There was no time to explain this issue for now.
Because after the gray wolf launched its first attack, the entire train began to shake. Not just the compartments with the first and second engine rooms, but every freight car was shaking violently, as if countless monsters were climbing, crashing, and running on top of each freight car.
The indicator lights next to the red and green buttons on the control panel lit up, and the entrance and exit doors slammed shut automatically.
The lights in the engine room flickered, as if the circuit might short out and cut the power at any moment.
The shadows of the two people stretched long on the floor, appearing particularly isolated and helpless amid this overwhelming crisis.
A white down jacket was discarded on the ground. Only then did Yan Ji notice that Xin Hexue was wearing a specially-made combat uniform underneath. Its pure white color was different from the sentinels’ pitch-black uniforms.
Most Folded Zone monsters do not track prey through vision. Or rather, having long lived in the lightless Folded Zones, their eyesight was practically nonexistent. However, their sense of smell had evolved to be extraordinarily keen. They usually locked onto prey by following the unique scent of humans, and the smell of blood in particular would greatly provoke them.
Therefore, special combat uniforms were not designed in military green, camouflage, or brown for concealment. The monsters’ visual systems were so poor they were practically colorblind.
Guides’ special combat uniforms were deliberately designed in a white color scheme, so that sentinels could quickly distinguish guides in Folded Zones with special terrains like mountains and forests, thus providing protection.
The white uniform had a high-waisted dress uniform cut, with a large lapel design, tailored slim and neat. Knee-high boots hugged his calves tightly, highlighting the slender, tight curves.
This made the young guide before him appear both beautiful and aggressive, like a sharply drawn painting.
From the rusty skylight above the engine room came deafening bangs. The ceiling dented step by step under pressure. Something was on top of the train, frantically trying to smash through the skylight to get inside.
There were even a large number of them.
Accompanied by ear-piercing screeches, the high-strength metal roof of the freight car was stomped into horrifying dents, crisscrossed in disorder.
A blurry shadow flew toward Yan Ji’s face and he subconsciously reached out to catch it.
Xin Hexue asked, “Do you know how to use a gun?”
The young man’s demeanor was calm, his eyes devoid of fear in the face of this situation. It was completely different from the guide who had once complained in terror that the sentinel had failed to protect him.
The modified M92F rotated once in Yan Ji’s hand and he grinned, “Of course.”
Both of his parents were sentinels. When he was seven or eight, firearms were like ordinary toy cars to him, and even though he hadn’t touched one in years, the familiarity returned the moment he picked it up.
Protecting guides was almost an instinct and duty for sentinels.
Yan Ji stepped forward decisively, shielding Xin Hexue. His shooting stance was textbook-perfect, aiming at the completely deformed skylight.
Xin Hexue placed a hand on his shoulder, his voice soft. “Have you ever been inside a Folded Zone?”
Yan Ji paused and shook his head honestly.
Xin Hexue guided Yan Ji’s shoulder to make him step back. “Soldier, you still need more formal training.”
Xin Hexue’s eyes were as clear as a cold moon over a lake. He gave Yan Ji a glance. “Now, leave it to me.”
In the sealed space, wind stirred without cause. A feather with a white glow drifted before Yan Ji’s eyes, blocking his vision.
What lay before him was pure white, and the feather settled on the ground like dust the next second. A pair of slender wings unfolded before him, as if they had naturally grown from Xin Hexue’s back, breaking free from the body’s confines. The feathers spread fully, so beautiful they seemed like sacred objects from an oil painting.
Xin Hexue’s profile was focused. His lashes lifted, and at the moment the skylight was about to fall and give way completely, he drew his bow, aimed, and let go in one fluid motion.
The black monster with a vaguely human yet ghostly appearance that had stuck its head through the skylight took a direct hit to the forehead. The guide’s powerful mental power pierced directly between its eyes.
This was the unique combat style of high-level guides. Mental power could condense into physical weapons and attach to them.
The monster let out a deafening screech, like a wail from hell. In the blink of an eye, it was purified into dust and dispersed on the wind.
