Invasion - Chapter 94

Chapter 94

When Lin Yuan came to, she found herself placed in a dry corner, covered with the sentinel's coat.

During the short time she had been unconscious, the sentinel seemed to have done countless small tasks.

They had entered the deep part of the maze, avoiding the many monsters roaming outside the lair.

Ni Ji had started another bonfire in this dark passage.

He was sitting by the fire, shirtless, his head lowered, assembling a complex metal device.

The firelight illuminated the side of his face, his eyelashes lowered, his expression focused.

Extremely thin metal wires and small parts were methodically pieced together by his nimble fingers.

Beside him, a makeshift metal frame was set up over the bonfire.

He had turned a cylindrical metal object, which he had dismantled from somewhere, into a container, filled it with water, and it was now bubbling on the fire.

A sweet scent permeated the air.

He truly was a versatile warrior, Lin Yuan thought, as if, under any harsh condition, he could be meticulous, methodical.

Coming up with careful plans, creating conditions for survival, protecting his teammates.

A dependable partner who could be entrusted with everything.

At the edge of the firelight, at a fork in the passage, lay the corpse of a giant Deviant.

It lay on its back, its appearance very close to a human's, only, where its eyes should have been, the skin was smooth, without eyes.

Its red lips were wide open, blood flowing down from the corners of its mouth, past its huge ears, seeping into the cracks in the ground.

Its head and face were in the light, its body hidden in the darkness, it seemed to have been dead for a while.

"I don't want to eat Deviant meat," Lin Yuan said.

She moved under the sentinel uniform, poking her head out, the uniform very large, carrying his body heat, it was very warm inside.

She was very hungry, but she didn't want to eat Deviants.

She always felt that they were transformed from humans, and cannibalism was unacceptable to her.

Ni Ji, seeing that she had woken up, put down the metal device he was making, and turned around to check on her.

"It's not Deviant meat, it’s snake meat," he found a clean metal can, filled it with milky white broth for Lin Yuan, and also pointed to a piece of snake skin, "Drink slowly, don’t rush."

The soup was milky white, the snake meat firm, with a rich flavor and a slight bitterness. Suitable for Lin Yuan, whose body was starving after many days without food.

Lin Yuan drank it slowly, sip by sip, the warmth soothing her, she felt like she had returned from the gates of hell.

She reached up and touched her forehead, it didn’t hurt anymore, but the feeling of being invaded by a powerful will still lingered.

She vaguely remembered a fierce, silent battle in a magnificent temple.

A powerful mental force, coldly invading, corroding, trying to forcefully devour her mindscape.

They had fought for a long time, a close battle.

Finally, her consciousness had awakened, and that other consciousness dissipated.

I have to find that temple, explore it, that’s the key to this entire Land of No Eyes. Lin Yuan, holding the can of warm soup, thought.

Her fingers were still slightly trembling, but her dark eyes had regained their firmness.

Physical injuries couldn't defeat a strong warrior, nor could mental trauma make a Guide like her weak.

She had once again become that Guide focused on her goal, fearless.

Ni Ji finished assembling the last metal part and showed the crudely shaped, small screen with its exposed wires to Lin Yuan.

Most contaminated zones were formed during the Old Era, the land filled with the high-tech remnants of humanity’s golden age.

Almost every veteran who regularly entered contaminated zones possessed this skill — the ability to fully utilize and modify the weapons and equipment here, on the battlefield, at any time.

"Positioning and mapping device," Ni Ji's finger tapped the screen, and a small triangular symbol lit up. "The terrain here is too complex, use this to record the route."

"I think we should explore that temple," he looked at Lin Yuan.

Lin Yuan met Ni Ji’s gaze.

Explore that temple. The two were thinking about the same thing.

Lin Yuan opened her mouth, wanting to say something to Ni Ji, but felt there was no need to say more.

Used to the battlefield, their mental power naturally touched, things that would require a long explanation with words, were instantly understood in the mental world.

In this dark underground world, hidden in the depths of this maze, there was a temple.

It held the ultimate secret of the Land of No Eyes. The path there was dangerous, and difficult.

But they had the same goal, both wanted to do this.

Every time Lin Yuan entered a contaminated zone, she went alone.

Alone, making up her mind, alone venturing into danger.

She knew the danger of her actions, and had gone, ready to die.

She didn't want anyone else to risk their life for her, to accompany her, or to protect her.

But Ni Ji was different.

Ni Ji, like her, had a desire to explore the truth, to uncover the true face of this world.

For this, he wasn’t afraid of danger, and also wanted to go to the temple in the depths.

Not just to protect her, to accommodate her,

But because he had the same goal as she did.

Lin Yuan looked at the sentinel by the bonfire.

His eyes were amber-colored, beautifully illuminated by the bonfire, like he was smiling.

With a gentleness that was willing to live and die together.

Why did he smile so much? His smile, like thick honey.

Lin Yuan felt a part of her cold heart gradually warming up, the snow and ice that had accumulated for many years, slowly melting.

Making her also want to smile back at that sentinel.

This world might be twisted and insane, filled with man-eating monsters and despair.

But there was still a corner of gentleness, a bit of sweetness that gave her courage, one or two people who made her feel that it was good to be alive.

A subtle rustling came from the corner.

Ni Ji, very alert, looked over and saw a small, pieced-together head peeking out from the dark tunnel opening in the distance.

It was the size of a human baby, incredibly fast, a deviant with very weak offensive and defensive capabilities.

Ni Ji remembered it, he had cut it in half with his blade not long ago, when it had attacked them as they entered the maze.

