Invasion - Chapter 56
Chapter 56
Lin Yuan and Ni Ji searched along the deserted street.
The two-story stilt houses lined the road, the long corridors, every room empty.
Not a neat and tidy kind of emptiness.
Messy bedsheets, overturned perfume bottles, half-eaten lunch boxes, clothes scattered all over the floor, and all sorts of dirty marks.
A place deserted by people, but still filled with traces of life.
Even though this contaminated zone had existed for hundreds of years, every room here looked like it had been occupied just last night, only those people had just left.
Creak—
Lin Yuan pushed open a dilapidated wooden door, and several empty buckets clattered down from inside, a bucket brush rolling on the floor, out the door.
The light in the room was dim, filled with messy debris, and a fishy smell.
Ni Ji made a silencing gesture.
The two found a hidden spot and crouched down. After a while, someone came from the other end of the long wooden corridor.
"I thought I heard something here just now, turns out it was just buckets blown over by the wind."
"This place really stinks, must be the servants' quarters. I don't think there's anything good to find here."
It was two sentinels, wearing sturdy combat armor, their strong bodies covered with all sorts of advanced weapons.
Sentinels were creatures with enhanced five senses, with their sharp perception, it would normally be easy for them to detect people lurking nearby.
But one of the people hiding was Ni Ji.
The King of Soldiers, lurking in the shadows, suppressed all his aura and emotional fluctuations, as if he didn't even breathe, like a lifeless rock.
The other was Lin Yuan. Lin Yuan crouched behind Ni Ji, her eyes on the two sentinels, the tentacles underground constantly giving hints.
【They can’t see us.】【They can’t see us.】【There’s no one here.】【There’s no one here.】【No one here.】…
The two sentinels were very close, yet they didn't notice the two at all, they even stopped to chat.
"Where do you think the thing Her Majesty wants is? We've searched everywhere, and still haven't found it."
"Could it be that it can only be found at ‘nighttime’?"
"Did you see what happened last night? That Ni Ji guy is a bit too fierce. That fox Ji Xuan, who knows where he dug up that person from."
"He's a ruthless character, we better not let him get his hands on the thing, otherwise we won't get a share of that huge reward."
At this moment, in the darkness underground, the tentacle that hadn't fully healed noticed that the little fish beside it had disappeared.
No, he was clearly still there, huddled together with his main body. But it couldn’t sense him.
As if a sweet candy had suddenly turned into a rock, a wooden stake, something completely lifeless.
This reminded it of some fond memories. In a dark, narrow duct, little fish had also turned into a rock like this, hiding there.
And it had been the first to find him.
They were used to calling the big orca Big Fish, and this smaller one Little Fish. Of course, some silly ones didn't understand and would mix them up.
Big Fish was very sweet, sucking on Big Fish could heal its injuries, but it felt that Little Fish was also very sweet, and it also liked to cling to Little Fish.
The tentacle wrapped around Ni Ji’s wrist, which was on the ground, using its newly grown, pink tip to poke his black glove, trying to take the glove off.
It’s just a glove, I’m not being rude.
Ni Ji glanced at it and silently looked away, but his hand on the ground didn't move.
The tentacle keenly noticed that ever since it was injured, little fish had become much more indulgent towards it. Normally, if it did this, he might move his hand or foot away, or gently push it away.
Now, he was allowing it.
Injured people had privileges, they could be even more unreasonable.
The two sentinels were still talking, they took out their water bottles, drinking and chatting. They mentioned Ni Ji, and mentioned the Queen.
Lin Yuan was listening, not noticing at all that one of her many tentacles had slipped out and was doing something slightly bad to the person beside her.
After all, she had hundreds of tentacles.
The tentacle's newly grown wrist foot was very tender, not very strong, it struggled for a long time before managing to peel off the glove from his wrist a little, revealing a scarred palm.
Little Fish was also injured. It rubbed against the scabs on his hand, and the veins on his hand tensed.
Such a real and cute reaction.
"There are actually servants here? A group of criminals sent here for forced labor, and they have people serving them?" One of the sentinels kicked away the toilet brush on the ground.
