Sentinel Ni Ji, who returned from the contaminated area, met Luther, the commander of the Royal Guard, in the White Tower.
Luther was very happy to see Ni Ji and strode towards him.
"You've taken down another contaminated area. You're so capable. You really make me proud."
"I have already submitted a memorial to request merit for you. In the next few days, the Minister of War will personally present you with a medal and raise your military rank."
Luther put his arm around Ni Ji's shoulders and patted her several times, looking very happy.
"Haha, you got a promotion and a raise, be happy, you have to treat me today."
Ni Ji's attitude towards him remained the same as before, neither too intimate nor too distant, and her voice was calm and gentle, like a calm lake.
"Sir, you are so kind. I will treat you, Adjutant Ji, and the brothers to a drink tonight."
When he heard Ji Xuan's name, the hand that was patting Ni Ji's shoulder enthusiastically stopped in the air, and Luther's expression froze at that moment.
Ni Ji's eyes were like the dark stones at the bottom of a cold pond. They moved slightly and glanced at the commander beside him.
The heroic and confident commander was gone. Luther's face looked frightened and confused, and he opened and closed his mouth several times in panic.
But this is the White Tower, and everything is shrouded in holy light.
He was stunned for a moment, then said hesitantly, "Ji Xuan... Ji Xuan has something to do, so he left for the time being."
Ni Ji nodded and stopped asking questions, looking like he didn't care about the matter at all.
At night, in Kyoto, in a quiet and private tavern far away from the White Pagoda.
Several non-commissioned officers of the Royal Guard gathered together to congratulate Ni Ji on his promotion and award him medals.
Ni Ji usually had a quiet personality and didn't like crowds. This was a rare opportunity for him to treat everyone to a meal, and many people came.
At the table, everyone raised their glasses to congratulate, and Ni Ji was also very straightforward and accepted everyone's invitation.
After three rounds of drinks, the atmosphere quickly warmed up.
The sentries toasted each other, talked freely, and gradually became more and more unrestrained.
"Ni... Ni Ji, brother, this is the first time I drink with you. You are more generous than you look, and you are very nice."
"Captain Ni is usually a quiet person, but his true character is revealed at the table. We are brothers from now on."
"Captain Ni is treating us today, so I have to eat more. Boss, give me another dozen beers."
"It's a pity that Adjutant Ji was not here, so I didn't get to drink Captain Ni's wine."
I don’t know who mentioned Ji Xuan.
Ni Ji casually echoed, "Yes, Adjutant Ji is always very caring, and I also want to have a drink with him. What a pity."
The topic quickly turned to Ji Xuan.
Although Ji Xuan is an adjutant, he is usually low-key and considerate. He never seeks credit for himself and always strives to obtain benefits for the grassroots sentries.
In the Royal Guard, he is very popular from top to bottom.
"When I first joined the camp, I was still a rookie who knew nothing. I was fooled and committed a serious offense. It was Adjutant Ji Xuan who took the blame for me. Otherwise, I wouldn't be sitting here drinking with you today."
"Last winter, the outposts couldn't collect enough money, and my team of brothers didn't even have enough winter clothing, and they had to set out for the North. It was the adjutant who kowtowed and groveled in front of the fat pig, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and only then did he allocate some money. I remember him in my heart."
"Yes, Adjutant Ji is a good man."
"What a pity that Adjutant Ji didn't come today."
"Next time I'll catch him and give him a few drinks."
Ji Xuan, Ji Xuan, Adjutant Ji...
Luther was particularly drunk tonight. He usually had a good alcohol tolerance and was moderate, and rarely drank like this.
I don’t know why today, but I just felt particularly depressed and drank too much without realizing it.
Lying on the table with red eyes, the commander began to talk nonsense, mumbling about his past.
He said that he and Ji Xuan were brothers who grew up together.
They both had a hard time during their teenage years.
He has a younger sister, and Ji Xuan has a twin brother.
His sister starved to death during the period when the contaminated area spread.
Ji Xuan's twin brother was discovered to be a guide and was forcibly taken back to Kyoto.
"You know what? Those... those bastards from Kyoto forcibly induced his bonding fever, forcing him to give himself to the Sentinel."
Luther was drunk and spoke with a lisp.
I have forgotten that I am now in the same circle as those bastards in Kyoto.
"Ji Xuan was hiding in my house at the time. We watched through the crack in the door as his brother was pushed into the car."
"Later... Later I heard that his brother committed a serious crime and died miserably, very miserably, hehe..."
"What crime has he committed? He is just seeking revenge for himself."
