Invasion - Chapter 19

Chapter 19

At this moment, Shu Jingtong suddenly heard a strange sound.

It was hard to describe. He felt that it was like an ethereal wind, or a gentle wave, or perhaps a soft moonlight.

It was elusive, but it swept through him at this critical moment, clearing away the panic and confusion in his heart, allowing his mind to become clear and calm.

Shu Jingtong stood up shakily, and a small white Chinchilla appeared in front of him.

After all these years, the strength of his mental body had increased a lot, and the size of his materialized mental body could become very large. He was considered one of the best in the Guide Academy.

However, at this time, he was severely frightened, and it was already difficult for him to materialize his mental body, so its size was naturally very small.

The pure white kitten’s fur stood on end when it faced the terrifying monster that was crawling toward them. It arched its back, raised its tail, and let out a piercing cry.

It was useless, Shu Jingtong thought in despair. What use was a Guide’s mental strength at a time like this?

He slowly retreated, and his back hit a cold wall. There was no longer a path behind him.

The monster with long black hair climbed down from the drained corpse. The oily black hair left that deflated body, and it dragged through the thick pool of blood on the floor, spreading the crimson blood everywhere.

It saw Shu Jingtong and the little cat, revealing a happy expression. The grinning head, which was supported by the hair, swayed toward them.

The small, snow-white mental body stood in front of Shu Jingtong, trembling its slender hind legs, and tried to make threatening roars.

Shu Jingtong bent over and held it in his arms.

He was going to die either way, and he couldn’t bear to let his other half suffer first.

The mosquito-like proboscis was getting closer and closer. From the corner of his eye, he could even clearly see the pieces of flesh and blood that were hanging from it.

Shu Jingtong hugged the soft kitten that was nestled in his arms tightly.

A volley of bullets, with a whistling sound, fell from the sky and densely hit the monster in the head.

The head that was hit by the dense bullets had a stunned look.

Although it was riddled with holes in an instant, it was still alive. It rolled to the side with great agility. The black and white eyeballs on its face turned very human-like, as if it was trying to escape.

A black military boot fell from the sky. With the force of gravity, it stepped onto the head, crushing that mutated head and the thick black hair.

Red blood, along with some strangely colored fluids, splattered all over Shu Jingtong’s face.

It was unclear whether it belonged to the monster or the person whose blood had just been drained.

The person who had come was a female sentinel with a braid hanging down her back. She was wearing the uniform of the airship’s guards.

She was holding a not particularly advanced long gun that had been left behind from the old days. Her waist and hips were covered with various weapons, and the huge wings that had looked like an eagle’s wings were now disappearing from her back.

That girl had broken through the ceiling to jump down. When she landed, she stepped on and killed the monster she had shot. She let out a loud whistle when she saw Shu Jingtong.

“Wow, a kitten Guide.” She bent down, hooked the chin of the kitten in Shu Jingtong’s arms with her finger, raised her hand without even looking, and fired a string of bullets.

In the dark corner of the ceiling, a monster with flowing hair twisted its head flexibly to avoid the bullets and slid away along the wall.

It had only been a short moment since the monster had suddenly appeared. But for these flowers that had been raised and nurtured in the White Tower, it was as if they had spent a long time in a terrifying hell. Two of their companions had died in that brief chaos. Their bodies, after being drained, were still submerged in a pool of blood.

The sentinels who guarded the airship finally appeared outside the windows.

Some were riding their mental bodies, and they were flying in the air, battling with the heads that had gathered around the airship. Some of the Sentinels with avian mental bodies had even directly transformed into half-human, half-beast forms. They had sprouted wings on their backs, and they were nimbly flying in the air.

The sentinels and the mutated creatures collided.

The monsters clinging to the glass window were attracted by the scent of fresh flesh and blood. Many of them shifted their target, and while laughing “hee hee” and crying, they swayed and moved toward the sentinels.

“Everyone move. Pull the curtains and block the holes with tables,” the female sentinel who had entered the cabin said. She stayed where she was, shot at the monsters, while also giving orders. “Leave the monsters outside to the sentinels. As long as we seal off the windows, if those monsters can’t see us, they won’t want to come in.”

The airship was swaying in midair from the attacks of the monsters. A strong wind was blowing in from the opening that had been formed. The transparent windows were covered with those terrifying heads that were dripping saliva.

The inside of the cabin was a mess, filled with the corpses of dead people and the remains of monsters, and blood was everywhere.

Everyone’s legs were weak, and no one dared to go near the windows.

Shu Jingtong seemed to hear that strange sound again.

Among everyone, only a girl in a black sports suit seemed to be moving. She stepped over the sticky blood and debris, reached out, and pulled down the window coverings on both sides of the airship’s long body.

