Lin Yuan squeezed into the crowd and walked in.
There were many waiters serving drinks here, and from time to time one or two would come up to her and enthusiastically sell her alcoholic beverages or introduce someone to her.
Lin Yuan responded casually, all his attention focused on the minotaur monsters that were searching him.
A girl of the same age followed her and kept saying something beside her.
Lin Yuan ran up the wooden stairs and onto the corridor on the second floor. There were more people coming in and out.
A strong female sentry came out of a room, cursing, and bumped into Lin Yuan in the corridor. Under their feet, a minotaur raised its head and looked up through the cracks in the floor.
In a hurry, Lin Yuan squeezed into the room where the sentry had just come out.
The girl next to her squeezed in. She thought Lin Yuan chose this room, so she opened her mouth and looked a little embarrassed.
"Are you choosing this room? But we just received guests here, and it hasn't been cleaned yet, so it's very messy." The girl crossed her hands and placed them on her cheeks. Her beautiful almond-shaped eyes looked at Lin Yuan with watery eyes, "Guest, why don't you change to another room? How about I introduce you to the boy who sings the best here?"
"No, no, no, I'm fine staying here."
Lin Yuan pushed the girl out of the door and closed the door which was not very tight.
She looked out through the crack in the door. The cow downstairs looked around for a while, didn't find itself, and went to search further away.
Lin Yuan breathed a sigh of relief and found that there was another person in the small room he was in.
A man, quite young, was lying on the floor, his back to her, motionless, wearing very little clothing.
Lin Yuan subconsciously pulled up a thin blanket on the floor and covered his body.
The night here suddenly became very cold. Lin Yuan felt cold even in his thick tactical uniform, not to mention lying directly on the floor with his back exposed like this man.
Lin Yuan wrapped up the man on the ground. He still squatted by the door, observing the situation outside through the gap in the door.
On the street, the minotaur monsters were determined not to give up and were drilling in and out of the crowd, searching for her everywhere.
The sound of footsteps came up the stairs, and a group of minotaurs came up and walked through the corridor in front of them.
The tentacles emerged and meandered against the wooden door. Lin Yuan and he listened to the shaking footsteps approaching here, passing by in front of them, gradually becoming smaller, and then going down the stairs at the other end.
Lin Yuan discovered that although the monsters were looking for her very persistently, they only searched outside and never entered any room here.
Just stay in the house and you can avoid these monsters.
Lin Yuan decided to stay in the house as much as possible and spend this dangerous night before the monsters outside left.
She began to look around the room and the man in it.
The wooden hut contained a bed and a separate bathroom, but it was drafty and very cold.
There was a layer of frost on the window on the wall, and outside the window hung a huge waning moon.
On the floor, the man wrapped in the quilt remained motionless.
The head exposed outside the quilt had short silver hair and empty eyes. It lay there without any expression, and even the tentacles could hardly capture any clear emotions.
Part of his ankle was exposed. It was terribly thin, with thin skin stretched over the bones and crisscrossed with several bloody whip marks.
Lin Yuan saw a broken whip on the floor.
I remembered that the sentry who just left here cursing might have done something bad.
But before entering, Lin Yuan did not hear any painful sounds coming from this room. After entering, the tentacles did not detect any emotions of pain.
This man has become completely numb to the torture and abuse inflicted on him.
It's like a body, still alive on the outside, but corroded and destroyed on the inside, almost empty.
Lin Yuan knew that this polluted area had existed for a long time. Every dark night here, the same thing was repeating.
Although this "person" still retains human emotions, he should no longer be a human after suddenly appearing at night.
Lin Yuan found a place to sit near the door of the room, trying not to disturb him.
The man slowly closed his eyes, curled up in the quilt, and seemed to be asleep.
His face was as pale as a corpse, and he curled up in the slightly dirty thin blanket as if it was his shell.
As the night progressed, the place seemed to become more and more lively, with piercing singing, music, and all kinds of unbridled laughter filling every corner.
It seems like this is a place of carnival, with countless souls seeking pleasure in the night, indulging themselves, and dying in bliss.
The darker the night, the stronger the sense of danger.
Lin Yuan stayed in the house. Countless huge shadows of monsters were cast on the window panes beside the door, and they were mixed with the laughing guests, walking back and forth.
