"I remember now," Tan Shu suddenly stopped and clapped his hands. "I've met that guide before."

When Ni Ji heard this, he didn't react at all, and didn't even stop, and just walked straight past him.

"Hey, Ni Ji." Tan Shu called him, "Do you remember that guide we just met? Just two days ago."

He called out to Ni Ji, his tone casual, like a casual chat between classmates and friends.

It was as if the person gritting his teeth a moment ago was not himself.

"Didn't you save the guide of an airship when you came here? That guide, the one we just saw, is also in there." He looked at Ni Ji with a smile, carefully observing Ni Ji's reaction, and dragged out the last half of the sentence, "Do you remember? Don't you think it's a coincidence?"

The sentinels have always had good eyesight and observation skills, and their memories are also very strong.

He had not paid attention to it in his rage, but after walking for a while, he gradually remembered it.

He had seen the guide before, but only two days ago. At that time, among the group of distraught guides in the airship, this girl was so calm and beautiful that she attracted everyone's attention. Although he only glanced at her casually for a few times, she left an impression in his memory.

While Tan Shu was talking, he was observing Ni Ji's attitude.

Ni Ji didn't give him any response. Her cold expression remained unchanged. Even the glance she gave him was the same as before, with a hint of coldness in her indifference.

But Tan Shu felt that he had grasped something, a very slight tension emerging from Ni Ji. The feeling was so subtle that it was almost unnoticeable. But he still caught it. He felt that Ni Ji's expressionless face, like a glacier, might be hiding some secrets.

Tan Shu began to recall carefully, and he found that he had met the guide more than once.

Some time ago, at the dinner where the Count was assassinated, this guide was also present.

Of course, Tan Shu didn't pay attention to her at the time, he just knew there was such a person at the banquet. She was the protagonist of a scandal, vaguely about her fiancé breaking off the engagement.

In the second half of the dinner, his attention was all on Ni Ji. He always felt that Ni Ji was a little bit strange that day.

He now remembered that when everyone was taking off their clothes and examining their injuries in the hall, Ni Ji looked towards the guide several times.

He knew Ni Ji, and Ni Ji was the kind of person who had never had any interest in being a guide.

That day, in front of so many people, who was he looking at when he took off his clothes?

Will this be the guide?

Maybe it's just a coincidence, but Tan Shu feels that there are not so many coincidences in the world.

"Let me think about it. What's her name? I've heard of her. She's the guide whose engagement was broken off by Jiang Yangshuo. Her last name seems to be Lin," he said at last. "Yes, her last name is Lin, Lin Yuan."

When the word "Lin Yuan" came out of his mouth, he saw Ni Ji's face turned very ugly for a moment.

Tan Shu started laughing, as if he had finally got hold of some unknown leverage over Ni Ji.

Every time he faced Ni Ji, the other party always looked at ease, which made him feel frustrated.

He couldn't control Ni Ji, and he even felt that the teacher couldn't control this guy either.

The reason why he couldn't hold on was because there was nothing in this world that Ni Ji cared about anymore.

He was alone, without parents, and all his closest friends and relatives had died.

Like a mountain that stands thousands of feet high, he lives alone in the world, with no ties or worries, and therefore has nothing to fear, and no weak points that can be exploited.

But what if he has someone he cares about?

By the way, I heard that it was a guide who cleared Ni Ji’s name because he was able to escape from the Military Control Office early.

A guide again.

This is really interesting, Tan Shu thought, if Ni Ji doesn't die this time, he will go back and investigate the guide carefully.

Tan Shu started looking at the map he had been holding. There was a secret mark on the map, which only he knew about, the new monster's lair.

There were not just one of those horrible monsters, but a large number of them lurking inside.

He had been planning for a long time, wanting to get rid of Ni Ji in this polluted area. But he always felt in his heart that he might not succeed. Ni Ji's strength left a deep shadow on him, so that he always felt that no matter what trap, it was not necessarily safe.

In the end, that guy always crawls back from hell like a ghost.

Tan Shu was thinking about something and didn't notice the look in Ni Ji's eyes.

