Invasion [Sentinel] Chapter 18

Tan Shu nodded in agreement, feeling a mix of relief and reluctant dissatisfaction as he left the office.

Cao Junmin watched his retreating figure and sneered inwardly.

Still too young, with a trace of naivety in his heart—so easy to see through at a glance.

Back in the Sentinel Academy days, Tan Shu was always running errands for Ni Ji, following him everywhere. Many of the competition victories were won thanks to Ni Ji’s leadership.

But now, it seemed he no longer held any affection for Ni Ji. He didn’t even hope that Ni Ji would survive this latest ordeal.

Otherwise, with Tan Shu’s smooth and pragmatic nature, in a place like the Military Control Office where money talks, he could have at least arranged some assistance for his former classmate. It wouldn’t have come to Ni Ji being so grievously injured he could barely move.

The rain gradually intensified.

Ni Ji sat in a dim alley, looking up at the gray, dusty sky as the rain fell in a flurry.

The weather was still hot in the imperial capital. If this were the northern territories, it would be snowing by now.

In past years at this time, they would have already built high walls, stocked up on winter supplies, and gathered around the fire.

He closed his eyes, forcing himself not to think about those he would never see again.

Outside the alley, footsteps splashed through the puddles.

Ni Ji smiled faintly in his heart—finally, someone had come.

A sergeant dressed in a neat military uniform, holding an umbrella, jogged up from the other end of the street.

His face was filled with disbelief, worry, and urgency.

“Ah Ji, is that really you?” Tan Shu bent down to help Ni Ji, who was sitting soaked in the rain, speaking with a mix of anxiety and reproach. “I just heard the news and couldn’t believe it. How could you not contact us immediately after such a serious incident?”

Ni Ji said nothing, allowing himself to be supported.

He listened as his former best classmate from student days clung to one arm, talking nonstop.

“You should have reached out to the teacher. After all, we are all his students.”

“Even though you didn’t get along well with the teacher back then, he still cares about you.”

“See, as soon as he heard, he sent me to bring you back.”

“It’s outrageous, what those people at the Military Control Office did to you. One day, I swear, I’ll settle the score with them.”

Ni Ji’s injuries were severe, nearly unable to stand on his own, completely relying on Tan Shu to support his body.

He heard these words and gazed down at a puddle gathering at his feet.

His eyes were sharp. In the water’s reflection, he could clearly see the concerned face of his classmate.

That face looked down at him with a crooked, uncontrollable smile upon seeing him so battered and destitute.

Ni Ji found it laughable but said nothing, resting his full weight on the old schoolmate.

“Yes. I was thinking, you and the teacher would definitely come for me.”

Chapter 9

Tan Shu brought the severely injured Ni Ji to a clinic.

A place equipped with treatment chambers, reputed to heal all wounds after a single sleep inside.

Though reluctant, Tan Shu couldn’t bring a mangled man straight to the teacher.

His teacher was a man of refined style and high standards, at the peak of his career, deeply involved in noble circles, with exacting demands on the appearance of himself and those around him.

When meeting the teacher, Tan Shu would even carefully wipe away a few raindrops on his shoulders.

The attending physician at the clinic was astonished by Ni Ji’s horrific injuries and lectured at length.

He explained that only their clinic happened to have the latest treatment serum brought back by the search team from Contamination Zone Five, ensuring effective healing for the critically injured patient now inside the treatment chamber.

“Luckily he’s a Sentinel; an ordinary person would have died hundreds of times over,” the doctor said, adjusting the instrument panel outside the observation window, shaking his head. “He’s also carrying many old injuries that were never properly treated.”

Inside the room was an old, heavily patched sealed treatment chamber. Ni Ji lay within, eyes closed, wearing a breathing mask, his body immersed in a special liquid bubbling continuously, while the yellowing gauges rapidly displayed his vital signs.

“These joints are clearly deformed from past severe injuries. Rainy days must be agonizing for him. His lungs were corroded by inhaled toxins and never properly treated. Tsk tsk, no idea how he’s still alive. Full recovery will need much money and time.”

The doctor turned to Tan Shu beside him.

“Should we take this opportunity to repair some of the critical old injuries during this treatment?”

This man had just braved the rain carrying the wounded man, looking concerned and anxious, seeming to share a close relationship.

“Can he hear us talking like this?” Tan Shu replied with an unrelated comment.

“Hear? No way,” the doctor laughed. “This is genuine relic tech, specially modified for treating Sentinels. The soundproofing is superb, ensuring the patient can rest peacefully inside. Even an A-rank Sentinel couldn’t hear a thing outside.”

A strange sense of satisfaction welled up inside Tan Shu. The legendary student hero had fallen so far, far below himself, stirring an almost uncontrollable expression.

Pathetic, living like this in ruin, unable even to afford the treatment chamber fees. After offending the teacher and being sent to the northern outpost, he must regret it now.

The doctor continued nagging, “Better to fix these old injuries while we’re at it.”

The man beside him interrupted coldly in a low voice, “Shut up. Mind your own business.”

The doctor shrugged and fell silent. The two adjusted the settings and left the room next door.

After programming the chamber, the treatment process required no further manual intervention, making it very convenient.

Except for the high cost, which most frontline Sentinels couldn’t afford, it was otherwise flawless.

After the footsteps faded away, Ni Ji opened his eyes inside the chamber.

He had heard the conversation just now and even the distant voices of a patient’s family and the increasing rain outside.

Lying in the sealed treatment box, his body enveloped by the translucent healing liquid, bubbles rising steadily,

It felt like being beneath the familiar sea.

Ni Ji recalled today’s battle beneath the waves and the girl suspended in the deep ocean.

He had never expected to encounter such a guide.

A delicate figure, an indifferent expression, layers of white skirts unfolding underwater, plunging straight into his mental landscape of the deep sea.

Her spirit form terrified even battle-hardened Sentinels.

The vague, intersecting spirits floating behind the white-clad girl were enormous, cold, terrifying, and mysterious.

Merely glimpsing a part of them brought immense pressure.