The Black Cocoons

In the long, narrow corridor, black cocoons of flesh hung upside down from the ceiling and covered the walls, filling every inch of space as far as the eye could see.

They were packed so tightly that it was like entering some monster's lair. The sight was enough to trigger trypophobia.

Meanwhile, twisted pollutants kept hatching from the flesh cocoons, gradually growing into the forms they had taken when fighting the members of the Firmament Squad.

Strangely, perhaps because she had just emerged from a cocoon and was still covered in its fluid, the pollutants seemed to mistake her for one of their own. They passed her one after another without attacking.

Luo Ruzhuo stood where she was, watching it all in astonishment.

Had she really ended up in the pollutants' lair?

Now that she was here, there was no immediate rush.

Luo Ruzhuo turned around to examine the cocoon she had just cut open.

Sure enough, it was identical to the others before her. Only the long, narrow slit down the middle and the flattened pouch showed the violence it had suffered from the inside out.

Unlike the other cocoons, which were all round and plump.

A bold idea suddenly occurred to Luo Ruzhuo.

Could the people inside these black cocoons all have been abducted like her...?

And then there were the negative memories that had surged through her mind inside the cocoon... If she was right, then pollution did not arise out of nowhere.

Instead, humans or other hosts were captured, and the negative effects in their mental domains were extracted, turning them into breeding grounds for pollution that continuously produced new pollutants.

To test the idea, she went forward and found the cocoon closest to her. A few mental attacks stripped away layer after layer of black pollution, like slicing through layered tripe, revealing the hem of a sentinel's clothing at the very center.

Just as she had thought.

When she finally broke it all the way open, pale yellow fluid poured out, and the figure inside fell with a thud. Luo Ruzhuo stepped forward to catch the person, only to discover that both of their hands had already turned into wings.

Luo Ruzhuo recalled the Star Network's descriptions of pollution-induced distortion in sentinels.

When a sentinel's hands and feet took on animal forms, their distortion had reached 30 percent. As for someone like the Firmament Squad's captain, who had only a few human features left, the distortion was at least 90 percent. At 100 percent, a sentinel would become a completely irrational monster.

This person's distortion was already at least 30 percent, and it would progress even faster if left unchecked.

Luo Ruzhuo gently laid the sentinel on the ground, unable to resist probing their mental domain with her mental power.

She did not know how long this person had been in there, but their pollution level was shockingly high.

Almost none of the sentinel's original mental domain remained visible, only a vast expanse of black mist.

Luo Ruzhuo could not spare a thought for what effect this might have on the sentinel. With nothing to lose, she swept through the mist with a barrage of mental attacks, barely managing to reveal a small patch of ground beneath her feet.

It was wet.

Wings beat in the air, and something seemed to be flying toward her through the black mist.

She was about to guard against it when she looked up and saw a swallow.

The black-and-white bird landed precisely on her shoulder, its claws gripping her very gently.

Its scissor-like tail trembled uneasily, still bearing traces of pollution that had eaten into it. The little swallow kept rubbing its head against her cheek, tickling her, as if expressing its thanks.

This was probably the sentinel's spiritual form. Luo Ruzhuo had no time to linger. She only stroked the little fluffy head on her shoulder and cleared the surrounding area a little further to improve visibility.

Once she had made sure the remaining pollution would not deepen the sentinel's distortion, she left.

Over the next stretch of time, she repeated the process, cutting the sentinels out of the cysts one by one and purifying them in turn.

As she was purifying the last sentinel, a considerable commotion suddenly came from the corridor ahead.

Footsteps, the cries of avian spiritual forms, and the clash of weapons mingled together. Luo Ruzhuo immediately stopped what she was doing and glanced at the unconscious sentinels on the floor. Then, with practiced ease, she closed her eyes and fell to the ground.

As a delicate guide, it's perfectly normal to take a nap anywhere, right?

The moment her body touched the cold floor, she adjusted her breathing until it was even and slow. Her eyes moved slightly beneath her eyelids as she sent out her mental power to keep track of the activity in the corridor.

The footsteps drew closer and closer.

When Xiao Xue and Cang Yun arrived, this was the sight that greeted them-

The densely packed black cocoons all looked as though they had been cut open by something sharp, each bearing a deep gash. Pale yellow fluid flowed from them, collecting in shallow puddles in the low spots. Sentinels and the missing guide lay in a tangled heap, making it impossible to tell one from another.

An indescribable smell hung in the air, making them sick.

Xiao Xue's heart leaped into his throat.

He instinctively tightened his grip on the weapon at his waist, his knuckles turning white. His gaze swept quickly over each fallen figure, searching for the guide.

Cang Yun went forward first and used her optical computer to scan the breathing and arterial pulse of the nearest sentinel. She breathed a small sigh of relief. "They're fine. Their vital signs are stable."

She raised her eyes and studied the cuts in the cocoons. Someone had beaten them here and rescued all these sentinels and the guide.

