Invasion - Chapter 80

Chapter 80

Lin Yuan's first opponent was Vice-captain Rachel.

"Be careful, I’ve improved," Lin Yuan lowered her center of gravity, taking a starting stance. The black and white bracelet flowed into her palm, becoming a thin dagger, which she gripped.

Rachel's deep blue eyes held a gentle smile, his long, golden braid hanging down his chest.

He drew his saber, and with a flick of his wrist, spun it.

The moment his blade came out, Ni Ji knew who Lin Yuan had learned her blade skills from.

The way they moved their blades was almost identical.

Just a moment ago, Rachel’s smile had been gentle, but the moment the battle began, his aura completely changed.

His gaze sharpened, the muscles in his legs exploding with power, his golden braid leaving an afterimage in the sunlight.

Almost instantly, the blade was at the tip of Lin Yuan's nose, showing no mercy.

Lin Yuan's bright eyes, so close, didn't flinch, her gaze clear.

Rachel's heart skipped a beat. By the time he reacted, it was already too late, the Lin Yuan before him was just a phantom, shattering in the wind from his blade, a cold killing intent coming from behind him.

A chill ran down Rachel’s neck, his hairs standing on end, relying on his sentinel instincts, he barely managed to dodge the flash of blade light.

He quickly retreated, his feet kicking up two lines of yellow sand on the training ground, using his hand to stop himself as he looked up, just in time to see Lin Yuan sheathing her blade.

A few strands of severed golden hair fell to the ground.

Rachel was shocked.

He had spent quite a bit of time with Lin Yuan, and naturally knew she wasn’t weak.

But he was also very aware that close-range blade combat was this Guide’s greatest weakness.

Lin Yuan's blade skills, he had personally taught her from scratch, step by step.

In such a short time apart, she had already perfectly integrated her special mental control and combat techniques, using them so masterfully.

Her rate of improvement was astonishing.

Lin Yuan spun her blade, mimicking Rachel’s movement, the white and black blades spinning between her slender fingers.

The ground beneath Rachel’s feet suddenly disappeared.

The training ground, the dorms, the gate, the entire outpost, all gone, only the vast sky above and below him, boundless stars in all directions.

And Lin Yuan, flipping her small dagger, stood among the stars, looking at him.

Not just Rachel, almost all the sentinels present were affected by Lin Yuan’s spreading mental power, trapped in this illusion of stars.

Unable to distinguish up from down, nowhere to place their feet, dizzy, with a strong sense of weightlessness.

Several sentinels couldn’t stand still, even if they reached out, their sense of touch had also lost its reality, they could only retreat far away from the battlefield.

"That’s terrifying. Guide Lin has suddenly become so strong.”

"So amazing, even stronger than last time."

"Captain Lei’s not going to lose this quickly, is he? Although I think he'll eventually lose to Guide Lin."

"That’s impossible, look at that sentinel from the capital, standing steadily, completely unaffected. Don't you know Captain Lei’s personality? He would rather die than lose face in front of outsiders.”

Rachel pulled off his tactical suit’s belt and covered his eyes with the black belt.

He steadied himself, and behind him, a golden lion appeared.

The king of the grasslands shook its fluffy golden mane and stepped out from the void, letting out a deep roar.

The first time Lin Yuan had seen Rachel, his mindscape had been on the verge of collapse, his mental body regressed into a lion cub, not much bigger than a cat, its fur sparse, drenched by rain, looking incredibly pathetic.

Now, just a few months later, this golden lion had overcome its predicament, majestic, its eyes burning with fluorescent light, standing amidst the stars of the universe.

The golden beast's body kept expanding, the giant lion facing Lin Yuan across the thousands of stars.

Behind Lin Yuan, the tentacles, stimulated by the powerful mental body, revealed their claws.

【Wow, bi- big cat.】

【Golden, so much fur, I like it!】

【So big, I want to rub it.】

【Stop talking, don’t make the fish at home jealous.】

The king of the grasslands, full of energy, the golden-haired sentinel’s fighting spirit surging, like lightning across the stars, charging forward.

Lin Yuan felt a surge of excitement, the deep-sea kraken formed by the surging tentacles appearing behind her, facing the approaching golden beast.

