After Faking a Disability, I Married the New Chief Sentinel 69

Chapter 69: The Walking Dead

Is this a normal human, or a resident of Ghost Town who has been dead for a long time but appears normal?
Or is it a contaminated soldier, about to transform into a cataclysmic being?
In any case, Xu Xunyue didn’t think that a creature that could appear here would be a simple character.
“Hello.”
The young man said in a low voice as he walked slowly:
“It’s been a long time since I’ve seen any other living people around here. Please rest assured, we have no ill intentions. We’re just a little happy.”
His voice, like his temperament, had a certain indescribable quality. A faint spiritual fluctuation lingered around him, indicating his identity as a Guide.
The four people following behind him were probably Sentinels. They remained silent throughout, it was unknown if they were naturally taciturn, or if they were completely obedient to this slender young man and had no inclination to communicate.
Xu Xunyue looked at his smiling face, then glanced at the four silent people behind him. His gaze lingered for a moment on their somewhat old and faded clothes, and he was lost in thought.
And Zhu Hui showed his attitude with his actions—he took half a step forward and stood in front of Xu Xunyue, holding a gun in one hand and a dagger in the other.
Clearly, he was not moved by the young man’s words.
The slender young man was not annoyed. On the contrary, he raised his empty hands to show his goodwill and began to introduce himself.
“My name is Lan. The four people behind me are all my team members. They are all rather reclusive and don’t like to chat. We are an Imperial squad. You should be too, right?”
Speaking of which, he showed a reserved and polite sad expression.
“But you only have two people. Did you get separated from your companions? Or did they…”
Lan did not finish his sentence, but he perfectly expressed his regret for the warriors who might have already died.
He seemed not to see the vigilance on Zhu Hui’s face, nor the deep meaning in Xu Xunyue’s eyes. He just chattered on, as if this were some garden square where people could relax and chat.
Xu Xunyue listened quietly, mobilizing his spiritual power to defend himself and Zhu Hui, without making a sound.
As for Zhu Hui? Since even Xu Xunyue had no intention of speaking, he certainly would not.
The other party didn’t ask any questions, and was basically talking to himself and answering his own questions. They didn’t take the bait, and the scene did not immediately become cold.
“My teammates and I often explore here, doing things like collecting supplies and drawing unknown maps. The weather suddenly changed here, so we thought of resting in this villa, but we didn’t expect to meet you. It’s such a coincidence.”
Lan stopped at a certain distance, and the four people following behind him also stopped in unison.
“Where are you going next?” he said. “I’m very familiar with this place. I should be able to help you.”
Xu Xunyue asked back:
“Since you’re so familiar with this place, how much do you know about the manor in Ghost Town? Do you know a person named Huang Shao?”
“Ah, I know that place very well,” seeing Xu Xunyue speak, the smile on Lan’s face widened even more. “You mean the courtyard with a large yard and a basement, right? It’s still quite a long way from here.”
He pointed in the direction of the south.
“If you go to that large courtyard and continue to walk forward for a while, you’ll see the ocean.”
Ghost Town was by the sea, which was not strange. The Cataclysm had submerged many cities, and the plains had become oceans. Only the high-altitude cities around the Imperial Capital had been spared.
There might be some land on the edge of a cataclysm zone, but the depths of a cataclysm zone were definitely oceans, and they were connected.
Xu Xunyue was noncommittal, but he knew in his heart that Lan was right. The direction he was pointing was consistent with the hand-drawn map given by the bald Sentinel.
According to the bald Sentinel himself, he had never actually been to the manor. He only knew of its existence because of other explorers who had gone deep into Ghost Town but had not survived. Those who had reached the manor and come out were always crazy, and would die in a few days. Only a few would leave a few words, which would be passed on to the longest-living bald Sentinel.
Over time, they accumulated, and so there was the precious map that the bald Sentinel had drawn for them.
But from Lan’s words, it seemed that they had personally been to that manor.
Personally been, and still alive and lucid.
Just with this small team of only five people?
“I can take you to the manor you mentioned. The supplies there are abundant, far more than we can use up, and it’s not easy to transport them out. Now that the town has become so new, the things inside must be even better. The owner of that manor is very wealthy.”
Lan enthusiastically issued an invitation, at the same time not forgetting to answer Xu Xunyue’s latter question: “Huang Shao? I don’t know him. Is he your companion?”
Xu Xunyue looked at Zhu Hui, and Zhu Hui happened to look at him too. The two of them exchanged their meanings silently with their eyes.
