Chapter 425 Revisit to Old Grounds

Shen City is a first-tier metropolis in the real world, with both a larger area and a higher building density compared to Cang Hai City.

In contrast, the Shen City in the Dark Zone world is far more dangerous.

So when Xia Xinyan set her testing target on Shen City, Ling Mo was actually not very onboard with the idea. Their operation already had a testing nature, and even if, in theory, everything was fine, you couldn’t rule out the possibility of something going wrong. They barely managed to escape from Cang Hai City as it was; Shen City would be even more perilous.

Until Xia Xinyan told him that Shen City was where she had died in her previous life.

—Ling Mo had always cared about Xinyan’s past experiences.

After all, this segment of her history was something he couldn’t participate in, nor did he have any part in it. Perhaps it was that change in her past life that led her to be the one to take the initiative to be with him in this life, which he felt was quite the blessing.

But… he also wanted to understand more about Xinyan’s past, driven by his selfish curiosity.

However, Xinyan rarely mentioned her previous life, and the only thing Ling Mo currently knew was that she had died before him, at the end of the expedition team he led.

Although it was his past self, whenever Xinyan brought these things up, it made Ling Mo feel like he owed her something. No matter how you slice it, his past self had indeed watched her die without taking any action to save her.

If he had known about the next life back then, he would have done everything in his power to rescue Xinyan.

But reality has no “if only.”

So when he heard Xinyan say she had died in Shen City in her previous life, he immediately became interested in that place.

He wanted to see that place, with Xinyan.

If conditions allowed, he even wanted to destroy that place with Xinyan, as a sort of compensation for her past life.

After all… with Monica around, there wasn’t really much to worry about, right?

—Xia Xinyan had no idea that the little white lies she had told to fool Ling Mo back then still held sway to this day. Even if she found out, she probably wouldn’t say anything. After all, it takes countless lies to cover one lie, so it’s better to simply treat the matter as a beautiful misunderstanding. As long as she didn’t say anything and Monica didn’t either, no one would know the true situation of her previous life.

Moreover, by now, she had lost the courage to tell Ling Mo the truth anyway.

This was fine, after all, even couples have their little secrets, right?

Thus, as all major factions ramped up preparations for their expedition, Xia Xinyan and Ling Mo set off for Shen City.

This time, apart from the two of them, they only brought Monica and canned meat, making for an even smaller team than last time, which would be more convenient for a hasty retreat. Plus, the purpose of this operation was merely to test and scout, so there was no need to force a confrontation with those demons; it wouldn’t be too hard.

They took the helicopter as before, but this time Ling Mo removed the partitions between the cockpit and cabin, handed over the driving privileges entirely to Tianji, and the group gathered to discuss their action plan.

“Are you sure just one piece of meat is enough for those demons to take us as kindred?” Ling Mo took out three pendants and reconfirmed.

The pendants were hollow spherical nets the size of a baseball, containing a piece of demon flesh inside. Xia Xinyan could sense that these pieces of flesh did emit faint demonic energy, but compared to the canned meat… the difference was still quite significant.

However, the canned meat nodded, “Yes, as long as they can sense that aura on you, no matter how much, they’ll treat you as kin.”

Ling Mo handed each Monica and Xia Xinyan a pendant, keeping the last one for himself, fiddling with it for a bit. “So, what do we do if we come under attack?”

“Rather than fighting,” the canned meat closed its eyes compassionately, “the Merciful Lord will forgive our transgressions. We harm other beings only for the sake of survival.”

Ling Mo’s expression grew somewhat odd.

This guy doesn’t seem to be wrong; they are indeed fighting for survival—losing this expedition would be akin to doomsday for humanity. As for the canned meat… if it doesn’t behave, it’s curtains for it, so rounding it off, that counts as fighting for survival too.

They were actually on the same page.

Looking at it now, even if it had started to believe in a deity, its fundamental nature of being a traitor hadn’t changed one bit.

Ahem, back to the point.

“Is it common for demons to kill each other?” Xia Xinyan suddenly interjected.

The canned meat nodded again, “Low-level kin will fight for territory, and even those of higher status, like myself, may battle for various reasons. Using your race’s terminology, our breed is filled with bloodlust and slaughter—though I have now found faith, the Merciful Lord will guide me to cleanse my bloody sins.”

Xia Xinyan shot a sideways glance at Monica.

Monica, who was playing a handheld game beside her, caught her look and smiled, “What’s up? Have you decided how to act?”

“As long as you don’t go blabbing about us to the demon stronghold as soon as we arrive like last time, we’ll be fine,” Xia Xinyan complained. “This time, it’s just simple scouting; whatever happens, let’s try to avoid combat.”

The canned meat chimed in, “Your decision pleases the Lord…”

“Shut it,” Xia Xinyan was too lazy to argue with it. “If you want to communicate with Him, go do it at the back.”

The canned meat paused, quietly got up, and moved to the end of the cabin to sulk.

Monica clicked her tongue, “What a pious demon! Why go scare it like that?”

“…I still prefer its old self. Can you switch it back?” Xia Xinyan exchanged glances with her.

Monica was silent for a moment before shrugging.

Clearly, that was the answer.

“Alright then, let’s do it this way. We’ll see how things go when we reach Shen City,” Ling Mo nodded, glancing at the time. “We still have a few hours until we reach Shen City, so let’s rest a bit before heading out.”

After that, the group didn’t chat much, and soon time flew by. By dawn, the helicopter reached the edge of Shen City.

To avoid raising alarms, Ling Mo landed the helicopter on the outskirts, and then the group began to walk towards Shen City.

Just like Cang Hai City, even the outskirts of the city were mostly in ruins, with hardly a trace of life, exuding a sense of apocalypse everywhere.

Xia Xinyan silently assessed her surroundings, her expression somewhat inscrutable.

Despite some minor differences, the scene here seemed to overlap with her memories of the expedition, except now there were no overwhelming demons nor expedition troops resigned to death.

Even though it had been over a year, at this moment, Xia Xinyan once again felt the intense shock of being reborn.

She had returned alive to the past.

But… would she die once more?