Invasion - Chapter 21

Chapter 21

The clear call of a whale came from afar, quickly approaching until everyone on the airship heard it.

From the distant horizon, a large fish swam over.

Black back, dorsal fin, beautiful white spots.

As it got closer, they realized it wasn't a fish, but a whale, a gigantic orca.

The massive orca charged through the thick, black cloud of mutated creatures. Its tail fin swept across, carrying a powerful force, knocking away the monsters clustered on the cabin roof.

The force, carrying a hurricane-like wind, was too strong, sweeping over the airship's cables.

The entire airship was tossed and turned by the strong wind brought by the whale's tail, swaying violently.

All those still alive struggled to grab onto anything nearby to steady themselves, holding onto their unconscious companions. Amidst the chaotic swirling, they looked up and saw the whale's enormous underbelly swimming overhead, blocking out the sky.

This whale was so huge, majestic like a warship, bringing an overwhelming sense of pressure.

"It's a Sentinel, this is a high-level Sentinel's mental body."

"My god, such a huge size. How high is this Sentinel's level?"

"It's the rescue team, the rescue team is here!"

Is it a rescue? The survivors on the airship almost cheered. They couldn't believe that the White Tower had sent a rescue team so quickly.

But why only one person?

On the pure black back of the large fish, a tall dorsal fin stood like a halberd. In front of the dorsal fin, stood a warrior.

Holding a single-soldier pulse gun, a short blade at his waist, his legs firmly planted on the smooth whale's back, even in the rapidly flying high altitude, he stood as steady as a rock.

His gaze, from above, swept over them as the whale passed, cold and indifferent, without much warmth.

The orange sunlight shone on his furrowed brows, unable to bring any warmth to that cold face.

Ni Ji felt a little irritated.

He didn't really understand why he had rushed in.

He was no longer someone who had the qualifications, or the time, to care about this kind of thing.

Perhaps it was Tan Shu's annoying words, or perhaps his mind had been stirred by the mention of the word "Guide," or perhaps it was some other messy reason he didn't understand himself.

In any case, by the time he came to his senses, he had already entered this newly formed contaminated zone.

Since he was already in, he had to do something. Ni Ji looked at the injured on the swaying airship.

The lives of these people were worth more than his own wretched life. If he could save a few of them, even if it ruined things, it wouldn't be a loss.

From the swaying airship, through the broken and messy opening, he suddenly saw the only person standing amidst the wreckage.

Ni Ji's pupils constricted.

Is that her?

Why is that Guide here too?

Ni Ji had seen this Guide three times.

The first time, she was still a little girl, barefoot, hugging her knees, sitting in the ice and snow, calmly staring at the sky in a daze.

The second time, the grown-up girl was wearing a white dress embroidered with gold thread, with layers of lace framing her small face, delicate and beautiful.

The third time, she was wearing a smoky black dress, being ridiculed by others, but still with an indifferent expression, unmoved.

That time, she had pressed him against the dark duct, making him silently suffer an unspeakable loss. But she still had that cold and delicate appearance, as if she hadn't done anything at all.

This was the first time Ni Ji had seen her looking disheveled. She stood amidst the ruins, her fair face covered in sweat and dust, her hair sticking to her neck, her clothes soaked through and stained with blood.

Only, those eyes, which had always been calm and still, were now shining amidst the flying gunpowder smoke.

With a hint of anger, a hint of resentment, a hint of unwillingness to yield.

As if she had become more human, unlike her usual indifferent, emotionless self.

It was a good thing he had come in.

Ni Ji didn't realize that his cold and stern face had softened at the moment he saw the Guide.

"Hey, are you from the rescue team?" A wounded sentinel on the swaying airship struggled to climb up and shouted towards Ni Ji in the air. "How many of you are there?"

Ni Ji pointed at himself, and then at the snowy white owl following behind him.

"Just me, and him."

That owl was Song Yuansi's mental body. It had timidly, yet stubbornly, followed him in.

Only two people?

Only two people came.

The hearts of everyone who had just sparked with hope sank again.

Ni Ji let go of his hand and threw down a fist-sized bead from above.

The amber-colored round bead was very hard, bouncing a few times on the deck, rolling around before coming to a stop.

It looked smooth, with beautiful patterns, like a round gemstone that had solidified for many years.

Only upon closer inspection, the mottled patterns inside resembled a giant eyeball.

At the moment it encountered the impact of landing, it seemed to come alive, blinking its vertical pupil.

After the rotation stopped, the mottled pupil petrified once more. It lay quietly on the deck of the airship, looking at the sky, once again becoming like a dead object, frozen in time.

"This is the key," Ni Ji pointed towards the distant sky. "I've opened the door."

Looking along his finger, in the distant sky, a door-shaped void was opening.

As if a hole had been cut into the dusk-colored canvas. Tearing open a passage to another world, a door leading to a path of survival.