Ni Ji's eyes first turned cold, and then slowly became cooler, like frost on autumn tiles, with a hint of moisture in the cold.

He stretched his hand out of his pocket, walked over, and put his long arms around Tan Shu's shoulders.

"Xiao Shu." Ni Ji lowered his head, leaned over to Tan Shu and asked, "How many times have you been to contaminated areas?"

In the past, when they were in school, they often walked with their arms around each other's shoulders. But since this time, Ni Ji has never done this again.

"How many? How many times? Several times, right?" Tan Shu didn't understand why Ni Ji suddenly asked this.

"How many times?" Ni Ji used his fingers to hold his shoulders tightly and chuckled. "Do you know? I have been in and out of the contaminated area 380 times in total."

"Put down your map." He pressed his finger on Tan Shu's shoulder and then released his hand. "To deal with anything in the contaminated area, we must rely on more than just the information on paper."

He uttered these last words, his face expressionless as he walked forward.

Tan Shu just felt that he broke out in a cold sweat for no reason. People with malicious intentions are always prone to panic.

He, what does he mean by this? He won't know, this is impossible.

He was behind, staring at Ni Ji intently.

Fortunately, after Ni Ji said that inexplicable remark, he said no more and walked forward without stopping, taking the lead in walking at the front of the team.

Ni Ji was in charge of clearing the way, which was a job arranged before departure. He was also very obedient.

The street ahead was straight, bright, empty, and seemed perfect.

But Tan Shu knew in his heart that it was there.

As long as Ni Ji walked a little further, countless black arms would emerge, grab him and drag him into the abyss.

Tan Shu held the secret map tightly in his hand, standing at the end of the team, in an area where he was sure he was safe.

He looked at Ni Ji's back as he walked forward step by step, and suddenly felt a little nervous.

He was his hero and idol in his youth, and he had also been his brother and good friend. Now he had to watch this man die and personally push him into the hell he had prepared for him.

Ni Ji kept walking forward, and just when Tan Shu's heart was tense, he suddenly stopped, turned around and took one last look at Tan Shu.

"What, what happened? Did you find anything?" Tan Shu asked nervously from a long distance.

Standing there with the starry night sky behind him, Ni Ji suddenly smiled, a smile of letting go and relief.

He waved goodbye and walked forward with his legs spread.

In an instant, countless dark hands rushed out from the alley.

Five fingers like those of a human hand, and soft arms that could extend infinitely, swarmed out like black life-saving ropes emerging from the gate to hell, and grabbed Ni Ji's arms and ankles at once, dragging him into the alley.

He didn't even have time to leave a single word.

Finally, Tan Shu felt relieved.

Is it finally solved?

He didn't know whether he should be happy or sad.

A little bit? Feeling lost.

In the next moment, the world turned upside down and a huge feeling of weightlessness came over me.

A black arm appeared from nowhere, wrapped around his arm, and lifted him upside down into the air.

"Help...help me!" Tan Shu shouted in panic.

Weird, soft, and equally long black arms crawled out one by one as if attracted by something.

From all directions, from behind the team, crawling out from the dirty and endless alley.

It was directed at him alone, wrapping itself tightly around his arms, shoulders, and neck.

Those hands piled up one after another, drilled inwards, and entangled the shoulders where Ni Ji's hands had just pressed. They lifted Tan Shu up and dragged him into the dark shadows.

The sentries had just run towards the place where Ni Ji disappeared. This time they reacted and rushed to the rescue in the opposite direction. The pulse guns lit up and swept back and forth, cutting off countless dark arms.

But the arms wrapped around Tan Shu were layered and endless.

Those arms that were robbed and shattered fell to the ground, wriggling and gathering like a sticky liquid, and soon recovered as before. They could not be killed or chopped off, and they were endless.

If you want to rescue people from it, you must have extremely powerful firepower that can cut off all the black hands in one stroke without hurting Tan Shu who is caught in it.

"Hurry, hurry and pull me out!" Tan Shu was clinging to the brick wall at the entrance of the alley, yelling heartbreakingly.

