The street where Ni Ji and the others were was very quiet, and there was not a single living being in sight. This was a polluted area, so of course there were no living people.
But this area, which has been restricted for many years, does not feel desolate at all. In fact, the streets are full of life.
The clothes hanging on the balcony were still dripping with water. The lights in the houses on both sides of the road were on, and the sound of TV was playing.
A toy snail dragged by a child was left on the roadside, and a missing person notice was posted on the electric pole. It was probably about someone's underage daughter who ran away from home.
A moment ago, the black arm that suddenly jumped out of the alley and attacked Ni Ji has now completely disappeared. No one knows where it is lurking, and not even a trace of black smoke is left.
It seemed like this was an ordinary street that was bustling with people just a moment ago, but all the living people suddenly disappeared.
On the empty and quiet street, Song Yuansi walked beside Ni Ji.
"Something is not right, Brother Ni." Song Yuansi lowered his voice, "It's daytime now, and this should be a safe area. Why would a mutant attack you?"
The sentinels have very sharp hearing, and even the quietest voice may be picked up by others.
Ni Ji didn't say anything, but just stretched out his hand and made a few gestures in front of his chest.
Spread—this is the first sentence.
Go to the back and stay away from me—this is the second sentence.
Tan Shu, who was far behind, was also making gestures with one of his confidants.
"Stop it, Brother Shu. Ni Ji is very strong in combat. The thing the teacher wants is at the bottom of the sea, and he hasn't got it yet." The confidant said in sign language, "Keep him for now, he'll be useful."
Tan Shu stared at Ni Ji, who was walking in front, with a gloomy face for a while, and finally made a gesture of agreement.
To him, Ni Ji was always like a thorn in his throat.
Although Ni Ji was currently ranked below him, he always seemed very quiet.
But he always felt uneasy in his heart.
No one knew his classmate better than him. He was powerful, reckless, and always did what he wanted, never influenced by others.
Now Ni Ji seemed to have changed in some way. He became less talkative and more difficult to understand.
As long as he stayed there, even if he was silent and didn't say a word, Tan Shu would sometimes feel scared in his heart.
Tan Shu decided to take advantage of this opportunity to get rid of this troublesome person who always made him uneasy.
He held the latest intelligence about Area 5. He was the only one in the entire team who knew.
It was a formidable mutant that preferred to lurk in the shadows and capture the most powerful Sentinels in the group.
As the contaminated area spreads, only this newly emerged monster knows the area of its activities.
This is a critical information gap that can be used well.
After I get what the teacher wants, I will use this to make him stay in this polluted area forever, Tan Shu thought gloomily.
It will be done quietly.
It is normal for a few people to be killed or injured in the contaminated area, and the teacher cannot blame him for anything.
The jeep that Lin Yuan was riding in drove to a temporary village on the seaside.
There are many fishermen's families gathered here, and most of the time they live together here.
Only when there is an emergency situation such as the spread of contaminated areas or the overflow of mutant species, will they rush to the sentinel post and avoid the disaster under the protection of the sentinel post.
In the morning, most of the adults went to the sea, leaving only some half-grown children and the elderly in the village.
The jeep stopped in the village, and Da Hu knocked on the door. "Contaminated Area No. 5, searching for sunken ships, needing aquatic spirits, twenty Imperial coins. Who's coming?"
When they heard the twenty imperial coins, a group of children in ragged clothes gathered together, raising their thin arms high.
A boy of about 11 or 12 jumped down from a height, spat out a straw in his mouth, pushed through the crowd and came to the front of the car, "Brother Hu, I'm going."
Da Hu nodded and threw him a small purse, "Xiao Mu, get in the car."
The boy who received the purse opened the purse and took a look at it under the envious gaze of his friends. He smiled happily, handed the purse to his little sister, pointed to a dilapidated shack and said, "Run back and give it to your mother. Tell her I won't be back tonight."
The little girl hugged the bag of money tightly and ran barefoot in the mud.
The boy nimbly climbed onto the back of the jeep.
"I brought him with me because I needed to go into the water to retrieve something."
