After Lin Yuan sent the text message, he didn't expect the other party to reply immediately.
She stood up, straightened her clothes and walked out into the yard.
When I walked out the door, I happened to meet a neighbor who was walking his dog.
In the very cold weather, the young hostess was dressed fashionably, wearing a high-end sportswear that showed off her good figure, and she was walking with a very cute pet dog.
She saw Lin Yuan, nodded to her from a distance, and gave her a polite but distant smile - they had met several times in the past few days.
Lin Yuan discovered that people near his home were living a refined and comfortable life, as if they were living in a carefree and prosperous age.
But she knew that if she walked a short distance further and crossed a not-too-high wall, she would see a completely different world.
Those messy and crowded shanty towns with sewage flowing everywhere and those families that can't even feed their children are the real lives of the vast majority of people in this world.
The personal terminal on his wrist lit up. Lin Yuan took a look and saw a small dolphin pattern floating on his wrist.
The avatar for personal terminal communication was set by himself. In order to save trouble, Lin Yuan uploaded the holographic image of the fat killer whale at the bedside.
The chubby little killer whale jumps up and down.
Lin Yuan reached out and tapped the jumping fat killer whale, and a virtual anti-peeping screen popped up on his wrist.
The plump killer whale pattern was cute, but the text that popped up was very formal and formulaic, almost like a document between government departments.
Things to note when inviting unfamiliar friends to your home:
1. Prepare some snacks that are acceptable to everyone, and don’t be too spicy or have too special smells.
2. Prepare some activities for everyone to enjoy together, such as motion games or table games, so as not to neglect any guests.
3. If there are many women, you can prepare tea and snacks. Please see the attachment for recommended brands and tastes.
4. If a man asks you to drink, refuse him.
Finally, don't forget that the purpose of the party is to make yourself happy. Working too hard and caring too much about what others think will defeat the purpose of the party and is not recommended.
Ni Ji called with a long message that sounded very formal, like an official document.
But Lin Yuan read a friend's soft and delicate heart from between the lines.
She read the words carefully. It was exactly what she needed.
How should I reply to be polite? Lin Yuan thought. She rarely chatted with others using her personal terminal, so she was not very familiar with the words and sentences.
In fact, just typing "thank you" will do.
[I'll do it, I'm good at this.] A tentacle crawled up around Lin Yuan's wrist. The soft tip tapped quickly on the virtual screen.
"You have to come too~~"
There was a pink heart emoticon at the end of the word "Oh".
The chat port showed that the other party was typing, then canceled, typing, and canceled again. This repeated several times, but in the end, no reply was sent to her.
[So you don’t know how to do it at all, and you scared the little fish. ]
[Next time I will try it]
[It may be more effective if you do it together]
[Humph, you dead fish, too arrogant]
In the security office, the morning sunlight shone in obliquely from the window. The sentry leaning against the window railing was looking at the personal terminal on his wrist. The cold lines of his facial features softened in the morning light, and a slight smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.
In his mental picture, in the mysterious palace deep in the sea, the owner of the palace was turning over pearls and shells that had not been touched for many years.
I dug up bits and pieces of memories from my school days, of that carefree young man playing with his friends.
At that time, he was still very innocent, without so many things on his mind. When he was not training or competing, he would climb over the academy wall hand in hand with many of his brothers, go fishing, hiking, shopping, playing games, bringing back all kinds of food, and chatting all night long...
It turns out that I once had such a period of time.
Ni Ji carefully sifted through these memories, trying to figure out the guide's personality and interpersonal relationships, and merged them into a suitable text. After revising it again and again, he clicked send.
Soon, the other party replied with a short sentence, accompanied by a sparkling heart-shaped emoticon.
You have to come too.
Ni Ji knew that maybe this was just a casual invitation from the other party, and that symbol was just an emoticon commonly used by girls when chatting.
But he still looked at that short sentence for a long time.
Yesterday’s bloody storm and the future’s precarious situation seem to have become blurred.
At this moment, in this warm sunshine, he found precious peace.
He lowered his eyelashes and tapped the input box several times with his slender fingers, but in the end there was no reply.
