Twins

Ankang Pharmaceuticals' methods were hardly sophisticated. Since it was willing to risk offending the Firmament Squad to deal with her, it had presumably already lumped her together with the squad.

As Luo Ruzhuo pondered, she monitored the situation with her mental power. One of the snowy owl's wings was tangled in tentacles, leaving Xiao Xue dangling precariously in midair. Cang Yun's abdominal wound was worsening, too, and the hand holding her gun had begun to tremble.

Since the Feier Family dared to pull tricks right in front of the Firmament Squad, they had to have something to rely on.

There no longer seemed to be much point in hiding her abilities.

After all, the more value she showed, the more willing the Firmament Squad would be to stand with her against Ankang Pharmaceuticals.

Luo Ruzhuo made up her mind and was just about to reveal herself and act.

Just then, a figure came racing down the other end of the corridor.

The newcomer was fast.

Luo Ruzhuo's mental power had barely caught his outline when she felt a gust sweep past her, carrying a faint scent of cedar.

A clear, piercing cry rang out.

An elegant swan spread its wings and rose into the air, the black feathers at their edges gleaming coldly. With a beat of its wings, it whipped up a hurricane that severed every tentacle wrapped around the snowy owl.

Freed at once, the snowy owl beat its wings rapidly and whisked Xiao Xue out of danger. Even after he landed beside Cang Yun, he was still shaken by the close call.

Luo Ruzhuo's gaze traveled up the newcomer's body, coming to rest on a face that was both familiar and strange.

Liu Sui?

No, that's not right.

Liu Sui's Mental Entity was a white swan.

But the person before her... perched on his shoulder was unmistakably a black swan. Its wings were black as ink, its beak vermilion, and its eyes deep red. It stared at the black contamination ahead without emotion, as though looking at something dead.

This man had exactly the same features as Liu Sui.

The difference was that Liu Sui had long, silver-gray hair. The man before her also had long hair, but his was a deep, inky black.

As he stood there, his entire bearing was completely different from Liu Sui's.

If she had to compare them, though both wore black uniforms, Liu Sui was graceful and unworldly, like an ancient figure who had stepped out of a painting. The man before her was cold and severe, like a Yama who had fought his way out of a mountain of corpses.

Luo Ruzhuo was a little bewildered. Who is this?

She was not the only one confused. Cang Yun and Xiao Xue were also stunned at the sight of him.

"Vice... Captain?" Xiao Xue ventured uncertainly.

The newcomer did not look at them.

His deep-black eyes remained fixed on the monster across from him. He tilted his head slightly and raised his chin, gesturing to them. "Get back."

His voice was also very similar to Liu Sui's, though somewhat deeper.

Cang Yun did not hesitate. She grabbed Xiao Xue, who was still standing there in a daze, and quickly retreated to Luo Ruzhuo and the others.

The next second, the black swan spread its wings and rose.

At the same time, the man moved.

He was fast. The corridor was narrow and cramped, but his movements seemed entirely unrestricted. Like a bolt of lightning, he darted through the onslaught of countless tentacles, each dodge a hair's breadth from disaster.

The black swan circled overhead and opened its vermilion beak. Its cries became tangible sound waves that spread outward in rippling circles. Wherever they passed, the tentacles shattered instantly, falling to the floor in a shower of black powder.

He's unbelievably strong! Xiao Xue stared, dumbfounded.

The monster seemed to sense the threat. It stopped splitting off contaminated tentacles from the black cocoons and instead gathered all its strength into its main body. In an instant, the cocoons turned back into liquid and coalesced into a twisted behemoth.

At the same time, dozens of thick tentacles split off from its body and lashed out from every direction, moving so fast their paths were almost impossible to see.

The man neither dodged nor evaded.

He merely raised a hand. The black swan hovering in the air swooped down, and the moment it landed in his palm, it transformed into a long black saber. Its blade was black as ink, with a single line of vermilion along the edge, like the black swan's beak.

Spirit Body Manifestation!

Both Cang Yun and Xiao Xue's pupils contracted.

The two immediately became certain that the man before them was definitely not Deputy Captain Liu.

Liu Sui was an S-rank sentinel, but Spirit Body Manifestation—as the name implied, the ability to turn a Mental Entity into a weapon—was something only legendary sentinels of SS rank or above could achieve.

When had the Firmament Squad gained another SS-rank sentinel besides its captain?

The words "Mental Power Manifestation" flashed through Luo Ruzhuo's mind, reminding her of a description she had read on the Star Network.

Judging by the shock on Cang Yun and Xiao Xue's faces, they seemed to know nothing about this mysterious sentinel who had suddenly appeared, either.

He was not a member of the Firmament Squad.

Then how had he gotten aboard the starship?

As they pondered, the sentinel moved.

He deftly evaded the tentacles' attack, reached a spot close to the contaminant's core with unerring precision, and swung his saber down.

