Invasion - Chapter 111

Chapter 111

Lin Yuan, puzzled, let her mental power enter Ji Xuan's mindscape.

Ji Xuan's mindscape had completely collapsed.

The earth was falling, almost nowhere to stand.

Strange things floated in the sky.

A giant human mouth with huge gaps between its teeth kept talking, an insect’s abdomen pulsing, laying eggs, butterfly wings being slowly torn off by fingers appearing from nowhere, terrified eyes peering from behind a crack in a door…

Chaotic and abstract scenes, a disordered space.

The memory fragments here were a mess, those memories about rebellion, about plotting to overthrow the White Tower, seemed to have been covered and processed by a blue wing, blurred, impossible to discern, only chaotic, incomprehensible images remained.

The Queen probably didn't get the information she wanted from this.

Lin Yuan also felt lost, not knowing where to start.

A blue butterfly flew towards her unsteadily, it only had one wing left, its sapphire blue wing broken, yet it still stubbornly fluttered before Lin Yuan’s eyes.

"Please follow me."

Lin Yuan heard that Guide’s voice again, it was very pleasant to the ear, soft like a young boy’s.

It was a Guide’s mental body, with only half of its body left, yet it was still alive, tenaciously living in Ji Xuan's mindscape.

Lin Yuan followed the butterfly, moving through the chaotic and disordered world, all sorts of human organs and grotesque insect bodies falling around them.

The small blue butterfly, flickering like a sapphire, flew in front of Lin Yuan, the only bright color in this messy world.

It kept flapping its broken wing, leading the way, turning back from time to time, as if afraid Lin Yuan wouldn't follow.

They were both Guides, and didn't need words to communicate, Lin Yuan could sense the anxiety, unease, and bone-deep sadness in that broken butterfly’s heart, and also its desperate will to save a certain someone.

So Lin Yuan, her feet on human faces, eyes, insect bodies, followed the small blue butterfly as it flew through the vast mindscape.

They finally reached their destination. It was a very dilapidated small alley, with piles of garbage in its corner, rats and cockroaches scurrying in the gutters.

Two young boys walked hand in hand in the dark alley. They were twins, so close it was almost as if they were one person, always holding hands.

The two thin boys were sharing a corn cob, taking bites in turn.

"This is probably the most delicious thing in the world," the thinner one said.

"When Big Brother becomes a real sentinel, I’ll buy this for you every month, no, every week."

Ji Xuan's mindscape was already collapsing, these remaining scenes should be the most unforgettable moments of his life.

The two boys leaned their heads together, sharing food. The door of a house in the alley creaked open.

Pale light from the doorway formed a rectangle on the damp ground. The shadow of an adult man stood in the rectangle.

It was a very ordinary middle-aged man, perhaps the two children’s father. He wore thick glasses, his greasy hair thinning.

But a man like this held absolute power over young children.

At this moment, in this mindscape, the man's head gradually became larger, his features twisting in anger, devil-like horns growing from his forehead, his mouth opening, a strange roar escaping.

Lin Yuan listened carefully and realized it sounded like the whistling of a boiling kettle.

The angry man charged towards the two children, holding a kettle of boiling water in his hand.

The boy, calling himself “Sentinel”, quickly shielded his twin brother beneath him.

The boiling water poured onto the boy’s back and shoulders!

The pain from the memory was transmitted to Lin Yuan’s mental body, as if the boiling water splashing before her was also burning her skin.

Half of a blue butterfly wing expanded, blocking Lin Yuan, shielding her from that sudden pain.

Lin Yuan looked through the translucent blue wing. The young Ji Xuan, lying on the ground, his body melting like a candle under the scorching water.

The entire street, with Ji Xuan melting, dissolved and deformed, collapsing.

Lin Yuan fell into the space below.

It was a very small room. Several people were inside the messy space, although very young, their faces were all blurred, she couldn’t see them clearly.

The young Ji Xuan was clinging to a door, blankly staring at the crack.

The crack in the wooden door was incredibly wide. Through the gap, several hands were visible. Those pale fingers, wearing expensive rings, were slowly, bit by bit, tearing off a butterfly's wings.

