Invasion - Chapter 44
Chapter 44
The guard saluted Jiang Yangshuo.
Jiang Yangshuo was a mid-level officer of the Royal Guard, and also a member of the Jiang family, so he was one of the people in charge of the murder investigation.
The guard became nervous after seeing Jiang Yangshuo. He now came back to his senses, realizing that he had inexplicably revealed some details about the case to a young girl, and felt ashamed.
He didn’t know that he had just been influenced by Lin Yuan’s tentacles.
Seeing his superior’s unhappy expression, he asked nervously, “What’s wrong, Officer Jiang? Is there a problem with these two?”
Jiang Yangshuo’s expression was grim. He stared at the sentinel standing behind Lin Yuan for a while, his gaze sweeping over the messy tools scattered on the floor, then finally landing on Lin Yuan.
“Xiao Yuan,” Jiang Yangshuo suppressed his discomfort, forcing down the unpleasant words in his throat, and asked softly, “what are you doing here?”
Lin Yuan received a very complex emotion.
It contained a series of fluctuating changes, such as sadness, heartache, anger, possessiveness, loss, madness, it was too chaotic for her to understand.
She didn't bother trying to figure it out.
She didn’t know how to respond, so she imitated a reason she often heard.
“Sorry, I just couldn’t help myself, made a small mistake,” Lin Yuan shrugged, feeling that even her actions were very similar. “He’s too beautiful, I lost control for a moment.”
Her tentacles had heard these words countless times. Sentinels who betrayed their partners basically all said this, it must be a valid reason.
When she had seen Jiang Yangshuo holding another girl’s hand, he had also said to her, his face pale, “I’m sorry, Xiao Yuan. I just couldn’t help myself.”
She and Jiang Yangshuo were already over, this one explanation should be enough, right?
Very thoughtful, and gentle, a perfect performance, very much like a normal "ex"-fiancée. Lin Yuan praised herself.
Of course, nothing had happened between her and Ni Ji. But she didn’t want to explain, this pretense could help Ni Ji, and it also gave her a secret sense of pleasure, although she didn't know why.
Jiang Yangshuo gritted his teeth.
Lin Yuan’s answer was absent-minded, she didn't even bother making a proper excuse.
He knew that Lin Yuan had just returned, so this sentinel was probably just a “fling” she had found at this banquet.
He hadn't imagined Lin Yuan would do this kind of thing. In the past, unless necessary, Lin Yuan hadn't liked occasions like this at all, nor had she known any sentinels other than him.
After a short time apart, when they met again, she seemed to have completely changed. At least, Lin Yuan wouldn’t have made this kind of joke before, speaking in such a sarcastic tone.
When she had been with him, she had been like a porcelain doll, living in her own world, not talkative, without much expression.
Now, when she spoke, her eyes sparkled with a hint of cunning, making her already beautiful face even more lively.
Like a butterfly that had been dormant for a long time, finally breaking out of its cocoon, spreading its wings. But she was flying towards the blue sky, no longer in his grasp.
During the time they had been apart, Jiang Yangshuo couldn't help but ask around, hearing a lot about her. She had gone to the Dongbin outpost, she had actually entered a contaminated zone.
Even in the Royal Guard, he would occasionally hear her name. Those people, talking casually, passing by him,
"I heard there’s a Guide who went to a contaminated zone."
"That’s really surprising, is there actually such a daring person among Guides?"
"It’s said that it’s a female Guide."
"My god, I really want to know who it is."
"Actually, thinking about it, it would be pretty good to have a Guide in the war zone. Injecting Guide pheromones is completely useless at critical moments."
"Exactly, at critical moments, having a Guide present could save so many lives. Only, we didn't dare to think about it before."
They didn’t know that the Guide they were talking about should have been his wife.
It was ironic, thinking about it. When Lin Yuan was with him, he hadn’t felt that Lin Yuan’s mental guidance was particularly compatible with him.
But during this time, the time Lin Yuan had been away, no matter which Guide channeled him, it always felt like there was a layer of cotton between them, weak and powerless.
He could no longer experience that feeling of his heart being cleansed, the darkness and gloom completely disappearing.
When he and Lin Yuan had broken up, his father had been furious.
"You idiot," his father had cursed. "You don’t understand what a 70% compatibility rate means. You don’t know what the strength of her mental power represents. Just you wait, you’ll regret it."
He had been very stubborn at that time, not listening to those words, thinking he would never regret it. The only one who might regret it was Lin Yuan.
