Invasion - Chapter 59

Chapter 59

Lin Yuan watched Ni Ji leave.

Another flash of light lit up the distant horizon, flickering flames rising from there.

Was this camp really this big? The place where the battle was taking place seemed so far away.

A distant explosion came.

Lin Yuan felt the floor beneath her feet tremble slightly. She seemed to hear a heartbeat, the sound seemingly right under her feet.

As if deep below, a giant heart was beating.

After a while, the same rude knocking from yesterday came again.

"Open the door, tell that Xun Hua brat to come out and play with me."

The person knocked loudly on the door, their alcohol-infused shadow appearing on the window's paper screen.

Lin Yuan released her expelling mental control, just like she had done last night.

A scream came from outside the door, and the knocking quickly stopped. But that person didn’t leave like last night.

He wouldn’t go away, as if very unwilling, pacing back and forth outside, hurried gasps coming from his throat.

Those sounds weren't human, and Lin Yuan couldn’t understand what he was saying.

But the thick lust and twisted malice seeped into the room like a cold wave through the cracks in the doors and windows.

The shadow projected on the window paper twisted and deformed, becoming burly, thick, even growing sharp horns like a demon.

"Who is this person?" Lin Yuan stared at the swaying shadow.

Windsor took two steps back, one hand on her chest, the other fumbling, finding a small fruit knife on the table. Her trembling fingers gripped the knife.

"That person, he used to be Xiao Xun’s subordinate," Windsor's face was pale, she hid the small knife behind her back, her body trembling. "Now he's just a vengeful ghost."

Xun Hua, who had once been a very powerful warrior, proud and aloof, had inevitably offended quite a few people.

"These people would come every now and then to torture him," Windsor bit her lip and didn't continue.

"Why did Xun Hua end up in a place like this?"

Windsor lowered her eyelashes and said, "One winter…"

One winter, it had been very cold, heavy snow had fallen, monsters had attacked this town several times, and many families couldn't survive.

But the taxes demanded by the empire had remained as heavy as ever, without any reduction. There were many more orphans in the city, quite a few children and elderly people starved to death, including one of Windsor's younger brothers, and a very young sister.

Xun Hua had used his authority to embezzle part of the food meant for taxes and distribute it to the orphans who couldn't survive the winter.

Later, when winter was over, he was reported and convicted of a serious crime.

The empire's property was above all else, embezzlement was the most serious crime.

The moon had fallen into the gutter from then on, trampled on by everyone.

"That's why I say he is the moon, no matter where he falls," Windsor's soft fingers pinched a stone pendant hanging on her chest.

It was a relic left to her by her mother. Although it wasn’t worth much, she had worn it since she was a child, whenever she had to make an important decision, she would subconsciously rub the small stone.

As if that inconspicuous stone pendant held the belief that supported her.

She stopped trembling, gritted her teeth, and tightened her grip on the knife hilt.

Lin Yuan reached out to her, and the two girls held hands.

The moment their hands clasped, their skin touching, Lin Yuan clearly felt Windsor’s emotions.

Intense pain, lingering fear, and the courage that allowed her to hold onto the knife despite this fear.

"Don't be afraid," Lin Yuan said.

She had wanted to say, don’t be afraid, I’ll protect you. But she suddenly clearly knew that she couldn't protect Windsor, she couldn’t help her.

This was a friend who had already died three or four hundred years ago.

Something made Lin Yuan's nose ache, her chest felt tight, an uncomfortable feeling making her want to bite her fingers.

The yellow paper pasted on the window was licked through, a long, non-human tongue reaching in through the hole, licking around, trying to reach the door latch.

Lin Yuan stared at it, one hand holding Windsor’s, the other reaching towards it.

The tongue quickly withdrew, and a scream of pain and violent thrashing came from outside the door.

Soon after, a pleading voice came. "No, it hurts so much, please let me go.”

Lin Yuan stared at the licked-through window paper, her five fingers slowly curling into a fist.

The wailing became even more intense, rolling down the stairs, thrashing and rolling on the street downstairs for a while, gradually weakening, until it was no longer audible.

"Yuan Yuan, what did you do to him?" Windsor, breathing a long sigh of relief, ran to the window to peek.

"I just took the emotions I felt from you, concentrated them a little, and stuffed them all into his mind at once.”

Lin Yuan stood by the window with her, looking through the torn paper, and saw an ugly body lying there on the ground.

