Invasion - Chapter 127
Chapter 127
"Xiao Yuan..."
The battle had already begun, yet it was as if Lin Yuan could still hear Nicole's worried call in the wind.
I can't die this time, Lin Yuan thought, otherwise, that guy would cry for a long time.
Before, she would have been happy that someone was willing to cry for her. Now, it was different, now, she was a little afraid of dying.
Afraid Nicole would be sad, afraid of not knowing how to face Yun Luo, Rachel, and the others, and Xiao Suo and Xun Hua at home.
She now knew what it meant to have attachments.
Ni Ji had already engaged the Deviant. Lin Yuan, on the orca’s back, entered the battlefield.
The monster was huge, its human-like face expressionless, its cold gaze looking down from high above, its giant green insect abdomen and wings almost covering the sky.
Its emotions were very weak, without malice or hatred, its killing intent towards humans purely instinctual.
Sleeping here, it seemed to only activate like a killing machine when humans passed by.
Its attacks swift, cold, and merciless. Its two huge, chilling sickles moved so fast that she could barely see their afterimages.
A few piercing whistling sounds tore through the air.
Even the space seemed to distort. The sentinel's small, dark figure flickered, quickly retreating, leaving a long trail in the flower sea, countless purple-red petals flying.
Ni Ji dodged the first wave of attacks, but the Ferris wheel behind him, at some point, had been sliced diagonally from top to bottom, like tofu.
The cut was smooth and clean, and only after a moment, did half of the giant Ferris wheel slowly slide down, crashing into the flower sea.
Lin Yuan, riding the whale, entered the battlefield.
It was very tricky. This Deviant didn’t seem to have a brain like other creatures.
Its body was huge, its emotional fluctuations very weak, incredibly hard to capture, its attacks incredibly powerful, its speed as fast as a ghost’s.
But the sentinel fighting with her was Ni Ji.
Lin Yuan hadn’t fought alongside Ni Ji since returning from the Land of No Eyes.
During this time, she had tried fighting with many different types of sentinels. They were all powerful warriors of the empire, each with their own strengths. But no one gave her the same seamless sense of coordination as Ni Ji.
The queen at the very top of the White Tower had once said to her that sentinels were ants, tools, playthings, and as long as she was good at controlling them, they were all the same, no real difference.
You have to learn how to work with different types of warriors.
Lin Yuan had tried it personally. She felt that Her Majesty’s words weren’t entirely true, or perhaps, Her Majesty had never found a truly compatible sentinel.
On the most dangerous battlefields, this difference in compatibility could be the difference between life and death.
At this moment, she could completely feel Ni Ji’s running, his breathing, his excitement.
She could even sense the tensing of his muscles, the contraction of his pores, and every single one of his emotions.
When Ni Ji ran, she also felt herself running. When Ni Ji leaped high, she also felt the earth far beneath her feet.
Attack! The blade deeply cut into a hard shell.
Defend! The enemy's blade made her wrist numb.
It was as if a cut appeared on her skin from the wind from the blade, Ni Ji was in pain.
Lin Yuan was clearly very far away from the monster, but that huge, pale face was right before her eyes, incredibly clear.
As if her breathing and perception were connected to him.
This was a level of coordination she couldn’t achieve with any other sentinel, no matter how powerful they were.
Ni Ji was like an extension of her senses, a part of her body.
He was her hand, her eye, her blade.
They looked up at the same time, faced danger together, felt pain together, felt excitement together, even their hearts beat at the same frequency.
She took over the sentinel’s eyes, his emotions and perceptions.
So that Ni Ji's attention, at the most critical moments, could be highly focused, she shielded his pain and fear, took on the danger and injury for him.
She used Ni Ji’s eyes to directly face the monster, Ni Ji used her perspective to observe the overall situation.
The enemy’s subtle emotional fluctuations were firmly grasped by Lin Yuan, even if her mental tentacles could only control the enemy for half a second, her blade—that sentinel—would decisively strike.
They almost entrusted their lives to each other, unconditionally trusting the other person's ability at the most critical moments.
This kind of battle was exhilarating.
Blade light and sword shadows, blood and sweat, the giant monster and the beautiful flowers.
On the edge of a blade, the slightest difference meant life or death.
Her heart clenched, goosebumps rising on her skin.
For Lin Yuan, this dangerous, deadly thrill, was a kind of enjoyment.
