Invasion - Chapter 26
Chapter 26
The street where Ni Ji and the others were located was very quiet, not a single living being in sight. This was a contaminated zone, of course there wouldn't be any living people.
But this area, which had been sealed off for many years, didn't feel desolate at all. The streets were even filled with signs of life.
Clothes hung on balconies were still dripping water, lights were on in the houses along the road, and the sound of television broadcasts could be heard.
A toy snail, dragged by a child, was discarded by the roadside, and a missing person notice was posted on a utility pole. It seemed to be about a minor girl who had run away from home.
The black arm that had suddenly emerged from the alley to attack Ni Ji moments ago had completely disappeared, nowhere to be seen, not even a trace of black smoke remained.
As if this place was an ordinary street, bustling with people just moments ago. Only all the living people had suddenly disappeared, who knew where to.
On the empty, quiet street, Song Yuansi walked beside Ni Ji.
"Something's not right, Brother Ni," Song Yuansi lowered his voice. "It's 'daytime' now, this place should be a safe zone. Why would a mutated creature attack you?"
A sentinel’s hearing was very sharp, even the slightest whisper could be picked up by others.
Ni Ji didn't speak, just made a few hand gestures in front of his chest.
It’s spreading — that was the first sentence.
Go to the back, stay away from me — that was the second.
Tan Shu, who was far behind, was also gesturing to one of his confidants.
"Don't do it, Brother Shu. Ni Ji’s combat power is very strong, and Teacher’s target is in the sea, we haven't gotten it yet," the confidant said in sign language. "Keep him alive for now, he’s still useful."
Tan Shu stared gloomily at Ni Ji, who was walking in front, for a while, and finally made a gesture of agreement.
Ni Ji, to him, was always like a thorn in his throat.
Even though Ni Ji was now beneath him, and had always seemed very quiet.
He still felt very uneasy in his heart.
No one knew his classmate better than he did. Powerful, reckless, going his own way, never swayed by others.
Now, Ni Ji seemed to have changed somehow. He had become less talkative, and harder to understand.
Just him being there, even quiet and silent, sometimes made Tan Shu feel afraid.
Tan Shu decided to take advantage of this opportunity to enter the contaminated zone, to get rid of this thorn who constantly made him anxious.
He held the latest intelligence on the No. 5 Contaminated Zone. In the entire team, only he knew.
It was a fearsome mutated creature that liked to lurk in the shadows, capturing the most powerful sentinel in the team.
With the expansion of the contaminated zone, only he knew the active area of this newly appeared monster.
This was a crucial information gap that he could take advantage of.
After getting what Teacher wanted, I’ll use this to make him stay in this contaminated zone forever. Tan Shu thought darkly.
It would be done quietly, without a trace.
A few casualties in a contaminated zone were normal, Teacher wouldn’t blame him for anything.
The jeep Lin Yuan was riding in arrived at a temporary village by the sea.
Many fishing families lived here, most of the time they gathered here.
Only when the contaminated zone expanded, or when mutated creatures overflowed, would they hurriedly return to the outpost, seeking shelter under the outpost’s protection.
In the morning, most of the adults had gone out to sea. Only some older children and elderly people remained in the village.
The jeep stopped in the village, and Dahu slapped the car door. "No. 5 Contaminated Zone, searching a sunken ship, looking for aquatic mental bodies, twenty imperial coins. Who's in?"
Hearing "twenty imperial coins", a group of children in ragged clothes rushed over, raising their thin arms.
A boy, about eleven or twelve years old, jumped down from a high place, spat out a straw he had been chewing on, pushed through the crowd, and came to the front of the car. "Brother Hu, I'll go."
Dahu nodded and tossed him a small pouch. "Xiao Mu, get in."
The boy who caught the pouch opened it under the envious gazes of his companions, and a joyful smile appeared on his face. He handed the pouch to his little sister, pointing to a dilapidated shack. "Run back and give this to mom. Tell her I won't be back tonight."
The little girl hugged the pouch tightly and ran barefoot through the mud.
The boy nimbly climbed into the back of the jeep.
"We brought him because we have to go underwater to search," Xiao Niao explained to Lin Yuan. "Don't worry, these kids have been in contaminated zones more times than you have. They’ve been sneaking into contaminated zones since they differentiated their mental bodies. Sometimes, if they're lucky, they can find something good, enough for the whole family to live on for six months or a year."
