Invasion - Chapter 104
Chapter 104
The air in the courtyard after the rain was fresh.
Dawn broke quickly.
The sentinel who had quietly climbed in through the window only stayed for a short while, leaving again before being discovered by others.
Lin Yuan leaned against the window, watching his retreating figure brush past the elderly man who delivered milk every day.
Watching Xiao Suo, rubbing her eyes, walk across the wet courtyard, open the door to get the milk, and return.
Xun Hua, wearing a silver mask, sat among the branches and leaves, the wind blowing, the leaves singing a rustling song for him.
The morning light broke through the clouds, shining on the large and small glass beads by the window, refracting rich, colorful light.
Lin Yuan reached out and took off the mottled gem.
Without much hesitation, she embedded it into the groove on the Truth Box.
A perfect fit, the light shining.
The colorful, flowing lines, as if alive, started moving along the wooden box’s patterns.
This scene was a bit like the murals Lin Yuan had seen in the temple.
Back then, walking in the long, dark passage, the murals on the wall had lit up one after another with the flowing light, depicting the fate of humanity throughout history.
At this moment, the next groove on the small wooden box in Lin Yuan’s hand, filled with flowing light, emitted a faint glow.
In the dim light, a mysteriously shaped creature appeared.
Its abdomen thick, its waist slender, membranous wings spread behind it, a pair of forelimbs like sharp serrated blades, a thin neck with a pair of large, bulging eyes on top.
In the light beam, its posture graceful, its movements powerful, it looked like a terrifying demon king.
Lin Yuan looked closely for a moment, and realized that without the special lighting effects, it was actually a very common insect in daily life—a mantis.
Before doing this, Lin Yuan had spent some time collecting information on most of the contaminated zones.
Now, she took out her notebook, comparing the names on it one by one.
Her finger slid across the long list of names, finally stopping on one.
The City of Mantis (Shipang).
Shipang, the ancient name for mantis.
A country named after a Mantis.
…
In the wilderness near the capital, a grotesque head, larger than a house, lay on the ground.
It was a giant Deviant that had wandered here. Its head had just been severed by a sentinel squad sent from the White Tower.
The monster, only its head remaining, wasn’t dead yet. Its bulging eyes darted around, and it muttered human words, repeating fragmented, illogical sentences.
“This confession has to work this time.”
“Is the love letter ready? Remember to put it in her bag.”
“I want to drink milk tea from that shop on the corner.”
“Endless homework.”
“When will school be destroyed?”
…
Amidst these strange words, not far from the head, a few sentinels rested among the rubble and overgrown weeds.
They had just been through a fierce battle, each of them injured and exhausted, huddling together, smoking Guide pheromone sticks.
An injured sentinel, his leg cleanly severed and bandaged, lay on the ground. His face pale, he looked up, asking his companion for a pheromone stick.
A hazy moon was hidden behind the pale green clouds in the sky.
Ni Ji, holding his gun, sat on a slightly higher section of the broken wall.
There was a bruise at the corner of his mouth, oozing blood, but he didn't seem to care, his head lowered, looking at the screen of the personal terminal on his wrist.
A chat window with a small pink octopus as its profile picture was displayed on the screen.
Since that rainy night, this chat window had never lit up again.
But Ni Ji had grown accustomed to frequently opening it, just to take a look.
Whether it was on the battlefield, after the gunpowder had settled, or in the capital, amidst the undercurrents,
Whenever he had a free moment, staring at that pink, beating heart for a while, had almost become a habit.
As if that digitally constructed heart on the virtual screen could soothe all of his exhaustion.
The last chat record in the window was from a long time ago.
Below that flickering pink heart, he had only replied with the word “Okay.”
Thinking about it now, he slightly regretted his coldness.
They had missed that dinner date, and hadn't had a chance to get together since.
A sentinel came over and offered him a Guide pheromone stick. Ni Ji shook his head, declining.
"Such a huge Deviant, appearing near the capital…” one of the sentinels complained, his brow furrowed.
