Ni Ji ran very fast.
But Lin Yuan could still feel that something was catching up with him.
Things were rising from the ground, hiding in the earth and in the shadows, surging after us.
In the distance, one could only see some thick black smoke rising from the distant streets and alleys.
Lin Yuan knew what that was. Although they had only fought each other once, Lin Yuan was already very familiar with that style. It was those twisted and perverted black arms that always wanted to leave their mark.
Ni Ji ran all the way to the beach. At the edge of the golden coast, he suddenly put Lin Yuan down from his back.
"Don't turn around yet," he said.
Lin Yuan was puzzled until she heard a splash of water. She turned around and found that the sentry beside her was gone. There was only a tattered black combat uniform on the beach at her feet.
A killer whale popped its head out of the white foamy sea.
It was an adult male killer whale, with a huge body of 2.5 meters in length, a broad back and a tall, upright dorsal fin.
"No one can catch up with me in the sea." Ni Ji's voice came from underwater.
Lin Yuan threw off his shoes and lay on the killer whale's pure black back. The whale's tail swung, and its body broke through the waves and rushed forward.
"Can you catch it?" Ni Ji's voice came from underwater.
Lin Yuan didn't say anything. The waves hit her face, making her feel very comfortable. She reached out and touched the killer whale's smooth skin.
Ni Ji realized that what he asked was nonsense.
Something changed in the guide's feet, and something very familiar to Ni Ji swam out, a familiar slippery and cold touch, and a small suction cup grabbed him tightly.
The guide riding on the orca's back held him tightly.
The huge whales in the sea swam very fast, and Lin Yuan could feel the strong wind, waves and the sound of water.
This was the first time she tried to transform part of her body into a half-beast. The tentacles tightly wrapped around the killer whale, and the killer whale took her swimming freely in the sea.
Lin Yuan found that his spiritual body and this sentinel were really in tune with each other, no matter what the situation was.
She also discovered that she really loved the sea, even during this moment of escape.
In the sea, her consciousness seemed to be able to expand further. The tentacles sent a warning, they felt that something was surging up from the depths of the sea.
Perhaps it's under the wreck of the Mary, or somewhere deeper and darker.
Something surging, dark, and malicious was chasing them.
This time, Lin Yuan was certain that those black arms that had been chasing them all the way, and those thick malevolence that emerged from the bottom of the sea, were all directed at her.
Or maybe it was directed at the inconspicuous little box in her backpack.
She stood up on the killer whale's back, holding onto its tall dorsal fin and looking back.
Huge waves rose on the sea in the distance. Those black arms twisted and solidified on the seabed, chasing and fusing with countless corpses on the seabed, gradually combining into an extremely bizarre and huge creature, raising its strange and huge head in the sea.
The monster made noisy and strange noises, like countless lives screaming and roaring at the same time.
They roared and surged with great momentum, rolling in as if they were determined to catch up with the man and the whale, dissolve them into the pure black world, and drag them into the abyss of darkness.
However, even such a strange giant creature could not easily catch up with Ni Ji's speed in the sea after he transformed into a beastman.
The killer whale, with its astonishing speed, did not even look back, but pushed the sea surface away and sailed forward through the waves like an arrow shot from a bow.
But Lin Yuan knew that this whale, this sentinel, was using his own blood and flesh, and burning his life, to achieve such a speed.
"I can't let you catch him again,"
"I won't give you the chance to torture him like that again."
Lin Yuan stood on the killer whale's back, his feet stepping on the rolling waves, and the radiance of the bright moon appeared in his eyes.
At first the moon is cold and bright, then it gradually turns red.
In the sky, thousands of bright stars disappeared in an instant, and a huge blood moon appeared.
Under the blood moon, the young girl standing on the back of an orca whale has slender hands and is very graceful, but her eyes reveal a strange red light. She is facing the giant sea monster that is chasing her relentlessly from behind.
There was an even older, even larger creature that appeared as a vague shadow in the deep sea under the light of the blood moon.
Many giant tentacles were swimming, touching the reefs on the seabed, splashing and stirring up huge waves, slowly heading towards the black-handed monster that was following them.
Those powerful, surging, entangled black arms hesitated.
They slowed down their pace, hesitantly but unwillingly wandering on the seabed. They were unwilling, resentful and annoyed, but they were still hesitant and dared not move forward.
In this contaminated area, in this nightmare that belongs only to them, this is the first time they have encountered a huge spiritual entity that made them wary and hesitant, and they dare not approach it rashly.