"Pull me out, asshole! Pull me out!"

"I don't want to die? I don't want to die?! Help!"

No one dared to go over and pull him, and no one wanted to get close to those soft, strange black hands. The sentinels could only stand at a distance and shoot back and forth, watching their captain being dragged into the darkness little by little.

Tan Shu felt a kind of icy despair.

Of all the people, he was the only one who knew what kind of monster this was, and what would happen if he was dragged into the lair by this "deformed species." This was originally the hell he had prepared for Ni Ji.

why.

He never entered the danger zone.

He was clearly standing in the safest place?

The sentries fired their pulse guns until the barrels overheated, and the bricks of the streets and walls were baked red and softened by the radiation energy of the electron pulses.

But it was still useless. Those black arms healed again and again, wrapping around him joyfully. Tan Shu's body was dragged into the dark world bit by bit. His voice became hoarse, and his mouth was covered by a black hand. He could no longer shout for help.

The sentries began to retreat slowly. They knew it was useless. They couldn't rescue anyone and might even get themselves killed if they were not careful.

This was the first time they experienced the horror of the No. 5 contaminated area, even in the safe "daytime" and not yet the "night". But one mistake, in a blink of an eye, they lost both the captain and Ni Ji.

Oh, and there’s also Ni Ji.

At this moment, countless crescent-shaped red sword lights exploded in the alley where Ni Ji was dragged into.

Those sword lights that rose into the sky cut into countless tightly entangled black arms.

Ni Ji rolled out from the bitey darkness with a mysterious red knife in hand. As soon as he got out of the darkness and stepped on solid ground, he bit open the incendiary bomb he was carrying and threw it behind him. Then he exerted force with his feet, jumped out of the battle several times, and stood in a safe area far away from the danger.

He stood there, his eyes still glowing purple, his palms stained with blood from being cut by the blade, his whole body filled with murderous aura, the huge flames from the explosion reflected on his stern face.

Alone and without any help, he escaped from the monster's entanglement and was basically unharmed.

"Ni Ji, Ni Ji, you actually escaped." The sentry closest to Tan Shu was surprised and happy, "Quick, go and save the captain."

He was halfway through his words when he looked at Ni Ji's expression and his voice inexplicably became weaker.

Ni Ji held the blood-red sword in his hand, his back to the light, his eyes burning with a cold purple glow. He looked back at the alley where Tan Shu was making his final struggle, his feet motionless.

The street lights cast his long shadow on the ground, and the shadow looked like the strange black hands that grabbed Tan Shu.

The sentry silently swallowed the words in his throat.

He understood that Ni Ji would not move. He himself did not dare to go up, so naturally he had no right to call Ni Ji, who had just escaped danger, over.

Suddenly, he had a feeling that Ni Ji knew everything.

He knew all of Tan Shu's plans and knew that Tan Shu was plotting against him.

When the incident happened, Ni Ji and Tan Shu were far apart, and Ni Ji was in danger before Tan Shu. As for Tan Shu's danger, Ni Ji can say that he is innocent and not responsible at all.

But he always had a vague feeling in his heart that Tan Shu's death was related to Ni Ji. Thinking of this, he couldn't help but shudder. He would not tell this to anyone.

He looked at the indifferent man under the night sky.

This was an evil spirit, a killer, someone a pawn like him should never mess with.

Since Tan Shu has already fallen into it, he is a dead person. No one would make it difficult for his own safety because of a dead person.

The purple flames in Ni Ji's eyes gradually went out, and his black eyes looked coldly at the alley destroyed by the pulse gun.

The black smoke in the alley had retreated to the deepest point. Even with the vision of the sentry, Tan Shu's figure could no longer be seen. His entire body was completely swallowed up. Only one blood-stained hand struggled out from the last black shadow for a moment, trying in vain to grab something, but was grabbed by three or four black hands and completely pulled in.

Ni Ji recalled that when he was a student, he often climbed over the wall of Sentinel Academy, squatted there and stretched out his hand to Tan Shu, "Xiao Shu, we are going to sneak out, do you want to follow me?"