It was a terrifying sight, because countless more monsters were still trying to squeeze through the only breached opening. They looked like charred corpses, and their twisted flesh was writhing.
Ordinary people who had never encountered Folded Zones would likely have fainted from fright.
But Yan Ji stared unblinkingly. He saw the taut, smooth lines of the young man’s arm, the flutter of lashes separating and joining again, and three arrows flew in rapid succession…bang, bang, bang.
The pounding in Yan Ji’s chest matched the rhythm of the crashing of the train roof.
He suddenly felt short of breath, as if he had climbed to a high plateau. Some emotion was quietly sprouting, recklessly plunging into his heart amid the crisis.
Yan Ji remembered. He had felt this way too the first time he met Xin Hexue.
[Yan Ji Love Value +10]
Xin Hexue’s attention was drawn by the notification sound. He glanced sideways at the love-struck fool, his voice cold. “Don’t be stupid.”
……
There was no time for Yan Ji to sort out his budding first-love feelings.
Countless monsters filed in from the skylight, and the night wind brought in the stench of flesh and blood.
The monsters were like zombies, varied in shape, and devoid of nerves for pain or thought. They only acted on instinct to devour and tear upon sensing human presence in the freight car, thus madly surging toward them.
The narrow engine room left little space for battle. They had to eliminate the monsters as quickly as possible after they poured in, to prevent the freight car from being stuffed full of blood and flesh.
The gunfire continued without much pause, striking directly between the brows of the undead. One monster after another fell with twisted bodies.
The gray wolf’s sharp claws raked across the freight car walls, leaving deep gouges, and its fangs gleamed coldly as it bit through the distorted monsters.
Then, its body expanded several times over, rampaging wildly. Xin Hexue was almost caught up by its jaws.
After dodging the attack swiftly, Xin Hexue called back, “Control your mental body!”
Yan Ji gritted his teeth. “Sir, I don’t know how! Do you see it listening to me?”
As a sentinel without formal military academy training, he lacked the experience of taking the Mental Empathy Connection course with his mental body.
Fortunately, although the gray wolf charged and killed with no skill, its combat strength was formidable enough to ease the pressure.
Xin Hexue’s arms were growing sore.
After all, guides were not like sentinels who could maintain continuous output in battle. Their bodies had not been strengthened through evolution like sentinels’. For guides, using mental power for attacks was a great drain. Prolonged combat would lead to both physical and mental exhaustion.
Finally, seizing a gap when no more monsters came through the skylight, Xin Hexue retracted his wings, stepped onto the driver’s seat, and nimbly climbed to the edge of the skylight and successfully leaped onto the roof.
Xin Hexue: “Come up. Let’s get out of here first.”
He called down to Yan Ji inside the freight car.
Yan Ji’s keen hearing made him feel something was wrong, and his pupils suddenly shrank. “Careful!”
A shadow rushed out from the rear freight cars, sweeping through the air to knock the young man onto the rooftop.
Xin Hexue’s back slammed into hard metal and he winced in pain, his eyes narrowing slightly.
At some point, perhaps back in the engine room, his arm had been injured. It began to throb, likely a shallow cut when dodging a monster’s attack. Blood started seeping through, staining part of the fabric red.
Xin Hexue was preparing to gather mental power for a final blow when a cold long sword sliced through the moonlit night with a flash, its blade piercing the monster’s heart before him.
At the same time, all the monsters crawling on the train and inside the freight cars let out simultaneous shrieks, and flocks of crows scattered from the mountain forests on either side.
With the death of this monster, the Folded Zone’s “switch” successfully closed, and the train and the night returned to their original, normal appearance.
Xin Hexue met Wei Zhuo’s obsidian-like eyes.
What happened next took only a split second. Just as Yan Ji climbed up as fast as he could and called out, “Xin Hexue…”, he was caught off guard and sent sprawling with a punch.
Pain flared from his jaw to his brain.
Blood filled Yan Ji’s mouth. He spat out a bloody foam. “What’s your problem?”
There was a flash of cold light, and the mature sentinel with a cold expression stood steadily atop the train. The sword tip hovered at Yan Ji’s throat, a fatal point.
