Invasion - Chapter 141
Chapter 141
Ni Ji sat in his secret room.
In the dimly lit room, with its doors and windows closed, the sentinel sat at his workbench, polishing a pair of small metal rings.
Two personal terminal screens glowed. The one for his identity as Vice-Commander of the Royal Guard constantly displayed various work spreadsheets.
The other, for secretly contacting his underground partners, scrolled through voice messages.
“After so many years of preparation, it's time to act.”
“Weapons and ammunition reserves are sufficient, the brothers here, we’re all willing to fight to the death at any time.”
“Our outpost just conquered a new contaminated zone, haha, this time I kept all the plasma cannons, only turned in a useless one.”
“The receiver sent by the White Tower had no objections?”
“That so-called imperial official, easily dealt with using a little bit of money, you all know, those people don’t care about the empire’s military at all, only their own pockets.”
“We’re the same here, we’ve collected quite a few treatment pods, and also have plenty of treatment fluid stored. But I had to empty my pockets to keep these things, that guy who came to our outpost was way too greedy.”
“Anyways, everything’s ready, let’s do this!”
Everyone’s tone, as they spoke, was full of hatred. Some couldn’t help but laugh excitedly.
Having been suppressed for so long, their blood had already been ignited.
Others took turns uploading all sorts of information and intelligence, about the White Tower, about the Queen, everything about the empire's upper levels.
“The latest internal structure diagram of the White Tower, all escape routes marked. Many of the sentinels on duty are our people.”
“The capital’s patrol schedule, we can change it at any time.”
“It’s time.”
“It’s time to act.”
“The brothers are already getting impatient.”
"Everyone’s at their limit after enduring so many years.”
Everyone was talking.
The messages on the screen constantly scrolled. Everyone in the group chat were core members of the various underground organizations.
Ni Ji heard a few familiar voices, Big Sickle from the distant border, and Ji Xuan, who had returned to the capital.
He even heard Du Yuanyuan and Yun Luo from the Royal Guard.
Even though they used software to disguise their voices and appearances, Ni Ji still recognized them from their verbal tics.
The team was growing like a snowball.
Even nobles like Yun Luo had joined.
Everyone's blood boiled, years of suffering turning into molten lava beneath the earth. Too much hatred, such an unfair world, the blood and flesh of countless family members and friends gathering to form a torrent.
Their rage, having reached its peak, could no longer be suppressed, ready to erupt at any time.
Ni Ji blew away some debris from the machine and held up the small rings in his hand, examining them.
The light from the personal terminal screen illuminated his face, falling on the small metal rings in his hand.
They looked like a pair of rings he was making. Not quite finished yet, the circles delicately polished, inlaid with gems.
"You and this lovesick fool, at a time like this, you still have time for this kind of thing?” the pale dagger by his side, its bone-white hilt opening, said sarcastically.
"Let him be, let him be, I like watching this," the black blade on the weapon rack said, one of its strange eyes opening, the eye moving back and forth on the blade.
Ni Ji lowered his head, finding a suitable spot, preparing to engrave names on the inside of the rings.
"I haven't given her many things," the Sentinel, playing with the unfinished rings, said, "I’m not even a qualified boyfriend, at least I should prepare this."
The black blade's eye slid from the hilt to the tip, and from the tip back to the hilt, trying to find a better angle.
"What’s the use of you making this? Do you even have the guts to propose? I bet it’ll be that Kraken who’ll grab your hand and put the ring on your finger, all you have to do is blush and shyly nod.”
The sentinel's fingers paused under the dim screen light, showing signs of anger.
The red blade snorted. "Being Vice-Commander of the Royal Guard and an undercover agent for the underground organization, isn’t that enough work? And you still have time to do this kind of thing? Let her wait for two years. It's still the same if you accompany her after you're done, isn't it?"
"If you had someone you truly liked, what would you give them?” Ni Ji asked them.
Someone you like? Ridiculous, how could I have someone I like?
But it liked to chat with the sentinel, so it decided to give him some face, and think about it seriously.