But Lin Yuan had taken off their engagement ring and thrown it into the sewer right in front of him.
She had really just left, without looking back.
She changed her assignment, went to an outpost, entered contaminated zones, mixed with a group of sentinels, and could even casually find a lover at a banquet.
Such a lack of etiquette, such wanton behavior.
Jiang Yangshuo didn't know why he still couldn't help but pay attention to her, if he had any backbone, he should have forgotten about her long ago.
But his heart was always anxious. Even mental guidance couldn’t alleviate his anxiety and irritability.
This anxiety accumulated in his heart, more and more, as if something was missing, never to be retrieved.
Jiang Yangshuo stared at Lin Yuan, his eyes red.
Lin Yuan's eyes looked innocent and naive, as if she didn't know what he was going through at all.
"Lin Yuan," he took two steps forward, reaching out, wanting to pull Lin Yuan, who was far away, closer.
Ni Ji, behind Lin Yuan, stepped forward, blocking Lin Yuan behind him.
As Ni Ji passed by, Lin Yuan noticed a sudden change in the sentinel’s aura.
【Wow.】
【What’s going on?】
【Little fishy suddenly became so handsome.】
After Jiang Yangshuo appeared, the listless tentacles raised their heads one after another.
He was still wearing that wrinkled shirt, the top two buttons undone, but the person inside seemed completely different.
His eyes were cold and dangerous, a stable strength radiating from him, his every move exuding a powerful aura, like a truly powerful beast.
His open collar revealed a bit of his chest, his muscles sexy, his waist narrow, his legs long, his body proportions perfect.
He looked at Jiang Yangshuo with cold disdain.
Lin Yuan didn't understand the situation at all.
Sentinels really were strange creatures sometimes.
Right before her eyes, the man who had just been so fragile and soft, had, with a shake, turned into a battle-ready giant whale of the deep sea, a ferocious beast radiating killing intent.
Ni Ji, standing in front of Lin Yuan, didn't hide the hostility in his eyes, it was very obvious.
Jiang Yangshuo recognized this sentinel, an orca. A commoner sentinel who had just been promoted from an outpost. His status low, his rank low.
A huge wave of anger surged in Jiang Yangshuo’s heart, he remembered the scene of this man’s mental body appearing.
The giant whale head emerging from the roof, deeply humiliating all the sentinels present at the time, including him.
Lin Yuan was actually mixing with such a lowly person.
A low-level sentinel from a commoner background.
A cheetah’s low growl came from underground. A pair of giant, golden beast eyes appeared in the void behind Jiang Yangshuo.
Ni Ji, facing him, smiled faintly. He didn’t even materialize his mental body, just loosened his wrist with one hand.
That smile was too hateful, that hand wearing a black glove, bloodstains on his sleeve, the bite mark on his forearm stung Jiang Yangshuo’s eyes.
A giant, spotted cheetah stepped out from the void.
The atmosphere tensed, a confrontation.
Wildcat versus orca, a battle about to break out.
【Wow!】
【Fight, fight, fight!】
【Quick!】
【Pull their hair!】
【Rip their clothes!】
【Scratch their faces!】
【Rip their… you know.】
【I love this kind of thing.】
"Officer Jiang, this isn’t the time for this," the guard who had entered first hurriedly pulled Jiang Yangshuo back.
He now understood. It had nothing to do with an assassin. He had simply gotten involved in a romantic dispute.
Looking at Officer Jiang's expression, this Guide seemed like a formidable person, able to suppress a tall and strong sentinel, and even make the noble-born Jiang Yangshuo furious.
She herself was calm and collected, with an innocent look, ready to watch the show from the sidelines.
The guards, crammed into the small room, who had come to search for a murderer, felt like they had come to the wrong place.
For a moment, they didn't know whether to leave or stay. They could only pull Jiang Yangshuo back, advising him to focus on the big picture, to deal with the important matters first.
As for the murderer, the murderer definitely wasn't any of these people. He had never seen a killer who, right after committing murder, still had time to fight over love affairs. What a waste of his time.
The door was wide open, and the noise from outside came in. The hurried footsteps of sentinels passing back and forth.
The confused shouts and conversations of the guests who had been driven out of the rooms mixed together.
The crowd outside moved chaotically, countless gazes looking in.
Jiang Yangshuo's eyes burned with anger. He endured and endured.
Finally, he dismissed his mental body, waving to the guards.
"Let's go, let's search somewhere else."
Having received an elite education from his family since he was young, he knew how to advance and retreat, how to exercise restraint, and he knew what to do on what occasions.
