Chapter 95

Horne remained composed, following Hels’s gestures without a word. Hels pulled him forward, and along the way, he could only hear faint footsteps and rustling sounds—the friction of clothing.

If he wasn’t mistaken, the corridor they walked through had cells on both sides, though he couldn’t tell how many people were locked up. It was too quiet to hear.

The pungent smell hadn’t faded; it had simply shifted from unbearable to tolerable. If the rotten stench was this thick, there probably weren’t many people left—most had likely died.

After walking another ten meters or so, Hels stopped, his fingertips still lightly brushing Horne’s skin.

—Here.

Ains was right here.

After a moment of silence, the rhythmic tapping resumed.

—Can’t open it.

Horne frowned slightly, not because the cell door wouldn’t open, but because after the candlelight went out, his vision was plunged into pure darkness.

Yet Hels seemed able to see, just like in the secret passage beneath the Slum earlier—darkness didn’t hinder his sight.

That wasn’t the main issue, though. The key problem was, if they couldn’t force the door open, how would they get Ains out?

Horne asked why it wouldn’t open.

Hels tapped out a single word bluntly: particle.

Horne took a step forward, reaching out into the darkness to probe. Hels grabbed his hand first and guided it to the lock on Ains’s cell door.

It felt ice-cold and hard. He’d glimpsed it when they jumped down earlier and thought it was an iron door, but now touching it, he realized it only looked like one. The material was extremely smooth, with hardness far exceeding iron, and there was a shallow groove in the center.

His fingertips traced it slowly, the chill spreading through his body.

It must be the spot for reading the particle.

They needed a guard’s particle, but they’d already killed the guards.

—What now?

They were at an impasse.

If they couldn’t break the cell door by force, there was one clumsy alternative: have You Wenjie bring down the returning Alien guards.

It was risky.

In the standoff, two whimpers came from not far from where they stood. Horne’s head snapped up instantly.

It was Ains’s voice! She was indeed here, but for some reason, she hadn’t spoken. Even those two whimpers sounded like they leaked out from her throat in utter terror.

She’d been locked up here for over a month, in this environment.

Horne immediately realized why it was so quiet.

If there were people, they would be terrified. With a light source, they could see the corpses and rotting flesh in the cells; without it, they could only hear sounds.

Ains had been abused a month ago. Hearing someone at her cell door, her mind likely jumped to one conclusion: the Aliens had come for her.

Staying silent to avoid notice was a primal human instinct. But they’d been at the door for a while now, and Ains couldn’t suppress her fear any longer.

Horne listened motionless for a moment and realized that aside from the faint tremors in Ains’s throat, there were no other sounds.

This cell had no other living people.

Hels tapped his skin again to warn him—don’t speak.

Darkness and fear spread; it felt like opening one’s mouth would invite being swallowed whole.

Horne asked You Wenjie about the situation above. No reply came, but they couldn’t linger here too long, and You Wenjie had to come down for support—otherwise, they couldn’t climb the five-meter ceiling.

After two minutes that felt frozen in time, a familiar sound echoed from the end of the corridor.

Flapping wings. Soon, the flapping turned into footsteps.

An Alien had come down.

Almost the instant the footsteps sounded, Hels yanked Horne’s hand and darted to the side. The two quickly buried themselves in deeper darkness.

Other Alien guards coming down meant You Wenjie had encountered the other three Aliens and lured them away—so where did this one come from?

The footsteps traversed the long corridor, turned the first corner, and drew slowly closer.

“Plop, plop.” Listening closely revealed the difference from human footsteps: these carried a distant echo, step by step approaching.

Horne was pinned by Hels in the corner, his back against the ice-cold wall. A slight movement made him feel something slick underfoot, like straw.

They’d hidden deep in an empty cell.

“Plop, plop.” The footsteps grew nearer, the echo fainter. The Alien made no sound and didn’t question the extinguished candlelight.

As the distance closed, Horne’s heartbeat quickened. He wasn’t afraid of the Alien threat—they couldn’t kill it right now. He was just thinking how to use it to open the door while controlling it to avoid more trouble.

“Shh.” An exceedingly faint breath grazed his ear.

“Thump, thump.”

Warmth pressed against his chest, steady heartbeats transmitting from the cavity. Their rhythms intertwined, and for a fleeting moment, Horne felt disoriented. He realized Hels had him cornered in the darkness—a posture of intense possession and protection.

That was just how he was.

But after all these years, he finally had the power to protect himself.

“Plop, plop.” Closer, clearer—it should reach their cell any second. Alien particles were something they obtained by auto-dissociating their bodies. How to control it, make it open the lock willingly?

Horne lightened his breathing, his mind racing, but it stalled after a few thoughts—Hels’s breath swept over his hair and brows, across his skin, into his nostrils, scorching and intense. In the darkness, the hand gripping his wrist never loosened.

“Plop, plop.” The echo vanished completely—very close!

Horne’s throat bobbed. Hels stood in front of him, blocking any immediate attacks. In that instant, Hels’s form swayed almost imperceptibly.

