Chapter 354: See in a New Light
Chapter 354: Chapter 354: See in a New Light
Yun Sheng’s fingertips twitched. Her gentle yet highly penetrating spiritual power instantly erupted, materializing into several dense, sharp spiritual needles that shot straight toward the temples of the dark figures charging at them.
Almost simultaneously, she raised her arm to block, instantly deploying a clear and sturdy spiritual power barrier.
"Step back, now!" Yun Sheng spoke rapidly, her tone firm and decisive. "This induction agent is specifically targeted at Sentinels. If you inhale too much, it will trigger the hidden injuries in your spiritual landscape. You’ll definitely fall into a spiritual rampage and completely lose control!"
Lu Chen froze in place, staring at Yun Sheng with eyes full of astonishment. She didn’t look like a rookie at all. He had always assumed Yun Sheng was an inexperienced rookie guide who needed the whole team to babysit her. Yet, her calm and efficient demeanor in this moment completely shattered his preconceived notions.
Before he could recover from his shock, Yun Sheng stopped holding back. She quietly drew upon a trace of Xing Che’s High-level Spiritual Power from deep within her spiritual landscape. The SSS-level spiritual power carried an inherently overwhelming suppressive force, far surpassing the level of an ordinary Sentinel. The moment it was released, it instantly swept across the entire area.
The charging Dark Nest remnants were caught head-on by the High-level Spiritual Power. Their spiritual landscapes instantly erupted in agonizing pain, and every ounce of strength was drained from their bodies. Unable to withstand the pressure, they clutched their heads and shrieked in agony. Their bodies convulsed violently as they completely lost their attack stances, collapsing heavily to the ground one after another, devoid of any capacity to resist.
In just a few short seconds, Yun Sheng had single-handedly reversed the perilous tide of battle.
Behind her, Lu Chen was completely stunned, his eyes filled with disbelief. He had just felt how terrifying that crushing spiritual power was—something that clearly shouldn’t belong to a B-level Guide.
Countless questions instantly flooded his mind, but before he could ponder them or voice his inquiries, Yun Sheng efficiently withdrew her spiritual power. Her expression remained so calm that one might think neutralizing an ambush was nothing but a trivial matter. She tapped her wrist terminal, quickly pinpointing her location, and typed out a brief summary of the situation before sending it all to Zhou Yi. Afterward, Yun Sheng pulled a Mental Soothing Agent from her backpack and turned around, holding it out to Lu Chen. Throughout the entire process, she hadn’t spoken a single unnecessary word. Her indifferent attitude made it seem as if she were purely fulfilling a task.
Lu Chen remained frozen, the astonishment on his face yet to fade, as he silently raised his hand to accept the relaxant. He twisted off the cap and tilted his head back to drink it. The cool liquid slid down his throat into his system.
In mere seconds, the wildly volatile spiritual power that had been triggered by the induction agent was swiftly suppressed and pacified. The stabbing pain in his spiritual landscape eased, the heavy tightness in his chest slowly dissipated, and his chaotic spiritual power gradually returned to a steady rhythm.
As his physical discomfort vanished, Lu Chen looked at the empty vial in his hand, then lifted his gaze to the quiet, composed Yun Sheng standing before him. A complex swirl of emotions brewed in his heart. Previously, he had been filled with prejudice, convinced she was immature and practically useless. Before they even set out, he had publicly warned her, putting her in her place and demanding she not drag the team down.
From start to finish, however, Yun Sheng’s performance had been remarkably steady and reliable. He couldn’t pick out a single flaw. If it hadn’t been for her quick reflexes and decisive intervention just now, there was a high probability he would have been corrupted by the induction agent. His old injuries would have flared up, and his spiritual power would have gone into a frenzied, uncontrollable rampage. In a desolate factory district like this, if a Sentinel’s spiritual power rampaged out of control, the consequences would be unimaginable. At best, they would be severely injured and lose their combat capability; at worst, they would degenerate into a Dark Sentinel, leading to an irreversible tragedy.
Looking at the nonchalant Yun Sheng beside him, Lu Chen felt a rare twinge of guilt.
