Chapter 38: Running Away
Above the snowfield, a lifeboat was rushing toward the depths with a momentum different from other aircraft.
The people on the other aircraft who witnessed everything were stunned for a moment. Before they could react, the rapidly shrinking black dot had completely disappeared from their field of vision.
Zhu Hui didn’t do this because he was momentarily excited after hearing Xu Mengwei and Qiu Ye’s conversation. On his way to the academy’s aircraft after breaking through the encirclement, the unease in his heart had been growing heavier and heavier.
The link between a Guide and a Sentinel was a two-way street. It was a feeling that both people would have. Although due to their respective characteristics, a Guide’s senses of a Sentinel would be many times more sensitive and detailed, a Sentinel also had a sense of their Guide.
At that time, he had already decided to go find his brother, but how could he find a lifeboat flying at high altitude while walking alone in the snowfield? Even if he found it, it would be difficult to keep up, and even more difficult to make the other party notice him.
So although he was uneasy, he could only speed up, first returning to the area where the academy personnel were, and then launching a lifeboat from there.
He didn’t expect that just as he was about to reach his destination, the sound of ringing in his ears would sound.
At the same moment, his mental link with Xu Xunyue was broken.
Zhu Hui didn’t even know how many seconds his mind had gone blank.
But it was fine, it was fine. He had given his brother his memory leaf before, and his brother also had his memory leaf on him.
His Sentinel talent was used to its limit in a loop, his field of vision infinitely magnified and then shrunk. It was unknown how far he had traveled, but Zhu Hui’s peripheral vision suddenly caught a small black dot on the ground.
Whoosh—!!
The control stick was pulled down sharply, and the aircraft descended at an almost ninety-degree angle.
It landed next to another aircraft parked on the snow.
From this lifeboat, looking forward, the ground was paved with the severed limbs of cataclysmic creatures, forming a road with no end.
Strange, brutal, mysterious.
Zhu Hui let out a sigh of relief, and his knuckles, which had been white from gripping his dagger, loosened slightly.
The direction of this road was also the direction where his brother was.
His brother should be fine. His brother should have gone forward. The bodies along the way were the traces he had left behind. He had just parked the aircraft here.
Although he thought so, Zhu Hui still checked the empty lifeboat at the fastest speed.
The outside of the aircraft was splattered with the blood of cataclysmic creatures, blue, green, and red, mixed together like an ominous sign. But the inside of the aircraft was very neat, with a faint scent of a Guide remaining. The fuel gauge showed that only half the fuel had been used.
There was no sign of a fight, or of a forced evacuation after being invaded. It was more like the person inside had actively opened the door and come out.
The central display screen was on, indicating that this was already deep within the cataclysm zone, but Zhu Hui didn’t care at all.
His attention was drawn to another thing.
A wheelchair.
He felt himself go dazed again. His mind went blank, his eyes felt sore, his ears were ringing, and his cognition fell into a state of dazed and helpless confusion.
Shouldn’t he be fine?
He hadn’t detected the presence of any other living people nearby. The path of severed limbs should have been made by his brother. His brother should have gone forward.
But why…
Zhu Hui’s breathing hitched.
Could it be that something else had taken his brother? Had some other existence taken his brother in that direction?
This was how the human mind worked. It was fine not to think about it, but once a possibility surfaced, it would be repeatedly brought up and infinitely magnified in one’s mind. Even if you had warned yourself not to think about it, that you would go crazy if you did, you still couldn’t help but think about it.
Just as he jumped out of the cabin, a black shadow pounced at him.
A head about the size of a human’s, but with a bloody maw completely different from a human’s, seemed to be spewing some kind of saliva-like substance. Its body was covered in black mist, making it impossible to see what it was doing underneath.
A cataclysmic being.
Zhu Hui was already holding back a rage that was about to burn him to death. Seeing a target present itself, he directly shot it in the head.
The cataclysmic being fell with a crash, and a mess of things flowed out of what was probably its head.
