MCL CH94

Chapter 94: Why do I feel like they’re more like the villains…

The flames surrounding Lin Xi completely illuminated the surroundings. Chen Sunian led the way in front, and the deeper they went, the more his heart pounded with fear.

As the captain of the vanguard cleanup team, he had just led his squad here not long ago. Based on his initial impression of this area, he had kindly reminded Lin Xi of the dangers here before they got close. But now, he just wanted to go back a few minutes and take back all his earnest warnings.

If he hadn’t experienced it himself, Chen Sunian would have found it very difficult to associate the place he was in now with the hell it was before—it was just too quiet!

Forget about the contaminants with their gaping bloody mouths, advancing wave upon wave to tear any intruder to shreds. He couldn’t even detect a single drop of life force.

It was as if the inner world of this rift was supposed to be this dead and silent. As they walked along, apart from the sound of Lin Xi’s leisurely footsteps behind him, there was no other sound at all.

All the contaminants seemed to have suddenly evaporated.

This wasn’t right.

There must be a problem here!

Chen Sunian continued forward, his muscles tensing more and more the deeper he went.

Lin Xi followed slowly behind, his peripheral vision catching the man in front of him who had clearly entered a state of full alert. He relaxed his eyebrows, let out a slow yawn, and said silently in his mind: “Although it might not be a good thing for me, should I say congratulations? It seems they’ve finally learned to fear you.”

[How can you say it might not be a good thing? My power recovering, in a way, isn’t that a manifestation of you getting stronger?]

Calamity’s light laughter rang out, its tone filled with satisfaction with the current situation. [If I’m not mistaken, after that guy Deep Abyss fled back to our world, he probably embellished and spread a lot of propaganda about my current state. In any case, knowing to revere me is at least much better than trying to find trouble.]

Lin Xi said slowly: “So you also know that you used to attract other flies.”

[………]

[I suggest you use a more decent description.]

Lin Xi gave a noncommittal laugh.

Looking up, he saw Chen Sunian, who was leading the way, had stopped. He asked, “We’re here?”

Chen Sunian paused for a few seconds before answering: “We should be… I think.”

Lin Xi blinked: “Should be, you think?”

Chen Sunian cleared his throat in embarrassment: “When we were here before, that A-class contaminant was definitely here, it’s just that now…”

Facing the deep lair buried in the darkness before him, the emotion in his eyes, along with his unfinished sentence, was filled with nothing but confusion.

Just like what they had seen along the way, how could even the master of the contaminants here have evaporated into thin air?

Lin Xi looked around: “It’s fine, it should be hiding.”

It took Chen Sunian a while to process the meaning of his words: “…Hiding?”

The rest of his words were cut short by the intense firelight that fell into his eyes. In a sea of flames, in a daze, he seemed to see Lin Xi’s smiling eyes fill with a strange, dazzling light for a moment. Before he could come back to his senses, the originally silent monster lair was轟然 (hōng rán) “thunderously” annihilated in the sound of a massive explosion.

The dense flames instantly swallowed the surrounding wreckage. In this firelight, Lin Xi’s skin appeared even more translucent like jade. The slight curve of his lips gave his entire soaring spirit an overflowing sense of joy.

The scorching air made the cold lair boil completely. The originally hidden contaminants, with nowhere to hide, gradually began to stir. Low roars mixed with the struggles for survival. Under this constant fleeing, the silence they had just passed through seemed like a false illusion.

Lin Xi’s smile became even more like a spring breeze: “Captain Chen, don’t worry. They can’t hide for long.”

Chen Sunian: “…O-okay.”

The new director in front of him was clearly on his side, but for some reason, in this seemingly gentle and peaceful smile, Chen Sunian felt a chill shoot up from the soles of his feet.

For a moment, he was slightly dazed.

Why did he suddenly feel like, at this moment, their side was more like the big villains in the story?

In his daze, he only heard Lin Xi let out a soft laugh, his whisper-like murmur like the most terrible nightmare: “Oh, I found you.”

“………”

For some reason, Chen Sunian felt as if he could hear the contaminant’s inner scream—Don’t come over ahhhh!

Outside the rift, the team captain was waiting, burning with anxiety.

The moment he saw someone come out of the rift, he immediately went up to them. But after hearing the returning cleanup team member’s account, he was completely dumbfounded: “What! He let you all come out? And you really listened to him and just left him inside alone?!”

He tried very hard to hold back the curses that were about to burst from his mouth.

Damn it! This new director of the Third Department has only been in office for a few days, right? He’s not going to die on my watch, is he!

