Invasion - Chapter 31
Chapter 31
Lin Yuan discovered that the further she went into the contaminated zone, the more normal the monsters became.
Not normal in their appearance, but their minds tended towards a strange stability and maturity. Stability meant more logical thinking ability. This made Lin Yuan have to be even more cautious.
The monsters' lives here also became very orderly, as if they were living in this world in their own special way.
Lin Yuan even felt like living here wasn't so bad.
A mutated creature walked towards Lin Yuan.
He had a very standard and perfect human male body, wearing a well-tailored suit.
But from the neck up, he had a tall, thin, metallic triangular pyramid. Human skin and half-corroded metal were fused together at the neck.
On the pointed triangular pyramid, there was an unusually large eye. The eye blinked, looking down at Lin Yuan, who was sitting by the road.
"You seem a little different from us?"
"No, you're mistaken, we look the same," Lin Yuan said firmly and calmly.
Along the way, she had figured out a pattern for dealing with them.
The tentacles of her mental body stealthily extended, connecting to the mutated creature's brain, touching his mental world.
Although his triangular pyramid head looked strange, there were thoughts and emotions inside. With these, she could communicate, and subtly influence him.
The mutated creature looked a little confused, as if he saw Lin Yuan with a similar triangular pyramid head.
His single eye blinked, and he quickly smiled. "Sorry, miss, I was mistaken."
"Why are you sitting here? Do you need any help?" The large eye in the middle of the triangular pyramid looked gentle.
"It’s nothing, I’m just a little hungry," Lin Yuan said.
She was very experienced in blending in with crowds, whether it was among humans or monsters.
The more calm and casual she was, the less likely she was to trigger the other person's vigilance, preventing them from suddenly noticing her differences.
She had been in the No. 5 Contaminated Zone for twenty hours, and had only eaten a piece of flatbread from Xiao Mu. Running around, with her mental strength highly concentrated, she was indeed consuming it rather quickly.
"Triangular Pyramid" took out a paper bag from somewhere and handed it to Lin Yuan.
Lin Yuan took the paper bag, opened it, and saw a still-warm steamed bun, soft and fluffy, with a cute little red dot in the middle.
Lin Yuan broke off a piece. It felt no different from normal human food, she took a bite, and found it quite delicious, so she said, "Thank you."
"Triangular Pyramid’s" eye crinkled into a smile, and he politely bid her farewell.
【Can she really eat that?】
【It’s pretty good.】
【Let me try some.】
【I’m hungry.】
【Triangular Pyramid is a good person.】
【Let’s call him Mr. Triangular Pyramid from now on.】
Walking and stopping like this along the way, she finally arrived at the center of the vortex.
The center of the vortex, where all the bright spots converged, that she had seen from above, was actually a giant palace.
The palace's style was both ancient and futuristic, combining totem elements from the ancient human era with architectural techniques from the high-tech era.
Its outer walls were smooth as a mirror, towering into the clouds, and reflective detection devices shaped like human eyes roamed the walls.
The main gate was grand and majestic, with resplendent glazed tiles, upturned eaves like flying wings, and solemn, magnificent red pillars. Dense electromagnetic pulse weapons hung from the tops of the pillars, ready to annihilate any intruders.
Not to mention Lin Yuan alone, even a whole team of sentinels would have a hard time getting over this wall.
Yet this was where the "Pillar" was located, the only place to get the key.
Lin Yuan crouched near the gate of the "palace," observing the monsters coming and going.
Most of those entering and exiting were monsters with different shaped metal heads. Their way of entering and exiting was unusual. They just stood outside the gate for a moment, their bodies would flicker, and then disappear.
Sometimes, she would see a metal head leading a string of mutated creatures of all sizes, connected by a rope.
Whether they were behemoths several meters tall, or miniature mutated creatures only the size of a fist, those ferocious and terrifying beings, when they arrived here, all became docile, like they had lost their souls, obediently strung together, led to the gate to wait for a short while, and after a moment, their bodies flickering, they all disappeared.
Lin Yuan watched the monsters disappearing at the gate, wondering how she could get in.
She suddenly thought of the sentinel, that big fish had probably already gone in, right?
Eh, strange, he was clearly a sentinel, or at least an orca, when did she get used to calling him big fish?
