The sentries from the Imperial Capital carried the wounded on their backs and headed for higher ground.

In fact, they didn't quite understand why Ni Ji wanted them to take on this burden.

50 imperial coins may seem like a lot to a young boy from a remote village, but to a formally established sentry in the capital, it is actually nothing.

If it wasn't for Ni Ji's order, they would never have taken several liabilities that had nothing to do with them to such a dangerous place just for such a small amount of money.

Although they only walked a short distance, each of them was completely convinced by the new captain and was willing to obey his arrangements and did not dare to disobey his orders.

Ni Ji is not only a strong individual, but also an experienced, strategic, and responsible captain. Several times when they encountered large numbers of mutants, it was thanks to Ni Ji's calm and precise command that the entire team was able to escape danger safely.

This is a quality that can only be honed after hundreds of trips in and out of the contaminated area. It is an ability that can never be trained in the training room of the Sentinel Academy, and it is very admirable.

To be honest, if it wasn't for Ni Ji leading the team and walking in the contaminated area of ​​"Night", their casualties would not necessarily be much better than those of the East Coast sentinels. At least they would not be as unscathed as they are now.

The sentries walked very quickly. They braved the rain, carrying the wounded on their backs, and soon found a high ground where they could take shelter.

It was a stone house with three walls and a protruding eaves. It was not rainy and had a good view, making it a good place to hide.

Everyone lit a bonfire in the stone house, sat around it to dry clothes, and heated up food and water. After a day of fighting, they could finally relax a little. The sentries sat around the bonfire, talking in low voices.

Ni Ji sat alone under the eaves, away from the bustle of the bonfire, his tall body leaning against the door under the rain curtain, gazing at the sea that was glittering in the heavy rain.

Song Yunshun offered him food and invited him to eat with everyone. He just politely accepted it, waved his hand, and continued to sit there alone.

"You guys eat. I'm on duty."

Song Yuansi had no choice but to go back. Under the rain curtain, Ni Ji's back looked extremely thin. The tight tactical uniform showed off his thin waist, and the shape of his shoulder blades was slightly highlighted through the clothes. He was sitting outside the door. It was pitch black and there was no sound at all, as if he was about to melt into the night.

Song Yuansi always felt that his seniors nowadays looked very lonely.

He admired Ni Ji very much and wanted to be close to him from the bottom of his heart. But after Ni Ji came back, he could clearly feel that Ni Ji was alienated. Not just to him, but to everyone else, she was only polite to him on the surface.

It was as if he no longer wanted anyone to get close to him, and didn't want to have anything to worry about in his heart.

The terrain here is very high, and you can clearly see the coastline not far away. The mutants that were sleeping in the "day" woke up in the "night" and are crawling up from the bottom of the sea one by one, their ghostly bodies stained with dots of light, and they lined up to walk back to their former home.

Looking down from here, the earth looks like a chessboard, with countless twinkling fluorescent lights flowing and converging towards the lighted homes.

In the center, the radiant fire is the brightest. Looking from afar, the radiant light converges and flows into a huge vortex.

Contaminated Area No. 5 has expanded countless times over the past hundreds of years, swallowing up a large amount of land and lives, and covers a vast area.

The buildings on the periphery were built ten or twenty years ago. As you go deeper, the architectural styles gradually change. In the center, the ancient and heavy buildings are mixed with high-tech neon lights.

It is a relic of the past and also the lair where deformed monsters have been stationed for hundreds of years.

Lin Yuan dozed off by the campfire.

Surrounded by sentinels, she, the only guide, was like a sheep among wolves. She should have been anxious and panic-stricken.

But Lin Yuan was sleeping soundly, as if he had just done a very tiring job. His little white-skinned hand supported his chin, and his head was nodding, as if he could fall down at any time.

Xiao Mu was very busy. He took care of the big tiger, the little bird, and bandaged the wounds of all the seriously injured companions. He also boiled a pot of hot water on the fire, baked a few cakes, and called Lin Yuan to wake up and eat.

Lin Yuan rubbed his eyes and woke up. He took the pancake from Xiaomu and ate it while checking on Xiaoniao and the others.

Xiaoniao and Dahu were both seriously injured, and Sentinel's strong physique supported their lives. If they could get out in time and get formal treatment, they would not be in danger of death. But if they stayed here, it would be hard to say.

"When can we go out?" Lin Yuan asked.

"There is no 'key'." Xiaomu said awkwardly, "The night in Contaminated Area No. 5 lasts 72 hours. It has only just begun."

It is easy to enter the contaminated area, but to leave the contaminated area you must use a specific "key" to open the exit door.

In the core area of ​​every contaminated area, there will be a most powerful mutant, called "The Pillar". Any part of the "Pillar"'s body, whether it is eyes, fingers, teeth or hair, can serve as the "key" to open the door.

During the day, the Pillar is usually asleep. If you quietly take away a part of its body, it will not wake it up. Monsters have strong healing abilities, and they will repair themselves in their sleep, and they will not even know that someone has taken the key from it.

But at night, the "Pillar" will wake up completely, and stealing some of its organs at this time would be as dangerous as a nightmare.

If we wait until the night is completely over, it will be three days later.

Lin Yuan cast his gaze at Xiaoniao's unconscious face and knew that they could not wait any longer.

"One of them just went to get the key." Xiaomu whispered in Lin Yuan's ear, "Maybe he can bring the key back."

Lin Yuan didn't even need to ask who went out.