He put away the virtual screen of the terminal and turned back to the square table where they were discussing the battle.
"Are you done talking?" Ji Xuan asked casually.
"Yes, she asked me where she could get some nice refreshments."
Ni Ji did not avoid the topic. He talked about it briefly and naturally before turning his attention back to Area 77.
He once thought about not having any entanglement with Lin Yuan and not letting her be involved in his dangerous world.
But last night - what happened last night cannot be thought of at this moment.
Since what happened last night had already happened and could not be reversed, he decided not to dwell on it anymore. He was not the kind of person who dwelled too much on things.
He knew that there was a small moon hidden in his heart. After last night, it could never be erased and would stay forever in the sea.
But no one can get past him and hurt that person.
Ni Ji could actually sense that the adjutant beside him, Ji Xuan, was fully observant at the moment. A pair of vertical pupils belonging to a spiritual body were hiding behind him and carefully observing him. He was carefully observing his every move and micro-expression.
To him, compared to the powerful Luther, the inconspicuous Ji Xuan is the truly terrifying person.
But he was not afraid. At this moment, all the thoughts and emotions that should not exist and should not be read by others were firmly sealed in the seabed.
They looked him over and assessed him, and he looked at the two men in return.
Except for Lin Yuan, he had never lost to anyone in the field of spiritual power, not even once.
Luther asked various investigative questions about the contaminated area, and Ni Ji responded very easily, knowing everything about it. Sometimes he was even a little proactive and sharp.
"If you can disclose all the information and the real purpose." His black finger pointed at a vague area on the map, "I would be willing to help you try to break through the Golden Tree contaminated area."
Luther and Ji Xuan exchanged glances.
They disclosed to Ni Ji some of the information collected within the empire about the Golden Tree contaminated area, and the most critical small part was deliberately retained.
Who would have thought that this legendary strongest man in the North could see through it at a glance.
"It lives up to its reputation." This time, Ji Xuan also stretched out his hand and shook hands seriously with Ni Ji's hand wearing military gloves.
***
Lin Yuan came to the Special Research Department.
"Hurry up and do the formalities. I still have something to go shopping for," she said to Roy.
After returning from the Dongbin sentry post, she submitted to the Special Research Office a research report on several polluted areas she had visited. Because she had personally visited each place, the report was very detailed.
But if she wants to go out again, according to regulations, as a guide, she still needs to go through a series of approval procedures.
"Oh my God." Roy covered his forehead. "I've lived for so many years, but I've never seen a guide like you. How long have you been back? Are you so anxious to go to the contaminated area?"
The two walked along the corridor of the Special Research Office. The red oak wainscoting and carved skirting added a heavy historical atmosphere to the office of this institution.
On both sides of the long corridor, there are some old imperial medals and photos of past members of the Special Research Department.
It seemed that this place might have once been a glorious place in the imperial power structure, but now it was deserted and sparsely staffed, and had become a small, unknown department.
The few members who occasionally came in and out were all elderly people. They were holding cups of tea with wolfberries in them and were very happy to see Lin Yuan.
"A new investigator? Not bad, a young lady."
They didn't even care whether Lin Yuan was a sentinel or a guide.
Life here is very peaceful. It is located on the fringe of the imperial administrative structure and there is not much room for advancement. No one cares whether you work or not.
"Although our Special Research Department has the word 'special' in its name, it is actually a pension department." Roy said to Lin Yuan earnestly, "We only need to perfunctorily handle the task of field research once a year. As a young girl, you should focus on clothes and jewelry, attend more high-society dinners, and get to know some talented people. That's the serious thing."
Lin Yuan didn't agree with his words, but he could sense from his emotions that an older human was trying to pass on life experience to the younger generation. It was a kind intention.
So she listened quietly all the way without saying anything extra.
"But then again. I read the contaminated area investigation report you submitted a few days ago. It was really amazing." Roy's expression gradually became gentle, as if he was lost in memories, "It reminds me of your..."
He came to his senses and swallowed the second half of his sentence in time, carefully observing Lin Yuan's expression.
Lin Yuan seemed not to hear what he said.