Right at that moment, the terminal on Yun Sheng’s wrist suddenly rang. It was a call from Zhou Yi. She immediately answered. Piercing static instantly crackled through the speaker, followed by Zhou Yi’s overly frantic voice.
"Yun Sheng, Captain Lu, we have a major situation over here! We need immediate backup—"
Before he could finish, the communication was abruptly cut off, leaving only a cold dial tone echoing from the speaker.
With this sudden turn of events, Lu Chen’s expression drastically changed, turning extremely grim. Not daring to delay, he quickly redialed Zhou Yi’s number. The line rang for a long time, but no one answered. His heart sank. He immediately called the Sentinel in Zhou Yi’s group, but the result was exactly the same. After that, Lu Chen frantically dialed the numbers of the two Sentinels in the other group, but there was still no answer.
They had all lost contact!
Lu Chen’s jaw tightened sharply. His gaze was fierce and solemn, his tone urgent yet decisive. "Something’s happened. We have to rush over to support them right now!"
Yun Sheng nodded, her gaze quickly sweeping over the four paralyzed Dark Nest remnants on the ground as she spoke up to remind him. "What about these people? They’re only temporarily incapacitated from the severe pain. They haven’t completely lost their mobility. If we just leave them be, they’ll definitely escape once they recover."
Hearing this, Lu Chen strode over to the men without a second of hesitation. With swift, clean movements, he knocked all of them out with a few well-placed strikes. He then quickly pulled out restraint bands and firmly bound the four men to a nearby steel frame, completely eliminating any possibility of them escaping after they came to.
"Done. Let’s go!"
Having dealt with the lingering threat, Lu Chen immediately turned around. With a taut expression, he took the lead and sprinted at top speed toward the sector Zhou Yi had been assigned to. Yun Sheng followed closely behind, not falling half a step back, her entire being entering a state of high alert.
Along the way, she continuously spread out a wide-range Spiritual Perception network. Her meticulous spiritual power swept over every factory building, corridor, and shadowy blind spot ahead, constantly on the lookout for any abnormal movements in the surroundings.
The deeper they ventured into the eastern side of the factory district, the thicker the gloomy, cold aura in the air became, making it suffocatingly difficult to breathe. The surroundings were entirely devoid of human voices. Their signals gradually faded, and their tracking equipment began to malfunction. In the deathly silent environment, only the sound of their hurried footsteps and the howling wind remained, inexplicably inducing a sense of dread.
"The signal is completely blocked," Lu Chen said in a deep voice as he dashed between dilapidated machine units. "There must be a Dark Nest jamming device set up in this area. We won’t be able to contact the Tower or the outside world for now."
Yun Sheng nodded, her brows tightly furrowed. "The spiritual fluctuations ahead are very chaotic. It’s not just one or two people. There’s a massive accumulation of violent, negative emotions mixed together. It feels like... multiple Sentinels are being spiritually suppressed at the same time."
Just as she finished speaking, intense sounds of battle roared from a large factory building not far ahead. The crashing of metal and the muffled groans of suppressed Sentinels drifted over clearly.
"They’re in there!" Lu Chen’s gaze sharpened as he instantly accelerated, charging straight for the factory’s entrance.
Pushing open the half-broken iron door, the scene before them made their hearts sink.
Zhou Yi and the other three Sentinels were all trapped in the center of the factory, surrounded by over a dozen Dark Nest remnants. All the Sentinels were pale and sweating profusely. Their spiritual power was being ruthlessly suppressed, causing their auras to be in disarray and their movements to visibly lag. They could only barely huddle together to defend, completely powerless to break through the encirclement.
Zhou Yi stood at the very front. His shoulder had already taken a hit, light red blood seeping from the wound, yet he still gritted his teeth to block the continuous waves of attacks, barely protecting the teammates behind him.
Seeing a Dark Nest member circle around for a sneak attack, bringing a blade straight toward the back of the Sentinel in the worst condition, Lu Chen vanished in a blur and instantly burst into the battlefield. With a fierce kick, he sent the attacker flying. His aura exploded outward, forcefully tearing open a gap in the encirclement.
"Hold the line! Yun Sheng and I are here!"