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

SSS.

He made a breakthrough.

He closed his eyes, feeling the vast energy within him, and for the first time felt that he might actually be able to do it.

Maybe he really can protect everyone.

He gently placed Pei Yuran on the bed, covered her with the blanket, then got dressed and went out.

It was completely dark outside, except for the lights in the medical area.

He stood in the corridor, closed his eyes and felt the surging power within his body for a while, then opened his eyes and walked towards Lin Jinyu's ward.

His idea was correct.

This is the right path.

He just needs more.

Lin Jinyu's hospital room was at the end of the corridor.

When he pushed the door open, she was sitting cross-legged on the bed, flipping through a comic book she had taken from Elena with the hand that wasn't in a splint.

She looked up when she heard the door open, her golden eyes flashing briefly before quickly turning cold.

"What are you doing here?"

"Finally remembered me?"

"I've noticed you've been going to Pei Yuran's place quite frequently these past few days."

"Now you remember me?"

She snorted and tossed the comic book aside.

"I'm healed."

"We'll return to the front lines tomorrow."

"You don't need to come see me."

Gu Yan did not speak.

He walked to the bedside, reached out and pinched her chin, then kissed her directly.

Lin Jinyu was stunned.

She pushed him, but he didn't move away.

He kissed her forcefully, as if trying to shut her up from saying anything.

Her hand pressed against his chest, slowly changing from pushing to grabbing.

He pushed her down onto the bed, her long golden hair spread out on the pillow like a burning flame.

She glared at him, panting.

"What's wrong with you?"

"I'm going crazy."

"I've been going crazy."

Gu Yan's voice was low and deep.

Instead of letting her act up as usual, he grabbed her wrist and pressed his entire body against hers, his movements much more forceful than usual.

She did not resist anymore.

She could sense the unfamiliar, almost predatory aura emanating from him.

But when he pressed himself against her, she still wrapped her arms around his neck.

She could never refuse him.

The lights went out sometime ago.

She couldn't see anything in the darkness, she could only sense him.

She could feel his body temperature, his breath, and the wave that surged from all directions, almost engulfing her entirely.

Time passed by, second by second.

again and again.

She gripped his back tightly, her fingernails leaving red marks on his skin.

She felt like a ship at sea, tossed up by the waves again and again, only to be thrown back down each time.

She tried to call his name, but her voice was shattered by the impact.

She trembled in his arms, her mind blank.

She didn't know how much time had passed. When her consciousness was washed back to shore by the waves, the moonlight was already filtering through the gaps in the curtains, casting a thin silver edge on his back.

But a certain intuition gently tapped into the depths of her consciousness.

Not right.

In the past, every time, he would look into her eyes first, smile, tease her, and let her be silly.

But this time, he was the one who took the initiative from beginning to end, and each time he was more forceful and more frantic, as if he wanted to crush and swallow her whole.

She opened her eyes and saw his face as he leaned over her.

His eyes were very bright, almost unnaturally so.

There was no longer the tenderness of before, only a kind of obsession that she couldn't quite understand.

"Stop."

She pushed against his chest.

Gu Yan paused for a moment.

He looked down at her, panting.

"What's wrong?"

"What's wrong with you?"

Lin Jinyu looked into his eyes, where two flames burned in his golden pupils, but beneath the flames lay a layer of panic that she herself was unaware of.

"Something's wrong with you."

"You're not talking to me..."

"What are you taking from me?"

"What are you doing?"

Gu Yan remained silent for a while.

He got up from beside her, sat on the edge of the bed, and buried his face in his hands.

His shoulders were heaving slightly, and he didn't speak for a long while, his voice hoarse as if it had been sanded.

"I am getting stronger."

"Your fire-elemental spiritual power is highly pure; combining with me will help my spiritual power break through."

"Only by becoming stronger can I protect everyone."

"I don't want to see anyone die anymore."

"Old Master Fu is dead, Senior Zhuge is dead, Commander Wei is dead, and 300,000 people from Shanglu are dead."

"I can no longer let anyone die in front of me."

He looked up at her, his eyes red and swollen.

"Jinyu, am I a really jerk?"

"I actually used this method, using your feelings for me, to exchange for power."

Lin Jinyu looked at him, and tears suddenly fell down her cheeks.

She wasn't a crybaby; she only ever shed tears for one person.

But looking at the bastard in front of her who had driven her to this point, her heart ached as if someone had squeezed it hard.

"You bastard."

She rushed over, hugged him tightly, buried her face in the crook of his shoulder, and her voice was muffled, filled with heavy sobs.

"Who told you to shoulder all this alone?"

"You think that just because you've become stronger, we won't care anymore?"

The more you act like this, the more upset I become.

"Old Master Fu is dead, Senior Zhuge is dead, those soldiers are dead, we are all saddened."

"But you can't put your own heart into it too."

"Gu Yan, listen to me, you still have me."

"You still have us."

"You don't have to shoulder this alone."

Gu Yan did not move.

He let her hold him, his eyes fixed on the dark night sky outside the window.

Her hands gripped his back tightly, and her tears soaked a large patch of his shirt.

He raised his hand and patted her back very lightly.

He opened his mouth as if to say something, but in the end he only managed to utter one sentence.

"This is the path I chose."

"Don't try to persuade me anymore."

He put on his clothes and left the ward.

He heard Lin Jinyu's suppressed sobs behind him, but he didn't turn around.

The lights in the corridor flickered on and off, and he walked very slowly, as if each step was pressing on his own heart.

The news is broadcast every day.

In the North American theater, only one line of defense remained; in the South American theater, only one line of defense remained; in the Nordic theater, the capital had fallen; and in the Central African theater, all defensive lines had been breached.

The global death toll has exceeded tens of millions.

Behind every number lies the collapse of an entire family.

The camp's loudspeakers repeated these messages over and over, making the already heavy atmosphere even more oppressive.

Over the next few weeks, Gu Yan took turns staying by Pei Youyi, Lin Jinyu, Pei Yuran, and Chiyomiya Yusheng's side.

Every time, it's all about becoming stronger.

His mental strength was steadily increasing, and his SSS-level foundation was becoming more and more solid.

But everyone who was with him could vaguely sense the change in him.

He was more silent than before, more forceful than before, and more like a tireless machine than before.

Only Elena would occasionally look up at him as he passed by, glance at him with her golden eyes, and then say something very softly.

"You've gotten even stronger."

The alarm sounded at 3:17 a.m.

Gu Yan was jolted awake from her light sleep, grabbed the Demon-Slaying Blade leaning against the headboard, and rushed outside.

The night was as dark as ink, and a row of dark red lights had already lit up on the distant horizon, densely packed, like countless blood-red eyes opening simultaneously in the darkness.

When he rushed up the city wall, the first wave of the Hell tide had already reached the front line of defense.

People thronged the city wall, and psionic turrets lit up one after another, their blue lights forming a trembling line in the night.