Chapter 160 Back on Track
The purple suppression lamp's light flickered repeatedly in the corridor.
Doors with built-in seals separated safe and dangerous spaces from each other. On the office floors of the teaching area, most offices were shrouded in heavy curtains.
“…Hmm.”
Milo hunched over the desk, her knuckles gripping tightly, the pen in her right hand twisted unnaturally. Her back arched high, and the shadow behind her swayed like a burning flame in the wind.
The deep shadows swallowed up the light, and the curtains swayed like the drapery covering an animal cage.
[“Why bother?”] The devil sighed softly. This sigh was different from his usual mockery, and it was filled with some genuine pity.
Both she and he knew that the damage to the nerves was not caused by the devil's power, but by rough resistance.
She forcibly took back control of her body as soon as Xinnaya left, but the price she paid was overwhelming pain that overflowed from the depths of her soul.
This little bit of pain...is nothing.
Milo slowly opened her palm, and the pen rolled to the ground with a thud. She supported herself on the table with her palm and slowly raised herself up.
It's really nothing. Compared to the intensive training several times a year, this little pain is nothing.
The devil fell silent. She could read "her" own memory, so she naturally knew what the intensive training consisted of.
It's well known that negative human emotions, especially fear, can quickly become food for abnormality. It's difficult for humans to control themselves from feeling fear or sadness; it's a natural human instinct.
Since most supernatural powers also require emotions to drive them, apostles who have completely eliminated emotions must connect to the soul pool to obtain a constant supply of energy.
Therefore, people with super powers cannot permanently remove emotions through drugs or surgery.
"Fortunately" humans can adapt to pain, allowing their hearts to stay between death and numbness, and devoting all their passion to goals and battles.
The best subjects for training are children, and the best time to train is to start in childhood.
Excellent superpowers like Miroku, who were born in the interior of the church, have to go through various kinds of training from a very young age, which are collectively called "intensive training" or "painful trials."
Not only do they have to endure the pain, but they also have to overcome fear of heights, darkness, stench, nausea, loneliness, noise...all sorts of "defects" and "instincts".
Don't let yourself be exploited by anomalies in future battles, don't let yourself become a battery for anomalies, and absolutely don't become a burden to your companions.
Boiling water will kill the frog, so just heat it slowly. Before the frog dies, it can create more value.
"Chen Xiao'er is incapable of accepting any progressive training."
The devil kindly reminded Milo not to feel so guilty and stressed.
Perhaps letting the Apostle inflict damage on her earlier was just part of her intensive training? Since everyone was the same, the child's experience wasn't too bad. It was definitely better than being untrained and dying instantly from the final blow.
"Shut up...that's totally different."
Milo slowly straightened her body, and the dizziness in her head finally eased a lot, allowing her to lean back in the chair and see the laptop screen clearly.
Cold characters flashed across the screen as colleagues discussed the information they had just received.
Fortunately, with the looming threat of the Sword of Doom hanging over their heads, no one with a clear mind would deliberately ignore the obvious signs. In response to the warnings of Chen Xiao'e, the "key figure and sole power holder," they began dispatching elite scouts to penetrate Changhe City without being noticed by the Devouring Snake Cult's followers.
Click.
She moved the cursor to click on the large screen in the monitoring center, where a real-time demonstration using pixel figures was being performed.
In order to make the information conveyed more accurate, the picture was deliberately divided into three parts: the leftmost part represents the knights and reconnaissance team stationed in the periphery, the middle part represents the city of Changhe, and the rightmost part represents the headquarters of the Devouring Snake.
rustle.
The coffee in the coffee cup was unconsciously replaced with milk tea.
Miroku picked up the cup and took a sip, his eyes fixed on the screen.
Everything was normal on the left, and there was nothing unusual in the middle. Even on the right, there was just a normal snow screen and strange ripples left by the Eye of Light dissolving the snow.
…
"Is everything alright?"
"Everything is fine."
"Your side."
"Everything is fine."
Countless sentences and phrases indicating that everything was normal were transmitted to the monitoring center, and front-line investigators sent intact photos and videos.
Changhe City at night is no different from other large cities, with both safe and unsafe areas.