Friends, after a long time apart, realizing they had both become stronger, the battle was exhilarating.

---

Lin Yuan's match with Rachel shook the training grounds, almost the entire outpost’s sentinels were alerted.

Her excitement undiminished, she pulled Xiao Niao into a teamwork match. Although it was her first time teaming up with Xiao Niao, they effortlessly pinned down several familiar faces like Daho, Damao, Jiao Lang, Xi Yi, and others one by one.

Only when Captain Shen Fei came out, calling them to go back for dinner, did they reluctantly stop.

"Aren’t you going to let me spar with them?" Ni Ji, finding a moment, asked Lin Yuan in a low voice.

His hands were itching, the battles here making his blood boil, the atmosphere making him nostalgic, reminding him of his old outpost.

Lin Yuan's dark eyes flickered, pretending not to hear.

Her expression was unprecedentedly lively, so much so that Ni Ji instantly understood.

It was as if the words "They are my sentinels, only I can bully them, not you" were written on her forehead.

【…】

【…】

【…】

【Oh no, who’s going to taste how the fish is right now?】

【Definitely not me.】

At Shen Fei's house, Shen Fei's daughter was overjoyed to see Lin Yuan and excitedly hugged her leg.

Lin Yuan had brought her a fashionable doll from the capital. An octopus, pink, with silly black eyes and eight little tentacles curled beneath it.

So, Shen Fei’s daughter, Xiao Yuan, completely clung to Lin Yuan, hugging the octopus doll, occupying the only spot next to Lin Yuan.

Compared to the banquets in the capital, Shen Fei's home-cooked meal could only be described as simple. The food was simple, and the space was also very small, a group of sentinels crowded around the long table, lively and cheerful.

But Ni Ji found that Lin Yuan was very relaxed here. Many subtle expressions, rarely seen, appeared on her usually cold face.

She sat on the soft sofa with the little girl, whispering.

Her lips stained with the amber color of sweet wine, her eyes bright, her smile soft. The orange candlelight on the table softened her features.

She looked like an ordinary, lively young woman, completely different from her aloof, mask-like appearance around the White Tower.

So, this was the kind of place, the kind of life, she liked.

The sentinels, united, under the guise of welcoming the new guest, focused their attention on Ni Ji, standing up one after another to challenge him to drinking contests.

"Yuan Yuan’s dedicated sentinel? Come, come, come, let’s see if your alcohol tolerance is worthy of Yuan Yuan," Xiao Niao sat with her legs crossed, raising her hand, a bowl of strong alcohol in it.

"I heard you’re the guard assigned to Guide Lin by the Queen? I'll toast you, I hope you can protect our Guide Lin well," the golden-haired man raised his glass.

"Cut the crap, let's drink like real men, if you pass out, Guide Lin is ours," Dahu opened a bottle of alcohol.

Ni Ji didn’t want to lose face and accepted every challenge.

For a while, the atmosphere was lively, with toasts and cheers.

In the end, all the sentinels at the table were down, only Lin Yuan still sitting properly.

Ni Ji, his face flushed, his eyes unfocused, lay on the table beside Lin Yuan.

Drunk, neither making a fuss nor sleeping, his eyes filled with a spring-like warmth, much more charming than his usual cold and stiff appearance.

Lin Yuan, having never seen Ni Ji like this, found it very amusing, she leaned closer to him, “Are you drunk?”

"Better than them, they can't outdrink me," he was quite honest when drunk, and more talkative than usual, answering everything she asked.

Lin Yuan took the opportunity to ask him, "Do you like my mental guidance?"

"Like it, I like it very much."

"Why do you always carry candy with you?"

"I keep them… for you."

Lin Yuan was happy, even the wine in her hand seemed sweeter.

"Xun Hua said that your mindscape was injured. What did the crimson egg do to you?"

"I ca- can’t tell Lin Yuan."

Lin Yuan had just casually asked this.

The last time she gave Ni Ji mental guidance, she had accidentally discovered that his mindscape was seriously injured in the Golden Tree Contaminated Zone.

He had hidden that memory very well. Lin Yuan, maintaining politeness, hadn't rummaged through the sentinel’s underwater palace, she didn't know what he had encountered.

What kind of mental illusion had caused such a serious mental trauma?

