Chapter 381: Si Jin’s Identity Exposed
Chapter 381: Chapter 381: Si Jin’s Identity Exposed
Zhou Yi, who was closest to Lu Chen, didn’t even have time to think. Driven by pure instinct, he lunged forward, throwing himself directly in front of his captain. He condensed all of his spiritual power into a shield in front of him, forcefully bearing the brunt of the explosion’s fiercest shockwave to protect Lu Chen, whose own spiritual power was violently rioting. As the furious wave of spiritual power crashed down, Zhou Yi’s entire body trembled violently.
At the same time, Yun Sheng, standing in the center of the barrier, was also caught in the violent backlash of the sudden, overwhelming force. Her already overdrawn spiritual landscape throbbed with sharp pain. A wave of dizziness washed over her, and she swayed on her feet, nearly collapsing. Just as the residual shockwave was about to crush her, a figure appeared in the blink of an eye. Si Jin silently glided in front of her, opening his arms to shield her in his embrace. His vast and majestic SSS-level spiritual power instantly unfurled, forming the most impenetrable fortress. It completely isolated her from the violent pollution and the blast, blocking all the incoming damage.
Almost simultaneously, Xing Che also took action. Catching sight of the low-level squad members from the corner of his eye, he raised a hand, manifesting a thick, wide-ranging Spirit Barrier to protect them. But before the barrier could fully form, two C-level and two D-level low-level squad members were already struck by the explosion’s massive impact. The sheer force and spiritual pollution, far exceeding their limits, caused all four to let out a muffled groan as their chests took a devastating blow. Coughing up mouthfuls of blood, their bodies went limp, and they collapsed to the ground, falling completely unconscious.
Amidst the chaotic and devastated scene, Zhou Yi and Lu Chen at the epicenter were in the most tragic state. Zhou Yi was half-kneeling on the ground, completely drained of strength. His face was as pale as paper, and bright red bloody froth continuously spilled from the corners of his mouth. It felt as though his internal organs had been shredded by the violent spiritual power. An excruciating, piercing pain spread through his entire body, making even breathing a monumental struggle. His vision darkened in waves until it completely blurred.
"Zhou Yi!" Seeing him like this, Lu Chen’s pupils constricted sharply. Ignoring the agonizing pain of his own rioting spiritual power, he leaned over and grabbed the swaying man, his voice trembling.
Clinging to his last shred of consciousness, Zhou Yi barely managed to look up at him.
"Are you crazy?!" Lu Chen growled through gritted teeth. He was anxious, heartbroken, and filled with lingering fear. "Why would you block that for me?!" He knew very well that he had old injuries and hidden ailments, but Zhou Yi was at the absolute peak of his condition. There was absolutely no need for Zhou Yi to gamble his own life to save him!
A forced, faint smile tugged at the corner of Zhou Yi’s mouth. Bloody froth continued to bubble past his lips, and his breath was so weak it was almost inaudible. "Your... old injuries haven’t healed... If I didn’t block that... you’d be dead..."
Lu Chen was the captain. The Ninth Squad could survive without Zhou Yi, but they couldn’t survive without Lu Chen. After using up the last of his strength to utter those words, Zhou Yi’s head lolled to the side. Unable to hold on any longer, he passed out directly in Lu Chen’s arms.
Holding his heavily injured, unconscious teammate, Lu Chen looked at the other squad members passed out on the ground, then at the devastated ruins and the still-churning black mist around them. His chest felt tight and ached fiercely; he was so overwhelmed he nearly collapsed himself. A sudden pollution explosion had left nearly the entire Ninth Squad severely wounded in just a matter of seconds. If Si Jin and Xing Che hadn’t intervened in time, probably no one present would have survived.
The scene was an absolute wreck. The residual, tyrannical black mist of spiritual power was still frantically churning and pulsating all around them, showing no signs of dissipating. Xing Che’s brows furrowed tightly. His expression turned dead serious, completely devoid of his usual relaxed demeanor. He quickly scanned the chaotic flows of energy in the surroundings and said in a deep voice, "There’s something wrong with this explosion. We have to leave immediately. If we stay any longer, something terrible is going to happen!" The situation had already spiraled completely out of control. Staying would only mean facing endless, unknown dangers.
