Invasion - Chapter 28

Chapter 28

"I remember," Tan Shu suddenly stopped, slapping his hand. "I've seen that Guide before."

When Ni Ji heard this, he didn't react at all, not even pausing his steps, just walking straight past him.

"Hey, Ni Ji," Tan Shu called out to him. "Do you remember, we’ve seen that Guide before? Just two days ago."

He stopped Ni Ji, his tone relaxed, like a casual chat between classmates and friends.

As if he wasn't the one gnashing his teeth just moments ago.

"Didn’t you save a whole airship of Guides on your way here? That Guide, the one we just saw, was also there," he smiled at Ni Ji, carefully observing his reaction, dragging out the last part of his sentence. "Do you remember? It’s quite a coincidence, isn’t it?"

A sentinel's eyesight and observation skills were always excellent, and their memories were also very strong.

He hadn't paid attention just now in his anger, but after walking for a while, he gradually remembered.

He had seen that Guide, just two days ago. At that time, among the dispirited Guides on the airship, that girl’s calmness had been striking, and she was also beautiful. Although he had only glanced at her casually, she had still left an impression in his memory.

Tan Shu spoke, observing Ni Ji's attitude.

Ni Ji didn't react at all, his cold expression unchanged, even the way he glanced at him was the same as before, indifferent, with a hint of coldness.

But Tan Shu felt like he had keenly caught something, a very slight tension appearing in Ni Ji. That feeling was minuscule, almost imperceptible. But he still caught it, he felt that beneath Ni Ji’s icy, expressionless face, there might be a secret hidden.

Tan Shu started to think carefully, and realized that he had seen that Guide more than once.

A while ago, at the banquet where the Count was assassinated, that Guide had also been there.

Of course, Tan Shu hadn't paid attention to her at the time, he only knew that there was such a person at the banquet. She had been the subject of some gossip, vaguely about being dumped by her fiancé or something.

During the latter half of that banquet, all of his attention had been on Ni Ji, he had always felt that there was something strange about Ni Ji that day.

He now remembered, at that time, when everyone in the hall was taking off their clothes for inspection, Ni Ji had glanced over at the Guides several times.

He knew Ni Ji, Ni Ji was someone who had never been interested in Guides.

Who was he looking at that day, in front of so many people, after taking off his clothes?

Could it have also been this Guide?

It might have just been a coincidence, but Tan Shu felt that there weren’t that many coincidences in the world.

"Let me think, what was her name? I've heard of her, the Guide who was dumped by Jiang Yangshuo. Seems like her surname was Lin," he finally said. "Yes, Lin, Lin Yuan."

When the words "Lin Yuan" came out of his mouth, he saw Ni Ji’s expression change for a moment, becoming very unpleasant.

Tan Shu laughed, as if he had finally gotten hold of some unknown secret of Ni Ji’s.

Every time he faced Ni Ji, the other always looked so calm and collected, making him feel very frustrated.

He couldn't control Ni Ji, he even felt that Teacher couldn’t control this guy either.

The reason he couldn’t control him was because there seemed to be nothing in this world that Ni Ji cared about.

He was alone, with no parents, all his close friends and family dead.

Like a towering mountain, standing alone in the world, with no attachments, and therefore no fear, no weakness to exploit.

But what if he had someone he cared about?

Yes, he had heard that the reason Ni Ji had been able to leave the Military Administration Office early was because a Guide had cleared his name.

A Guide again.

This was very interesting, Tan Shu thought, if Ni Ji didn’t die this time, he would definitely investigate that Guide when they returned.

Tan Shu looked again at the map in his hand. A hidden mark was secretly placed on the map, it was the newly appeared monster nest, only he knew about it.

Those terrifying monsters, there wasn’t just one, a large number lurked within.

He had meticulously planned for a long time, wanting to get rid of Ni Ji in this contaminated zone. But he always had a faint feeling that he might not succeed. Ni Ji’s strength had left a deep shadow in his heart, making him always feel that no trap was completely foolproof.

That guy always seemed to, in the end, crawl back from hell like a vengeful ghost.