That seemingly strong mass of flesh twitched slightly, and finally stopped moving.

"Some people seem strong," Lin Yuan tapped her head with her finger, "but actually, they’re very weak inside. They take pleasure in torturing others, but if those cruel things were to happen to them, they wouldn’t be able to bear it at all.”

A bright light flashed in the distance, followed by a distant explosion.

"What happened?" Windsor said, "Where’s that fire?"

Lin Yuan walked out the door, stood in the corridor, and looked into the distance, the red flames flickering in the sky, as if a fierce battle was taking place.

Ni Ji hadn’t come back yet, she didn't know how things were going over there.

But here, the lights on the street were still bright, the noise hadn’t changed, the people coming and going still had smiles on their faces, as if they didn't see the flickering red flames.

Lin Yuan seemed to hear that strange heartbeat from underground again.

As if some giant will was hidden underground, its golden roots like a giant net, controlling the emotions of all living beings in this world.

She hadn't heard this sound last night, she had been asleep last night.

Lin Yuan remembered, last night, probably around this time, she had inexplicably fallen asleep.

She had fallen asleep in this strange world, and when she opened her eyes again, it was already daytime. Windsor, Xun Hua, and everyone in this Rose Camp, had all disappeared.

Thump, thump.

That powerful beating sound became clearer, as if it could forcefully drag everyone into its emotional world.

Lin Yuan immediately turned back.

She had clearly only taken one or two steps out of the door, but for some reason, she now found that the distance between her and that lit door had become very far.

Even Windsor in the light had become blurry.

The floor under her feet softened, started floating, twisting, making her unsteady.

The world fell into darkness, only the door behind her, that small room, still brightly lit.

Countless blurry, black shadows climbed up from under the stairs, walking over from the other end of the corridor, wriggling towards that brightly lit door.

The door of the room was open, only the sick Xun Hua and the defenseless Windsor inside.

Lin Yuan ran towards the door.

The long corridor twisted and swayed. The more she ran, the further away that lit door became.

Her feet, as if stepping on soft flesh, couldn’t find any support, and Lin Yuan fell.

She looked up, watching as those black monsters crawled into the small room.

She saw Windsor stand up, holding that small knife, she stood before the bed, using the fruit knife to stab those black monsters in their heads.

Lin Yuan realized that this wasn't the present, but something that had happened here four hundred years ago.

But at that moment, Lin Yuan stared at Windsor in the light, not even daring to blink.

She was so brave, such a small and weak body, daring to resist such powerful monsters.

She was so beautiful, biting her hair, her hands holding the knife, stabbing into the monster’s body, so dazzling she almost glowed.

I really can’t bear to lose her, I really want to take her away from here. Lin Yuan thought.

When she blinked again.

The distorted space, the black monsters, had all disappeared.

The scene of the girl, biting her hair, fighting with the monsters, had also disappeared.

The world seemed to return to calm, and Lin Yuan, who had fallen at the door, saw Windsor in the room, lying by the small wooden bed, her eyes closed, as if she was asleep.

Xun Hua on the bed sat up and gently touched the girl's hair with his pale hand.

The thin blanket slipped from his body.

Lin Yuan then noticed that countless golden branches had grown out from the floor.

Those thin, tough, golden branches pierced through the floorboards and the bed, into Xun Hua’s body, almost fused with his lower body.

The man, half of his body stained gold, the other half thin and bony, glanced at Lin Yuan, who had entered, and bent down to pick up the fruit knife that had fallen by the bed.

He weighed the knife in his hand, and without any expression, cut off one of his fingers, removing a bloody finger bone.

The pale bone fell onto the handkerchief, quickly turning golden.

"Take it and leave here," Xun Hua, his body gradually being enveloped by the golden branches, handed the handkerchief with the bone to Lin Yuan.

...

This was the key. The key to open the Golden Tree Contaminated Zone.

Lin Yuan couldn’t understand for a moment. Countless warriors had gathered far away, fighting amidst the raging flames, how had the key to open the contaminated zone suddenly appeared before her eyes?

So it was Xun Hua, Xun Hua, who had always been right before her eyes, who was the true body of the Golden Tree.

The most powerful mutated creature in the No. 77 Contaminated Zone, the Pillar of the entire contaminated zone.