Upon seeing the young sentinel clearly, Wei Zhuo’s brow turned colder, and there seemed to be a ball of fire burning in his chest. “You’re a sentinel? How many lives do you have to dare bring him here?”
“I brought him here.”
Xin Hexue stepped forward, placing a hand on Wei Zhuo’s shoulder. “You need mental guidance, Wei Zhuo.”
Unstable emotions were also a sign of high mental pollution.
Xin Hexue patted the dust from his shoulder, subtly using mental suggestion to calm him, speaking gently, “Listen to me, alright?”
Tender but leaving no room for refusal.
Wei Zhuo stiffened in silence for a few seconds.
Then, like a huge, dangerous beast withdrawing all aggression, he submitted under the guide’s mental power.
He also resembled a traditional medieval noble knight, sliding his sword into its sheath with a gleam and standing guard beside his lord.
The disheveled Kuike climbed up from a rear freight car. His woolly curls were even messier from battle.
He had been brushing dust from his hands, but upon seeing the scene, he paused and chuckled dryly. “What a lively gathering. Everyone’s here, huh?”
……
Halfway through its journey, the freight train was polluted by the Folded Zones on either side of the mountains, instantly turning into a breeding ground for monsters and spawning a new Folded Zone.
However, within half a day of this small Folded Zone’s birth and before it could even be cataloged, named, or numbered, Wei Zhuo destroyed its switch.
The train returned to its normal appearance in the real world.
It proceeded steadily back to the Northern Frontier.
Wei Zhuo communicated with the senior officers stationed at the Northern Frontier watchtower. Afterwards, the three of them would depart the Northern Frontier and return to the Imperial Capital.
Xin Hexue and Yan Ji said their private goodbyes.
With just the two of them, Yan Ji unreservedly released his mental body, which had been howling to be let out.
Xin Hexue put his down jacket back on, still pure white like frost. The plush collar framed his slightly thin jaw, making him look gentle and harmless, like an emotionally stable, gentle guide.
Very different from the rational, calm, and sharp-edged figure he had been during that night’s battle.
Yan Ji’s heartbeat quickened uncontrollably. He awkwardly touched the back of his neck.
Catching sight of where Xin Hexue’s gaze fell, Yan Ji said, “Don’t look, it’s ugly.”
His jaw had taken a punch from Wei Zhuo, and there were still faint bruises left.
Xin Hexue’s eyes curved slightly. “He was too impulsive. I apologize.”
Yan Ji pursed his lips irritably. “What’s your relationship? Why are you apologizing for him?”
Xin Hexue did not answer his question but asked, “What are your plans from now on?”
Yan Ji understood he was referring to his sentinel identity. Although Xin Hexue and the others had discovered he was a sentinel at the time, they hadn’t mentioned a single word about it after returning.
Yan Ji had only received a warning from the Watchtower, and the sentinel who had lent him the vehicle had been punished afterward.
He shrugged, pretending not to care. “Just keep going like this.”
Xin Hexue knelt halfway, gently stroked the gray wolf’s head and leaned in to press his face close. “Goodbye.”
The farewell was spoken so softly that the cold wind seemed to blow it away. It was unclear whether he was saying goodbye to Yan Ji or to the gray wolf.
Yan Ji fixed his gaze on the figure walking away, boarding the off-road vehicle.
The vehicle drove through the icy snow, leaving two deep tracks behind.
The gray wolf chased against the cold wind for a while, but eventually couldn’t catch up. It lay down in the snow, letting out a low whimper.
Yan Ji sneered coldly, “Useless.”
……
The watchtower organized a new round of combat capability tests to conveniently screen sentinels from the teenagers who had reached fourteen.
“Next.”
An ordinary citizen ID card was tossed across the table.
The staff on duty looked up. The newcomer was an adult young man. From the dark circles under his eyes, it was clear he hadn’t slept well recently.
Yan Ji had a dark expression. “Your test result four years ago was wrong. I’m applying for a retest.”
……
The journey back was the same, an eight-hour drive.
Because Wei Zhuo had driven on the way there, for fairness’ sake, Kuike decided he would drive on the return trip.