Although the door seemed somewhat far away, that distant, dark opening was the hope of life.

"The key, he got the key!"

"Look there, it's the door. The door is open, we can get out."

The wounded sentinels hugged each other and cheered.

The Guides might not understand the meaning of these terms yet, but the experienced sentinels were overjoyed.

Entering a contaminated zone was random, but getting out was extremely difficult. The only way was to find the "key" to get out, and to use the key to open that "door."

Sometimes, you would be walking perfectly fine on the road, take a step, look up, and find yourself inexplicably trapped in a completely strange and eerie space.

This was the current state of the contaminated zones that covered the planet.

Contaminated zones always appeared suddenly, and then continuously expanded. They silently and greedily devoured everything, like bloodsucking parasites attached to the planet, squeezing the living space of humans and all living beings.

Any living being swallowed by them could hardly find a way out.

They could only desperately and slowly be polluted, eroded, until they became a part of them, becoming twisted and grotesque mutated creatures.

Only those veteran soldiers who risked their lives to enter the contaminated zones year after year knew the trick to finding the key in this kind of place.

In any case, they now had the "key" to escape, and they saw the door leading to the path of survival.

The airship, at full power, dragged its damaged body, struggling towards the "door."

The heads that had been firmly suppressed by Lin Yuan were knocked away by the whale's large tail, scattering in all directions.

They were not dead, of course. They even quickly regained consciousness and began to gather again, forming a dense black cloud.

The snowy white owl spread its wings, grabbed Ni Ji's clothes with its beak, and tugged.

Ni Ji pointed towards the door and only said two words: "Go first. Take them away."

---

The snowy white owl didn’t disobey his orders. It reluctantly lifted off to lead the way, and the airship hurriedly flew towards the door under its lead. Ni Ji turned his whale’s head around, heading in the opposite direction, towards the black cloud that was quickly approaching from behind.

Densely packed heads, like a black blanket, covering the sky and the earth.

Ni Ji took out a bottle of inducer from his pocket.

He suddenly felt like laughing, almost wanting to laugh heartily at this familiar scene.

He once thought that he would never use this thing again.

Sometimes, Ni Ji would remember the souls that had passed on, remember the faces of the brothers whose backs he could trust and confide in.

Many had once been by his side.

Friends and brothers, it had always been lively.

He didn’t know why he had become like this, so dejected, alone, with no one to rely on.

Back at school, he had been surrounded by many classmates, training together, winning games together.

But there was one time, when he had refused a private request that his principal had secretly given him.

That request had been too dirty, it had involved a child’s life. He hadn’t wanted to obey, he had even done some damage. From then on, the relationship between teacher and student had completely broken down, and the brothers around him had quickly disappeared for various reasons, one after another, until not a single one was left.

When he went to the northern outpost, even though the environment had been very bad.

He had lived a more joyful life than he had at the Sentinel academy. Soon, he had another group of life and death friends by his side.

He didn’t know why, those people had also disappeared, and gone away so quickly, one after another, they had all died in front of his eyes.

It wasn’t too bad, perhaps. Ni Ji smiled sardonically, at least now no one would stop him.

No one would pull on his hand, call him Captain, and tell him not to do something reckless. No one would, with their eyes red, disagree with him casually pouring the inducer on himself.

A wandering ghost, he could finally do whatever he wanted, no matter how reckless.

Ni Ji used one hand to open the inducer’s cap.

An icy cold something, he didn’t know where it had come from, wrapped around his arm, crawled up his wrist, and with a “splat” stuck onto the back of his hand.

That was… that feeling.

Ni Ji froze, his entire body tingling.

That little tentacle that had crawled onto the back of his hand wasn’t as supple or plump as usual. It looked dry and strained, seeming rather tired. It pinched the skin on Ni Ji’s hand with its moist little sucker.

A consciousness that wasn’t in standard language was transmitted from his skin.

【Throw it away.】

The tentacle said, not very happy.

Ni Ji had never been influenced by anyone in a precarious and dangerous battlefield like this. He was a fierce and determined man when it came to critical moments.

The tired little tentacle lifted itself up impatiently, and slapped against his back of his hand with a loud “slap”.

It didn’t actually hurt, a Guide’s mental body didn’t have much physical attack power.

But it inexplicably felt like a whiplash had been left there, a clear and sudden burning sensation.

That hand, which could steadily lift heavy weapons, unaccountably loosened after being slapped. He actually didn’t hold onto that little bottle, and it fell down, its cap open.

The inducer’s translucent liquid splashed in the air, they couldn’t do anything if they weren’t on a living thing.

Ni Ji looked at the falling liquid and turned around, a little surprised.