The little girl in a white dress was standing in front of a picture frame in the corridor.
In the photo frame, three or five spirited sentinels stand side by side, looking at the world outside the frame with smiles on their faces.
The woman standing in the middle was very tall, with a fit body and long legs. Her eyes and eyebrows were somewhat similar to Lin Yuan, and she smiled very freely.
"What did you just say?" Lin Yuan turned around and asked with facial features very similar to the person in the photo, "Do you remember my mother?"
"So you knew." Roy was stunned and a little sad. He took out the silk handkerchief from his pocket and pressed it to his eyes. "I thought you didn't remember her. They told me that you forgot everything about your childhood."
Roy helped find the information Lin Yuan wanted and helped reimburse the expenses incurred during her research.
He was busy running back and forth, while Lin Yuan sat there looking through the information. There was very detailed data on the polluted area.
But Roy had just started talking, and he couldn't help but talk about the old people he missed.
Even while walking back and forth, he kept talking.
"You don't know, when your mother and the others were here, our Special Research Department was the most powerful special forces under the Queen."
"The research reports submitted by our Special Research Department every year are the most detailed and practical. The Empire's research on mutants and the improvement of the Empire's contaminated area database are mostly dependent on us."
"At that time, I was still young and inexperienced, so I didn't have the qualifications to go out. But every time I saw them coming back from outside, their high-spirited looks made me envious."
"Your mother is truly a strong and gentle person."
"The appearances of those seniors still often appear in my dreams. I remember every one of them clearly."
"Who would have thought that such an accident would happen back then?" Roy couldn't help but start taking out his handkerchief again. "Don't mention it anymore, don't mention it anymore."
Covering his eyes with a handkerchief and tears in his eyes, he suddenly saw the documents that Lin Yuan was flipping through, and his eyes widened.
"Golden Tree Contaminated Area?" He swiped the information away from Lin Yuan. "Are you crazy? Why are you looking at the information about Area 77? Is that a place you can touch? Stay away from it. It's a place you can't return from once you go there."
"Until now!" He nodded at Lin Yuan's head while waving the document, and locked it in the cabinet. "It's a dangerous contaminated area that no one has successfully conquered so far. Do you think a little girl like you can touch it casually? Don't even think about it."
"I'll just take a look." Lin Yuan said, "Did my mother go there before?"
"Your mother? She definitely hasn't been there. No one has ever been there alive and conscious." Roy said, vaguely remembering something. "Strange, I think I did hear her mention this place before."
Roy didn't know that while he was talking, a tentacle suddenly appeared from the locked cabinet, it struggled to squeeze into the folder and pulled out a small map.
The tentacle rolled up the map and threw it through the gap in the locker, and another tentacle quickly caught it.
Then the tentacles of the map swam in the shadows and handed it to Lin Yuan's fingers.
Lin Yuan flipped the map of the Golden Tree contaminated area with his slender white fingers and put it into his pocket expressionlessly.
The map was not very detailed, and only contained data about the area before it was contaminated. But if you want to go to such a dangerous place, it is better to have a map than nothing.
On the way home, Lin Yuan bought things according to the dessert guide given by Ni Ji.
The rose cakes from this shop are crispy and refreshing, the pineapple cakes from that shop are sweet and sour and delicious, the pea yellow cakes from the old brand look good, and the sugar figures blown by the sugar figurine blower on the roadside are also very cute.
Let him blow up a killer whale, an octopus, a lion, a gyrfalcon, a big tiger, a kitten and a small snake...
Before you know it, you've bought too much. The boxes, big and small, are piled so high in your hands that you can't even see the road.
A child running towards her bumped into her, and tentacles appeared one after another, grabbing all the candy boxes.
No one cared about Lin Yuan, causing her to fall.
The boy who bumped into Lin Yuan apologized with a grin and ran away while apologizing.
[Catch him quickly, he took my wallet. ]
[I'm wearing a rose cake]
[I'm looking at the pineapple cake]
[It doesn’t look good if the candy man is broken, it needs two people to hold it]
[What does the wallet matter? As long as the food is not dropped, that’s fine.]
