At the top of the White Tower, Ji Xuan, the adjutant of the Royal Guard, sat behind his desk, wearing thick glasses, reviewing massive amounts of documents sent in from all over the place.
Roy came in hurriedly, holding a large stack of old documents.
"What's wrong?" Ji Xuan raised his head from behind the virtual screen and pushed his glasses.
"Has Lao Lu not come down yet?" Roy asked him anxiously, as he had something to do with Luther.
"Not yet." Ji Xuan said with a smile, "Didn't His Majesty summon the forest guide from your Special Research Department today? Lao Lu is accompanying him up there."
Roy hugged the stack of information tightly, paced absentmindedly for a while, and sat down on the sofa opposite.
Ji Xuan didn't even look at him, and kept typing behind the virtual screen.
This is the office of the commander of the Royal Guard. Virtual sunlight shines from the ceiling, and the indoor garden outside the door has the sounds of flowing water and birds.
Time seemed to be very leisurely. In such a white tower, there was nothing particularly worth worrying about.
Sitting behind his desk, Ji Xuan works diligently, low-key and quietly.
Roy sat there, rubbing his fingers nervously.
"Did something happen?" Ji Xuan stuck his head out from behind the screen and asked politely.
He has always been a low-key, considerate and reassuring person.
"I have something I want to show Lao Lu." Roy said, "I hope he can report it to His Majesty for me."
Everyone knows that Ji Xuan is Luther's right-hand man, and Ji Xuan helps to handle most of Luther's affairs.
It’s okay to say a few words in front of Ji Xuan.
"It's very strange, something is not right. I think I should tell His Majesty about this as soon as possible and let His Majesty make the decision." Roy muttered to himself.
He worked in the most relaxed and leisurely Special Research Department in the empire, and always lived a refined and elegant life.
At this moment, his hair was disheveled and his clothes were not very tidy, as if he had been troubled by something for many days.
“Those records are… so weird.”
Ji Xuan glanced at him, then looked away, seemingly not very concerned about what he said. He just stood up and poured him a glass of water.
Roy wiped his face, realizing that he had lost his composure. After thanking him, he picked up the water glass and took a sip.
At this time, a tall black-haired sentry walked in from outside the house.
The man had a handsome face, was tall and had long legs, and moved swiftly. It was hard not to attract attention wherever he went.
Roy had an impression of him. He was the exclusive sentinel who protected Lin Yuan on his way to the Land of No Pupils. His name seemed to be Ni Ji.
He saw Ni Ji walk to Ji Xuan's side and bend down to listen to what Ji Xuan said.
Roy calmed down and looked down at the glass in his hand. The water in the handmade glass gradually calmed down, reflecting the figures of the two sentinels opposite him.
Strange, can the water reflect people like this? Roy thought in a daze as he looked at the rippling water.
In fact, at this moment, in front of Roy, Ji Xuan and Ni Ji stood in front of him at some point.
A blue firefly appeared in Ji Xuan's left eye behind the lens.
Behind him, a huge blue butterfly was slowly spreading the left half of its wings.
Ji Xuan stretched out his arm, pressed Roy's eyebrows with his hand, and held Ni Ji's hand with his other hand.
If you look closely, he at this moment looks very much like Fujilu from the Land of No Pupils.
Half of the body showed the characteristics of a guide, extending out like a butterfly-winged spiritual body, while the other half remained the same as usual.
"You go in. I'll open his barrier." Ji Xuan said, and the blue light in his left eye suddenly lit up in an instant.
At this moment, Roy sat on the sofa in a daze, letting Ji Xuan hold his eyes and eyebrows, seemingly unaware of everything around him.
Ni Ji entered Roy's mental picture.
It was a small manor built on a hillside.
There were flowers in the yard, and a big banyan tree with drooping roots. The building behind the banyan tree was retro and elegant, with a long corridor.
It is very similar to the old building of the Research Department.
Next to Ni Ji stood Ji Xuan's spirit body, only half of it. Half of its blue butterfly wings were flapping slowly in the air.
"Hurry up, I'm not a complete guide and I can't hold on for long." Ji Xuan said as he stood beside Ni Ji.
Ni Ji walked towards the yard and passed through the courtyard where flowers bloomed.
He saw Roy, Lin Yuan's direct superior in the Research Department, sitting under the banyan tree in the courtyard, drinking tea and reading some documents.