From behind him, at the airship’s tail, Lin Yuan, he didn’t know where she had found a ladder, had just climbed up from the broken opening, panting,

The wind above the airship was strong. She barely managed to grab a handle there, pulling herself up to reveal her head.

“Come back,” she said.

【Come back.】

【Quickly.】

【Don’t act spoiled.】

【Be good.】

【So tired.】

【Let me touch you.】

The fragmented consciousness from several different voices were all transmitted into his mind almost at the same time.

Mixed with some chaotic sounds.

He didn’t know when several tentacles, whose form he couldn't quite make out, had crawled onto the orca’s tail fin.

The tentacles, looking tired, were draped listlessly on the whale’s smooth tail, as if they were trying to get some energy to recover from their large, beloved toy.

So that orca, Ni Ji’s mental body, once again, regardless of its owner’s wishes, shyly turned its head and swayed its tail to follow the airship.

Ni Ji started to doubt whether he was insane.

He felt that perhaps he had already gone berserk, living in a world of mental chaos without realizing it.

Otherwise, why would he do something so clearly irrational, yet still harbor a hint of… joy in his heart that he couldn’t contain?

---

This was a battlefield, and the dangerous battle would not ease because of the changes in emotions.

The first batch of heads that caught up had transformed their proboscises into long spears. They were no longer acting independently. They lined up in a neat, angular matrix formation in the air and used the momentum from their charge to dive down from above.

One after another, in mutual coordination.

They swore they would pierce and kill the man and the whale that had fallen at the tail of the airship.

As if someone was directing the dense black cloud of monsters. Making them know that if they concentrated their firepower to eliminate this newly joined and powerful enemy, the remaining people on the ship would be at their mercy.

Ni Ji drew his short blade at his waist.

The flowing blade sliced his palm, a streak of red flowed along the tip of the blade, stretching out in the wind.

That short white blade, stained with his blood, let out a strange chuckle from its hilt. The short blade, dyed in blood, instantly transformed, solidifying into a long blade that was eerily red.

Ni Ji raised the blade above his head, his instep exerting force as he attacked the matrix of heads.

At the moment he leapt into the air, he suddenly felt like he saw the moon.

The dusk-colored, fake backdrop of the sky seemed to disappear in that instant.

A silvery white, cold, and mysterious celestial body appeared, quietly hanging high in the night sky.

Looking down, the cold moonlight sprinkled, shining upon the thousands of lives on earth.

It was a mental landscape, someone had spread such vast mental power.

Something about this battle wasn't right, Ni Ji realized.

His blade became much faster.

It wasn’t his blade that was faster, it was his enemies’ movements that had become slower!

Ni Ji landed back onto the whale’s back, with his blade horizontally in front of him.

A large swathe of heads were slashed into pieces, falling down like rain.

The tentacles came back from the shadows, exhausted and listlessly draped on the huge body of the orca.

【Hurry up, little fish.】

【I’m so tired.】

【I’m going to take a break.】

【Move aside, let me touch you, to recharge.】

So it was her.

She was helping me?

No, she was behind me, watching everything, controlling everything, fighting by my side.

As if she was in her own domain. The wind in the sky, the intangible moon, the tentacles surging vaguely in the shadows, and the gaze that was silently watching him from behind, they were all fighting by his side.

He was clearly alone.

But at this time, it was like he was back then, with companions beside him, and comrades behind him.

At first, when he saw the Guide in the chaotic cabin, with blood and sweat on her fair face, Ni Ji had felt a little sad in his heart.

No matter what, I’m already here, I might as well rescue her. He thought.

Rescuing her. That was his thought at the time.

Rescuing a soft, defenseless, kind-hearted Guide.

But the Guide said to him, “Come back.”

Come back, fight with me.

Ni Ji stood on the whale’s back. Without looking back, he could clearly feel the person behind him.

Silent, still, and resolutely together with him.

A little bit of warmth surged in his heart, from the place that had already completely cooled down.

When they were opponents that day, in his mental sea, she had been a frightening and difficult enemy.

A Guide, someone who could restrain a Sentinel. Tentacles, monsters of the ocean, enemies that fought his orca.

Who could have thought, that one day, with their roles reversed, when she stood by his side, she would be such a compatible comrade.

Ni Ji got up to fight again.

The red blade’s afterimage, crisscrossing, weaving a net that shredded all flesh and blood in midair.

The giant whale followed closely behind him.

A large swathe of the black cloud shattered, falling like rain.

They firmly guarded the airship’s tail, guarding the lives of everyone onboard.

Lin Yuan was clinging to the tail of the ship, intently watching the man and the whale that were fighting amidst the horde of monsters.

The exit was almost here, and the mutated creatures had become especially frantic, surging forward madly and recklessly.

But the feeling in Lin Yuan’s heart was different. It wasn’t like before, that constrained and suppressed feeling where she had strength but could not exert it.

The battle was precarious, like walking barefoot on a blade.

