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

"They're flanking from both sides, so the pressure from the rear won't be any less than from the front."

"My wind-based abilities are suitable for large-scale defense."

"You go and hold the line, I'll block the road behind you."

Gu Yan turned to look at her.

The sea breeze ruffled the stray hairs on her forehead, obscuring half her face.

She was dressed in dark, close-fitting clothes, with gentle features, but the aura of an ancient martial arts SS-level expert had silently spread out around her, like an invisible wall.

He knew that if she said it, she would do it.

"it is good."

He nodded.

"I'll leave the rear to you."

The two stood side by side on the beach, one facing the sea and the other facing the land.

Moonlight peeked through the gaps in the clouds, falling on the blood-soaked sand between them.

In the distance, wounded soldiers could be heard groaning softly, military medics were moving back and forth with flashlights, and soldiers were squatting in their bunkers, eating compressed biscuits while drinking cold water.

No one spoke, but everyone knew that an even bigger battle would follow at dawn.

Gu Yan took out Han Zaixi's commando arm patch from her pocket.

It had become somewhat soft from being soaked in seawater and sweat, but he kept it with him.

He turned it over and looked at the crooked words on it by the light of the searchlight.

Take the team flag back to Busan; my mom is in Busan.

She has trouble walking, so don't let her come to see me.

He put the armband back in his pocket, close to his heart.

Then he turned around and faced the sea that was slowly rising and falling in the darkness.

The vanguard of the Black Tide has not yet appeared, but the oppressive feeling has already pressed down on everyone's chest.

"Everyone has it."

Gu Yan's voice was broadcast throughout the entire defense line.

"No one is allowed to sleep before sunrise tomorrow."

"All ammunition is loaded, all tanks are preheated, and all missiles are loaded."

"If they want to cross this beach, they'll have to step over our corpses."

"We will not withdraw from Shanglu."

"The Great Xia will not withdraw."

"We will not withdraw from Shanglu! We will not withdraw from Daxia!"

The soldiers' voices echoed from one end of the beach to the other, rising and falling, eventually merging into a single sound, like waves crashing against the night.

The soldiers' shouts still echoed on the beach.

It was the sound of hundreds of thousands of voices speaking at once, echoing from one end of the beach to the other, eventually merging into one, like waves crashing against the night.

But the darkness on the sea was deeper than their voices.

The attack began after midnight.

There was no alarm, no warning.

A row of dark red dots lit up on the horizon, like countless blood-red eyes opening at the same time.

Then comes the sound.

The grinding sound that made the bone-eating insects as they approached the sea grew louder and louder as they drew nearer, eventually becoming an overwhelming roar.

"Fire!"

Gu Yan's voice boomed through the communication channel.

Hundreds of tanks fired simultaneously, the muzzle flashes forming a winding fire dragon in the night.

The rocket launchers fired in unison, dozens of rockets streaking across the night sky and crashing into the sea like a meteor shower.

The missile launcher followed closely behind, with medium-sized rune missiles drawing dense parabolas in the air and rising into towering walls of fire at their impact points.

The armed helicopter flew close to the sea surface, and the spent shells from the rotary cannon poured down like a waterfall, shredding the front swarm of bone-eating insects into fragments.

But the Kuroshio Current was more ferocious than ever before.

The swarm of bone-eating insects surged onto the mudflats, trampling over the remains of their companions; worms burst from the sand; and the skeletal knight's hooves crushed shells and bullet casings.

Steel colossi emerged from the sea mist, and skeletal dragons hovered in the sky, their breath scorching the beach into a charred wasteland.

Further away, the silhouettes of several Titan-class beings were slowly rising from the darkness, their size far exceeding any they had ever seen before.

Gu Yan's seven-colored light exploded in the night.

The light, centered on him, covered the entire Shanglu beach, and all the calamities that rushed up were forcibly stripped of their will in the mental storm.

Skeleton Knights betrayed them, Iron Colossi turned against them, and worms entangled the landing Titans.

Pei Youyi's wind wall unfolded in front of the residential area behind the mudflats, and the light blue wind wall blocked all the disasters that slipped through the defense line.

Several figures rushed onto the beach from different directions.

The S-rank experts that Xuanyuan Cheng brought over each defended the most critical gaps in the defense line: one used lightning, one used earth magic, and one used sound waves.

The battle lasted all night.

As dawn approached, the Kuroshio's offensive finally began to crumble.

The beach was littered with the remains of disaster, and black blood flowed into countless tiny streams on the sand.

The defense line held.

But the cost was staggering.

Wei Changfeng limped over.

His old military uniform was blackened by gunpowder, and the injury to his right leg made him walk slower than usual.

He stopped in front of Gu Yan, raised his hand in a military salute, and his voice was so hoarse that it was almost inaudible.

"Deputy Commander Gu."

"We...held it."

Gu Yan nodded.

He looked at the old man's face, reddened by the ravages of war, and felt as if something was stuck in his throat.

He didn't ask until after a while.

"What about casualties?"

Wei Changfeng lowered his head.

The sea breeze blew, making his gray hair all messy.

He remained silent for a long time, so long that Gu Yan thought he wouldn't answer.

Then he spoke, his voice sounding like it was being squeezed out from between his teeth.

"Preliminary estimates suggest it starts at at least 100,000."

"Of the eight army corps, three were crippled."

"More than half of the tanks have been lost, the missile stockpile is almost empty, and only one squadron of attack helicopters remains."

"Deputy Commander Gu, we...we're almost out of troops."

One hundred thousand.

Gu Yan mentally went over the number several times.

One hundred thousand people—not just a number, but one hundred thousand people with names and families.

Last night they were still chanting "Shanglu will not be withdrawn" with him, but after dawn today, 100,000 people could no longer chant it.

He lowered his eyes, his hands clenched so tightly at his sides that his knuckles turned white.

The wind was strong on the beach, making the hem of his military uniform flutter loudly.

Pei Youyi walked over and handed him a bottle of water.

Her outfit was covered in dust and black blood, and there were several small red marks on her face from the wind blades.

But her voice remained gentle and steady.

"Don't think too much about it."

"If we hold on this wave, we'll have one more day in Shanglu."

"One more day means we can evacuate one more group of people."

"You've done a great job."

Gu Yan took the water bottle but didn't drink it.

He looked up at the distant sea that was slowly brightening.

The sun rose below the horizon, its golden-red light shining on the ravaged beach and on the soldiers who would never wake up again.

He stood in the wind, silent for a long time.

The battle report spread around the world by noon that day.

The seventh line of defense in the North American theater was breached, the sixth line of defense in the South American theater fell, the ice fortress in the Nordic theater fell, and the capital of the Central African theater was besieged by the Black Tide.

Global losses have exceeded ten million.

This number struck like a hammer blow to the chest of everyone who is still alive.