Chapter 699: The Dark Sentinel 10

Tang Wan listened to the instructions, her expression calm, but a subtle ripple stirred in her mind. She gathered her focus, then directed her mental power toward the induction points inside the helmet without hesitation.

In the very next second, a sharp, piercing alarm rang out from the testing instrument.

A harsh dripping sound echoed through the room as the red indicator lights along the machine flickered wildly, one after another, until the entire panel glowed an alarming crimson.

The sudden change caught everyone off guard.

The man with glasses sitting beside the instrument frowned immediately, his brows knitting together as he leaned closer to the display. “What’s going on? Is the instrument malfunctioning?”

“That shouldn’t be the case,” another staff member replied quickly, clearly puzzled. “It was working perfectly fine during the morning checks.”

The man with glasses paused briefly, then said decisively, “Switch to another machine.”

“Understood.”

Tang Wan removed the helmet without protest and put on a second one. She repeated the process, once again directing her mental power toward the designated points.

This time, however, the result was exactly the same.

The machine shrieked sharply, its warning signals flashing as the red lights surged across the panel just as before.

Now, the room fell into a strange silence.

Two machines giving identical abnormal readings was no longer something that could be brushed off as coincidence.

“What’s going on?” someone muttered in disbelief. “It can’t be that both instruments are faulty, right?”

The man with glasses suddenly turned his gaze toward Tang Wan, his expression growing serious, almost incredulous. “Could it be… that her mental power has exceeded the upper limit of these devices?”

The moment those words were spoken, the entire examination room went silent.

For a few seconds, no one spoke.

Then someone broke the silence, their voice filled with doubt. “That’s impossible. Her previous records clearly show she was only at C-level.”

A guide who could barely manifest a mental body… exceeding the maximum detection threshold?

It sounded absurd.

The man with glasses did not argue. Instead, he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and said firmly, “There’s only one way to confirm. Take her to the laboratory. The equipment there has a wider range and higher precision.”

The senior members of the White Tower exchanged brief glances before one of them spoke decisively. “Proceed to the laboratory.”

Without delay, the group moved together toward the research wing of the White Tower.

Compared to the examination room, the laboratory was on an entirely different level. The instruments here were far more advanced, capable of detecting far broader ranges with exceptional accuracy.

Once inside, the man with glasses gestured toward a sleek, enclosed chamber that resembled a sleeping pod. “Lie down inside,” he instructed. “Once the system activates, you will see a simulated environment. Direct your mental power to attack what appears before you.”

Tang Wan nodded calmly and stepped forward.

She lay down inside the pod, and as the hatch sealed softly around her, the world before her shifted.

A clear blue sky unfolded in her vision, vast and boundless.

She narrowed her eyes slightly, then released her mental power once more, sending it crashing toward the sky without restraint.

Outside, the atmosphere had already become tense.

Everyone except Lu Tong stood frozen in front of the monitoring screen, their expressions gradually shifting from confusion to shock.

Then, the final result appeared.

3S-level mental power.

For a moment, no one breathed.

No one spoke.

The silence was suffocating.

They had never imagined that Tang Wan’s mental strength would reach such a level. This was not just rare. It was unprecedented. The first 3S-level guide in the entire history of the empire.

And yet, just before today, she had been recorded as a C-level guide, someone who could not even manifest a mental body.

How could such a transformation happen overnight?

The contrast was so extreme that it bordered on the impossible.

If she had not already been bound to Lu Tong, if she had not been this one-of-a-kind existence, there were those present who might have seriously considered confining her for research.

Because what stood before them now was nothing short of a miracle.

At this moment, the senior officials of the White Tower exchanged complicated looks.

For years, they had been wary of Lu Tong. A dark sentinel of his level was too powerful, too uncontrollable. Their plan had always been simple: assign him a guide, then control him through that guide.

But now, that plan had completely collapsed.

Because the guide he had found was not someone they could control.

A 3S-level guide was beyond the scope of ordinary authority.

Even double S-level guides were already capable of dominating battlefields, calming entire armies of sentinels, and displaying combat strength that rivaled or even surpassed high-level sentinels.

And Tang Wan… had surpassed even them.

She did not need protection. With proper training, she could become a force powerful enough to stand at the very peak.

And now—

She and Lu Tong were bound together.

Two existences that defied control… forming a single pair.