Clearly, although this Deviant wasn't very powerful in any aspect, it had a strong regenerative ability.

It hadn’t died, its severed body rejoined, a long scar still visible on its small, bald head, where the demon blade had split it in two, remarkably, it could still move, could track them, following them all the way here.

The small, bloody head peeked out from the darkness, a thin, soft white arm clinging to the wall. Because it wasn't easy to kill, it didn't seem very afraid of Ni Ji.

It pointed its thin, fingerless arm at the snake soup on the bonfire.

"That, can I have some?" It could speak, its voice very soft, like a human child’s.

Ni Ji glanced at it, not speaking, and first refilled the can Lin Yuan was holding.

Then he found an empty clay pot, poured the remaining snake soup into it, and pushed it over to the deviant.

He was a battle-hardened Sentinel, but he wasn’t a warmonger. There were many ways to avoid fighting in a contaminated zone. He had once been a Sentinel captain, skilled at using all sorts of tools, medicine, food, and other means to avoid combat.

The little Deviant quickly ran out, grabbed the hot can, and dragged it away.

Its body too small, its strength too weak, it struggled to carry the heavy metal can, the soup splashing as it was dragged along.

"Where are you taking it?" Lin Yuan asked, a little curious.

The small Deviant seemed to want to take the food away, not to eat it right away.

"It smells very good," the little deviant continued to carry the metal can. "My mommy is sick. I want her to try some. Maybe she can, like that human, get better," its small white hand was burned by the hot metal of the can, the burn immediately healing.

But the little deviant's actions were persistent, it would shake its little arm from time to time, refusing to let go, trying hard to carry the can filled with hot soup.

The human who he said got better after drinking the soup referred to Lin Yuan.

He hoped to bring this food back to cure his mother's illness.

"So they also have mothers? Deviants can also reproduce?"

This was the first time Lin Yuan had heard of this.

Humans infected by pollutants would mutate, sentinels with unstable mental power would mutate.

As for how they lived after becoming different creatures, how they continued their species, most humans didn't know, nor were they interested.

In the White Tower, it seemed no one cared about the types, habits, or lifestyles of these Deviants, or the reasons they attacked humans.

They were uniformly categorized as man-eating monsters, enemies of mankind.

"Only in mature, stable contaminated zones that have existed for many years will Deviants reproduce," Ni Ji told Lin Yuan what he knew. "Only their reproductive habits are different for every race."

He hesitated slightly. "You might… find it a little hard to accept sometimes."

The little Deviant dragging the food can, grumbled as he walked,

"I like Mommy very much, and I hope she can live a little longer, and if it really doesn’t work out, I’ll eat her whole," he said seriously and piously. "I won’t waste a bit of her.”

After the little Deviant left,

Ni Ji reached out and held Lin Yuan’s hand, who could now slowly walk. He extinguished the bonfire, and the two walked slowly through the dark passage together.

Using the makeshift mapping device to record and identify their direction as they went.

The sound of water dripping, and some strange whistling wind echoed in the passage.

Occasionally, they needed to deal with one or two monsters that suddenly appeared.

Lin Yuan even saw a “nursery” in this complicated maze, where five or six small Deviant offspring gathered in a small cave.

Two huge mothers guarded the cave entrance, extending their eyeless heads, warily staring at Ni Ji and Lin Yuan as they passed, making threatening growls, but not actively attacking.

Ni Ji avoided them and quickly walked past, silently.

During this process, both sides warily watched each other. In the end, there was no fight.

The young ones even curiously poked their heads out from behind their mothers and aunts, twitching their noses, asking in childish voices,

"What's that?"

"Humans, they’re not good things, very dangerous," the mothers pushed their heads back, warning in low voices, "Remember their scent, stay away from these beasts."

There were many strange sculptures on both sides of the passage, like a mix of humans and various creatures, crouching high above, looking down.

The faint light from the flashlight flickered on their lifelike faces, like ferocious gods about to awaken.

Intricate and beautiful murals appeared on the walls between the sculptures.

They were high-tech products from the Old Era, the metallic lines of the carvings lighting up automatically when people passed by.

Those images, drawn by no one, could, with the passage of time, record on their own, slowly adding to the story.

Holding hands, their footsteps echoing in the darkness, it was as if they were walking through a long historical scroll in the dark passage.

Lin Yuan’s fingers touched the wall, and those murals lit up under her fingertips.

The flickering images gradually overlapped with the fragmented memories that had appeared in her mind.

Every time she had fought a powerful mental body in the contaminated zone,

In the vast mental universe, when the mental powers of powerful beings clashed, Lin Yuan would often see fragments of the other’s memories.

Those memory images belonging to the Pillars, kept overlapping with the murals on these walls.

Lin Yuan saw many stories from the Great Cataclysm, the arrival of evil creatures, humanity's desperate resistance, the appearance of sentinels and guides, hand in hand, fighting against the inhuman monsters.

Contaminated zones, like spores, rose, spread, and grew on the earth, occasionally disappearing.

She even saw a familiar Golden Tree in a certain image.

She saw Xun Hua’s mental power polluted, becoming the Pillar supporting the entire Golden Tree Contaminated Zone.

Having lost his human will, he continuously absorbed and devoured mental power to feed the crimson egg.

Lin Yuan’s fingers stopped on a bright totem.

It was a totem of a worm jade and a powerful mental body invading each other.

The giant egg and the pillar merged, the pillar supporting heaven and earth, and the egg, the contaminated zone itself.

The Deviants were its subjects and its bloodline, living in the small world supported by the Pillar and the egg.

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