Chapter 75 Guide 3
The group left, leaving behind a blood-soaked corpse. The strong stench of blood filled the air. The kind-faced convenience store owner, fanning himself with a palm leaf fan, watched the short, thin sentry take down the goods and casually said, "Give him whatever you think is appropriate."
"There are so many mosquitoes in Yaqiao, they keep hitting my eyes, it's so annoying." The sentry put down a box. "Boss, do you have any insect repellent here?"
"Insect repellent? That's a rare find." The shopkeeper smiled. "Normally, our Sentinels are tough and thick-skinned, so they shouldn't be afraid of this. If you're not used to it, you can pay a deposit and I'll go find some."
The sentry was huddled in a black robe, his wide-brimmed hat casting a shadow that obscured half his face. He slowly raised his head, his eyes red-rimmed, his pupils twitching as if they were alive.
His head swayed slightly from side to side, the whites of his eyes turning gray for a moment and then white again.
Buzzing.
A thousand mosquitoes swarmed in his eyes, their wings vibrating rapidly, swarming towards the boss between words and piercing his tiny eyes.
"..."
The boss lowered his head for a moment, then slowly raised it again, his eyes looking like those of a short, thin sentry.
—That wasn’t an eyeball at all, but a combination of flying, wriggling, trembling insects.
...
Inside the church, Lu Xuejin watched Sally pray.
It's hard to imagine that a large portion of the Holy Spirit Sect's followers are Sentinels, a small portion are Guides, and ordinary people don't really believe.
In such a chaotic world where life is uncertain, the weaker the people, the more they need religious solace.
Lu Xuejin looked up at the stained-glass window: "Madam, what is your god?"
Sally reverted to her nonchalant demeanor, leaning casually against the wooden chair: "God... I don't know anything about that either. Besides, how could a believer possibly know anything about God?"
That sounds unholy.
Aside from her devout prayers, Sally was nothing like a nun in ordinary times. She squinted and thought for a moment before continuing, "If you really want to know what we believe in, maybe some kind of higher-dimensional being? Isn't there a theory that says the mental images of Sentinels and Guides are fragments of higher-dimensional worlds, and that mental bodies are projections of higher-dimensional monsters?"
"If you don't understand it that way, how was the first Sentinel born? Don't tell me that a perfectly healthy person would suddenly have a genetic mutation and infect all of humanity like a contaminant, taking over the Guides. I can't think of any other reason besides high-dimensional contamination, but it has nothing to do with me anyway, I've already been 'castrated'!"
Lu Xuejin: "Today I witnessed the death of another acquaintance."
Xiang Dao has always been calm and gentle. Even when faced with the company's control and exploitation, he never got angry or went crazy. His noble demeanor led everyone from the company's top management to Sally to believe that he must be a descendant of nobility who somehow ended up in the wilderness and was carried back by a pack of wild dogs.
When Sally first met Lu Xuejin, he was wearing a soft white shirt, the fabric smooth and cool, like the silk that cost a thousand gold pieces per foot in historical records; his palms were soft, and his eyes were innocent, he looked like a young master who was naive and ignorant of the ways of the world.
Sally thought he would be afraid and cry, but the boy was surprisingly strong. He quickly accepted his fate of being kept in captivity and tried his best to live, providing guidance to every sentinel who found him—Lu Xuejin never held a grudge against them.
But at this moment, this beautiful face showed a rare look of bewilderment, and her brows furrowed delicately: "Fighting for resources, a life-or-death struggle, without order, it seems we have no future."
Sally walked over and patted him on the head, ruffling his hair, and said with a grin, "Why think so much? You're not going to be a leader anyway. It's not easy for us commoners to live. Who knows when the army will suddenly appear and wipe us out?"
...
After passing through a long, narrow alley, Liang Mi returned to her residence.
A stiff, hard cot, a low wooden table, and a pile of cold weapons scattered in the corner, their cold blades stained with blood. The place was shabby and utterly devoid of any sign of life.