More cataclysmic beings surrounded him.
Zhu Hui still had his reason. He knew he shouldn’t waste time. Finding Xu Xunyue was the key. Although his desire to attack was very strong now, he only dealt with the few closest to him before returning to the lifeboat with the wheelchair.
He pulled the control stick, preparing to use the machine to forcibly break through, but found that the cataclysmic beings surrounding him were retreating like a tide.
They left very quickly. After a while, they had disappeared from Zhu Hui’s field of vision, as if they had received some kind of retreat command.
The unease in his heart grew heavier.
It was a little strange.
Zhu Hui frowned, but he didn’t pay any attention to those fleeing cataclysmic beings.
He controlled the lifeboat and continued to advance.
Anything strange had to be put aside. Nothing was more important than his brother.
Xu Xunyue felt that he had been waiting in the shallow sea for a while.
So slow.
He thought with some impatience. Hasn’t that guy arrived yet? So slow.
Strange. He was clearly unhappy because the other was coming, but now that he was late, he still felt unhappy.
Perhaps it was because he felt that the other was delaying his business.
After he had entered the water and dived down, he had been waiting at a depth of a few meters or a dozen meters.
But he actually really wanted to continue exploring downward.
That sharp and undeniable desire had been clamoring in his mind, saying that in the darker, deeper sea, there was something he wanted, something he wanted to see. It said that that was his hometown, that he would like it there, and that he should stay there.
Xu Xunyue didn’t feel there was anything wrong with this. He was indeed very relaxed in the seawater, much more relaxed than on land.
If he on land was in a normal state, then he in the seawater was ten of his normal selves.
He could breathe in the seawater, and he could move faster in the seawater. The seawater seemed to have become his extended limbs, moving as he wished.
These were all things he couldn’t do on land. The him in the seawater was probably the real him.
—From the moment he “awakened,” stood up from that somewhat strange chair, and walked out of that tin box, Xu Xunyue had realized this.
In addition, when he “awakened,” he had also felt a spiritual power belonging to other creatures enveloping this area.
But this area should be his territory, so he had unceremoniously cut off that spiritual power and driven it away.
…Speaking of which, when is that guy coming?
His biological instincts were constantly urging him to dive, anxious and primitive, but they were blocked in place by a strange feeling that even he couldn’t describe, so much so that he had been lingering in the shallow sea, waiting for a disobedient guy he remembered to present himself.
Xu Xunyue expressionlessly raised his hand and looked at the moving coordinate point on the instrument on his wrist. The surrounding seawater rippled with this movement.
Oh, soon.
He brushed back his drenched, loose long hair and tucked the part that was always flying around behind his ear.
Then he put down his hand and thought with some confusion:
[I think my hair is usually tied up?]
Why would he think that?
After a moment of contemplation, Xu Xunyue looked up at the sea surface.
In his eyes, the seawater was like a transparent and impurity-free window. Through the sea surface, he saw white clouds and a gray sky.
He could only see these from this angle—
No.
There’s also the shadow of a human hanging on the sea surface.
He’s here.
Xu Xunyue squinted. He didn’t move immediately, just got a little closer to the sea surface, probably from a position of fifteen meters to ten.
He heard this human’s rapid heartbeat and breathing.
Looks very nervous.
Was he scared by me?
Those cataclysmic creatures were scared by me, and they would also be stunned for a while before running.
But if this person is afraid, why did he come over?
He won’t let the other party go just because of his creation’s fear. This human made him wait for so long. Now, even if he wants to run, he…
Splash!
A huge splash.
Xu Xunyue was slightly stunned.
His creation… had jumped down on its own.
Quite self-aware.
His mood improved slightly. He suddenly felt that he wasn’t in a hurry to settle accounts with this disobedient guy. He could watch his performance a little longer.
His golden eyes blinked. At the moment the splash had not yet dissipated, Xu Xunyue pulled the person into his spiritual world.