Xu Xunyue also said a few words through the mental link, not many and not for long, as if to reduce his spiritual power consumption.
After communicating with Zhu Hui, he nodded at Lan.
“Then we’ll have to trouble you to lead the way.”
“No trouble, no trouble,” Lan smiled sincerely. “This is helping our compatriots. Let’s go.”
He was unarmed, yet he turned around brazenly, exposing his back to the two of them.
Even more contrary to common sense, the four Sentinels standing behind him also turned around directly, without walking behind Lan to separate Lan, the Guide, from Xu Xunyue and the two of them.
“We’ll go in front and clear the way for you,” Lan looked back at them, all his actions showing the human virtues of peace, friendliness, sincerity, and trust. “The road to the manor has been cleared by my teammates. It won’t be very dangerous.”
He said what he said, but Xu Xunyue and Zhu Hui only followed after they had pulled a distance of more than thirty meters from this team.
During this time, Lan was determined to chat with them. Even with a distance of more than thirty meters, it couldn’t stop him from happily talking to himself.
“This is the first time I’ve seen a compatriot here. I’m really so happy. Other humans don’t have this level.” When he said this, his gaze lingered on Xu Xunyue. After a while, when it was to the point of being impolite to look any longer, he glanced at Zhu Hui and then turned to look straight ahead.
“Although this place is dangerous, if you get familiar with its hidden rules, you can live here like a fish in water, even better than outside.” When he mentioned this, there was a very obvious pride in his tone. “Even if everything in the town hadn’t become new today, the remaining supplies from before are still very abundant, aren’t they? Such a large place, so many people’s things, and now only a few of us can get them, to earn a better life.”
“They all say if you can’t beat them, join them. I like this kind of life very much.”
With a distance of more than thirty meters, his voice was still clear, and it was a real voice, not a whisper, which showed how loud he was.
This kind of behavior was quite foolish in a cataclysm zone, a mistake that even a low-grade student at the White Tower would not make. Not only would it attract nearby cataclysmic creatures, but if one encountered a cataclysmic being that suddenly appeared in front of them, they would also be attacked at the first moment, reducing many chances of escape.
However, let alone danger, Xu Xunyue hadn’t seen a single shadow of a cataclysmic creature along the way. His spiritual power also hadn’t found any cataclysmic creatures.
The facts seemed to be as Lan had said, and even more exaggerated—this road had indeed been cleared.
The homes of the pre-Cataclysm rich were a hot exploration spot in the Poseidon Era. One could obtain a large number of high-tech products in a limited range.
If other people who entered Ghost Town had this kind of “serendipitous encounter,” they would probably be so excited that they would jump up and down, wishing they could latch onto Lan’s team and come to the depths of a cataclysm zone every day to pick up supplies and exchange them for things.
In the later stages, Lan’s route was a little different from the one given by the bald Sentinel. He had passed through several dangerous areas that the latter had marked heavily. His route was shorter, and he didn’t encounter any danger during the process.
Xu Xunyue and Zhu Hui had always kept their distance from them. After passing through the park, shopping mall, farm, local government building, and so on, a courtyard of considerable scale appeared in their field of vision.
The activation of the contamination core had made it brand new, returning it to its managed state from fourteen years ago. At this time, every brick and tile was shining in the sun, and every carving was meticulously polished by a craftsman. The fountain in the center of the courtyard continuously produced water splashes, looking different from the other buildings on the side.
This was the manor they were looking for, and in the distance, one could faintly see the coastline.
Xu Xunyue and Zhu Hui saw “people” in the manor’s courtyard.
Two or three of them, all in their teens or early twenties, with some similarities in their appearances. Perhaps they were the next generation of the manor’s residents.
They were wearing the popular clothes of the Empire from fourteen years ago, holding mechanical remote controls in their hands, and controlling a wobbly mini-aircraft flying in the sky above the manor.
Their clothing, expressions, and toys… all indicated their identity—residents of Ghost Town who were temporarily behaving normally.
In other words, after walking all this way, Xu Xunyue had finally seen a cataclysmic creature again.
In the abnormal environment, there was a hint of normalcy.
Lan had stopped far away after seeing the manor. This time, he was cautious. He stood very far away and said to Xu Xunyue in a very low voice:
“There, you see it. That’s the place. But now the situation in the town is different from before, and there are other guys inside.”
Xu Xunyue asked, “You cleared the road to the manor, walked all the way out, but didn’t clear the inside of the manor?”