"Then it would probably be my delicious blood, the best thing in this world is delicious blood," the red blade said.
"I would probably share my… little… reed, hee hee," the Black Blade on the rack giggled lewdly.
"So, everyone gives their most precious thing to the person they love most," the busy Sentinel said, "What I lack most right now is time, so I should spend what little precious time I have on her.”
"Wow, this little fish can be quite romantic, I'm almost moved."
"You have to take me on your next date! Why do you always bring that blood-drinking idiot along? Speaking of which, have you even been on a date yet?"
"Why would I bring you? I'm the strongest on the battlefield.”
"You don't even like romance. Don't you only like to watch him do big things?”
"Who said I don't? Who wouldn't like those tied up tentacles, and… you know…”
"Sister, stop arguing, a sentinel can bring two blades with him, right?"
In the dim room, all sorts of cold weapons gleamed in the corners.
At the workbench, the sentinel's face focused, the clinking sound of tools in his hand.
The two personal terminal screens flickered, notification sounds constantly ringing.
The demon blades bickered.
The small room, filled with noises, incredibly chaotic.
Amidst the noise, Ni Ji suddenly heard someone calling his name.
The voice wasn't loud, gentle, coming from the street below, mixed with the chatter of passersby.
It only called out once.
Ni Ji's fingers paused, the next moment, the figure at the workbench was gone, the Sentinel appearing on the balcony of the bedroom upstairs, looking down.
His room was twenty or thirty meters above the ground.
But the Sentinel, in the crowd coming and going below, instantly found his Guide.
She stood by the road, her head raised, smiling when she saw him.
Ni Ji’s heart softened at that moment.
When they first met, a brief glance in the crowd, Lin Yuan walking down the corridor, she had been an expressionless guide, like she was always wearing an exquisite porcelain mask.
She hadn’t smiled then, didn’t seem to care much about anything, not even her own life.
But now, she would give him such a beautiful smile, her eyes shining, it made his heart race.
Ni Ji jumped down from the building, landing nimbly, most of the impact dissipated, and stood before Lin Yuan.
Only startling an elderly man passing by, who was covered in dust.
"Do all young people nowadays show off like this when in love?" The old man muttered, shrinking his neck.
Not using the stairs, jumping down from such a high building, it was terrifying.
"Are you free tonight? I want to go on a date with you," Lin Yuan said. She was still as straightforward as before, her words direct.
"We don’t seem to have been on a date before.”
The dagger at Ni Ji's waist spoke in its strange voice, "A date! A date is wonderful! We were just talking about how on a date… mumble, mumble…”
Ni Ji put his hand behind his back, covering the hilt, to prevent it from saying anything inappropriate.
"Of course. Where do you want to go? I’m free.”
Lin Yuan was wearing casual clothes today, a soft gauze skirt that just reached her knees, revealing her long, slender legs, a beige sleeveless T-shirt, her long black hair tucked behind her ears, a small hairpin, and a pair of walking shoes.
She had specially dressed up to meet him.
Ni Ji kept one hand behind his back, his fingers repeatedly rubbing the pair of rings in his hand.
They hadn’t been polished yet, still rough, and the names weren't fully engraved. He hadn’t prepared himself mentally, he hadn't even rehearsed his lines, this environment also wasn’t right.
He shouldn’t take them out so hastily, kneel before her, and say those words. Ni Ji curled his fingers, carefully putting the rings into his pocket.
Even just imagining it, his heart pounded.
In the crowd, the tall, composed sentinel, his neck unconsciously turning red.
"I don't have anywhere I specifically want to go, I just want to walk with you," Lin Yuan thought for a moment, and raised a finger. "Mm, if possible, find somewhere with good food."
Ni Ji took her to a bustling night market.
The imperial capital was probably the safest place in this world. Countless people constantly poured in, crowding into a small circle, living side by side.
Away from the quiet and peaceful aristocratic circle around the White Tower, the night market in the commoner district bustled with people.
