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

The surrender faction has resurfaced, and is more ferocious than ever before.

They said they couldn't fight anymore, that if they continued fighting, humanity would be wiped out, and that the Black Tide had already given them a chance to surrender, but the pro-war faction rejected it with millions of lives.

But another voice is also gaining traction.

The candidates for the God-Making Project—Cecilia, Fu Shiwei, Fu Wanqing, and Shen Youyao—are still fusing with the Source Crystal and have not yet emerged from seclusion.

People say that once they come out, the course of the war will change.

Some people also say that countries must still have hidden tricks up their sleeves and untapped resources.

People are always like this: in their most desperate moments, they place their hopes on things that haven't even happened yet.

At the same time, the latest global power rankings have been released.

The name ranked fourth drew everyone's attention.

Yuzuru's assistant, mental strength type, combat power rating SS to SSS, achievements: controlled more than three S-level calamities in a single battle at Nagoya Pass, and repelled the main force of Kuroshio twice at Shanglu Beach.

When Gu Yan saw the list, she was in the command center's sand table, planning the deployment of the next defensive line.

He casually tossed the list aside, not taking it too seriously.

But Wei Changfeng picked it up and looked at it for a long time, and finally patted him hard on the shoulder with his rough, big hand.

"Deputy Commander Gu, you are now fourth in the world."

"The soldiers in Shanglu will all follow you."

Before Gu Yan could speak, a communications soldier ran in and handed her an encrypted telegram.

"Commander-in-Chief Xuanyuan is convening a war meeting."

"Please proceed to the central core fortress immediately."

When Gu Yan and Pei Youyi arrived, the conference room was eerily quiet.

At the last joint meeting, the long table was filled with generals from various war zones and representatives of reclusive families.

Now only a few people remain, and most of the seats are empty.

Ao Lie is gone, Zhuge Mingyuan is gone, and all the elite members of those reclusive families dressed in ancient attire are gone.

Several familiar high-ranking generals were also absent.

Gu Yan later learned that they had all died on their respective lines of defense.

Xuanyuan Cheng sat in the main seat.

He had lost a lot of weight, his black robe was torn in several places, and his cuffs were stained with dark brown blood that couldn't be washed off.

The most striking feature was his left arm.

The area below the shoulders was bare, with the sleeves neatly tied up.

The confident and spirited look on his face was gone, though the arrogance in his eyes remained, but something very heavy was weighing on it.

He nodded to Gu Yan and Pei Youyi, gesturing for them to sit down.

A long silence followed in the meeting room.

No one spoke first.

In the end, it was Xuanyuan Cheng who spoke.

His voice was much lower than before, as if it were being dragged across the sand.

"Deputy Commander Gu."

"Two victories in two battles at Shanglu Beach, you are the last bastion of the sixth line of defense."

"But the central core fortress is almost at its breaking point."

"The enemy forces on the south and north flanks are closing in, and we have become a salient."

"If we keep defending, we'll only get surrounded and killed."

He looked up at Gu Yan.

"I have decided to abandon the sixth line of defense."

"You will lead the team, guiding the residents of Shanglu and the remaining troops to retreat towards the seventh line of defense."

"I'll cover the rear."

Gu Yan opened her mouth.

Before he could finish speaking, Xuan Yuancheng took a box from under the table with his right hand and pushed it over.

The box was opened, revealing a silver medal engraved with the Gladiolus emblem of Great Xia.

"This is the highest honor medal of the Great Xia Dynasty, the Qilin Medal."

"Awarded the title of Supreme Commander for the Battle of Shanglu Beach".

"It should have been awarded by the Emperor himself, but the current situation does not allow it."

"I will teach it on your behalf."

"Take it."

Gu Yan looked at the medal.

The silver gladiolus flowers gleamed under the cool light.

He slowly reached out, picked up the medal, and put it into the pocket of his uniform.

He didn't say thank you.

He couldn't say it.

This medal was so heavy, it felt as if it carried the weight of 100,000 lives on the beach in his pocket.

They still don't know his true identity.

They called him Deputy Commander Gu, treated him as a powerful spiritual figure who had appeared out of nowhere, and awarded the medal to someone who had been officially dead for three years.

He found it absurd and sad.

"Deputy Commander Gu."

Xuanyuan Cheng's voice interrupted his thoughts.

The young master of the Xuanyuan family, who had lost an arm, stood up from the main seat and walked up to him.

His left sleeve hung limply, and the wind blew in through the gaps in the conference room, causing the empty sleeve to sway gently.

"I know what you're thinking."

"You're thinking, so many people died, we held out for so long, and in the end we still had to retreat."

"This medal is not an honor to hold in my hand, but a burden."

Xuan Yuan Cheng pressed down on Gu Yan's shoulder with his right hand, the force was not heavy, but very steady.

"I've thought that way too."

"Before Zhuge Mingyuan died, he used his last breath to pass on the final divination he had performed based on astrological calculations to me."

The hexagram only has four characters.

"Living towards death."

Gu Yan looked up at him.

Xuanyuan Cheng's eyes held many things: weariness, sorrow, but deep within, a light that refused to be extinguished.

"Retreat is not running away."

"It's so that more people can live to see the day they can win."

"The people of Shanglu, the surviving soldiers, need someone to lead them out of this place."

"This person is not me."

"I have to stay here and keep the encircling Kuroshio pinned down in the middle."

"That person is you."

He withdrew his hand, took a step back, and gave Gu Yan a perfectly standard Great Xia military salute.

Please.

Gu Yan stood up and returned his salute in the same standard military manner.

The two looked at each other for a moment, and neither of them spoke.

The conference room was so quiet that you could hear the rustling of sand and dust hitting the alloy walls outside.

Pei Youyi stood behind Gu Yan without saying a word from beginning to end.

But she could see that Gu Yan's back was straighter than when she arrived.

Like a flagpole that is repeatedly bent in a storm but never breaks.

On the way back, Gu Yan took out the medal and looked at it in her palm for a long time.

Pei Youyi sat beside him, silently watching the mudflats outside the window being shrouded in twilight.

After a long while, she spoke softly.

"Xuanyuan Cheng used to be very arrogant."

"He's now putting his life on your shoulders."

Gu Yan put the medal into her pocket and turned to look out the window.

The sea breeze blew in through the cracks in the car windows, carrying the smell of gunpowder and the aroma of cooking fires drifting from the distant residential areas.

Someone is cooking.

On this ravaged land, some people still stubbornly raise smoke from their chimneys.

He suddenly felt something slowly melting in his chest.

"I will lead them out of here."

He said.

It was as if it were being spoken to Pei Youyi, as if it were being spoken to the medal, and even more so as if it were being spoken to those on the beach who would never hear it again.

"must."