Sikaro Joins

Before heading to the ruins where the expedition team disappeared, Lin Xue first took us to a small town not far from the base.

The town wasn't large, only a few thousand people, but the buildings along the streets looked very neat and modern, completely unlike an isolated desert town.

The townspeople seemed unfazed by our arrival. They just glanced at us outsiders and then went about their business.

For some reason, walking through this town, I had a strange feeling.

"I didn't expect there to be a town like this in the desert." Looking at the people coming and going around us, Qian Qian couldn't help but be surprised. Although she knew people lived in the desert, the problem was—this was the central area of the Taklamakan Desert! It was sparsely populated, resource-poor, and even basic drinking water was hard to come by. How could she not be curious about a town appearing in this place?

Zheng Yiming seemed very familiar with this place. He led the way and introduced it to us: "This town is no ordinary place. In fact, it's a sanctuary—or you could call it a place of exile."

"What?" My gossip soul instantly ignited.

"International top smugglers, arms dealers, descendants of expelled great families, reclusive masters pursued by enemies, and even one or two Espers who made mistakes and are forbidden to leave this desert for life. Don't underestimate anyone here; any one of them could make the whole world tremble if they walked out."

"Ah!" Qian Qian exclaimed, then tightly grabbed my arm. The seemingly kind desert residents around her suddenly seemed to turn into fierce and evil thugs in her eyes.

"Don't worry," Lin Xue patted Qian Qian's shoulder reassuringly, "No matter how important someone is, they have to be well-behaved in this exile town. In this place, there are a few rules. First: No matter how big a mistake you made outside, once you're here, it will all be wiped clean. That is to say, you are 'dead'. Second: Once you come here, no one can leave without the organization's permission, unless you are confident you can escape the pursuit of the entire organization. Third: No one should think of causing trouble here. No matter how arrogant you were outside, here you are just an ordinary town resident. Otherwise—hehe, in short, some very disharmonious things will happen. Also, this small town is not completely isolated from the outside world. Occasionally, some outsiders with permission will come in, but they don't know the truth about this town. Those who know the truth, besides people from the organization, are only special individuals like Chen Jun."

"Impressive," I smacked my lips and said, "How does it feel like you're a lawless terrorist organization?"

"Tch—we're contributing to the world!" Lin Xue habitually retorted, "Most of these guys would cause harm to humanity as long as they live in the world, but it would be a shame to kill them for their abilities, so we adopted this approach.

"The organization provides them with protection so they won't be torn to shreds by enemies or others. In return, they stay here obediently and serve the organization with their abilities. Believe it or not, there are examples of this among the people in front of you: they control billions of dollars in capital flow in the outside world through the internet or other means, just to be able to eat a full meal in peace here. So this is a sanctuary, and also a place of exile..."

Sanctuary... place of exile...

I carefully pondered Lin Xue's words and observed the seemingly ordinary desert residents again.

From the outside, they all looked like the most ordinary residents, but when I observed carefully, I still noticed the difference in their eyes.

Some were indifferent, some were numb, some were unwilling, and some cast looks of naked jealousy at us.

But here, they could only deeply suppress these emotions in their hearts, trying to make themselves ordinary desert residents.

Just then, "Brother, want a disc?" A somewhat familiar low male voice came from not far away.

"Creak—" My body instantly turned to stone.

Accompanied by "creaking" sounds, I turned my stiff neck, and then the figure of a Knight-Faced Uncle dressed like he was from the Matrix selling pirated discs to passersby came into view.

...Sikaro, an excellent commander of the Empire, was sentenced to death by the Emperor of the Empire on December 6, 2010, for the crime of: being too idiotic.

Just kidding...

But I really wanted to do that, you bastard! Are you really a commander? Are you really not an extra specifically for comedy or an undercover agent sent by the enemy to cause trouble? Didn't you receive any intelligence training in the army? Besides walking around in a Matrix suit selling discs, couldn't you think of a better way to conceal your identity?!

At this moment, I had no hope for the intelligence of this Knight-Faced Uncle.

"Huh? Why do I feel like this uncle selling discs looks so familiar?" Lin Xue, who had accidentally seen Sikaro in the car before, muttered to herself strangely.

Is that the key point? The key point should be how an uncle selling pirated discs could appear in this place, right?

"No—how could such a person appear here?!" Zheng Yiming was the first to react, "Catch him!"

"Wait!" I quickly stopped them.

"What's wrong?" Lin Xue asked me strangely, "Do you know this person?"

I'm such an idiot, why did I speak up!

Facing Lin Xue's probing gaze, I quickly organized the words in my mind, but how could I explain the relationship between this uncle, who looked suspicious at first glance and was selling pirated discs in the exile town, and me?

"He is brother's friend." Pandora suddenly spoke.

...Pandora, do you know I'm trying to distance myself from this uncle who looks suspicious at first glance!

"He's also an Esper." Pandora continued to reveal.

"What?!" Lin Xue, Lin Feng, and Zheng Yiming exclaimed in unison. In this day and age, are Espers no longer valuable? How can a suspicious uncle selling pirated discs on the street be an Esper?

At this moment, Pandora's voice came through the mental connection: "Sikaro is an Imperial officer who is very good at positional defense. His own combat power should not be underestimated. I hope he can join our upcoming operation—I think this incident is not that simple, and an extra layer of insurance is always good."

"Chen Jun," Lin Xue's voice interrupted my conversation with Pandora, "Do you know this person? Is he really an Esper?"

"Uh... yes!" I answered somewhat flustered, and then a thought struck me, "He can heal!"

"Huh?"

A few minutes later, Sikaro, who claimed to be able to heal... cough cough, that is, had healing Esper abilities, was walking with us.

"Chen Jun, is this guy really okay?" Lin Xue asked somewhat worriedly while looking at the Knight-Faced Uncle selling pirated discs along the way, "Suddenly letting someone with an unknown background join."

"I can guarantee with my character that he is absolutely reliable!"

"An Esper who likes to travel got lost while touring the Taklamakan Desert and accidentally entered the exile town, which is heavily protected by the Esper organization, and ended up selling pirated discs for a living—do you think I should believe that? And that strange name, Sikaro, it doesn't sound like a real name, does it?" Lin Xue was still full of distrust towards this uncle who dared to sell pirated discs in the exile town, but finally she sighed and said, "Forget it, anyway, my intuition tells me this person can be trusted. I hope my ability hasn't deceived me this time."

"Who exactly are we going to find?" Qian Qian finally couldn't hold back, "We're almost at the end of the town. When are we going to set off for that ruin? Every day we delay, my father is in more danger!"

"Don't worry," Lin Feng smiled gently, "The person we are looking for now is very important. Without his help, I'm afraid we will also disappear in that ruin like your father."

"Who is so powerful?" I asked curiously, "Is it an Esper?"

Lin Xue shook her head and said, "No, he is just an ordinary old man, but he has an extraordinary thing. That thing has the power to stabilize the ruin—it's a pity that the expedition team trusted the so-called modern science too much. Their disdain for mysterious powers led to the accident."