She had been doing this from the very beginning, but it was simply too chaotic earlier and no one had noticed. She moved quickly through the messy and shaking interior of the airship. Ignoring those strange faces outside the window, she reached out and closed the sunshade coverings on the window, blocking those strange gazes outside.

“You go too,” the female sentinel kicked Shu Jingtong, and shouted at everyone who was in a daze. “Those who don’t want to die, move. Those who want to die, just jump down now and save some of the airship’s energy.”

Shu Jingtong stumbled a few steps, and strangely, the fear he couldn't control in his heart seemed to have inexplicably dissipated quite a bit. He gritted his teeth and crawled to the hole where the wind was howling. He lifted up the large dining table that had been knocked over and used it to block the hole that the monster had pecked open.

The piercing sound of gunshots rang out almost right next to his head. A head that was trying to climb in through the opening was shattered by the female sentinel's bullet. It stuck to the outside of the hole, its long tongue sticking out.

Shu Jingtong forced himself to ignore it, and tried to lift up the table against the wind.

Someone came over from the other side to help him. Shu Jingtong looked up and saw Nicole, who was just as pale as he was.

Nicole, who had been born into an aristocratic family and was always dressed immaculately, now had messy hair and was covered in blood, just like he was. She trembled as she reached out from the other side to lift up the table, and she nodded at him.

The two of them trembled as they exerted their force together, and the large table was finally placed on top of the opening, and the strong wind that had been blowing inside the airship immediately stopped.

Perhaps it was the mysterious sound that had been faintly echoing.

Or perhaps, amidst the chaos, with the instructions of someone, they were able to gather their bearings again.

The passengers who had collapsed on the floor gradually stood up.

Some tremblingly went to help pull down the sunshade coverings. Others helped to brace the damaged part of the cabin, while others found tape to seal the gap where the table had been placed.

As the windows were closed one by one, the mutated creatures outside, no longer able to see the people inside the airship, finally dispersed and went to chase after the sentinels who were outside the airship.

Inside the cabin, the last human head that had been running around was now being stepped on by the sentinel with the braid.

The space that had been filled with the sounds of gunshots, screams, and chaotic turbulence had finally quieted down.

Through the small gaps of the sunshades, one could still see the fierce battle between the sentinels and the monsters in the sky outside.

The cruel battle was not over, and the danger had not been lifted at all.

However, in that darkened space, they had been given a rare moment of peace.

The frightened passengers came to their senses, breathing a sigh of relief that they were still alive.

Shu Jingtong collapsed onto the floor, exhausted.

The floor was covered in blood and corpses. But they were still alive, and it was a blessing.

That female sentinel, who had just kicked him, reached out her hand to him.

Shu Jingtong looked at her hand.

It was a woman's hand, a whole size smaller than his. It was bandaged, covered in rough calluses, and stained with blood and dirt.

But that hand was very strong. It firmly gripped him, pulling him up off the floor.

It was a girl who might have been even younger than him, and who wasn’t even as tall as him. But just because she was a sentinel, she had such a calloused hand.

It was with these hands that she had saved all of them so decisively.

The female sentinel pulled him up, rubbed her fingers, and smiled, “Wow, this is the first time I’ve pulled on a Guide’s hand.”

She didn’t hold a noble’s military rank. She was just an ordinary sentinel from civilian origins. But she had a bright smile.

Shu Jingtong opened his mouth to say something.

The situation turned in that instant.

Just as everyone relaxed, thinking that they could at least breathe a sigh of relief.

A hole had appeared in the roof of the airship in the unlit shadows, at an unknown time. Acidic liquid was dripping down from the edges of that hole. It had been corroded by some kind of strong acid.

Outside that hole, which had been silently corroded, was the face of a middle-aged balding man.

That unusually large head had, without anyone noticing, taken advantage of the chaos and snuck into the space between the airship’s balloon and its cabin.

It had used its highly corrosive saliva to open up a hole in that hidden space.

It had silently lurked for an unknown amount of time, and seizing the opportunity, when the young female sentinel smiled, it had used its sharp proboscis with barbs, to pierce down from the opening and into the body of that young female sentinel. Then, it lifted her up and dragged her out.

Sneaking, seizing the opportunity to attack, and accurately targeting and eliminating the strongest first.

It was as if it had intelligence.

The sentinel, pierced by the weapon, fell into a coma. Her head was drooping, her hand falling down limp, and her body was strung up on that long spike. Red blood dripped down from her fingers and fell onto Shu Jingtong’s face.

The powerful sentinel who had fallen from the sky just moments before, had been his, and everyone else’s, motivation to summon their courage.

But in just a blink of an eye, even that sentinel was dead.

Drops of blood splattered onto his face.

