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Corpses littered the ground.
The blood that was already congealed and blackened, stretched from the beach all the way into the base and stained the once fine white sand a glaring crimson.
The blood flowed from the stiffened bodies before eventually converging into a terrifying and grotesque river of blood.
From time to time, medical personnel in white coats hurriedly carried away the casualties from the battlefield.
They moved with urgency, for no one knew when the terrifying Mutated Beasts would strike again!
On this narrow, eight-kilometer-long beach, there was only one spot where a dozen or so people had gathered.
Most of them were Evolved Beings with minor injuries or no injuries at all, interspersed with two doctors in white coats.
One of the younger men couldn’t hold back and shouted, “Captain Qin… he’s already dead. There’s nothing you can do now.” You’re just wasting your Special Ability.
The doctor didn’t voice the last part, as it was too cruel and too real.
But Qin Chu, standing in the center of the crowd, seemed to hear nothing.
The pervasive sea breeze slipped through the gaps in the crowd that tousling her slightly curled hair, which had been casually tied back and now looked even more disheveled.
Her bright and beautiful face was smeared with blood and grime, her eyes bloodshot with traces of moisture welling up but stubbornly refusing to fall.
Her white coat was already dirtied with dust, but Qin Chu, who usually cared deeply about her appearance, paid no attention to the state of her clothes.
Instead, she knelt on the ground with her hands tightly covering the horribly trampled head and using her warm Special Ability to heal it.
The white light flickered, and when it finally began to fade, Qin Chu clenched her teeth, and the light grew brighter once more.
A trickle of blood seeped from the corner of her lips as her face pale and her body trembling—all signs of her Special Ability being overused. Yet this scene had already played out more than a dozen times before everyone’s eyes.
Qin Chu refused to give up, persisting again and again, regaining consciousness and using her Special Ability each time.
Su Weishang’s exquisitely beautiful face revealed an indescribable jealousy, but at this moment, no one was paying attention to him, nor would they notice the fleeting excitement in the slight curl of his smile.
“Sister Qin Chu, you should rest for a while. There are still many injured in the base waiting for your treatment. You can’t keep wasting your energy here!” Su Weishang timidly recalled.
His words were flawless and seemingly filled with concern and comfort, but in reality, they subtly implied that Qin Chu’s actions were putting the lives of other injured people at risk.
Sure enough, as soon as he finished speaking, the other Evolved Beings and doctors who had come to persuade her couldn’t help but chime in urging her to give up. Even Wu Jiqing reluctantly looked at Qin Chu and advised her to abandon treating this… corpse and return to the medical area to take charge.
Qin Chu raised her tired, beautiful eyes and glanced expressionlessly at Su Weishang, but it was just a casual look before she turned her gaze to the others around her.
After sweeping her eyes over everyone present, Qin Chu finally clenched her teeth, and a voice filled with sorrow and pain escaped through her gritted teeth: "Let me... try one last time, just one last time..."
Her voice gradually dissipated in the howling sea breeze, along with the hot tears that finally couldn't be held back and fell from her eyes.
'Jing Xia... Jing Xia, if I can't save you, how can I face the young master? How can I live up to your calling me "Sister Qin"? How can I deeply imprint your current, tragic appearance in my heart, to remember and mourn for a lifetime...'
"Captain Qin!"
"Captain Qin, are you alright?!"
"Quick, take Captain Qin back, and have someone... collect Jing Xia's body."
...
The crowd was thrown into complete chaos due to Qin Chu's sudden collapse as everyone scrambled to carry her and the... body back to the medical area.
The sea breeze blew past them carrying the same salty coolness that hadn't changed for billions of years and dispersing the bloody scent that lingered on the beach.
The war had left scars everywhere, but the Earth remained unchanged.
Ji Chuancheng had just settled in at the N City Base when, within half an hour, news came of a Mutated Beast horde attacking the S City Base.
The moment he heard the news, he recognized it as a "luring the tiger out of the mountain" tactic, but there was nothing he could do.
He had brought dozens of elite Evolved Beings from the S City Base to the N City Base to relieve the urgent crisis of being besieged and slaughtered by the Mutant Beast Army for two days.
However, he never expected that this two-day-long battle was still part of the enemy's plan to lure the tiger out of the mountain.
Most of the elite Evolved Beings from the S City Base had been brought here by him, and now he couldn't find the time to rush back to support. He could only deal with the situation at the N City Base first before he could leave.
After commanding three units to wipe out the last enemy squad, Ji Chuancheng hadn't slept for a day and a night. Even he couldn't help but rub his temples when he feel waves of dizziness in his head.
The next moment, he slowly opened his eyes, only to suddenly feel a darkness before his eyes, and his body leaned backward.
"Major Ji!"
"Major Ji, are you alright?!"
His body's instinctive reaction allowed Ji Chuancheng to steady himself.
