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

Gu Yan did not expose her.

He knew what kind of person Pei Youyi was.

She never talked about her injuries. From the Shanglu Beach to the Nagoya Pass, she always downplayed her most serious injuries.

He recalled how she had single-handedly guarded the flank for six hours in the South China Sea, returning to the camp covered in blood, and still smiling as she asked him if he was injured.

He didn't understand then, but he does now.

This woman only ever cares about whether others are in pain.

"You've already given enough to this team."

Gu Yan put her hand under the blanket and tucked the blanket in for her.

"Leave the rest to me."

"Take good care of yourself and recover from your injury."

"Once you're healed, I'll take you to Jinghai."

"You once said you wanted to see the crabapple blossoms in Jinghai."

"By the time we fight our way back, the crabapple blossoms should already be in bloom."

Pei Youyi looked at him, her eyes shining.

The light appeared exceptionally soft in the sunset, like a pool of autumn water soaked with the evening glow.

She smiled softly and touched his cheek very lightly with the hand that he wasn't holding.

Her fingertips lingered on his cheekbone for a moment, then slowly withdrew.

"it is good."

"I'll be waiting."

Gu Yan sat with her for a while longer.

They talked about some very light topics.

When exactly do the crabapple blossoms in Jinghai bloom? Is the osmanthus cake at that private restaurant in Shanglu really the best in the whole city? The back mountain of the Pei family should be covered in snow by now.

Pei Youyi's voice grew softer and softer, and towards the end, her eyelids began to droop.

Gu Yan helped her lie down, pulled the blanket up to her chest, and then brushed her loose hair onto the pillow.

She slept peacefully, her brows relaxed, as if she had no worries at all.

After leaving the ward, Gu Yan stood in the corridor for a long time.

His fingers clenched and unclenched at his sides, then unclenched and unclenched again.

Finally, he turned and walked towards Elena's residence.

Night had fallen, and most of the lights in the camp were off, except for the lights in the medical area, which cast a dim yellow glow through the window paper.

He walked quickly, his military boots making a rapid sound on the stone pavement.

Elena was placed in a quiet courtyard, one of the few remaining houses on the Seventh Line of Defense that had not yet been requisitioned.

The courtyard wall was low, and the top of it was covered with withered vines.

Gu Yan pushed open the half-closed wooden door and went inside. She was sitting on a rattan chair in the courtyard with a book open on her lap.

The moonlight fell on her long silver hair, like a thin layer of frost.

She heard footsteps but didn't even look up.

"You have residual spiritual energy from Pei Youyi on you."

"Her injuries are severe."

"You went to see her."

Gu Yan sat down opposite her.

The rattan chair was a bit old, and it made a slight creak when you sat down.

He remained silent for a few seconds before speaking.

"Is there any way to help her recover?"

"She is a wind-elemental ancient martial artist, and her meridians and spiritual core are damaged."

"We've tried both conventional medicine and spiritual healing, but nothing works."

Elena turned a page of her book, her tone as flat as if she were reading a passage from a physiology textbook.

"have."

"To cultivate with you."

"Your Mirror Flower Seal is the most efficient spiritual resonance system."

"Her current injury is essentially a crack in her spiritual energy core."

"Your spiritual power can guide her spiritual energy back to its proper place, accelerating the healing of the cracks."

"It is dozens of times more effective than conventional treatments."

"Moreover, you have already had intimate contact with her, and the compatibility of your spiritual energy frequencies is very high."

"Given enough practice, she has a real chance of recovering."

Gu Yan remained silent.

The courtyard was very quiet, so quiet that you could hear the rustling of the wind through the withered vines.

Elena looked up at him, her golden eyes revealing no emotion.

"You're hesitating."

"Because you saved one person, you should save others in the same way."

"She's not the only injured person around you right now."

"Lin Jinyu, Pei Yuran, and Chiyomiya Yusheng all need your spiritual power."

"You only have twenty-four hours in a day, and your mental energy is not inexhaustible."

"You're thinking, if you open this door, you'll really become a tool for saving people through that kind of thing."

"You can't get over that hurdle in your heart."

Gu Yan did not refute.

She's right.

He can't get over it.

But he also knew that there was no better way now.

The calamity grew stronger day by day, and the defenses crumbled one after another.

Every day he hesitates, another person may die.

"I need time to think about it."

He said.

"Whatever."

Elena lowered her head back to read.

"But I must remind you."

"Your hesitation is paying the price with someone else's life."

"You are now ranked third in the global combat power rankings."

"The whole world is watching your next battle."

"If you can't get over this hurdle, the Seventh Line of Defense will soon become the second Shanglu."

When Gu Yan came out of the courtyard, it was already completely dark.

He walked slowly along the old road outside the camp.

Most of the streetlights were broken, with only a few flickering on and off.

The streets were filled with refugees; some had set up makeshift sheds by the roadside, while others slept wrapped in tattered blankets against walls.

The air was filled with the smells of medicine, sweat, and a burnt smell that seemed to be coming from nowhere.

He saw an old man kneeling by the roadside with a black and white photograph in front of him.

The photo shows a young man in military uniform, with bright eyes and a smile on his lips.

The old man lit an incense stick, stuck it in the soil by the roadside, and muttered something under his breath.

The incense burned intermittently in the night wind, like a spark that refused to go out.

The old man said that his son stayed on the beach of Shanglu for three days and three nights, but in the end, he didn't even leave behind a complete body.

When the incense burned out, he lit another one.

A young man passing by stopped, silently bowed to the incense stick, and then continued on his way.

He saw a young woman sitting under the bridge arch, holding a bundle.

The bundle was full of baby clothes, each one neatly folded.

Her child was lost; she died on the way to evacuation.

She was singing softly, a nursery rhyme he had heard as a child.

He stopped singing halfway through because his voice was too hoarse to produce any sound.

She simply smoothed out each of the baby clothes, folded them neatly, smoothed them out again, and folded them neatly once more.

Her movements were mechanical yet gentle, like she was coaxing a child who would never wake up again to sleep.

He heard two soldiers squatting in the corner talking.

One person said that my family lived in Lin'an, and our house was swallowed up by the black tide, and my mother couldn't escape.

Another person said that my home is in Nanjing, and my brother is in the rearguard, and he is already on the list.

Neither of them cried.

They simply finished their cigarettes, stubbed them out on the soles of their shoes, stood up, slung their gun slings back over their shoulders, and continued their patrol.

Their shadows were stretched long by the streetlights as they walked steadily, step by step.

As Gu Yan walked along this road, all she could hear were these subtle sounds.

He suddenly felt that he was standing too high.

Standing on the city wall, in the command post, and ranked third on the combat power list, he saw lines of defense and strings of numbers.

The people standing beneath his feet were, in fact, specific homes with names, homes they could never return to.

He hated himself for not being strong enough.