Invasion - Chapter 128

Chapter 128

Lin Yuan checked their remaining water.

She felt very thirsty. The temperature just now had been incredibly high, scorching enough to burn everything in an instant.

They didn’t have much water left, and there was still a long way to go.

Lin Yuan cherished the small sip she took, licked her lips, and then fed the water to Ni Ji.

Ni Ji, his brows tightly furrowed, didn’t even open his eyes, just took two sips from Lin Yuan's hand.

There were several burns on his body from the high temperature, but he was a sentinel, with a strong ability to heal, this kind of injury shouldn’t make him look so pained.

Lin Yuan knew that his pain came from the severe injury to his mental body.

To protect her, he had completely exposed his mental body to the extremely high temperature, creating an escape route for them.

That was a temperature that could incinerate all life in an instant.

Lin Yuan reached out and touched his eyes, her mental body diving into that ocean.

The sea looked deep blue, even its ripples faint, a lifeless kind of stillness.

Just moments ago it had been a scorching hell. Entering this familiar ocean, enveloped by the cool seawater,

Although it was only a mental coolness, it was as if the burning and tension in her body had also disappeared.

Comfortable and relaxed. Lin Yuan turned over in the seawater, swimming towards the depths.

It was common knowledge that only Guides could soothe Sentinels.

But Lin Yuan felt that this comfort was two-way. At least, every time she came to this ocean, she felt a sense of liberation.

There was enough space here, the tentacles could freely extend.

The underwater garden was incredibly beautiful. If it weren’t during battle,

Being able to play with that cute orca, truly made her happy, she was reluctant to leave.

Of course, in this world, there was only this one Sentinel who could give her this feeling.

She swam in the sea for a while and, in the depths of the palace, found a large fish lying on a rock.

The orca’s beautiful black back, now with large burns, even partially charred.

When Lin Yuan found it, the fish was lying among the rocks and corals, gasping, looking incredibly pitiful.

Seeing her, it blinked its small eyes, let out a soft, aggrieved whimper, and feebly moved its tail.

Lin Yuan often felt that there was a huge difference between Ni Ji's mental body and him.

In reality, he was a thin and tall sentinel, not very talkative, but his mental body was very cute and clingy, with a round, chubby body.

Thinking about it, her own mental body also seemed to bear no resemblance to her. At least, Lin Yuan thought so.

The tentacles, feeling distressed, climbed up, carefully and gently stroking, wrapping around, spreading their secretions everywhere.

The liquid, filled with strong Guide pheromones, made the big fish tremble comfortably, its mouth opening and closing with soft whimpers, its tail sweeping across the sand and corals at the bottom of the sea,

Sending the pearls and shells hidden in the depths rolling.

Lin Yuan touched its head, and it gently rubbed its black snout against her palm.

Lin Yuan could sense its pain and its joy at being touched.

It liked her so purely, so sincerely. Even when its whole body was in pain, it would still feel happy because of her presence.

This was the deepest part of the underwater palace, where pearls containing memories were scattered everywhere.

Lin Yuan saw many scenes related to her, the breakfast they had together, the battles they had fought side by side, their first meeting when they were younger, the dim storage room in the White Tower...

A very beautiful pearl rolled to Lin Yuan’s feet. But the image inside was very dark, the blurry scene shaking, as if it was in a cave, dimly lit by only embers.

Lin Yuan squinted, her own face kept appearing in it, but strangely, she couldn't remember having this memory.

The dim environment, the rough stone walls, the sticky, wet sounds, wriggling tentacles.

They suppressed the sentinel, wrapped his arms above his head, plundered him, did many outrageous things.

Lin Yuan stared at the memory pearl in her hands, dumbfounded.

Those trembling fingers, the flushed skin, the sweat, and the swaying fishtail, details occasionally magnified.

And she herself, in that memory, her eyes cold, a golden light in their depths, a cold and indifferent, playful look.

Every frame seemed familiar, yet she couldn't remember when or where this had happened.

When had she done such terrible things to Ni Ji? She had no memory of this at all.

She carefully examined the environment in the memory, finally confirming that it was in the Land of No Eyes, in a certain lair in the depths of the underground city.

So, in that place, she had once been in a muddled state, losing a part of her memory.

