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

Shen Youyao was wearing the white uniform of the Great Xia God-Making Project. Her hair was cut shorter, and she took off her black-rimmed glasses, revealing a pair of extremely deep brown pupils.

Her face is thinner than before, and her chin is more attractive, but her overall demeanor has completely changed.

She used to always hunch her shoulders and speak in a whisper.

She now stood among the nine people, her back ramrod straight, her spiritual power deeply contained, like a bottomless, still sea.

Only the most powerful individuals can sense the undercurrents beneath the surface of the sea.

Gu Yan took off her mask.

Shen Youyao was walking forward with the group, her eyes sweeping over the crowd of people holding signs in the arrival area.

Then she suddenly stopped walking.

She saw him.

That face, that person standing in the wind, smiling slightly at her.

She blinked, then blinked again.

Her lips were trembling slightly, her hands hung at her sides, her fingers slowly curling up and then relaxing.

Her companions had already gone far away, but she remained standing in the same spot, like a statue suddenly nailed to the spot.

"Gu...Gu Yan-ge."

Her voice was so soft it was almost carried away by the wind.

Gu Yan took a few steps toward her.

Before he could speak, Shen Youyao had already run over and crashed into his arms, wrapping her arms tightly around his waist.

Her body was trembling violently, and tears streamed down her face like broken beads, soaking a large area of ​​the front of his military uniform.

"It really is you."

"It really is you."

"I thought it was just my imagination."

"They all say you're dead, that your body is missing."

"I think about it every day, what if you suddenly come back one day?"

"Will there come a day when I open my eyes and you're right in front of me?"

Am I dreaming?

"Brother Gu Yan, pinch me, pinch me!"

Gu Yan didn't pinch her.

He raised his hand and placed it very gently on the back of her head, pulling her closer to him.

His chin rested on the top of her head, his voice slightly hoarse.

"It's not a dream."

"it's me."

"Youyao, I'm back."

Shen Youyao cried so hard in his arms that she could barely breathe.

She buried her face in his chest and cried for a very long time, so long that the people in the arrival area dispersed, so long that the wind on the runway turned from warm to cold.

Then she slowly raised her head, wiped her face haphazardly with her sleeve, her eyes were as red as two rabbits, but the corners of her mouth curved up.

That smile was both a cry and a laugh, like someone who had walked in the darkness for too long finally seeing the first ray of light.

They returned to Gu Yan's residence in the camp.

It was a very small single dormitory room, with a bed, a table, and two chairs.

Shen Youyao sat on the edge of the bed, holding the hot water that Gu Yan had poured for her in her hands, and sipped it slowly.

She finished her water, put the cup on the table, and then looked up at him. There was so much churning in his brown eyes.

"Brother Gu Yan."

"Where have you been for the past three years?"

I've been looking for you everywhere.

"I've been to England, to Japan, and to every place you could possibly go."

"Do you know, there was a time when I was standing at the foot of Mount Fuji, looking at the snow covering the mountain, and I thought, if you were really gone, I wouldn't be able to live either."

"I've even thought about... about suicide."

"Every time I feel like I can't hold on any longer, I think, 'Just wait a little longer.'"

"Wait one more day."

"What if he comes back tomorrow?"

"And so I waited, day after day."

"I waited for three years."

Her voice was calm, as if she were talking about someone else.

But Gu Yan could tell how much pain was suppressed beneath that calm.

He walked over, knelt down in front of her, and took her hand.

Her hands were cold, colder than they had been three years ago, but she held them very tightly.

"sorry."

He said.

"I should have let you know I was still alive sooner."

"But at that time I had just woken up and was in very poor health, I couldn't even take care of myself."

"Later, the war became too intense, and there was no opportunity."

Shen Youyao shook her head.

"No need to apologize."

"Your life is better than anything else."

"real."

They talked for a long time.

We talked about our experiences over the past three years, about those who have died, and about those who are still persevering.

Gu Yan kept looking at Shen Youyao as she spoke.

She has changed a lot, yet it seems like nothing has changed at all.

She would still look at him with that timid and sweet gaze, but beneath that timidity lay a layer of calmness that only someone who had experienced life and death possessed.

She spoke of her days guarding the front lines in the South American theater of war.

She said that when she killed an S-class calamity for the first time, her legs were so weak that she couldn't stand up. It was Shen Youwei inside her body who yelled at her to stand up and not embarrass Gu Yan.

She said that later she became more and more numb as she killed, and sometimes she couldn't tell whether she was killing the calamity or the self that wanted to go with Gu Yan.

She said what she feared most was not death, but not seeing him one last time before she died.

As Gu Yan listened, her fingers slowly tightened.

He recalled the three years he spent lying in the deep mountains of Japan, completely unaware of the outside world.

In the rainforests of South America, she battled against calamity while waiting for someone who might never return.

These past three years have been tough for everyone.

It was dark.

Shen Youyao was sleepy, and her eyelids started to droop.

After a few polite exchanges, she finally leaned against the headboard and sat side by side with Gu Yan on the bed.

She tilted her head and gently rested her face on his shoulder.

Her breathing was light, carrying a faint scent of shampoo.

Gu Yan looked at the girl leaning on her shoulder.

Her eyelashes were long, casting two small shadows on her face.

Her chest rose and fell gently with her breath, and her face was as serene as a painting in the moonlight.

He remembered Xu Huan's words, the calamity's talk of surrender, and the fact that he needed power.

His fingers slowly clenched and then relaxed.

His eyes changed from hesitation to determination.

"Youyao".

He called her name softly.

Shen Youyao opened her eyes groggily.

"Um?"

He turned around, placed his hands on either side of her, and pressed her down onto the bed.

Her back sank into the blankets, and her brown pupils widened slightly in surprise.

She looked at him, her eyes showing no fear or resistance, only a timid, gentle tenderness.

Her face slowly turned red, the color spreading from her ears all the way down to her neck.

"Brother Gu Yan..."

Her voice was so soft it was almost melting.

Gu Yan looked at the woman beneath him.

He opened his mouth, but the request stuck in his throat, and he couldn't say it.

He felt like an idiot.

She waited for him for three years, and as soon as they reunited, he wanted to use her for that kind of thing.

His hands braced against her sides, his knuckles turning white from the force.

He can't do it.

He really couldn't bring himself to do it.

Shen Youyao looked at him and suddenly smiled very softly.

She reached out and touched his furrowed brow with her fingers, as if trying to smooth something out for him.

"Brother Gu Yan, is something on your mind?"

"You can tell me."

"As long as I can help."

"Anything is fine."

"It's okay if you don't want to talk about it."

"I'm right here."

"I'm not leaving."