"This kind of thing is very common lately, there are more Deviants roaming the wilderness. Many contaminated zones have also become more troublesome. Even the keys aren’t as easy to get as before."
"I don’t know what those higher-ups are thinking, sending us, so few of us, to deal with such a monstrous thing."
"We were unlucky, Lao Yao's leg is even broken."
"Be grateful, at least no one died,” the female sentinel lit a Guide pheromone stick, took a puff, and put it in the mouth of Lao Yao, who had his leg broken, who was lying beside her, “We should thank Captain Ni for saving our lives."
Almost all of them had been injured in their fight to eliminate that giant Deviant that had appeared near the capital.
If it weren't for Captain Ni Ji, at the critical moment, desperately severing the monster’s head, several of them might have died.
Ni Ji hadn't been in the Royal Guard for long, he was a quiet sentinel, not very talkative.
In their team, other than being slightly closer to Vice-captain Ji Xuan, he rarely interacted with others.
But almost all the members of the Special Operations Unit admired him.
Whenever Ni Ji led a mission, the casualty rate was extremely low.
His individual combat power extraordinary, he was sharp and intelligent, a meticulous thinker, and, more importantly, he would never easily abandon his companions.
In the battle just now, if Ni Ji hadn’t risked his own safety, dragging Lao Yao from the monster's mouth,
The one lying on the ground now would have been a mangled corpse.
He just had a cold exterior, and wasn’t very approachable, his heart was warm, everyone knew this.
The sentinels who had been in a team with him all liked this cold captain.
"Captain Ni rarely uses Guide pheromones, does he?"
"He almost never uses them, and he doesn’t use those incenses either. Very disciplined."
A few sentinels huddled together, quietly gossiping in sign language. Whenever there were sentinels present, even whispers could be heard, so using sign language to communicate had become a habit among soldiers.
"Captain Ni’s a good sentinel, just a little too cold, doesn't he have a partner? I’ve never seen him fooling around outside."
"I saw the Count's young miss offer him a handkerchief, and he coldly refused."
"Damn, the Captain is so handsome, it would be a pity if he didn't have anyone he liked."
"He’s made so many contributions, if he doesn't have a partner, I wonder if the empire will assign him a guide."
The female sentinel with the Guide pheromone stick between her lips leaned closer, “You’re all wrong. Captain Ni definitely has someone he likes.”
"What? How do you know?"
"He looks like someone deeply in love, you’re all blind if you can't see it.”
The sentinels were shocked and looked back at the Captain sitting on the low wall.
Really? Was that true?
Their captain, beautiful, dignified, noble, and aloof, a flower on a snowy mountain peak,
Was actually deeply in love?
They really wanted to know who this powerful person was, who had captured their cold and aloof male god.
…
In Lin Yuan's living room,
Nicole and Lin Yuan sat by the flower window, drinking the fruit tea Xiao Suo had freshly made for them.
"You’ve completely become a celebrity now, many noble families are asking about you," Nicole, like always, started chattering as soon as she sat down. "Even my cousin, that arrogant guy, specially came to my house to ask me if you would be interested in having a compatibility test with him."
Nicole didn't like any of her cousins. Although that cousin was expected to inherit the title of prince one day, she felt that the arrogant guy with his nose in the air wasn’t worthy of her friend at all.
She had seen Lin Yuan standing at the bow of the ship, facing countless Deviants, fearless.
So, she really didn’t want to see Lin Yuan, from now on, only staying in someone's backyard, meek and obedient, cooking and cleaning.
No matter who that person was, what status or position they had, or how beautiful they were, they wouldn't be worth Lin Yuan giving up her own shining brilliance.
In fact, Nicole herself also didn’t want that kind of life.
Although everyone around her had always told her since she was young that this was the correct way to live, the norm.
"Nicole, do you want to do some combat training with me?" Lin Yuan, holding her teacup, asked at this moment.
"Combat?" Nicole’s eyes widened. "You’re talking about that kind of combat you do?"