The Paster meters installed at various locations did not detect any unexplained abnormal values, and Chen Xiao'er's warning seemed to be just a false alarm caused by excessive mental stress.
The message was passed down layer by layer, and a new order was issued from above: [Enter the core area - point a12].
On the surface, it seems like just clicking a dot on the map, but in order to sneak into the core area of the Devouring Snake, the energy and chips consumed are incalculable.
Someone immediately expressed objection in the newsletter: Is it really worth incurring so much extra expenditure at one time for a sign with no evidence?
Moreover, after the Glory gained some of the power of the rules, its status subtly suppressed the Devouring Serpent. Now, the Glory Church surpassed the Devouring Serpent in terms of organizational scale, social background, and the power of the gods behind it, so why was it so radical?
Forcing people in now might alert the enemy and hinder subsequent looting operations.
[Intelligence has been collected, please execute immediately.]
The second order flashed in golden orange, and everyone no longer hesitated, and the front-line action team was dispatched immediately.
On the rightmost screen, three pixel men leave the edge point one after another.
They were all marked with a glorious mark, accumulating a large amount of energy to maintain a stable connection, and providing feedback every ten seconds or so.
Everything is fine, everything is fine, everything—
【Signal interruption】
[Point entry...Scene reproduction...]
The converted images from the monitoring center were like throwing butter into boiling milk, no, it melted even faster than butter.
The only scout who successfully entered the innermost layer of the core area disappeared out of thin air like smoke, and the links on his body were instantly cut off.
That is a link established with God!
"It is almost certain that there is an energy field of the highest level. It is very likely that the Devouring Snake has secretly launched the power ritual in advance." The expert group quickly gave inferences and suggestions.
"I suggest you seize the power immediately." 48 hours? 24 hours? God knows, there's no time to waste anyway.
Milo slumped in the chair, wiping the sweat from the tip of his nose with a tissue.
She noticed the church's next move out of the corner of her eye: they should immediately mobilize the local knights to launch a tentative attack on the headquarters of the Devouring Serpent to confirm whether power has been born within.
A rule-based power has already greatly increased the strength of Guanghui. So as long as it is confirmed that there is a new power inside, then even if the tactic of adding fuel to the fire with the greatest casualties is adopted, it will be worthwhile.
The problem is…
[“The Devouring Snake dares to do this, so it must have something to rely on.”]
The members of the Devouring Serpent Cult were no fools; they knew the Church of Light would come to reap the rewards. The disparity in strength between the two sides on the ground was too great, and the tactics most commonly used and most likely to be employed by the Church of Light would surely be the areas where the Devouring Serpent was most wary.
Milo poured out two small pills from the glass bottle, thought for a moment, poured one back, and put the other into his mouth and swallowed it.
She raised her hand and pressed the keyboard, typing away.
【Milo: Please allow me to join you in this operation.】
…
Click.
Chen Xiao'er rested her head on the pillow, the light from her cell phone screen shining on her face.
"twenty one……"
She followed her high school student ID all the way to number 21. There were 20 other classmates besides her, 16 of whom stayed in Changhe City after graduation.
Some people stay in the city to attend university, while others go directly to work.
This information may not be accurate and is mainly inferred based on clues on forums and the Internet.
In short, only four left Changhe City after graduation. Among these four classmates, one updated the status in the forum, one died in a car accident during the holiday, and two answered the phone.
So it turns out that only the classmates who stayed in Changhe City could not be contacted.
Beep beep.
[School Notice: Attention everyone, tomorrow's class will be an off-campus practical class. Please gather at your class's corresponding sports center before the third bell in the morning. Thank you.]
The students of Changhe No. 12 Middle School are suspected to have lost contact due to off-campus practice, and even our school is going to carry out off-campus practice?
Chen Xiao'er was a little surprised. She got up and drew aside the bed curtains. The dormitory was completely silent. Lin Lang and Zheng Lu's beds were both dark, and it was obvious they were fast asleep.
It's almost early morning now, we really shouldn't make any noise.
She put on her slippers, carefully hooked her fingers on the door handle, and gently turned the door open... Good, no sound was made.
The door opened quietly, a strand of black hair flashed past the door, and then the door closed.
The two beds in the dormitory made a rustling sound, and a wolf's ear lifted the bed curtain, then slowly retracted.
