Invasion - Chapter 36
Chapter 36
Ni Ji, supporting himself against the wall, slowly stood up in the narrow, dim alley.
His expression looked calm, without any unnecessary emotions, but cold sweat streamed down his forehead like rain.
Before he could even fully straighten his body, he collapsed.
He fell to the ground, used his arms to prop himself up, held onto the wall, and tried to stand up again.
This time, both his hands and legs trembled uncontrollably. Before he could even halfway stand, he fell again, losing his strength.
Lin Yuan reached out to help him, her hand touching warm blood.
Ni Ji closed his eyes and lay there for a while without opening them. "Wait for me for a bit, just a little longer,"
His voice sounded a little desolate.
He knew better than Lin Yuan that he might not be able to stand up. His body hurt too much, bone-deep pain everywhere, beyond the control of his will.
But what could he say?
Blame Lin Yuan for being so foolish, returning to the net, trapping both of them here? Blame Lin Yuan for not listening to him, for not leaving on her own?
He couldn’t say those words. He didn't want to say them.
"Actually, I have an idea," Ni Ji heard the Guide’s hesitant voice.
He opened his eyes.
Lin Yuan had an idea, she had thought about it on the way here.
But now, when she had to say it, she hesitated.
Lin Yuan wasn't an indecisive person. She always made decisions resolutely, whether it was taking risks, getting injured, or gambling with her life. Once she made up her mind, she no longer hesitated.
But this time, what she was putting on the gambling table was an innocent life that didn’t belong to her. So she hesitated again and again before finally speaking.
"I have an idea, maybe we can try it."
The sentinel’s eyes opened, clear and focused, looking at her seriously.
"When I was very young, my father taught me a method," Lin Yuan said, rubbing her fingers back and forth. "My father was also a Guide. He taught me how to enter deep into a sentinel's mental landscape, block their pain receptors, increase their adrenaline secretion…"
"That way, they wouldn’t feel pain, wouldn't feel tired. They could keep running, until death."
Lin Yuan saw the sentinel’s eyes light up.
"That's a good idea," he said with certainty.
Lin Yuan paused, she didn't tell Ni Ji. The one who had taught her this, step by step, was her father, who was a Guide. And that time, the sentinel whose pain receptors she and her father had blocked, was her mother.
Her mother was a powerful sentinel. But her mother had died on that snowy night.
"That time, I survived. The sentinel I controlled died in the snow."
Lin Yuan’s tone was very calm when she said this, she was certain there wasn't anything unusual about her tone.
Only, why did the sentinel sitting across from her show sadness in his eyes?
Lin Yuan realized she was improving.
From such a distance, without any physical contact or the use of her tentacles, just by looking at a person’s eyes, she could understand their feelings.
This was a good thing, she thought, her heart calm.
"That was when you were little, we can try again," the sentinel in front of her said gently. "This time, perhaps both of us can get out alive."
He was clearly a weak and powerless little fish, injured, sitting among a pile of debris. Why did he still give off a gentle and powerful feeling?
Like a beautiful and gentle princess sitting on her throne in a fairy tale world.
Lin Yuan subconsciously smelled the blood on her palm, it was just the ordinary smell of blood, where had she just smelled the sweetness she liked?
She took out a small towel from her backpack and carefully wiped her palm clean.
Only after her hand was white and warm again, without a trace of dirt, did she reach out towards the sentinel sitting before her.
She watched as her hand slowly covered Ni Ji's handsome face.
"Are you sure?" she asked one last time before pressing her hand down. "I'm going to a very deep place, I've only done this once, a long time ago, I don't know what kind of harm it’ll cause you."
The sentinel’s beautiful face was now covered, and Lin Yuan could only see his pale jawline and blood-stained lips.
Separated by a hand, they couldn't see each other's eyes. This seemed to make many things easier to say.
Those thin lips parted slightly. "I want to tell you, earlier, when I was caught by those monsters, I was actually very scared."
"For people like us, the most terrifying ending is falling into the hands of monsters. Unable to live, unable to die, tortured alive, until we kneel and surrender, letting ourselves become monsters just like them."
"So, I… I'm glad you came back to save me."
"If I die later, that will be my own choice, and it wouldn’t be a bad ending for a sentinel. You don't have to be sad for me. Really."
Lin Yuan replied, "Okay."
"Wait, there's one more thing," Ni Ji paused, his beautiful lips curving into a smile. "I haven’t formally introduced myself to you yet."
Lin Yuan felt the sentinel’s eyelashes trembling against her palm, like butterfly wings brushing past, it tickled a little.
"Hello, my name is Ni Ji," she heard the sentinel under her palm say.
I didn't properly introduce myself to you before, I didn’t leave a polite first impression. This time, let me reintroduce my name.
I want to know you, I’m willing to add you as a contact.
Even if it's just to be friends, a friendship that might not last.
"Hello, my name is Lin Yuan," Lin Yuan pressed her hand down, covering his eyes.
She once again entered that ocean. Entered Ni Ji’s mental landscape.