The team member on the verge of losing control was quickly taken away by the medical team. It was only after watching him leave that the other team members breathed a sigh of relief and comforted the on-site commander: “It’s not like the director was left alone. Brother Nian is still inside.”

It would have been better if he hadn’t said anything. With this, the team captain’s last thread of sanity completely snapped: “Chen Sunian? I haven’t even started on that brat! The director just took over and doesn’t know the ropes, but he’s a veteran. Doesn’t he know any better! What damn use is one more or one less of him? A rift that so many people went into and couldn’t handle, no matter how strong an ability user is, they can’t be so reckless. I think he’s completely tired of living, isn’t he!”

As he erupted, the others immediately fell silent.

The joy of having just escaped death vanished in an instant. After a long while, in a solemn atmosphere, someone choked out: “Brother Chen, he… he was indeed already prepared to sacrifice himself. Inside the rift, he was going to cover for us so we could retreat first. Now… now he’s probably staying behind to buy us time to leave. He, sob—!”

Once one person choked up, the atmosphere at the scene could no longer be controlled.

The angry look on the team captain’s face also froze for a moment. He sighed deeply, and just as he did, he felt someone pat his shoulder lightly. He turned around, his tone complicated: “Adjutant Pu, the new director’s side…”

Before he could finish, Pu Sui had already spoken: “Don’t worry. Since it was his own choice, it’s not your problem to obey orders.”

The team captain hesitated: “But, what if something really goes wrong?”

Pu Sui glanced at him: “I’ve already made arrangements. If there is indeed a lapse in this rift cleanup, someone will come to handle the follow-up work. As for Director Lin—”

His words trailed off subtly, his tone neither servile nor overbearing: “Dying in the line of duty here can only mean that he is indeed not suitable for taking on such an important post as head of the Third Department. I will submit an application to the headquarters and have Executive Gu arrange for new personnel to take over the director’s position as soon as possible.”

Team Captain: “…?”

Is the main point of the problem now whether the new director is competent or not?

He didn’t know if it was his imagination, but why did it feel like Adjutant Pu was not only not worried about Director Lin’s life or death, but was even somewhat looking forward to using this to kick him out of the director’s position?

He slowly opened his mouth, and for a moment, he didn’t know how to respond to such words.

A slight movement fell into his ears. Coming back to his senses, he finally realized something and was about to turn his head when he heard someone exclaim: “Someone! It looks like someone is coming out!”

As the vague humanoid silhouette took shape before people’s eyes, two tall figures walked out of the rift one after the other.

Lin Xi clearly didn’t expect so many people to be gathered outside. He took a startled step back as he landed, then reacted with surprise: “What are you all gathered here for? Aren’t you going to get some rest?”

Rest. Get. Some.

The short and light description made the veins on the forehead of the just-relieved team captain pop out again.

Why are we all gathered here? Isn’t it all because of you!

The team captain was fuming but didn’t dare to say it. At least it was a godsend that this ancestor hadn’t gotten into trouble.

Just as he was about to ask about the follow-up manpower arrangements, he heard Lin Xi smile and say to him, “Oh right, the thing inside has been dealt with. You can arrange for the logistics department to go in and clean up the scene later.”

The team captain’s expression froze: “Dealt, dealt with?!”

Lin Xi nodded with a smile: “I remember this isn’t the only rift that needs support, right? Which one needs to be dealt with next?”

Under the smiling gaze, the team captain subconsciously pointed in a direction.

The next second, Lin Xi patted the dust off his body and headed in the direction he had pointed.

Staring blankly as the figure walked further and further away, the team captain dazedly came back to his senses and confirmed with Pu Sui next to him: “Adjutant Pu, Director Lin did just say that this rift has been dealt with, right?”

“Yes.”

Pu Sui’s expression also showed a hint of shock. He turned to look at Chen Sunian and asked, “What exactly happened inside? Is it convenient to talk about it?”

Compared to Lin Xi, Chen Sunian, who had already been through a long and arduous battle, looked obviously much more exhausted.

Hearing this, the expression on his face, as the scenes that had once shattered his perception replayed in his mind, was filled with complexity. After mulling it over for a long time, he could only summarize: “When we got to the lair, that contaminant was already hiding in fear. Director Lin directly set the nest on fire to force it out. He didn’t give it a chance to escape and just dealt with it directly.”

After saying this, he probably also felt the abstractness of the course of events, and a pained expression once appeared on his face.

The other people on the scene: “.”

After a long period of silence, still no one reacted to speak again.

How to put it? Although they could understand every word, why did the description feel so niche?

Hiding in fear, forced out, not given a chance to escape…

Who? Are you sure you’re talking about the contaminant???

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