Invasion - Chapter 47
Chapter 47
Lin Yuan sent the message, not expecting an immediate reply. She stood up, straightened her clothes, and walked towards the courtyard gate.
As she walked out of the gate, she happened to run into a neighbor walking her dog.
In the cold weather, the young woman was dressed fashionably in a high-end tracksuit, showing off her good figure, and was walking a very cute dog.
She saw Lin Yuan and nodded from afar, giving a polite but distant smile — they had run into each other several times these past few days.
Lin Yuan noticed that the people who lived near her all had refined and comfortable lives, as if everyone was living in a carefree and prosperous world.
But she knew that just a short distance away, past a not-so-high wall, she would see a completely different world.
Those messy and crowded slums filled with sewage, those families who couldn’t even afford to raise their children, that was the real life of the vast majority of people in this world.
The personal terminal on her wrist flickered, and Lin Yuan glanced at it, a small dolphin icon floating on her wrist.
The profile picture for the personal terminal communication was the one she had set. At that time, to save effort, Lin Yuan had used a holographic image of the chubby orca doll by her bed.
The chubby little orca jumped up and down.
Lin Yuan tapped the jumping orca, and a privacy screen popped up on her wrist.
The chubby orca icon was very cute, but the text that popped up was very formal, almost like an official document exchanged between government departments.
Points to note when inviting unfamiliar friends to your home:
1. Prepare some snacks that everyone can accept, nothing too spicy or with any unusual smells.
2. Prepare some activities that everyone can participate in, such as interactive games or card games, so no guest is left out.
3. If there are mostly women, you can prepare tea and pastries. Recommended brands and flavors are detailed in the attachment.
4. If a man asks for alcohol, refuse him.
…
Finally, don’t forget that the purpose of a gathering is to enjoy yourself. Excessive work and excessive concern for others’ opinions will make the gathering lose its original purpose, this is not recommended.
Ni Ji had sent a long message, it looked very formal, like an official document.
But Lin Yuan read a friend’s soft and thoughtful care between the lines.
She carefully read through those words. It was exactly what she needed.
How should she reply to make it seem polite? Lin Yuan thought. She rarely chatted with others using her personal terminal, and wasn’t very familiar with the wording.
Actually, just typing “thank you” would be fine too.
【Let me, let me, I’m very good at this.】 A tentacle wrapped around Lin Yuan’s wrist and climbed up. Its soft tip quickly tapped a few times on the virtual screen.
“You should come too ~~”
A pink heart emoji was added at the end.
The chat window showed that the other person was typing, then canceled, typing again, then canceled again. This repeated several times, and in the end, he didn’t send any reply.
【See, you’re not good at this at all, you scared the little fish.】
【Let me try next time.】
【Maybe going together will be more effective.】
【Hmph, dead fish, so tsundere.】
In the Public Security Bureau, the morning sun shone in from the window. The sentinel leaning against the window looked at the personal terminal on his wrist, the sharp lines of his face softened in the morning light, a faint smile appearing on his lips.
In his mental landscape, in that mysterious palace deep in the ocean, the palace’s owner was turning over the pearls and shells he hadn’t touched in years.
Searching for memories from his school days, of that carefree boy and his friends playing together.
He had been so simple back then, without so many worries. When he wasn't training or competing, he would hold hands with his brothers, climb over the academy walls, go fishing, hiking, shopping, play games, bring back all sorts of food, and chat the night away…
So he had actually had such a time.
Ni Ji carefully sifted through these memories, pondering the Guide’s personality and interpersonal relationships, turning them into suitable words, modifying them again and again before hitting send.
Soon, a short sentence came back from the other side, with a glittering heart emoji.
You should come too.
Ni Ji knew that perhaps this was just a casual invitation from her, and that symbol was just a common emoji used by girls nowadays when chatting.
But he still stared at that short sentence for a long time.
The bloody storm from yesterday, the precarious future, seemed to blur.
At this moment, under the warm sunlight, he found a rare sense of peace.
He lowered his eyelashes, his slender fingers tapping the input box several times before finally not replying.
He closed the virtual screen of his terminal and turned back to the table where they were discussing the battle.
