pjbooks Chapter 278 The Person in the Glass
Chapter 278 The Person in the Glass
Lu Yan closed the door, took out the half of the charred and curled military identification tag, and placed it on the tin table.
His fingertips hovered above the metal, without touching it.
The aura of the laws of the Black Lotus Pure Land silently emanated from his body.
That is not visible energy.
It is a form of fundamental interference with the rules of reality.
The identity cards on the table remained unchanged.
In Lu Yan's field of vision, some things that did not belong to this dormitory began to emerge.
The smell of scorched earth.
The distinctive sour smell of metals when they are melted at high temperatures.
There were also streaks of silver light piercing the sky.
The beam of light struck the array barrier, creating silent ripples.
A woman's shout, intermittent and mixed with intense electrical static.
"...Hold on! Hold point C, the key position!"
"No clothes! Run!"
The image is shattered.
The sound disappeared.
Everything returned to the silence of the dormitory.
Lu Yan withdrew his hand.
He sat down in front of the terminal, the screen lit up, and the pale blue light reflected on his face.
The captain of the seventh squad has the authority to bypass firewalls for most public information databases.
He entered the command.
[Access: Xichuan Defense Zone, Fourth Defense Line, Battle Report from Nine Hours Ago, Top Secret]
The system verifies permissions.
Three seconds later, a file marked with the highest level red warning unfolded on the screen.
The publicly available report contained only one sentence: "The entire front was lost, and no one survived."
But this top-secret file contains something different.
At the very end of the casualty list, there is one name.
Qin Wuyi.
The identification label that follows is not a military rank.
They are "extra-staff collaborators".
The status bar does not show "Dead".
It's a jarring phrase: "missing".
The appendix to the file contains a last voice message sent by a frontline commander before communications were cut off.
"...The formation was breached at the level of the laws."
"The enemy directly erased the spatial coordinates of our array's core."
"This is not a war we can understand..."
"Let Qin Wuyi go."
"He is the only one..."
The audio is interrupted here.
Lu Yan closed the file.
He leaned back in his chair, looking at the flickering light tube on the ceiling.
A formation master who uses arrays to trap monsters until they die.
A controller who can freeze a boss for four minutes in an A-level secret realm.
A person with zero attack power.
He stood up, changed into casual clothes, put the half of the ID card in his pocket, and left the dormitory.
It was dark.
In the residential area outside the Longwei base, most shops have closed.
Only one restaurant on the street corner, "Old Wang's Noodle Shop," still had its lights on.
The shop was small, with four greasy wooden tables.
The incandescent light bulb overhead has a faulty connection and flickers.
In the corner, Qin Wuyi was engrossed in eating noodles.
A bowl of spicy wonton noodles, the red glow of the chili oil reflecting on his expressionless face.
He ate very quickly, stirring his chopsticks in the bowl very frequently.
Lu Yan pushed open the door and went in.
The door hinges creaked and groaned.
He walked up to the counter.
"Boss, a bowl of clear soup noodles."
The boss poked his head out from behind the rising steam and responded.
Lu Yan carried a bowl of plain noodles to the opposite side of Qin Wuyi and sat down.
He placed the bowl of noodles on the table.
Then, he took the half of the charred ID card out of his pocket and placed it on the edge of the bowl.
The metal struck the tabletop with a soft sound.
Qin Wuyi stopped using her chopsticks to pick up noodles.
He raised his head.
His gaze fell on Lu Yan's face, then slowly moved down, settling on the half of the identity card.
He didn't speak.
A drop of soup from the bowl splashed onto the table because of his slight tremor in his wrist.
"Xichuan Defense Zone, Fourth Line of Defense, Independent Platoon."
Lu Yan spoke, his voice not loud, just enough to drown out the bubbling of the boiling water in the pot.
"You set up the defensive array's core, didn't you?"
Qin Wuyi's hand gripping the chopsticks tightened at the knuckles.
He stared at the half-identity card, something churning in his eyes, which he suppressed with all his might.
"So what?"
His voice was hoarse, like sandpaper rubbing against wood.
"You can't even hold one defense zone."
Why should I risk my life for you?
anger.
resentment.
There is also a kind of self-mockery mixed with pain after the wound has been torn open.
Lu Yan was not affected by his emotions.
He simply looked calmly into the other person's eyes.
"That's not your fault."
"The formation of the fourth line of defense has been breached by a weapon of higher-dimensional law."
"The spatial coordinates of the array's core were directly erased."
That thing is called a "Sanctuary".
Qin Wuyi's breathing became erratic.
The anger on his face froze, replaced by astonishment.
He thought the defeat was due to a problem with his formation.
It's because he's not skilled enough, and he overestimated himself.
So he ran away.
With shame and guilt.
Lu Yan picked up his chopsticks and took a bite of noodles.
It was bland and tasteless.
"Her name is Qin Zheng, your older sister."
Lu Yan looked at the identity card.
"The platoon leader of the independent platoon."
"She asked me to tell you this in her last communication."
"You are the only one..."
Lu Yan stopped.
Qin Wuyi's chopsticks slipped from her hand, fell onto the table, and rolled to the ground.
He covered his face with his hands.
My shoulders started shaking, initially very slightly, then it became more intense.
There was no crying.
Only the suppressed sobs, squeezed from the depths of the throat, like the whimpers of a wounded wild beast.
The boss came over with a rag, saw the scene, paused for a moment, and then silently retreated.
Lu Yan did not comfort him.
He simply finished the bowl of clear soup noodles slowly.
They even drank the soup.
A long time passed.
Qin Wuyi lowered her hand.
His eyes were very red and bloodshot.
He picked up the half of the ID card from the table, wiped the grease off with his sleeve, and carefully put it into the inner pocket of his denim jacket.
"What do I need to do?"
he asks.
The voice was still hoarse, but the sharpness and anger within it had vanished.
"Come with me."
Lu Yan stood up and placed the money on the table.
"The first squad is missing a formation specialist."
The two walked out of the noodle shop one after the other.
The night breeze felt cool on my face.
The streets were deserted.
Behind them.
On the greasy glass window of the noodle shop.
Several palm-sized mechanical moths were silently alighting there.
They are entirely silvery-white, and their wings are translucent crystalline structures.
The head has no mouthparts.
There are only countless silver lenses, like the compound eyes of an insect.
All the cameras were fixed on the direction in which Lu Yan and Qin Wuyi disappeared.
"What is it?" Lu Yan sensed something unusual, but at first he didn't notice anything wrong.
"Maybe I'm overthinking it."
Out of caution, Lu Yan still called Xiao Qianyu and asked her to make some arrangements.
In the shadows, a person, or rather, the reflection of a piece of glass, reveals a human figure.
"Quite cautious..."
"So, how about we try a surprise attack next?"