Lan was stunned for a moment, then quickly shook his head and said, “We just left the manor. On our way out, it suddenly started to rain in the town, and then we encountered the strange phenomenon of everything becoming new. So we left the supplies we had collected and wanted to find a place to rest and discuss our strategy… and then, we met you.”
“Meeting compatriots, of course we have to help if we can. With you guys, we have more people, so we have more confidence to come here.”
Xu Xunyue nodded and continued to ask:
“When you entered the manor before, did you see a black, spherical object the size of a human palm that could float in the air? The kind that emits spiritual fluctuations.”
“That thing,” the smile in Lan’s eyes became more obvious. “I’ve seen it. I’ll take you to find it.”
“Go in directly?”
“Yes. We have many people, so we can cooperate in battle. Whoever finds the supplies inside gets to keep them. How about it?”
“It’s too conspicuous to go through the main door,” Xu Xunyue disagreed with his proposal. “Such a large manor must have a side door. It would be better to enter from there.”
“Mmm… you have a point.”
When Xu Xunyue had first refused, Lan’s expression had been a little anxious, but after Xu Xunyue said the latter half of the sentence, he became happy again.
As if he were a merchant, even though the customer had refused the sample provided by the merchant, being willing to continue to ask seriously meant there was room for discussion.
Besides, Xu Xunyue’s tone had always been very calm, and the content of his questions was not tricky. There was no meaning of questioning or nitpicking, just finding some information from what Lan had said and then asking further.
Probably to gain their trust, Lan spilled the beans and told the two of them about the structure of the manor.
After listening, Zhu Hui pondered for a moment, then looked at Xu Xunyue and said, “Then shall we go through the small door on the side by the sea?”
Xu Xunyue accepted his proposal.
Lan smiled. His expression clearly showed that he thought they were being overly cautious, but in the end, he didn’t say anything. He led the two of them around in a circle and walked toward the direction of the manor and the coastline.
And the four Sentinels were still silent, following him with the same pace and movements.
Xu Xunyue gradually approached the ocean in the depths of Ghost Town.
For some reason, the color of the seawater here was very deep, a heavy blue-black. The closer one got, the more it felt like the sea was almost touching the manor.
It didn’t need a tsunami, just a big wave, to sweep away and destroy the manor that had made many soldiers never return.
The bald Sentinel hadn’t mentioned this at all. Did he not know, or was it not like this before?
“Alright, go in through this door. The third house in that row is it,” Lan said. “Go through the long corridor inside and enter the basement, and you’ll see what you’re looking for.”
“Thanks.” Xu Xunyue stopped.
Lan looked at him, then at Zhu Hui, who had also stopped, and asked with confusion, “Why did you stop? Don’t worry, there’s no danger.”
“Are you sure there’s no danger?” Xu Xunyue reached out and held Zhu Hui’s wrist, pulling him, who was standing too far forward, to his side. “Being surrounded by the dead, I feel very unsafe.”
“What are you talking about? How could that be? The five of us will help you. We will absolutely not let you be torn apart by the guys in the manor.” Lan’s smile remained, and he was unconcerned by Xu Xunyue’s words.
Xu Xunyue looked at the five familiar faces before him and sent his spiritual body to drill into the ground and lurk at their feet.
He also smiled, the corners of his lips lifting bit by bit, full of cold mockery.
“Aren’t the five of you also dead?”
Lan’s expression froze.
“After fighting so many spiritual battles, you dare to come looking for me. It’s a pity your IQ is not high after being completely contaminated.”
Xu Xunyue’s gaze moved away from him and swept over the four Sentinel corpses standing behind him. A touch of gold dyed his ice-blue eyes.
The slender young man with a certain temperament before him was precisely the Emperor’s eldest son, who had died in that operation four years ago.
The four Sentinels were members of the Royal Guard.
From the moment they appeared, Xu Xunyue had recognized them. After all, their appearances were the same.
Four years ago, Zhu Hui was still young, but Xu Xunyue had already been working for four years and was a little famous in the Imperial Capital. He had seen these people when they were alive.
And now, the cataclysmic creature using the body of the Emperor’s eldest son, calling himself “Lan,” was leading four Sentinels from the Royal Guard, trying to lure him and Zhu Hui into the manor, to trap them in a jar.
He doesn’t even have the memories of when he was alive… he’s already another species, not human anymore.
“Not high IQ? What do you mean?” Lan’s face was ashen. “You talk a good game. Hmph, are you even human? You’re clearly the same kind of existence as me.”
Xu Xunyue ignored him.
The shadows suddenly drilled out from underground, firmly surrounding the five walking corpses.
Trapping them in a jar?
In your dreams.