So, at that time, she had done this kind of thing to Little Fish?

Lin Yuan carefully recalled the timeline. At that time, Ni Ji had been fighting bloody battles, single-handedly fighting his way down through the levels of the underground city.

After countless hardships, he had come to the lair at the bottom, to find her.

And this was how she had treated him? Coldly and ruthlessly binding him, teasing and playing with him…

No wonder he had looked at her with that complicated, slightly resentful look.

Lin Yuan awkwardly used her tentacles to dig at the ground in the seabed.

The worst thing wasn’t what she had done to Ni Ji, not the casually increasing his sensitivity a hundredfold, not forcing him to reveal his whale tail. But that after he had submitted to her completely, the moment she opened her eyes, she said she didn’t remember, abandoning him without any explanation.

She didn't even understand how Ni Ji had been able to face her during this time, enduring it.

How could he still smile at her?

Lin Yuan covered her face, letting herself drift in the seabed for a while.

The little orca had been carefully comforted by the tentacles, the burns on its back visibly healing.

Its whimpers also turning cheerful as it flipped over its white belly, swimming in the warm currents.

The tentacles happily chased after it, playing.

Lin Yuan pulled her attention away from the mindscape.

In the depths of the cave, just the two of them.

Outside was a scorching hell, but it was very safe here, a little bit of light filtering in from afar. The dust motes dancing in the sunlight gave this winding underground cavern a dreamlike quality.

His mental body healed, Ni Ji’s condition had clearly improved a lot. His brows were no longer furrowed. He slightly sat up, leaning against the stone wall, and opened his eyes.

Only, having just finished the mental channeling, he hadn’t fully come back to his senses yet. His eyes seemed covered with a layer of mist, soft, and a little unfocused.

There were burns on his body from the high temperature.

He hadn’t been wearing his jacket, and with the high temperature and the climbing, his shirt and gloves had all turned into tattered rags.

There wasn’t a single blister on Lin Yuan, but Ni Ji’s exposed skin was covered with red burns.

Lin Yuan helped him take off his shirt, gloves, and boots.

Having prepared well before coming to the City of Mantis, they each had a tube of burn ointment in their bag. Lin Yuan took hers out and used it on Ni Ji.

There wasn't much left; she had to conserve it.

Lin Yuan used her fingertip to apply the ointment bit by bit, slowly spreading it over the reddened burns.

At first, she had been careful and meticulous, but then, for some reason, her movements changed.

Those memory fragments she had just seen in the seabed kept appearing before her eyes.

Holding his ankle, her mind wandered infinitely.

She would always see images of the red tentacle wrapping around it.

Ni Ji's bones were beautiful, his muscles tightly defined, they felt good in her hand, she could imagine his explosive power when running.

Other than burns, there were also many scars, big and small, on his skin.

He always did this, didn’t take care of himself.

Lin Yuan remembered that she had treated him before, healing all sorts of old wounds, yet after not that long, he had once again covered himself in injuries.

He probably didn’t even want to spare the time to go into a treatment pod. It seemed that as long as he wasn’t so injured that he couldn't move, he wouldn’t be willing to spend some time treating himself.

Her fingers’ movements unconsciously slowed down, slowly moving in circles, spreading the sticky ointment, touching those scars, a subtle touch.

Her movements became so slow that she even saw the man tense up, a thin layer of sweat on his skin.

Lin Yuan didn't know whose sweat it was, Ni Ji's, or hers.

Perhaps because the ground outside was still burning, the palms of her hands also felt hot and sweaty.

Her heartbeat inexplicably accelerated.

Most of the sentinel's burns were on his upper body. Lin Yuan’s fingers checked them one by one.

His palms, the back of his hands, his forearms, his shoulders… they were all very normal places, and hadn't they helped each other bandage their wounds on the battlefield countless times?

Only, she didn't know why, in this dimly lit space, in the depths of this underground, at this time, in this place, everything seemed different.

The contact between their skin, the sweat, the sound of their breathing, even the beating of their hearts, all infinitely amplified.

The slightly musky scent of the ointment slowly spread with Lin Yuan’s fingertips.

