Chapter 76: The Choke Kiss
The concentration of cataclysmic factors in a human body would trigger a prompt from the contamination assessment meter when it reached 30%.
The moment the battle ended, Zhu Hui happened to receive the prompt.
He evened his breathing, ignoring the intense pain from the wounds on his face and arms. It was unknown if it was because the Emperor’s physique had changed after being contaminated, but besides the pain, the wounds also had a fine, drilling itch like ants crawling over them.
Zhu Hui could completely imagine that if it had been someone else standing here instead of him—Xu Xunyue not included—then any Guide or Sentinel would have been contaminated by the cataclysmic factors in the wounds.
Unexpectedly, after being beheaded, the Emperor had actually regained a certain degree of thinking ability, and his voice had returned to the familiar tone.
The room was still dim, and the original stench of decay was now mixed with a strong smell of blood. The utensils and ornaments were shattered all over the place, indicating the fierce battle that had just taken place.
Even the snow wolf’s fur was dyed red, sticking wetly to its body, so its tail was wagging unhappily.
“I just did what I should do, and what I could do.”
Although the Emperor had said so, Zhu Hui would not be completely at ease. He maintained a safe distance, his breathing already completely calm.
“I have a few questions, to be brief—was the core of Ghost Town caused by you?”
The head moved.
“Ghost Town?… What… No, I never thought of putting the Empire in crisis.”
“Three years ago, was that mission for Guide Xu deliberately done by you?”
“Yes… no? I just hoped he could help me find the person who went with me back then… but there might have been other factors interfering, I can’t tell anymore. I can sometimes feel a familiar aura coming from that direction. Perhaps in my heart, I wanted him to go over and become a nutrient…”
“Then the mission in the Diamond Sea?”
“…Yes. Your potential is too high. If you could become a nutrient, it would also be…”
Speaking of which, the Emperor’s voice suddenly changed.
The room was clearly windless, yet the head suddenly spun a few times on the ground, its facial muscles changing back and forth, its expression sometimes ferocious and sometimes serene.
This was really not a pretty sight.
Zhu Hui’s time was limited, and he did not intend to be a sympathetic listener. Seeing as the other still had a bit of consciousness, he held his dagger and asked directly:
“You were contaminated, couldn’t control yourself, and later so many things happened—is there anything else you want to say?”
“I’ve… said it all,” the head said with difficulty. “Losing control is not an excuse to escape guilt. I have my due punishment.”
“Mm.”
Everyone in front of the terminal screen witnessed everything. Under the ruthless and unforgiving sharp blade, the former leader who had become an abnormal existence finally fell, unable to say a single word.
With his fall, the shadows in the room slowly dispersed, and the mess on the floor became even more shocking.
And the only living person in the room did not show any signs of panic or weakness. He completed a short conversation in a cold and emotionless voice. This conversation was not a public speech, not an appeal, and there was no riddling. It simply laid out the important facts in front of everyone.
“In addition, there is one more thing, more urgent than what you just heard.”
Just as Zhu Hui had finished dealing with the scene and confirmed that the core that had not yet formed had been completely eliminated, he spoke again.
Compared to before, his tone was clearly much more fluctuating.
“In the plan, I should be in Ghost Town at this time. People with good connections in the relevant departments have probably heard that a while ago, my partner and I formed a team and went there.”
As he spoke, he withdrew from the room at the end of the corridor and flew toward the outside of the palace.
“A creature similar to the Emperor’s state, there is also one in the depths of Ghost Town. It was completely contaminated earlier, and its abilities are also more comprehensive. I originally couldn’t leave, but he was afraid that something would happen in the Imperial Capital and let me come to the Imperial Capital first. Now I have to go back to Ghost Town to find him.”
With the Emperor dead, the Royal Guard Sentinels, who were like puppets on a string, no longer patrolled everywhere. Most of them stopped where they were, it was unknown if they hadn’t recovered or were already foolish. The other small portion were holding their heads or squatting or sitting, their expressions pained and muttering to themselves.
In short, they did not stop Zhu Hui, this “intruder.”
Zhu Hui ran very fast. When he came, he had to hide and it took half a day. When he left, it was unobstructed, and it only took less than ten minutes.