"It’s better for them to go into the contaminated zone with us, they get paid in advance, and it’s safer than sneaking in themselves," Xiao Niao continued. "They can't afford to go to the sentinel academy anyway. Basically, when they reach fifteen or sixteen, they’ll directly enter the military. Some don't even live to that age."
After a while, a thin, dark-skinned mother ran out. Lin Yuan thought she was probably chasing after her child to stop him from going to such a dangerous place.
As a result, the mother, holding onto the side of the car, handed the boy a dry, cold flatbread.
She loudly instructed her son, who was only about ten years old, "There's no food left at home, you have to bring something back."
It seemed like a matter of life or death.
"See? The adults here don't care. In a place like this, most parents don't really care about their children," Xiao Niao, her hands on the steering wheel, said. She had a short buzz cut, and a few faint freckles on her face. The pale car lights reflected on her face, bringing out a hint of indifference.
Lin Yuan looked at the boy who had just gotten into the car through the rearview mirror.
Dahu was rubbing his head, the boy smiling, revealing a set of white teeth. They looked very familiar with each other.
"Twenty imperial coins," Lin Yuan muttered to herself.
Calculating in her mind, that was ten apples.
Ten apples could make a child this age happily go on an adventure in a contaminated zone, and everyone here even thought it was normal.
Xiao Niao chuckled. "You think it's a lot? For this trip of yours, the Special Research Department allocated funds. Five spots, for sentinels at our level, it's only fifty imperial coins per person, and that’s already considered a lot. Everyone wanted to go with you, we even fought over it this morning. We only got the chance to come because we won."
The vehicle drove along the main road. At first, there were many houses on both sides of the road, bustling with activity and filled with the sounds of life.
Gradually, the lights in the houses and the sounds of people became fewer and fewer, until only desolate ruins remained. Dilapidated, dead buildings sat sporadically by the roadside, hidden behind dense vegetation.
Many people used to live here. With the repeated expansion of the contaminated zone, humans had no choice but to retreat again and again.
The jeep stopped in front of a row of red warning signs.
“It’s right there.” Dahu got out of the car and pointed to a large red warning sign in front of them. “That's the boundary of the No. 5 Contaminated Zone.”
“Don't get too close, sometimes the boundary expands suddenly, it’s impossible to guard against,” the sentinels warned Lin Yuan.
They taught Lin Yuan about the contaminated zone at every opportunity. Teaching her everything was the best way to protect her.
Rachel had been caught inside because the boundary of the contaminated zone had suddenly expanded while he was rescuing people. The sentinels had learned their lesson from that incident.
After getting out of the car, the sentinels unloaded many things from the vehicle, like they were preparing to set up a cooking fire.
Xiao Mu had even nimbly put the flatbread his mother had given him into the fire to bake.
Lin Yuan stood there blankly, feeling very surprised.
She looked at her personal terminal on her wrist, then looked up at the sky, confirming that it wasn't time for lunch yet.
“Big sister, is this your first time here?” The little boy, squatting by the fire baking his flatbread, looked up at her, smiling, his eyes crinkling. “In the contaminated zone, there’s also daytime and nighttime. It’s not time yet, we can't go in yet.”
He even offered the warmed flatbread to Lin Yuan. “Do you want some?”
In his impression, a fair-skinned, big-city sister like Lin Yuan would definitely not take his flatbread.
But he was a very clever and thoughtful child. Whether others would eat it was one thing, he always maintained politeness.
Lin Yuan broke off half of his flatbread with her fingers. “I’ll just have a little bit.”
Xiao Mu was completely stunned.
【Hee hee, he’s reluctant.】
【Quick, eat it in front of him.】
【Reluctant, yet still offering it, such a strange person.】
【It doesn't taste good, I’ve been tricked.】
【Why does this thing smell so good in the emotions he’s transmitting?】
【It doesn't taste good, just like that apple, I’ve been tricked.】
【Stinky seal.】
In contaminated zones, there was also “daytime” and “nighttime”.
The pattern of daytime and nighttime switching was different for every contaminated zone. During “daytime,” the mutated creatures within the contaminated zone were mostly inactive, lying dormant, without much movement. It was relatively safe for people to enter the contaminated zone during this time.