Perhaps only a lunatic would think like this, fortunately, in this world, there was another person, just like her.
Someone whose body and mind were completely in sync with her.
They were both natural-born warriors, and belonged on battlefields like this.
This feeling was too good,
So good that even death couldn't stop them.
The bone-white saber, having drunk Ni Ji's blood, turned into an eerie red blade. The thin, red light densely flickered around the Deviant’s huge body.
Its green wings were severed.
Its masked head fell from above.
Then, a strong arm, its hand like a sickle.
Even so, the monster, missing its head, wings, and an arm, still stood there in the flower sea, seemingly without pain or consciousness, charging back and forth.
Deep trenches were carved in the earth by the rolling blade light.
Ni Ji quickly retreated, blade lights raining down from the sky, intending to pin the broken, yet still moving, body to the ground before it collapsed.
The orca, with a swing of its tail, slammed into the monster’s back, pushing away that incomplete, yet still moving body.
The orca, after the impact, turned in mid-air. Lin Yuan, standing on its back, the strong wind blowing her hair, her golden eyes shining brightly, countless tentacles emerging from the shadows.
The Sentinel got up and fought again.
Until the giant body finally collapsed, falling into the flower sea, stirring up dust.
Ni Ji landed, his blade supporting him, his face raised, a purple light still burning in his eyes.
Lin Yuan jumped from the orca's back and looked towards the distance.
In the direction where Nicole and the others had disappeared, on the horizon, a bright, star-sized light had appeared.
The sun was rising!
Lin Yuan didn't know if Nicole and the others had safely reached the next bunker.
But she knew that she and Ni Ji definitely wouldn’t make it in time.
The sky brightened almost instantly.
The life-reaping dawn line swept across the earth, racing towards them.
Lin Yuan and Ni Ji exchanged a look.
The sentinel, having just finished a fierce battle, was panting, blood and sweat dripping from his forehead.
Their eyes met for only a brief moment.
"There's space underground," Lin Yuan said to him.
This Deviant had emerged from the earth, its body so huge that even if the ground collapsed, there had to be a space remaining below.
While Ni Ji had been focused on the battle, the tentacles had gone underground, following the mental fluctuations of groundhogs, insects, and snakes, finding a space deep below large enough for the two of them to hide in.
As long as Ni Ji could dig open the entrance in time.
The Sentinel didn't hesitate, not even looking at Lin Yuan, without a word, with his orca, he started digging downwards at the spot Lin Yuan indicated.
Lin Yuan couldn’t help at this time, so she sat under the half-severed Ferris wheel.
Leaning against the Ferris wheel’s base, the cold stone against her back brought a hint of coolness.
She remembered when they had first entered the City of Mantis, the first time she had seen the sunrise, the little mantis who hadn't been able to escape in time had done this.
Hiding under a tall sculpture, using the sculpture's large shadow to delay his death.
But it had only bought him a little time, and the process of dying had been even more painful than being instantly incinerated.
That dawn line, symbolizing death, approached incredibly fast.
Leaves withered and curled, delicate flowers burned into fireballs. Large numbers of butterflies and luminous insects flew up from the flower sea, desperately trying to escape the fading night.
No one could escape the light. All life, caught by the golden line of death, would be reduced to ashes under the scorching sun.
Lin Yuan, leaning against the Ferris wheel’s base, heard the sound of leaves and flowers burning behind her. As the heat wave hit, she curled up further in the shadows.
She knew that she shouldn't be thinking about anything else at a time like this.
But it was too similar to that time.
The surroundings, just like back then, blindingly bright, flames everywhere, the smell of burning filling the air, she herself also curled up, sitting in a corner.
I’m no longer that child from back then, Lin Yuan told herself coldly.
The red flames flickered, and the crackling sounds grew louder.
The scene before her uncontrollably blurred. She saw the flower sea, the remains of the giant monster, it seemed like she also saw a wooden floor, a small toy house, an adult’s legs running towards her…
It was so hot, she felt like she was melting.
"Xiao Yuan…"
"Yuan Yuan… Mommy and Daddy…"
Voices came from the illusion.
Stay focused, Lin Yuan struggled to stand up, her limbs weak, unable to control her strength, "Do you know what my biggest regret is?" Xun Hua's face, wearing his half mask, suddenly appeared. "Not telling her what's in my heart."
Yes, can’t lose my head at this time.