His words were much more emotional than his previous Q&A with the Emperor. In the end, he even said directly:
“I personally guarantee that all of the above is true. He has paid far more than I have. I hope the military can mobilize the largest disposable force to go to Ghost Town for support, and at the same time, open a special channel and use the Empire’s most advanced aircraft to ensure that I can reach the destination at the fastest speed.”
At the main gate of the palace, a team of people could be faintly seen. The few at the front were Guides in researcher uniforms, and they were constantly waving at Zhu Hui.
One of them, seeing Zhu Hui see him, hurriedly shouted, “We heard everything! Don’t worry, the military was already mobilizing troops when you were speaking. They will arrange the fastest aircraft for you. Leave this to us. All the information about Ghost Town will also be sent to your personal terminal at the first moment.”
The people of the Imperial Capital became busy.
Around Ghost Town, the five Undeveloped Zones from D1 to D5 were experiencing a flood.
More seriously, it was a tsunami. After all, the waves were so big and so continuous—even though the few Undeveloped Zones were dozens of kilometers away from the ocean.
In the D1 zone, Yu Yuan and Cheng Tao, who had stayed behind, were helping the local outpost to rescue the non-waterproof technological equipment and supplies, so busy that they were dizzy and their feet didn’t touch the ground.
Thirty-two hours had passed since Zhu Hui had left, which was one day and eight hours. However, two hours ago, the seawater that had been pouring out of the cataclysm zone had been continuously rushing over.
What was even stranger was that their terminal signals had also become worse. Take the D1 zone outpost as an example. Many people had started trying to communicate with the Imperial Capital two hours ago, but they had not been able to successfully transmit the current situation even once.
Fortunately, most of the people in the Undeveloped Zones were Guides and Sentinels, and they all had their own skills, so they wouldn’t drown.
It was just that the buildings built by their predecessors with great difficulty, the supplies accumulated bit by bit, and the signboards and warning signs on the boundary line were unlucky.
Yu Yuan’s heart was split into three. She was worried about Xu Xunyue and Zhu Hui, who were separated, and she also had to pay attention to rescuing the supplies. Now she was even secretly speculating whether this surging seawater was related to Xu Xunyue, who still hadn’t come out of Ghost Town.
If it was related, then he was definitely fighting. Did this mean he had the upper hand or the lower hand?
If it wasn’t related, wouldn’t Teacher Xu’s situation be even more dangerous?
—It was indeed related.
When it really came to a fight, it was always difficult for people to be so comprehensive when facing an unknown opponent.
Lan was the most autonomous and spiritually powerful cataclysmic creature Xu Xunyue had ever seen. And this was Lan’s birthplace. It was not easy for Xu Xunyue to deal with him. He not only had to injure the enemy, but also pay attention to his own state.
An ordinary Guide’s recovery ability and continuous combat ability were not strong, but his constitution was different, and he was in the seawater. So far, he could be said to have the upper hand.
The area covered by the seawater was his perception range. The closer he was, the more obvious the perception. Xu Xunyue could be sure that the manor in Ghost Town had been razed to the ground, and other lower, more simply constructed buildings had also been completely destroyed.
The most dangerous cataclysm zone in the entire Empire had disappeared just like that. This was a good thing. The bad thing was that Xu Xunyue found that the water had flooded outside.
He had control, but control inevitably distracted him. Besides, controlling the water flow in this situation was also a kind of weakening of his attack.
At the same time, hallucinations were still unavoidable. This was the inevitable result of overusing his abilities.
For example, Xu Xunyue would see his deceased relatives in the direction of his attack, and he would see Zhu Hui. For another example, he would see a strange face in a mirror that occasionally floated by.
Long hair that merged with the shadows in the water.
Golden eyes that were so pure they didn’t seem human.
A face that was so ethereal it seemed to have no substance.
Blurry features.
Who is it?
I’ve never seen it.
The expression on this face was very cold, completely without emotion, giving one the feeling that it would go on a killing spree without a word at any moment—this point was very similar to his Sentinel. His Sentinel was like this when he was doing things unrelated to him.
Looking closely, the pupils of the person in the mirror were still twitching slightly. This was a sign of nerve excitement.
Gurgle.
The water flowed past, and a bubble slipped out of his clothes, carrying a brown, round leaf and floating upward.
Xu Xunyue subconsciously reached out and grabbed the leaf.