This is the life of most low-ranking sentries, some even worse off than Liang Mi, homeless and resting wherever they can while on their way to kill. Liang Mi is wealthy and could theoretically afford a house in the upscale residential area of Yaqiao, where he could live a normal life, but he has no interest in such things. He spends most of his time killing people and rarely even returns to this small house.
After acquiring Lu Xue, he would need even more resources. Apart from the bi-weekly counseling sessions, Liang Mi was constantly killing people. When he wasn't killing, he always felt restless, as if some treasure had been lost without his knowledge.
Killing people, killing pollutants, killing contaminants—compared to the ever-decreasing resources after pollution, there are just too many living things. Often, the fighting has no other purpose than to vent, kill time, or take out a few thieves who might steal things.
In the Dark Zone, it's common for strangers to fight to the death the first time they meet. People die every day, and the streets are stained with blood, covered in a faint pink hue.
When Liang Mi had nothing to do, he would take up a knife and kill people. The owner of this empty house was killed by him by strangling him like a chicken.
Killing was as simple to him as eating and drinking; he felt no pleasure in it, but he was used to doing it because he had nothing else to do to pass the time.
Liang Mi had killed many guides, but he was completely unaffected by the guide element. The guides' mental attacks had no effect on him—his mental landscape was already tattered and on the verge of collapse, so no amount of attack would work.
When did she go mad? Liang Mi couldn't remember.
Memories of the past are always hazy, shrouded in mist. Beyond the mist lies emptiness, nothing at all, like an empty heart. Sometimes Liang Mi tries to talk to his heart, but he hears no reply, so the heart must not exist.
He didn't understand where his interest in Lu Xuejin came from. She was indeed a beautiful guide, but he had killed too many beautiful people. He had only seen her among the guards of the lowly scoundrels, and without hesitation, he had spent his entire fortune to buy her.
Many people were jealous and angry because of this, and they were all killed by Liang Mi.
Speaking of killing, Liang Mi remembered Lu Xuejin's instructions. He stood up after sitting for a short while, grabbed a dagger, and put it in his pocket.
The company's headquarters are located in the southern part of Yaqiao, guarded by heavily armed guards who patrol day and night. But upon seeing Liang Mi, the guards let him pass without much hesitation. He was the most notorious of all the sentries in Yaqiao—he clung to Lu Xuejin and wouldn't let her go, and even the company's employees had nothing but complaints about him.
The reason I suddenly came here today is probably because of Lu Xuejin. This madman cares a lot about the guide and often comes to the company to inquire about the guide's health.
Liang Mi walked into the elevator openly. He knew the high-level people Lu Xuejin had mentioned. When the Guide was bought out, a group of small fry vehemently opposed it. Just by looking at their eyes, he could tell that they had a desire to take Lu Xuejin further and did not want the Guide to become the exclusive possession of an outsider.
I wanted to kill them back then.
The high-rise building was decorated in a simple and bright style. When the staff who came and went saw Liang Mi, they were so intimidated by the aura of the high-ranking sentinel that they instinctively avoided her. Liang Mi went straight into the innermost office and saw a smartly dressed sentinel replying to messages as soon as she opened the door.
The higher the rank of a sentinel, the stronger their dominance over those of lower rank, while simultaneously being more resistant to those of the same rank. They occupy land like kings and nobles. The presence of their own kind was nauseating, and the higher-ups instantly looked up impatiently. Upon realizing it was Liang Mi, they made no attempt to hide their disgust: "What are you doing here?"
"Once every two weeks is the limit. Any more than that... You want to be completely united with Xuejin? You can try if you're looking for death." After the mental intervention, Liang Mi still had Lu Xuejin's guide essence on her body, a light, soft, and gentle fragrance. Now, it intertwined with the sentinel's scent, mixing into a cold, bloody aroma. The higher-ups smelled this strange scent, and killing intent appeared in their eyes.
Liang Mi touched her pocket.
A chill instantly pierced his spine. His keen senses immediately made the executive realize that the newcomer was hostile. His powerful instincts drove his body—his muscles tensed, the chair legs scraped against the ground with a screeching sound, and he sprang to the side and back like a cheetah.
