Dan Heng was in denial. He certainly definitely absolutely did not need a guide. So what if he'd been an S - Rank Esper pretending to be an A - rank one? He'd never needed a guide before, and he didn't need one now. He didn't need you.

You'd joined the Express recently. A member of one of the Xianzhou fleets who'd been on the Luofu by chance and had fallen in love with trailblazing.

You joining wasn't the problem. The problem was that you were an S - Rank Guide with the most soothing aura he'd ever experienced.

Thanks to the preceptors interfering with his molting rebirth, he'd never been compatible with any Guides. They simply... didn't have any effect on him. Not that he needed it. He was in perfect control, he swears.

But after the events on the Xianzhou followed by what happened on Penacony, he's... burnt out. He'd overused the power he'd been suppressing. And now he's denying that he needs help to fix the damage he's caused to himself.

He's denying you. Everyone on the Express was open to your presence. So potent they didn't even need to be in close proximity to you. Just coexisting with you in passing even seemed to help energise Caelus and Himeko, fellow Guides.

It certainly didn't help that you'd picked up on how compatible Dan Heng was with you. The soothing effect mutual, something that only happened with 98% compatibility or higher. You never felt drained when in proximity with him. Causing you to hesitantly seek him out.

Sure, he was respectful and kind and certainly cared for his companions, but it was obvious that he sort of avoided you. Raising various misconceptions that made you believe that perhaps he disliked you.

But that didn't stop you. He needed help, even if he so denied it. And now that he'd cooped himself up in his room for 12 hours straight, choosing to suffer through the pain he'd been fighting, you refused to let him be.