Xiaoniao and Lin Yuan, who were in charge of driving, explained, "Don't worry, these kids have been into the contaminated area more times than you have. Ever since they developed their spiritual bodies, they have been exploring the contaminated area. Sometimes, if they are lucky, they can find something good, enough for the whole family to use for a year or so."
"If they follow us into the contaminated area, they can get the money in advance, and it's safer than if they sneak in on their own." Xiaoniao continued, "They don't have the money to go to the Sentinel Academy. Basically, when they are fifteen or sixteen years old, they will go directly to the military camp. Some of them don't even live to that age."
Not long after, a dark and thin mother came out. Lin Yuan thought that she might have come to stop her child from going to that dangerous place.
As a result, the mother held onto the fence and handed the boy a dry and cold wheat cake.
She loudly told her teenage son, "There's no food at home. Be sure to bring back some more food."
It feels a bit like having no way back.
"See, the adults at home won't care. In our place, most parents don't care much about their children."
Xiaoniao held the steering wheel with both hands. She had a short buzz cut and some sun spots on her face. The whitish reflection of the car lights on her face brought out a bit of indifference.
Lin Yuan looked through the rearview mirror and saw the boy who had just gotten on the bus.
Da Hu was rubbing his head and the boy was smiling, revealing his white teeth. They looked like they were very familiar with each other.
"Twenty imperial coins." Lin Yuan said to himself.
I did the math in my head. Ten apples.
Ten apples are enough to make children of this age happily go on an adventure to the contaminated area, and everyone here even thinks it is normal.
The bird chuckled, "How much do you think you can get? The Special Research Institute has allocated funds for you to come here this time. There are five places, and for sentinels of our level, each person only gets fifty imperial coins, which is already considered an extra amount. Everyone wanted to go with you, and they had a fight this morning for this place. We won to get the chance to come."
The vehicle drove along the road. At first, there were many houses on both sides of the road, with fireworks and a lot of noise.
Gradually, the lights and voices in the house faded away. Gradually, only desolate ruins remained, with dilapidated and silent buildings sitting on the roadside, hidden behind dense vegetation.
There used to be a lot of people living here, but as the contaminated area continued to expand, humans had no choice but to evacuate again and again.
The jeep stopped in front of a row of red warning signs.
"It's right there." Da Hu got out of the car and pointed to a huge red warning sign in front of him. "That's the boundary of the No. 5 contaminated area."
"Don't get too close. Sometimes the border will suddenly spread and it will be hard to guard against." The sentries instructed Lin Yuan.
They taught Lin Yuan everything about the contaminated area all the time. Teaching her everything was the best way to protect her.
Rachel was swept into the area while trying to save people because the border of the contaminated area suddenly expanded. The sentinels kept the lesson in mind.
After getting off the car, the sentries took a lot of things down from the car, as if they were preparing to cook.
Xiaomu even quickly put the wheat cakes his mother gave him into the fire and started to roast them.
Lin Yuan stood there, feeling very surprised.
She checked the personal terminal on her wrist, then looked up at the sky, confirming that it was not yet time for lunch.
"Sister, is this your first time here?" The little boy squatting by the fire baking pancakes looked up at her, smiling with his eyes curved. "In the polluted area, there are also day and night. It's not time yet, so you can't go in."
He also handed the hot cake to Lin Yuan, "Do you want to eat it?"
In his impression, a fair-skinned sister like Lin Yuan, who came from a big city, would definitely not accept his offer.
But he was a very smart and worldly-wise child. Whether others wanted to eat or not was one thing, but he was always very considerate in being polite.
Lin Yuan broke off half of his cake with his fingers, "Then I'll try some."
Xiaomu was completely stunned.
[Hehe, he can’t bear to part with it]
[Quick, give him the food, right in front of him]
[I can’t bear to part with it yet I have to take the initiative to separate it. What a strange person]
[Not delicious, I was cheated]
[From the emotions he conveyed, why does this thing smell so good?]
[Not tasty, just like that apple, I was cheated]
[Stinky seal]
In the polluted area, there is also a distinction between "day" and "night".
The switching between day and night is different in each contaminated area. During the "daytime", most of the mutants in the contaminated area are inactive and dormant. It is relatively safe for people to enter the contaminated area at that time.
But when "dark night" comes, the entire polluted area will turn into a hell where all kinds of monsters roam around, and ordinary people can hardly survive in the dark.