Cang Yun looked around and found the same kind of cut on every cocoon: a single neat vertical line, as though made by some kind of sharp blade.

"A sentinel has been here," Cang Yun concluded. "They should be at least A-rank."

The person seemed to have been in a hurry, leaving as soon as they had rescued everyone. They had left a mess behind, which suited the two of them just fine.

Had someone passed through here on their way to the central control room?

Cang Yun vaguely remembered that this was at the stern of the starship. There were no quarters beyond it; only maintenance personnel came here occasionally... She was still thinking when a call interrupted her thoughts.

Xiao Xue had found Luo Ruzhuo among the fallen people and hurriedly called her over.

"Come quickly!" Xiao Xue carefully helped the young woman up from the floor. "Guide Luo is here!"

Although both of them were sentinels, Cang Yun was a woman, which made things more convenient for her than for Xiao Xue.

Luo Ruzhuo lay on the floor, her black hair spread around her and her clothes covered in pale yellow fluid. She was wet all over, but her breathing was steady and her complexion normal. She looked as though she were merely asleep.

Cang Yun crouched down and reached out to check the pulse at Luo Ruzhuo's neck. The skin beneath her fingertips was warm, and her heartbeat was steady and strong.

After checking her and making sure all the readings were normal, Cang Yun scooped Luo Ruzhuo up and slung her over her shoulder. The young woman was lighter than she had imagined, like a handful of feathers that could be blown away at any moment.

Cang Yun spoke to Liu Sui through her optical computer bracelet. "Guide Luo has been found. She's safe and sound."

"It's just..." She paused, but before she could continue, Xiao Xue spoke up to explain the situation. "Vice-captain, Guide Luo and the others are unconscious. I'm a little worried."

For once, Xiao Xue was serious, his usually irreverent expression entirely solemn.

"There's reason to suspect this is a mental-type pollution source."

Mental-type pollution was one of the most troublesome kinds. The monsters in such sources were weak in combat, but their attacks on the mental domains of sentinels and guides were extremely powerful. Even a short stay could send pollution levels soaring, and distortion rates were frighteningly high.

Their captain was still confined to a cage precisely because the source they had cleared last time had been a mental type, but had been mistaken for an attack type.

Caught unprepared, the captain had suffered a rapid surge in pollution.

If this one was the same...

Xiao Xue's heart sank. He could not help thinking of their captain, who was still being transported aboard the starship... If the pollution protection could not be restored, could the captain really recover from her distortion?

The more he thought about it, the graver his expression became, his lips pressed into a thin line.

Liu Sui, visible through the optical computer, also knitted his brows.

In the silence, Cang Yun spoke up to ease their unease.

"Maybe it isn't." Her voice was gentler than usual as she reassured her teammates. "The evidence is right here."

She sent a copy of the data from her optical computer to Liu Sui, then held it out to Xiao Xue. The screen's blue light fell across their faces. "Vice-captain, Little Xue, look. Their mental domains are very stable."

In fact, they were almost too stable.

Their pollution levels were nowhere near the range expected after close contact with pollution. This had taken Cang Yun by surprise as well. By rights, after spending so long deep inside the pollution source, these sentinels' pollution levels should have been close to the distortion threshold.

But there was no time to look into it now.

As long as they were stable, that was the best they could hope for.

A reply came swiftly through the optical computer bracelet, as though the person on the other end had been watching for news from them at every moment.

Liu Sui: "It would be best if it isn't. Retreat as quickly as you can and get the guide somewhere safe."

Cang Yun wanted to do that too. But Luo Ruzhuo was not the only one lying on the floor.

She promptly opened a shared projection for Liu Sui. "What about these team members?"

Only then did Liu Sui notice that they had referred to more than one person. After a quick glance, he immediately recognized the sentinels as the team members who had failed to reach the central control console after the pollution outbreak, or who had been contaminated on the way. Seven or eight people lay sprawled in a row.

If the pollution struck again after they left... They really could not just leave them there.

Liu Sui promptly changed the plan. "Hold your position and pay particular attention to the guide's safety. I'll send reinforcements to help with the rescue immediately. Stay on guard."

With that, the optical computer's projection flickered out, leaving only Cang Yun, Xiao Xue, and black cocoons scattered all around them.

Though the densely packed cocoons had been cut open, their inner walls were still writhing as if alive. Without their hosts to sustain them, they no longer produced new pollutants, yet they remained. They were right there, like gaping mouths silently revealing their hunger for the two people in their midst.

Xiao Xue had long felt that something was wrong with this place.

To be honest, he felt uncomfortable all over. The slit-open black cocoons were like pairs of eyes silently staring at them, a chilling sight.

Xiao Xue asked in a low voice, "Are we... really going to wait here for reinforcements?"

He truly did not want to stay.

In all honesty, Cang Yun did not want to either.