There are still things I have to say.
Things I haven’t told Ni Ji yet.
Lin Yuan steadied herself, snapping back to reality. The blinding dawn line passed by her at that moment, surrounded by white light.
The Ferris wheel behind her cast a shadow, covering her, buying her a little more time.
It was so hot, sweat blurring her vision. Through her hazy eyes, she saw Ni Ji’s figure emerging from the ground, sprinting towards her.
He took a small detour, just barely managing to rush into this small patch of shadow before being touched by the sunlight, and he held her tightly.
The dawn line swept past, and the earth was scorching hot.
The shadow cast by the Ferris wheel’s huge body was the only island in the blindingly white world.
And the area of this island was rapidly shrinking.
Holding each other, in that small shadow, there was nowhere left to retreat.
Ni Ji quickly took off his sentinel uniform and covered Lin Yuan’s head.
The Empire’s sentinel uniforms were all uniformly made, and to adapt to sentinels’ harsh combat environments, they had excellent elasticity, wear resistance, and high-temperature resistance.
Ni Ji quickly wrapped Lin Yuan’s head and face in his jacket, lifting her entire body.
The shadow had become incredibly small now, and the heat almost touched their skin.
They were only a few steps away from the entrance, yet those few steps, like molten lava, a hell incredibly difficult to cross.
The orca’s body suddenly appeared in the sky, its giant body casting a long shadow on the earth, connecting the Ferris wheel and the entrance, creating an escape path.
Ni Ji ran in the shadow.
Lin Yuan was in his arms, in the small space between his chest and his clothes, protected.
Leaning against his firm chest, she heard the whale's pained cry, smelled the scent of burning flesh.
It was very much like that time, when she was held by her mother, running through the flames.
Such a terrifying memory, deeply rooted in her childhood, made her whole body tremble, her limbs weak.
But she knew that this wasn't the time for her to be trembling in fear. If Ni Ji couldn’t hold on, she had to, like back then, immediately take control of his body.
Erase his pain, control him, and run into that dark opening.
She couldn’t let him fall, absolutely not.
Everything happened incredibly fast, these thoughts flashing through her mind in an instant.
Lin Yuan, pressed against Ni Ji’s chest, heard his thoughts being transmitted.
“No need,” he said.
“I don't need you to. I can run.”
The distance was extremely short, with Ni Ji's speed, it would only take a breath or two.
But Lin Yuan felt as if that breath had become incredibly long. Held by those strong arms, in the shadow cast by the orca’s body, they crossed the scorching ground and rushed into the deep cave.
They fell in, rolling all the way to the bottom of the cave. At the bottom of the tunnel Ni Ji had dug open, there was a huge empty space.
Lin Yuan’s judgment had been incredibly accurate. The space here was winding and open, cool, not stuffy, enough for them to hide.
The sunlight only reached a small area in front of them. It couldn't burn them here.
The two got up from the debris. Lin Yuan, under the sentinel's jacket, sat on the cold ground.
The fire, the running… it was all over.
More than ten years ago, when everything ended, the little girl had crawled out from the snow, and pushed at the person who had carried her.
That person had been motionless, her charred body curled up in the snow, unresponsive.
"Mommy, wake up…" Little Lin Yuan had stood in the ice and snow, calling, but she hadn’t been able to wake her mother.
Now, Lin Yuan blinked.
It was still a fire, still running.
She sat in the cold cave. The sentinel beside her took off his jacket from her head, seeing that she was fine, smiled at her.
…
It was over, it was all in the past.
No more fire, no more running, no more unresponsive family, no more powerless little girl.
Only a sentinel, smiling at her.
His smile so beautiful, she didn't know why her heart was racing.
Ni Ji lifted the jacket, checking Lin Yuan for injuries.
Seeing that, although covered in dirt, she was unharmed, he smiled slightly.
He looked disheveled, his gloves burned into tattered rags, burns on his face and body, and even worse, the stabbing pain from his injured mental body.
But Lin Yuan was fine.
As long as Lin Yuan was fine.
Finally, there was a time when he was the one protecting her.
Ni Ji's fingers lifted, gently caressing Lin Yuan’s face, without touching her. Then his whole body collapsed.
He fell in the cold cave, barely lifting his hand, with its tattered glove, holding Lin Yuan’s fingers, gently squeezing them, comforting her,
"I'm fine, just need to… rest for a while…"
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