People selling snacks, trading goods, and looking for work, crowded the sides of the road, and some even secretly sold contraband from contaminated zones, a few ragged children darted through the crowd.
One had to be very careful of them. Many of these children, forced by their circumstances, were pickpockets.
In this poor district, most people couldn’t even afford food. There weren’t many snack stalls, and the prices weren’t very high. Mostly, they sold traditionally handmade snacks and pastries.
But Ni Ji, as if having been here many times, seemed to know every specialty sweet shop, leading Lin Yuan in and out of the streets and alleys.
Soon, Lin Yuan's arms were full of paper bags filled with various sweets.
Lin Yuan's cheeks puffed out as she ate, a happy look on her face, her sweet tooth satisfied.
The two sat down at a dessert stall.
"This stall has the best desserts in the capital. Try it," Ni Ji washed a bowl and a spoon, and placed them in front of Lin Yuan.
"But I’m already a little full," Lin Yuan touched her stomach.
The stall owner, a kind lady, brought over two bowls of desserts.
One was white lotus seeds and red beans, with sweet shaved ice and a few soft and chewy taro balls.
The other, golden fried mochi, drizzled with caramel, Lin Yuan's eyes lit up, feeling like her stomach could still make a little room, she took a large spoonful of the cold dessert, closing her eyes to savor the sweetness.
Swallowing it, she felt a sense of happiness.
In the distance, near the White Tower, fireworks went off, there seemed to be a banquet for the nobles tonight.
Now, Lin Yuan could escape those tedious invitations she had once been forced to attend, but it was still nice to watch the beautiful fireworks.
The rising sparks exploded in the night sky, like a rain of fire.
While everyone looked up, watching the beautiful scene,
Lin Yuan, amidst the fireworks’ explosions, leaned closer and kissed Ni Ji.
The shaved ice made the Sentinel's lips and teeth cold, and the taste of red bean paste filled their mouths.
It was a red bean paste flavored kiss.
The golden fireworks crackled and fell, many exclaiming.
But in their world, there was only this kiss.
Only after the fireworks ended, their colorful blossoms fading in the night sky, the people on the street looking away, the noise returning, did the young couple at the inconspicuous dessert stall by the roadside slightly separate.
Dates really were wonderful, a sweet thing.
"Tomorrow, I have to go to the White Tower," Lin Yuan, holding her spoon, scooping up a taro ball from her bowl, said casually. "Her Majesty summoned me."
The smile that had been on Ni Ji’s face instantly froze.
"The White Tower?"
He hesitated for a moment, then lowered his voice.
"Could you find an excuse not to go? Lately… Her Majesty's condition hasn't been very good, I heard she hasn't let anyone into the palace at the top of the tower for a long time, not even Commander Luther can see her, and her temper has become very strange."
Lin Yuan ate her dessert, her cheeks puffed out, "I go there often, it's nothing," she said, her words a little unclear.
She did go to the White Tower often, spending time with Her Majesty.
Ni Ji thought for a moment, and, avoiding the eyes of others, made a discreet hand gesture. He said, in a low voice,
"It’s very chaotic in the White Tower lately, not very safe… some plans are in motion…”
Lin Yuan placed a finger on his lips, stopping him.
"Don’t say it," her eyes sparkled as she looked at the sentinel, “I know you have your plans. But if you’re going to do something, don’t tell me.”
Her gaze at that moment became incredibly sharp, clear, and calm.
She was a Guide, she was going to see the Majesty on top of the White Tower.
If she and that Majesty clashed, if Ni Ji told her anything, revealed even a small part of their secret,
That Majesty could read it from her, even if she didn’t realize it.
So, don't say it, don’t say anything.
She had to go to the White Tower, it was the glimmer of hope she had glimpsed in the future.
With a bang, new fireworks exploded in the night sky behind them.
Lin Yuan, her finger on Ni Ji’s lips, didn’t say anything more, what she wanted to say, the emotions she wanted to express, amidst the brilliant fireworks, through the touch of her fingertip, were transmitted into the sentinel’s mind.
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