He supported himself with one hand on the table while waving the other to explain that he was fine.
When everyone left the command center to carry out their assigned tasks, Ji Chuancheng finally couldn't hold on any longer and leaned his entire body against the cold, hard edge of the table.
Ji Chuancheng slowly raised his right hand before staring blankly at his fingers.
The fingers were slender and long, with a few shallow white scars at the joints, and the knuckles prominent. The glaring sunlight shone through the window from the opposite side that made his skin appear translucent.
Ji Chuancheng slowly clenched his fingers, but his gaze remained fixed on the longest scar on the back of his hand and did not move away for a long time.
That scar was from when he was nineteen.
At that time, Jing Xia was fourteen, and he had finally returned to B City, so he went to visit the Jing family.
At that time, Jing Xia was rebellious, and with Master Jing long gone, there was no one to control him.
He even dared to brandish a knife at Su Weishang. However, no matter how angry he was, he was still just a fourteen-year-old child, and Jing Xia didn’t have the courage to actually act on his anger.
The knife was never meant for Su Weishang.
Jing Xia, young and impulsive, was provoked by a few words and wanted to lash out. In the end, he could only vent his frustration by slashing at himself, with a reckless and desperate air.
Ji Chuancheng immediately grabbed Jing Xia’s wrist, but the knife still cut mercilessly across the back of his right hand. Warm blood instantly flowed from the deep, bone-exposing wound, and soaking the cuff of Ji Chuancheng’s white shirt.
Ji Chuancheng had seen deeper wounds before, but he had never felt such pain as he did at that moment.
It was a pain that spread from the depths of his heart to his entire body. Looking at the young boy who had been bullied so badly, he felt a pang of heartache and pulled him into a tight embrace.
He had only been gone for three years. Who dared to treat him like this?
After that, the thirteen-year-old Su Weishang was forced to move out.
Ji Chuancheng had stood up for Jing Xia, and it seemed like a victory. But from then on, whenever Ji Chuancheng saw the venom hidden behind Su Weishang’s pitiful gaze, he couldn’t help but feel a growing unease.
He had protected this beloved boy so well that made him utterly unprepared to deal with the kind of hidden malice and cruelty that Su Weishang embodied.
One was the person he cherished above all else, and the other was someone he discarded like trash.
Everyone has their biases.
Su Weishang had never provoked him, but for Jing Xia’s sake, Ji Chuancheng despised Su Weishang.
No special reason was needed—just because he was Su Weishang.
Ji Chuancheng’s handsome brows furrowed slightly.
His expression was grim, not just because of the exhaustion from days without sleep and the mental strain of commanding battles, but also because of the emptiness that slowly welled up from the depths of his heart.
It felt as if his entire heart had been hollowed out.
He pressed the wound on the back of his hand against his left chest, but it did nothing to alleviate the overwhelming sense of emptiness.
It was as if something very important had disappeared.
And it was gone… forever.
What was this strange feeling?
A faint sense of foreboding rose in Ji Chuancheng’s heart, but he instinctively pushed the possibility away and forced himself not to believe in such superstitious omens.
After the matters at N City Base were settled, Ji Chuancheng didn’t rest for a moment.
He immediately set off for S City Base with a few trusted companions.
Along the way, his already exhausted body never thought of resting; he just kept pushing forward, mile after mile.
With every kilometer closer to that place, the pain in his chest grew sharper.
By the time he arrived at S City Base, the immense emptiness in his heart had been replaced by a throbbing pain.
Each heartbeat felt like a merciful lament from God, giving him one more second, one more minute, to step into this devastated land then walk past the stunned and saluting crowd, and enter the heavy, oppressive medical zone.
The moment he saw Qin Chu, Ji Chuancheng’s expression remained impassive as Qin Chu suddenly burst into tears.
The sister-like figure who had grown up with him and always following his lead, seemed to be in a submissive relationship with him. However, Ji Chuancheng knew that Qin Chu was always a person from the Forbidden Zone, possessing the tenacity and resilience of that unit.
And now, the two of them were the last people from the Forbidden Zone left in the world.
But at this moment, he saw large teardrops continuously streaming from Qin Chu's eyes that wetting her already pale and haggard face. Her eyelashes trembled slightly as she walked towards him with her entire body shaking.
Ji Chuancheng instinctively wanted to turn around and flee from this silent hospital room.
But his body didn't move; instead, he stood there straight and composed while watching Qin Chu approach him with tears streaming down her face. He slightly lowered his gaze and asked in a low voice, "Where is Jing Xia?"
He didn't even know how this voice managed to come out of his throat.
Qin Chu's radiant face was now covered in tear stains.
Her tears had long dried up, but when she saw this strong and handsome man, she couldn't help but let the tears fall again.
In a trembling, hoarse voice, she softly said:
"Young Master, that little rascal... is gone."