The deep blue seawater gently embraced her. Compared to the forceful intrusion last time, this time, the sound of waves was soft in her ears.
Every bubble in the seawater, every shimmering light, seemed to welcome her arrival, swirling around her.
Lin Yuan kept diving downwards.
Her body in the water, moving freely.
She turned over in the water, and her beautiful skirt spread out, floating in the deep blue sea.
The large crinoline seemed like a soft jellyfish swimming, her legs disappeared, and the tentacles extended their bodies, flowing out from beneath the skirt.
The captivating and boundless underwater garden appeared before her eyes.
Lin Yuan, as she swam, saw the injured orca.
The half-human, half-orca was lying on a rock at the bottom of the sea, its tail badly injured, drooping pitifully at the edge of the reef. He had the same face as Ni Ji.
Hearing the sound of Lin Yuan swimming, he raised his face from the rock and looked up.
Lin Yuan swam past above him, and the tentacles reached down, gently touching his injured tail.
This time, there was no one guarding here, ready to fight her. The orca guarding the mental landscape lowered its head docilely.
Lin Yuan swam deeper. Past the beautiful corals and seaweed, down the cascading reefs, in a deeper place, where a faint, beautiful light shone, there was a castle-like underwater palace.
Like the beautiful castle where a mermaid princess lived, agates and corals formed its pillars, the roof radiating a rainbow-like light, brilliant pearls and colorful shells scattered all over the floor.
Starfish slowly crawled on the soft sand, colorful small fish shuttled through them, and the shimmering gemstones and flowing silk confused the intruder’s eyes.
Lin Yuan carefully pushed open the palace gate, swimming in gently, trying her best not to touch any of the soft and beautiful things here.
Small bubbles rose from the open shells. Many faces of Ni Ji could be seen within.
This was the deepest part of Ni Ji’s mental landscape, connected to the sentinel’s most hidden mental world.
It could be said that if Lin Yuan were to recklessly destroy this place, it would instantly kill Ni Ji.
He was completely defenseless against her.
This was the place. Lin Yuan stopped at a certain spot.
Soft tentacles crawled along the palace walls, the stone pillars. They extended, reaching towards the shimmering, hidden place.
In the real world, in that messy, narrow little alley, Ni Ji stood up.
His legs had just been reconnected, the broken bones didn’t even have splints, and his body was in a very bad state, the unhealed wounds still bleeding.
But miraculously, he couldn’t feel any pain at all.
The fatigue and weakness had vanished, and even from the depths of his heart, a sense of excitement surged.
Ni Ji knew that this was because the Guide had invaded the depths of his mind, controlling his physical condition.
This state of not being affected by pain at all came at the cost of overdrawing his body, it could only be maintained for a short time.
But it didn’t matter, as long as he could leave this place, as long as he could get out alive, he was willing to bear any consequences.
"Let's go," he said to Lin Yuan beside him.
The huge orca appeared out of thin air. A small part of the orca’s tail showed signs of bone decay,
But as if it didn't notice, with purple flames burning in its eyes, the moment it appeared, it slammed into several metal-headed mutated guards, charging towards the gate.
At the palace gate, the chaotic scene hadn't ended yet.
The little boy's body had become small, like fireflies, repeatedly crawling up from the bloody mess.
The guards, holding nets, were frantically catching them.
The giant whale slammed open the gate and charged out first. A group of little boys followed, fleeing in all directions.
Ni Ji pulled Lin Yuan, carrying the light Guide on his back, and with a few leaps, left the gate, disappearing into the distance.
Lin Yuan lay on Ni Ji’s back. The sentinel's speed was very fast, even faster than Xiao Niao flying in the air.
As he leapt high into the air, Lin Yuan saw the small boys swarming out on the ground, and also the black cat that had slipped out amidst the chaos.
A fist-sized boy clung tightly to the black cat's back, his head buried in the cat’s fur.
He had become so small. Lin Yuan thought, this was the price he paid. But he must have been very happy.
Ni Ji ran across the rooftops, the big fish swimming ahead of them, under the magical starry sky.
The night wind against her face felt cold.
This feeling was very similar to that snowy night.
Lin Yuan lay on the sentinel's broad back, the feeling of weightlessness from running making the surrounding scenery blur.
Memories from her childhood, however, gradually became clear.
That night, heavy snow had fallen. Amidst the white snow, a raging fire burned.
When she woke up, her father was gone. Her mother, holding her, was lying in the snow.
Little Lin Yuan stood up from her mother's body, barefoot, standing in a world of white.
Snow fell from the gray sky, the earth desolate, her mother's body lying at her feet.
Before dying, her father had sealed her emotions. She stood alone in the snow, wanting to cry but feeling no pain in her chest, wanting to leave but not knowing where to go.
In the vast, jade-like world, a lonely little monster remained.
From then on, she didn't know what sadness or joy was.
Ni Ji ran through the night sky.
Lin Yuan closed her eyes, focusing on her mental world.
Faster, she thought, even faster.
He couldn’t hold on much longer.
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