Tan Shu was lost in his thoughts and didn't notice the way Ni Ji was looking at him.

Ni Ji's eyes first turned cold, then slowly filled with a chill, like frost forming on autumn tiles, cold with a hint of dampness.

He took his hand out of his pocket, walked over, and put his arm around Tan Shu’s shoulder.

"Xiao Shu," Ni Ji lowered his head, leaning close to Tan Shu, and asked, "how many times have you been in a contaminated zone?"

Back in school, they had often walked like this, with their arms around each other’s shoulders. But since coming back this time, Ni Ji hadn’t done this again.

"Ho- how many times? A few times, perhaps," Tan Shu didn't understand why Ni Ji suddenly asked this.

"A few times?" Ni Ji tightened his grip on Tan Shu’s shoulder, chuckling softly. "Do you know? I’ve been in and out of contaminated zones 380 times."

"Put away your map," his fingers pressed on Tan Shu's shoulder before letting go. "Dealing with everything in a contaminated zone, has never relied solely on information on paper."

He left those last words, his face expressionless again, and walked forward.

Tan Shu felt a cold sweat breaking out on his back. People with malicious intentions were always easily flustered.

Wh- what did he mean? He couldn’t have known, could he? That was impossible.

He stared intently at Ni Ji’s back.

Fortunately, after leaving those inexplicable words, Ni Ji didn't say anything more. He didn't pause his steps either, walking at the very front of the group.

Ni Ji was in charge of leading the way, this was the arrangement before they left. And he had always been very obedient.

The street ahead was straight, bright, and empty, it looked safe.

But Tan Shu knew in his heart, that was the place.

As long as Ni Ji took another step forward, countless black arms would surge out, grab him, and drag him into the abyss.

Tan Shu tightly gripped the secret map in his hand, standing at the very back of the group, in an area he knew was safe.

He watched Ni Ji's back as he walked forward step by step, a sudden tension in his heart.

That was the hero and idol of his youth, and he had once been his brother and friend. Now he was going to watch this person die, personally pushing him into the hell he had prepared for him.

Ni Ji kept walking forward. Just as Tan Shu’s heart tightened, he suddenly stopped and looked back at Tan Shu one last time.

"Wh- what's wrong? Did you find something?" Tan Shu asked nervously from a distance.

With the swirling starry sky behind him, Ni Ji suddenly smiled, a relaxed, relieved smile, as if he had let go of something.

He waved goodbye and walked forward.

In that instant, countless inky black hands surged out from the alley.

Five fingers like a human hand, soft arms that could extend infinitely, like black ropes of death emerging from the gates of hell, hundreds, thousands, swarming out, grabbing Ni Ji's arms and ankles, dragging him into the alley.

He didn’t even have time to say a word.

Finally, Tan Shu relaxed inwardly.

Was it finally over?

He didn't know whether he should be happy or sad.

A sense of loss washed over him.

Only, the next moment, the world turned upside down, an immense sense of weightlessness came.

A black arm from who knew where had wrapped around his arm, lifting him into the air upside down.

"Save… save me!" Tan Shu shouted in panic.

Strange, soft, long, noodle-like black arms, as if attracted by something, crawled out one after another.

From all directions, from the back of the group, from the dark, bottomless alley.

Only towards him, tightly wrapping around his arms, shoulders, neck.

Those hands piled up, layer after layer, reaching inwards, wrapping around the shoulder Ni Ji had just put his hand on. Lifting Tan Shu’s entire body, dragging him towards the dark shadows.

The sentinels, who had just started running towards where Ni Ji disappeared, reacted and rushed towards the opposite direction to rescue him. The light of their pulse guns shone, back and forth, severing countless black arms.

But the arms wrapped around Tan Shu, layer upon layer, were endless.

Those arms that were shot, fell to the ground, wriggling like thick liquid, gathering together, quickly recovering. They couldn’t be killed, they couldn’t be cut off, endless.

To rescue someone from them, they would need extremely powerful firepower, enough to sever all the black hands at once, and not injure Tan Shu, who was wrapped inside.