Yun Sheng’s heart tightened. Ignoring the lingering dull ache in her own head, she immediately turned to look at Lu Chen, who was holding Zhou Yi and looking in terrible shape. "Captain Lu, are you alright?" she asked.
Hearing this, Lu Chen slowly exhaled a breath of stale air. He forcibly suppressed the churning blood and disordered spiritual power within his body, barely managing to stabilize his precarious condition. He had wanted to reply, but right at that moment, he detected a familiar residual ripple of spiritual power in the air. The fluctuation was extremely subtle, hidden within the sky-filling, chaotic turbulence of the pollution. An ordinary Sentinel wouldn’t be able to sense it at all.
But Lu Chen was different. In his early years, he had followed that person deep into high-risk pollution zones multiple times, fighting side-by-side and braving countless life-and-death battles. He was familiar with this unique spiritual power fluctuation down to his very bones; he could never mistake it in this lifetime.
With a BOOM, countless memories of the past instantly surged into his mind. Lu Chen abruptly looked up, staring intently at the High-level Sentinel quietly protecting Yun Sheng, his eyes filled with sheer disbelief. He didn’t speak, didn’t question, didn’t utter a single syllable. Yet, his gaze was complicated to the extreme, churning with shock, bewilderment, and sudden astonishment—as well as a trace of sudden, clear realization.
All the puzzling doubts he couldn’t figure out before connected perfectly at this very moment. Why were there two top-tier SSS-level experts with no files and no official affiliation at the Tower closely guarding Yun Sheng? Why was this person, whose strength utterly crushed everyone present and whose aura was so terrifying, willing to stay hidden in the shadows? All the unreasonable aspects instantly found their one and only, most logical answer.
It was him! How could that man, who should have degenerated into a Dark Sentinel and plunged into eternal darkness, appear in such a lucid state? Had he recovered?! But how could someone who had fallen into a Dark Sentinel possibly recover!
A storm of mixed emotions raged in Lu Chen’s heart. For a moment, he couldn’t even tell if he should be rejoicing or terrified. Just then, Si Jin, who had been silently guarding Yun Sheng’s side, seemed to catch his gaze and slowly looked over. Si Jin’s expression was placid and unruffled, his eyes cold and distant. He looked exactly the same as before, as if he were still that reticent, low-profile protector, Lin Mo. Not a single ripple of emotion could be seen on his face.
Yet, in the instant their eyes met, Lu Chen clearly felt a completely different aura. It was a tacit understanding and clarity unique to old acquaintances, silently exchanging across their wordless eye contact. Hidden within Si Jin’s seemingly apathetic eyes was a subtle shift that others couldn’t read—as if silently acknowledging his guess, and simultaneously warning him not to expose it. The two men stared at each other. Neither spoke, but the air inexplicably grew stagnant.
Sensing the shift in the atmosphere, Xing Che couldn’t be bothered with the subtle undercurrent between the two men. He quickly walked over to Yun Sheng and gently tugged on her arm, his tone clearly urgent. "Aren’t we leaving? If we drag this out any longer, we really won’t be able to get out of here."
The black mist in the surroundings continued to swell wildly. The faint rumbling of a new round of collapse echoed from deep underground. The pollution energy across the entire ruins was still accumulating, threatening to trigger a second, even more lethal explosion at any second.
Yun Sheng’s eyes flickered, and she instinctively followed his gaze. She first looked at the calm, unperturbed Si Jin, and then turned to the deeply conflicted, silently speechless Lu Chen. An inexplicable, subtle feeling brushed past her heart. The atmosphere at the scene was incredibly bizarre. But with a crisis looming right over their heads, there was no time to overthink.
Yun Sheng immediately suppressed the doubts in her heart and said in a deep voice, "Captain Lu, let’s leave first. The ensuing situation is no longer something our squad can handle!"