Ni Ji came to his side, bent down and asked him, "What did you find?"
Roy in the mental picture seemed to be confused by something and did not mind the sudden appearance of Ni Ji. After hearing Ni Ji's words, he reached out and clicked on the virtual screen in front of him.
"It's very strange." He stared at the screen with dull eyes. "I checked all the confidential documents, and the records for this year are all blank. It seems that the seniors have not visited any contaminated areas for research during this period."
"But that's impossible. As far as I can remember, they must have gone out."
He stood up and walked into the building. Ni Ji followed his steps and walked quietly beside him.
Roy came to the data room, a huge warehouse with piles of handwritten paper materials.
Roy dug out a very old document bag from among countless documents.
"I have been searching here for a long time and found a document that has no archived records."
He pulled out the stack of handwritten records, stroked it gently, and then gently opened it.
"Although there is no signature, I can recognize this handwriting. It is Senior Lin's notes."
The Senior Lin he mentioned was Lin Yuan’s mother, Lin Lan’er.
Roy flipped through the documents page by page.
This is his mental picture. Under Ni Ji's suggestion, he unconsciously repeats what he remembers doing.
Ni Ji stood beside him, his eyes moving slightly as he looked at the pages of handwritten letters that had been lost many years ago.
That was the handwritten investigation report written by Lin Yuan’s mother, Lin Lan’er.
Each line of handwriting is clear and the records are very detailed.
That year, their research team entered the Land of No Pupils and went deep into the underground city.
They encountered a very powerful enemy and accidentally entered an underground maze while fleeing, where they saw many murals.
The murals show the origin of the contaminated zone and the mutants, as well as the reasons for the appearance and evolution of the sentinels and guides.
Each and every event was carefully recorded on paper by sentry Lin Lan'er. All of them were earth-shattering events that subverted current human cognition.
More importantly, they found a magical and ancient box in the temple of the Pupilless Land.
It is a treasure handed down from ancient times. No one knows who created it and its usage is mysterious. It can peek into the truth of the world and is called the "Box of Truth."
When Ni Ji saw the record about the box, his pupils suddenly shrank.
If there is anyone in this world who has seen the true appearance of the Box of Truth, he is one of them.
He had seen this seemingly inconspicuous box on the golden beach and on the murals in the Land of No Pupils.
He also knew that the box was now in Lin Yuan's hands.
In the notes, Lin Lan'er's records became messy in the later period, and the strokes began to become hurried and sloppy.
"Something is wrong. It seems someone is watching us."
"I want to go to the origin of everything, to Contaminated Area No. 5 and take a look."
"Find the wreck of the Mary."
"If things are really as I think, I should hide the Box of Truth."
"Where can I hide to be truly safe..."
There is no content behind it, covered by a bunch of messy lines and children's doodles.
It looks like a young child has scribbled some paint here with a paintbrush.
Ni Ji was frowning and thinking. Roy, who was standing next to him, slowly raised his head and his eyes fell on him for the first time.
"Who... are you? Why are you here?" Roy's voice was unclear and his eyes were fixed on Ni Ji.
[Come out quickly, he’s almost reacting] Ji Xuan’s voice rang out.
In the sky, the huge blue butterfly wings began to flap, and dots of blue light scattered in the air.
Roy came back to his senses and found that he had been in a trance for a while. It was like he had taken a short nap.
The scenery around me remained the same, the glass of water was still in my hand, and the surface of the water was rippling slightly.
Behind the desk not far away, Ji Xuan was still sitting there, with a sentry standing beside him, and the two were talking in low voices.
Noticing his gaze, the two looked over at him, then lowered their heads as if they didn't care, and continued talking about their own things.
Roy felt that he was really too tired during this period and had been thinking too much, so he was in a trance in broad daylight.
He put down his water cup, picked up the stack of documents, stood up and said goodbye.
"I'm going back first. When Lao Lu comes back, ask him to contact me."
Ji Xuan stuck his head out from behind the virtual screen, nodded at him, and said with a smile, "Okay. I'll tell him."
After Roy from the Research Department left.
Ji Xuan heaved a long sigh of relief, took off his glasses, and pinched his brows. Obviously, the invasion just now was a great burden for him.
Ni Ji looked at him, waiting for him to tell her.