At this time, Lin Yuan saw a familiar figure appear at the gate.
The mutated creature with the metal head, wearing a suit, appeared outside the palace gate.
He stood by the gate, tilting his head in thought for a while, before hurriedly walking forward.
【Eh, it’s the guy who gave us the steamed bun.】
【It's Mr. Triangular Pyramid.】
【Let’s see what he’s doing.】
The tentacles, having eaten his food, happily swam over from underground.
They sensed a very obvious outward emotion, those muttered words, accompanied by anxious surface consciousness, were caught by the tentacles and transmitted to Lin Yuan.
“His Majesty’s cat is sick.”
“His Majesty is very sad.”
“Needs treatment.”
“Where can I find a veterinarian?”
Lin Yuan suddenly had an idea.
Mr. Triangular Pyramid, muttering to himself, stopped.
He saw Lin Yuan standing in front of him.
The single large eye in the middle of the metal triangular pyramid first looked confused, then gradually remembered. He smiled gently.
"Is that you? We meet again, miss. Why are you here?"
Lin Yuan opened her mouth. "I'm a veterinarian. I can treat cats."
Very calm, very composed, serious, with an unquestionable authority, not explaining anything at all.
"Triangular Pyramid’s" eye blinked, and he didn't think too much about it. He excitedly grabbed Lin Yuan's hand and shook it.
"That's great! His Majesty’s cat is sick, please help us."
Who was His Majesty? Lin Yuan didn’t think about it, she didn't know, in any case, being able to enter that palace was enough.
Mr. "Triangular Pyramid" led Lin Yuan to the palace gate. He gently held Lin Yuan's hand, and a blinding white light flashed.
When she opened her eyes again, the surrounding scenery had changed.
They were already inside the palace.
The interior of the palace was even more magnificent and grand than Lin Yuan had imagined, the word luxurious wasn’t enough to describe it.
The high, open dome, the jade pillars, the gold-paved floor.
The plants in the garden were all artificially made.
Jade carved leaves, flowers inlaid with gemstones. Even the mechanical kingfishers standing on the branches were covered with sapphire shells, singing beautiful songs when people passed by.
The tentacles excitedly roamed around, but returned soon after.
【Not many living things.】 They said sullenly.
What the tentacles could sense was the mental world. An emotionally rich mental world was colorful in their eyes.
No matter how rare the gemstone flower trees were, no matter how beautiful the mechanical kingfishers’ songs were, to them, they were just lifeless objects without color.
This huge palace, cold and empty, with only a few mutated creatures roaming around, was very boring for the tentacles.
"You can go anywhere, just not that building," Mr. Triangular Pyramid, as he walked, pointed to a tall, magnificent domed building in the garden. "That's where His Majesty rests, we can't disturb him."
Lin Yuan made a sound of acknowledgement, remembering the location.
She didn't need to remember, that building was very conspicuous, like a giant birdcage reaching into the sky, only its exterior decorations were more luxurious.
"Also, don’t go near the gate without me," he told Lin Yuan, reminding her to be careful. "The gate will kill you."
Lin Yuan asked, "Then how do I get out?"
"Why would you want to leave?" The single large eye blinked, a puzzled look appearing, then he said gently, "Since you’ve come in, why would you still want to leave? There's everything here, it’s a paradise."
【I thought this place would be fun.】
【Turns out it’s just like the White Tower.】
【Ugh, even the steamed bun doesn’t taste good anymore.】
【Hurry up, let’s leave as soon as we get the key.】
【Eh, look who I found…】
Chattering, a few tentacles quietly swam away.
Triangular Pyramid led Lin Yuan to a room.
The excessively spacious room was empty. Other than the doors and windows, the walls were pure white and smooth. There wasn't any furniture, only in the center of the floor, there was an overly luxurious silk cat bed.
A small black cat huddled in the corner of the room. The empty, white room made it very uneasy. When it saw someone coming in, it puffed up its fur, arching its back.
To Lin Yuan’s surprise, it was an actual, living cat. Not a mutated creature, not a mechanical creation, but an ordinary cat from the normal world.
"His Majesty likes this little cat very much," Mr. Triangular Pyramid stood at the door, his hand supporting his chin, a troubled look on his face. "But it seems very scared of us, it hasn't eaten much since coming here."