The tentacles swam quietly underground, expanding as far as possible.
But in the maximum range they could search, they did not find any creatures similar to the golden tree.
The lifelike golden tree that appeared on the wooden box in the forest garden.
Gradually, amid the laughter and cheers outside, one or two sharp screams could be heard occasionally.
As if no one heard them, the harsh sounds did not create any ripples in this ocean of joy.
Lin Yuan looked out through the crack in the door and realized that it was a stranger like himself.
One after another, some sentinels, like her, found this "rose garden" and broke in.
They were discovered by the monsters and each of them was caught in a difficult battle.
For a moment, Lin Yuan's broken tentacle suddenly popped out from the void where it was resting, standing with its pitiful broken end, stunned in the air for a while.
[What are you doing out here?] Lin Yuan said to it, [Go and have a rest, there is nothing to do.]
[Strange... I seem to sense something.]
The tentacle muttered unhappily and hid its body listlessly.
Some sentries fell down where Lin Yuan couldn't see.
Their blood spread along the cracks in the tiles, like blood-red flowers blooming in this bustling neighborhood.
The passers-by walked past the corpse laughing, as if they didn't see anything.
There was only one sentry who made his way into the deepest part of the camp.
There, the red lights, green wine, and dreamy joy disappeared without a trace.
A huge crack appeared in the earth.
The crack was bottomless and emitted a scarlet and strange light, like a passage leading to hell.
From the scarlet crack in the ground, a golden plant grew up from the ground.
The trunk, branches, and crown leaves are golden, pure and beautiful.
The slowly awakening golden tree stretched out in the night, opening its huge golden canopy.
The leaves with a metallic luster sway gently in the evening breeze, and the sound of their touch is crisp, like music, and it spreads far away in the night.
Ni Ji stood there, looking at the strange and beautiful giant tree in front of him.
Golden tree.
A powerful deformed creature that has devoured countless lives over the years and has never allowed anyone to leave this place in a clear state of mind.
Almost the moment he saw the tree, he felt a sharp pain in his head.
Ni Ji put his hand on his forehead, and the blood-red abyss and the beautiful golden leaves became blurry shadows before his eyes.
Countless strange voices sounded in my mind at the same time, as if if I stayed here for one more second or looked at it one more time, I would fall into madness and be unable to extricate myself.
Ni Ji closed his eyes, drew his pistol, and without any hesitation, raised his hand and fired a shot in the direction in front of him.
A bright trajectory lit up, dragging a long arc of light as it hit the tree accurately.
It was a specially made □□.
A dazzling light flashed, and in just a few breaths, white phosphorus flames instantly shot up along the golden tree.
The raging flames burned the golden tree trunks and ignited a huge flame in the dark night.
Before coming here, Ni Jihe had watched the images left in those crazy minds countless times in the Royal Guard's information room.
He looked over those messy, crazy memories again and again, and finally found the weapon against the tree.
After the huge flame of white phosphorus ignited, the stinging and noise in my mind was greatly reduced.
Ni Ji took off his black gloves, stroked the blade with his palm, and slowly drew a bloody mark on the palm of his hand. The magic sword absorbed enough blood, became longer and wider, and turned a strange blood red.
The sentry crouched, sprinted, leaped, and swung his sword in the air.
The dark red blade light, with afterimages and a hurricane-force force, chopped towards the burning golden tree.
Large sections of golden branches were broken. The cut branches were burning with flames and kept falling from the sky, turning into fragments and dots of sparks, drifting far away in the night sky.
They did not turn into keys.
Ni Ji had been in and out of the contaminated area countless times. He knew that the parts removed from the column would most likely become the key to enter and exit the contaminated area.
Whether it is a contaminated area dominated by mental attacks or a contaminated area dominated by physical attacks, the most difficult part is the process of finding the pillar and getting close to it.
But as long as they can get close to the most powerful mutant in the contaminated area and remove a part from it, it would be equivalent to getting the key, and everyone would have hope of leaving.
Here, he went through many dangers and found the golden tree, cutting down countless golden branches.
But the key he wanted did not appear.
There seemed to be a chuckle coming from nowhere.
Someone in an unknown place laughed coldly with a mocking tone.