This must be a nightmare, one nightmare after another, Shu Jingtong thought. Endless, like hell.

A hand with rolled-up sports sleeves reached out from in front of him, grabbing the sentinel’s bloodied hand in midair.

That person’s arm, just like all Guides, was fair and slender, and her calm face had a bit of blood on it.

It was Lin Yuan.

Lin Yuan grabbed the sentinel’s wrist. Under the monster’s immense force, her feet almost left the ground.

But she didn’t let go. Her two pale, slender arms held the sentinel’s bloodied hand tightly, and tried their best to pull her back.

A drumbeat rang out, as if from some unknown place, beating one after another, stirring the fighting spirit within everyone who heard it.

Shu Jingtong reacted and rushed forward to pull on the sentinel’s hand together with Lin Yuan.

Four hands held that bloodied arm. They struggled against the monster to bring the sentinel back.

But the weight of the two people combined was still no match for the force of the mutated monster.

Nicole rushed over and wrapped her arms around Lin Yuan’s waist.

More people came over, hugging each other and struggling together against the monster for survival.

Like a game of tug-of-war, they finally pulled the sentinel who had been pierced from the monster’s maw.

The blood-covered sentinel, unconscious, fell down, rolling onto the floor with the others.

Amidst the chaos, before Shu Jingtong could get up, he saw someone pick up the gun that the sentinel had dropped.

It was Lin Yuan.

That girl, who was a Guide just like he was, picked up the gun. She clumsily lifted the heavy gun onto her shoulder, kneeled down on one knee, aimed the muzzle at the hole in the ceiling, and pulled the trigger with a loud bang.

She did not hit it. The monster outside the hole avoided it.

The powerful recoil sent Lin Yuan’s entire body backwards. She fell onto the floor, and she quickly got back up, rubbing her shoulder, before lifting the gun up again.

How could she hit it, Shu Jingtong thought. Such a heavy gun, and the monster’s movements were too fast, so fast that even his eyes could not catch them. Only the eyesight of a Sentinel would be able to hit them.

Strangely, that monster, whose movements had been unusually agile just now, seemed to have suddenly become dull and stupid.

It had suddenly stopped moving. Its cloudy eyes looked dull, saliva dripping down. Its movements were unusually slow. It let Lin Yuan adjust her posture, aim at the opening, and fire a second shot at it.

Bang. The second shot hit the monster’s face.

As if it had suddenly come to its senses, the giant face with an angered expression moved away from the opening.

Although it had been shot, it hadn't been fatally wounded. It had just temporarily backed away.

Lin Yuan was kneeling on one knee, holding the gun. Her gaze was locked onto the hole, which was still dripping with strong acid.

“Help her,” she said.

Shu Jingtong froze.

“Help that sentinel,” Lin Yuan said calmly, still looking at the hole. “She’s still alive.”

The sentinel who had been pulled back from the monster was unconscious. Her left shoulder was pierced by a hole, and a large amount of blood quickly stained the floor. It looked like she was beyond saving.

But she was still alive. Her young face was pale, and her breaths were faint.

“Come on,” Lin Yuan said, even reaching out a hand to press down on that profusely bleeding wound.

Shu Jingtong found the first aid kit on the airship. Just as he was about to move forward, his companion, the good friend who had been sitting beside him earlier, quietly pulled on his clothes.

“Don’t go, Jingtong,” his companion said. “You’re already engaged.”

Shu Jingtong was stunned.

“What would it look like if you went over,” his companion gestured at his chest.

The wounded sentinel was lying on the floor. She had been wounded on her shoulder, so in order to treat her, it would be impossible to avoid removing her clothing and touching her skin. As a Guide, who had been taught courtesy and etiquette since he was young, under normal circumstances, he really shouldn't be touching a sentinel’s body.

“Don’t you see what kind of situation this is,” Shu Jingtong said, displeased.

“She’s just a lowly sentinel,” his companion said as he pulled him tightly. “Think about it. When we return, they will definitely gossip about this. If your fiancée were to know that you had come into contact with this civilian sentinel on the airship, what would she think?”

“Don’t go over there. What’s the point? She’s just a sentinel from civilian origins. It’s useless even if we save her.”

If that sentinel were still alive, she would have been their saving grace. But clearly, she was dying, it would be useless to save her.

“Don’t you want to end up having your engagement called off and being mocked by everyone like that Lin Yuan, do you?” His companion pursed his lips and gestured at Lin Yuan.

Shu Jingtong followed his gaze. Lin Yuan, who was often called a weirdo, was holding a gun tightly, her gaze locked onto the opening where the monster could reappear at any time. But she had freed her other hand to press down on the sentinel’s profusely bleeding wound.

The airship was still swaying, and occasionally a monster or a sentinel would crash into the glass.

