Although everyone was enjoying the melon just now, as compassionate and polite guides, they felt it was a bit rude to expose someone's scars in front of the person involved.
So after a moment of awkward silence, we began to change the subject and talk about this trip.
"What bad luck! Why was I chosen?" Someone sighed. "I'm so scared. I heard those places are very dangerous and the living facilities are very simple."
"Yeah, I heard I couldn't survive without a flush toilet."
The guides who were pampered in the White Tower were worried about the harsh environment they were about to enter.
Although they were forced to set out on the journey under orders, they were inevitably filled with sadness and depression along the way.
"It is said that the sentries in those places are very rough, uneducated, and dirty."
"There have been incidents of guides being injured in previous years. It's really scary. Everyone who goes there must remember to protect themselves."
"It's impossible for me to provide mental counseling for those people. Why should I treat lowly civilians?"
The guides discussed their journey. They were extremely repulsive at the thought of coming into contact with the vulgar and barbaric lower-class sentinels instead of the polite nobles.
"That's right, I don't understand why we have to go. After all, those people can survive with the guide element, right?"
"You guys really want to complete the mission, I'm just going to do it perfunctorily anyway."
"That's right. I plan to show my face and come back right away. I won't stay in those places for even a second longer."
At this point, they couldn't help but begin to envy those guides who had already found a partner and entered the marriage hall.
In most cases, guides who already have a partner don't need to accept the mission of leaving the imperial capital and heading to a dangerous place.
The few guides, even if they were commoners, were likely to be matched with nobles or even royal families. It was so exciting to be able to live a stable life without having to work.
The young guides soon forgot their worries and began to fantasize about the future.
They discussed enthusiastically the mismatched noble sentinels in the capital.
Lin Yuan sat among everyone, and when everyone laughed, she laughed along.
Everyone fell silent, and she remained silent too.
Although she didn't understand what was so funny about those topics.
In fact, getting along with others is not that difficult, Lin Yuan thought. All you have to do is read their emotions and then make corresponding expressions.
This way they will think you are the same as everyone else.
It's a rare opportunity to be with so many classmates, and I'm doing OK, she encouraged herself.
However, sometimes, it seems that you should take the initiative to say something.
So she looked around at everyone and said to the only classmate she knew who was sitting by the window,
"Shu Jingtong? Do you have something to say to me? I noticed that you secretly looked at me several times."
She didn't see it, but the idle tentacles discovered the classmate's secretive movements.
Shu Jingtong's face suddenly turned red.
Nicole, who was sitting next to Lin Yuan, fell on the table laughing.
"No wonder everyone says you're a weirdo. You're so funny." She pushed Lin Yuan and said, "I thought I was the most unrefined person in the whole school, but I didn't expect there's a guide here who's even less reserved than me."
Lin Yuan had a blank expression on her face, she didn't know what she had said wrong.
It's true, isn't it? Although she didn't notice it, the idle tentacles clearly saw the classmate's secret movements.
Nicole came to Shu Jingtong's rescue and said, "He's just curious about you. In fact, we all want to ask you, have you really broken off your engagement with Jiang Yangshuo?"
"Well," Lin Yuan said, secretly counting his tentacles, "I have answered this question 230 times during this period."
"Hahaha." Nicole laughed again, "Okay, then I won't ask this question. I just want to know, did you really apply to work in the Special Research Department?"
Lin Yuan took out his work badge and showed it to Nicole.
"Wow," Nicole stretched her head to look at her pass, "I heard that we are often sent to contaminated areas. It's very dangerous."
"You, why did you apply for such a job?" Shu Jingtong's red face had just faded a little, and he couldn't help but speak again, "No guide has ever applied to investigate the contaminated area. Are you... because you are very confident in your mental strength?"
"No matter what the reason is, it looks cool." Nicole put her arm around Lin Yuan's shoulders. "I envy you. I actually want to walk out of the White Tower and take a look around. But unfortunately my family doesn't agree. This time, I had to work really hard to get my father to agree."
A curly-haired guide by the window listened to their conversation and rolled her eyes inwardly.
"What? You're talking so grandiosely. In fact, it's just that you were dumped, you lost face, and you couldn't stay any longer, so you made up an excuse for yourself."
She lowered her voice and said to her companion sitting next to her,
"Which guide really wants to work? I just hope to find a rich and powerful partner as soon as possible. Then I won't have to work anymore and can live a comfortable life."
Sitting next to her through the glass was a pretty girl with long straight black hair. When she heard her talking to him, she smiled and nodded, seeming to agree with her point of view.
The curly-haired girl saw someone agreeing with her and wanted to continue speaking, but she opened her mouth and suddenly froze.
A chill rose from her back, making her body stiff and giving her goose bumps all over.
It had just occurred to her that she was sitting by the window.
Outside her, it was thousands of meters in the air, how could there be someone
If it’s not a human, then what is this thing
The girl outside the window had long, smooth hair swaying gently in the breeze, her dark pupils were shining, her face was full of smiles, and she kept nodding her head.