His aunt had just been assassinated, dying tragically upstairs.
The most powerful pillar of his family had fallen.
Catching the murderer, and a series of follow-up matters, were waiting for him to handle.
This wasn’t the time for him to be entangled in his personal feelings.
Besides, he and Lin Yuan had already… ended.
Jiang Yangshuo gave Lin Yuan one last, deep look, and finally turned to leave.
In the hall, a crowd had gathered, talking amongst themselves. Most of them had just heard the news and had been driven here.
A girl with a permed afro, wearing an expensive dress, saw Lin Yuan and Ni Ji, who had tidied themselves up, coming out. She lifted her skirt and hurried over.
"Lin Yuan, Lin Yuan," she happily called Lin Yuan's name. "I heard you were back yesterday. Why didn't you come find me?”
Lin Yuan opened her mouth.
She had seen her before, on the airship, but couldn’t remember her name.
The girl, who was a Guide, sensitively understood Lin Yuan's "I don’t recognize you" look, and didn't mind at all.
"It’s me, Nicole," she reached out, putting an arm around Lin Yuan, intimately close. "I've been back for a long time, how come you’re only back now?"
Nicole waved, and several Guides came over, it was Shu Jingtong and a few other classmates who had fought alongside them on the airship.
"Do you want to come to my house to play?" Nicole leaned close to Lin Yuan, her voice sweet. "Or I can go to yours. We’re classmates, I don't even know where you live."
Having studied at the White Tower Academy for so many years, Lin Yuan had hardly played with any of her classmates. Other than Cao Yunyun, no one had ever been to her house.
At banquets like this in the past, she had mostly been alone.
Sitting in the corner, patiently waiting for the time to pass. Or waiting for Jiang Yangshuo to occasionally come find her.
She had never been surrounded by her classmates like this, joining them, listening to their chatter.
Perhaps, it wasn’t just the environment that had changed, but her.
Lin Yuan realized that not just at the outpost, even here, her life had gradually changed, and there were more lovely people around her.
The Guides also recognized Ni Ji and greeted him warmly.
"You’re that sentinel, right?"
"We didn’t get a chance to thank you that day, you were gone before we could."
"Yes, we’re all very grateful to you. Thank you for coming alone to rescue us."
"Nice to meet you, I’m Shu Jingtong."
"Yes, yes, nice to meet you."
Everyone gathered together, and started whispering about what had happened that night.
"Do you know what happened?"
"Yes, something happened to the Minister of Military Affairs, she died upstairs. Many people have come, we probably won’t be able to leave tonight.”
"This is the second time this has happened, the last time was at the Count’s residence."
"I really want to know who’s that capable."
"Be quiet, what are you saying? Be careful of being overheard."
"You don’t know, those two weren't good people. This is their retribution," the Guide who said this gritted his teeth, unable to suppress his emotions. "My older sister, she attended a banquet here once… and never came back."
"Don’t talk about this here," Shu Jingtong put a hand on his shoulder, gesturing for him to be quiet. He looked at Ni Ji a little apologetically, they weren’t familiar with him yet.
"Ye- yes… I know," the Guide's shoulders trembled, he bit his lip. "I just can’t help it. My sister, she was a sentinel, very powerful, and very gentle, very good to us."
"Such a good sister, gone just like that, without any explanation…" the young boy choked up.
"I really want to know who did it. I want to thank them."
Several companions hugged him. Guides were all gentle people.
Ni Ji looked at them silently, and discreetly stepped back a little.
Many people were looking for Jiang Yangshuo in the corridor on the second floor, the leader of the Royal Guard, the chief of the Public Security Bureau, the envoy sent by Her Majesty, the elders of the family…
It was a chaotic and complicated scene. Fortunately, he was young, with strong mental strength, enough to deal with everyone.
Only, he couldn't help but divert a little of his attention, searching the crowd for that person.
He saw Lin Yuan come out, walk into the hall, side by side with that sentinel.
He saw people greeting her, two or three Guides from the Guide Academy surrounding her, affectionately holding her arms.
Jiang Yangshuo wanted to call out to her, tell her to come back to his side.
But he couldn't bring himself to do it.
He could only watch as she and the others gradually walked away.
When did things become like this?
Jiang Yangshuo remembered that in the past, at banquets like this, Lin Yuan had mostly been alone.
She would always wait there, waiting for him to have time, waiting for him to go find her.
Perhaps, she really wouldn’t come back to his side.
Thinking of this, he felt his heart clench, a suffocating pain.
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