If he was willing to talk about it, next time she gave him mental guidance, she could help him recover better, more effectively.

If he had just said that he couldn't say it, that he didn't want to say it, it would have been fine. But what he had said was that he couldn't tell Lin Yuan.

Why couldn't he tell Lin Yuan specifically?

"I ca- can’t tell you, I can’t let Lin Yuan know."

Ni Ji’s face lay against the cold wooden table, his face flushed with alcohol, his eyes unfocused, the depths of his eyes, as if something had been diluted by alcohol, revealing a hidden vulnerability.

"Lin Yuan wants you to tell her," Lin Yuan leaned closer, coaxing him in a low voice.

Ni Ji's eyes flickered, his expression hesitant.

"It's okay to tell me, tell me."

A tentacle climbed onto the table, its soft tip picking up his black glove, sliding inside, and tickling the back of the sentinel's hand, which was on the table.

"It… that thing… it made me see you," Ni Ji furrowed his beautiful brows. "It made me see you and your tentacles… you were very fierce, constantly torturing me."

Lin Yuan’s joyful mood instantly vanished.

That thing had turned into her, bullied her sentinel, and even scared him like this?

Anger surged in her heart, and she momentarily regretted not having personally stabbed that hateful thing, turning it into mincemeat.

Completely forgetting that she had been half-dead at that time, almost dying along with the monster.

The sentinel, lying on the table, looked at the tentacle wriggling inside his glove, and for a moment, his memory seemed confused, "Y- you, you really were too much that time."

"But later I felt that… as long as you could live, as long as you were still willing to open your eyes, it didn't matter, it was okay," his words filled with pain, with fear, with drunkenness, but also a deep sincerity.

As long as you are still alive, it doesn’t matter what you did to me.

Even the most unruly tentacle felt a little embarrassed. It slipped out of Ni Ji's glove and gently touched his hair reassuringly.

The sentinel finally closed his eyes, sleeping peacefully in the cold night.

…

“She didn't go to the Land of No Eyes?” A voice in the White Tower said.

“Yes, they didn't board the airship specifically prepared for them, they left on a long-distance bus instead.”

"…"

"It seemed like a last-minute decision, our people heard their conversation, even Ni Ji, who was traveling with her, didn't seem to know her intentions.”

“Such an interesting child, very much like her mother, how nostalgic."

"We’re not going to do anything? I heard they've been going in and out of the large and small contaminated zones near Dongbin recently, conquering them all, their reputation is spreading, even the Sentinels and Guides inside the White Tower are talking about it.”

“It’s okay, she'll eventually go to the Land of No Eyes, that place might make her feel a sense of belonging, and finally recognize her true self.”

Almost at the same time, Lin Yuan and Ni Ji, having just left a contaminated zone, were passing by a beach, it happened to be Xiao Mu’s home, so the two went to visit.

Xiao Mu, that boy whose mental body was a seal, had grown taller since they last parted ways, almost as tall as an adult, only, he was as thin as a rail.

He was very happy to see Lin Yuan, rummaging through a box in his dark stone house, taking out a stack of black baked flatbreads wrapped in layers of cloth.

"Big sister Guide, I remember you liked this last time, I specially saved some for you, take them with you for the road."

Those flatbreads, made of coarse grains, baked black and hard, were actually very difficult to eat, Lin Yuan had only eaten them that time because of her mischievous nature, because she liked to snatch other people's food.

"Every time Mommy baked flatbreads, Big Brother wouldn’t eat his share, always hiding them in a box, so they were for Big Sister," Xiao Mu’s youngest sister came out, drooling as she looked at the stack of flatbreads.

Even food like this, their family couldn’t afford to eat every day, it was something they ate occasionally, to improve their lives.

Lin Yuan took the stack of black flatbreads and solemnly put them in her backpack.

There were many beautifully packaged candies and pastries in her backpack, they were all her favorite snacks.

Lin Yuan put the flatbreads in, took out her candies, looked at them reluctantly for a moment, and left them all for Xiao Mu and his siblings.

The children here had never seen such candies, their eyes lit up.

---

When they left Xiao Mu’s home, it was already dusk. The red setting sun floated on the sea surface, its light shining through the clouds, a myriad of colors, the seawater carrying white foam, brushing against the beach again and again.

