Invasion - Chapter 85
Chapter 85
Ni Ji completely opened his mental landscape to Lin Yuan.
The waves of that ocean were gentle, the beautiful underwater garden completely unguarded, the gates of the mysterious palace open.
Even the most hidden rooms in the deepest parts of the buildings had loosened their restrictions.
Lin Yuan's mental body dove into the deep sea, entering that mysterious and pure ocean, completely taking control of the sentinel's body in place of the unconscious Ni Ji.
The battle did not go smoothly at first.
The depths of a sentinel's mindscape were delicate, soft, magnificent, and colorful, but also sensitive and fragile. Lin Yuan was tense, the tentacles carefully wriggling, afraid that a single misstep would hurt Ni Ji, causing him serious mental damage.
She had to control Ni Ji's body to fight, while also being very careful not to damage his mind and body.
In contrast to Lin Yuan, Teng Lu, controlling A Ren's body, was reckless and aggressive, completely disregarding whether that soulless shell was damaged or not.
"I thought Big Sister was very powerful, but it seems you’re just so-so," Teng Lu said with a smile. "But it’s okay, I still like you very much. After you become our companion and stay here, you’ll slowly become stronger."
Her smile was still beautiful, gentle and shy, her tone sincere, when she said she liked Lin Yuan, Lin Yuan could even feel her sincerity.
"Many people have died here, haven’t they? How many lives have you taken with these words?" Lin Yuan asked her.
In this seemingly cozy little house, there were mountains of military ration cans, sentinel backpacks that hadn’t been put away, and sentinel combat uniforms from different teams.
All of it indicating that this seemingly warm little house, was actually a bloody place, soaked in the blood of countless sentinels.
Many sentinels had been tricked here, lost their lives, and the supplies they carried left behind, becoming Teng Lu’s spoils of war.
"I had no choice," Teng Lu lowered her head, rubbing her fingers, "I’m not like you, I’m very weak, it's very difficult for me to survive. Big Sister, can’t you understand me a little?"
She sounded very aggrieved, she truly didn’t seem to think she had done anything wrong, only blaming Lin Yuan for not understanding her.
A Ren, completely disregarding his injuries, quickly broke through Ni Ji’s defenses, and closed in on Lin Yuan.
They were very clear that as long as they could eliminate the Guide, regardless of the cost, the battle would be over.
Lin Yuan quickly grabbed her short blade, the small, black and white dagger barely blocking A Ren’s saber, the sharp edges clashing, sending out a shower of sparks.
In terms of physical strength, there was an insurmountable gap between sentinels and guides.
Lin Yuan blocked with difficulty, barely dodging the blade light, rolling to the side, a strand of black hair falling before her eyes.
She put the arm holding the blade behind her, the hand numb from the force of the sentinel’s blow, trembling, she almost couldn’t hold onto the blade.
At the same time, in the ocean of her mindscape, a pair of large hands reached out from behind and held Lin Yuan's hand.
It was Ni Ji's presence.
Lin Yuan turned around in surprise, there was no one behind her.
This was Ni Ji's mental world, but his mental body was sleeping, where would she find Ni Ji’s image?
A gentle current surrounded Lin Yuan in the mindscape, as if the sentinel was standing behind her, his arms around her, his hand holding hers.
Teaching her, step by step, how to use his body.
"Don't be so careful, treat me like the blade in your hand," Ni Ji’s gentle voice came through the current.
"I'm a warrior, on the battlefield, I’d rather be injured than lose."
In the real world,
Lin Yuan, facing a powerful enemy, tightened her grip on her blade, a golden light appearing in the depths of her dark eyes.
Ni Ji, controlled by her, the same golden light appearing in his eyes. The demon blade was unsheathed, its red edge cutting his skin, drinking its fill of blood.
He began to move, a little clumsy at first, then his attacks became increasingly fierce. Red blade light filled the air, clashing with A Ren.
A Ren’s arm was cut off by the red blade, falling to the ground.
He lost an arm, but his face was expressionless, continuing to fight with his remaining arm.
A leg fell off.
The body, having lost an arm and a leg, struggled for a moment, then finally collapsed with a thud. The fallen body, its lifeless eyes still open, was still crawling forward.
The red blade came again, finally taking his head.
The sentinel, long dead, blinked, and this time, he could finally slowly close his eyes.
A long time ago, he had come to this dark city and met a human girl hiding here. The girl had been timid, pitiful, and starving.
A Ren had taken pity on her, giving her his canned food and promising to take her back with him.
Later, he was killed by that girl, used thoroughly. Not even finding peace after death, a walking corpse lingering in this dark world for a long time.
Only at this moment could he finally find eternal rest.
