Chapter 37: I'm not stupid, why would I fight you?

Dolly chewed on the grass in its mouth, and in a moment, it was gone.

The contestant felt the pleasure and excitement radiating from her spiritual beast. She scolded it angrily.

"Dolly, what are you doing! Attack her!"

The sheep was loath to part with the delicious grass, but after a moment of hesitation, it lowered its head, preparing to strike Wen Li.

Wen Li quickly cast three blue threads to lure it. A ring of grass materialized around the sheep's head. The scent of the grass, mimicked by her psychic power, kept enticing Dolly.

Seizing the opportunity, Wen Li chose to engage the opposing guide directly. She stepped forward quickly, her blue threads wrapping around the woman's body. The woman screamed in terror, her balance faltering as she fell backward.

Dolly broke through the blue threads surrounding it and charged over with a roar. White light flickered on its horns, where a massive amount of psychic energy had gathered.

Yue Li felt a sudden sense of foreboding. "Danger!"

The horns lunged toward Wen Li’s back. Suddenly, the blue threads surrounding the blonde girl dissolved into dust. A massive Blue Morpho butterfly appeared on her back. Radiating a dreamlike blue glow, its tattered wings fluttered gently before vanishing as quickly as they had appeared. Everyone wondered if the blue butterfly that had flashed by was just an illusion. Can a disabled guide summon a spiritual beast?

However, the unscathed Wen Li had already pushed her opponent off the platform. Struck by the impact, Dolly the sheep returned to its owner’s mental sea along with her defeat.

This was the second match, and the true victory for the disabled guide, Wen Li.

The girl stood up, meeting gazes filled with shock, suspicion, and fervor. At this moment, her only feeling was the irritation of having her plans disrupted. It seemed the subsequent matches would be quite grueling.

Based on the match list, Wen Li had meticulously studied her opponents' psychic levels and spiritual beast traits, crafting corresponding baiting plans. She had predicted she could defeat nine people, but she hadn't expected to exhaust most of her psychic energy by the second opponent.

Wen Li guessed that the sheep’s spiritual beast had an immunity effect. Her own psychic purity was very high, and even with triple the dosage, the opponent had still been able to wake up. Forced into a corner, she had no choice but to resort to close-quarters combat. Fortunately, her opponent was relatively unskilled; otherwise, even with Wen Li’s fighting techniques, she wouldn't have stood a chance.

There were protective mats and sentinels beneath the ring, so Wen Li wasn't worried about the opponent getting hurt from the fall. She reached up to touch the scratch on her neck, the stinging pain causing her to frown. *It... really does hurt.*

Seeing the red, bleeding mark on the little guide’s neck, Yue Li immediately handed a medicinal agent to the referee.

"She's injured." Yue Li watched the blonde girl from beneath the ring, his heart aching.

After the referee confirmed it was safe, he handed the medicine to Wen Li. As she sprayed on the cooling ointment, the pain vanished immediately. Wen Li smiled gratefully and pointed to his seat, signaling him to return.

The sentinel was very close to her, and he naturally caught the scent of that sweet fragrance. Suddenly, the contamination core in Yue Li’s mind began to stir.

*Not good!*

Alarmed, he returned to his seat without a word, suppressing the riot within his mental sea. Wen Li glanced at the sentinel curiously, but before she could think more on it, the next contestant arrived.

This was a D-class guide, and Wen Li used the same method again. Soon, the dolls in her bag were gone. She hadn't expected the following matches to be so easy. A few were A-class guides, but fortunately, their spiritual beasts didn't have immunity effects.

The most troublesome was an A-class offensive guide whose spiritual beast was a seagull. During the match, Wen Li discovered that the biggest difference between offensive and healing guides was whether they could directly damage the opponent's mental sea. The seagull’s screech caused Wen Li’s mental sea to vibrate. Her sea of purple flowers whipped up a violent gale. It was only because her "Little Flash" appeared in time to stabilize her mental sea that she was able to toss out a dried fish to lure it away.

When facing healing guides, the opponents lacked the ability to attack her mental sea; it was merely a battle between spiritual beasts. No wonder that although offensive guides were rare, their status was significantly higher than that of healing guides. Recalling how Little Flash had attacked when she first encountered a distortion, a seed of doubt was buried deep in her heart.

The tenth guide Wen Li faced was an old acquaintance. The dazzling Ebelis stepped onto the stage, her feet clad in blue high heels. Wen Li took one look and crouched down to start packing her things. Knowing her psychic energy was depleted and she had a fractured bone, Wen Li wouldn't be stupid enough to fight an S-class guide. Was she crazy? Her original plan had been to leave after securing nine points.

The blonde girl raised her hand to signal her withdrawal from the match. The audience on and off the stage stood up in excitement.

"What is she doing!" They had all wanted to see this White Tower guide get beaten to the ground.

No one was more furious than Ebelis. She had been full of confidence, anticipating the sight of her opponent slinking off the stage in disgrace. She hadn't expected her to leave so calmly and composed. It was like punching a pile of cotton! Ebelis’s gorgeous, exquisite makeup was twisted by rage.

"What do you mean by this? Don't tell me you're scared."

Carrying her pack, Wen Li looked back and gave her a look as if she were staring at a fool. *Miss, your brain...*

She held up her twisted arm to show her. "Good luck, I’ll be waiting for you in the final match."

With that, she left the ring.

The Alpha Squad had been waiting beneath the stage for their guide’s return. The eyes visible behind their gear were filled with concern. Although Wen Li was in pain, she was carefree enough to support her arm and give it a shake. "It looks like an octopus tentacle, hahaha!" the girl joked.

Stab hurried to support her, not letting her move around.

"What do you think you're doing, my little ancestor!" Cyril’s horrified voice rang out from the side. Following behind him was a sentinel wearing a white lab coat.

The sentinel, who had shoulder-length blue hair, took a cylindrical tool from the medical kit on his back. His mouth had beautifully defined lines, and his lips were a vibrant red, almost like a sea anemone. He wore a strange metal instrument around his neck. He signaled for Wen Li to put her arm inside.

In a short while, her arm was automatically repaired. The doctor lifted her arm to check it, and satisfied, set it down and prepared to leave. Wen Li raised her eyes, her white irises meeting his light gray pupils. She thanked him subconsciously, and he simply nodded before walking away.

She scanned the crowd for the boy with the black-and-white dyed hair, but unfortunately, he was nowhere to be seen. *Strange? Where could Yue Li have gone?*

Seeing that Wen Li’s injuries were mostly treated, Cyril pushed the little guide toward a place to rest.

"I’ll take you somewhere fun."

The large group arrived at the place Cyril had mentioned. It was a lake very close to the Guide Home. The water surface was smooth and rippleless, like a giant piece of jade inlaid between heaven and earth. Surrounded and embraced by the flowers, grass, and trees, it bloomed with a beauty unique to its own tranquility.

Wen Li was captivated by the lake, her tense mood from the competition finally relaxing. Cyril held a primitive-looking fishing rod in his hand.

"I’ll show you something fun."

Looking at the fishing rod, which she recognized, Wen Li wondered if there were anglers in this future world as well.

"What, you don't know how?" Cyril asked, looking at the stunned Wen Li.