Invasion - Chapter 123

Chapter 123

The day before their departure for the City of Mantis, all the team members gathered in Lin Yuan's courtyard.

Under a large tree by the window, they carefully checked their weapons and supplies, went over the plan and itinerary one last time, and chatted.

Guo Suo brought everyone a lot of delicious food: soufflés drizzled with honey, tender pan-fried short ribs, waffles sprinkled with powdered sugar… and sweet wine and candies.

The atmosphere was very good. Everyone drank heartily, talking more than usual, as if they were setting off on an outing tomorrow, not to a dangerous region far from home.

Du Yuanyuan arrived last, her voice incredibly loud. She sat down at the table, and immediately downed a large glass of beer, laughing heartily.

"Refreshing! There won't be such good alcohol when we’re out there. I have to make Xiao Yuan pass out drunk today."

"What's wrong?" Lin Yuan, not smiling, looked at her, "Did something happen?"

Du Yuanyuan's smile faltered for a moment. She slowly drank the wine in her hand. "Oh, I forgot there’s a Guide here. I can't hide it from you."

"Actually, it’s nothing, very common," she held onto the wine glass tightly, her gaze on the swirling wine, her voice much softer. "A very good friend of mine… didn’t make it back from the contaminated zone."

Her panda, shrunk very small, its head drooping, clung to her shoulder, listlessly.

A tentacle wrapped the little panda up, taking a large towel and rubbing its fur dry.

Yun Luo, sitting next to Du Yuanyuan, poured her another glass of wine, and the two clinked their glasses.

Du Yuanyuan, a little tipsy, asked Yun Luo, “Captain Yun, why do you keep going to contaminated zones? A noble like you, you have exemptions, you could just stay in the White Tower. Why go to such a dangerous place? You even lost an arm there.”

Yun Luo, his cold mechanical hand holding his wine glass, slowly drank the wine.

"It was because of my teacher at first. My teacher died in a contaminated zone."

"Later, after going to those places more often, seeing the true cruelty of the world, I could no longer comfortably stay in that false dreamland, rotting away,” He raised his glass to Rachel across from him. “Actually, I admire you warriors the most, who stay at the outposts all year round."

Rachel drank a cup with him and lowered his golden eyelashes, "Actually, before I came, I didn't imagine that the people in the White Tower lived such lives. I can’t believe there are so many pointless banquets and so much food.”

"At the outpost, many children starve to death every year, those children, before even reaching fifteen, will lie about their age and join the army, just to have enough to eat."

"Our captain is a very cautious and careful leader, who cares about his subordinates. But among the companions who joined the army with me, very few are left.”

The water in the teapot bubbled, the wine fragrant, flowers blooming, the giant White Tower nearby.

"Drink, drink, blame me for ruining the mood. We see this kind of thing every day, it's nothing, really," Du Yuanyuan laughed, raising her glass, "To this damned world."

Nicole, who usually didn’t drink, also had a small cup with Du Yuanyuan, a blush rising on her pale face, her words slightly slurred, "I also don’t like this tower, it’s rotten from the inside out. Just you wait and see, it’ll collapse one day… I know… many people hope for its collapse…”

She was talking nonsense.

Everyone pretended not to hear. But every single person present, who among them hadn't heard such voices in their heart?

At dusk, the setting sun hung in the sky like a pool of blood, slowly descending.

Lin Yuan looked up at the gradually darkening sky, and thought, this was the last night before their departure.

…

{Humans are such incomprehensible creatures.}

The bone-white demon blade clung to Ni Ji, muttering to itself.

{So these past few days, you’ve been working day and night, just to free up some time, to be with her? Then why didn't you just say so?}

They walked along an upward sloping road, the porcelain white giant tower very close, its huge body almost blocking out the entire sky.

The road turned a corner, and they could see a part of the manor at the top of the slope, the lively rose bushes extending beyond the courtyard walls, very conspicuous.

Compared to the giant White Tower, the courtyard was very small, small like a home that could warm a person's heart.

Ni Ji walked towards the courtyard where the spring flowers were blooming. The bored demon blade continued its rambling in his mind.

{Isn't this a little inappropriate? Thinking about romance at a time like this?}

{Your aspirations were great, weren’t they? Destroying the White Tower, overthrowing the empire, saving all mankind, and so on.}

{Why worry about that Guide? It's her own choice to go to contaminated zones, and she has plenty of people protecting her anyway.}

{You finally became Vice-Commander, entered the upper echelons of the White Tower.}

{You should be doing your best to perform, meet more people, gain their trust, shouldn’t you?}

{Focus on the big picture, the big picture, even I know this, don’t tell me you can’t do it?}

{Hey, Vice-commander Ni, Captain Ni, say something.}

Ni Ji stopped at a fruit stall by the roadside, and bought a bag of apples as a gift.

The stall was run by a woman with a young child. The woman took the imperial coins from Ni Ji and thanked him repeatedly.

Ni Ji took the bag of apples and gave one to the child.

The small child was incredibly thin, her head unusually large, like a swollen radish, she took a bite of the apple without hesitation, her mother unable to stop her.

The sentinel carried the apples and continued walking, answering the demon blade in his mind.

"Some people's aspirations are grand, but mine are very narrow."

{Oh?}

"I hate this Tower, only, if the world after the White Tower falls doesn’t have her, then it’s meaningless to me."

{Wow, are these words that a hero should say? You seem a little crazy.}

Ni Ji continued walking uphill. Before him was the enormous tower, the setting sun, blood red, dyeing the bone-white tower.