In the dimly lit cabin, a beam of sunlight shone through the opening in the ceiling. Dust motes danced in the sunlight.

That dying sentinel was lying in the sunlight. She was a young woman with a long braid. Her limbs were lying limp, and she was covered in blood.

Lin Yuan was kneeling next to her.

She had her lips pursed, her gaze fixed onto the hole where the monster could appear at any time, and she kept one hand on the sentinel next to her.

Completely ignoring what the people around her were saying.

She seemed to never care and always did what she wanted.

Shu Jingtong pushed away the classmate who was holding him down and came to crouch down next to the injured sentinel with the first aid kit. He first cut open the sentinel’s clothes, then took out the hemostat to stop the bleeding. Her wound was too severe. He had only studied basic first aid. Could he really save this woman’s life in an environment like this?

Shu Jingtong wiped his brow with his sleeve and realized that he was covered in cold sweat.

Someone came and crouched down next to him, it was the noble-born Nicole.

Nicole, whose grades for all of her subjects were poor, reached out and took a hemostat. “I'll help. I’m not good at the other subjects. But I was very good at First Aid.”

Another girl came over and picked up some gauze to help wipe the cold sweat that was appearing on the sentinel’s brow. “I, I’m also okay at it.”

She had perhaps forgotten that, not long ago, when she was sitting at the dining table, she had said with great certainty that she would never touch those commoner sentinels, not even once.

The three of them looked at each other, slightly embarrassed as they cut open the clothes of the injured person. No longer speaking, they put all of their strength into treating this sentinel, who was on the verge of death, with clumsy movements.

Lin Yuan fired another shot.

The monster’s face appeared in the hole in the ceiling.

It was pale, bloated, and saliva was dripping from it.

It silently moved to another unlit corner, opening another hole. Then, it seized the opportunity to launch another sneak attack.

Strangely, just when it attempted the sneak attack, its actions, which had always been unusually fast, seemed to have lagged, and its face was revealed in the opening.

It was as if it had fallen into a strange, bewildered dream.

Its stiff and sluggish movements had turned it into a huge target, and it was shot by Lin Yuan. Half of its face was blown away.

The monster screamed and gave Lin Yuan a look that was filled with hatred with its disfigured face. It quickly retreated again.

Shu Jingtong, who was giving the emergency treatment, wasn’t scared by the gunshots.

He found it rather strange. At this moment, all he felt was peace and calmness in his heart. This calmness made him steady his hands as he held the hemostat and suture needle, and he treated the sentinel’s wounds.

That feeling was back again.

It was as if a gentle wind had swept through his heart, blowing away all the fear and uneasiness there.

A bright moon was hanging in the night sky, gently illuminating the earth and calming the fear in his heart.

The waves moved gently under the beautiful moonlight. Thin, white waves crept onto the sandy beach.

The starry sky above was gentle and beautiful, enough to soothe all hearts.

How could this be? He shouldn’t have such a mentality during such a dangerous time, Shu Jingtong thought to himself.

He lifted his head and saw that Nicole, and the other Guide who had come to help, also had calm and focused looks, just like him, as they stared at the bloodied wound in their hands.

It was as if they had all adjusted to everything in a short amount of time and were no longer afraid.

Even everyone around them seemed to be immersed in the gentle breeze, bright moon, and soft sounds of waves.

Everyone had become peaceful and quiet, and they were all moving silently.

Reinforcing the windows, sealing the cracks in the sunshade coverings, and helping treat those who had been injured. Everyone moved with careful and orderly silence.

No one made any unnecessary noises and drew the attention of the monsters from outside.

It was as if they were still in the safe academy from the old days, and were not stuck in a terrifying contaminated zone, where they could lose their lives at any time.

How could this be?

As a Guide, Shu Jingtong, whose mental strength was sharp, suddenly sensed something.

He suddenly opened his eyes wide, looking at Lin Yuan.

Lin Yuan was still kneeling on one knee in the faint light that shone through from the ceiling. She was looking at the place where monsters could appear at any given moment. A drop of sweat dripped down her fair face.

Under her feet, where the light did not shine, seemed like there were huge entities moving and growing.

Was it her?

It had always been her.

She was the one who had calmed down everyone’s confusion at the very beginning.

She was also the one who had influenced the monster’s movements, making it freeze at the most critical moments.

That was why she could hit the stunned monster over and over again with her clumsy shooting.

The most terrifying thing was that, while shooting and controlling the monster’s mind, she even had spare energy to soothe everyone’s emotions.

Shu Jingtong thought of the question he had once asked his teacher.

“Just how strong is Lin Yuan's mental strength?”

At this moment, he suddenly understood the meaning behind his teacher's sigh.

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