The street where Ni Ji and his friends were was very quiet, and there was not a single living being to be seen. This was a polluted area, so of course there would be no living people.
But this area, which has been confined 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 the TV was playing.
There was a toy snail towed by a child 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 suddenly emerged from the alley and attacked Ni Ji. Now it has completely disappeared. No one knows where it is lurking, and not even a trace of black smoke is left.
It seemed like this was a normal 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's wrong, Brother Ni." Song Yuansi said in a low 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 heard by others.
Ni Ji didn't say anything, but just stretched out his hand and made a few gestures in front of his chest.
Diffused—this is the first sentence.
Go to the back and stay away from me - this is the second sentence.
Tan Shu, who was lying far behind, was also making hand gestures with one of his confidants.
"Stop it, Brother Shu. Ni Ji is very strong in fighting. The thing the teacher wants is at the bottom of the sea, and he hasn't got it yet." The dear said in sign language, "Keep him for now, he'll be useful."
Tan Shu stared at Ni Ji, who was walking in the front, with a gloomy face for a while, and finally made a gesture of assent.
To him, Ni Ji was always like a thorn in his throat.
Although, Ni Ji was currently inferior to him, he always seemed very quiet.
But he still felt uneasy in his heart.
No one knows his classmate better than he does. He is strong, reckless, and always does what he wants, never influenced by others.
Now Ni Ji seemed to have changed in some way. He became less talkative and much harder to understand.
As long as he stayed there, even if he was quiet and silent, Tan Shu would sometimes feel scared in his heart.
Tan Shu decided to take advantage of this opportunity to enter the polluted area to deal with this serious concern that had always made him uneasy.
He had the latest intelligence on Area 5 in his hands. He was the only one in the entire team who knew it.
It was a formidable mutant that loved to lurk in the shadows and capture the strongest Sentinels in the team.
As the contaminated area spreads, only you know the activity area of this "newly emerged monster".
This is a critical information gap that can be used well.
After I get what the teacher wants, I will use this to keep him in this polluted area forever, Tan Shu thought gloomily.
Things will be done quietly and without a trace.
It's normal for a few people to die or get injured in the contaminated area, and the teacher can't blame him for anything.
…
The jeep that Lin Yuan was riding in drove to a temporary village on the seashore.
Many fishermen's families gather here, and most of the time they live together here.
Only when there is an emergency of contamination spreading or mutants overflowing, will they rush to the sentry post and escape the disaster under the protection of the sentry 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 Dahu knocked on the door. "Contaminated Area No. 5, searching for sunken ships, needing aquatic spirits, twenty Imperial Dollars. Who's coming?"
When they heard the twenty imperial coins, a group of children in ragged clothes gathered together and raised 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 money bag opened the bag and took a look at it under the envious gazes of his friends. He smiled happily, handed the money bag to his little sister, pointed to a dilapidated shed, and said, "Run back and give it to mom. Tell her I'm not coming home tonight."
The little girl held the bag of money tightly and ran barefoot in the mud.
The boy scrambled swiftly onto the back of the jeep.
"I brought him with me because I was going 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 separated into spiritual bodies, they have started to explore the contaminated area. Sometimes they are lucky and find something good, enough for the whole family to chew for a year or so."
"If they follow us into the contaminated area, they can get paid in advance and it's safer, which is better than them sneaking in on their own." Xiaoniao continued, "They don't have the money to go to the Sentinel Academy. Basically, when they are 15 or 16 years old, they will go directly to the barracks. Some of them don't even live to that age."
Not long after, a dark and thin mother ran 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 railing and handed the boy a dry and cold biscuit.
She loudly told her teenage son, "There's nothing to eat at home. Be sure to bring back some more food."
It feels like there is no way back.
"See, the adults at home don't care. In our place, most parents don't care much about their children."
Xiao Niao held the steering wheel with both hands. She had a short buzz cut and a few sun spots on her face. The whitish reflection of the car lights on her face brought out a hint 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 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 a child of this age happily go on an adventure in the contaminated area, and even everyone here thinks it is normal.
The bird chuckled, "How much do you think you can get? This time when you came down, the Special Research Institute allocated funds. There are five quotas, and for sentinels of our level, each person only gets 50 imperial coins, which is already a lot. Everyone wanted to go with you, and we had a fight this morning for it. We won and only had the opportunity to come."
The car drove along the road. At first, there were many houses on both sides of the road, fireworks, and a lot of noise.
Gradually, the lights and voices in the houses became less and less. Gradually, only desolate ruins remained, with dilapidated and silent buildings sitting here and there on the roadside, hidden behind dense vegetation.