Lin Yuan dabbed the last bit of the sticky ointment on the sentinel's collarbone. There was no wound there. She didn't know why she did this. Her gaze traveled from his collarbone, past his rolling Adam's apple, to his slightly parted lips.

She knew clearly how it tasted there.

How sweet?

She lowered her gaze, slowly moving closer to Ni Ji, towards those lips.

Just as she was about to touch them, the sentinel suddenly turned his face away, avoiding her.

Lin Yuan, her hand on the wall for support, looked at him questioningly.

Ni Ji was sitting, his back against the wall. She was taller than him, so, her hand on the wall, she looked down and saw the sentinel's troubled eyes, sweat rolling down his cheek, his breathing ragged, his Adam's apple bobbing. After a while, he finally spoke in a low, hoarse voice,

"There’s no need, for the Guide pheromones… I don't need them anymore," Ni Ji said, turning his face away, not looking at Lin Yuan, his eyes seemed very sad, his voice soft.

"If… if it’s just pity… then there’s no need.”

If it was just like that time in the White Tower, if she kissed him only out of sympathy, only to help him because he was injured, only to give him more Guide pheromones,

Then he didn't want it, it would only make him fall deeper, until there was no return.

But Lin Yuan, so close to him, could clearly hear his every word, every subtle emotion.

"Then? What would it take for me to kiss you?” She moved closer to the sentinel, almost whispering in his ear, “Not pity, not to help, when I truly like you, then it’s okay?”

Ni Ji’s eyes trembled at that moment.

The tentacles, roaming through his mindscape, hearing these words, stood up and applauded.

【Wow~~】

【Okay, okay.】

【She’s finally being straightforward.】

【Don’t say anymore, just do what you're best at.】

The sentinel before her eyes was stunned, that look of wanting to believe, yet not daring to believe, more adorable than ever.

His eyes seemed like a spring lake, shimmering, a blush creeping across his neck and earlobes.

Lin Yuan even wanted to prolong this moment of waiting, just to savor his expression.

She leaned down, asking with her eyes again,

I want to kiss you because I like you.

Is that okay?

Ni Ji was speechless.

So, in the depths of the underground, in the dimly lit corner, Lin Yuan gently kissed the sentinel’s lips.

Her technique wasn’t very skilled, but her kiss was very gentle, first lightly touching his lips, making sure he accepted it, then, with a warm wetness, deepening the kiss.

They were very soft, their taste incredibly sweet.

Her hand on the cold wall, her head lowered, kissing the sentinel who belonged to her, her movements gentle and slow, cherishing and tender, she had never done anything so attentively, so meticulously, in her entire life.

She almost knew everything about this sentinel, knew his pains and his hurts, knew what kind of hell he had been through, witnessed his struggles and his efforts, knew what he longed for.

She liked him very much, wanted him to be her only companion in this world.

And he also knew her, was familiar with her, understood her. He liked her, accepted everything about her.

They were compatible in every way.

Even his taste was so alluring.

She should have done this long ago, wasting so much time before figuring it out.

Lin Yuan poured all her gentleness into this kiss, letting Ni Ji feel her warmth.

Letting him feel that he was liked, cherished, treasured.

He was so adorable.

From now on, he was hers.

Her dedicated sentinel.

This sweetness, hers alone.

This beauty, only she knew.

The kiss lasted for a long time, so long it was almost suffocating.

Lin Yuan slightly moved away. An arm quickly snaked around from behind, sliding into her hair, pulling her head back.

She felt the strength in Ni Ji’s fingers, they were trembling, his hot breath on her skin, burning.

He leaned closer, eagerly yet carefully, licking her lips.

His movements even more clumsy and chaotic than hers.

Like that impulsive, adorable chubby fish.

At this moment, Lin Yuan admitted that he was truly the embodiment of the orca. Outwardly cold, a thug in a suit, inwardly passionate, soft, and delicate.

This feeling was so good, it made her skin tingle, her heart racing, that numbing feeling spreading all the way from her heart to her fingertips, making her tremble, wanting more.

Lin Yuan held the sentinel's hand, started kissing the back of his hand, then his fingertips, raising her eyes to look at his expression.

The corners of his eyes were red, and even his fingertips were flushed.

Every part of him sweet.

So adorable.

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