The sentries spread out the map, called Lin Yuan, and began to discuss their plan after entering.
"We go in at the beginning of daylight. Our destination is Shanan Bay." The bird pointed at the topographic map and said, "We must get out before nightfall. The distance is not far, so we have enough time. Everyone, stay alert and don't make any mistakes."
Lin Yuan's target is a sunken ship in the No. 5 contaminated area.
There is ample evidence that this great ship of the old times, the Mary, carrying countless treasures, sank in the Shanan Bay during the most glorious era of mankind. Countless people have searched for it for thousands of years, but there is no clue.
But not long ago, when a serious diffusion incident occurred in the No. 5 contamination area, someone saw with their own eyes that the huge Mary emerged from the water like a ghost, with a brand new appearance and bright lights, and disappeared for several hours.
Only then did people discover that the Mary was hidden in the No. 5 contaminated area.
Xiaoniao said that the task issued by the Special Research Office this time was not a big deal.
The location of the shipwreck is not far away, and it is completely possible to go back and forth within one "day".
Ever since the Mary was discovered, the White Tower has sent wave after wave of search teams.
Almost everything that could be salvaged had been salvaged. Even their team had been sent here several times and was very familiar with the seabed there.
The only thing they had to do was to protect the safety of the guide Lin Yuan.
In fact, they would rather Lin Yuan stay at the sentry post. If he wanted to find something, he could just tell them and let them go in and look for it.
They felt that this would be more convenient and safer for everyone, far better than bringing an inexperienced and incompetent person into the contaminated area.
The White Tower would often issue search missions to the sentries. Most of the time, they would directly specify the items to be searched. Sometimes, they would send a researcher down and escort him into the contaminated area like this.
Most of these researchers are looking for something secretive and secretive that they don't want to make public.
They didn't bother to ask, and were only responsible for assisting and protecting during the journey.
Most of the researchers from the capital looked down on the sentinels at the outposts. The sentinels knew that they also hated those researchers who were too arrogant.
To be honest, if she encounters an extreme situation and cannot save herself, Xiaoniao thinks she will decisively give up the researcher who is holding her back and prioritize the lives of herself and her brothers.
But this time it was different. No matter what, they wanted to protect Guide Lin who entered with them.
This was the instruction given by the sentinel commander before departure, and it was also the wish of every one of them.
Therefore, the strongest sentinel at the sentry post came in this time. They even asked Xiaomu, whose spirit body was a seal, to assist them in order to speed up the completion of the underwater mission and ensure that nothing could go wrong.
The sentries finished their lunch and prepared their weapons. When the sun reached its highest point in the sky, Xiaoniao stood up and looked at his watch. "Okay, let's go in."
A group of people walked along the road.
The road, which had been abandoned for many years, was covered with moss, and the weeds on both sides were taller than people.
At noon, insects chirped and birds sang. Walking among the shadows of the grass and trees, it felt like walking in the wilderness.
The huge red warning sign has arrived.
When you cross it and take the next step, the surrounding scenery will change completely.
The street is still the same street, and the buildings are still vaguely the same style.
It was just that the streets suddenly became clean and tidy, stretching straight into the distance. It was as if time had suddenly gone back, the moss and weeds disappeared.
The buildings along the roadside looked brand new, soft lights were on in the houses, and faint whispers could be heard in the air.
It was as if someone was living in those houses with closed doors and windows.
But this is a contaminated area filled with only mutants.
The midday sun disappeared, and the sky was filled with hazy stars.
It was not normal starlight, but more like a painting by a master of oil painting, with rich yellow and mottled blue slowly flowing in the air.
"Follow me and don't touch anything." said the bird, leading the team forward.
Walking through the quiet alleys, turning the crisscrossing roads, and running down the messy stairs along the slope, it felt like I had lived in this place since I was a child.
"Xiao Niao was originally a resident of Area 5." Da Hu told Lin Yuan softly, "Ten years ago, there was a large-scale spread here, covering her home."
He glanced at the female sentry who was running ahead to explore the way, and for fear of being heard by her, he did not say anything extra.
There is no need to mention the story behind how the bird escaped from the contaminated area and whether her family is still alive.
