Invasion - Chapter 78

Chapter 78

Ni Ji was doing weighted training on the floor of his dorm room.

His fingers and toes on the ground, his legs straight and suspended in the air, in a standard planche push-up position, with a considerable weight added to his back.

The lines of his arm and shoulder muscles were beautifully defined, sweat dripping from his forehead, forming a small puddle on the floor.

A virtual screen popped up from his personal terminal beside him, not playing music or tactical knowledge, but a dessert-making video.

"You've changed, you’ve fallen, you’ve forgotten all your blood debts,”

The pale dagger by Ni Ji's hand, its bone-white hilt splitting open, spoke in a strange, mocking voice.

Ni Ji didn't speak, the muscles in his arms tensing and relaxing as he lifted and lowered his body.

"Have you forgotten them all? Not taking revenge anymore? Now, as long as you have the moon, the stars, and a warm blanket, it's enough, right?”

"Can you even sleep at night? Those dead people are still watching you.”

Ni Ji’s expression didn't change amidst the strange, sarcastic tone.

His arms straightened, his strong core strength keeping his body parallel to the ground, his legs steady. "You wouldn't understand."

The dagger was enraged, its voice rising. "What do you mean I don’t understand? I've lived hundreds of years longer than you, haven’t I? You've just fallen for that Guide, haven’t you? Always busy showing off, you haven’t given me blood for a long time, where's my blood? Give me blood!”

"Before, I wasn't really trying to get revenge, I just didn't want to live anymore," Ni Ji continued training, sweat dripping down, soaking the floor. "But now it's different. I really want to avenge them, I want to do something.”

He didn’t say what he was going to do, but the demon blade's tone lowered, muttering, "Who would believe that?"

Actually, it believed him. Although it was a demonic being, it had been with Ni Ji for a long time, drunk Ni Ji’s blood countless times, watched Ni Ji running around every day, it was the being who knew what he was going to do, who understood Ni Ji’s heart the most.

This guy had changed. He had become more cautious with his life, busier, with deeper and more ambitious plans in his heart, and his resolve had become firmer, he accompanied that Guide every morning for training, collected and studied information in the afternoon, and secretly mixed with some sentinels in the White Tower at night, he was very busy, his days fulfilling.

Only this way, its opportunities to drink blood decreased.

"Then where's my blood? No matter what, you still have to give me blood, I want a lot, a lot, I want to see you covered in blood."

Ni Ji was silent for a moment. "We're going to the Land of No Eyes soon."

"Hmph, with that Guide, with that Kraken, interesting, I've always wanted to taste her blood."

"If you touch her even once, I’ll break you," Ni Ji’s voice was very calm as he spoke, the movements of his hands steady.

But the dagger recoiled a little, it knew that this guy was a little crazy deep down, it was okay to say a few words usually, but when he spoke in this tone, it was the most terrifying.

The dagger yielded, no longer daring to mention this topic, and the room became quiet, only the sound of the sentinel's breathing during training, and the sweet voice of the food blogger in the video.

"Boil the sugar until it's a beautiful golden color ~~ This kind of candy will melt your heart."

A moment later, the hungry dagger, unable to resist, started to provoke him again.

"A person like you, daring to like someone. With the things you’re planning, you might lose your head tomorrow, yet you still think you can live forever.”

Ni Ji: "…"

"I know what you’re thinking. You think you’re just liking her on your own, not letting her know, so it’s fine.”

Ni Ji: "…"

"Accompanying her during training, accompanying her to the most dangerous places, accompanying her as she grows. Then, when you’re gone one day, she’ll have plenty of other Sentinels.”

Ni Ji: "…"

"Hee hee, I’m actually looking forward to that day, the day you die tragically, I can drink all your blood, and by the way, I’ll help you see which Sentinel that Kraken will choose as her next dedicated sentinel, hee hee hee hee."

Ni Ji, frowning, supported himself on the floor with one hand, pulled off the glove from his other hand with his teeth, and gripped the pale blade, the thin blade cutting his finger. It licked a little of the red blood, drinking it contentedly, finally satisfied, and stopped its nonsense.

The room became quiet again, the food blogger’s sweet voice echoing from the virtual screen.

"…"

Some noise came from the street downstairs.

The distance was actually quite far, but with a sentinel’s sharp hearing, he could clearly hear what was happening.

The sound of a car engine starting, the messy sounds of military boots, and a little girl’s screams.

Ni Ji went to the balcony and looked, he put on his shoes, grabbed his blade, and jumped down from the high building.