"Too much! Big Sister, how could you break A Ren?!" Teng Lu was very angry, her lips pouting. "A Ren, he was very good to me, he’s my favorite sentinel! I begged ‘that one’ for a long time before It finally let me keep his eyes.”
"Big Sister, you're too much, I just invited you to stay, I didn’t even hurt you. Why did you do this?”
Teng Lu stomped her foot.
Silently, figures appeared around the room.
Each of them expressionless, their faces blank, their movements silent as ghosts.
They were all sentinels.
Dead sentinels, just like A Ren.
They had no eyes, only two dark holes in their eye sockets. One after another, these eyeless sentinels, like ghosts crawling out of their graves, emerged from the darkness, their pale faces appearing.
A dense crowd of puppet sentinels stood beside Teng Lu.
Lin Yuan took a few steps back, making Ni Ji, who she was controlling, retreat behind her.
"How did you do this?" she asked Teng Lu.
The girl before her clearly wasn't a Guide. She seemed like an ordinary person, even now, Lin Yuan hadn’t detected any powerful mental strength from her, yet she could control Sentinels, and even manipulate so many puppets at the same time.
Using some kind of power to destroy these sentinels’ mindscapes, controlling their bodies. Driving these unconscious sentinels to fight for her.
"I’m just an ordinary person, of course, I’m not capable of performing such a miracle," Teng Lu lowered her head, slightly lifting her skirt for Lin Yuan to see. "It’s God, the great ‘It’ bestowed this power upon me.”
Beneath the layers of lace on her skirt, there weren’t human legs, just a single tentacle curled on the ground.
That tentacle was very similar to Lin Yuan’s mental body, only its color was gray, its skin loose and wrinkled, like an incredibly old, ancient, decaying life, nearing its end.
Many years ago, Teng Lu, even younger than she was now, had followed a neighbor, venturing into the Land of No Eyes.
Her family had been very poor, and they were starving.
“It’s alright, that place, as long as you don't go too deep, there isn’t much danger," the neighbor brother had said, “Although there isn't anything valuable on the upper levels, we can still try our luck. If we’re lucky, we can find enough for you to eat for several days.”
"Don't worry, I’ll protect you.”
But her luck hadn’t been good, and no one truly protected her.
She, weak and powerless, missed a step on a slippery pipe and fell. She landed on the roof of a building on a lower level, she didn’t die, but was then chased by monsters.
Someone save me! Teng Lu cried as she ran. Why am I so weak, so pitiful?
Isn't there a god in this world who can save me?
When she was about to die, she heard a voice.
{Come.}
{Come to me.}
Following that voice’s guidance, stumbling, she reached the deep underground.
In the dark depths, a small, severed tentacle was placed before her.
{Eat it.}
{Then you can borrow my power.}
{Bring me more sentinels.}
{I am too old, and have lost my eyes.}
{I want more sacrifices.}
To survive, Teng Lu, tears streaming down her face, fighting back her disgust, swallowed the terrifying tentacle.
She gained the power of God.
Her legs fused together, becoming a tentacle, and could now connect to the behemoth in the underground world, borrowing Its power.
From then on, like a ghost, using her ordinary human body, pretending to be weak and pitiful, she diligently lured sentinels.
Bringing them, one after another, to the depths of the underground, sacrificing them to that god.
To that terrifying monster.
"I had no choice," Teng Lu sighed, "I'm just an ordinary person, I have no power, I can’t resist, I'm so sorry to those sentinel brothers and sisters."
"Come with me, Big Sister Lin Yuan, you're a Guide, God likes you very much, It said It would never hurt you," the girl smiled shyly. "I also like you very much, stay here and be my companion, I won’t be angry with you anymore."
As she smiled innocently,
The dense crowd of sentinels behind her slowly pressed forward.
Lin Yuan was silent for a moment, then answered her, "I can go with you, but leave him here," she said calmly, resolutely, pointing at Ni Ji standing beside her, Lin Yuan realized that sometimes, she was an extremely rational person.
When she knew there was absolutely no chance of winning, she instantly analyzed the optimal solution for the current situation.
She could go with these people. But she at least had to protect her sentinel.
Otherwise, even if she brought Ni Ji down with her, with her strength alone, she would never be able to defeat so many sentinels.
Besides, she was going to that place anyway.
"But…" Teng Lu hesitated.
{But.}
{I promised.}
{Leave the sentinel.}
{As long as you.}
{Quickly.}
In Ni Ji's mindscape, the waves began churning violently, the seawater, as if knowing something, tightly wrapped around Lin Yuan, who was swimming in the sea.
Lin Yuan’s mental body, her skirt fluttering, her tentacles swaying behind her, she swam upwards in the sea, emerging from the water, leaving that warm ocean.
Dark clouds gathered in the sky above, and thunder rumbled.