"I really don't understand how people in a place like this can live with themselves. Having committed crimes, reduced to this state, they should just kill themselves, they have no backbone at all.”
"I found this Rose Camp two or three days ago, that tree screams every night, the sound is terrifying, you can’t get close at all, but the rest of the place is very safe."
"I’ve also always felt it was very strange, the ‘nighttime’ of the Golden Tree is deadly. Countless people have died outside, but after entering the Rose Camp, it’s actually quite safe, as long as you don't go near that tree," the sentinel lowered his voice and asked his companion, "You’ve been inside for so many days, have you found anything at night?"
The man’s eyes flickered, he seemed reluctant to speak.
A tentacle, under Lin Yuan's command, quietly moved over from underground, affecting his subconsciousness.
【Tell me, tell me, let’s hear it.】
The sentinel, suddenly feeling a strong desire to express himself, coughed.
"I didn't find anything. But in every room, there's… hee hee… quite a scene. Makes one's blood boil."
"It’s very safe here at night, you can do whatever you want. There’s food and drink, and those guys’ reactions are just like real people," his voice lowered, a perverted laugh creeping in. "No matter what you do to them, they won’t resist.”
His companion laughed along. "You bastard, you still have time for that kind of thing in a place like this?”
"What’s the difference? For people like us, we live each day like it’s our last. The stranger, the more exciting."
As if telling his companion something he was very proud of, the more he talked, the more excited he became.
"They’re just a bunch of criminals sent here for forced labor, they were just playthings even when they were alive.”
"I found a woman, if we still can’t find the key tonight, I’ll take you to see her."
…
The two sentinels chuckled. The content of their conversation had changed from the information Lin Yuan was interested in to something obscene and uncomfortable.
Fortunately, they finally left.
Ni Ji stood up faster than Lin Yuan, he took two steps back, straightened his body, and adjusted his gloves.
He didn't know when his left glove had loosened, only hanging on by his fingertips. He quickly pulled the elastic black glove back up, tightly covering the exposed skin on his hand.
"You always seem to be wearing gloves," Lin Yuan, not noticing what had just happened secretly, looked at his actions and asked.
Ni Ji paused, drawing his saber to show Lin Yuan. The saber, not having sucked any blood, was now just a short, white dagger.
"I got this blade from a contaminated zone a long time ago."
The bone china-like white blade didn’t have much luster, and held in Ni Ji's black glove, looked very ordinary.
"This guy craves my blood no matter when, it’s easy to accidentally cut myself when holding it with my bare hands. That's why I've been used to wearing gloves all these years."
A thin, strange voice came from the hilt. "Hee hee, we meet again, Kraken, this brat, after you took his glove off once, he’s always been… sob…”
The hilt was grabbed and ruthlessly sheathed by Ni Ji.
Lin Yuan then showed her own blade to Ni Ji, the gift he had sent her after she returned to the capital.
Her wrist was very thin, as smooth as jade. The black and white bracelet wrapped around it, its ends joined. The flowing black lines were very beautiful, making her skin look even fairer.
"Mine is very useful," Lin Yuan said.
Her words were concise, her liking and gratitude all contained within these few words.
Ni Ji's black-gloved fingers slightly tightened.
He had worn gloves for so many years, it had become a habit. Taking off his gloves, other than during battles, made him uncomfortable.
He had originally wanted to earnestly explain this to Lin Yuan.
He knew that Lin Yuan was a very pure person, and also very respectful of him. After he told her, she would definitely notice the tentacles’ misbehavior and stop them.
Only, he didn’t know why, but he swallowed the words, not saying them out loud.
He didn't even want to think about why he hadn't said it.
The two walked along the wooden plank corridor.
Like the two sentinels had said, this row of houses, perhaps the servants’ quarters, was even damper and darker than those two-story stilt houses.
Lin Yuan pushed open the doors one by one, looking inside. She thought of the girl she had met last night.
That girl named Windsor, who had a beautiful singing voice, who was very gentle. She probably lived in one of these rooms.
Only, she didn’t know which one.
A frightened scream came from the alley at the corner, it sounded like one of the two sentinels who had just left.