In Ni Ji's mind, the harsh and chaotic sounds suddenly became intense, as if a red-hot knife was inserted into his brain, or as if countless people were crowding into his brain and screaming in unison.
Countless faces appeared in front of Ni Ji, some dead, some alive, some he hated, some he loved, each face twisted back and forth and screamed, blocking his sight.
Ni Ji's eyes turned blood red, and red blood flowed from his ears.
In the messy sight, there is a face that will never become distorted and ugly. She just smiles at herself.
Ni Ji slowly stood up, wiped the blood off his face, raised his knife and faced the giant tree in flames again.
***
Lin Yuan discovered that the person sleeping on the floor in the room suddenly developed a high fever.
An abnormal flush appeared on the originally pale face. I touched his forehead and it was terribly hot.
Lin Yuan brought a lot of medicine for injuries, but no medicine for fever. He had no choice but to carefully open the door and quietly stick his head out to call for help.
The girl who led the way came over quickly. "Sir, I'm Windsor. May I ask what I can do for you?"
Lin Yuan grabbed her in and pointed at the man on the ground, "He seems to have a fever. Is there any antipyretic medicine or a doctor here?"
"Yes, we have medicine. We have all kinds of medicine." Windsor said eagerly, then hesitated for a moment, pinched the hem of her skirt with her fingers and lowered her head, saying, "But you have to pay for the medicine. I won't give it to you to use casually."
"Can I pay with Imperial Coins?" Lin Yuan showed Windsor the Imperial Coins he had with him.
I don’t know if the coins of my era can still be used in this polluted area.
"Of course. Of course. If we don't accept Imperial coins, what else should we accept?" Windsor said happily, "Are you going to buy medicine for Xiaoxun?"
Xiaoxun was pointing at the man who had a high fever and fell into a coma.
In the polluted area, the signal of the personal terminal will disappear and transfers will not be possible.
Fortunately, Lin Yuan has the habit of carrying a wallet with him. It's great that they still keep the habit of using imperial coins.
Windsor quickly brought various medicines and warm water.
The two girls worked together to help Xiaoxun onto the only wooden bed in the room.
The thin blanket slid down a little, revealing a skinny, scarred body.
Lin Yuan bought all the internal and external medicines in one go, and he and Windsor worked for a long time, cleaning the wound, bandaging it, feeding medicine, and barely managed to treat the patient.
"Will it affect your work since it has taken so long?" Lin Yuan asked.
Windsor lowered his head and shook his head.
"Thank you very much, you are a kind guest." She bent down to pick up the blood-stained gauze and cotton balls on the floor, and said in a low voice with a little nasal sound, "Xunhua is a very pitiful person, please be gentle to him."
Not long after Windsor left, the patient on the bed opened his eyes.
The scorching heat that felt like fire subsided from his body, and he returned to his original half-dead, cold appearance.
He opened his eyes, and his eyes were as cold as a piece of ice immersed in a cold pond, which had never melted after millions of years.
He looked at Lin Yuan with a cold look for a while, stretched out his arms to support himself, and sat up from the bed. The thin quilt slipped off his shoulders, revealing his shoulders wrapped in snow-white bandages.
"What do you want from me?" he asked Lin Yuan coldly.
It was the first time that Lin Yuan met someone whose emotions were even colder than his own. The sound of his voice could almost make people shiver.
"No, no, no, I don't want anything. Just lie back down." Lin Yuan waved his hand quickly.
She was busy squatting at the door and peeking outside, waiting for the monsters to disperse.
Just now, in the distance, I seemed to hear a loud noise and faint sounds of explosions.
The monsters outside the house started running, becoming more frantic and dense.
But at this moment, the fire and explosion seemed to be extinguished. The sound became softer and almost inaudible.
Outside the window, the cold light of the waning moon shone through the window, slanting onto the frail body sitting at the head of the bed.
The man looked at Lin Yuan silently for a while and lowered his eyelashes.
In his memory, everyone who came into this room took pleasure in torturing him. He had never met anyone who didn't need him.
He didn't say anything, but Lin Yuan seemed to hear the doubts in his heart.
Thinking that he was a patient and injured, I turned to him and said patiently,
"Really, just lie down. You can sleep well all night. I don't want anything from you."
The room fell silent.
The patient stopped talking and lay back down in his seat.
