Invasion [Sentinel-Guide] Section 35

Lin Yuan remained expressionless, unsure of what she had said wrong.

It was the truth, wasn’t it? Although she hadn't noticed, her idle tentacles had clearly seen the other student’s clandestine movements.

Nicole eased the tension for Shu Jingtong, saying, "He’s just curious about you. Actually, we all wanted to ask: have you really broken off your engagement with Jiang Yangshuo?"

"Yes," Lin Yuan replied, secretly counting on her tentacles, "I have answered this question 230 times during this period."

"Hahaha." Nicole laughed again. "Alright, I won't ask that, then. I just want to know if you really applied to work at the Special Research Bureau?"

Lin Yuan took out her work badge to show Nicole.

"Wow," Nicole leaned over to look at the pass. "I heard that you often have to be dispatched to the Contamination Zones. It’s very dangerous."

"You—why would you apply for such a job?" Shu Jingtong’s face, which had just lost its crimson flush, turned red again as he couldn't help but speak up. "No Guide has ever applied to survey a Contamination Zone. Are you... are you very confident in your own psychic power?"

"Whatever the reason, it looks cool." Nicole hooked her arm around Lin Yuan’s shoulder. "I envy you. I actually really want to step out of the White Tower and travel around to see the world. It’s a pity my family doesn't agree; even this trip took a lot of effort to get my father to nod."

A curly-haired Guide sitting by the window listened to their conversation and rolled her eyes in her heart.

*What’s so great about it? Isn’t it just that she was dumped and lost face, so she’s looking for an excuse because she couldn't stay anymore?*

She lowered her voice and said to the companion sitting next to her, "Which Guide would actually want to work? I just hope to match with a wealthy and influential partner early on, so I never have to work again and can live a comfortable life."

Sitting on the other side of the glass was a beautiful girl with long, straight black hair. Hearing the curly-haired girl speak to her, she nodded with a smile, appearing to agree with the sentiment.

Seeing someone agreeing with her, the curly-haired girl wanted to continue, but as she opened her mouth, she suddenly froze.

A chill crawled up her spine, causing her body to stiffen and goosebumps to break out all over her back.

She had just remembered: she was sitting against the window.

Outside was the sky, thousands of meters high. How could anyone be there?

If it wasn't a person, then what was this thing?

Outside the window, that girl had long, supple hair swaying gently in the breeze. Her ink-black pupils shone with a strange light, her face was full of smiles, and she was still nodding incessantly.

The curly-haired Guide felt her hands and feet go cold, as if something icy was crawling up her skin, making her body go limp; she didn't dare move an inch.

Her teeth chattered, and with a stiff neck, she barely managed to reach out and tug at her classmate sitting on the other side.

"Why are you pulling me?" her companion asked, turning her head with annoyance.

The curly-haired girl trembled, her body rigid. Unable to speak a full sentence, she only pointed her shaking finger toward the window.

The companion giggled as she looked out in the direction of the finger.

She saw a human head with long, flowing hair.

That head-like creature was floating outside the window, pressed tightly against the glass. Seeing her look over, it grinned at her, emitting a high-pitched, giggling sound.

"Ahhhhhhh!" A sharp scream erupted inside the airship.

Tables were overturned, food spilled across the floor, many people fell from their chairs, and some began to run in panic. The entire airship was filled with uncontrollable, frantic screaming.

The head-like monster outside the window began to mutate. Its long black hair acted like glue, sticking to the glass and allowing it to crawl across the pane.

Its nose and mouth area slowly elongated, forming a long, sharp proboscis.

Using its hair to anchor itself to the window, the monster began to nod rapidly, its long proboscis pecking at the glass like a woodpecker.

*Tap-tap-tap. Tap-tap-tap.* A dense and eerie rhythmic tapping sound echoed.

The airship’s window glass, which was said to be unable to be easily shattered even by grenades, soon developed spiderweb-like cracks.

The cabin, filled with chaotic screams, fell into an eerie silence. All the passengers huddled together in groups of three or five, staring in terror at the expanding cracks, as if their gazes alone could stop them from spreading.

In the silence, only the dense *tap-tap-tap* remained, sounding like a death knell from hell.

However, this was not the end of their despair.

Just at that moment, in the sky not far away, against the blinding sun, a black cloud drifted over, swaying as it flew.

As it drew closer, they realized that the things floating in the sky like balloons were all head-like monsters.

The monsters possessed overly human-like features, which made them all the more terrifying. A middle-aged man with a mole on his face and stubble; an elderly woman with lipstick and sagging skin.

They looked like random passersby on the street or neighbors in the hallway. Ordinary and mundane, yet so incredibly bizarre.

Face after face, with disheveled hair, drifted and floated toward the airship.

"A... a variant. It’s a type of aberration," someone said in despair as they looked out the window. "We... we’ve wandered into a Contamination Zone."

Heads of all sizes quickly surrounded the ship, pressing against the portholes. Some giggled, while others wept with sorrowful, twisted expressions.

Someone vomited, and several Guides fainted on the spot.

The red lights of the airship’s warning system flashed back and forth, and a piercing alarm sounded.

"Warning! Warning! The airship has drifted into a high-altitude Contamination Zone. Everyone, remain calm, take cover, and await rescue. All Sentinel teams, assemble immediately."

"Repeat: All Guides, take cover in place and await rescue. All Sentinels, assemble immediately!"

...

In the green wilderness just passed by the shadow of the airship, several fully armed Sentinels pushed aside dense vegetation and climbed to a high ground with a clear view.

"Gone? That airship from just now?" a Sentinel asked, looking at the green floating clouds in the sky above.

Just a moment ago, a massive luxury airship had been drifting there. A piece of high-tech transport from the old days, flashing with the glory of humanity under the sun, it had been exceptionally conspicuous.

Yet, in the blink of an eye, that eye-catching behemoth had vanished into thin air.

Looking out, the wild fields stretched wide under a low sky; the azure blue was empty of everything but a few wisps of gauze-like clouds.

The sun was warm, and the world was peaceful, as if everything had been a mere hallucination.

The leading officer walked up—it was Tan Shu, the most capable subordinate of Cao Junmin, the Director of the Security Bureau. Tan Shu frowned for a moment and said in a deep voice, "Ni Ji, what do you think?"

The vegetation behind them parted, and a tall, long-legged young Sentinel emerged.

The man stepped out of the jungle, pushed off the ground, and vaulted onto the rocky summit. He narrowed his eyes and gazed into the distance with a solemn expression. This was Ni Ji, the man Tan Shu had addressed.