However, as soon as Xin Hexue boarded the passenger compartment, Wei Zhuo also got on, leaving Kuike alone in the driver’s seat.
Kuike: ?
Xin Hexue had originally thought Wei Zhuo wanted to say something to him.
But after getting in, Wei Zhuo didn’t say anything, and even chose to sit diagonally opposite him at the farthest seat between the two rows.
……Perhaps it was a cold war.
Sentinels’ emotions are already unstable due to mental pollution and are hard to predict.
Xin Hexue asked tentatively, “Do you need mental guidance?”
Wei Zhuo gave the same answer as before. “We’ll talk when we get back.”
With that, Xin Hexue stopped speaking.
The passenger compartment fell silent.
Through the tempered glass windows, one could see the retreating scenery of the Northern Frontier. The long road stretched on, snow drifting for a thousand miles, making drowsiness come easily.
When Xin Hexue’s head bobbed closer and closer to hitting the glass, a large hand pulled him over. Wei Zhuo sat silently beside him, acting as a pillow.
He lifted his left leg, his knee pressing over the right naturally and crossed his legs.
The sentinel’s expression remained as stern and solemn as if sitting in strict attention.
Wei Zhuo looked out the window. The snow and wind outside, much like years ago, reminded him that he had actually met Xin Hexue earlier than He Botian.
……
The three returned to the Imperial Capital. Due to the exhausting journey, the military specifically instructed them to rest for a day before reporting. Regarding the train’s Folded Zone incident, a written record had to be archived and uploaded to the Sentinel Forum, while the original data would be sealed in the archives.
Wei Zhuo drove Xin Hexue to the villa He Botian had left behind.
While they had been away, the Imperial Capital had fully changed seasons into winter.
Outside the villa’s blue-brick, white-walled fence, clusters of purple bamboo had been densely planted. With the seasonal change, fallen leaves scattered across the ground.
The creeping ivy that had once climbed the white walls had also shed all its leaves in the cooling winter, leaving bare vines clinging to the wall like veins, exuding a deep sense of desolation.
Xin Hexue lifted his eyes and invited, “Do you want to come into my home for a while?”
Wei Zhuo found the word “home” somewhat harsh, because the villa had originally been He Botian’s house.
Even so, he still nodded. “Mm.”
Hot tea steamed on the coffee table in the living room.
White mist rose, filling Wei Zhuo’s vision.
The indoor heating was turned up high to accommodate the young man’s health, but the warmth made sweat bead on the sentinel’s forehead.
Wei Zhuo took off his double-breasted military coat, revealing a white shirt underneath, a gun holster strapped across his back and shoulders. He had broad shoulders and a narrow waist, and the fabric creased along the lines of his muscles.
Unused to sitting for long, he got up and walked around indoors, noticing that all the daily necessities still appeared in pairs.
Xin Hexue hadn’t thrown away the half that belonged to He Botian.
Wei Zhuo’s eyes darkened.
The sound of running water from the bathroom stopped. Before long, Xin Hexue emerged with damp hair, using a towel to dry it.
Wei Zhuo’s jaw tensed. He asked bluntly, “What is it you want to say to me?”
Xin Hexue wouldn’t have kept him for no reason.
He hadn’t expected Wei Zhuo to ask so directly. Xin Hexue had thought this man would sulk a while longer.
Xin Hexue sat on the sofa, his expression calm as still water.
However, his lowered lashes trembled ever so slightly.
His lips pressed together and rubbed as he bit them. A flush bloomed at the tips of his ears, and his light pink lips grew a deeper red, which was strikingly vivid at this moment.
Wei Zhuo sensed something and froze on the spot.
He saw the young man sweep all his damp hair to one side, exposing a white nape.
One by one, the buttons of his nightwear were undone, falling quietly onto the carpet.
His frost-white back was exposed, and there was a bead of water sliding along his spine, dipping down his waist.
Xin Hexue turned his head and said in a soft voice, “My condition seems out of control. Can you…”
His eyelids were thin, and when he looked up, the faint folds stretched just right, forming a graceful shape.
Xin Hexue asked the sentinel opposite him, “Can you touch me?”