Lin Yuan and Ni Ji sat on a pile of discarded tires, resting, eating the hard flatbreads amidst the sound of waves.

They hadn’t told Xiao Mu that after this visit, they planned to directly change their route, and head for the Land of No Eyes.

They weren't going back to Dongbin.

During the few days Lin Yuan and Ni Ji had been at the Dongbin outpost, they had visited all the surrounding contaminated zones. The contaminated zones here had already been explored by many, with detailed guide records, relatively safe.

As a team, they went in and out many times, solidly practicing their combat coordination.

It was time to go to the dangerous place that Lin Yuan wanted to explore, the one the Queen also wanted her to explore.

Lin Yuan didn’t like drawn-out farewells.

If they could return alive, of course there would be a day they would see each other again. If they were trapped inside, this parting would become a sad memory, better not to have it.

She had already seen the friends she wanted to see, had a few drinks with them, sparred, it was enough.

Leaving as readily as she had come.

At this time, it was low tide. Many children were digging for seafood in the muddy intertidal zone by the sea.

The harsh winter was almost over, spring was approaching, but it was still very cold.

Those young children, their feet bare, stepped on the cold seawater, their thin calves red from the cold.

But every small harvest would elicit joyful laughter from them.

This was the last peaceful night before entering the Land of No Eyes.

Lin Yuan broke off pieces of the black flatbread, putting them into her mouth bit by bit, pretending it was still her sweet candy.

Ni Ji knew that she was very protective of her food, anything she liked, she would always hold in her hand, very unwilling to share with others.

"If you’re so reluctant, couldn’t you just leave them some imperial coins? Don't they also want imperial coins?" Ni Ji asked her.

"The things you’re most reluctant to part with are the true gifts," Lin Yuan said listlessly, strongly missing the sweets she had given away.

She opened her personal terminal to show Ni Ji. She had sent a message to Shen Fei, hoping that they could recruit Xiao Mu in advance.

Sentinels who were underage couldn’t receive a salary from the empire, but the money could be taken from Lin Yuan's personal account. This little bit of money was nothing to Lin Yuan.

Only with a stable income could she truly help that child and his impoverished family.

Xiao Mu was just a child, from a poor family, and still young, but he was very sincere to Lin Yuan, Lin Yuan treated him with the respect she would a friend, not condescendingly leaving him a few imperial coins.

The setting sun completely sank into the sea, the sky darkening, the sky and the sea dyed with the rich colors of the afterglow, a soft glow on people's faces.

Ni Ji took out a few pieces of pointed, liquor-filled chocolates from his pocket and handed them to the listless Lin Yuan beside him.

Lin Yuan's eyes instantly lit up. She quickly took them, holding them all in her arms, happily breaking one open and eating it.

So sweet, she thought.

The sound of the waves was sweet, the sentinel beside her was sweet. She found that here, she seemed to be getting better and better, almost like a normal person now.

Even the upcoming Land of No Eyes didn’t seem so scary anymore.

Everything was getting better.

【Little Fish is still the best.】

【Sweet and sour.】

【A walking food reserve, he even knows to carry candy with him at all times, a good fish.】

【We’re about to fight, let me rub him, to replenish some energy.】

The tentacle that called itself “Daddy” excitedly hooked Ni Ji’s leg and was about to climb up.

A faint smell of alcohol from the chocolate diffused in the air.

This reminded the tentacles of what they had heard after drinking that time.

They thought of the sentinel’s wounded mindscape.

They thought of what that damned thing might have done in the mental illusion, using her image.

The unruly tentacles, deflated, let go of Ni Ji.

Dejected, they intertwined, wriggling on the beach, muttering and grumbling.

The sentinel, who had been mentally prepared to be harassed by them,

Seeing the tentacles suddenly change, letting go of his legs, was very surprised, a puzzled look on his face.

【Little Fish, don’t look at us like that, sob.】

【We wanted to play with you.】

【It’s okay, we don’t know anything.】

【We didn't take advantage of you when you were drunk and pry your secrets out of you.】

【We'll take care of you when we go to the Land of No Eyes.】

【We won’t let anyone bully you anymore.】

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