After Faking a Disability, I Married the New Chief Sentinel 60

Chapter 60: The Expectation of Coming Home

“The compatibility is 89.99%… It probably can’t go any higher for now. It seems last night’s effect was very good.” Xu Xunyue glanced at the personal terminal on his wrist and said with a smile, “How long do you think we’ll be out this time?”
It was daytime, but the three-story house was filled with countless black shadows. Some were carrying a bucket of water and moving quickly, some were holding a small piece of cotton cloth and carefully wiping the furniture, and some were simply using their bodies to wipe the walls and carpets with large, sweeping motions.
The owner of the house stood on the side, looking quite leisurely.
Because the destination was a cataclysm zone, there was no need to carry luggage. He hadn’t packed anything. It was enough to just clean the house before leaving.
“Counting from the time we enter the cataclysm zone, if things go smoothly, it might only take two or three days. The known area of Ghost Town is a little larger than the Endless Snow. If things don’t go smoothly, it’s hard to say. I remember that the Emperor was delayed inside for a week four years ago.”
Zhu Hui’s attention was very much drawn to the shadows.
Although he had heard Xu Xunyue say before that his spiritual body would do the cleaning, today was the first time he had actually seen it, and he was truly a little shocked.
The Sentinel’s own shock was reflected in the concentration of his gaze. His expression was no different from usual, but his spiritual body’s performance was extremely vivid.
It looked left and right, as if it didn’t know which shadow to follow. During this time, it tried to join the activity by holding a rag in its mouth, but after a long time, it only managed to wipe the fur around its mouth black with the rag.
Xu Xunyue and Zhu Hui’s hygiene habits were both very good. The house was not dirty, and the rag only had some dust on it. But the snow wolf’s color was too pure, and even a little bit of dark color was extremely conspicuous.
The first to be unable to stand it were not the two humans.
Zhu Hui was just thinking about whether it was necessary to rinse his spiritual body with water when a wisp of shadow carrying a rag passed by and snatched the rag from the snow wolf’s mouth.
The snow wolf blinked its bright amber eyes. Before it could even cry out, it was bound by another wisp of shadow that was holding nothing and had its mouth wiped clean.
Zhu Hui: “…”
Xu Xunyue: “…”
He noticed his Sentinel’s silent gaze and a smile flashed in his eyes. He said in a low voice, “This wasn’t my command. I just told them to clean the house.”
And by the way, I also cleaned the dirty spiritual body.
How is a partner’s spiritual body not a part of the family?
The things in the room had gradually increased with the other person’s long-term residence. The kitchen, which was often used by a private chef, was also often used by the residents themselves. Slippers, toothbrushes, cups… miscellaneous daily necessities appeared in pairs. On the wall of the master bedroom where the bed was, there was even a super-large leaf picture hanging.
Those were the memory leaves that Zhu Hui had plucked and taken out of his spiritual landscape.
Zhu Hui had plucked too many leaves. There were fan-shaped, oval, diamond-shaped, round, and so on. The main color was fresh emerald green, but occasionally he could also take out other red, yellow, and white ones.
They were as rare as four-leaf clovers among three-leaf clovers. Every time they grew and were discovered, they would be plucked by the owner and given to the bonded Guide, not even half a leaf left.
Xu Xunyue couldn’t carry a large bag of leaves with him every day when he went out, so he had adopted a measure of taking them in turns. He had also found a time to make a leaf picture with Zhu Hui. The great work that the two of them had completed together was thus hung on the bedroom wall, and they could see it every day when they woke up.
It was a somewhat childish act, but doing it actually only felt happy. If it were a peaceful period, life might be even more relaxed and comfortable.
When Xu Xunyue was in his early twenties, every time he finished a mission, he would only stay in the manor for a very short time. When he was busy, he simply wouldn’t go back to the Imperial Capital or rest.
It was no big deal to come back. There was only one person in the manor. The friends and elders he knew all had their own lives and careers. Everyone was living their own lives on their own track. He could intersect with them countless times for a short period, but it was impossible to be parallel for a long time.
At that time, he preferred life in the remote areas, feeling that every time he went out, he could meet different people and things, and look back at different old scenery and cities. His physical fitness, reaction speed, and spiritual power also continuously improved with each exploration. He felt that this was very good. Anyway, he couldn’t go back to his real hometown, and there was no need to go back to his house in the Imperial Capital.
But now, when he looked around the house again, he still felt that he could come back sooner and stay here a little longer.
With his Sentinel.

