu Lian looked up, saw her, and was taken aback. “What—what happened?”

Wen Qianshu had the little cat leap onto the examination table. “Just bad luck. Ran into a Sentinel with information overload.”

Seeing Mu Lian about to stand up, Wen Qianshu smiled and said, “It’s fine—it dodged quickly, so nothing serious happened. But I was worried, so I came to have it checked.”

The small, silver-white cat sat down obediently.

Mu Lian: “Are you injured anywhere?”

Wen Qianshu: “I hit my back—”

She added, “It hurts a lot.”

Mu Lian: “I’ll take you to get it checked later.”

She asked a few questions about the mental body, and Wen Qianshu answered them one by one.

Mu Lian put on her stethoscope—it was specially designed for mental bodies and could detect mental fluctuations.

She reached out to touch the little cat.

Even though Mu Lian was wearing medical gloves, Wen Qianshu felt a numbness spread across her back. Her mental power seemed to connect with another force that was touching and guiding her. That force was incredibly comfortable, spreading out like water and enveloping her. She submerged herself in it, sinking deeper and deeper, as if she could feel silver-white lines of code converging into a vast ocean. And in the depths of this ocean of code, there was a person—that person looked up, revealing a pair of light-colored eyes.

Before Wen Qianshu could react, she was gently stopped and pushed back.

It felt like missing a step, or like surfacing from water. She came to her senses and saw the gyrfalcon, which had been standing obediently to the side, suddenly take flight and land on Mu Lian’s shoulder.

Mu Lian raised her hand, no longer touching the little cat. “Control your mental power.”

Wen Qianshu: “…”

Wen Qianshu shot to her feet.

In that instant, she felt like she could be tied together with Wen Qianhua, lit up, and sent to heaven—she had unconsciously broken into Mu Lian’s mental domain and almost formed a Sentinel-Guide Lock.

Wen Qianshu was in disbelief. “Aren’t Sentinel-Guide Locks supposed to be hard to form?”

In this world, the union of a Sentinel and a Guide was only recognized through a Sentinel-Guide Lock—it was a connection, a merging of mental bodies and even souls. It required both parties to expose their mental worlds to each other, to trust each other completely, and to entrust their lives to one another.

Many engaged couples couldn’t even form a Sentinel-Guide Lock. They had only met a few times in total, how could—

2333: “You’re asking me? Who should I ask?”

Wen Qianshu stood rigidly, momentarily at a loss for words. They looked at each other for a moment before Mu Lian said, “Shall I continue then?”

Wen Qianshu sat down, raised a hand to cover her eyes, and said in a low voice, “Okay.”

She heard a soft chuckle.

Wen Qianshu: “…”

Giving up, Wen Qianshu opened her eyes. “What are you laughing at?”

Mu Lian put down the stethoscope, took off her gloves, and looked at the little cat. “I’m laughing because she’s very healthy. Come on, I’ll take you to get your back looked at.”

Wen Qianshu: “That’s clearly not what you were laughing about.”

Mu Lian: “Then what was I laughing about?”

Wen Qianshu paused. “You—”

She wanted to say, “You’ve learned some bad habits,” but felt that given their relationship in this world, saying something like that would be too intimate, crossing a line.

It was so strange. With others, she was always at ease, doing as she pleased; but now, in front of Mingyue, she was tongue-tied and at a loss.

She liked her so much, more and more—but when that liking reached its peak, she didn’t know what to do. She was afraid of being too forward if she got closer, and afraid of being distant if she stayed away.

That insight she was so proud of, those methods she used, none of them seemed to work anymore. All she could do was make clumsy, intermittent attempts to probe.

The hand that wants to touch but pulls back【1】, the words that are on the tip of her tongue but swallowed back down.

Just as she was silent, Mu Lian spoke up, “A Sentinel-Guide Lock is a two-way street. If I didn’t agree, you wouldn’t have been able to enter my mental domain.”

Wen Qianshu froze, her eyes widening, as she heard Mu Lian say softly, “But we’ve only met three times. You don’t know me well enough yet.”

“Let’s take it slow, okay?”

Three times?

No, it’s more than three times. We’ve been together for three lifetimes.

Her heart began to beat faster, faster and faster—

“Buddha, I wish for Wen Qianshu’s happiness.”

“So prim and proper.”

“You look quite good when you’re not holding yourself back.”

Seeing Mu Lian walk past her to open the door, Wen Qianshu suddenly said, “What if I don’t want to take it slow?”

Mu Lian stopped with her hand on the handle and turned around.

Time seemed to stand still in that moment. Countless moments and figures overlapped, solidifying on her.

She looked at Wen Qianshu.

Just as she had looked at her countless times before, her long lashes lifted, her light-colored pupils gazed over, her stare so focused.

And so Wen Qianshu knew what she was going to say—she was, in fact, always watching her, always indulging her, time and time again.

Whatever Wen Qianshu wanted, as long as she had it.

She would surely give it to her.

Her heartbeat, which had been racing, calmed down.

Mu Lian: “Let’s get your back checked first, okay?”

“This is the fastest way.”

Wen Qianshu looked at her, the corners of her mouth lifting bit by bit.

The small, silver-white cat jumped out and circled around Mu Lian’s feet. The gyrfalcon spread its wings and looked down at it.

Wen Qianshu tried to control it but couldn’t, just as she couldn’t control her own expression.

She coughed twice and couldn’t help but laugh.

“Okay.”

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Author’s Notes:

Note 1: I think love is wanting to touch, yet pulling back your hand. —Salinger

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The Sentinel-Guide Lock is two-way—

Mu Lian smiled because she was sure that Wen Qianshu likes her.

I really love this kind of behavior in Sentinel-Guide settings where no matter how well you pretend on the surface, your mental body goes wild and exposes you (wu).