Lin Yuan crouched down near the black cat, extending a finger.
Who wants to go?
A group of tentacles happily wriggled forward.
The black cat was quickly soothed by the skillful tentacles, purring, and rolling over to show Lin Yuan its soft, white belly.
Lin Yuan reached out and scratched the cat’s chin, picking it up.
"Wow, your technique is amazing," Triangular Pyramid sincerely praised.
"It needs unsalted food, clean water, and a cat bed where it can hide," Lin Yuan said seriously, giving a series of instructions. "This room is too big, find a smaller one, prepare some shelves for the cat to climb on, and a sisal scratching post…"
Triangular Pyramid kept nodding, took out a pen and paper to carefully record everything, and quickly went to handle it, leaving Lin Yuan alone with the cat.
Lin Yuan, holding the purring kitten, wandered around the palace garden.
No one interfered with her actions. Every mutated creature with a metal head, when they saw the cat in her hand, would stop, with a gentle smile on their faces.
"Oh, it’s His Majesty’s cat."
"It’s finally calmed down."
"That’s good, His Majesty doesn't have to be sad anymore."
They said these things, as if the cat was the center of everything, as for whether Lin Yuan’s identity was strange, whether she was an outsider, as long as she could soothe the kitten, it didn't matter at all.
Such a big palace, where was she supposed to find the “Pillar”?
Lin Yuan had asked Xiao Mu what the “Pillar” looked like.
Xiao Mu looked a little troubled. “I don't know how to describe it, it’s just very, very big, towering, you’ll know when you see it.”
Lin Yuan wandered aimlessly through the gem-filled garden, searching for something very large and towering, something she would know when she saw it.
She didn't see any particularly large or conspicuous creatures.
Occasionally, she would encounter a “metal head” leading a group of dazed-looking mutated creatures, she didn't know where they were going.
A small metal head, with a square metal head, hopped past Lin Yuan, leading a string of mutated creatures.
The tentacles suddenly became excited, poking Lin Yuan.
Lin Yuan looked up and saw a familiar face in the group bound by ropes.
It was that sentinel.
Ni Ji, who had arrived here before her.
Ni Ji didn’t know how he had gotten in. At this moment, he was wearing a strange skeleton, like some kind of fish skeleton that hadn’t fully transformed, crooked, pale, and bony.
Even though he was wearing that strange, white thing, with Lin Yuan’s eyesight, she could tell at a glance that he was human.
But the "square metal head" seemed blind, not distinguishing him from the mutated creatures.
The tentacles pointed at their discovery.
【Look, it's little fish.】
【What, little fish is here too?】
【I found him long ago.】
【I was the first to find him.】
【I want to go touch him.】
Lin Yuan winked at Ni Ji in the group of monsters.
Ni Ji, as if he didn't know her at all, walked past her with a wooden expression.
Only, at the moment they passed each other, he suddenly twisted his rope-bound wrist slightly.
A hand miraculously slipped out of the rope loop and stuffed something into the hand Lin Yuan was using to hold the cat.
Lin Yuan really didn’t know how he had done that. She didn’t expect anyone to have such nimble movements.
It hadn’t even been a blink of an eye. The sentinel, passing by, had stuffed a cold, round, thin object into her hand.
By the time Lin Yuan reacted, looking back at him, the sentinel’s wrist had already returned to the rope loop, tightly bound again, as if it hadn’t come out at all.
The tall, thin sentinel, through the pale fish skeleton, glanced at her.
Then he discreetly glanced towards the huge, standalone domed building in the center of the courtyard.
Lin Yuan quietly rubbed the small, round object hidden in her palm. It felt like a man-made sensor for opening a door. It should be usable for opening a certain lock.
To that towering giant birdcage where the king slumbered. To open the door, to go in and search.
Why hadn’t she thought of that before? In the entire courtyard, only that standalone building towered into the clouds.
If she was looking for something towering, it was most likely in that building.
"He, is he telling me to go to that building to look for the key?”
【Maybe.】
【Should I follow him and touch him, to confirm whether that’s what he’s thinking?】
【I’ll go.】
【I want to go too.】
【Don't run so fast, wait for me.】
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