Every Sentinel I Dreamed of Came Looking for Me

"Si Jin..."

As the name left Yun Sheng’s lips, the figure before her paused for a moment.

Then, he turned around.

Yun Sheng’s breath caught in her throat.

It was a face she knew, yet it was terrifyingly unfamiliar.

His once-handsome features were now covered in strange black patterns, which spread like cracks from the corners of his eyes to his jaw, glowing with a dark light under the sun.

His eyes, once as deep blue as the ocean, were now a solid crimson, churning with a crazed killing intent.

He looked at her.

The murderous rage in his eyes swirled, but the moment his gaze met hers, something flickered within them.

The churning madness came to a brief, almost imperceptible halt.

"Si Jin..."

Yun Sheng called his name again, her voice trembling.

His body jolted violently.

In his crimson eyes, murderous intent warred violently with something deeper.

He raised his hand, his long fingers wreathed in black mist, and reached for her face.

But just as he was about to touch her cheek, he snatched it back.

He took a step back.

A low, suppressed growl, like that of a caged beast, rumbled in his throat.

"Yun Sheng! Get out of the way!"

Cheng Nian’s shriek came from a short distance away.

Yun Sheng didn’t move.

She looked at the strange black markings on Si Jin’s face, at the pain and struggle churning in his eyes, at the hand that wanted to touch her but didn’t dare...

Suddenly, she wasn’t afraid anymore.

"You still recognize me."

She said it softly, not as a question, but as a statement.

His body trembled again.

Something in his crimson eyes was fighting desperately to break free.

In the distance, the pollutants that had been momentarily stunned began to stir again.

The next second, Si Jin moved.

He became a black blur, his speed astonishing as he instantly charged into the horde of pollutants!

The grotesque creatures didn’t even have time to react before he tore them apart with his bare hands.

He seized a Split Ridge Lizard by the throat, and as his fingers tightened, the CRACK of breaking bones was clearly audible.

Three Bone-piercing Vines shot toward him at once, but he shattered them into dust with a single palm strike.

A corrosive worm spat slime on him, but he seemed to feel nothing, simply turning and piercing through the worm’s head in one motion.

Slaughter.

Pure, frenzied slaughter.

The black markings on Si Jin’s body writhed as if they were alive, growing darker and more intense with every strike he made.

His movements had no form or technique; only a primal desire for destruction drove him.

But the number of pollutants was decreasing at a visible rate.

"Go!" Guo Kai’s voice rang out. He struggled to his feet, his eyes locked on the black figure. "Now’s our chance, hurry up and go!"

Ma Yu also pushed himself up, one hand clutching his wound, the other grabbing the nearest person, Cheng Nian.

"That’s a Dark Sentinel! He’s more dangerous than the pollutants! Fall back!"

Zhao Qian was the first to react. She stumbled, turned, and ran without daring to look back.

Cheng Nian was pulled off-balance but still looked back, reaching a hand toward Yun Sheng.

Li Wen also turned to look at Yun Sheng. "Yun Sheng! We have to go!"

Yun Sheng hesitated, her gaze fixed on the figure rampaging through the horde of pollutants.

’This is Si Jin, whom I’ve finally found after so long.’

’How could I just leave him?’

"What are you standing there for!" Li Wen was so frantic her eyes were red. "That’s a Dark Sentinel! He might not hurt you when he’s lucid, but in this state, who knows what he’ll do next!"

Yun Sheng bit her lip.

Si Jin weaved through the horde of pollutants. The grotesque B-level and C-level pollutants were like paper dolls before him.

A Split Ridge Lizard’s head was pierced by his fist, and three Bone-piercing Vines that stabbed at him simultaneously were shattered into dust by his palm.

His movements were indeed becoming more erratic, and the black markings swirled violently, but the pollutants were still utterly powerless against him.

’With his power... these pollutants really can’t hurt him.’

’The real danger is himself.’

’But what can I do?’

’If I stay, what can I do?’

’With my meager strength, I’d only get in his way if I rushed in.’

’It takes all my strength just to deal with one B-level pollutant, and there are more than a dozen of them here.’

’Staying... might really just cause more trouble for him.’

Yun Sheng’s fingers clenched into a fist, then relaxed.

She took one last, deep look at Si Jin. He had just torn apart a pouncing beast, his form still as sharp as a blade.

’He’s safe for now.’

’The pollutants can’t hurt him.’

"...Let’s go."

Yun Sheng finally spoke, her voice terribly hoarse.

Li Wen paused for a second, then rushed over, grabbed her arm, and started dragging her back.

Yun Sheng didn’t resist.

She just kept looking back with every few steps, her gaze locked on that black figure.

Until he was completely swallowed from her sight by the swarming horde of pollutants.

The group staggered on for several hundred meters, only stopping when the riverbed was completely blocked from view by the rolling hills.

Cheng Nian bent over with her hands on her knees, panting heavily.

Li Wen leaned against a rock, her face pale.

He Yi silently wrapped a bandage around a wound on his arm, while Zhou Ying leaned nearby, her expression complex as she stared back the way they came.

Guo Kai and Ma Yu stood on higher ground, warily scanning their surroundings.

Zhao Qian was the first to recover.

She spun around abruptly and glared at Yun Sheng, her voice sharp and piercing.

"Yun Sheng, we told you to run just now, so why didn’t you? Are you trying to get us all killed?!"

Yun Sheng looked up at her but said nothing.

"And another thing!" Zhao Qian took a step forward, pressing her. "You and that Dark Sentinel... you know him, don’t you? What were you yelling at him? Do you have any idea how dangerous your actions were? If he had turned on us, we all would have died back there!"

Cheng Nian’s expression changed, and she instinctively moved to speak up for Yun Sheng.

But Yun Sheng had already started talking.

Her expression was calm, her tone flat and devoid of emotion. "I don’t know him. Don’t go pinning false accusations on me."

Zhao Qian was speechless.

"That was my first time seeing a Dark Sentinel. When he looked at me, I was completely frozen. Zhao Qian, if you were face to face with a Dark Sentinel like that, are you sure you’d be able to act normally? Then I saw him charge into the horde of pollutants. His power was so overwhelming that I was stunned for a moment and didn’t react right away."

Zhao Qian opened her mouth but couldn’t find a single word to refute that.

Beside them, Cheng Nian chimed in at the perfect moment, "If it were her, her legs probably would have turned to jelly from fear."

Li Wen couldn’t help but let out a laugh.

Zhao Qian’s face flushed an even deeper red. She shot Cheng Nian a vicious glare. Although she still suspected Yun Sheng, she had no actual proof.

She had been too far from Yun Sheng at the time and hadn’t heard what she’d said at all.

Yun Sheng paid her no more attention.

She turned around, her gaze once again drawn to the direction hidden by the hills.

There was nothing to see anymore.

But her heart felt as if it were being squeezed by something, a heavy feeling that wouldn’t go away.

’Si Jin... he’s lost so much control. Can those pollutants really not hurt him?’

’I’m still too weak. Otherwise, I could have rushed in to help!’

’Si Jin, you have to be okay!’