Inside the White Tower laboratory.
“Dean, what are you writing? Is it a new research direction?”
The assistant looked at Xia Feng with some curiosity and found that the spots and wrinkles on his face were getting more and more. He couldn’t help but say, “Did you stay up all night writing an analysis report again? Your body is the capital of the revolution. If you can take good care of your body, you can do more research for a longer time, which is more efficient than not sleeping…”
“Aiyo, aiyo, stop nagging. How can a young person like you be so talkative? It’s not that I don’t want to take care of my body, it’s that time waits for no one.”
Xia Feng didn’t even lift his head. He continued to write with his right hand, and raised his other hand to cover his left ear, clearly expressing his stubborn position.
He squinted his eyes, ignored the assistant’s voice, and concentrated on the paper in front of him.
[“Contamination Core” Theory: In contrast to the peripheral cataclysm zones, the peripheral cataclysm zones only have a sufficient amount of cataclysmic factors and cataclysmic creatures with lower autonomous consciousness, while the deeper cataclysm zones where the “contamination core” is located have old-world phantoms and cataclysmic creatures with a certain degree of human-like behavior.]
[At present, the “contamination core” has only appeared once in the depths of the Endless Snow and has been destroyed. The next possible place for a “contamination core” to appear is temporarily set as Ghost Town. Someone has already set out to explore. The samples from the depths of the Endless Snow are being analyzed, and the results are expected to be out in a month. We still need to wait for three days…]
When Xu Xunyue and Zhu Hui had come out of the Endless Snow, he had specially gone to inquire about their situation, originally just out of concern, but he was told by his former student about the existence of the underwater city in the depths of the Endless Snow.
Xu Xunyue had not told the military about what had happened in the depths of the Endless Snow, but he had told him about his experience and had given him samples of the seabed mud and the trash on the shore for him to research and analyze, in order to investigate the existence of the “contamination core” and the strange creatures in the depths of the cataclysm zone.
When Xia Feng first learned of the matter, he was almost so excited that he fainted.
It was not only the love for research of a top-level senior researcher in the Empire, but also a concrete expectation of “hope.”
If the sample analysis was successful, if all the contamination cores were resolved, if they found the leader of those strange creatures…
The impact of the Cataclysm had accumulated to this day. It was impossible to improve life overnight. What they were seeking was just a turning point, a possibility of containment.
As long as the future would not continue to worsen, they could develop upward generation after generation through people’s efforts.
Thinking of this, Xia Feng couldn’t help but smile.
A few of the younger generation had formed a team to explore Ghost Town. He, an old man, couldn’t drag them down.

The central villa district of the Imperial Capital.
In front of the most luxurious villa complex, a not-so-luxurious modified car was parked.
Of course, its “not-so-luxurious” was relative to the villa complex. The car’s configuration and safety protection system were still top-notch.
The handsome Sentinel carrying a toolbox walked out with big strides and stood at the driver’s side of the car, about to pull the handle.
“Cousin, are you leaving?” a somewhat smug voice suddenly sounded.
Yi Chengli’s originally normal expression immediately turned sour, but he rarely paid any attention, directly opened the car door, and sat in the driver’s seat.
“It’s not good to have a driver for you this time you go out. After all, you have to be with your teammates…”
He placed the toolbox in his hand on the passenger seat and started the car.
It was only at this time that a few people came out of the villa one after another, looking as if they wanted to see him off for a few steps, but Yi Chengli directly drove away.
His face was extremely ugly, his breathing was a little heavy with anger, and the look in his eyes became more and more determined.
Only by walking out on his own could he gain the respect that others could not take away.
“A cataclysm zone is so dangerous. You must come back—”
That voice was still shouting from behind, but it was drowned out by the roar of the car engine and could no longer be heard.
The modified car drove out of the villa district and onto the main road. Many nobles in the Imperial Capital lived here. Yi Chengli’s blatant departure naturally attracted the attention of others.
Xu Mengwei, who was on a short long vacation due to the students’ graduation, rarely returned to his ancestral home. He happened to run into this scene, and a bit of emotion appeared on his seemingly calm face.
He had heard about Yi Chengli’s matter. To be precise, many people had heard the news that the group of five had formed a temporary squad and were heading to Ghost Town.
As a special and dangerous cataclysm zone, all kinds of people went there every year for all kinds of reasons, but not many came back.
Xu Mengwei himself had still not left the Imperial Capital.
But they should be able to come back safely.
Seeing Yi Chengli’s modified car drive out of his sight, he sighed and continued to walk into his ancestral home.