But when “nighttime” arrived, the entire contaminated zone would turn into hell, with all sorts of monsters roaming around. Ordinary people basically couldn’t survive at night.
The sentinels spread out the map, called Lin Yuan over, and began discussing the plan after entering.
“We’ll go in at the very beginning of daytime. Our destination is Sha Nan Bay.” Xiao Niao pointed at the topographical map. “We have to come out before nightfall, it’s not far, we’ll have plenty of time. Everyone stay alert, don't mess anything up.”
Lin Yuan’s target was a sunken ship within the No. 5 Contaminated Zone.
There was ample evidence indicating that this giant ship from the old era, the Mary, carrying countless treasures, had sunk in Sha Nan Bay during humanity’s most glorious age. For thousands of years, countless people had searched for it, without a single clue.
But not long ago, when the No. 5 Contaminated Zone had experienced a serious expansion, someone had personally witnessed the huge Mary, like a ghost, appearing on the surface of the water in its brand-new form, lights brightly lit, before disappearing a few hours later.
Only then did people discover that the Mary was hidden in the No. 5 Contaminated Zone.
Xiao Niao said that the task assigned by the Special Research Department wasn’t a big deal this time.
The location of the sunken ship wasn’t far, they would have enough time to go there and back during “daytime”.
Since the Mary had been discovered, wave after wave of search teams had been sent by the White Tower.
Anything that could be salvaged had basically been salvaged. Even their team had been sent in several times, they were very familiar with that part of the seabed.
The only thing they had to do this time was probably protect the safety of Guide Lin Yuan.
Actually, they preferred for Lin Yuan to stay at the outpost. If she wanted to find something, she could just tell them, and they would go in and search for her.
They thought this was more convenient and safer for everyone, far better than bringing an inexperienced and defenseless person into the contaminated zone.
The White Tower often issued search tasks to outposts. Most of the time, they would directly specify the items they wanted to be searched for. Sometimes, they would send a researcher down, escorted by them into the contaminated zone.
These researchers mostly wanted to find something secretly, something they didn't want to disclose publicly.
They didn't bother asking. They were only responsible for assisting and guarding them during the trip.
Most of the researchers from the capital looked down on the outpost sentinels. The sentinels also knew this, and they equally disliked those arrogant researchers.
To be honest, if they were in extreme danger, when their own lives were at stake, Xiao Niao felt she would decisively abandon the researcher who was holding them back, prioritizing her own and her brothers' lives.
But this time was different, they all wanted to protect Guide Lin, who had come with them.
This was the Captain’s order before they left, and also everyone’s wish.
So this time, the strongest sentinels of the outpost had come. They even brought Xiao Mu, whose mental body was a seal, to help speed up the underwater task, ensuring there wouldn't be any problems.
The sentinels finished lunch, prepared their weapons, and when the sun reached its highest point in the sky, Xiao Niao stood up and looked at her watch. "Alright, let's go in."
The group walked along the road.
The long-abandoned road was covered with moss, and the weeds on both sides were taller than a person.
At noon, insects chirped and birds sang. Walking amidst the shadows of the plants, it was like walking in the wilderness.
They arrived at the large red warning sign.
Stepping past it, with the next step, the surrounding scenery completely changed.
The street was still the same street, and the buildings seemed to be the same.
Only, the street suddenly became clean and tidy, stretching straight into the distance. Like time had suddenly reversed, the moss had disappeared, and the weeds were gone.
The buildings by the roadside were brand new, with soft lights on inside the houses, and the sound of soft whispers came from the air.
As if people lived in those houses with tightly closed doors and windows.
But this was a contaminated zone, with only mutated creatures.
The midday sun was gone, and hazy stars hung in the sky.
Not normal starlight, but like an oil painting, with rich yellows and mottled blues slowly swirling in the air.
“Follow me, don't touch anything,” Xiao Niao said, leading the way.
She didn’t look at the map, her steps without any hesitation, quickly moving forward.
Through quiet alleys, around intersecting roads, down messy stairs along a slope. Like she had grown up in this place.
“Xiao Niao used to live in the No. 5 Contaminated Zone,” Dahu whispered to Lin Yuan. “Ten years ago, there was a large-scale expansion here, it covered her home.”