Their movements slow, tearing, shredding one butterfly wing, then grabbing another.

The cruel torture repeating endlessly.

Butterfly wings, beautiful like gemstones, stained with blood, scattered on the ground.

Lin Yuan wanted to grab the Ji Xuan by the door.

But a flame ignited in Ji Xuan's body, clinging to the door.

That flame burned from his eyes, using his body as a candle, spreading in all directions.

Blazing, raging, vowing to burn down this world, the flames engulfing him completely, inextinguishable.

An arm reached out, pulling Lin Yuan, lifting her into the air, away from the flames.

Lin Yuan saw the Guide with butterfly wings.

He still had the appearance of a teenager, his face handsome, his voice pleasant to the ear, half of his body almost translucent.

"There’s still time," he said, his voice filled with sorrow, those words seeming to be for Lin Yuan, yet also for himself.

"There must still be time."

The half-broken wing struggled to flap in the air, carrying Lin Yuan through the sea of fire, through the chaotic and collapsing world, to the shore of a quiet lake.

The lake was tranquil, with lush water plants. Fireflies flickered among the damp grass.

Two twin boys sat by the lake, hand in hand, fishing. Occasionally, a fish would jump out of the water, startling a blue butterfly.

"Big brother’s mental body is a firefly, mine is a butterfly," one of the twins said. "I'm no weaker than Big Brother."

"Guides are not as weak as they say, I don’t want to go to the White Tower, when I grow up, I also want to be a warrior, and then, it will be my turn to protect Big Brother."

"Sure. Guides truly aren’t weak," Ji Xuan smiled. He wasn’t wearing glasses at this time, the light of the fireflies reflecting on his young, smiling face. "I’ll be relying on you to protect me in the future."

Lin Yuan jumped down from the sky.

The figures of the twin boys by the lake dissipated, the fireflies and the blue butterfly all instantly disappearing with them.

The dark surface of the lake was like stagnant water, a giant firefly floating on the black water.

It was Ji Xuan. The half-insect, half-human sentinel was floating on the black, stagnant water.

His insect abdomen, its light dim, submerged in the black water, his pale human torso and arms rising and falling.

Ji Xuan lay on his back in the swamp-like lake, his eyes open, staring blankly at the chaotic sky. Like a corpse.

Lin Yuan didn't know how to bring back such a sentinel. Having seen the fragments of his memory, knowing what he had been through, what he had lost, having empathized with his pain, she felt that death might actually be a good release for him.

But in his mindscape, this lake still remained.

This place, with its lush grass, its fireflies and butterflies, carefully protected in his memory.

He had kept this pond where he and his brother had played and laughed together since childhood.

It meant that he still had attachments in his heart, he was still reluctant to leave this world.

"Come up, I'll pull you up," Lin Yuan crouched down by the damp lake, reaching out to the sentinel who was about to be completely submerged in the black water.

The small blue butterfly landed on her shoulder, and a translucent male arm, together with Lin Yuan's hand, reached forward.

"Come back, Ji Xuan."

"Come back, Big Brother."

Lin Yuan's voice and a young boy's gentle voice rang out at the same time.

The tentacles broke through the darkness, surging into the cold lake water, wrapping around the dying firefly, little by little pulling it out from the sticky swamp, onto the shore covered with damp water plants.

Ji Xuan lay in the grass, his wet wings and insect abdomen stuck together, motionless, completely unresponsive.

He was like that butterfly, almost torn apart and destroyed by that powerful mental force.

"Be strong, your companion has already entered the White Tower to save you. Don't let them down," Lin Yuan crouched down on the grass before him. "And don’t let him lose his final resting place."

The "him" she referred to was the small butterfly now resting on her shoulder. The butterfly had become very dilapidated, very small, incredibly tired, but it continued to flap its wings, trying to encourage someone.

Ji Xuan, lying in the grass, looked at the small blue wing, and a faint light finally rekindled in his dim eyes.

Beneath Lin Yuan’s feet, the Kraken’s giant tentacles spread in all directions.

A fine, gentle rain began to fall from the sky, moisturizing everything, gently washing this wounded and weary world.

…

The Queen walked down the long white steps, followed by Luther and numerous Royal Guard sentinels.