In the mirror, the ethereal hand that had been covered in a layer of black shadow instantly became clear.
Xu Xunyue paused.
He stared at the mirror and found that not only his palm, but his entire arm and even his entire face were undergoing this change.
…Oh, the person in the mirror was of course himself.
Logically, he knew what state he was in, but his vision and his surface consciousness did not admit this. Instead, he had a cognitive error about himself, and even self-doubt.
With a thought, the mirror fragments were completely washed away by the ocean current. Xu Xunyue continued to deal with Lan, preparing to solve this guy directly, and then deal with his own state.
The other party was actually already in a very sorry state. The body he was using was a regular Guide’s body, and he couldn’t withstand the impact of the ocean current. After Xu Xunyue had used the ocean current to tear the manor and the contamination core to pieces, his ability to control the numerous corpses had also dropped by a large margin.
It would be over soon.
…
Two hours later.
Whoosh—whoosh—whoosh—
A fierce wind sound appeared in the sky above the Ghost Town D1 zone. The sound was terrifying, and the effect of the wind actually blowing on one’s face was even more painful.
Yu Yuan stared in disbelief at a single-person aircraft—the kind of top-tier aircraft that she couldn’t afford even if she sold herself, and had only seen in textbooks—descending from the sky.
It was truly descending from the sky, as if it had fallen from the sky. The sound of the wind stopped instantly, and the aircraft itself rushed forward a hundred meters due to inertia.
What was even more stimulating was that as the aircraft rushed forward, a very familiar young Sentinel directly opened the door and jumped out.
Splash—!
The aircraft plunged headfirst into the water.
Zhu Hui absorbed the impact and stabilized his body in the water.
At this time, the waves had already stopped, but the water that had come over had not receded quickly, and it was just at his knees.
“…You’ve finished dealing with the matter in the Imperial Capital?”
Yu Yuan was a little dazed. Seeing Zhu Hui also look over, she blurted it out. After all, in her eyes, it had only taken four hours for Zhu Hui to leave and come back.
In four hours, she had only rescued ten carts of supplies.
Is this the flight speed of a top-tier aircraft?
Zhu Hui’s face was not very good. It was unknown if it was because he was in a bad mood, or because of the journey.
He did not answer Yu Yuan’s question, but opened his mouth to ask about the recent situation, his speech very fast, clearly very anxious.
Yu Yuan did not ask anymore. The words just now had just slipped out of her head. She quickly told him everything about the “tsunami” four hours ago, the loss of signal in the Undeveloped Zone, and the information collected in the D1 zone.
Zhu Hui’s face became even uglier. He didn’t say anything and turned around to head toward the single-person aircraft floating in the water.
Cheng Tao and the others from the outpost, who had been drawn by the sound of the aircraft landing, did not know what had happened. They just looked at Zhu Hui’s appearance and silently chose to make way.
“That, wait.”
In the end, it was the bald Sentinel who had been saved by Xu Xunyue and Zhu Hui who couldn’t hold back anymore. He shouted at Zhu Hui:
“Are you going to Ghost Town now?”
Zhu Hui’s speed did not slow down at all, let alone glance at the bald Sentinel.
He still didn’t speak. From the moment Zhu Hui arrived at the D1 zone, the only thing he had said was to ask Yu Yuan what had happened here.
This made the atmosphere a little stagnant. Of course, no one would blame him for this coldness.
The bald Sentinel watched him get on the aircraft and took a few steps forward.
“But there…”
He stopped after saying only four words. The bald Sentinel stopped in his tracks.
Zhu Hui’s reaction, it must be that something had happened to Xu Xunyue, he thought. Did he lose his mental link?
The power of nature was terrifying. No matter how strong a Guide or a Sentinel was, they seemed small in the face of it.
In Ghost Town…
He thought of the scene two days ago, when he was being chased by the cataclysmic beings there, his life hanging by a thread. He also thought of just now, when the overlapping waves had come crashing over from dozens of kilometers away with still some force to spare.
But in the end, the image in his mind was fixed on the scene he had seen when he had left with Yu Yuan and the others.
They had walked out, while Xu Xunyue and Zhu Hui had walked in the opposite direction. The two of them had not had much conversation, but they would exchange glances without any warning.
No one was qualified to persuade Zhu Hui, not even to persuade him to wait a few hours for the main force to gather.