---

A military vehicle was parked at the corner, its door open. Several sentinels in Public Security Bureau uniforms stood by the vehicle, one of them pulling the little girl who delivered coal briquettes into the car.

"I'm not a Guide! I’m not a Guide! I don’t want to go to the White Tower!" The little girl, her face covered with coal dust, kicked and screamed, struggling and rolling around, refusing to get in the car.

"Concealing newly differentiated sentinels and guides is a serious crime, you replaced your blood sample last time, that was already illegal. If you weren’t a Guide, you would have been in jail long ago. Stop making a fuss, come with us,"

"I'm not going, my grandpa’s sick, he’s lying in bed at home alone, no one’s taking care of him, I won’t go, I won’t go," the little girl, with tears and snot streaming down her face, covered in coal dust, rubbed herself against the sentinel.

"Disgusting, someone help me," the sentinel pulling her said with disgust, impatiently persuading, "If you go to the White Tower, you’ll have good food and drinks, beautiful clothes to wear, you’ll marry a noble when you grow up, life couldn’t be better, what’s there to miss about your beggar grandfather?"

The other sentinels just stood there, watching and laughing, "Since you touched her, you deal with her, she’s as black as coal, none of us want to touch her.”

"I'm not going, I want to go home, I want to go home, I just want to be with Grandpa," the coal-black little girl had sharp teeth, biting hard on the hand of the sentinel who was grabbing her, and taking advantage of the moment he loosened his grip from the pain, she slipped away.

Unfortunately, she was just a young child, a newly differentiated Guide, how could she escape from a sentinel’s grasp?

The sentinel reached out, grabbed her hair, pulled her back, and slapped the six or seven-year-old girl to the ground.

"Little brat, you dare bite me? We’re sending you to live a good life, and you don’t even appreciate it, do you think the White Tower is a place you can go if you want to, and not go if you don't want to? If you run away, it won’t just be you and your grandfather, even the few of us won’t have a good time."

He raised his foot and kicked the small body curled up on the ground.

His foot was blocked by another military boot. That boot, with a swift move, tripped and stepped on his foot. The sound of bones cracking echoed in the air.

The sentinel screamed in pain.

The sentinels who were watching by the car jumped up, furiously surrounding Ni Ji, who had come down from upstairs.

Ni Ji was wearing military boots and tactical pants, only a black tank top soaked with sweat on his upper body, holding an inconspicuous dagger in his hand.

He was tall and thin, without any identifying badges.

But someone quickly recognized him.

"Ni Ji, he also used to be in our Public Security Bureau, he’s now in the Royal Guard," the person whispered to his companion, "Very strong, not someone to mess with."

The title of Royal Guard made the low-ranking sentinels from the Public Security Bureau apprehensive. And his ruthless skill of breaking people’s limbs without a word, descending from the sky, made them feel that this person before them wasn’t someone to be trifled with.

Ni Ji pulled the little girl up from the ground.

The little girl who delivered coal, half her face swollen, didn't cry or make a fuss, just bit her lip, tears in her eyes, standing behind Ni Ji.

"Give her some time, let her go home and say goodbye," Ni Ji said.

"You, a Royal Guard, what right do you have to interfere in our Public Security Bureau’s business?" A sentinel was about to complain, but was quickly pulled back by the person beside him. Sentinels were very perceptive, from the aura and pressure emanating from another, they could tell the difference in strength.

"Officer Ni," the sentinel who had recognized Ni Ji stepped forward. "It’s not that we’re not giving you face, but this little girl is very sly, don’t underestimate her because of her age, not only did she dare to tamper with the blood samples for the random checks, she even ran away once, we’re just afraid she’ll run again.”

The little girl lowered her head, whispering, "I won’t run, I just want to go home and see Grandpa.”

At such a young age, she already knew that crying and acting spoiled were useless, knew to assess the situation, and not cause trouble. So smart, it was heartbreaking.

"Let her go back," Ni Ji said again.

"Then what if she runs away? Are you taking responsibility?” The sentinel with the broken leg shouted.

"What does it have to do with me if she runs away? Are you so incompetent that you can't even keep an eye on such a small child?” Ni Ji’s gaze was as cold as a glacier, domineering and unreasonable.

In this world, the most frightening thing was a powerful and unreasonable person, they couldn’t defeat him, and there was no reasoning with him.

The sentinels had no choice but to suppress their anger and take the girl home.

Ni Ji stood on the roof, looking down at the alley.

The alley was damp and cold, no sunlight reached it, huge piles of garbage piled up like mountains, flies and cockroaches everywhere.

The little girl with the slender limbs walked alone in the damp, dark alley, several sentinels guarding the alley entrance not far behind her, their long shadows stretching out like monsters.

