Invasion [Guide/Sentinel] Section 63

It might just be a coincidence, but Tan Shu believed that there were never that many true coincidences in this world.

"Let me think carefully, what was her name again? I've heard of her—the Guide whose engagement was broken off by Jiang Yangshuo. Seems her surname was Lin," he finally said. "Right, surname is Lin, Lin Yuan."

The moment the name Lin Yuan left his lips, he noticed Ni Ji’s expression darken slightly for a fraction of a second.

Tan Shu smiled, as if he had finally managed to get his hands on some unknown dirt on Ni Ji.

Whenever he faced Ni Ji, the other man always maintained such an effortless composure that it left Tan Shu feeling utterly defeated.

He could never get a read on Ni Ji, and he even suspected that their instructor couldn't either.

The reason Ni Ji was so uncontrollable was simply because there was nothing left in this world that he cared about.

He stood entirely alone—fatherless and motherless, with all his close relatives and dearest friends thoroughly dead.

Like a sheer, thousand-fathom cliff standing in isolation among mortals, he had no ties and no attachments, which meant he possessed no fear and no vulnerabilities to be exploited.

But what if he suddenly had someone he cared about?

Right. He had heard that when Ni Ji managed to escape early from the military-managed division, it was also a Guide who cleared his name.

A Guide, again.

How very interesting, Tan Shu thought. If Ni Ji somehow managed to survive this time, he would definitely have to look into that Guide properly upon their return.

Tan Shu lowered his gaze back to the map he had been holding the entire time. A covert mark was quietly drawn on it—a secret known only to him, marking the newly emerged monster nest.

Those terrifying monsters; not just one, but vast numbers of them lay dormant in the depths.

He had meticulously plotted for a long time, intending to finish off Ni Ji within this contaminated zone. Yet deep down, a nagging intuition told him he might not necessarily succeed. Ni Ji’s formidable strength had cast such a deep shadow over him that he always felt no trap could ever be entirely foolproof.

In the end, that bastard would always manage to crawl back from the depths of hell like some vengeful ghost.

Lost in his thoughts, Tan Shu failed to notice the way Ni Ji was looking at him.

Ni Ji’s eyes first turned cold, and then a layer of chill slowly seeped into them, resembling the frost forming on autumn roof tiles—frigid, yet tinged with a faint, imperceptible dampness.

He pulled his hand out of his pocket, stepped closer, and flung his long arm around Tan Shu’s shoulder.

"Xiao Shu," Ni Ji lowered his head, speaking near Tan Shu's ear, "how many times have you entered a contaminated zone?"

Back when they were at the academy, they had often walked around with their arms draped over each other's shoulders like this. But ever since they returned this time, Ni Ji had stopped doing it.

"H-how many times? A few times, I suppose," Tan Shu stammered, puzzled as to why Ni Ji was suddenly asking this.

"How many?" Ni Ji pressed his fingers tighter, gripping the other's shoulder, and let out a low chuckle. "You know what? I've entered and exited contaminated zones a total of 380 times."

"Put away your map." He pressed his fingers against Tan Shu’s shoulder one last time before dropping his arm. "Dealing with everything inside a contaminated zone has never depended solely on data written on paper."

With that final remark, expressionless once more, he turned and strode forward.

Tan Shu felt an inexplicable cold sweat soak through his back; people harboring malicious intent were always prone to panic.

What... what did he mean by that? He couldn't possibly know, could he? That's impossible.

Standing behind him, Tan Shu stared fixedly at Ni Ji's back.

Fortunately, after dropping those baffling words, Ni Ji said nothing more, nor did he break his stride, taking the lead at the very front of the procession.

Ni Ji was in charge of clearing the path—an assignment agreed upon before their departure. And he had always been completely obedient.

The street ahead was straight, bright, completely deserted, and looked entirely safe.

Yet Tan Shu knew deep down: that was the exact spot.

The moment Ni Ji took a few more steps forward, countless pitch-black arms would surge out from the shadows, grab him, and drag him all the way down into the abyss.

Clutching the secret map tightly in his hand, Tan Shu stood at the very tail end of the formation, planted firmly in a zone he knew to be safe.

Watching Ni Ji's receding figure step by step, a sudden surge of tension gripped his heart.

That was the hero and idol of his youth, and once upon a time, his brother and close friend. Now, he was about to watch this man die, pushing him with his own hands into the hell he had prepared.

Ni Ji kept walking forward. Just as Tan Shu's nerves tautened to a breaking point, the man abruptly stopped and turned around to give him one last look.

"W-what's wrong? Did you find something?" Tan Shu asked from a distance, his voice edged with nervousness.

Framed against the backdrop of a starlit night sky, Ni Ji suddenly smiled—a smile of release and utter resignation.

He waved his hand in a gesture of farewell and strode onward.

In a fraction of a second, countless pitch-black hands flooded out from the alleyways.

With five-fingered palms like human hands and infinitely extendable, pliable arms—resembling thousands of black executioner ropes surging from the gates of hell—they swarmed out in their hundreds, instantly seizing Ni Ji by the arms and ankles and dragging him deep into the alleyway.

He didn't even have time to leave a single parting word.

*Finally.* Tan Shu felt the tension drain from his heart.

*Is it finally over?*

He couldn't tell whether he should feel elated or lost.

A lingering sense of emptiness washed over him.

The very next second, the world flipped upside down, accompanied by a crushing wave of weightlessness.

A black arm, slithering out from nowhere, wrapped tightly around his arm and hoisted him upside down into the air.

"Help... help me!" Tan Shu screamed in blind panic.

Eerie, pliable, noodle-thin black arms crawled out continuously, as if lured by something.

They emerged from all directions, from the rear of the formation, and from the pitch-black, endless depths of the alleys.

Targeting him alone, they tightly coiled around his arms, shoulders, and neck.

Layers upon layers of palms piled on, burrowing inward, wrapping around the very same shoulders Ni Ji's hand had just pressed moments ago. They hoisted Tan Shu’s entire body into the air and dragged him toward the lightless shadows.

The Sentinels had just begun running toward the spot where Ni Ji had vanished. Realizing the situation now, they whirled around and rushed back in the opposite direction to effect a rescue. Pulse rifle beams flared to life, sweeping back and forth, severing countless pitch-black arms.

Yet the arms ensnaring Tan Shu piled up in endless layers, ceaselessly multiplying.

Those shattered by gunfire fell to the ground, writhing like viscous liquid before converging and quickly regenerating as good as new. The supply was infinite, impossible to kill or clear away.

Rescuing anyone from that mass required firepower of terrifying magnitude—powerful enough to sever all the dark hands in a single strike without harming Tan Shu, who was entangled within them.

"Hurry, pull me out!" Tan Shu shrieked, his voice tearing as he clawed desperately at the brick wall of the alley entrance.

"Pull me out, you bastards, pull me out!"

"I don't want to die, I don't want to die! Help!"

No one dared to go near and pull him out; no one wanted to get close to those pliable, monstrous black palms. The Sentinels could only stand far off, firing desperately back and forth while watching helplessly as their squad leader was dragged inch by inch into the dark.

Tan Shu felt a bone-chilling, piercing despair.

Of all the people present, he was the only one who knew what these monsters were, and what fate awaited anyone dragged into a nest by this kind of aberrant species. This was supposed to be the hell he had prepared for Ni Ji.