The curly-haired guide felt her hands and feet were cold, as if something cold was crawling up along her skin, making her feel weak all over and she dared not move.
Her teeth were chattering, her neck was stiff, and she barely reached out to pull the classmate sitting on the other side of her.
"Why are you pulling me?" The companion who was pulled turned around unhappily.
The curly-haired girl was trembling, her body stiff, unable to utter complete words, and she could only point out the window with her trembling fingers.
Her companions were still laughing and looking out along her hand.
She saw a head with long flowing hair.
The human-head-like creature was floating outside the window, clinging tightly to the glass. When it saw her looking at it, it grinned at her and let out a giggle.
"Ahh!" A sharp scream sounded in the airship.
The dining table was overturned, food was scattered all over the floor, many people fell off their chairs, and some started running.
The entire airship was filled with screams of complete loss of control.
The human-head-shaped monster outside the window began to mutate, and its long black hair stuck to the glass like glue, allowing her to crawl along the glass.
The nose and mouth gradually elongate to form a long mouthpart with a sharp tip.
The monster stood outside the window with its hair and began to nod rapidly, pecking at the glass with its long mouthparts like a woodpecker.
Dadada, dadada. A dense and strange knocking sound was heard.
Even the so-called grenades could not easily penetrate the airship window glass, and spider-web-like cracks quickly appeared.
The cabin, which was filled with chaotic screams, became eerily quiet.
All the passengers, gathered in groups of three or five, stared in horror at the gradually widening crack.
It seems that just looking at them can stop their spread.
In the silence, only the dense sound of "da da da, da da" remained, like a death knell from hell.
However, this is not the end of the despair.
At this moment, in the sky not far away, a black cloud swayed and flew against the dazzling sunlight.
When I got closer, I realized that the monsters floating in the air like balloons were all monsters with human heads.
The monster has an overly human-like appearance, which makes it particularly terrifying.
A middle-aged man with a mole on his face and a scruffy beard. An elderly woman with lipstick and sagging skin.
Like those passers-by walking casually on the road, the neighbors in the neighborhood corridors. They look ordinary and common, but so strange.
Faces, with dishevelled hair, floated towards the airship.
"A... a mutant. A mutant." Someone looked out the window and said in despair. "We, we have mistakenly entered the contaminated area."
Faces of all sizes soon gathered around and stuck to the outside of the porthole, some laughing, some crying with sad faces.
Some people vomited, and several guides fainted on the spot.
The red light of the airship's internal warning light flashed back and forth, and a shrill alarm sounded.
"Alert, alert, the airship has mistakenly entered a high-altitude contaminated area. Everyone remain calm, hide where you are, and wait for rescue. All sentinels, assemble immediately."
"Repeat, all guides, hide where you are and wait for rescue. All sentries, assemble immediately!"
In the green fields where the shadow of the airship had just passed.
"Gone? The airship just now?" A sentry looked at the green clouds floating in the sky above his head.
Just a moment ago, a huge luxury airship was clearly floating there. This high-tech means of transportation from the past, shining in the sun with the glory of mankind in the past, was extremely conspicuous.
However, he just blinked, and the eye-catching big guy disappeared out of thin air.
Looking around, the wilderness is vast and the sky is low. There is nothing in the blue sky except a few veil-like floating clouds.
The sun is warm and the years are peaceful, as if everything is just their illusion.
The leading sergeant came up. It was none other than Tan Shu, the most capable man under the Public Security Department Chief Cao Junmin. Tan Shu frowned and thought for a moment, then said in a deep voice, "Ni Ji, what do you think?" The greenery behind him parted, and a tall and slender young sentry walked out.
The man walked out of the jungle, exerted force on his feet, and climbed to the top of the rock. He looked into the distance with a sullen face. It was Ni Ji whom Tan Shu had called.
"It's a newly formed contaminated area." Ni Ji looked at the clouds in the sky for a while, his expression solemn. "It just appeared not long ago and is still suspended in the air, making it difficult for people to find it. The airship crashed into it."
“I heard that it was a shipload of guides sent to the border.” The sentries shook their heads sympathetically. “It’s pitiful. I wonder if they have a chance to make it out alive.”
Tan Shu stood there thinking for a moment.
Logically speaking, they belonged to the Public Security Bureau, and when they encountered such a situation, they should lend a helping hand immediately. At least they should return to the White Tower to ask for help.
Tan Shu's expression changed several times, and finally he waved his hand, "Let's go, it's none of our business. The principal's mission is the most important."
This time, he was sent by Cao Junmin to leave the imperial capital with several good men from the Public Security Bureau to carry out a private mission.
Seeing the sudden disaster in front of me, I just want to pretend that I don’t know and leave as soon as possible.
"No, don't you want to call for help?" A sentry said, "There are a whole ship full of people."
Tan Shu glared at him fiercely. He hated such ignorant and ignorant people.
"I've wasted time here, and something went wrong with the teacher's important matter. Song Yuansi, are you responsible?"
"But we were the only ones who saw it. If we didn't report it, they would be finished." Song Yuansi's voice gradually became smaller and smaller under Tan Shu's cold gaze, and it was almost inaudible at the end.