But it didn't last long.
The blood moon in the sky disappeared, and the shadow of the giant sea monster blocking their way also disappeared.
However, it was just a short delay. Above the sea, the figures of the man and the whale could no longer be seen.
They swam to the escape door, jumped up from the waves, and jumped into the half-open door in the void.
…
Lin Yuan and the killer whale jumped out of the escape door opened in the air.
The dreamy and gorgeous starry sky disappeared.
It was early morning in the world outside. The cool morning breeze blew on the skin, the sunlight dyed the sky white, and two or three ordinary stars were dotted on the horizon.
This is the normal world.
Finally they got out, from that weird and strange contaminated area No. 5, the two of them escaped alive together.
This time, the door to escape in the real world actually opened onto the vast blue ocean.
Lin Yuan had just come out of the sea when she fell into the cold water again. The killer whale swam up from the bottom, picked her up and swam towards the shore.
"Are you okay? I'll let everything go now." Lin Yuan touched the smooth back of the killer whale under him.
"Wait a moment." Ni Ji's low voice came up from under the water. The voice was very calm, and there was no more unnecessary words.
This is deep sea, far from the coastline. The moment the shield is unlocked, a hundred times the pain will sweep through the sentinel's body.
This is not the right place to suddenly lift the ban.
The killer whale swam towards the shore with Lin Yuan in its arms at a very fast speed.
Swim halfway.
"Lin Yuan, I seem to..."
Lin Yuan heard Ni Ji's voice. The voice was very soft, but it was already very strong.
The next moment, the force supporting her suddenly disappeared.
Lin Yuan reached out and grabbed a smooth and cold arm.
The owner of the arm regained his human form, completely lost consciousness, and was sinking into the sea.
Lin Yuan has lived in the White Tower since childhood and has never swam in the real ocean.
She grabbed Ni Ji's hand and was carried into the water by the unconscious sentry.
The moment he was completely submerged in the water and the sea water covered his face, Lin Yuan had a very familiar feeling, as if he had swam in the sea many times, as if he could swim naturally.
She swung her legs and arms and soon floated to the surface of the sea. She pulled Ni Ji, lifted his jaw and lifted his mouth and nose out of the sea, and swam hard towards the distant coast with the unconscious sentry.
Lin Yuan didn’t know how long they had been swimming in the sea. She was completely exhausted. In the end, she was almost pushed to the shore by the waves.
When I woke up from the beach, it was already bright.
Lin Yuan opened his eyes and saw several seabirds flying in the sky.
She sat up and found that she had fallen asleep on the beach. She looked around and finally found the sentry under a large rock.
The sentry, who had recovered his human form halfway, was huddled in the waves under the reef without a single tear.
The sea water rolled up with white foam, washed over the bare back, submerged the drooping head and black hair, and then retreated.
One after another, but the body half submerged in the sea water did not move at all.
He had his back to Lin Yuan, his bare back covered with crisscrossing scars, his long legs curled up, stained with sand and blood, and turned white by the sea water.
It looked like a corpse washed ashore by the waves.
Lin Yuan slowly stood up and walked towards that direction.
She walked over to the body lying in the water and put her hands on the sentry's shoulders. The skin there was ice-cold, without any body temperature.
She twisted the cold shoulders, turned the sentry over, pinched his chin, and turned his face, which was immersed in the sea water, towards herself.
Half of the face was covered with sand and sea water, the eyes were tightly closed, and the lips were completely bloodless.
Did he die in the same way?
Lin Yuan felt that she didn't actually have the feeling she should have.
Isn't this normal? She had experienced this when she was very young, so it's no big deal to experience it again.
But I don't know why, but I felt like someone had stuffed a heavy piece of pig iron into my heart.
The rusty piece of iron fell all the way down her chest, pulling at the dirt inside her heart and lungs, making her a little irritated and making her want to start biting her fingers.
Lin Yuan didn't know whether time had stopped or a long time had passed.
Until she finally caught a slight fluctuation of emotion, until the eyelashes covered with sea water on the face she was holding in her hands trembled slightly.
The eyes slowly opened.
The sentry saw her, weak and unable to utter a complete sentence, but smiled at her.
It seems to be saying, see, we are all fine.