There used to be a lot of people living here. As the contaminated area continued to expand, humans had no choice but to avoid it 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 expand and it's 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 contaminated area while trying to save people because the border of the contaminated area suddenly expanded. The sentinels remembered the lessons from this and that incident.
After getting off the car, the sentries took a lot of things out of the car, and the driver looked like he was about to cook a meal.
Xiaomu even skillfully put the wheat cakes his mother gave him into the fire and started to roast them.
Lin Yuan stood there in a daze, feeling very surprised.
She checked the personal terminal on her wrist, then looked up at the sky, making sure 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 crooked. "In the polluted area, there is also day and night. It's not time yet, so you can't go in."
He even handed the hot cake to Lin Yuan, "Do you want some?"
In his impression, a fair-skinned girl like Lin Yuan, who came from a big city, would definitely not accept his offer.
But he was a very smart and worldly-wise kid. Whether others wanted to eat or not was one thing, but he was always very considerate in being polite.
Lin Yuan used his fingers to break off half of his cake and said, "Then I'll have a taste."
Xiaomu was completely stunned.
[Hehe, he can't bear to part with it]
[Quick, give it to him, right in front of him]
[You are reluctant to separate, but you have to take the initiative to separate. What a strange person!]
[Not tasty, got cheated]
[In the emotions he conveyed, why does this thing smell so good?]
[Not tasty, just like that apple, I was cheated]
[Stinky seal]
In polluted areas, 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, lying dormant and making no movement. It is relatively safe for people to enter the contaminated area at that time.
But when "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 darkness.
The sentries spread out the map, called Lin Yuan, and began to discuss the plan after entering.
"We will go in at the beginning of daylight. Our destination is Shanan Bay." Xiaoniao pointed at the map and said, "We must get out before night falls. The distance is not far and we have enough time. Everyone, be alert and don't make any mistakes."
Lin Yuan's target is a sunken ship in Contaminated Area No. 5.
There is ample evidence that this great ship of the olden days, the Mary, carrying countless treasures, sank in the Sanan Bay during the most glorious era of mankind. Countless people have searched for it for thousands of years, but to no avail.
But not long ago, when a serious diffusion incident occurred in the No. 5 contaminated 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 after 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 shipwreck is not far away, and it is completely possible to go back and forth within one "day".
Since the Mary was discovered, the White Tower has sent wave after wave of search teams.
They had taken away almost everything that could be salvaged. Even their team had been sent in several times and was very familiar with the seabed there.
The only thing they have to do is probably 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 was much easier and safer for everyone, rather than bringing an inexperienced and incompetent person into the contaminated area.
The White Tower would often issue search missions to the outposts. Most of the time, they would directly specify the items to be searched. Sometimes, it would be like this, sending a researcher down and escorting them into the contaminated area.
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 any questions and were only responsible for assisting and protecting us during the trip.
Most of the researchers from the capital looked down on the sentinels at the outposts. The sentinels knew that they also disliked those researchers who were too arrogant.
To be honest, if she were faced with an extreme situation where she could not save herself, Xiaoniao felt that she would decisively abandon the researcher who was holding her back. The priority? To protect her own life and that of her brother.
But this time is different. No matter what, they want to protect Guide Lin who entered with them.
This is the instruction from the outpost leader before the departure, and it is also the wish of each of them.
So the person who came in this time was the strongest sentry at the sentry post. He even asked Xiaomu, whose spirit body was a seal, to help him in order to speed up the completion of the underwater mission and ensure that everything went well.
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 a person.
At noon, insects chirped and birds chirped. People walked among the shadows of the grass and trees, as if they were 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 flowed backwards, the moss marks disappeared, and the weeds also disappeared.
The buildings along the roadside looked brand new, soft lights were still on in the houses, and 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 deformed objects.
The midday sun disappeared, and the sky was filled with hazy stars.
It was not normal starlight, but more like a painting by an oil master, with rich yellow and mottled blue slowly flowing in the sky.
"Follow me and don't touch anything." The little bird said, leading the team forward.
She didn't look at the map, and walked quickly without stopping.
Walking through the quiet alleys, turning the intersecting roads, and running down the messy stairs on the slope, it felt like I had lived in this place since I was a child.
"Xiao Niao was originally a resident of District 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 more.
How did the little bird escape from the contaminated area? Are her family members still alive? There is no need to mention the story behind this.
Residents living near polluted areas all have some sad memories that they cannot bear to recall.