"At least... at least we should send a distress signal." He said in a whisper as soft as a mosquito.
He knew that once the distress signal was sent out, it would be difficult for the security guards, who were responsible for their duties, to ignore the matter.
If he said this, Tan Shu would definitely be unhappy.
However, those were the lives of people on the airship. As a security soldier responsible for protecting the country and the people, it would be unbearable if I didn't even send out a distress signal for those people.
Tan Shu was about to curse.
I saw Ni Ji beside me leap up and flip down from the high rock.
The thin figure fell all the way down, and when he reached the ground, his toes lightly touched the stone wall to relieve the force of falling. His body rushed out along the momentum, and after a few leaps, he ran straight in the direction where the airship disappeared.
He didn't even say a word.
"I, I'll go and take a look too. Anyway... we have to wait for Ni Ji too." Song Siyuan, who had just been scolded by Tan Shu and couldn't even raise his head, stuttered. He didn't dare to look at Tan Shu again and ran in the direction of Ni Ji.
Tan Shu was so angry that his face turned red.
Although Ni Ji came back, the teacher had some personal matters to attend to, so he still let him lead the team.
He was very proud of himself and wanted to show off his authority as captain in this mission.
It was time to let Ni Ji know that their positions had been reversed. It was time for him, Ni Ji, to obey his orders.
Who would have known that Ni Ji usually disguised himself very well, not fighting or competing, and always silent and quiet.
When things got tough, they didn't take him, the captain, seriously at all. They didn't even bother to discuss it, and just walked away.
Tan Shu gritted his teeth in hatred.
This guy is still as arrogant as ever, doing whatever he wants.
I have no respect for myself at all.
Tan Shu gnashed his teeth and thought, I shouldn't have let this guy come back in the first place. I will definitely file a complaint with the principal and make him pay. It would be best if he could die outside during this operation.
The remaining sentries looked at each other for a while, then came over and said to him,
"Ni Ji is too unreasonable, Captain. How about... we send a distress signal to the White Tower?"
"Yeah. We can't leave anyway. We have to wait for them."
"Why don't we go over there and help out a bit..."
"After all, so many lives have been lost."
“There are quite a few guides.”
Tan Shu felt even more aggrieved.
Shu Jingtong knelt on the ground in a daze.
In front of his eyes, a large pool of bright red blood was slowly spreading and had already flowed to his feet.
He knew that a corpse was lying in a pool of blood, and the exquisite white dress was completely soaked in dark red blood.
That was a classmate of his. She had short curly hair, a few freckles, and sometimes spoke in a rather harsh way.
A moment ago, they were sitting at the same table eating.
He didn't even understand how it happened.
First, the first piece of glass was pecked through by the strange monster. When everyone was screaming and retreating, the monster with long black hair took advantage of the situation and rushed in from behind, smashing the glass.
With just one thrust, the sharp, mosquito-like mouthparts pierced through the girl's soft abdomen.
Even now, the mutant was still lying on the dead guide, making clear and terrifying sounds.
Right next to him.
He didn't dare to look, nor did he want to see that scene.
He knew he should leave, hide.
My body was feeling cold and hot, and my limbs were so weak that I had no strength at all.
I don’t know how many people died and how many monsters came in.
All he knew was the sounds of screaming, running and falling around him.
Right in front of him, a huge head rose from below.
The monster had the face of a middle-aged balding man, with a few sparse white hairs floating on his greasy head. His sagging face was covered with thick bags under his eyes, and his cloudy eyes were staring at the group of people in the glass window with an extremely realistic look of hunger.
It pressed its entire face against the glass window with a slap, and a line of sticky saliva flowed through the glass.
What should I do? What should I do at this time
My whole body was so cold that I couldn't move, but my brain was racing wildly.
Think of a solution quickly, he said to himself.
Countless images rolled through my mind.
Since he was a child, he had seen many scenes of humans fighting against mutants. There were countless stories of humans fighting against monsters in movies, novels, broadcasts, and even advertisements.
It's just that in those well-made film and television works, and those literary works with twists and turns, all the guides encounter such dangerous monsters.
They would all collapse to the ground in unison, trembling weakly and beautifully, or screaming in shock.
As long as they do this, they will surely wait for a rescue sentry to rush in and rescue them from danger.
From childhood to adulthood, all he saw and heard were such scenes.
At such a critical juncture, this was the only way he could think of.
Is it just... crying? Just shouting for help? Shu Jingtong's teeth chattered. Oh, maybe he should also pay attention to maintaining his image and cry like a pear blossom falling down to attract sympathy.
In fact, he had a vaguely clear answer in his heart.
In those movies, the crying and screaming guide always waits for the hero to save his life.
But in reality, this doesn't work.
In the corner of his eye, the head with mosquito-like mouthparts raised its head from the body of his classmate.
The monster had grown much larger than when it first appeared, with strange reddish blood vessels bulging under its skin. It was grinning and crawling towards this side.
Yes, we need to get moving, Shu Jingtong said to himself.
(End of this chapter)