He was certain that Ji Xuan was a sentinel with the spiritual body of a sentinel. His combat power was not very high, but he was meticulous in thinking, considerate in his actions, and had a very high IQ. He was a deputy captain that everyone trusted.
But just now, he revealed an astonishing secret in front of Ni Ji. He actually also possessed some incomplete guide abilities.
These days, Ni Ji and Ji Xuan have been very close, and Ni Ji knows what confidential and dangerous things they are planning in private.
But today, Ji Xuan revealed his trump card to himself, which he would never easily reveal to others.
"There's nothing surprising." Ji Xuan wiped his glasses and put them back on.
"First, I must know what he found out. Second, I want to show you my utmost sincerity."
He raised his head and looked at Ni Ji solemnly.
Instead of speaking, he took out a piece of paper from the drawer and began to write silently.
"The White Tower is very dangerous. Any conversation may be heard by 'her'."
"Not only here, but the entire Kyoto is under 'her' control."
"What we are doing is too dangerous, and there is a possibility of sacrifice at any time."
"You are someone I trust, and I want you to know more and understand more."
"If one day, I die, you can take my place."
Ji Xuan's pen stopped on the paper. He looked at the sentence and felt as if he had died once a long time ago.
Ji Xuan has a twin brother. The two look very similar and have been close since childhood. They are almost always together.
After the age of six, the two separated on the same day.
That day, the overload of senses and the expansion of mental power brought intense pain. The two children struggled in deep pain, and after waking up, they found that the elder brother had been transformed into a sentinel, while the younger brother had become a rare guide.
"I don't want to go to that white tower. I don't want to leave my brother's side and grow up in that hellish place." The younger brother held Ji Xuan's hand and begged, "Brother, please help me."
"I don't want to grow up and marry a random stranger. I don't want to be trapped in the courtyard of those noble families for the rest of my life. Absolutely not."
Ji Xuan didn't understand at that time what consequences this sentence "absolutely don't" would bring.
The young boy was soft-hearted and pretended to be his younger brother to take the physical examination.
After concealing the truth from the world, the two boys were secretly delighted for a while, thinking that they had succeeded. They didn't have to go to the White Tower, and they could still live happily together.
After a few years of freedom, the adult guides who grew up in the wild finally showed signs of activity.
The White Tower has severe punishment for guides who hide and fail to report.
The people from Kyoto forced him to have sex, which made him unable to control himself and he gave himself to a sentinel from Kyoto.
At that time, all of them, including Ji Xuan, thought that there was nothing that could be done and they could only accept their fate.
After the Sentinel and the Guide become one, they naturally develop a physical and psychological dependence on each other, which is almost impossible to sever voluntarily. Since I have already followed the Sentinel, I have no choice but to accept it.
At that time, Ji Xuan was taking refuge in Luther's house. He watched through the crack of the door with red eyes as his younger brother followed those people to Kyoto.
But before long he returned to his side, without any injuries, but covered in blood, other people's blood.
"I killed them all and made them die ugly." The face that looked exactly like his own said with a smile.
"I can't survive this. From now on, I'll let it stay in my brother's mental picture."
The huge blue butterfly - the guide's spirit body spread its blue wings and flew into Ji Xuan's mental picture, just like they used to play when they were little.
It would have been impossible to stay for long.
No matter whether it is a sentinel or a guide, once the body dies, the spirit will have no place to rest and will disintegrate into the void.
But for some reason, after the other twin was executed, his spirit body, the blue butterfly, has been quietly living in Ji Xuan's mental picture.
This gave Ji Xuan half the ability of a guide.
"You can't go to see the Queen, brother. Stay away from the White Tower."
These were the last words Ji Xuan's younger brother said to him before he was executed.
But he did not listen. He concealed his appearance, came to Kyoto with Luther, entered the White Tower, and kept moving under the Queen's nose, living in the most dangerous place.
Ji Xuan paused and wrote on the paper,
"This world is not right, and someone will change it."
Finally, he added those words of advice to the paper, the last words his closest relative had told him.
"You can't go to see the Queen. Don't let her notice you."
Lin Yuan took the elevator to the top floor, and just like last time, Luther from the Royal Guard was waiting for her there.
She followed Luther up the long white staircase to the royal palace at the top of the tower, where she met His Majesty for the second time.
The queen standing in front of the window turned around and gave her a gentle smile.
(End of this chapter)