"Done chatting?" Ji Xuan asked casually.
"Yes, she was asking where she could buy good tea and pastries," Ni Ji didn’t avoid the topic, explaining casually before turning his attention back to the No. 77 Contaminated Zone.
He had once thought of not having any connection with Lin Yuan, not letting her get involved in his dangerous world.
But last night — he couldn’t think about last night right now.
Since what happened last night had already happened, and couldn't be undone, he decided not to dwell on it. He wasn’t someone who dwelled on things.
He knew that a small moon was hidden in his heart. After last night, it could no longer be erased, forever residing in that ocean.
But no one would ever get past him, hurt that person.
Ni Ji could actually sense that the adjutant Ji Xuan beside him was very observant right now. A pair of vertical pupils, belonging to a mental body, were hidden behind him, carefully studying him, every move, every subtle expression.
To him, compared to the powerful Luther, this inconspicuous Ji Xuan was the truly frightening one.
But he wasn't afraid either. At this moment, all the thoughts and emotions that shouldn’t be there, that shouldn't be read by others, were firmly sealed in the depths of the ocean.
They were observing and assessing him, and he was also observing them.
Other than Lin Yuan, he had never lost in the realm of mental power, not once.
Luther asked various probing questions about contaminated zones, and Ni Ji answered them easily, like he knew everything by heart. Sometimes, he even took the initiative, with a sharp tone.
"If, we could disclose all the information and the true purpose," his black fingers pointed at a vaguely marked area on the map, "I would be willing to try and break through the Golden Tree Contaminated Zone for you, Commander."
Luther and Ji Xuan exchanged a look.
They disclosed to Ni Ji some of the information the empire had collected on the Golden Tree Contaminated Zone. The most crucial part, however, was deliberately withheld.
Unexpectedly, this legendary strongest warrior of the northern border had seen through it at a glance.
"His reputation is well-deserved," this time, Ji Xuan also extended his hand, firmly shaking Ni Ji’s gloved hand.
Lin Yuan came to the Special Research Department.
"Hurry up with the procedures, I still have to go shopping," she said to Roy.
After returning from the Dongbin outpost, she had submitted research reports on several contaminated zones she had visited to the Special Research Department. Because she had personally been to each of these places, the reports were very detailed.
But to go out again, as a Guide, she still needed to go through a series of approval procedures.
"My god," Roy held his forehead. "I’ve lived for so many years, and I’ve never seen a Guide like you, you just got back, and you're already in such a hurry to go to another contaminated zone?"
The two walked down the long corridor of the Special Research Department. The red oak wall panels and carved baseboards added a sense of history to this office.
Old imperial medals and photos of past members of the Special Research Department hung on both sides of the long corridor.
It seemed like this place might have once held a glorious position in the empire's power structure. Only now, it was deserted, with few personnel, having become a small, unknown department.
The few members occasionally coming and going were all elderly, holding teacups with goji berries, happily greeting Lin Yuan when they saw her.
"A new researcher? Not bad, not bad, such a young girl."
They didn't even care whether Lin Yuan was a sentinel or a Guide.
Life here was very peaceful, on the fringes of the empire’s administrative structure, without much room for advancement, whether you worked or not, no one really paid attention.
"Our Special Research Department, although it has the word 'special' in its name, is actually just a retirement department," Roy said earnestly to Lin Yuan. "Those dispatched research tasks, just go through the motions once or twice a year. A young girl like you should focus on clothes and jewelry, attend more high-society banquets, and meet some talented young men, that’s what’s important."
Lin Yuan didn't agree with his words, but she detected the intention of an elder passing on life experience to a younger generation, a kind of good will, from his emotions.
So, she listened quietly, without saying anything unnecessary.
"But then again, I read the contaminated zone investigation reports you submitted a few days ago. They were really impressive," Roy's expression gradually softened, as if lost in memories. "It reminded me of your…"
He came back to his senses, and quickly swallowed the rest of the sentence. He carefully observed Lin Yuan's expression.
Lin Yuan didn't seem to hear what he had said.
The young woman in the white dress was standing before a photo frame in the corridor.
