Chapter 557: Companion

To be honest, as a plain mercenary, Su Jingming's impression of Sha Yu Peak is actually pretty good.

Sha Yu Peak was entirely climbed during the former Undercurrent, together with Lingxiao at the time, but whether in Aberrant Arts or resources, the gap doomed him to be no match for Lingxiao.

He knows Lingxiao has the power to make the Undercurrent stronger, yet he doesn't realize that the purpose of entering the Undercurrent here was impure from the start.

Su Jingming sometimes wonders, since Si Jing can already be regarded as one of them, why not try to recruit Sha Yu Peak as well?

It wasn't until recently that he understood Sha Yu Peak doesn't meet her ideals.

She wants the safety of civilians, the stability of the majority, the continuation of civilization, and Yue Chengzhang does that well; and when Sha Yu Peak, on the run, casually grabs a civilian, finds blackmail futile and kills them outright, his future is sealed with no role to play.

Blessing or curse, who can say for sure?

Su Jingming looks a lot like Su Jingchuan, but his facial lines are much softer, and that innate gentleness hasn't been completely worn away by years of mercenary life.

His eyes are a beautiful cyan, a too-pure gentle hue that always makes Si Jing doubt the reason he might be taken into Lingxiao's plan.

Clearly, the plan has no place for him at all.

"Just think of it as an older brother, striving so his younger brother can have a better future."

Su Jingming shrugged, seeing through Si Jing's thoughts.

"Moreover, once we truly enter the Eternal Silent Abyss, the peace we're now barely pretending will be shattered outright; although it looks like a joint of two camps, who can say how many factions it actually splits into?"

And Si Jing happens to be a total combat novice aside from Aberrant Arts, his identity unknown to the Church, so his coming can also prevent Si Jing from being killed by his own people.

"....... That's indeed the case."

Hearing Su Jingming's words, Si Jing fell into silence.

Leaving aside everything else, this scene right now......

He truly can't tell.

Their Church interior should be fine; the Heresy Tribunal leads the charge, so no major issues, but the Dome is truly......

Both fell into an odd silence; Su Jingming glanced at a small mushroom emerging from the damp corner nearby, a grayish mushroom about the length of his thumb.

The adjacent area had been mostly torn down because Chi Jin An suddenly went mad earlier; if you moved any closer inward, it would be crushed.

Everyone is just trying hard to stay alive.

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"Luo Jinyou!"

Shen Zexi saw Luo Jinyou from afar; he wasn't clear on what was happening on Luo Jinyou's side, but from the intel gathered in the Academy, Luo Jinyou was almost completely turned into a monster.

But the Luo Jinyou standing before him now seemed no different from when they were at Mitra Academy, and perhaps having seen more outside, he appeared a bit more confident and composed.

Moreover, his clothes looked quite expensive, the kind whose value is obvious at a glance.

...... doesn't look like he's been bullied at all.

Because Luo Jinyou was taken in by Bai Mu Yun for a while and got a lot of free clothes, he doesn't know what a few people are thinking, but he's glad to see an old friend.

Having just seen the familiar two names join the party, he was already mentally prepared.

Shen Zexi, after stepping closer, immediately sensed something off.

Although the Luo Jinyou before him looked not much different, even seeming much more mature, he should feel relieved, but......

Those once-beautiful sapphire eyes now had elongated pupils; the very first glance made him feel as if a beast were staring at him.

He knows this is certainly not Luo Jinyou's intention, but at this moment he clearly realizes one thing.

The Luo Jinyou before him is already nonhuman.

Seeing Shen Zexi, whose eyes had once been excited, freeze a few steps away, Luo Jinyou also understood that Shen Zexi had sensed something amiss.

Earlier he had exchanged a few words with Xie Jingyan, roughly probing, both overtly and covertly, Xie Jingyan's attitude toward Aberrant Species.

Xie Jingyan's familiarity with life needs no explanation; at first glance she saw Luo Jinyou's nonhuman nature.

But what does that matter? Even though she was completely corroded by the ugly aura of Mutation, she could still sense Luo Jinyou's cautious goodwill, which was somewhat lamentable, like seeing a plant wholly ravaged by pests, beyond rescue.

She offered Luo Jinyou a few words of encouragement then, but she couldn't guarantee that others would be unbiased when facing him.

"Hey, kid, you went to the Dome and got yourself some colored contacts?"

While Shen Zexi was still slightly frowning, Qi Hengyu had already hooked his arm around Luo Jinyou's neck, rubbing the boy's scalp a few times.

"Why are you still so skinny? Even though you've grown taller, is the Dome's food that bad?"

Qi Hengyu never misses a chance to disparage the Dome; a fourteen-year-old boy in his growth spurt should, in theory, be shooting up in height.

He can't possibly have stopped growing, right?

Aberrant Species shouldn't be frozen in age, right?

"The Dome's food is great......" Luo Jinyou, having learned a bit of linguistic art, stayed silent on his race when none of them brought it up, and took over the conversation.

"Then why don't you eat more? I feel you're still skinny?"

Qi Hengyu frowned slightly at the words, forced his hands under Luo Jinyou's armpits, lifted him up in one go, testing his weight.

"L-let me down!"

Luo Jinyou's ears flushed slightly; he's already fourteen, and this guy shouldn't rely on his own size to act like he's handling a child!

"Hmm...... indeed the Dome's food is still terrible."

Qi Hengyu drew a final conclusion, then, with some interest, told Luo Jinyou about how the Supervision Bureau's food is, while giving Shen Zexi a faint glance.

Shen Zexi understood his meaning, but from their interactions, even if he's become an Aberrant Species, the Luo Jinyou before him seemed not much different from the one in their memories, still so shy and cautious.

He also knew his recent action might have hurt Luo Jinyou's fragile spirit, but......

"May I examine it?"

Chen Mo Zhi, at some point, arrived beside Qi Hengyu and Luo Jinyou, suddenly interjecting and cutting off Qi Hengyu's eager chatter.

He knew Qi Hengyu was merely reminiscing about that far-too-brief memory.

But the facts still need to be faced.

"Of course."

Luo Jinyou accepted without hesitation, even if this person was Chen Mo Zhi, or rather... precisely because he was Chen Mo Zhi.