Led by the little bird, they soon reached the beach.
The beach was golden, like the color of real gold, and the sea was like a mirror, reflecting the beautiful sky with stars flowing 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, heaven and earth seemed to be one and the same, and the boat was sailing on the water, but it also seemed like it was walking in the starry sky.
Everyone moved very quietly, as if afraid of disturbing something.
"We're here." the little bird said suddenly.
Two small boats stopped, with a few ripples at their sterns. Looking down, the mirror reflected the bright stars, but 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 slender 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?"
Something cold appeared from nowhere and touched his forehead.
"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. Seeing the world through another person's eyes at the same time.
"Wow, that's pretty cool," he said.
The slight resentment he had towards his sister who ate half of his biscuit immediately disappeared.
The boy, holding a short dagger in his mouth, jumped into the water.
When it came up again, the seal's smooth tail created a wave of water that covered everyone's faces 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 dimmed and she could see the boy's moving arms coming in and out of sight.
There were small schools of fish swimming nearby.
She shared the sight with Xiaomu, and through the eyes of the boy who kept 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 endless secrets waiting for her to uncover in the deepest part.
Not long after, she saw the ship sinking to the bottom of the sea.
The huge creature of the past now lies quietly in the mud on the seabed. The decks and railings are covered with layers of rattan pots, and the glass of the windows is all broken, each one looks 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 to look in for a while, 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, with large, round lenses that focused the underwater images on that special retina, allowing him to see the hazy scene in the cabin.
Lin Yuan followed his line of sight and swam all the way into the cabin. According to the plan they had agreed upon in advance, she swam through the restaurant that was infested with algae, swam through the rotten cockpit, crossed the deck, opened a cabin door, and swam down along the mottled stairs.
All the cabin doors on both sides of the long, dark corridor had been opened, and the sailors' bedrooms were filled with turned-out debris.
Many searchers have come here before.
As you swim past the overturned cabins, you can see the skeleton of one or two dead sailors.
These skeletons were lying on the bed, as if they had sunk in a dream and never woke up, sleeping forever in this silent deep sea.
Here we are. This is it.
Xiaomu came to the deepest part of the corridor and grasped the door handle of the innermost cabin.
He pushed the door open with little 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 in front of a desk whose desk and chair were fixed to the floor.
The captain's body seemed to be fixed there as well. He sat there crookedly, 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 taken away.
Bring back a relic of the Captain of the Mary.
Xiaomu remembered the task he needed to complete. This was also a task assigned by the Special Research Office.
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?
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 fabrics used to make hats are different.
【Pen】
Suddenly he heard a voice.
The voice was very strange, not like a person speaking, yet it could be heard clearly in 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 in the captain's hand.
The metal pen had been soaked in sea water for many years and was covered with green rust. It was now worthless.
Therefore, 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 rang out again.
As expected, Xiaomu found a very inconspicuous hole in the lower right corner of the desktop.
He tried to insert the rusty pen. Surprisingly, 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 was as if a mysterious sound from the darker bottom of the ship, coming from the depths of the ocean, was echoing to the unknown and vast place.
It sounded like the sigh of a dead soul reluctant to leave the human world, or like the mysterious mutterings of gods.
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 mind 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.
I only need to take a handful of these Imperial Dollars so that my mother won't have to worry about it every day, and my sister can buy a new pair of shoes.
Maybe I can buy myself a better short sword.
Or maybe just apply to the Sentinel Academy and study for a few years? After graduation, you can become a captain, or live near the White Tower...
As if bewitched, his thoughts went further and further, and his fingers were already touching the glittering golden thing.
I'll just take a little, I have to take a little away.
[Can't take it] A voice suddenly exploded in my mind.
Xiaomu was stunned.
【Don't touch! 】
[Can't take it!]
【Open your eyes】
【Wake up! 】
That is an instruction.
A series of strong instructions came into my mind.
Xiaomu woke up with a start. The round eyes of the seal became clear.
As far as I can see, there are no shining imperial coins in the drawer.
The small wooden box lay in the drawer, surrounded by tiny, hairy, colorful sea worms.
I don't know why I mistook these colorful, apparently poisonous insects for imperial coins and even wanted to catch a few of them.
I never imagined that there would be Imperial coins from this era on an old ship.
I don't know what would happen if I were really bitten by those colorful insects.
How many people have come off this boat? Surprisingly, no one has ever discovered this bug that can tempt people.
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 that were 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 back soon.】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 moment, 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 ferocious.
Diving 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 they are friend or foe. Everyone, be on guard."
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