Soon, a sentinel stumbled out of the alley, no longer with the strength and composure of a sentinel, trembling as he retreated, his long blade gripped tightly, pointing at the dark, damp alley.
After a while, his companion, the sentinel who claimed to have been in the Rose Camp for three days, slowly followed him out of the alley.
The man asked, puzzled, "What’s wrong with you? Why are you so scared?”
The sentinel’s face looked normal from the side, still that tall, burly man with muscles.
But from a slightly different angle, they would discover that his entire body had been split in half from between his legs.
Half a face, half a body, one arm, one leg.
The half-sentinel walked forward in a strange posture, he didn't even seem to notice the horrifying change to his body, walking towards his companion, asking him what had happened.
Inside his smoothly severed body, there was no blood or internal organs. Countless strange golden eyes, like parasites, opened in his body where flesh, blood, and bones should have been.
The golden eyes blinked, staring at the terrified sentinel on the ground.
That sentinel randomly waved his long blade, retreating in fear, finally running away in terror.
The sentinel who was left behind stood blankly at the alley entrance with his one leg, his only remaining eye rolling, looking towards Ni Ji and Lin Yuan.
"Ni Ji?" The man recognized Ni Ji and spoke.
His mouth was neatly severed from the middle, only half a lip remaining. The way he spoke was extremely strange.
"I recognize you, you’re Ni Ji," the strange, half-man stared blankly at Ni Ji. "What's wrong with me? Why are you looking at me like that?"
The golden eyes inside his body blinked, densely packed together.
"You're mutated," Ni Ji said, drawing his gun and pointing it at his head.
"Mutated?" The man’s eye rolled abnormally on his face. "No, no, no, how is that possible? Mutated? That’s impossible, I’m clearly fine."
"I’ll complete the Queen’s mission, I’ll get the money, a lot of money, and go back and live a life of luxury," he kept muttering, tears and snot flowing down half his face. He tremblingly tried to touch the half of his body that no longer existed.
The golden eyes growing on the severed surface of his body, when touched by him, their corners crinkling, giggled.
"Kill… kill me," the half-sentinel, tears and snot streaming down his face, cried and said to Ni Ji.
His features were distorted, his body starting to melt and twist like a candle.
"Kill me quickly, while I’m still human."
This was almost what every sentinel, before turning into a monster, would ask their companion to do.
Ni Ji raised his hand and fired a shot at his head.
The powerful explosive bullet, however, didn’t blow up the man’s head, it was blocked by a thin wing.
The bullet rotated, making a sharp, teeth-grinding sound, but couldn't pierce through the insect-like thin wing.
The bullet fell to the ground, and the wings folded down. Behind the wings, a pair of compound eyes and antennae grew on the man's head.
His strange half-mouth twisted and deformed, protruding forward, stretching infinitely, finally forming a long, needle-like proboscis.
His abdomen bulged, dragging behind him, a pair of thin, narrow wings spreading from his back, their veins golden, unfolding in the wind.
Like a giant mosquito.
Ni Ji drew his long blade and attacked the mutated man.
The giant mutated creature buzzed, flapping its golden wings, and flew up.
Ni Ji’s speed was so fast that it was almost impossible to capture with the naked eye, in an instant, his cold blade was already in front of the transforming monster.
The mutated sentinel accurately blocked Ni Ji's blade with its newly formed proboscis.
"Actually, mutation isn't as scary as you think," the man's voice came from the mosquito’s abdomen. "I feel very comfortable, like I've been freed.”
Ni Ji, without a word, withdrew his blade. The mosquito’s sharp proboscis left an afterimage in the air, the two exchanging dozens of moves in a single breath.
"Last night, I thought you were very scary. Now it seems, you're nothing special," the grotesque mutated creature flew in mid-air, vibrating its wings, making a loud buzzing sound.
It pointed its long, sharp proboscis at Ni Ji. "You don't know your own foolishness, only after mutating did I truly understand everything in this world.”
"Hee hee, you’re actually the real livestock being enslaved, poor sentinel, as foolish as I once was.”
"Your blood smells good, I’m very interested."
"Why not join us? You just have to endure a little bit of pain, and you’ll be just like me, with eternal joy.”
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