A single slash.

The core buried deepest within the monster was forced into the open.

Something like a crystal glittered deep inside the writhing cocoon of flesh.

The enormous contaminant shrieked, letting out a deafening roar. Countless piercing sounds converged into a mental impact that blasted straight toward the sentinel.

Cang Yun immediately shouted, "Quick, shut off your five senses! Put up a mental barrier!"

But it seemed too late. The sentinel stood where he was, his head slightly lowered, seemingly bearing the full force of the impact.

"Vice Captain-"

Even knowing he might not be Liu Sui, Xiao Xue could not help crying out.

The next second, however, the sentinel slowly raised his head.

The mental attack continued, but he acted as though it were nothing. The piercing shrieks poured into his mental domain like clay oxen sinking into the sea, without raising so much as a ripple.

No.

It was not without effect.

Others might not have noticed, but Luo Ruzhuo, as a guide, could make out a few clues.

She keenly observed that this man's mental domain was structured completely differently from those of ordinary sentinels.

His mental barrier seemed to have two layers. The mental attacks were already weakened by more than half as they passed through the outer layer, and by the time they reached the inner layer, they no longer posed a threat.

Such a thing was unheard of. A mental barrier was the manifestation of a Mental Entity within the mental domain; it could differ only in strength and thickness. The information Luo Ruzhuo had read on the Star Network told her that no sentinel had ever possessed two mental barriers at once.

Suddenly, an extremely remote possibility flashed through her mind.

Unless this sentinel had more than one Mental Entity.

While the mental attack was underway, the contaminant's body had gone rigid, and the black substance around its core was taking the opportunity to reassemble.

But how could he give it that chance?

The sentinel pressed forward through the mental attack, swinging his saber. This time, he was faster than before. He pushed off the ground with the tip of his foot and leaped into the air, the black saber turning in his hand as its vermilion edge gave off a piercing hum.

The monster scrambled to respond, its remaining tentacles surging out wildly in an attempt to weave a defensive wall before it.

But it was still too late.

The black saber pierced the defense before it could fully form, then plunged into the crystal-like core.

There was a bang, like glass shattering against the floor.

Once the core broke, all the churning black substance making up the contaminant froze. The sound waves stopped abruptly, and cracks spread from the point where the core had been pierced, covering its entire body like a spiderweb.

The shattered parts vanished instantly. Before long, the behemoth had dissolved into the air, leaving not even a wisp of black smoke behind.

The sentinel stood there, the black saber once again a swan, perched quietly on his shoulder.

Cang Yun looked down at the optical computer bracelet on her wrist. The contamination concentration reading on its screen was dropping rapidly, falling from near SS rank all the way into the green safe range.

Everything fell silent.

From the beginning of the battle to its end, less than three minutes had passed.

The contaminant that had driven Cang Yun and Xiao Xue to the brink after a grueling fight had not lasted even a few minutes against him.

Xiao Xue opened and closed his mouth, then closed and opened it again. In the end, all he could manage was a dry "Ah."

Cang Yun was a little calmer than him, but both were somewhat apprehensive.

Although the man before them had a face identical to their vice captain's, they did not know what his relationship with the vice captain was. Their styles of conduct and mental ranks were too different for them to naively assume he meant well.

If they had unknowingly offended a high-ranking sentinel, the confrontation would be even more difficult for the Firmament Squad than fighting a contaminant.

Fortunately, that did not happen.

The sentinel approached and glanced down at Cang Yun's abdominal wound. It had been bandaged hastily and was still oozing blood, though much less than before. Clearly, the medical device had helped.

"Can you still walk?" He even showed concern for Cang Yun.

His voice was still cold, but to the two of them, it was no less than music to their ears.

"Yes!" Cang Yun answered immediately. "It's just a minor injury. It won't slow me down."

The sentinel nodded and looked away from Cang Yun. His gaze swept over the seven or eight sentinels sprawled on the floor before finally settling on Luo Ruzhuo, who was leaning against the wall.

The girl's eyes were still closed, her breathing even and her complexion rosy. Cang Yun had carefully placed her as far from the contamination as possible. Apart from the pale yellow liquid remaining on her clothes, there was hardly any sign that she had been through a contamination attack.

To be safe, Luo Ruzhuo had withdrawn the mental power she had extended outside at the very moment the battle ended.

But she did not know whether he had noticed anything.

Luo Ruzhuo could feel a gaze lingering on her face for a long time.

He tilted his head, his expression unchanged. His gaze passed over the girl's steadily rising and falling chest and her dangling fingers, but paused for an instant before he looked away.

In that instant, his enhanced senses caught the slightest tremor of her lowered eyelashes, like the gentle flutter of a butterfly's wings.

The sentinel raised an eyebrow.

He did not expose her. He simply stood there, looking down at her peaceful sleeping face, the corners of his mouth curving ever so slightly.