When she woke up, the tentacles were already grumbling about the disappearance of the big fish again.

"Do you think he can get the key?" Lin Yuan asked Xiaomu.

"I don't know. I think it's very difficult." Xiaomu pointed to Lin Yuan, "Over there, in the center of the vortex, where the light is the brightest. The key is there. That's the most dangerous place. Even the strongest person may not be able to get it."

Two sentries from the Sheriff's Office were talking by the bonfire.

"I really don't understand Ni Ji. Why does he have to go get the key now? Wouldn't it be safer to wait for three or four days?" The sentry who spoke glanced at the wounded lying on the ground, "It can't be for these country folk, right?"

His companions laughed and said, "How is that possible? I guess he is just a bold man with great talent and wants to go out and show off his achievements to the principal as soon as possible."

"That's right. How can we guess what they are thinking?"

"Speaking of which, this mission is really weird. This is the first time I've heard that the night in the contaminated area will fall early."

"Exactly. Who could have thought that Shu Ge would die here and that night would fall early? The deformed creatures are even more perverted than imagined. There are weird things everywhere. I can even meet a guide in this damn place."

"Strange, where is the guide? Where did the guide go?"

When Lin Yuan sneaked out, Xiaomu was very panicked.

"Sister, what are you going to do?"

"I? Go try to get the key."

"But the sentinel has already gone."

"The more important things are, the more you should do them yourself." Lin Yuan said as a matter of course, "How can you pin your hopes on someone who has nothing to do with you?"

Xiaomu was dumbfounded and couldn't say anything.

He no longer thought that the guide was a weak person who depended on the sentinels for protection. But Sister Lin Yuan was a little too courageous. She always did something amazing, and as a sentinel, he was often frightened by her.

For example, she actually wanted to get the key by herself in the dark.

"Then, then I will go too."

"You're not good enough yet. If you go, you'll be a burden to me."

Lin Yuan's words severely hurt the little boy's self-esteem.

[Hey, that's too much.]

Seals are people too

[Seals are also very cute. 】

He is still a child

Lin Yuan had no choice but to imitate the little bird and touched the boy's head with difficulty.

"In two or three years, if you work harder, you can become a formal sentinel. Then, we can work together."

"Not yet. Besides, the little birds also need someone to take care of them."

Lin Yuan forced Xiaomu to stay and walked down from the high ground alone.

She first met the three identical aunts who were carrying baskets to buy eggs.

Before, the mutant that was chopped into three pieces by the big tiger saw her and immediately showed a ferocious and angry look, and made a gesture to pounce forward.

Lin Yuan stopped, opened his eyes, and stared calmly at the three monsters that were rushing towards him with bared fangs and claws.

There was a light in her eyes, as if borrowed from the bright moon. The bright moon shone brightly in her eyes.

The three mutants stopped moving under such a gaze, their twisted angry expressions receded, and they gradually became confused.

"Eggs at the mall are going to be on sale." They whispered to Lin Yuan.

"Yes, we must hurry up." Lin Yuan replied.

The three aunts clapped their hands and walked forward happily.

"Yeah, we have to hurry up."

【Plan pass.】

[Can be done]

[No difference from humans]

【As long as there is emotion, it’s easy to say】

[They are called mutants, but their thinking is slightly different from that of humans.]

Lin Yuan continued forward and arrived at a neighborhood densely populated by mutants.

She did not hide like a sentry.

Just slow down your pace, try, take steps, and move forward slowly.

One step, then another, getting closer.

The tentacles guard around him, surging underground, connecting to all thinking and emotional creatures, and connecting to their spiritual world.

Some strange images kept coming back to Lin Yuan's mind.

A chaotic scene, incomprehensible mumblings, and a distorted world with fangs and claws.

These strange images that resonated in Lin Yuan's mind did not make him feel scared.

Lin Yuan had never experienced the emotion called fear.

She had always been living in a chaotic and confusing world.

Lin Yuan walked forward step by step. His breathing became more natural and his steps became lighter.

When the strange mutants saw her, they were either slightly confused or ignored her, allowing Lin Yuan to pass by them as if she was of the same kind as them.

"My cat is missing. Did you see it?" A three-story-tall mutant who looked like a toddler asked her with his head down.

"I didn't see it. I'll go to the front and help you look for it." Lin Yuan said.

The aberration that had a little consciousness stared at her in confusion for a while, then let her go.

Go forward. There are many strange events that need to be dealt with. You must concentrate highly all the way. It is very dangerous, like walking on a tightrope.

Maybe she got flustered and made a mistake, and fell into the group of monsters.

With Lin Yuan's current ability, she can just barely sustain herself by walking through the dense group of monsters.

But this kind of thing made Lin Yuan feel a little excited.

Lin Yuan suddenly felt that it was very similar to the time when he was in the White Pagoda.

Every time she escaped from the White Tower, she would do the same, walking slowly among a group of humans she didn't quite understand.

To her, those people were not much different from monsters.

She knew that those people didn't like her and thought she was a monster. So she didn't like those people too much and regarded them as creatures different from herself.

She likes to play pranks, hiding herself from everyone and sneaking out into the outside world in front of them.

It's interesting that no one can see me, but also a little lonely.

She ran away so many times, but she always went back on her own initiative and was never found.

Except for that time, the young sentry dropped from the sky, splashing snow all over the ground under his feet.

"Found her," he said.

By the way, the sentry is here too.

You can compete with him again and see who finds the key first this time.

How interesting, Lin Yuan thought.