There was a gentle knock on the door. It was Windsor.
The girl handed Lin Yuan a menu with a smile, "Sir, it's late, do you need some midnight snacks?"
Windsor smiled sweetly and looked at Lin Yuan expectantly.
This was exactly what Lin Yuan wanted. Lin Yuan had been in the contaminated area for a long time. Although he had prepared some dry food, he was still happy to see the dazzling array of menus.
As long as the Imperial Coin can be used, money is not a problem for her.
“I want this, this, and that… Wow, you have a lot of ancient snacks.”
"Oh, okay, okay." Windsor was stunned for a moment before he came to his senses and answered Lin Yuan, "I'll bring it to you right away."
Lin Yuan smiled. She had long noticed that this girl found excuses to come in, but her attention and gaze fell on the wooden bed by the wall several times.
Her feelings were pure, with a touch of gentle compassion and full of concern for the man's physical condition.
Windsor did not avoid Lin Yuan's smile.
She sat down next to Lin Yuan generously, much lower than Lin Yuan, next to Lin Yuan's knees, looking up at Lin Yuan.
"Xunhua's health is very bad. We are all a little worried about him." Those beautiful eyes were pleading, "You are a kind guest. Please let me stay with you. I can sing some songs and dance well."
"Okay." Lin Yuan said, "I like listening to songs, and I also like people eating with me."
The pretty Windsor sat happily at the foot of the woods.
She brought Lin Yuan a lot of hot food, ate supper with her, and sang for her.
Lin Yuan knew that she was not really happy to sing, she just wanted to stay here and help a dying soul as much as possible.
"Do you know the golden tree?" After filling his stomach, Lin Yuan went to her to inquire about the news.
"What?" Windsor looked confused. "What tree? I have never heard of it."
Lin Yuan scratched his head. “It’s like a tree made of gold. It’s very big and conspicuous. When the wind blows, the leaves sing.”
"No." Windsor laughed, "How can there be such a tree in this world? It is a treasure, something you can't even see in your dreams."
She is a person who lives in a different time and space from Lin Yuan.
Lin Yuan looked at her smiling face and stopped asking questions. He just listened to her sitting beside him and singing a beautiful song.
In the middle of the night, there was a rude knock on the door.
"Open the door. Ask Xunhua to come out and keep me company."
The man knocked on the door loudly, and a drunken shadow appeared on the paper grid of the window.
Clearly, a disgusting person.
Windsor bit his lip and grabbed the corner of Lin Yuan's clothes.
"Get out of here. I'm staying here for the night." Lin Yuan said. She had originally planned to hide in this room for a while and then leave. But now she planned to stay a little longer.
The shadow outside started to curse vulgarly. It was a human being, with the most disgusting malice that could befall a human being.
The disgusting feeling that came over Lin Yuan made him almost vomit his midnight snack.
The tentacles swam over aggressively.
Soon a scream was heard outside the door, and someone rolled down the stairs.
Windsor just smiled and continued singing her song.
This time, she really wanted to sing.
Along with such gentle singing, the noise outside the house seemed to gradually die down.
Even the faint sounds of battle became quiet, as if one side had lost interest in fighting.
The shadow of the monster moving back and forth gradually disappeared without a trace.
Lin Yuan also dozed off unconsciously amidst the singing.
On the small bed in front of the window, sick Xiaoxun curled up under a thin quilt and slept in the moonlight.
It seemed like he hadn't slept peacefully and undisturbed for many nights.
How long had it been? So long that he himself could hardly remember.
When Lin Yuan opened his eyes, the night had already passed.
Daylight returned.
The rose garden was empty. Outside, the sky was bright, and the breeze blew up a few tattered flyers, which fluttered in the air above the street.
Lin Yuan blinked his eyes. There was neither the sick Xiaoxun nor the singing Windsor in the empty room.
The garden that was brightly lit last night is now silent.
Lin Yuan rubbed his arms which were sore from sleep, opened the door and walked out.
The tentacles suddenly became excited and emerged from the ground one by one.
Lin Yuan looked in the direction they pointed.
At the other end of the road, I saw a familiar figure.
Stained with blood and wounds, he was wearing a black combat uniform, was tall, and held a bright red sword in his hand.
The man saw her, started running towards her.
(End of this chapter)