Luther was in the toilet cubicle of the pub, holding onto the toilet bowl and vomiting all over the place.
The drunk sentinels in front were still shouting and making loud noises.
The restroom was dimly lit and empty.
The lively sound of chattering came in waves, so ethereal that it seemed like it came from a dream.
Luther sat in the small cubicle, his back against the partition, feeling very cold. He seemed to have lost something important, but he couldn't remember what it was.
The alcohol had clouded his brain.
No, his mind has been in this muddled state all these years.
It was as if a pair of slender white fingers reached in and violently twisted his brain into a ball, making it impossible for him to think with the right emotions anymore.
Luther heard the sound of clear footsteps.
The footsteps stopped outside the compartment door.
Outside the gap in the door panel, there was a pair of black standard military boots - most of the sentries who came to drink tonight were wearing this type of boots.
The pair of boots walked there and stopped, without knocking on the door or making any attempt to come in and help him.
Luther looked at it with his eyes slanted, and saw only a dark shadow dragged on the ground by the pale light in the toilet.
A cold voice sounded,
"Do you remember how you got that scar?"
The voice was hoarse and low, as if it came from the darkest nightmare deep in the soul.
Luther had goose bumps all over his body and was so shocked that he couldn't speak.
This is what Ji Xuan said, and this is a conversation that only Ji Xuan and he knew about.
However, Ji Xuan could never be here. Ji Xuan made a mistake and became a sinner. He saw with his own eyes that he became a prisoner of Her Majesty the Queen.
Who is that person outside
Luther struggled to stand up, but his body was limp and his legs kicked the ground in vain, without any strength at all.
The alcohol completely numbed his nerves.
In the corner of the bathroom, there was a kind of spice burning, which made his hands and feet weak and his head buzzing.
Who is it? Who is outside
"You have completely forgotten everything. You don't remember how everyone died, and you don't remember how you got that scar!"
The voice from across the wall rang out again.
It was like having ice water poured over his head, like the souls of the wronged dead were asking questions, giving him a wake-up call, questioning his soul.
"I... I haven't forgotten." Luther shuddered and closed his eyes, tears sliding down the corners of his scarred eyes, "I will never forget it even if I die." "Where is Ji Xuan?" The voice outside the door asked in a low and quick voice.
Luther opened his mouth but said nothing.
He wiped the vomit and tears from his face, took out a pen pinned to his chest and a piece of waste paper from his pocket.
My arms were shaking while I was writing and the words were crooked.
Tears and cold sweat fell on the paper, and he wiped them away carefully and awkwardly.
Sweating profusely, he pushed the small piece of paper along the ground and out through the crack in the door.
After doing such a small thing, it was as if I had fought a desperate battle with some huge power rooted in my mind. I was so tired that my whole body was exhausted and I fell completely powerless in the narrow cubicle.
The hazy fragrance continued to come, and the exhausted commander completely lost consciousness.
When he woke up the next day, his mind was fuzzy and he could hardly remember what happened that night.
Outside the door, a hand wearing a black glove picked up the piece of paper from the ground and put it into its pocket.
The drinking party was very enjoyable and both the guests and the hosts were very happy.
Not only did Chief Lude get drunk and collapse in the toilet, but the host Ni Ji was also drunk and had to be carried home by several colleagues.
The sentry who sent Ni Ji home put the drunk Ni Ji in his own bed.
Looking around Ni Ji's residence, there is no clutter in the small room except for a bed, a wardrobe and some simple fitness equipment. It is very clean and you can see the inside at a glance.
The sentries couldn't help but admire Captain Ni's self-discipline.
The powerful Captain Ni Ji was really drunk this time.
He fell on the bed, his face flushed, and he didn't move.
"Captain Ni is so drunk, I guess he won't be able to get up tomorrow, right?"
"I have made such a great contribution, and I got a promotion and a pay raise. I am very happy."
"It's okay. The commander is also drunk."
The sentries closed the door quietly, and the footsteps gradually faded away.
In the dark room, Ni Ji, who was lying on the bed, suddenly opened his eyes.
His eyes were as cold as an icy spring under a snowy mountain; there was no sign of drunkenness at all.
He sat up suddenly, walked quietly to the balcony, pushed open the balcony door, and looked into the distance through the crack in the door.
The footsteps of the sentinels had reached several blocks away, becoming extremely faint and gradually no longer audible.
The streets were silent late at night and the world was shrouded in thick darkness.
Ni Ji, dressed in black, supported himself on the balcony with his hands, turned over lightly and jumped into the balcony of the house downstairs.