This was the ocean, and his spiritual landscape was a deep sea. With the forceful interference of his spiritual power at a time like this, Zhu Hui really didn’t notice.
He only felt that the water pressure seemed to have changed a little, and that he also didn’t seem to need to hold his breath by restraining his instinct anymore.
But this did not make him let his guard down. On the contrary, the alarm in his heart was ringing to the extreme at this moment.
Danger is approaching!
Then, an invisible undercurrent swept in from all directions. Having not stabilized his body after entering the water, he had no chance to find his balance.
His hands were also tied behind his back by something.
Zhu Hui was startled. His neatly trimmed nails instantly became extremely sharp.
The wave of attack that had just controlled him was too fast, and his reaction seemed to have been affected by something. His movements were a beat behind, and he didn’t even have time to touch the trigger of his gun, and his dagger was on his belt, even further away.
He could only choose to use the sudden change in his nails as a counterattack, trying to cut the restraints on his wrists and distance himself from the terrifying, unknown creature.
This situation was actually within Zhu Hui’s expectations.
Following the path paved with bodies, the longer it took, the heavier the unease in his heart became. By the time he saw that sea, that unease had almost turned into a threat that one would only feel when facing death.
It meant that under the seemingly calm sea surface, there was a crisis that could make him never return.
But he had still jumped down.
If even he couldn’t find his brother? Who else could?
Qiu Ye couldn’t, Xu Mengwei couldn’t. Even if he found more help, how long would he have to wait?
And what would he do without his brother?
When he hadn’t found him before, he could still tell himself that it was because he had too little information and not enough luck. But now that they had met again, gotten married, and experienced a Level Two Bonding, he absolutely could not accept the possibility of losing the other.
He was his brother’s Sentinel. No Sentinel would abandon their bonded Guide.
Jumping down and encountering danger was to be expected, but Zhu Hui had never expected that just as he was revealing his nails behind his back, the voice he had been wanting to hear appeared.
It came from behind, saying:
“Oh? So sharp… looks a bit like a wolf.”
Zhu Hui’s body stiffened.
He was actually still dazed. He didn’t know why Xu Xunyue would say such a thing, but feeling Xu Xunyue’s gaze focused on his fingertips, he didn’t know whether to retract his nails or not.
He tentatively turned his head slowly and looked behind him.
He was stunned.
A pair of golden eyes he had never seen before, staring at him without a trace of warmth, yet with a hint of curiosity.
Xu Xunyue looked at him with interest and said:
“If your nails can become so sharp, can you also grow a wolf tail and wolf ears?”
“…”
He didn’t answer immediately.
Xu Xunyue couldn’t understand the expression on the human’s face, but he didn’t want to try to understand it for the time being either, because he was a little angry.
Yes, angry.
His creation, his property, had not immediately responded to his words.
What did he do to those disobedient things, those things that defied him and wanted to attack him?
Kill them.
Crush them mercilessly, destroy them, attack their brains, make them explode, tear them apart, and let their blood stain the earth.
From the snowfield to the sea surface, the trail of body fragments was proof.
The person in front of him was disobedient, defied him, and had even tried to cut the shadows he controlled just now. He had committed all the offenses. He should be punished. Besides, his creation should be held to a stricter standard.
But… but…
But it seemed he couldn’t do that to this human?
Because in Xu Xunyue’s spiritual landscape, Zhu Hui didn’t look as tired as he did in the real world. His clothes were also neat and tidy, without any dirt or damage.
He also looked a little fragile, for some reason.
Xu Xunyue felt a little uncomfortable again.
Perhaps, for this human, there was a unique way of punishment.
He thought for a moment, pinched the young man’s chin, stared at those faintly red amber eyes, and said word by word:
“Twenty times the sensitivity, as a punishment for being disobedient.”
“Mmph…!”
Zhu Hui trembled as he fulfilled Xu Xunyue’s request.
He hadn’t done it immediately before, half because his brain had shut down and he was thinking about what was wrong with his brother’s leg, and the other half was because he was thinking about how to grow ears and a tail.