Horne instinctively reached to support him. His fingertips touched skin that felt warmer than normal.

He seemed to be running a fever.

Realizing this, Horne held his breath. He hadn’t noticed anything wrong with Hels the whole way. His health had been poor lately, but he’d shown no discomfort—until now…

Horne shook off Hels’s hand. In the half-second Hels’s breath hitched, he intertwined their fingers.

Horne gently pulled him closer, letting him lean against him, shifting some weight. His fingertips tapped three times lightly on the feverish skin.

—I’m right here with you.

Hels froze for an instant, then gripped back with greater force.

Breathing grew heavy, suffocation surging. “Plop, plop!” The footsteps stopped outside.

As Horne pondered how to use this Alien, a white light appeared before his eyes—he could see.

The lock on the opposite cell door glowed faintly white, finally giving his pure black vision a focal point.

The particle slowly seeped into the groove, followed by a “click”—the door unlocked.

The Alien had opened Ains’s cell door?

The two in the darkness froze simultaneously, then moved as one.

Horne burst out instantly, using the afterimage from the brief white light. He pinned the humanoid Alien against the cell door, tilting his head slightly. A bullet’s heat wave grazed his ear, a faint burn curling his hair as the high temperature shot straight into the Alien’s core.

It dissipated into smoke in an instant, without hesitation.

In that moment, the little girl’s sobs erupted fully: “Wahhh!” The cries echoed through the rotting corridor.

No time for explanations. Hels shoved the door open, strode in, covered Ains’s mouth, scooped her up entirely, and headed out. Horne followed with a cold expression. At the same time, he received You Wenjie’s reply.

You Wenjie was coming down.

The entire prison stirred, yet remained as silent as a tomb.

Ains’s cries spread from the end to the corner, bouncing off the medieval marble. Two figures dashed past dozens of sealed cells.

Horne didn’t see inside the cells, but Hels knew. In the pure black, he glanced back.

Skeletons filled every cell, and terrified people stood in every one.

Night wind blew as the three ran up the spiral stairs. The moment they burst through the iron door, starlight fell, and Horne took a deep breath.

Before he could finish, Wen Yu’s message arrived: The West District fire was under control. They needed to return to the Plaza District at top speed; she’d cover them entering the drainage system there.

Ains bit her lip hard, not daring to speak the whole way. Only upon reaching the surface did over a month’s torment burst forth like a dam breaking.

“Bro…”

But the emotion didn’t fully spill. Hels handed her to You Wenjie to carry, scolding softly: “No calling out. No crying.”

Ains fell instantly silent, tears dripping one by one.

Horne glanced anxiously at Hels. His face showed no anomaly, but the earlier touch told him this man was feverish. No time to ask. The three raced along the original path’s edges straight to the Plaza District.

The thick smoke overhead hadn’t cleared, shrouding the Tower and them. The night sky shifted from deep blue to gray-black.

Heartbeats accelerated with their run. They turned a small path, skirted bushes, and charged into the plaza.

At the plaza center stood the Obelisk, its icy metallic sheen flickering.

700: 37

The escape route was within reach.

Their journey had gone too smoothly—suspiciously so. If Ais allowing Ains’s rescue was a trap itself, would the fire have disrupted it entirely?

Horne thought this while running, but regardless, as long as they got Ains out, any subsequent traps didn’t matter.

Closer and closer. Wen Yu’s message stayed calm: [Alien at 9 o’clock ahead. It’ll leave center-left; the left one’s coming in. Right-center and dead-ahead are returning. Don’t look back. Stick to center line. If needed, Jia Lan will return to block them.]

The center line meant crossing the plaza—the most open and shortest distance now.

The three figures sped around.

Just one step left: jump into the drainage system, connect to the escape pod, head straight to Thunder Pavilion.

That was the original plan. But as they passed the Obelisk, Ains suddenly screamed. It was as if she’d been punched hard; she tumbled off You Wenjie’s back.

You Wenjie thought he’d hit her wound and reached for her immediately. At that moment, she leaped up and bolted wildly in another direction.

Horne’s expression changed. Hels charged out right away.

Less than five meters—they were no more than five meters from the Obelisk. This was Horne’s closest encounter with Alien tech.

Whatever drove Ains, she went berserk, rushing straight for the Obelisk.

“Don’t go over there—” Horne shouted, his voice stretching endlessly.

In an instant, the whole world, every motion, slowed like a paused video.

Horne’s slightly open mouth, Hels’s outstretched hand, You Wenjie’s shocked expression, and Wen Yu’s finger on the trigger from the tree—all froze.

Thick smoke stilled. In that halted frame, red light flashed at Ains’s forehead.

“Beep—”

A piercing white light ignited from the Obelisk’s tip, intersecting with her forehead’s red glow. Like answering an Alien’s summons, it pierced the scene instantly, shooting skyward.

The night sky blazed like daylight in that instant.

“Ains—!!!”