林苑想?起自己的好友芸芸曾經對她說過的話。
“你問我什麽?時候該笑？”當?時，芸芸無奈地摸摸她的腦袋，“小苑，人在高興的時候就會笑。”
“只要你發?自內心的高興，自然而然就會笑了出來。”
林苑覺得自己現在一定是笑了。沖着那個在晨曦中沒?有死去的哨兵露出了笑容。
哨兵把自己的臉微微偏了過去，
“我覺得好冷。”他的耳廓現出了一點血色。
林苑把自己的外衣脫下來，裹在他什麽?都沒?穿的腰上，
“沒?事，你再忍耐一下，現在就帶你去看醫生?。”她很高興地安撫那位哨兵。
五號污染區附近有一個不?算大的哨崗，看上去貧瘠又雜亂。
但林苑竟然在裏面找到了一間擁有治療艙的診所。
負責接待的醫生?看見林苑帶來了傷員，十分興奮，把診所裏唯一的一臺款式老舊的治療艙誇得天花亂墜。
“包好，包好。但凡在五號區受傷的哨兵，那都是在我這治好的。”
倪霁被安置進一個半玻璃的封閉治療艙內。淺綠色的治療液流出，慢慢淹沒?了他整個身軀。
好疼，他想?，太疼了。
他是一個習慣了傷痛的士兵。
但他想?不?到世間還有這種疼。
明明漂浮在溫暖的治療液中，卻像是整個人被架上刑場。被燒紅的鐵釘反複貫穿身軀，渾身的骨頭都被燒融了，連每一次呼吸都帶着尖銳的痛。
他甚至控制不?住手臂的不?停顫抖。
這就是反噬。是透支了身體的代價。
但他覺得，自己願意?承受這個。
至少?他還活着，至少?他沒?有帶累任何人。
他沒?有死去，也就沒?有讓那個向導再一次體會到那種傷害。
倪霁咬住牙關?，不?讓一點點苦痛的聲音從喉嚨中流露。
“我說這個哨兵傷得也太重了點吧。”戴着眼鏡的醫生?看着治療艙內的哨兵，手腳麻利地調整儀表盤上的數據，“這樣都還有命從污染區逃出來，也算是奇跡了。”
“不?過沒?什麽?，只要躺進我這裏的治療艙，什麽?樣的傷都能給治好。”他很快把調好的數據板給林苑看，着重在價格欄上比劃了一道，“優惠價，給你打了個骨折。保證還你一個活蹦亂跳的哨兵。”
林苑冷冰冰的一張面孔毫無表情，這讓一臉熱情的醫生?有一點挫敗感。
“麻醉劑呢？”林苑看完，擡頭問。
“麻……麻醉？”醫生?很吃驚，“你要知道，他可?是哨兵，普通的麻醉劑對哨兵沒?有用。”
普通的麻醉劑對五感強大的哨兵毫無作用，特制的針對哨兵的麻醉劑非常昂貴。大部分哨崗的哨兵都用不?起這種金貴物。
何況醫生?覺得也沒?必要。哨兵的身體素質強大，恢複能力都很好，一點疼痛忍一忍就過去了。
“可?是他現在很疼。”那個小姑娘平淡地說。
治療艙內的倪霁睜開了他的眼睛。
“你确定嗎？那可?得加不?少?錢。”醫生?口?中喃喃，“費用接近普通治療的翻倍。太浪費了。其實疼一下也不?會死。”
他打開保險櫃，從裏面取出了一支細細的針劑，在經過林苑的同意?之後，注射進了治療艙的給藥管。
懸浮在治療液中的哨兵，緊緊繃着着的肩膀終于能夠放松了下來。
他忍不?住舒服的嘆息一聲。
像是從永無止境的炮烙地獄中被帶出來，墜入了一片溫暖的海洋之中。
沒?有人理解這一刻的感覺。因為不?會有人知道他一直在忍受怎麽?樣的痛苦。
不?，有一個人她知道。倪霁想?起林苑剛剛說的那句話。
給他用麻醉劑，他現在很疼。
倪霁沒?有轉頭去看玻璃窗外和醫生?說着話的向導，他睜着眼睛看着自己頭頂治療艙。
漂浮在眼前的綠色治療液很美，有一點像精神圖景中的那片海。
林苑和醫生?說着話。她沒?有想?到，有人把她此刻說的話一句句聽了進去，小心地收了起來，變成一顆美麗的珍珠，收進了精神圖景的最深處。
