Help! I Do Not Want to Guide a Disaster

"We are all going to die."

Wenzhi read the Disaster-class Esper’s lips perfectly, noting the way her pupils shrank in shock. Why the hell did she just say that?

Suddenly, she enveloped herself in a swirl of mist, vanishing from Wenzhi’s line of sight. A split second later, the air pressure shifted directly behind him. Wenzhi spun on his heel as she materialized. She still looked completely out of it, her breathing ragged.

"I am not the enemy, I promise. But you have to listen to me," she rushed out, her eyes glowing a distinct, vibrant shade of deep reddish-orange.

Amidst the deafening backdrop of guttural growls, screeches, and powerful abilities clashing across the ruined streets, Wenzhi just stared her down. His grip on his gun remained white-knuckled, his finger light but ready on the trigger.

"We heard about the Rift appearance, and Shao Guying used the chaos as an opportunity to send us here to negotiate with you and Shao Xinyuan," she revealed frantically, the words spilling out of her. "He told us to tell Xinyuan that they don’t need you anymore and that they just want him because the entire top sectors are about to be swallowed by the Red Zone. I actually thought it was amazing. I thought maybe the assassinations we’ve been hearing about finally forced his eyes open. But it was a lie. We are just the distractions. They are going to blow up your city."

"Fuck." Wenzhi slammed his finger against his earpiece, cutting through the static. "Yuzhen, abort the frontline and fall back to the city area right now. We have a bomb threat."

"Got it, boss. Moving now," Yuzhen’s voice cracked back over the comms without a second of hesitation.

Wenzhi lowered his hand, his grey eyes piercing straight through the Esper. "Why are you helping us?"

"Because I do not want to go back to sleep. And I definitely do not want to get brutally slaughtered by Shao Xinyuan," Liye breathed heavily, her shoulders trembling. "In those pods... when they put us under, there is nothing but endless nightmares. But the others? The others are willing to do absolutely anything for Shao Guying because he promised them high-rank guiding energy. You know how rare it is for a Disaster-class to find a compatible Guide without accidentally frying their brain or killing them."

Wenzhi raised a brow. In that second, a Craxisis came barreling through the smoke, slamming brutally into the concrete wall right beside them.

Without breaking eye contact with Wenzhi, Liye’s psychokinesis lifted the multi-ton monster into the air and threw it like a ragdoll into a neighboring building, collapsing the brickwork over it.

Wenzhi watched the display and turned to sprint toward a clearer path. This Rift appearance was a highly coordinated, gold-plated opportunity for the CEA bastards to wipe Sovereign off the map.

"Xinyuan!" Wenzhi yelled into his comms and a dark mist exploded out of his body, instantly teleporting him away from the spot.

Liye, who had been watching him closely, jaw dropped as she stared at the empty space where the Guide had just been standing. "How the hell is that... a Guide can teleport?"

"You didn’t have to tell him a single thing, you do know that right, Liye?" a cold, mocking voice suddenly drifted from the shadows behind her.

Liye stiffened. She slowly turned around to see Jiang Zhaohe stepping out from the smoke, a self-satisfied smirk playing on her lips as she approached.

Liye’s eyes narrowed. "It’s exactly what everyone gets for turning me into a distraction without my consent. I mean, what’s the harm in actually telling me the real plan for once?"

"We gave you comms for a reason," Zhaohe hissed and a blinding flash of blue energy erupted in her palm, elongating into a sharp, humming sword. "You have ruined everything."

She glared at Liye, but the Esper only let out a harsh, bitter laugh. "Just because Shao Guying threw you a bone and gave you the title of boss doesn’t mean you can threaten me, Zhaohe. I am pissed off from being suddenly awakened from a sleep I was trapped in for weeks just to provoke Shao Xinyuan."

"No one else is complaining but you," Jiang Zhaohe countered coldly, her gaze snapping past Liye to the empty space where Wenzhi had just vanished. "Besides... it seems like there is something going on with Lin Wenzhi."

"Take that weapon away from my face," Liye hissed.

And before Zhaohe could swing, Liye wrapped herself in her own mist and vanished into thin air, abandoning the sector entirely.

Jiang Zhaohe frowned, her energy sword dissipating into sparks. She didn’t waste time chasing her. Instead, she bolted toward the center of the district where the heaviest combat was taking place.

Ahead, Wang Chenxi was moving like a god of destruction. Heavy, raging swirls of fire erupted from his hands, incinerating whole swarms of mutated beasts in a matter of seconds.

"Careful with the fire, Wang Chenxi!" Zhaohe called out loudly, purposely stepping directly into his line of sight.

The moment his flame wall cleared and Chenxi realized exactly who was standing there, his expression twisted into fury.

Without a word, he unleashed a massive, roaring wave of fire straight at her head, simultaneously burning through a cluster of Crawlers trying to ambush him from the side. But Zhaohe was fast. She twisted her body, narrowly dodging the blast as the heat singed the air around her.

"Stop! I need your help!" she shouted, holding her hands up. "I want to apologize for everything. I am actually here to help you!"

Chenxi didn’t buy a single word. He kept his jaw clenched, refusing to utter a word as he charged his palms for another lethal strike.

"If you don’t stop right now," Zhaohe yelled over the roaring flames, "Gu Luhan is going to die a hell of a lot worse than Suye did!"

Chenxi stopped dead in his tracks, the fire sputtering in his palms. "What?" His brow furrowed into a deep, trembling frown. "How the hell dare you use that against me?"

Jiang Zhaohe cautiously walked toward him through the settling ash. "My Guide died too, Chenxi. Do you remember Nuo? I am sure you do. She died, and you don’t see me wallowing in grief about it. We have to be practical." Reaching into her coat pocket, she pulled out a sleek, metallic bracelet. "Put this on."

Chenxi’s eyes narrowed. "Why?"

"Because we want to fix everything. Wear it."

"You want to break Xinyuan," Chenxi stated flatly, the trap finally clicking in his mind.

"Yes," Zhaohe admitted without a shred of remorse. "Now put it on, or Gu Luhan will face the immediate consequences. You and sovereign have been systematically slaughtering the High Families, and it has hurt us greatly. But we have to move on. Put it on. Once the top sectors are completely covered by the Red Zone, all the remaining green zones will be devoured and we cannot let that happen. Choose between Gu Luhan and Shao Xinyuan. Right now."

Wang Chenxi’s chest heaved. He stared at the bracelet, the threat to Luhan suffocating his ability to think straight. With a dark, defeated frown, he snatched the metal band from her hand and snapped it around his wrist.

The moment it latched, the bracelet flared with a violent, glowing red light. A painful rush tore through his veins, instantly locking his abilities completely behind an iron wall.

Jiang Zhaohe’s lips pulled into a wide, victorious smile. "I knew you’d make the right choice."