…
Click. Click.
Chen Xiao'er was walking in the dark corridor. Her footsteps were light, but she could always feel the echoes everywhere.
"Huh~" She sighed softly. The more times came to this, the more she wanted to find a reliable person to discuss things with.
The best person to contact is of course Teacher Miroku. The professor just promised to contact the school, and that notice might be related to her.
But firstly, it was too late, and secondly...
The image of Xinaya jumping out of the closet in her shorts flashed through her mind, and she shuddered with a chill.
It's really suspicious, and this kind of suspicion is different from the suspicion of my senior sister.
If "Zero was a little cold to me" and "Zero seemed to have pushed me" require concrete evidence, then the pervert who jumped out of the closet is the concrete evidence that should sound the red alarm!
Senior sister...When Chen Xiao'er thought of Ling, her heart ached slightly.
If it weren't for the incident at No. 12 Middle School, I would probably still be guessing at Zero's attitude.
What on earth does she think of me?
Pasha.
Chen Xiao'er suddenly stopped, and a black shadow beside her moved with her. As soon as she stopped, the black shadow also stopped immediately and stood in the dark corner.
She covered her mouth gently, and a current shuddered from her head to her stomach.
Someone is following me!
Murder Case
Scarlet blood words instantly flooded into my mind, as well as scenes of people being hanged, stabbed to death, and pushed down the stairs to death.
Woo.
She clenched her fists and placed one hand on her waist: Ever since she was kidnapped by Xinnaya last time, she had made herself a belt to carry a dagger, and she didn't dare take it off even when she slept.
As she tensed her nerves, the shadow moved.
The shadow walked out of the darkness step by step and came towards her.
"Xiao Ai."
Ling's face gradually became clear under the light of the night light, and he stood two meters away from her.
"zero……"
Chen Xiao'er bit her lip, feeling a sour feeling in her heart.
I was obviously bothered by the senior sister's indifference, but when she really stood at a safe distance, I felt relieved.
Ling's face is extremely beautiful. Even though he appears cold due to his light hair and eye color, he would reveal his gentle side in front of her from time to time.
But now it’s different, completely different.
Chen Xiao'er gritted her teeth lightly.
In the darkness, Zero looked strange and alien, completely different from the Zero before her fall. Even his tall figure was oppressive, making her feel a real threat.
Zero clearly hasn't changed—so am I the one who has changed?
At this moment, she was deeply shaken: Am I being too sensitive? Maybe Zero just noticed that something was wrong with me first, so he treated me like this?
If I really believed in Zero as much as I said I would, I would let go of the hilt and throw myself into her arms right now.
But all I can think about now is—[Where is her weapon?]
Chen Xiao'er stood in the dim corridor and looked into Ling's eyes. Suddenly, she found that she couldn't move her legs at all.
Will the senior sister hurt me? I don’t know.
She smiled a smile that was uglier than crying, and asked with trembling lips: "Zero, it's so late, why are you here?"
Pasha.
Ling tiptoed and took two small steps towards her. "I saw you walking in the hallway from the student union's surveillance camera. I was a little worried, so I came back early."
"I received a notification from the monitoring center that you were wandering around the corridor. I have a responsibility to protect you, so I came here immediately."
That makes sense. So, did anyone see you coming?
"Oh, so~ Then let's go back to the dormitory quickly. It's so dark here." Chen Xiao'er stepped back. She used her peripheral vision to pay attention to Ling's movements. When she found that she suddenly moved, she quickened her pace and ran over.
“!”
Chen Xiao'er held the hilt of the knife, and in her nervousness, her right foot twisted and she fell backwards in despair.
Is he going to get hurt again? Or...die?
Click.
The lights in the corridor were lit one by one.
The next second, an arm tightly grasped Xiao'er's waist and lifted her up steadily.
Ling pressed the switch with his left hand and held her waist with his right hand. Her silver hair sparkled in the light.
"Are you afraid of the dark? Don't worry, I turned on the light."
“Wu, wu—”
A cat-like delicate and aggrieved cry sounded softly.
Zero looked down at the big tears on the girl's face, and an inexplicable emotion flowed through his fingertips.
The emotion module refreshed a large amount of abnormal data, as well as a kind of... sour and happy sadness.
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