"Yes, if you're willing, I would be very happy," Lin Yuan said, "I feel like I need more simulated training of different types."
She was going to a place called the City of Mantis, a country named after mantises.
It was a very special contaminated zone, not a place whose situation could be summed up by just the word “dangerous.”
Lin Yuan wanted to unravel the doubts in her heart, to find the ultimate answer.
She also wanted to live in this world for as long as possible.
If she could, she wanted to spend more time with her friends and family.
Before going to the City of Mantis, she would make ample preparations.
It would be best to have more like-minded companions go with her.
"Of course!" Nicole was thrilled.
At those boring banquets, she would often hear people talking about Lin Yuan, who was out in the contaminated zones.
The story of Lin Yuan fighting alongside sentinels in contaminated zones had once become a hot topic at tea parties and banquets.
After all, those people were bored all day long, confined to their small worlds, without anything truly interesting to discuss.
Nicole had heard many students from the Guide Academy, after excitedly describing Lin Yuan, shaking their heads, saying that they didn't like Guides like Lin Yuan.
But Nicole knew that not every Guide felt the same.
For example, she sincerely admired Lin Yuan’s freedom.
"Really? You think I can? That legendary Sentinel-Guide coordinated combat?" Nicole’s face flushed with excitement.
She had heard that after training, Guides could also become very powerful, even as strong as sentinels.
They could participate in battles, go wherever they wanted to go.
No longer being bullied, able to control their own fate, truly independent, no longer just someone else’s accessory.
Even just thinking about it made her excited.
"Oh, yes, we also need to invite some sentinels," Lin Yuan hadn't expected Nicole not only wouldn't refuse, but would be so enthusiastic. "What type of mental bodies do you like working with?"
"Sentinels' mental bodies?"
Lin Yuan counted the sentinels she knew with her fingers, if she wanted to practice multi-person coordination, she had to invite more friends she was familiar with.
"Do you like pandas? A panda sentinel sent me a message last time, saying she was willing to help."
"Panda Big Sister!" Nicole jumped up, grabbing Lin Yuan’s hand. "I want the panda, I want the panda, I know who it is, Big Sister Du Yuanyuan, the one so handsome she makes one’s legs weak!”
"There's also a unicorn, a black one, his arm…"
"Yes! Yes! Invite him!" Nicole shrieked. "Don’t you know Yun Luo? He’s the number one choice for many girls at the Guide Academy!”
Nicole even added, "After his arm was broken, that sense of vulnerability about him is even more captivating."
"I also have a friend who just transferred to the capital, he’ll definitely want to join, his mental body is a golden lion.”
"Ah, a big cat! I love big cats, no furry enthusiast can resist this."
"There might be more girls joining, the place I’m going to, having more girls around would be easier."
"Yes, the more girls the better!”
"Don't you usually dislike Sentinels?" Lin Yuan asked curiously, "You would always get all dejected whenever Sentinels were mentioned.”
"Who doesn't like sentinels?” Nicole rolled her eyes at Lin Yuan, biting her lip. “I just don’t want to get married. It doesn't mean I don’t like handsome and powerful big brothers and big sisters."
"Besides, who can resist a roly-poly panda? And a pure black unicorn? A big cat whose fur can be braided?”
She reached out and pinched Lin Yuan's waist, "Can you resist? Can you?”
Lin Yuan felt a little ticklish and dodged, only to be pinched again, she laughed.
"Ah, Yuan Yuan, you laughed.” Nicole, stunned, “this is the first time I’ve seen you laugh."
She reached out, put an arm around Lin Yuan’s shoulders, resting her afro-covered head against Lin Yuan.
"Actually, I like your mental bodies the most, those slippery deep-sea creatures are so cute."
Lin Yuan subconsciously agreed. "Yeah, I also like deep-sea creatures," an image of a figure in a black uniform flashed through her mind.
The skin on the back of her hand inexplicably itched, as if cold fingers were gently caressing it. Or as if that black big fish was gently nudging her there with its head.
Ehehe okay girl I see u🙈🙈
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