In the photo frame, three or five high-spirited sentinels stood side by side, smiling at the world outside the frame.
The woman standing in the middle was very tall, with an athletic build, long legs, her features somewhat resembling Lin Yuan’s. Her smile was very carefree.
"What did you just say?" Lin Yuan turned around, asking with features very similar to those of the person in the photo. "Did it remind you of my mother?"
"So you knew," Roy paused, then looked a little sad. He took out a silk handkerchief from his pocket and dabbed at the corner of his eye. "I thought you didn't remember her. They told me you forgot everything from when you were little."
The two walked to the archives at the end of the corridor.
Roy helped find the information Lin Yuan wanted, and also helped reimburse her for the expenses incurred during her research period.
He bustled about, and Lin Yuan sat there, looking through the information. There was very detailed data on contaminated zones here.
Only, Roy, having already started the topic, couldn't help but want to talk about those people he missed.
Even as he walked back and forth, he kept talking.
"You don’t know, back when your mother and the others were here, our Special Research Department was the Queen's most capable special team."
"The research reports submitted by our Special Research Department every year were the most detailed and practical. Most of the empire’s research on mutated creatures, the improvement of the empire's contaminated zone database, all relied on us."
"I was still young back then, with little seniority, I wasn’t qualified to go out on missions. But every time I saw them returning, so high-spirited, I was incredibly envious."
"Your mother, she really was a powerful and gentle person."
"Those seniors, they often appear in my dreams. I clearly remember every single one of them."
"Back then, who would have thought that such an accident would happen?" Roy couldn't help but take out his handkerchief again. "Forget it, forget it."
He, dabbing his teary eyes with his handkerchief, suddenly saw the information Lin Yuan was looking through. His eyes widened.
"Golden Tree Contaminated Zone?" He snatched the document from Lin Yuan's hand. "Are you crazy?! Why are you looking at information on the No. 77 Contaminated Zone? Is that a place you can touch? Stay far away from it, that's a place of no return!"
"To this day!" He waved the document, pointing at Lin Yuan's head, and locked it high up in a cabinet. "A dangerous contaminated zone that no one has conquered. Is that somewhere a little girl like you can casually touch? Don't even think about it."
"I’m just looking," Lin Yuan acknowledged. "Did my mother ever go there?"
"Your mother? She definitely didn't. No one has ever come back from that place sane," Roy said, vaguely remembering something. "Strange, I do seem to remember her mentioning this place once."
Roy didn't know that, just as he spoke, a tentacle emerged from the locked cabinet. It struggled to wriggle into the file folder, pulling out a small map.
The tentacle rolled the map and threw it out through a crack in the cabinet. Another tentacle quickly caught it.
Then the tentacle holding the map moved in the shadows, handing it to Lin Yuan’s fingers.
Lin Yuan's fair fingers turned the map over, and she put the map of the Golden Tree Contaminated Zone in her pocket, her face expressionless.
The map wasn’t very detailed, containing only data from before that area was contaminated. But wanting to go to such a dangerous place, having a map was better than having nothing.
On her way home, Lin Yuan bought things according to Ni Ji's dessert guide.
The rose cakes from this store were fragrant, crispy, and delicious. The pineapple cakes from that store were sweet and sour. The pea-flour cakes from the old shop looked good. The sugar figures blown by the candy artist by the roadside looked very cute.
She asked him to blow a killer whale, an octopus, a lion, a gyrfalcon, a tiger, a kitten, and a small snake…
She accidentally bought too much, large and small boxes piled high in her hands, blocking her view.
A child running towards her bumped into her, and the tentacles appeared, holding the candy boxes.
No one bothered helping Lin Yuan, causing her to fall.
The boy who bumped into Lin Yuan giggled apologetically, running away as he apologized.
【Quick, catch him, he took her wallet.】
【I'm holding the rose cakes!】
【I'm watching the pineapple cakes!】
【The sugar figures will break if we’re not careful, it takes two people to hold them!】
【Who cares about the wallet, as long as the food is okay.】
…
Lin Yuan sat helplessly on the ground. During peaceful times without battles, most of the tentacles slept in their dimensional space, and the few active ones only cared about their precious snacks.