"Quick, pull me out!" Tan Shu desperately grabbed onto the bricks at the alley entrance, roaring at the top of his lungs.

"Pull me, you bastards, pull me out!"

"I don't want to die, I don't want to die! Help!"

No one dared to go and pull him, no one wanted to get close to those soft, strange black hands. The sentinels could only stand far away, firing, watching as their captain was dragged into the darkness bit by bit.

Tan Shu felt a bone-chilling despair.

Among all of them, only he knew what this monster was, what would happen after being dragged into its nest by this mutated creature. This was the hell he had prepared for Ni Ji.

Why?

He hadn't even stepped into the dangerous area.

He was clearly standing in the safest place.

The sentinels fired their pulse guns until the barrels overheated, the stone bricks of the streets and walls reddened and softened by the radiation energy of the electronic pulses.

But it was still useless, the black arms healed again and again, joyfully wrapping around. Tan Shu’s body was dragged bit by bit into the dark world, his voice hoarse, his mouth covered by a black hand, no longer able to shout for help.

The sentinels started slowly retreating. They knew it was useless, they couldn’t save him, and they might even get themselves caught if they weren’t careful.

This was the first time they had experienced the terror of the No. 5 Contaminated Zone, even in the safe "daytime", before "nighttime" arrived. But with a single misstep, in an instant, they had lost both their captain and Ni Ji.

Yes, and Ni Ji.

At this moment, from the alley where Ni Ji had been dragged into, countless crescent-shaped red blade lights exploded.

Those blade lights, soaring into the sky, shredded the tightly wrapped black arms.

Ni Ji, holding an eerie red blade, rolled out from the devouring darkness. As soon as he escaped, his feet finding solid ground, he bit open the incendiary grenade he carried with him, threw it behind him, exerted force in his feet, and with a few leaps, disengaged from the battle, standing in a safe zone far away from danger.

He stood there, purple light still glowing in his eyes, blood from the blade cuts on his hand, his entire body radiating killing intent. The bright light of the explosion reflected on his cold face.

Alone, without any assistance, he had escaped the monster's entanglement, almost completely unscathed.

"Ni Ji, Ni Ji, you actually escaped," the sentinel closest to Tan Shu said, surprised and delighted. "Quick, go save the captain."

He stopped mid-sentence, looking at Ni Ji's expression, his voice inexplicably weakened.

Ni Ji, holding his blood-red blade, his back to the light, cold purple light burning in his eyes, looked back at the alley where Tan Shu was still struggling, his feet motionless.

The streetlights cast his long shadow on the ground, and that shadow looked like the eerie black hands that had grabbed Tan Shu.

The sentinel silently swallowed his words.

He understood that Ni Ji wouldn’t move. He himself didn't dare to go, so he naturally wasn’t qualified to tell Ni Ji, who had just escaped, to go.

Suddenly, he had a feeling that Ni Ji knew everything.

He knew all of Tan Shu’s plans, knew about Tan Shu’s malicious intentions towards him.

When it happened, Ni Ji and Tan Shu had been far apart. Ni Ji had even fallen into danger before Tan Shu. Ni Ji could be said to be completely innocent in Tan Shu's plight, without any responsibility.

But he had a faint feeling that Tan Shu’s death couldn’t be separated from Ni Ji. Thinking of this, he couldn’t help but shiver, these words he would never say to anyone.

He looked at the man with the cold expression under the night sky.

This was a vengeful ghost, a god of death, someone a small fry like him should never provoke.

Since Tan Shu had already fallen in, he was a dead man. No one would risk their own safety for a dead man.

The purple light in Ni Ji's eyes gradually faded, his dark eyes coldly watching the alley that had been destroyed by the pulse guns.

The black fog in the alley had already retreated to the deepest depths, even with a sentinel’s vision, they could no longer see Tan Shu’s body. He had been completely swallowed. Only a blood-stained hand reached out from the last bit of shadow for a moment, futilely trying to grab something, before being pulled back completely by three or four black hands that grabbed his fingers.