They were the ones who knew each other best.
…
On the way to the depths of Ghost Town in the aircraft, at a certain moment, Zhu Hui thought in a daze that this scene was very familiar.
It seemed to be the same in the Endless Snow that time, a similar separation, a similar search.
Will brother become amnesiac again like last time?
Even if he has amnesia again, it doesn’t matter. As long as we’re together, it’s fine. I really don’t want to leave brother for even a second or a millimeter.
But there was one thing that was better than last time.
Last time, his mental link with his brother had been broken. This time, it had only loosened a little.
This was a good sign, but the series of information Yu Yuan had said about the tsunami was too unsettling—at a time like this, any abnormal phenomenon could make Zhu Hui alarmed and anxious.
It feels like if I don’t see him again, I’m going to die.
So as long as I see him, it’s fine.
With that little bit of a loose mental link, he landed the aircraft in a certain area when he reached it.
The reason it was called “a certain area” was because Ghost Town had completely turned into a vast ocean. It was impossible to tell what the original place was. The water level here was much higher than in the D1 zone, to the point where one needed to dive.
The aircraft rushed out another hundred meters, floating on the water like a piece of driftwood. Zhu Hui, on the other hand, plunged headfirst into the water.
The rapidly increasing water pressure and the exceptionally obvious sound of the seawater flowing made his brain go blank for a moment. It was his body protesting.
Logically speaking, a high-level Sentinel’s physical fitness could adapt to a deep-water environment, but that required time and a gradual process, not like him, who had dived directly without any equipment.
He had not rested for nearly two days, and his spiritual power had been highly concentrated. The current Zhu Hui was no different from a taut string.
It was the expectation in his heart that was supporting him.
This expectation was both stinging and gave him the motivation to move forward.
The seawater in front was black.
Zhu Hui’s intuition told him that it was not black because there was no light. It was more inclined to the color of his brother’s spiritual body.
He held his breath and continued to swim downward.
The surroundings quickly darkened. Even with Zhu Hui’s night vision, he couldn’t see anything clearly, which put him in an extremely passive state.
In normal times, he would definitely have tried everything to get himself out of this situation. But at this time, Zhu Hui actually became happy.
The more abnormally dark it was, the more it proved that his brother was nearby.
He just had to look a little more—
Suddenly, a pair of golden eyes appeared in the darkness in front of him.
This gold was already pure, and being set off by the surrounding darkness, it even seemed dazzling.
Zhu Hui, who had adapted to the dark environment, squinted his eyes from the stimulation.
A familiar aura came from the other side. He naturally let his guard down. He was about to speak when his neck was grabbed from the front.
Zhu Hui tensed his muscles in 0.01 seconds, then relaxed, and used 0.09 seconds to deduce that his brother must have lost his memory again.
If he has amnesia, then he has amnesia. He’s not choking me very tightly. It must be like last time.
Anyway, brother won’t really hurt me. It’s all for fun.
Zhu Hui did not resist at all, and even began to enjoy it in his heart. Although he was still soaking in the water, it seemed as if he had already accomplished a great thing.
0.1 seconds later, he was pulled closer by the neck, and another person’s warm lips covered his.
[I haven’t lost my memory.]
His lips were occupied, so he used the mental link to transmit the information. Xu Xunyue did not immediately give Zhu Hui the ability to breathe underwater, and even deliberately kissed him fiercely, making his Sentinel lose the little bit of oxygen he had left.
[But it is indeed for fun.]
From the spiritual fluctuations, one could also feel that Xu Xunyue was in a very good mood. When he was in a good mood, the body in his arms became softer and softer, like a fish that had been taken out of water and was being filleted, occasionally flapping its tail twice as if it were acting coquettishly.
Right, the tail… Xu Xunyue suddenly missed the fluffy thing he had touched when he had briefly lost his memory last time.
But now was not the time. They would talk about it when they got home.
He really liked the position of choking and kissing, so he held the Sentinel and kissed him for a while longer, until the other started to unconsciously grab the corner of his clothes before he let him go.
“I’ve also dealt with things on my end.”
While they were kissing, Xu Xunyue had easily received the information in Zhu Hui’s subconscious, and knew that the situation in the Imperial Capital was improving.
He said softly, “Let’s go. We’re going home.”