Although Tan Shu was hesitant at that time, he always reached out to him in the end.

Goodbye, little tree.

Ni Ji picked up the map and backpack that Tan Shu dropped on the street, took a casual look at them, turned around and walked forward.

"Wait a minute, Ni Ji." A sentry came forward and called Ni Ji, "The captain is gone, you lead the team from now on?"

"Yes, Ni Ji, you lead the team and we will follow you."

"We'll listen to you."

The sentries came up.

Even the sentries who had been closest to Tan Shu in the past expressed their views in this way.

"The captain is gone, everyone listens to you."

They all graduated from Sentinel Academy. When they were young, they all admired senior Ni Ji, who was sunny, strong, and able to lead the team to win first place in competitions.

But in the past few years, following the principal and Tan Shu, we have gradually stopped judging heroes by their ability. We have learned to put on makeup and compete with each other to see who is better at reading the boss's mind and flattering.

After entering the Shura field of the contaminated area, they finally remembered their sentinel instincts and remembered that strength is the skill that sentinels rely on to survive.

Even someone as strong as Ni Ji could go alone and kill people in the contaminated area and rescue a whole shipload of people.

With one man and one sword, they can escape from the quagmire-like monster without any injury.

This is the leader they deserve in their hearts.

"If you want to follow, follow me."

Ni Ji took back his knife and wiped his blood-stained left hand on his clothes.

The fingers that were placed on Tan Shu's shoulders were rubbing back and forth on his clothes in a somewhat nervous manner.

He knew in his heart that the fingertips of that hand had been stained with a little attractant and had been pressed silently on Tan Shu's shoulder.

Although the medicine had long been washed away by the blood, Ni Ji always felt that there was still something sticky there.

Sticking to the lives of friends from youth.

The sentries behind him thought they were still the senior student from that year and wanted to get close to him, but in fact he was no longer that person.

He is just a madman, a ghost who has not yet died, with blood on his hands, walking on a dead end with no future.

Anyone who comes into contact with him will be drawn into a bottomless vortex.

His world was dark and stained with blood.

If there was anyone who had ever given him a taste of warmth during those bloody years, it was only the guide who had given him a sip of warm water in front of the rack.

As he strode forward, the skin on Ni Ji's ankles began to itch for unknown reasons. He remembered the feeling of a tentacle touching that place, and the person's bright eyes and clean face.

Even though I didn't do anything and didn't even dare to say a word to her.

It was just a little bit like that that made people notice her.

She is a guide who should be admired and cared for by the Sentinels, and live in a peaceful and safe world.

I shouldn't have met someone like me.

From now on, I will never think about her again.

Have nothing to do with her.

I just feel a little regretful and really want to have a good talk with her.

…

It seemed as if joyful music came from somewhere, and the slowly rotating stars in the sky, swirling like a vortex, suddenly became bright and brilliant, and began to spin in a colorful manner as if calling.

The dense and still canvas suddenly comes alive at this moment.

Whose dream awakened me?

On the shore of the golden beach, wet bodies slowly crawled out from the bottom of the sea. Those black, wet bodies slowly lined up and walked towards the empty, lighted streets one by one.

"What's going on?"

"What happened?"

The sentinels under the starry sky looked at the suddenly changing world and asked anxiously.

"It's 'night'," Ni Ji looked at the night sky above his head, frowned, and said in a deep voice, "'night' has arrived early."

"How is that possible? There is still plenty of time."

"How can 'night' come early?"

"Why is this happening? It's not that easy for us to get out now."

The sentinels became panicked, because everyone knew that when "night" fell, all the sleeping monsters would wake up, and this place would become a "living" world.

It is extremely difficult to survive in the "dark night" of the contaminated area, even for a sentinel.

"Let's go." Ni Ji lowered his center of gravity, put force on his toes, and ran at full speed along the gradually brightening street.

While running, he couldn't help but wonder in his heart, has that person already left?

Did those sentinels protect her well?