There were a lot of clouds floating near the exit.
The clouds here are all white, as white as squeezed cream.
Unlike the outside world, in the real world, the clouds in the sky are green and purple, and no one has ever seen white clouds.
The orange sunlight tinted the clouds, making them look like snowcaps drizzled with golden syrup.
The rectangular doorway quietly opened among the clouds covered with syrup.
It was like a fairy tale world, if it weren't for the long and terrifying attack that we had just experienced.
The human-headed monster was thrown away, with only a few scattered ones left far behind. The huge body of the killer whale swam over from time to time, and the sound of the whale's cry brought people a sense of security.
"Excuse me, could you light a cigarette for me?"
Nicole heard someone talking to her.
It was the female sentry with long braids who was the first to enter the airship.
The sentry was sitting with her hands hanging down, her back against a wall. The white bandage wrapped around half of her body was stained red with blood. She took out a pack of crumpled cigarettes from somewhere and put one in her mouth. Her wrist, the only part that could move, was shaking so badly that she didn't even have the strength to light a match.
Shu Jingtong, who had overused his mental strength, fell unconscious beside her, and was protected by her between his body and the corner of the wall.
Nicole reluctantly moved forward and took the match from the sentry.
The "cigarette" that the sentinels were talking about was different from the tobacco that ordinary people smoked. It was a psychoactive placebo made by soaking hay with diluted artificial guide hormone.
Using this can soothe the irritability caused by mental overload. Although the effect is relatively weak, it is convenient and not easy to overdose. It is very popular among the lower-level sentinel groups.
Nicole scratched the match several times and lit it. The sentry came over and lit a cigarette with the fire in her hand.
"Thank you." The female sentry looked up at her, holding a cigarette in her mouth.
"Are there any more cigarettes?" A weak voice sounded in the corner.
It was the sentry with broken legs.
He sat in the shadow of a corner, his legs missing below the knees, his body covered in countless wounds, and begged his companion for a cigarette.
The female sentry took a cigarette, lit it with her own cigarette butt, and brought it to him.
Nicole handed the cigarette to the seriously injured man and sat down next to him against the wall.
He was so badly injured that his face turned as pale as a dead person. He couldn't even raise his hand to receive the cigarette. He just sat there with his head down, holding the cigarette in his mouth.
The entire airship was filled with such critically injured people. Nicole didn't know how many people would be alive when she finally got out.
But her mental strength was completely exhausted, and she couldn't do anything now. Even lighting a match would cause her hands to shake. She could only sit here, accompanying her seriously injured comrade and talking to him here and there.
"Is this good to smoke?" Nicole asked them.
"You won't like it." The female sentry held a cigarette in her mouth, leaned against the wall, and looked at the sky above her head. "For us, it's a life-saving thing."
"When we get back, you can come to the counseling room at the Empire to find me." Nicole said, "I work there for two and a half days every week. I will provide you with mental counseling then."
These sentinels are not very old, but the negative states in their mental images are mostly very serious.
After a battle, Nicole entered the mental images of several sentinels. Everyone's mental world was filled with invalid information and negative emotions that had not been thoroughly cleared for who knows how long.
The garbage hardened into lumps like stubborn stones, corroding the spiritual world of the sentinels bit by bit.
"Thank you. My family is very poor and I have never been to a counseling room." The man with a broken leg sitting next to Nicole said softly, "This is the first time I have seen a real guide. I never knew that guides are such gentle people."
Nicole sat on the ground with him, looking up at the sky outside the broken roof, at the beautiful clouds in the sky, and at Lin Yuan who was guarding the stern.
The thin figure stood at the top of the escalator, facing the wind, against the background of the flowing clouds, looking at the scattered mutants catching up in the distance.
She was still fighting, along with the tough sentinel, as if she was tireless.
Guides aren't completely useless, Nicole thought.
She still remembered that the year she became a guide, everyone in her family's attitude towards her changed.
Later, no matter how hard she tried, no matter how fiercely she showed herself, even though her spirit body was very beautiful and her body was even bigger than her brothers.
Her father and two brothers still treated her as if she were an insignificant kitten or puppy.
I'm just a guide. Go and learn your flower arrangement. Things at home have nothing to do with you.
They say this often.
"Do you have any brothers or sisters in your family?" the sentry beside her asked her.
"I have two brothers. They are two annoying guys."
"That's good. I have five brothers and sisters, and I'm the oldest." The sentry's voice was light and floating, gradually becoming smaller and smaller. "The youngest sister is only two years old and can't even walk properly. If I'm gone, I don't know if she will starve to death."
"Don't be discouraged. Just hold on a little longer. We'll be out soon." Nicole encouraged him, "The exit is just ahead."
The sentry then said something, but Nicole didn't hear it clearly.
Because the airship had arrived in front of the huge, rectangular door.
Under everyone's expectant gaze, the metal goddess statue on top of the airship sank into the dark doorway.
The next moment, the sky suddenly brightened.
No longer is it the orange sky or the mysterious canvas.
The world was clear and bright, with endless green fields, azure blue skies and bright sunshine.
It was still the safe and beautiful green field they left.
They are back, back to the normal world that belongs to them.
After escaping death and returning from hell, I realized how beautiful life is.
On the airship, everyone who was still alive and could still speak cheered loudly and cried with joy.
Everyone hugged each other who were around them.
"We're out, we're out!" Nicole almost jumped up and shouted happily to the sentry beside her.
However, the sentry did not speak. He just sat there in silence with his head lowered.