Even Lin Yuan herself felt that it wasn't a big deal to lose a little money, as long as the pastries she had worked so hard to buy were okay.
A slightly older girl, grabbing the boy who had run away by his ear, dragged him back.
"Jiang Xiaowa! Get back here," the little girl, not even ten years old, her face covered with freckles, said imposingly.
"Jiang Xiaochong, mind your own business," the boy was very不服气.
"Look closely, this is a big sister from the Guide Academy."
Lin Yuan had gone to the Special Research Department today, so she was wearing a Guide uniform.
The boy, who had been yelling, saw Lin Yuan’s special dress and the silver badge on her shoulder, and instantly stopped his noisy antics.
"Guide Academy? The same place as Big Sister Nicole and the others?" He touched his head and took Lin Yuan's wallet out of his pocket. "Here, I'm returning it to you. Since you're a Guide.”
A few smaller children hid behind a pillar, giggling, poking their heads out. The smallest one looked only about two years old.
The freckled little girl hit the boy on the head. "And?"
"Ye- yes! I’m sorry, Guide sister," the boy apologized loudly, bowing obediently.
Lin Yuan, sitting on the ground, saw the house number — 19th District, Black Street No. 25.
Her memory wasn’t very good, but she remembered this address.
At that time, on the airship, that sentinel, his legs severed, had died just a step away from the escape door.
“I have many younger siblings, the youngest one is only two years old, she can’t even walk properly. If I’m gone, I don’t know if she’ll be able to survive,” the sentinel, his eyes filled with tears, had said those last words.
Nicole had taken the last two imperial coins from his hand, and his identification tag. The address on it was this place.
Nicole had said, "Leave this to me."
So, during the time she had been away, they had done many good things.
Lin Yuan took back her wallet and stood up, dusting off her skirt.
Several children gathered around, helping her stack the boxes held by the tentacles.
"Please don’t tell Big Sister Nicole and Brother Shu about this," the oldest girl said, smiling shyly. "The Guide brothers and sisters often come to help us, we’re very grateful to them."
"I’ll definitely keep an eye on my brother from now on, I won't let him do this kind of thing again."
"Where are your parents?" Lin Yuan asked her.
"My father’s gone, he died in a contaminated zone. My mother’s not well, she’s bedridden," the little girl said casually, there were many children like them on this street.
She picked up the box with the sugar figures and put it on top for Lin Yuan.
"But it’s okay, I can join the military soon, I'm also a sentinel," she said proudly.
Her father had died in a contaminated zone, her eldest brother had died in a contaminated zone, she was preparing to take their place as soon as possible.
For her younger siblings’ daily meals, and her mother’s medical expenses.
Her two-year-old little sister came over, clinging to her leg, staring longingly at the lifelike sugar figures in Lin Yuan’s arms.
The older sister discreetly pushed her sister’s head away.
【No.】
【No.】
【No.】
【No.】
Lin Yuan took down the small snake sugar figure and gave it to the little girl.
The remaining four or five pairs of eyes instantly stared at her, blinking.
They didn't say anything, but the drooling in their hearts was so loud that Lin Yuan's head buzzed.
So the kitten, the tiger, the bird, they were all gone.
The tentacles shrieked.
【Objection!】
【Tyranny!】
【Despotism!】
【Waa, I’m going to cry.】
Who told you not to help me just now? Lin Yuan, unmoved, finished handing out the sugar figures, holding the rest of the pastries, and walked home with an expressionless face.
All the sugar figures were gone, only a chubby killer whale and a small, round octopus left.
The killer whale had its little tail raised, its eyes smiling, looking very happy.
The octopus had a round head, its tentacles curled under its body, looking a little silly.
Lin Yuan looked at the only two remaining sugar figures, her mood improving.
A small tentacle wrapped around, stubbornly clinging to the killer whale, licking it repeatedly.
"Is it really that sweet? I haven’t even had a bite yet," Lin Yuan thought, a little unhappy, you wouldn’t even be able to taste it eating like that.
Ah, there it is! Little Shameless 😂
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