I raised stunning young ladies, but they all wanted to possess me.

Gu Yan turned her head to look at her; there was a very faint layer of moisture on her eyelashes.

"I stood outside Windsor Manor for a long time that day."

"I didn't go in because I was afraid I would burst into tears in public."

"Later, I burned incense for you in Jinghai for three years. Every year on the anniversary of your death, I would go to that Japanese confectionery shop to buy a matcha cake and place it in front of your memorial tablet."

"Then eat it yourself."

"Because I remember you saying you don't like waste."

Her voice trembled slightly as she spoke the last few words.

"Those things I didn't dare say to you when you were alive, I've been saying to you every day since you died."

"But you can't hear me."

"At that time, I really thought that I would have to carry these unspeakable words with me for the rest of my life and slowly get through it all alone."

Gu Yan reached out and gently tucked her long hair, which had been ruffled by the sea breeze, behind her ear.

Her face was almost transparently white in the moonlight, and tears glistened in the corners of her eyes, but she still tried to smile at him.

"Xiao Yan, the calamity is getting stronger."

"The fifth line of defense disappeared just like that."

"I'm not optimistic about those reclusive families waking up one by one."

"real."

"No matter how skilled the Zhuge family is, they can't outsmart the Black Tide."

"No matter how strong the Xuanyuan family is, they can't surpass a Titan-level being."

"In all my years of life, this is the first time I've felt that we might actually die."

She looked at him, her eyes filled with increasingly heavy tears.

"Xiao Yan, will we die?"

Gu Yan looked at her.

Her gaze was so tender, yet so desperate.

He took her hand and tucked her fingers one by one into his palm.

Her hands were very cold, like jade that had been soaked in the sea breeze for a long time.

"Won't."

He said.

"We will not die."

"At least as long as I'm alive, I won't let you die."

"I won't let Yu Ran die either."

"I know you're scared right now, and I'm scared too."

"But I'm afraid it won't be of any use, Sister Yi."

"We have no choice but to keep going."

"Walk until the Kuroshio Current recedes, or until the day we can no longer walk."

"But until then, I'll always be by your side."

Pei Youyi looked at him quietly.

The sea breeze passed between the two of them, lifting her skirt and gently brushing against his trouser leg.

Her tears fell silently, sliding from the corner of her eye to her chin, dripping onto the hem of her skirt and spreading into a small, dark dot.

She closed her eyes and didn't open them again for a long while.

Then she slowly leaned over and gently pressed her forehead against his.

Her breath brushed against his cheek, warm and lingering.

"May I kiss you?"

Her voice was so soft it was almost inaudible, like a ray of moonlight falling from the top of a lighthouse.

Gu Yan did not answer.

He lowered his head slightly and touched her lips very, very lightly.

The sea breeze suddenly became very gentle, and the sound of the waves crashing against the rocks softened, as if unwilling to disturb this small patch of tranquility.

Her eyelashes trembled slightly, then she closed her eyes, tilted her head back, and deepened that barely touching touch.

Before dawn the next day, the alarm blared throughout the camp.

Gu Yan was startled awake from her light sleep by the tremor.

He grabbed his coat and rushed out of the tent; the campsite was already in chaos.

Soldiers poured out of the tents, some carrying weapons and running towards the position without even putting on their shoes properly.

On the distant horizon, that familiar black tide is surging toward the coastline.

This time, without a fleet to hold them off, the Kuroshio surged directly towards the land.

He saw Pei Youyi.

She was now standing at the forefront of the coastal defense line, having changed her light apricot dress into a dark, fitted outfit, and her hair was styled high with a jade hairpin.

She glanced back at him, just once, before turning back to face the approaching black tsunami.

"Form ranks!"

The commander's voice boomed across the battlefield.

Hundreds of thousands of soldiers formed a deep defensive formation behind the coastline.

The first line of defense consists of infantry bunkers and anti-tank ditches; the second line consists of tank formations and rocket artillery positions; and the third line consists of missile launchers and long-range rune cannons.

The boots of hundreds of thousands of soldiers pounded the muddy ground with a dull, rhythmic sound.

Tank gun barrels gleamed coldly in the morning light, rocket launchers pointed densely at the sea, and missile launchers spread out in a fan shape behind the position.

Everyone is waiting.

"Fire!"

Hundreds of tanks fired simultaneously.

The roar of the cannonballs shattered the morning mist on the beach, and the runic cannonballs crashed into the black tide, creating gaping holes.

Rocket launchers fired in unison, hundreds of rockets streaking across the sky and raining down on the sea like a storm.

The missile launcher followed closely behind, and the medium-sized rune missiles drew dense parabolas in mid-air, landing in the densest area of ​​the Black Tide.

The sea surface was blasted into a boiling state, and countless remains of bone-eating worms were thrown into the air and then fell back into the water.

But the Kuroshio Current did not stop.

They surged forward, stepping over the remains of their companions, wave after wave, as if they would never tire or be afraid.

The vanguard of the bone-eating worms has already surged onto the beach, followed by worm-like calamities bursting from beneath the seabed and filling in the frontline anti-tank trenches.

The skeletal knights followed closely behind, their hooves crushing seashells and bullet casings on the mudflats as they charged toward the infantry bunkers.

Gu Yan stood next to the command bunker of the first line of defense.

His Mirror Flower Imperial Seal has not been fully restored, but he can already mobilize a portion of his spiritual power.

He closed his eyes, and a seven-colored light shone from the depths of his pupils, transforming into an extremely fine thread of spiritual energy that precisely pierced the skulls of the row of skeletal knights charging at the forefront.

The crimson flames in the eye sockets of those skeletal knights flickered violently, then turned into a rainbow of colors.

They all reined in their warhorses, turned around, and used their spears to pierce the swarm of bone-eating insects that surged up from behind.

"Keep firing! Don't stop!"

The commander's voice was already hoarse, but he was still shouting.

Pei Youyi's wind wall unfolded at the edge of the beach.

The pale blue wind wall extends from her feet to both sides, enveloping the entire mudflat.

Acid shells were shredded by wind blades when they hit the wind wall, and dragon breath was bounced back to the sea surface when it hit the wind wall.

She held the entire central defensive line by herself, but the black tides on the left and right flanks had begun to bypass the wind wall and advance deeper into the territory.

The tank group turned its guns and fired simultaneously at both flanks, while rocket launchers unleashed a deluge of ammunition onto the mudflats.

The soldiers lay prone in their bunkers, desperately returning fire with rifles and grenades, the spent shell casings piling up at their feet.

Gu Yan's mental energy was continuously being output.

He controlled more and more anti-water calamities, from skeletal knights to steel colossi. These monsters, whose wills were ignited by the seven-colored flames, turned around and fought for humanity, scattering the Black Tide's charging formation.

Sweat beaded on his forehead, and his vision began to blur, but he didn't stop.

"Can it hold on?"

Pei Youyi's voice came through the communication channel.