Very dangerous, forcing her to concentrate fully.

Perhaps a single mistake, a tiny deviation, and the Sentinel would die tragically before her eyes.

And then all of them would be swallowed by the dense black monsters, swallowed on the last stretch of their escape route.

But they had excellent coordination, didn't they?

They didn't make a single mistake, so they didn't have to die.

Lin Yuan felt a little something called excitement surging in her numb heart.

Fighting alongside such a strong person, she was learning very quickly, absorbing battle experience like a sponge, thirstily.

The battle, invigorating and exhilarating, made her blood boil.

Their coordination, seamless, increasingly smooth.

Everything was because of that Sentinel.

A more powerful, more compatible, or perhaps, a Sentinel more suitable for the strength of her mental power.

Fighting alongside such a strong person allowed her mental power to be exerted smoothly and freely.

She discovered that she was gradually learning to control the entire scene.

Using even less mental power.

That Sentinel, he had a strong body and amazing combat power.

Most importantly, he could keep up with every fluctuation of her mental power.

It was like the two of them swimming in the ocean together, without needing words, they could feel each other's subtle thoughts through the waves.

He could feel it, and had the power to execute.

As if sensing her thoughts.

The Sentinel in midair turned his head and looked over.

Lin Yuan made a tactical hand gesture towards him, pointing downwards.

It was a gesture she had seen in Ni Ji's memories, a gesture Sentinels like Ni Ji used to communicate on the battlefield.

She had secretly learned it.

On a battlefield like this, she used it like a soldier.

Ni Ji laughed heartily and jumped down from the whale's back.

The mutated creatures had a leader, Lin Yuan's gesture told him, it was hidden right below, eliminate it.

The Sentinel didn’t hesitate, jumping down from the whale's back, carrying his long, blood-red blade, rapidly falling through the air.

The orange-red sunlight shone on his thin body, leaving his string of wild laughter behind in the afterglow.

---

An endless stream of monsters flew from the black castle in the sky, rushing toward the warm flesh and blood they craved.

No one noticed that among them, there was an especially large mutated creature, whose head had been half destroyed, that had been hiding far away under the black cloud where the monsters gathered.

It was the mutated creature with the middle-aged man’s face, the one with intelligence that had ambushed Lin Yuan several times without success.

At this moment, the monster was stealthily hiding below, in the safest place. The only remaining eye on its bloated face darted around, filled with malice.

It felt very hungry, its damaged body made it even hungrier, a bone-deep hunger that constantly tormented it.

Even though it had no heart or lungs. Only in its muddled brain, there was always a strong desire and pain.

It wanted to tear those people apart, pierce them, drain the warm blood from their bodies, to soothe its never-ending pain.

It drove all of its ignorant companions, wave after wave, to charge forward.

Just at this moment. A blood-stained long blade, carrying the immense force of its descent, suddenly fell from the sky.

Almost without any resistance, the entire long blade sank into its huge head.

Ni Ji held the blade with both hands, crouching down, stepping on the shattered brain, and twisting with force. The red light of the blade radiated in all directions, shredding the hard monster into pieces.

The monster's eyes, fragmented, fell down in a daze.

The world turned upside down. It looked at the dusk-colored sky as it fell.

Strange, the pain seemed to have disappeared.

It looked at the illusory city hanging in the air, suddenly feeling strangely familiar with the flickering lights.

There, such a familiar feeling, it seems like it was once my home.

…

After the giant mutated creature shattered, the monsters in the sky lost their leader, scattering in all directions with a whoosh.

Although some still chased after the airship sporadically, acting independently, they were no longer a fatal threat on their escape route.

Ni Ji, having shredded the giant head, was falling down, holding his long blade, his face up.

Such an exhilarating battle.

The heart in his chest was beating powerfully, his chest rising and falling.

His cold blood had boiled once more.

Making him almost want to laugh out loud.

As he fell, he saw a small head peeking out from the airship’s tail.

He smiled at the Guide, who was also looking down at him from above.

This Guide.

This Guide…

If only, if only the person who could always stand by her side was him.

The orca swooped down from above, catching the falling Ni Ji.

His back hit the orca’s back, his feet found solid ground, and the weightlessness of falling disappeared, his floating heart returning to its place.

Ni Ji closed his eyes, smiling bitterly and self-deprecatingly.

He almost wanted to slap himself.

She had saved your life, she had helped you. Yet you want to drag her into the abyss with you?

The orange-red sun hung in the sky. The debris floated around. Like an exciting dream.

The orca carried him upwards, flying towards the real world.

He looked at Lin Yuan’s fair and beautiful face as he went. He hurriedly ripped open his chest, stuffing back all of the boiling souls, the beating heart, and the chaotic shyness and longing.

Stuffing them back in, sealing them shut.

Refusing to reveal a single trace.

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