Chapter 87 Guide 15

Genetic evolution has allowed the limbs of strong humans to extend beyond their physical boundaries, enabling them to explore worlds that were previously inaccessible. However, it has also brought about diseases that are almost incurable.

Sentinels, plagued by berserk madness, rarely meet a good end. Guides, while able to maintain mental stability, gradually lose the ability to focus their mental energy as they overuse it. Their thoughts wander, their minds drawn to higher dimensions, unable to return. Some scholars call this place the "spirit realm," believing it to be a projection of humanity into a higher dimension. Historically, only a small number of guides who entered the spirit realm managed to escape with enhanced abilities; the vast majority suffered shattered visions and never awoke, a condition known as delirium.

Lu Xuejin was clearly aware that he was in a trance, touching upon that place that textbooks avoided mentioning, but strangely, he did not see the "great terror," "psychedelic radiance," or any other bizarre things his predecessors had described. He was trapped in a memory.

It's the time when autumn and winter are bridging.

Lu Xuejin walked through the long corridor. The corridor was dimly lit, with only a soft, almost milky-white halo of light flowing in through the open archway in front of her.

On either side of the archway, meticulously tended flowers clustered together, their full blooms weighing down the branches, displaying a dreamlike blue-purple hue, like frozen twilight. Around them adorned delicately peted, elegantly colored ribbons, and vast expanses of ferns and evergreens of various shapes, their glossy leaves seemingly absorbing moisture from the cold air in the dim light. A griffin carrying a ball spouts clear spring water, filling the air with a cool, slightly fishy scent of water vapor mixed with earth and green leaves.

At the end of the corridor stands a church, its outline clear, simple, even somewhat austere, lacking the usual elaborate spires or stained-glass windows. Grayish-white stone forms its main structure, standing silently behind a meticulously maintained garden.

There are no crosses, no angel statues, and not even any symbols pointing to traditional gods or heaven. It neither worships gods nor angels, and exudes a solemn yet strangely empty atmosphere.

The gleaming marble reflected Lu Xuejin's current state; he stood on the cusp of childhood and adolescence, dressed in an exceptionally well-tailored suit, the cuffs and collar trimmed with delicate silver piping, highlighting the fair and smooth skin beneath. A large white silk bow was tied around his neck, meticulously crafted with crisp edges, exuding an air of impeccable gentlemanliness, yet its overly full knot and soft, drooping ends added a touch of playfulness, swaying gently with Lu Xuejin's movements.

In the silent church, the light seemed to favor him. His soft blond hair shimmered with a golden sheen even in the gray light, and a thin, healthy blush graced his cheeks like pale colors spreading across fine white porcelain.

Sapphire-blue eyes stared unblinkingly ahead. A nun stood there alone, dressed in an old-fashioned black habit that was almost impossible to tell its age. A large headscarf covered her hair and most of her face, revealing only a pale and indistinct outline.

No one knew her origins or name. She was the sole owner of the church, yet no one knew whose followers she was, so everyone called her "the nun there."

The nun had a pair of strange, empty silver-grey eyes, but when she turned around, she enveloped Lu Xuejin in them, a mixture of pity and love welling up within her indifference. She addressed Lu Xuejin as "Your Highness."

Lu Xuejin sat down on the bench, which was too high for even an adult to sit fully on. His patent leather shoes dangled in the air for a few moments. He sighed and said, "Madam, I don't understand."

The nun watched him quietly.

"Why did those people dare to provoke me?" His face showed genuine doubt and confusion. "I look at them like ants and insects hiding on a step, which I can crush with one step. Shouldn't they be afraid of me? Or be deceived by me? How could they, um... that's ridiculous."

With her sparse eyebrows furrowed slightly, Lu Xuejin was genuinely troubled by these trivial matters.

The nun said, “Your Highness, it is because they do not know you. Ants cannot see you clearly; they simply follow their instincts, treating you as one of their own, thinking they can bully and joke with you.”

Lu Xuejin smiled sweetly: "I also played a 'little' joke on them."

The nun and he exchanged a smile, as if they shared the same secret.

But the child, who was swinging his legs, suddenly turned cold, and his clear eyes revealed a malice and coldness that did not match his age: "Then what are you, daring to come into my dream?"

As the rebuke fell, the tranquil church shattered with a deafening crash. Cracks appeared on the nun's pale face, and after a sickeningly loud cracking sound, the nun shed her skin, revealing a serpentine monster. Its serpentine torso was unusually thick, covered in slippery scales that gleamed with a nauseating sheen in the dim light. At the front of its torso were three enormous, round eyeballs that never closed, day or night.

The one on the left suddenly turned to the center and stared intently at the child.

...

Lu Xuejin suddenly opened his eyes, the light causing him to squint his azure eyes. He breathed softly.

An enlarged face was almost right in front of him.

Curly-haired man had been frowning slightly, his face showing an unusual seriousness, but the moment Lu Xuejin's gaze met his, his face instantly broke into his usual, slightly cynical smile.

"Yo! You're awake?" Curly-haired guy said lazily. He straightened up and stretched dramatically, his bones cracking softly. "Lu Xuejin, you better take it easy. You suddenly buckled over when we were crossing the border and startled everyone! If the doctor hadn't said you were just tired and asleep, people from Zone 1 would be coming to question you by now. You were sleeping so soundly, I couldn't wake you up at all, and I had to keep watch here all night. My legs are numb!" He complained, but there was no real resentment in his tone.

Lu Xuejin's throat was dry and tight, the lingering haze of the dream still tearing at his nerves. He squeezed his eyes shut, and when he opened them again, he forced down his turbulent emotions. His voice was a little hoarse, and his first question was, "...Where is Chu Jianfeng?"