Lin Yuan sat on the ground helplessly. In the peacetime without fighting, most of the tentacles were sleeping in the dimensional space, and the active ones were only concerned with their precious snacks.
Even Lin Yuan himself felt that it was not a big deal to lose a little money. As long as the snacks he had worked so hard to buy were fine.
A slightly older girl pinched the boy's ear and pulled him back.
"Jiang Xiaowa! Come out." The little girl, who was less than ten years old, had a few freckles on her face and looked very imposing.
"Jiang Xiaochong, leave me alone." The boy was very unconvinced.
"Look carefully, this is the sister from the Guide Academy."
Lin Yuan went to the Special Research Department today, so he wore a guide uniform.
The boy who had been screaming all the way stopped grinning when he saw Lin Yuan's special skirt and silver epaulettes.
"Guide Academy? The same place as Sister Nicole and the others?" He touched his head and took out Lin Yuan's wallet from his trouser pocket. "Here, I'll give it back to you. Since you're a guide."
A few younger children were hiding behind the pillars, and their heads popped out giggling. The youngest one was probably only two years old.
The freckled girl hit the boy on the head and said, "There's more!"
"Yes! I'm sorry, guide sister." The boy apologized loudly and bowed obediently.
Lin Yuan, who was sitting on the ground, saw the house number where she was - No. 25, Black Street, District 19.
Her memory had never been very good. But she remembered the house number.
At that time, on that airship, the sentry with broken legs died just one step away from the escape door.
"I have many brothers and sisters. The youngest sister is only two years old and can't even walk properly. If I die, I don't know if she can survive." The sentry said this with tears in his eyes.
Nicole took the last two Imperial coins from his hand. She also took his identification stamp. The house number printed on it was this.
Nicole said, "Leave it to me."
It turns out that they did a lot of good things during the time I was away.
Lin Yuan took back her wallet, stood up and patted her skirt.
Several children came over and helped her stack the boxes that were supported by the tentacles one by one.
"Please don't tell Sister Nicole and Brother Shu about this." The oldest girl smiled shyly and said, "The guide brothers and sisters often come to help us, and we are very grateful to them in our hearts."
"I will definitely take good care of my brother in the future and won't let him do this again."
"Where are your parents?" Lin Yuan asked her.
"My father passed away a long time ago, in the polluted area. My mother is in poor health and is lying in bed." The little girl said this as if it was a matter of course. There were many children like them on this street.
She picked up the box with the candy figurines in it and helped Lin Yuan put it on top.
"But it's okay. I can join the army soon. I am also a sentry." She said proudly.
Her father died in the contaminated area, and her eldest brother died in the contaminated area. She was ready to take his place as soon as possible.
For my younger brothers and sisters’ three meals a day and my mother’s medical expenses.
The two-year-old little sister came over, held her legs, and stared at the lifelike sugar figures in Lin Yuan's arms.
The elder sister calmly reached out and pushed her younger sister's head back.
[no]
[no]
[no]
[no]
Lin Yuan took down a candy figure of a little snake and handed it to the little girl.
The remaining four or five pairs of eyes suddenly looked at her with blinking eyes.
Although he didn't say anything, the feeling of drooling in his heart made Lin Yuan's head buzz.
So the kitten was gone, and the tiger and the bird were all gone.
The tentacles squeaked and screamed.
[be opposed to]
[Dedicated｜System]
[overbearing]
[Wow, I’m about to cry]
Who told you not to help me just now? Lin Yuan was unmoved. After distributing the candy figures, he held the remaining snacks and walked home with a blank expression.
All the candy men were divided up, leaving only a blown-up killer whale and a round little octopus.
The killer whale raised its little tail, its eyes wide open with smiles, and looked very happy.
The octopus has a round head and its tentacles are curled under its body, looking a little silly.
Lin Yuan looked at the only two remaining candy figures along the way and felt very happy.
A small tentacle came up, grabbed the killer whale tightly, and licked it all over.
"Is it sweet? I haven't even eaten it yet."
Lin Yuan thought a little unhappily, you can't taste anything if you eat it this way.
(End of this chapter)