Nicole's voice was hoarse.
"Hello." She called again cautiously.
The young sentry's lowered face was shrouded in shadow, and his appearance could not be seen clearly. Only the cigarette in his mouth was still glowing with a faint red light.
He opened his calloused palm, which was hanging at his side, and two imperial coins rolled out.
There are only two, enough to buy an apple.
Under normal circumstances, a young lady like Nicole would never be willing to condescend to pick up two imperial coins dropped on the ground.
Don't let your tears fall on it.
Only then did she remember the sentinel's last words. Only one step away from the escape door, the sentinel used his last strength to say his last words.
"They may not return the remains to my family,"
"Please give this little money to my sister."
The airship landed unsteadily in the green wilderness.
After a long time, the rescue team sent by the White Tower finally arrived.
The wounded were carried away on stretchers, but there were so many dead sentries that they had to be loaded onto trucks in piles.
Several guides who were wrapped in blankets and standing on the roadside couldn't help crying.
Guides are sentimental creatures by nature. Faced with such a tragic event, who could help but feel sad
Among all the guides who survived, Lin Yuan was probably the only one who showed no expression. She had a calm face as usual, and was even in a good mood to take the towel handed by the medical staff and wipe her hands carefully.
How cold, she is still that weird person, still indifferent at such a time. Doesn't she have a heart? Some people couldn't help but think in their hearts.
Lin Yuan wiped his hands clean, walked silently to the body of a sentry, bent down and took something from him. It was a sentry with broken legs and no life response.
"What are you holding?" Nicole came over and asked her.
Lin Yuan reached out and showed her the back of the identification badge, which had the sentry's name and personal information written on it.
Jiang Xiaohe, blood type B, home address: No. 25, Hei Street, District 19. Emergency contact: mother Jiang Rong.
"Give it to me." Nicole choked up, took the small identification stamp from Lin Yuan, and put it together with the two imperial coins she had been holding in her hand, "I can handle it."
When he took it, he touched the skin of Lin Yuan's palm.
Her hands are so hot, Nicole thought.
She heard our conversation and brought it to me. It turned out that the soldier's identity information was kept here.
Classmates all said that Lin Yuan was a very cold and difficult person to get along with.
Actually, that's not the case, Nicole thought. She's a very nice person with a warm heart. She just doesn't like to smile very much.
The chief of the rescue team and the captain of the airship stood far away and talked.
When they counted the number of people, they found that only a few guides were killed, and most of the dead were sentinels. They were obviously relieved. Han Shu also came to their side, and the three of them exchanged cigarettes. Those were not the inferior goods in the hands of low-level sentinels, but high-end products with expensive spices added.
The tone of several people's conversations began to become relaxed. They praised each other, saying that it was just bad luck and no one was responsible. Some people also said that thanks to Han Shu from the Public Security Bureau who discovered everything in time and sent sentinels to rescue, there was no large-scale death of guides, so it was not a big loss.
All in all, it wasn't a big deal. They even laughed a few times when they mentioned a certain topic.
It was as if the bloody bodies of the sentries that were carried onto the cart were just worthless objects that could be consumed at will.
Ni Ji stood far away, watching everything in front of him coldly.
This scene was too familiar, he had seen it too many times. No one cared about those young lives that died, the wishes that could not be fulfilled, the concerns that could not be let go, and the families.
He had seen such scenes too many times, over and over again, until they hurt his eyes.
He felt so angry that he always felt he should do something, but he could do nothing.
Until he saw her again in the crowd.
The girl who had just come down from the battlefield wiped her hands and bent down to peel off the identification badge on a dead sentry.
She and her companion leaned forward to look at the information on the back of the identification stamp.
Ni Ji knew the meaning behind this action. He put away the identification stamp and completed the last request of the deceased.
The actions of the two guide girls were almost the only warm spot in this cold post-war aftermath.
Ni Ji really wanted to go over there.
He kind of wanted to meet that girl face to face and have a good talk.
Thank her for helping me, ask her if she is hurt, or ask her not to let those tentacles... Well, let's not talk about this topic.
He now understood why the Sentinels longed for a Guide.
If you miss today, you don’t know when you will have the chance to see me again.
No, in fact, it would be best for the guide not to have anything to do with people like him.
He saw a girl with a big afro wiping her tears next to Lin Yuan. Lin Yuan stood there without moving, but a tentacle swam out from the ground and gently patted the shoulder of her crying companion.
She is so gentle, Ni Ji thought.
He clenched his hands at his sides, turned around and left.
Faintly, a low roar of a killer whale sounded from somewhere.
The voice sounded extremely reluctant and complained, and was quickly covered up by someone.
Ni Ji turned around, without looking back, and walked towards where Tan Shu was.
Walk into that stinking circle.
Tan Shu saw him, smiled, handed him a cigarette, and praised him for doing a good job. He lowered his head and took it, standing there and taking a puff.
The stimulating feeling of artificial guide hormone and the rich smell of sesame oil mix together and diffuse in the mouth and rush straight to the mind. This is the taste and feeling that many people are addicted to.
It smells so bad, Ni Ji thought, he didn’t want to smoke any more. A real guide is not like this at all.
A true guide.
His slender fingers holding the cigarette paused.
The skin on the back of my hand seemed to still have that strange feeling.
It was like something wet, still stuck there, would suddenly hit him hard, leaving half his body numb.
So vivid and impressive.
I can't see you, but I can't forget you.
Put that feeling into the deepest part of the sea,
From now on, I will stay there forever.
(End of this chapter)