Residents living near polluted areas all have some sad memories that they cannot bear to touch upon.
Led by the bird, they soon reached the beach.
The beach was golden, like the color of real gold, and the sea water was like a mirror, reflecting the beautiful sky with stars like an oil painting.
The whole world is like someone's dream.
Something huge is sleeping in this dream.
The sentinels quickly found two small boats, which slid silently into the sea and sailed quietly on the mirror-like sea surface.
For a moment, the sky and the earth seemed to be one and the same, and the boat sailing on the water seemed to be walking in the starry sky.
Everyone moved very quietly, as if they were afraid of disturbing something.
"We're here." the bird said suddenly.
The two boats stopped, with a few ripples at their sterns. Looking down, the mirror of the water reflected the bright stars, and nothing could be seen on the bottom of the sea.
"Don't worry. I've been to this place many times." Xiaomu took off his shirt, revealing his thin arms, and prepared to jump into the water.
"Wait a minute." Lin Yuan called him, "Can you share vision with me?"
Xiaomu didn't understand, "Share what?"
A cold object appeared from nowhere and touched his forehead.
"It's just like this." Lin Yuan said.
Xiao Du blinked and found that although he was standing opposite Lin Yuan and looking at Lin Yuan, he could magically see his own face at the same time - from Lin Yuan's perspective.
This is shared perspective. You can see the world through another person's eyes at the same time.
“Wow, this is pretty cool,” he said.
Any slight resentment he had towards his sister who had eaten half of his wheat cake immediately disappeared.
The boy jumped into the water with a short dagger in his mouth.
When it came up again, the seal's smooth tail swung up a wave of water, which gradually splashed on the faces of everyone on the boat.
Xiaomu, whose upper body is a boy and whose lower body is a seal, waved to everyone and dived into the deep sea.
Lin Yuan closed his eyes and sat down on the boat.
She saw bubbles on the seabed, gurgling bubbles flying upwards.
The light grew dim, and she saw the boy's paddling arms come into view from time to time.
There were small schools of fish swimming nearby.
She shared the sight with Xiaomu, and through the eyes of the boy who was constantly diving, she looked at the underwater world.
The sea water always gave her a familiar and nostalgic feeling, as if she had lived in the depths of the ocean since she was a child. The deep sea also always gave her a sense of danger, as if there were infinite secrets waiting for her to uncover at the deepest level.
Not long after, she saw the ship sinking to the bottom of the sea.
The huge monster of the past now lay quietly in the mud on the seabed. The decks and railings were covered with layers of barnacles, and the window glass was all broken, each of which looked like a gaping mouth with countless small schools of fish swimming in and out.
Xiaomu came to a porthole, held the window sill with both hands, stretched his head in to look for a while, then twisted his tail and swam in nimbly.
The seabed was very dark, with almost no light.
But Xiaomu's eyesight can adapt to this place.
His eyes became exactly like a seal's, large, round, and crystalline, which focused the underwater images on that special retina, allowing him to see the hazy scene in the cabin.
Lin Yuan followed his gaze and swam all the way into the cabin. According to the plan agreed upon in advance, she swam past the restaurant that was parasitized by numerous algae, swam past the decayed cockpit, crossed the deck, opened a hatch, and swam down along the mottled stairs.
All the hatches on both sides of the long, dim corridor had been opened, and the sailors' bedrooms were filled with miscellaneous items that had been turned out.
Many searchers have come here.
As you swim through the messy cabins, you can see the skeletons of one or two dead sailors.
These skeletons were lying on the bed, as if they had sunk in their sleep and never woke up, sleeping forever in this silent deep sea.
Here we are. This is it.
Xiaomu came to the end of the corridor and held the door handle of the innermost cabin.
He pushed the door open without much effort. A school of bright blue neon gobies rushed out from the cabin.
Xiaomu, who was used to diving in the deep sea, avoided the school of fish and looked at the cabin he had opened.
This is the captain's bedroom.
The bedroom had already been searched thoroughly.
The remains of the dead captain were still there, a pale skeleton sitting at a desk whose desk and chair were bolted to the floor.
The captain's body seemed to be fixed there as well. He sat there in a crooked position holding the pen, in silence for countless years.