“他的身上有很多舊傷。”醫生?和林苑說，“你看要不?要趁着這次，一起給他治療一下。這樣病人将來會少?很多痛苦。”
“比如說腿部這裏的舊疾，正?好趁着這一次，一起做個手術。還有手肘，指骨，肺部也有點問題……”醫生?說着說着，看着手裏不?斷增加的賬單，自己覺得實在是一個過于龐大的費用，哪怕他把利潤壓到最低，也看起來觸目驚心，
他有點遲疑地擡頭看站在身邊的小姑娘。
“當?然，”那個臉上看起來很冷淡的向導說，“給他做最好的治療。”
隔絕在治療艙內的倪霁閉上了眼睛，微微蜷住了手掌。
“把這個U55調成U96，還有這個再生?液，你有233號再生?液嗎，換成最好的。”
“有是有，你确定嗎？”醫生?吸了一口?氣，噼裏啪啦算了一遍，把數位板遞過去，“這可?不?是小數目。”
治療艙外的對話聲不?斷傳來。
懸浮在艙內的倪霁有一點恍惚。他想?起了自己還在哨兵學院時的事，當?時還很年?少?的他，為了在一次比賽中替學校奪冠，受了很嚴重的傷，必須進治療艙才有希望根治。
曹俊民在他面前露出很為難的神色，“小霁，學校實在負擔不?起這樣的費用，只能先委屈你了。”
過了好幾年?，他才知道，不?是付不?起，而是不?值得。
在老師的心目中，像他這樣不?太聽使喚的學生?，不?是一個值得花那麽?多錢去治療的人。
“用最好的藥，把他完全治好。再多的錢都不?是問題。”
向導的聲音透過水波傳了進來。
她甚至不?知道，自己能聽見這一切。
倪霁實在舍不?得在此刻入睡，但痛苦消退，身體疲憊，心又如此安寧。
最終他還是抵擋不?住困頓，漂浮在治療液中，陷入沉睡中去。
等他再睜開眼睛的時候，撕裂身軀一般的疼痛感已經消退了很多。
斷了一次的雙腿，長年?一直折磨着自己的肺部，似乎都舒服了很多。
他覺得自己真正?意?義上的活了過來。
懸浮在治療液碧綠的水波中，看着外面的一切，世界都變得不?真實了起來。
治療室內的燈光被打得很暗，醫生?已經離開了，四周很寂靜。
他透過湖綠色的玻璃看出去，看見那位向導坐在離他不?遠的沙發?上睡着了。
她那白瓷般精致的臉上沾着海邊的沙粒，枕着纖細的胳膊，半趴在沙發?邊上的一張方桌上，睡得很沉。
一盞頂燈暖黃的光打在少?女沉睡的面孔上，照在她裸露在外的小小肩頭上，柔和了輪廓。
倪霁忍不?住去想?，她到底是怎樣用這樣纖細的肩，把自己背起來的？
她又是怎樣用這樣柔軟的手指，撬開自己脖頸上的鐵鎖，把自己從那樣屈辱的絕境解救出來。
一只小小的虎鯨在半空中現出身形，把搭在沙發?邊緣，那件泡過海水，皺巴巴的外套叼起來，輕輕蓋上林苑的肩頭。
林苑在睡夢中微微動了動肩膀。
一只觸手不?知道什麽?時候醒了過來，看見了小小的虎鯨，非常高興地卷了上去。
趁着沒?人管它，這只經常幹壞事的觸手肆意?妄為地把小虎鯨的腦袋和背鳍都撸了個徹底，沒?有忘記軟軟的肚子。
小虎鯨很局促地擺了一下尾巴，卻沒?有逃走，也沒?有發?出聲響。
只是有一點可?憐地僵直在林苑腳邊，縱容了某只的為所欲為。林苑睡得很香，夢中夢見了什麽?好事，微微翹起嘴角。
觸手纏到那尾巴上，摸到了那個受傷嚴重的位置。
尖尖的頂端彎了起來，先是小心翼翼地碰了碰，随後開始了細膩的撫摸，反反複複地撫弄，細細地舔抵那些躶露在傷口?外的白色骨頭。
小鯨魚發?出一點細細的嘤嘤聲，背鳍和尾鳍都軟了下來，扒拉在了地上。
尾巴上那被洞穿了的傷口?，在觸手的撫摸下以肉眼可?見的速度緩緩開始愈合。
如果這時候，醫生?來到這裏，會發?現治療艙外的儀表盤數據出了問題。
心型的紅色标志在不?斷閃爍，代表着躺在溶液中的那位患者，心率正?在不?正?常地飙升。