The large group opened passages, all the way to the secret academy hidden beneath the palace.

The Queen's mental power was strong enough to cover the entire White Tower. Every mental fluctuation within the White Tower was within her line of sight.

Not long ago, she had detected an unfamiliar mental fluctuation, appearing in the center of the secret academy.

In that place, there was a mental fluctuation, although hidden, a slight trace still leaked out.

An ant had actually crawled in under her nose, silently slipping into that place.

Other places didn’t matter, but that place, couldn’t be compromised.

Her Majesty, among the group, as always, walked with an elegant gait, her face behind a veil, her demeanor serene.

But for some reason, all the sentinels following her felt a bone-chilling coldness.

Her Majesty’s overwhelming pressure was incredibly cold, making the sentinels following her tremble in fear.

What kind of rebel had done such a thing, even making the usually gentle Her Majesty truly angry? The sentinels wondered.

Now, with them trapped, they would surely meet a tragic end.

The sentinels were furious at this rebellious traitor, who made them run around like this.

They were already imagining the torture this person would endure after being caught.

At this moment, they had completely surrounded that place, no matter how powerful the villain, he couldn’t escape.

With a Sentinel's sharp hearing, they could already hear the faint sound of conversation coming from the central area of the academy.

It seemed that little thief still hadn't realized he was surrounded yet.

The group, holding their weapons, carefully and quietly approached. Finally, when they all charged into the pure white atrium, they found it empty.

In this pure white world, only a black saber was embedded in the ground.

Several eyes of various sizes were open on that black blade, humming a tune. From time to time, it deliberately released subtle mental fluctuations.

Those mental fluctuations were incredibly realistic, even more lifelike than many humans’.

When it saw so many people swarming in, the blade even whistled cheerfully, "Hi!"

Luther walked forward, pulled out the black blade embedded in the ground, and said, "Tell me, where’s your master?"

All the eyes on the black blade closed, only one lazily glanced at him. "Why should I tell you?"

Luther knew that weapons with self-awareness like this were only born under special conditions in contaminated zones. They were extremely rare, each with its own personality and quirks. They were very reluctant to leave contaminated zones.

Only those warriors who had been in and out of contaminated zones countless times had a chance to obtain them.

He remembered that Ni Ji, one of the sentinels under his command, also had a red demon blade, that blade, after tasting blood, was invincible on the battlefield, incredibly sharp, making many soldiers envious.

"What are your conditions?" the Queen’s cold voice came.

"You? No, no, no, not you," the black blade said sarcastically, "I only work with beauties."

"And I only like those pure, abstinent kind of beauties. Watching a loyal person be tainted, that’s top-notch, who wants to see a stitched-together monster like you?"

The queen's pale hand reached out and grabbed the hilt.

"Hey, hey, what are you doing? Don't touch me! You’re not from my world, you can't understand me," the black blade yelled in a shrill voice.

The Queen's pale fingers tightened, and the hard blade actually bent in her soft grip, about to be broken.

"Wow, the stitched-together monster is angry!"

"Someone come, she’s killing a blade!"

The black blade shrieked.

Just as the long blade was bent into an arc, almost reaching its limit,

All the eyes on the black blade suddenly opened.

"I'm not afraid of you," more than ten voices echoed in the vast atrium. "You are powerful, but you can't do anything to me."

"Because I am incredibly soft,"

"I am the softest being in the world…"

The hard, steel-like blade, amidst the overlapping voices, suddenly turned into a puddle of black water, flowing from between the Queen’s fair fingers.

The black liquid landed on the smooth floor, spreading out, large and small black droplets quickly seeping into the drains in the ground.

The Queen's powerful and terrifying mental force spread, like a descending glacier, a blizzard, an overwhelming force covering the entire space.

But those tiny black water droplets had already merged into the sewage in the underground pipes, sealing off their fragmented consciousness, flowing with the current, impossible to find.

{So dangerous, so dangerous.}

{She’s terrifying indeed.}

{Good thing we ran fast, not a single drop was caught.}

{That kid better repay us well for this.}

{That kid must have succeeded, right?}

{What interesting things should we make him do when he comes back?}

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