The sea was rough, turquoise waves crashing onto the beach one after another. Carrying white foam, they repeatedly surged forward, hooking and rolling the tentacles that lingered on the beach.
Lin Yuan didn't look back, and walked away.
Wave after wave desperately surged forward, relentlessly chasing Lin Yuan's footsteps.
One or two of the tentacles turned back, gently curling around them, bidding them farewell.
That figure finally gradually disappeared by the golden shore.
…
A long time later, Ni Ji opened his eyes in the darkness.
He found himself still lying in that room.
His body was unharmed, lying on the ground, his demon blade back to its white form, quietly sheathed at his waist.
The surroundings were silent, not a single sound, even the whistling wind had stopped.
There was no strange girl from the underground city, no eyeless sentinels, and no Lin Yuan.
He had lost his Guide.
Although he had lost control of his body at that time, Ni Ji clearly knew what had happened.
At that time, he couldn’t move, he could only watch as it all happened.
Watch Lin Yuan point at him, and say, leave him, I’ll go with you.
Ni Ji sat up, cross-legged on the floor in the darkness, and drew his blade.
He took out a handkerchief from his backpack, and carefully wiped the blade.
“Oh, so it’s time for a big fight?” The crack on the hilt wriggled like human skin. “It seems I can finally drink my fill this time.”
“Don’t blame me for not warning you,” the sharp, strange hilt reminded him, “I was also there just now. That thing here is very strong, you're no match for it.”
Usually, Ni Ji found it very annoying. But at this moment, he was a little grateful that this blade could talk.
At least at a time like this, there was a voice beside him, preventing the air from becoming too silent, so silent that it was suffocating.
“It's stronger than any you've seen before, ancient, terrifying, not only are you no match for it, no human is.”
“While it's still incapacitated, you can still save your life if you leave now.”
“It wants that Guide, It won't kill her, that juvenile Kraken might even be able to live very well here.”
"Hey, didn’t you hear me? Don’t go, you’ll die.”
“Hey…”
Ni Ji, gripping his blood-red blade, walked deeper into the darkness of the underground city.
He had lost his guide, he had to find her, no matter the cost.
This was an ancient city, destroyed at the peak of human technology, after becoming a contaminated zone, time was eternally frozen in this twisted space.
Here, in the depths, he could find many usable supplies from the high-tech era, especially medicine.
Ni Ji didn’t walk very fast. His steps were steady, more deliberate and calm than ever.
There was no room for trial and error here, he had to stay alive, walk to the deepest depths alive, and find his guide.
Layer by layer downwards, he searched all the way, finding many special medicines and treatment devices from that era. It was a good era, at least the medicine from that time was very effective, it could quickly heal bloody wounds and make exhausted bodies stand again.
Fighting, getting injured, treating his wounds, recovering.
Fighting again, injured again, injecting himself with medicine again…
The sentinel, carrying his blood-stained red blade, walked down layer by layer, with infinite patience, he believed he would reach the end. Before finding Lin Yuan, bringing her back, he would not fall.
This was his promise to Lin Yuan.
"You’re crazy, stop injecting yourself, your blood almost smells like medicine now."
"Can you even eat that stuff like this? That's a stimulant, not candy."
"Hey, hey, aren't you tired? It's been so many days, I’m tired of cutting.”
"Burp Ah, so rare. The feeling of being full from drinking blood.”
…
After fighting for who knew how many days, the tireless warrior finally reached the bottom.
Covered in blood, his vision blurred by the sticky gore. Under the flickering lights, his world was crimson.
"Ah, it’s you? Th- that Sentinel Big Brother," Teng Lu, in her white dress, noticed him, and hurriedly wriggled her single tentacle, running inwards.
Calling Lin Yuan’s name as she ran, "Big Sister Lin Yuan, Big Sister Lin Yuan!"
It was her, it was this person who took away his Guide. Ni Ji gritted his teeth, gripping the blood-stained blade in his hand, his feet exploding with force, sprinting in that direction.
In the deep darkness, Ni Ji sensed a familiar aura.
His heart moved, and he suddenly stopped, looking up.
There, a thick darkness, silent, countless shadowy figures vaguely writhing.
A group of tentacles suddenly surged out from the darkness.
Not the childishly pink, slender, and lively little tentacles that usually wrapped around Lin Yuan.
The tentacles that emerged from the darkness were thick and powerful, their skin dark red, intertwined, writhing, a wet sound accompanying their movement.
A pair of golden pupils appeared in the gaps between the tentacles.
Cold, indifferent, eerie, without a trace of human emotion.
"Lin Yuan?" The sentinel asked tentatively, gripping his blade, taking two steps back.
"Hmm?" A familiar voice came from the darkness. "How do you know my name?"
Whattt?!! Oh no!
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