The searchers who had come before had swept away everything they could in the cabin. The tables and drawers were empty, and even a small gem on the captain's hat had been picked off.
Bring back a relic from the captain of the Mary.
Xiaomu remembered the task he needed to complete, which was also the task assigned by the Special Research Institute.
It looks simple.
What do you want to bring back
There was nothing left to take. Xiaomu thought, why not take the captain's hat back with you.
I don’t know what material it is made of, but it hasn’t rotted after being soaked in water for so many years.
Things from the old days are great. Even the fabric used to make hats is different.
[pen]
He suddenly heard a voice.
The voice was very strange, not like a person speaking, yet it could be clearly heard by his ears.
He noticed that his perspective was split. While he was seeing the dark seabed, he was also seeing the sky above the sea at the same time.
It was the sister sitting on the sea who opened her eyes which had been closed.
It turned out to be Sister Lin Yuan who was speaking.
Xiaomu obeyed the voice and reached for the pen held by the captain.
The metal pen had been soaked in sea water for many years and was covered with green copper rust. It was now worthless.
So it did not attract the attention of any explorer who came in earlier.
Xiaomu took the pen from the captain.
[Insert|into the small hole on the desktop] That strange sound sounded again.
As expected, Xiaomu found a very inconspicuous small hole in the lower right corner of the desktop.
He tried to insert the rusty pen. It fit perfectly.
With a slight twist, the pen body broke under the weight, but a drawer popped out from under the thick wooden tabletop.
Neither he nor Lin Yuan heard it when the drawer was opened.
It seemed as if a mysterious sound came from the darker bottom of the ship, coming from the depths of the ocean.
It sounds like the sigh of a dead soul reluctant to leave the human world, or like the mysterious mumbling of a god.
Something woke up the moment the drawer was opened.
In Xiaomu's eyes, he only saw the drawer filled with glittering imperial coins and an old, mottled wooden box.
Wow. Xiaomu was dazzled by the dazzling color of the golden coin.
[Just take the wooden box] The voice in my head sounded again.
However, those golden colors seemed to be able to seduce people's hearts, and the beautiful colors flowed into the boy's heart.
There are so many imperial coins. If I just take a handful, my mother won't have to worry every day, and my sister can buy a new pair of shoes.
Maybe I could buy myself a better dagger.
Or you can just sign up for the Sentinel Academy, study for a few years, and become a captain after graduation, or stay near the White Tower...
As if bewitched, he thought further and further, and his fingers were already touching the golden thing.
I'll just take a little, I have to take a little away.
[You can’t take it] A voice suddenly exploded in my mind.
Xiaomu was stunned.
[Don’t touch!]
[Can’t take it! ]
[open one's eyes]
[wake up!]
That was an instruction.
A series of tough instructions came into my mind.
Xiaomu awoke with a start. The round eyes of the seal became clear.
As far as I could see, there were no shining imperial coins in the drawer.
The small wooden box lay in the drawer, with tiny, hairy, colorful sea worms hovering around it.
I don't know why, but I actually mistook these colorful, apparently poisonous insects for imperial coins and even wanted to grab a few of them.
I never thought that there would be imperial coins of this era on old ships.
I don’t know what will happen if I get bitten by those colorful insects.
How many people have been on this ship? No one has ever discovered this bewitching bug.
Fortunately, Sister Lin Yuan woke me up in time. Xiaomu broke out in a cold sweat.
He used an iron bar to push away the insects crawling in the dark water and wrapped the small wooden box with a piece of rag.
"I got it," he said to himself.
[I'll be right back.] The voice responded in my mind.
The little seal was very happy to have completed the mission, and swam out of the cabin with its tail wagging.
On the surface, the extremely sharp-eyed sentinel reported the situation on the seabed, "He has completed his mission and is surfacing."
It went smoothly and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
At this time, Lin Yuan, who was sitting on the sea with his eyes closed, moved.
I seemed to hear some sound.
Like a kind of fish.
Huge and fierce.
Lurking in the deep sea, swimming towards here.
A whale.
Killer Whale.
"There are other sentinels approaching." Xiaoniao stood up from the boat, "A group of people, we don't know if we are the enemy or not, everyone be on alert."
(End of this chapter)