The battles between sentries involve not only fistfights and physical combat, but also a struggle of mental fields and a battle between mental entities. Often, whoever first eliminates the opponent's mental entity is the victor who survives to the end.
But before the higher-ups could release their spiritual bodies, Liang Mi's figure seemed to blur for only a moment. An irresistible force gripped his wrist like an iron clamp. Before the excruciating pain of bone cracking could even erupt, the hand moved upwards, its five fingers like steel claws, precisely tearing open the gaps in his hastily constructed defenses and piercing straight into his throat.
Its movements are concise and swift, making it the most efficient killing technique.
The dagger pierced his neck, and the high-ranking officer felt a cold, sharp pain, followed by a suffocating thud as his trachea was severed and blood rushed back into his throat. His vision was quickly swallowed by darkness, and his limbs twitched involuntarily before returning to stillness.
Liang Mi's face was half covered in still-warm blood. He stood with his hands hanging down, clenching his sleeves tightly, and then drops of blood dripped down and flowed into the blood pools on the carpet, blending into the dark texture.
Without any intention of disposing of the body or the traces, Liang Mi heard hurried footsteps approaching from not far away—the death of a sentry at such close range could not be concealed. Continuing to wring out the blood that had soaked through his sleeve, Liang Mi drew his dagger, waiting for the body of the next victim.
He will keep killing his way up to the first floor, until the people in the company are terrified and back down—they don't yet have the resources to completely eliminate an S-class Sentinel. Even if Liang Mi is a madman, he has been mad for many years and is still alive, which means that a mad Sentinel is far more terrifying than a normal one.
After killing about a dozen people, Liang Mi arrived at the first floor. The moment he went down the stairs, he was met with a row of gun barrels at the main entrance. However, under the strong suppression of the sentries, many people's wrists trembled violently, and they could not hold their guns steady at all.
It's time for someone to step in and negotiate.
"Liang Mi, are you going against the company?"
The crowd parted like Moses parting the sea, and a middle-aged man stepped forward.
“Don’t bother him anymore,” Liang Mi said. “If you need anything or want to kill anyone, come to me. If I find anyone going to him, I’ll kill them.”
This madman actually killed so many people over such a trivial matter.
But this extreme possessiveness is perfectly suited to the Sentinel.
This madman should be sent to the battlefield to help the company fight the enemy.
Middle-aged people begin to think about ways to acquire resources in order to maximize their profits.
“I understand your request, but the guide…”
His body acted before his brain, pulling the middle-aged man back a step. He stared at the sentry in astonishment: "Berserk! Berserk!"
"Fire! Fire immediately!"
Ammunition rained down, but the middle-aged man knew all too well the formidable skills of sentries, especially high-ranking ones, and had no hope of hitting them. Using the dust cloud created by the ammunition, he turned to flee.
Bang.
The body, still in a running posture, crashed to the ground, and corpses littered the ground amidst the floating dust, while alarms blared throughout the company compound.
Liang Mi's mental state, which had improved under the guide's care, was shattered by a single tap.
The laboratory shook violently, the incandescent lights swayed wildly, Liang Mi held her forehead, feeling as if she had been split in two, overwhelmed by pain.
"Go and kill them," someone whispered in your ear. "Kill them all, leave no one of your kind alive."
The sentry slowly walked into the crowd.
He didn't know how much time had passed when he received a second instruction amidst the pile of corpses.
Self-destruction.
Between the cracks in the scene, a blizzard howled in, the swirling snow crushing the cold laboratory. Behind the crumbling gray-white walls, Liang Mi saw Lu Xuejin smiling.
The guide smiled innocently, watching him walk towards his destruction without making any move, his index finger pressed to his lips—shh.
Liang Mi understood everything.
But there was no anger, resentment, or bitterness at being tricked, not even much surprise or doubt. The sentry calmly accepted his fate, and for the first time in his life, he felt a sense of peace in the guide's smiling eyes.
Author's Note:
Uh, he snatched off his [glasses] very quickly.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com