Transforming parts of the body into the form of a spiritual body was something only high-level Sentinels could do, but in actual combat, very few high-level Sentinels used this attack method, and even Zhu Hui didn’t use it much.
Besides, even if he did, it would be to achieve a surprise victory, like suddenly growing sharp nails. How could he transform his tail and ears?
He really, really didn’t mean to be disobedient.
Unfortunately, Xu Xunyue wouldn’t listen to his explanation.
Zhu Hui still hadn’t figured out what was wrong with the other person. He only knew that his brother’s condition was not right, but he didn’t know how to help solve it.
Although, he felt that he was about to be solved by his brother.
The ears and tail were already very sensitive places, not to mention being touched with twenty times the sensitivity.
Compared to the time in the infirmary…
Forget it, there was no comparison at all. They weren’t the same thing.
Perhaps because he was in a good mood from touching the fluffy things, the abnormal Xu Xunyue relaxed his control over Zhu Hui. The ocean current no longer washed him around, and the shadows that had been binding his hands had long since loosened.
But Zhu Hui’s legs were still weak from being touched.
The seawater had buoyancy, and it was already less stable than standing on land. Now it was a complete mess, and he was disarmed. He was almost out of strength to even move his fingers. He tried to plead in between his gasps, “Brother—” but before he could say a few words, Xu Xunyue had stuffed his mouth.
With his fingers.
Zhu Hui could only whimper.
His ears were held in a cool hand and kneaded. Xu Xunyue not only used his fingers, but also his palm to play with the fluffy wolf ears. He held them in his palm and pressed them with his fingertips, grabbed them whole and folded them to rub, and even tapped the inside of the ears with his fingertips…
His tail was stroked from the root to the tip, and then slowly played with from the tip to the root. Even when that hand landed on the root, he would rub it with his knuckles.
The familiar touch inevitably reminded him of the last time this place was touched.
Zhu Hui felt that he was terrifyingly hot. He was probably red all over.
His body was so sensitive that it was constantly twitching, his muscles tensed to the extreme, almost rigid. But his brain was still struggling to operate.
…No.
This can’t go on.
If I’m touched like this for a little longer, I’ll completely lose the ability to resist and be at his mercy.
He was very happy to be like this in front of his brother, but the problem was that his brother’s condition was not right now. He had come here to bring his brother back safely.
If he stayed here, like this, let alone bringing his brother back, he wouldn’t even be able to stay conscious himself.
“Mmph…”
What should I do?
What should I do?
Pleading is not an option. When things are normal, pleading might not even work. Now it’s even more impossible.
“…”
Then, run?
It seems like running is the only option?
It wasn’t that he wanted to run away completely. He just wanted to get to the shore. It was too passive in the seawater. If he was always being touched on his ears and tail like this in the seawater, he couldn’t think calmly at all… and his brother seemed to have become much stronger in the seawater.
Zhu Hui remembered that he had only dived a few meters after jumping down.
His brother wasn’t restricting his freedom now. If he was caught off guard… perhaps it was possible.
Zhu Hui closed his eyes.
But, if I run and get caught, it will be miserable, right?
Brother is already a little angry. If I make him unhappy again…
Whatever!
And so, just as Xu Xunyue finished a round of touching, let go of his hand, and was leisurely sizing up this human with a fluffy tail and ears, the other suddenly twisted his body without any warning and swam upward.
Xu Xunyue’s gaze turned completely cold.
This human could actually pretend. His crime was even greater.
Just now he was red-faced, his legs weak and powerless, but now he was running quite fast.
He sneered, watching Zhu Hui swim upward without moving, watching him get further and further away, but his shadow remained in front of him.
He had pulled Zhu Hui into his own spiritual landscape.
In his spiritual landscape, he was the master who controlled everything.
Xu Xunyue extended his hand, spread his five fingers, and then gently clenched his fist.
The Sentinel returned to him, back to where his shadow was.