Curly's smile faded for a fleeting moment, so quickly it was almost an illusion. He handed Lu Xuejin a glass of water, shrugged, and replied in an unusually calm, even dismissive, tone, "Dead, didn't you see?"

"I heard from those guys that they didn't even leave behind a decent piece of human tissue. He's lucky."

The warm water moistened her lips and throat. Lu Xuejin cleared her throat: "Wan Hong and the others?"

Curly sighed, "The sentries are tough as nails. You'd be better off worrying about yourself than those little brats."

He added, "Don't ask, Master! The center has already taken over the data brought back from the contaminated area and is working on it day and night. There will definitely be further exploration plans; it's inevitable."

Curly-haired man straightened up and said in an almost commanding tone, "You're the weakest one right now, so get some rest. Look at you, your face is as white as paper. You work yourself to the bone every day. You're not going to be killed by pollutants, but you'll wear yourself out sooner or later. Today, just today, stay in bed obediently!"

He walked to the door, put his hand on the doorknob, and turned back to add, half-threatening and half-serious, "If I find out that you've secretly gone to give some unfortunate guy some mental counseling again, I'll invite the garrison officer over and have her sit by your bed and keep an eye on you until you're driven crazy."

After saying that, he pointed his finger at Lu Xuejin in the air, a gesture that conveyed the meaning of "you better behave yourself," and then opened the door and disappeared outside.

The ward fell silent. Lu Xuejin turned her head and suddenly asked in her mind, "How much is the male lead's sacrifice worth?"

Dongyao replied a few seconds late, giving a vague number: "Don't worry, honey, at this pace we'll finish the mission quickly. I expect to see your husband by the end of this world!"

The system popped up and floated in mid-air, mimicking Xiao Yao's old mannerisms, and made a cheering gesture.

Lu Xuejin suddenly became curious about something: "He's already buried, so in what way will he be brought back to life? Will he rise from the coffin?"

[This isn't in the system's after-sales service; you can find it out beforehand, baby.]

Lu Xuejin smiled and said, "If people find out, they'll think I'm so heartbroken that I've developed mental problems."

She blinked again and said, "I just had a nightmare, it was so annoying. Since this world is generated from a novel text, could you please control my brain and stop me from dreaming tonight?"

"...This is beyond my control."

Lu Xuejin nodded, no longer hesitant.

A man sat on the bed for a while, then got up and looked out the window. When the outpost was first established, a large-scale cleanup of the surrounding vegetation and pollutants had been carried out. Even so, over the years, the nearby forest had grown tall again. The branches and leaves were lush and green, and a row of birds perched on the nearest branch had deep black feathers. One of them had a damaged left eye, which had turned a dark red. It was said that before the pollution, the birds of the southeast were famous for their brightly colored feathers; now they had all turned an ominous dark color.

The bird with bad eyes seemed to notice the humans at the window. It shifted its body and stared straight at them. Lu Xuejin moved her fingers and teased it like she was teasing a puppy.

The bird tilted its head and flew away in an instant.

...

"How is the commander?"

Luo Mang overheard Wei Jing and He Cang chatting quietly not far away; these two A-level officers were very concerned about their superior's health.

Luo Mang was also thinking about Lu Xuejin.

Leaving the border should have been a time of joy after surviving a disaster, but the moment the guide he was holding by the shoulder suddenly fainted, Luo Mang's heart stopped. The last time he felt this way was back in his youth, so long ago that he stood frozen in place, as stiff as a wooden block, until Wan Hong picked up Lu Xuejin and rushed towards the camp.

The army quickly surrounded the camp, and many high-ranking officers rushed over upon hearing the news, anxiously surrounding Lu Xuejin. The doctor performed a quick examination and said something, but Luo Mang couldn't remember anything. He only remembered trying to follow but being stopped, and catching a glimpse of Lu Xuejin lying on the pristine white hospital bed, looking so frail.

While they waited anxiously for the results, another commander took them away to question them about the situation in the contaminated area.

"Chu Jianfeng was surrounded and killed by pollutants, wasn't he?" the commander asked casually at the end.

The death of a sentry is insignificant. On the border battlefield, he might die from contamination, go berserk, or be killed by his own teammates. No one would care about such trivial matters. But because the one who died was Chu Jianfeng—a notorious sentry on the verge of execution, with countless people having grudges against him—the commander rarely asked about it.

This also facilitates registration and archiving.

Luo Mang said calmly, "Yes, Commander Lu is very sad, but in order to protect us, we have to leave him behind."

The subtle traces of mental energy fluctuations as they approached, the unusual physical states of Lu Xuejin and Chu Jianfeng… none of that mattered. Luo Mang didn't care about Chu Jianfeng's death; he only thought of the moment he and Wan Hong rushed over, Lu Xuejin looking down at the corpse on the ground, a hint of sadness flashing in her eyes as she looked up.

Who ordered you to stain your hands with blood?

The closer he got to Lu Xuejin, the more he realized that he had been caught up in a scam called "Homeland," and was willing to give up everything just because he was rescued from the Dark Zone by the Federation.

But Commander Lu, they rescued you only because you were a guide, only because they needed you to constantly soothe the restless, ferocious beasts, yet they tricked you into constantly overdrawing your resources and making sacrifices.

You know perfectly well that the guides were never vassals who coexisted with the sentries.

How foolish.

When Luo Mang looked at Lu Xuejin again at this moment, it was as if he saw a world-renowned porcelain, fragile and easily broken, covered with cracks, and breathtakingly beautiful.

It makes you want to do anything to save him.