"Many people around me are gone. I might not even make it to the end."

"But I hope she can, or rather, I feel like she has a better chance of seeing that day than I do."

"If, on the day the White Tower falls, she could take a look at the world for me, my wish would be fulfilled."

"For this, it doesn’t matter if I’m a little crazy."

He arrived at the courtyard where the roses bloomed. The sun had set, and the warm yellow streetlights came on.

Happy chatter came from beyond the heavy gate, and the sentinel raised his hand, pressing the doorbell.

The heavy metal gate quickly opened, the fragrance of lush vegetation rushing out.

That familiar face appeared at the door.

She wasn’t wearing the beautiful dress from the banquet, but a tactical suit, similar to his.

Her small, fair face, long black hair tied back, her lively eyes shining in the lamplight.

Ni Ji saw his own reflection in those eyes.

The courtyard was deep, the fragrance of flowers hidden, leaves thick and green.

"I'm not too late, am I?" Ni Ji smiled.

…

The City of Mantis was incredibly far from the capital, but there was an airship that went there directly every half a month.

The group took the airship, and when they arrived, got off. As far as the eye could see from the border outpost were dilapidated shacks and messy streets.

The passersby were all thin and bony, their clothes ragged, their cold eyes filled with hatred when they saw the sentinels from the capital.

Yesterday, they had been in the prosperous capital, enjoying delicious food and fine wine, today, getting off the airship, they were met with poverty and ruin.

Making one wonder what was real.

Was it the luxurious clothes and fine food, the extravagant pleasure of the White Tower, that were a dream? Or was the starvation, the misery, and the cold wind and rain here, that were real?

At this moment, they more clearly understood what Yun Luo had said.

Having seen the true cruelty of the world, one could no longer comfortably stay in a false dream, rotting away.

But in this world, how many people had Yun Luo’s integrity?

Those privileged people in the White Tower lived drunken lives, blinded, turning a blind eye to everything.

Precisely because they didn’t dare, and didn’t want, to face this barren, difficult reality.

At the boundary of the City of Mantis Contaminated Zone, the red warning sign was gone, replaced by a small, strangely shaped building.

And it wasn't humans who guarded the small building, but a few Deviants in formal wear.

Those Deviants, perhaps they should be called “ladies,” each had a human female face, their hair styled in high buns, revealing fair, delicate necks.

Their waists slender, wearing long, vintage dresses.

When Lin Yuan and the others arrived, a Deviant, who was looking down, flipping through a book with her green, sickle-shaped arm, looked up.

"Are you visitors?" She spoke in human language, with a polite smile, "If you want to enter the City of Mantis, you have to register here first," her voice was gentle, her appearance beautiful, her expression dignified. "Follow me, you can call me Lady Greenwing."

When she stood up, they realized she was very tall, over three meters, much taller than a human, with thin, membranous wings and elytra on her back, a few thin hind legs revealed beneath her skirt, her movements graceful and elegant as she walked.

A strange, mysterious kind of beauty.

Only, although her smile was gentle, her appearance amiable,

Lin Yuan and the others remembered that face, and the small building behind her.

In the photo Yun Luo had shown them before they came, it was this Mantis lady who had personally taken that bloody photo.

In that photo, with such a pure and gentle smile, she had ruthlessly executed a whole team of sentinels.

Impaling them alive on sharp wooden stakes, letting them bleed to death.

Herself smiling as she took photos.

"Three ladies, bringing three men, is it?"

Lady Greenwing took out a paper register and, after dipping her finger in ink, recorded their identities.

Lin Yuan looked closely, she was using an ancient human script that most had already forgotten, her writing elegant and ancient, very beautiful.

"Why have you come to our City of Mantis?"

"We want to exchange some things," Rachel opened a box they had brought, inside were neatly stacked silk dresses, each one a handmade, embroidered masterpiece, incredibly beautiful.

"Oh, these are just what we need. Such polite guests," Greenwing covered her mouth with a hand and smiled.

"To have a pleasant time in the City of Mantis, you must be sure to follow the rules and regulations here."

"The laws ladies must abide by are as follows: no murder, no robbery, no raping the opposite sex.”

"There are a few more rules for men," she took out a few notices from a drawer with golden borders and handed them to Rachel, Yun Luo, and Ni Ji, “The punishments for breaking the law are very severe. I hope you’ll take them seriously and remember them carefully.”

The thin pages listed dozens of rules, including dress code, speech and behavior, and where they could go, incredibly tedious.

Fortunately, they had come prepared, having already memorized them. The three sentinels took the notices with grim looks.

"Also, your attire is not very suitable, in the City of Mantis, males have the obligation to show off their beautiful bodies, they must wear our traditional clothing, and cannot wear such ugly and uncivilized trousers," Greenwing said with a smile, "If you want to enter, you can change your clothes in the changing room first."

Du Yuanyuan coughed, unable to hide her amusement.

Although in the empire, they were all Sentinels, no difference between them, in the City of Mantis, gender was the primary distinction, men had a lower status and the obligation to please women.

If these three men wanted to enter smoothly, they could only endure it and follow the local customs.

Even though this journey was dangerous, seeing Vice-captain Ni, Captain Yun, and Rachel, looking awkward as they changed into the traditional short outfits of the City of Mantis, was very amusing, and it helped ease the tension.

Especially with the two Guides watching.

Thinking of this, Du Yuanyuan shamelessly let out a whistle.

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