The golden tree gradually spread its branches and roots, Xun Hua’s body slowly being consumed by the golden branches, his hands lifted, his back merging, his expression calm, as if he had long been accustomed to everything.

Windsor lay on the gnarled, golden roots, quiet, as if sleeping.

"This is the first time I’ve actively given a key to a human," Xun Hua looked down at the girl sleeping on the tree roots, "consider it a thank you for telling her that the moon also likes rats.”

The ground in the room started to shake, the floor cracking, a blood-red fissure appearing.

The inner wall of the fissure was covered with wriggling, red, blood vessel-like things.

The bed, the floor, the table and sofa in the room, all the messy things, began sliding towards the crack.

The golden tree slowly sank. As if some terrifying force underground was pulling it, pulling the golden tree down into the blood-red, dark, bottomless abyss.

"Leave, don't covet those things that you can't possibly obtain," Xun Hua’s body sank along with the golden tree, his voice calm, without pain, only with a hint of warning, "In a while, even I won't be able to let you leave."

"Wait," Lin Yuan tried to steady herself amidst the shaking ground, reaching out to the sinking Xun Hua. "Do, do you want to come out with me?"

The man, whose body was gradually being consumed by golden branches, looked up at her.

"Leave this place, take Windsor with you," Lin Yuan, grabbing onto the door frame, shouted at him, "After we get out, you can live at my house, there's another mutated creature like you living there, she’s living a good life.”

Xun Hua, trapped in the tree, looked up at her, a slightly surprised look on his cold face.

Lin Yuan felt like she had never tried so hard to persuade someone, said so many words at once, in her life.

"Really," she kept reaching out, repeatedly saying, "My courtyard is very big, it can house many people, and we’re missing a gardener, you can live there, bring Windsor with you."

Golden branches covered Xun Hua's short silver hair, intertwining golden roots covering his forehead, his eyes, until only half of his human face remained.

Those pale human lips moved, a bitter smile appearing.

"Windsor, she’s already gone, if we leave here, she’ll disappear."

"And I…"

Lin Yuan didn't hear his last words.

The brilliant golden tree fell with a rumble, into the bottomless fissure.

Lin Yuan clung to the edge of the pit, the golden leaves on the branches colliding, making a crisp sound, like someone singing, faintly echoing.

Lin Yuan gripped the handkerchief with the bone tightly, this was the key to open the door.

Although she didn’t find what she was looking for, she could at least leave here, alive.

Many of the people trapped here, those lives that hadn’t yet perished, who were still holding on, had a chance to leave alive.

Lin Yuan gritted her teeth and started running outwards.

Outside the window, the crescent moon in the night sky had faded considerably, as if dawn was about to break.

The distant flames and explosions continued.

Behind her, that terrifying crack began to devour everything.

Rooms, corridors, streets, all collapsing into it, the entire Rose Camp slowly being swallowed.

Lin Yuan, as she ran, heard that heartbeat from underground again.

This time, she heard it very clearly.

She also heard the pain, struggles, resentment, and wails of many people.

Deep underground, there was a giant creature, like a god.

As a Guide, Lin Yuan sensed its presence.

Its powerful heartbeat pulsed, swallowing the pain of many people, swallowing it into its mental world.

It was a behemoth, having lived for countless years, and very cruel, feeding on the painful emotions of countless people, unwilling to let anyone leave alive.

Lin Yuan quickly ran into Ni Ji, who had come back to find her.

Still far away, the sentinel in black shouted at her, "Run, this place is about to collapse!"

Fire blazed behind him as he ran towards her.

For a moment, Lin Yuan also wanted to run towards him, just like he ran towards her.

Hold his hand, take the key, and leave this place together with him.

Leave this twisted and abnormal place filled with monsters and flames.

The outside world was quiet and beautiful, sheltered under the holy light of the White Tower, alcohol and good food could heal everything.

Make her forget the screams and pain echoing in her mind, forget the girl who sang to her.

Lin Yuan took out the handkerchief with the golden bone from her pocket and threw it towards Ni Ji from afar.

A tentacle emerged from the ground in the distance, caught the handkerchief, and threw it forward again, another tentacle emerging to catch it.

When the last tentacle rolled the small handkerchief and stuffed it into Ni Ji's arms, Lin Yuan had already turned around and run back towards the cave filled with pain, screams, and the echoing heartbeat.

"You go open the door first," she waved her hand, firmly making the gesture.

Not looking back at the sentinel behind her.

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