Ni Ji remembered his school days, how he would often climb over the wall of the sentinel academy, crouching there, reaching out to Tan Shu. "Xiao Shu, we’re sneaking out, do you want to come with me?"

At that time, Tan Shu, although hesitant, would always reach out to him in the end.

Goodbye, Xiao Shu.

Ni Ji picked up the map and backpack Tan Shu had dropped on the street, glanced at them casually, turned around, and walked forward.

"Wait, Ni Ji," a sentinel came forward and called out to Ni Ji. "The captain is gone, you lead the way for the rest of us."

"Yes, Ni Ji, you lead, we’ll follow you."

"We’ll listen to you."

The sentinels all gathered around.

Even the sentinels who had always been closest to Tan Shu expressed their stance.

"The captain is gone, we’ll listen to you."

They were all from the Sentinel Academy. Back in their youth, who hadn’t admired Ni Ji, the sunny, powerful senior who could lead the team to victory?

Only, these past few years, following the principal, following Tan Shu, they had gradually stopped valuing ability. They learned to dress up, compare who was better at figuring out their superiors’ intentions, and flatter them.

Having entered a hellish battlefield like the contaminated zone, they finally remembered their instincts as sentinels, remembered that strength was a sentinel’s most important survival skill.

Someone as strong as Ni Ji, venturing alone, could enter and exit a contaminated zone, bringing out a whole airship of people.

Alone, with a single blade, he could escape from the swamp-like monsters, unscathed.

This was the leader they truly admired.

"If you want to follow, then follow," Ni Ji put away his blade, wiping his blood-stained left hand on his clothes.

The fingers that had touched Tan Shu's shoulder rubbed back and forth on his clothes nervously.

He knew in his heart that the fingertips of that hand had once touched the inducer, had silently pressed onto Tan Shu’s shoulder.

Although the drug had long been washed away by the blood, Ni Ji still felt like something was stuck there.

The life of a friend from his youth.

The sentinels behind him thought he was still that senior, wanting to get close to him. But he was no longer that person.

He was just a madman, a vengeful ghost who hadn't died yet, his hands stained with blood, walking on a dead-end road with no future.

Anyone who touched him would be dragged into a bottomless vortex.

His world was dark, stained with blood.

If there was anyone who had ever given him a little bit of warmth during these bloody years, it was only that Guide, who had given him a cup of warm water in front of the torture rack.

As he strode forward, the skin on Ni Ji's ankle inexplicably itched. He remembered the feeling of a tentacle brushing against that spot, thought of her bright eyes and clean face.

Even though he hadn't done anything, hadn’t even dared to say a word to her.

He had still almost caused her to be noticed by others.

She was a Guide, and should be admired and cherished by sentinels, living in a peaceful and safe world.

She shouldn’t encounter someone like him.

From now on, he wouldn't think about her anymore.

Wouldn't have any connection with her.

It was just a pity, he really wanted to have a proper conversation with her.

…

Joyful music seemed to be coming from somewhere, the vortex-like, swirling stars in the sky, as if summoned, suddenly became bright and brilliant, spinning with flowing colors.

The thick and still canvas, at this moment, came alive.

Whose dream had awakened?

By that golden beach, wet bodies slowly crawled out from the seabed one after another. Those black, damp bodies slowly lined up, walking towards the empty, lit streets.

"What's going on?"

"What happened?"

The sentinels under the starry sky looked at the suddenly changing world and asked uneasily.

"It's 'nighttime'," Ni Ji looked at the night sky above, his brows furrowed, and said in a deep voice. "'Nighttime' has arrived early."

"How is that possible? There’s still a lot of time left."

"How could ‘nighttime’ arrive early?"

"Why is this happening? It won't be easy for us to get out now."

The sentinels panicked. Everyone knew that when “nighttime” arrived, all the sleeping monsters would awaken, and this place would become a "living" world.

To survive the "nighttime" in a contaminated zone, even for a sentinel, was extremely dangerous.

"Let's go," Ni Ji lowered his center of gravity, exerted force in his feet, and sprinted along the brightening street at full speed.

As he ran, he couldn’t help but think, had that person already left?

Had those sentinels protected her?

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