He glanced at the female sentinel scouting ahead, and didn’t say anything more, afraid of being overheard by her.
How Xiao Niao had escaped from the contaminated zone back then, whether her family was still alive, there was no need to bring up those stories.
Everyone who lived near the contaminated zones had some sad stories they didn’t want to touch upon.
Led by Xiao Niao, they quickly arrived at the beach.
The beach was golden, like the color of real gold. The seawater was like a mirror, reflecting the beautiful, swirling, oil-painting-like starry sky.
The whole world seemed like someone's dream.
Something huge was sleeping within this dreamland.
The sentinels quickly found two small boats. The boats silently slid into the seawater, sailing quietly on the mirror-like sea.
For a moment, the boundary between sky and water was blurred, as if they were sailing on the water, yet also sailing through the starry sky.
Everyone’s movements were quiet, as if afraid of disturbing something.
“We’re here,” Xiao Niao suddenly said.
The two boats stopped, small ripples spreading from their sterns. Looking down, the water mirror reflected the brilliant starry river, and nothing of the seabed could be seen.
“Don’t worry, I’ve been down here many times.” Xiao Mu took off his shirt, revealing his thin arms, ready to jump into the water.
“Wait,” Lin Yuan stopped him. “Could you share your vision with me?”
Xiao Mu didn't understand. “Share what?”
Something icy cold appeared from somewhere, touching the center of his brows.
“Like this,” Lin Yuan said.
Xiao Mu blinked and discovered that, even though he was standing opposite Lin Yuan, looking at Lin Yuan, he could miraculously see his own face at the same time — from Lin Yuan’s perspective.
This was shared vision. He could see the world through another person’s eyes at the same time.
“Wow, this is so cool,” he said.
The slight resentment he harbored towards this big sister, who had eaten half of his flatbread, instantly vanished.
The boy, with a short dagger in his mouth, jumped into the water with a splash.
When he resurfaced, the smooth lines of his seal tail splashed water, sending droplets onto everyone in the boat.
Xiao Mu, his upper body a boy, and his lower body a seal, waved to everyone and dove into the deep sea.
Lin Yuan closed her eyes and sat down in the boat.
She saw bubbles underwater, rising upwards.
The light became very dim, she could see the boy’s moving arms from time to time.
Small schools of fish swam nearby.
She shared vision with Xiao Mu, through the eyes of the diving boy, she saw the underwater world.
The seawater always brought her a familiar and comforting feeling, like she had been living in the depths of the ocean since she was a child. The deep ocean always made her feel a sense of danger, like there were infinite secrets in the deepest depths, waiting for her to uncover with her own hands.
After a while, she saw the ship sunk at the bottom of the ocean.
The behemoth from the old era now lay quietly in the seabed mud. Layers of barnacles covered its decks and railings, the windows were all broken, like open mouths, countless small schools of fish swimming in and out.
Xiao Mu came to a porthole, put his hands on the window frame, looked inside for a while, then nimbly swam in, twisting his seal body.
It was very dark underwater, almost no light at all.
But Xiao Mu’s eyesight could adapt to this environment.
His eyes became exactly like a seal’s, large and round, crystal-like, focusing the underwater images onto his special retina, allowing him to see the hazy scene within the ship.
Lin Yuan followed his gaze, swimming into the ship, following the pre-arranged plan, swimming past the dining hall covered with algae, past the decaying bridge, through the deck, opening a cabin door, and down the mottled stairs.
In the dim, long corridor, all the cabin doors on both sides had been opened, debris that had been rummaged through floating in the crew's bedrooms.
Many searchers had been here before.
Swimming past those messy cabins, she could see one or two skeletons of dead crew members.
These skeletons were all lying in bed, as if they had sunk in their sleep, never to wake up, forever slumbering in this quiet deep sea.
They had arrived. This must be it.
Xiao Mu came to the deepest part of the corridor and grabbed the door handle of the innermost cabin.
He pushed the door open without much effort. A group of bright blue neon goby fish rushed out from inside.
Xiao Mu, used to diving in the deep sea, dodged the group of fish and looked at the cabin he had opened.
This was the captain's bedroom.
The bedroom had already been looted.
The dead captain’s remains were still there. The pale skeleton sat at a desk. The desk and chair were fixed to the floor.