In a residential area in the center of the Imperial Capital, another graduating student’s departure from home was completely different from Yi Chengli’s.
The young Guide walked out of her house with a backpack on her back, still holding a thermos cup of ginger soup in her hand. The lid was slightly open, and milky white steam came out of it.
“Dad, Mom, I’m leaving! I’ll spend a good time with you when I come back from this mission.”
“Aiya, no need to see me off. I’m already twenty.”
“Don’t worry, my teammates and captain are all very capable people. I’ll tell you what I saw there when I come back…”
“Everything is for our future.”
Yu Yuan said and said, and finally persuaded her parents to stop where they were. She hopped onto the car and waved goodbye to them.

In a small house on the edge of the palace.
The Guide girl, wearing the uniform of a palace physician and with a bit of baby fat on her face, pushed open the door with a basin of water.
The room was terrifyingly quiet, but she was used to this level of silence. She just reached out and took out the towel from the basin, wrung it dry, then walked to the bedside and placed the towel on the face of the sleeping Sentinel on the bed.
It was like covering a dead person’s face with a white cloth.
Standing by the bed and watching quietly for a few seconds, she sniffled, then reached out and wiped the person’s face on the bed with the towel.
After wiping, the Sentinel still had no reaction. His breathing was even and quiet, and his chest rose and fell steadily, like a breathing corpse.
The Guide girl was quiet for a few more seconds, sighed, and began to gently and continuously call the Sentinel’s name. Although she looked a little sad, it seemed that she had done this many times.
“Qiu Ye, Qiu Ye, Qiu Ye… Uncle, please wake up. Don’t sleep anymore.”
“I really don’t know if one day…”
“Captain and the others have set off. They must come back safely.”
Qiu Shuang put the towel back in the basin and then placed the basin on the bedside table next to it.
Her parents had passed away when she was very young, and it had always been her little uncle, Qiu Ye, who had raised her. Back then, when Qiu Ye’s Guide died, she knew that some things would come sooner or later.
Qiu Ye often acted very relaxed, both friendly and caring for those around him, and could become a confidant-like role in his social circle.
He never put pressure on others. Even during the most painful period, when he saw Qiu Shuang come to care for him, he would smile and hand her the snacks that his niece had loved since she was a child.
This always gave people the illusion that he was fine, that his current life was the bottom, and that the days to come would get better and better.
But some things didn’t develop this way.
When Qiu Ye was lucid, he had told her, “Don’t worry, I won’t just fall into an eternal sleep. I will die with some meaning and value. Your uncle was once a Chief Sentinel.”
But a Chief Sentinel was just an honorary title, a position with great reputation and influence, not some kind of death-exemption gold medal.
The current Zhu Hui, and the previous Chief Sentinel, Qiu Ye, between them, the last Chief Sentinel was a very common example. He had already died in a cataclysm zone and would never come back.
Qiu Ye had always been very tolerant of pain. In his sleep, would he feel pain?

Deep within the palace, in the last room at the end of the corridor.
“They have set off.”
Lu Si reported to the person at the head of the room with a blank expression.
The Emperor sat in the shadow of the palace, his expression almost merging with the shadows.
“I know.”
He looked at the black silhouettes that had already reached his seat and said.
“When they come back, tell me again.”
The back of the black silhouette’s head moved, as if it wanted to turn its head, but in the end, it did not continue its movement.
Today was a good weather. It did not snow in the Imperial Capital, and the snow on the road could be temporarily cleared.
Click.
The key was pulled out of the keyhole.
Xu Xunyue and Zhu Hui closed the doors and windows, passed the frozen fountain and some dry branches in the courtyard, then locked the manor gate, exchanged a smile, and got into the car together.
Xia Feng stopped his continuous writing, adjusted his reading glasses, stood up to relax his muscles and drink water, and then sat back down after half a minute. His young assistant was recording data on the side, muttering.
Yi Chengli drove his modified car out of the central villa district, leaving behind the identity and family background he had once been proud of but was now precarious. He gritted his teeth for five minutes after the car started.
Xu Mengwei lit a cigarette in Xu Yan’an’s room in his ancestral home, smoked it quietly, and cleaned up the ashes.
Yu Yuan put the lid on her thermos cup, shook it to feel the remaining amount of ginger soup inside, and muttered, “I’ll just leave a third to drink on the road.”
Qiu Shuang told the basin on the bedside table about her childhood, and as she spoke, tears streamed down her face.
Lu Si walked out of the room at the end of the palace, scratching his head in confusion, not knowing that the black silhouette in the room had originally wanted to move in front of him.
The Emperor stared at those ghost-like shadows, his voice hoarse, “I will not be captured and become a puppet.”
In this world, everyone who was unwilling to just wait for the result was working hard. Some used their hearts, some used their actions.
In the fourteenth year of the Cataclysm, no one had given up.