The house downstairs looked just like the one he lived in, old, narrow, gray and inconspicuous.
The security measures inside the house are much more advanced than those in the small house upstairs.
There are two layers of anti-theft doors at the front and back, with a large-capacity self-destruct device installed inside the door, which must be unlocked with the iris.
Ni Ji opened the door and slipped in.
The layout of the house is the same as that of the upstairs, but inside the house are various old weapons brought out from the contaminated area.
An entire wall of shelves is filled with the rarest, most sophisticated, and most destructive weapons of all types.
The anti-gravity gun in the Land of No Pupils, the white phosphorus bombs in the contaminated area of the Golden Tree, the electromagnetic cannon, the pulse gun, the grenades and the explosives.
An eye opened on a jet-black long sword, looked at Ni Ji, and then closed again.
This is Ni Ji’s armory, a “granary” that the Sentinel who has entered and exited the contaminated area hundreds of times has stockpiled for himself, and a private ammunition depot for the Avengers to arm themselves.
Ni Ji sat down at a square table with familiarity, reached out to pick up a brand new personal terminal on the desktop, and lit up the virtual screen.
On an anonymous personal terminal, there is an email signed by "Xinhuo".
The email was sent at the moment Ji Xuan was summoned by the Queen.
Adjutant Ji, who received the summons, calmly arranged everything and erased all traces.
Then he walked calmly towards the palace on the top of the White Tower and disappeared into the depths of the White Tower.
In this email he prepared in advance, many secrets were carefully recorded, including what Ni Ji said to Luther outside the bathroom door.
Ni Ji opened the email sent by "Xinhuo" and read it again.
At the end of the email, Ji Xuan in the video took off his glasses and smiled at the people outside the screen and said,
"If one day, I disappear deep into the White Tower, I hope you can pass on this feeble flame."
The screen froze at that moment. Ji Xuan on the screen had a gentle expression and a frank smile.
In the darkness, the dim light of the virtual screen was reflected on Ni Ji's face. He silently browsed through the video in the email carefully, memorizing each one in his mind.
A communication request lights up below the virtual screen.
Ni Ji stretched out his hand and clicked it, and a virtual meeting box popped up. Four or five figures with their faces covered appeared beside Ni Ji.
Everyone was silent, looking at Ni Ji in silence. The atmosphere was very solemn.
Some of these people are far away at the border outposts, while others are as close as Kyoto.
Although they were thousands of miles apart, at this moment, they shared a common sense of grief and indignation for Ji Xuan.
"We got the position." Ni Ji said calmly, "The plan to save Xinhuo has officially begun."
A few of them looked at each other, and one of them hesitated and said, "It's too dangerous for you to go in person. If something happens to you again..."
The man's nickname was "Spore" and his voice sounded familiar.
His original name was not this. He was almost parasitized by spores in the contaminated area of the golden tree, so he changed his name to this nickname.
At the beginning, the sentinel captain named Dajian was Ji Xuan’s close friend.
In order to test Ni Ji, they pretended that they didn't know each other and acted as if they disliked each other.
Later, Dajian was rescued by Ni Ji in the contaminated area.
Ni Ji officially joined their team, and the two became partners who were thousands of miles apart but had a common goal.
Ni Ji interrupted him, "If I fail, you will take over my position and lead everyone to lie dormant for a while."
Spore opened his mouth and wanted to object, but he knew that Ni Ji was the only one who was most familiar with the internal situation of the White Tower and was the most suitable candidate for the battle.
Finally, he said in a deep voice: "Then you should be careful. We have already set out from the sentry post and are ready to respond at any time."
"I wish you the best. Avengers."
"Be safe, mate."
The virtual meeting ended and my companions disappeared from my side.
In the quiet little room, Ni Ji stood up.
"Wow, are you planning to do something big this time?" The dagger on his waist said excitedly.
"I won't take you with me this time." Ni Ji took down the bone-white dagger and placed it on the shelf.
"Ah! Hey! Why? Why? I want blood, take me there, give me blood!"
Ni Ji ignored its chatter and started selecting suitable weapons from the dazzling array of weapon racks.
"You're too conspicuous. You'll expose my identity."
"No matter what, you have to take me there. This is going to be a big drinking match." The dagger that was left aside became irritable.
"You are a fickle guy. You are easily disillusioned and don't recognize people after you pull out your thing. Ugh, I hope that Kraken will abandon you... Woo woo woo"
The sentinel in the darkness grabbed the babbling knife by the hilt.
(End of this chapter)