The girl standing by the garbage heap looked up and glanced at Ni Ji on the rooftop.

That look triggered Ni Ji’s memory.

He remembered that many years ago, on a snowy winter day, he, still young, had also stood on such a rooftop, and seen the young Guide sitting by the garbage heap.

At that time, many sentinels had been mobilized to search for this Guide who had escaped from the White Tower, but only he had found her.

He hadn't understood at that time. A guide living in the White Tower, with no worries about food or clothing, living a rich life, a treasure of the empire, why would she want to escape? Causing them to have to run around in the ice and snow.

But now he understood.

They were also prisoners, only, imprisoned in a more luxurious cage under a more justifiable name.

The little girl who delivered coal arrived at the door of her home. The house was very small, with a dilapidated doorway, but it was her home, the small world where she and her only family member lived, relying on each other.

The lights weren’t on inside the house, and scrap collected from who knew where was piled up in the corner.

An old TV, probably picked up from a junkyard, was on, its palm-sized screen flickering with white light, playing a video of a royal princess meeting the new students of the Guide Academy.

The princess, representing the royal family, was wearing a jeweled dress, standing with the Guides in their delicate uniforms, cheerful music playing in the background.

Opposite the TV was a rusty, double-decker iron bed. The pale light from the screen couldn’t illuminate this place. Only a hunched figure, lying motionless on the lower bunk, could vaguely be seen.

"Grandpa?" the girl called out softly, a hint of grievance in her cautious voice. "I’m back.”

Ni Ji on the rooftop suddenly frowned.

Something’s not right.

Too quiet.

The sentinel’s strong perception spread.

That small room was too quiet.

Other than the static from the TV, there was no other sound.

No heartbeat, no breathing, no breath of life.

Ni Ji’s heart sank. Soon, he heard a soft sob coming from the dark room.

Not a loud wail, like a kitten’s, soft sobs, held in her chest, gasping.

It was just a six-year-old child, living tenaciously, struggling, yet still losing her only family.

Having been at the outpost for so many years, Ni Ji had seen countless human tragedies.

But no matter how many times he experienced things like this, he couldn’t get used to it.

The sentinels who had followed knocked on the dilapidated door, "Stop crying, since he's gone, it saves us the trouble, come with us to the White Tower and live a good life.”

They even wrinkled their noses, "It stinks, what’s that smell?”

The next moment, a sharp, piercing scream rang out.

A sharp cry in the silence, without any actual sound, like a shockwave spreading from the small house.

All the sentinels present, including Ni Ji on the rooftop, felt a sharp pain in their minds.

A primal, uncontrollable mental attack.

Several lower-level sentinels clutched their heads, moaning in pain.

Ni Ji jumped down from above and saw a large bird, its entire body burning with white flames, a long tail trailing behind it, flying out of the house.

Its newly formed appearance was still blurry, its features indistinct. It flapped its trembling wings, its body enveloped in pale flames, raised its head, let out a mournful cry towards the sky, then its blurry figure dissipated and vanished.

It was the child's still immature mental body.

A few Public Security Bureau sentinels, shaking unsteadily, stood up, carried the small, unconscious Guide out of the house, and put her in the car.

"Never seen such a fierce Guide before."

"Aren’t Guides in the White Tower all gentle and kind?"

"What bad luck, running into such a powerful person, my head’s killing me.”

The sentinels from the Public Security Bureau cursed, and drove away.

Ni Ji stood in the dark alley, clenching his fists, watching the car carrying the Guide away, towards the White Tower in the distance.

All guides in the empire belonged to the White Tower, they were registered, it was forbidden to hide or fail to report them.

Other than nobles, no Guide could leave the White Tower before adulthood.

This was something Ni Ji couldn’t do anything about, there was nothing he could do.

The car drove away quickly, disappearing in a blink of an eye.

Ni Ji turned around and entered the small, dark house.

The old man’s cold body lay on the small metal bed, his back hunched, curled plasters on his fingers, which drooped over the edge of the bed.

The old TV in front of the bed was still on.

The flickering, pale light from the TV screen shone on the deceased's face.

Ni Ji looked at that face.

Having been on countless battlefields for so many years, he had seen countless dead.

Whether a person died of illness or from an accident, nothing could escape a sentinel's sharp eyes.

The sweet and charming voice of the announcer echoed in the dark little house, "Guides are sentinels' partners, the treasures of the empire, let us cherish the gentle and beautiful Guides, like we cherish flowers."

Ni Ji's expression turned grim, his brows deeply furrowed.

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