The captain's body also seemed to be fixed there, crookedly maintaining his pen-holding posture, sitting silently for countless years.
The previous searchers had taken everything they could from the cabin. The desk and drawers were empty, even the small gem on the captain's hat had been pried off.
Bring back a relic of the Mary’s captain.
Xiao Mu remembered the task he had to complete. This was also the task assigned by the Special Research Department.
It seemed very simple.
What should he take back?
There wasn’t much left. Xiao Mu thought, he might as well take back the captain's hat.
He didn’t know what material it was made of, it hadn’t rotted even after being submerged in water for so many years.
Things from the old era were really good. Even the material used to make hats was different.
【The pen.】
He suddenly heard a voice.
That voice was strange, not like a person speaking, but it clearly entered his ears.
He noticed that his vision split for a moment, seeing the dark seabed, and at the same time, the sky above the sea.
It was the big sister sitting on the sea surface, opening the eyes she had kept closed.
So it was Big Sister Lin Yuan speaking.
Xiao Mu obeyed the voice and reached for the pen in the captain's hand.
The metal pen, submerged in seawater for many years, was covered in green rust, and was already worthless.
So it hadn’t caught the attention of any of the previous explorers.
Xiao Mu took the rusty pen from the captain’s hand.
【Insert it into the small hole on the desk.】 That strange voice came again.
Xiao Mu found a very inconspicuous little hole in the lower right corner of the desk.
He tentatively inserted the rusty pen into the hole. It actually fit perfectly.
Twisting gently, the pen’s body couldn't bear the force and shattered. But a drawer popped open beneath the thick, solid wood desk.
Neither he nor Lin Yuan heard the sound, at the same time the drawer opened.
As if from the darker depths of the ship, a mysterious sound from the deepest part of the ocean came faintly.
Like a sigh from a soul unwilling to leave the world, or the mysterious whispers of a deity.
Something awakened at the moment the drawer opened.
In Xiao Mu’s eyes, he saw the drawer filled with glittering imperial coins and an old, mottled wooden box.
Wow. Xiao Mu was dazzled by the brilliant golden color of the coins.
【Only take the wooden box.】 That voice in his mind came again.
But the glittering golden color seemed to bewitching, the beautiful color flowing into the boy’s heart.
So many imperial coins, if I just took a handful, my mother wouldn’t have to worry every day, and my sister could have a new pair of shoes.
Perhaps he could even buy himself a better dagger.
Or simply apply for the sentinel academy, study for a few years, and after graduating, he could become a captain, or even live near the White Tower…
As if bewitched, the more he thought, the more his fingers reached for those glittering things.
I’ll just take a little, I have to take some.
【No!】 A voice suddenly exploded in his mind.
Xiao Mu froze.
【Don't touch!】
【You can't take them!】
【Open your eyes.】
【Wake up!】
It was a command.
A series of firm commands entered his mind.
Xiao Mu jolted awake, and his round seal eyes became clear.
What he saw in the drawer wasn’t brilliant imperial coins.
The small wooden box lay in the drawer, surrounded by thin, hairy, multicolored sea worms.
He didn’t know why he had just seen these colorful, obviously poisonous, worms as imperial coins, and had even wanted to grab a handful.
He hadn’t even thought about how there could be imperial coins from this era on this old ship.
He didn't know what would happen if he were really bitten by those colorful worms.
So many people had come down to this ship, but no one had ever discovered these bewitching worms.
Fortunately, Big Sister Lin Yuan had woken him up in time. Xiao Mu broke out in a cold sweat.
He used an iron rod to push away the worms crawling in the dark seawater and wrapped the small wooden box in a piece of cloth.
“I got it,” he said in his mind.
【Come back immediately.】 That voice responded in his mind.
Having completed the task, the little seal was very happy, swaying its tail as it swam out of the cabin.
On the sea surface, the sentinels, whose senses were extremely sharp, reported the situation underwater. "He completed the task, he’s coming up."
It went smoothly, everyone relaxed.
At this time, Lin Yuan, who had been sitting on the sea with her eyes closed, moved.
She seemed to hear something.
Like a fish.
Huge, fierce.
Swimming towards them from the deep sea.
A whale.
An orca.
“Another sentinel is approaching,” Xiao Niao stood up from the boat. “A group of people, their intentions unknown. Everyone, be on guard.”
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