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"Young Master, the Little rascal... is gone."
........
Three days later, the order in the entire S City Base had gradually stabilized from the chaos and urgency of three days prior.
The troops stationed in the remote areas to guard against enemy attacks were well-organized, the cremation and mourning ceremonies for the casualties had been swiftly handled, and the medical zone, which had been overwhelmed with work, finally saw some relief. Yet, Qin Chu had already stood in front of that simple, crude house for an entire day.
Finally, after handling all the matters at hand, she had the time to come and see...
This room that had been sealed shut for three whole days.
Qin Chu had imagined countless times what kind of reaction she would receive when she told Ji Chuancheng that cruel and harsh truth.
Grief, anger, pain, despair, even a breakdown—she had considered all possibilities.
After more than twenty years of companionship, even a dull, emotionally clueless woman would have noticed Ji Chuancheng's unwavering protectiveness toward Jing Xia, which he had never tried to hide. And Qin Chu was far from being such a woman.
But what she never expected was—
Ji Chuancheng merely remained silent for a few minutes, then nodded lightly and casually asked her... where the body was kept, before turning and leaving.
Qin Chu watched Ji Chuancheng's tall, slender figure, and her mind seemed to replay the image of his reddened eyes, his fingers digging deeply into his palms, and his pale, thin lips from just moments ago.
No matter how well he hid it, twenty years of companionship allowed Qin Chu to immediately sense his abnormality.
Qin Chu felt as if her sky had darkened and teetering on the edge of collapse, yet stubbornly held up by one last pillar.
She watched Ji Chuancheng's retreating figure with his steps steady, neither fast nor slow, and just walking as usual. But his back no longer carried the strength and uprightness it once had.
When had... the Young Master's back begun to bend?
Qin Chu didn't know, and she never wanted to know.
All she knew was that the Young Master had locked himself in this room for three days and three nights.
For three whole days and nights, not a drop of water, not a grain of rice, and not even a sliver of light had entered.
He had locked himself in there with that person's body.
Clenching her teeth, Qin Chu finally made up her mind: even if she had to knock him out, she would get him out of there!
But to her surprise, the moment she took her first step, the door that had been tightly shut for three days and nights creaked open. She hurried forward: "Young Master, you..."
Her voice trailed off.
Qin Chu stood frozen while staring at the man who slowly emerged from the darkness.
She felt a faint flame flickering in her throat and gently touching her shattered, scarred heart, drowning all her words in his expressionless demeanor and sensing the silent, overwhelming grief.
"Mm, let's go."
As Ji Chuancheng took his first step down the stairs, his body swayed slightly.
Perhaps it was due to days without eating, or perhaps it was the exhaustion from rushing back from the N City Base, or maybe it was because his spirit had been completely drained, leaving him as a walking corpse sustained by a faint belief as it took him a while to steady himself.
Qin Chu tilted her head while watching the man step down the stairs one by one and approach her.
His handsome face, sharp and deep-set eyes, and the faint stubble on his chin that couldn't be hidden—this man didn't seem tired at all, still as sharp and spirited as a drawn sword.
Qin Chu's lips moved, but in the end, she didn't speak.
He was clearly exhausted, so why... was he still holding on like this?
"Young Master, I know you're feeling terrible. You haven't cried since Madam passed away. But tears are also a way to vent emotions. If it can make you feel better and ease your heartache, then there's no need to hold back..."
"Do I feel heartache?"
The strange question left Qin Chu speechless in surprise.
She watched in astonishment as Ji Chuancheng slowly turned his head to silently look at her.
His deep, dark pupils seemed to no longer reflect any light and just quietly gazing at her that made her heart sink. Then she heard Ji Chuancheng sigh softly and continue, "How could I feel heartache..."
Because the heart was already dead, it could no longer feel pain.
This answer suddenly surfaced in Qin Chu's mind, but she couldn't bring herself to say a word.
She watched as Ji Chuancheng slowly, almost sluggishly, raised his right hand.
The sunlight shone on the pale scar on the back of his hand, making it particularly glaring.
Ji Chuancheng paused for a long, long time, until time seemed to stand still, and then he sighed with all his might and clenched his right hand.
In an instant, a flame without any apparent source ignited behind him.
The makeshift house used to hold the deceased's body was already in ruins.
As the flames rose, it quickly turned to ashes. Qin Chu exclaimed, "Young Master, if you burn it like this, we won't be able to find his ashes or any remaining bones!"
Qin Chu turned to look at Ji Chuancheng, only to find him standing with his back to the roaring fire while looking up calmly at the warm sunset before him.
No matter how much war and destruction occurred on the earth, it couldn't affect the natural, magnificent beauty.
The purple-red evening clouds swept across most of the sky and dyed the originally light blue horizon with the most intricate and varied gradients of color.
The bright light shone on Ji Chuancheng's stern face, masking the fatigue of the past few days, and subtly softening his sharp edges, making him seem as if he were about to merge into the splendid sunset and disappear.
Qin Chu felt a pang of fear.
Suddenly, she thought she saw a tear fall from the man's silent eyes, but when she blinked and looked again, everything seemed as usual.
That fragile, crystal-clear tear seemed like her illusion, and just a beautiful mistake.
Qin Chu had always believed that she would never see this man's tears in her lifetime.
He was Ji Chuancheng, who had not shed a single tear since the passing of his Mother.
Even Qin Chu often felt the words of General Ji echoing in her ears: "Men of the Ji family bleed but do not cry!"
But Qin Chu never expected that in her lifetime, she would see Ji Chuancheng, after the age of nine, once again... weeping in profound sorrow.
..........
This was after the fifth Beast Tide had struck.
Ji Chuancheng's cold-blooded and rational command and participation in the battle allowed them to capture the first SS-Class Mutant Beast on the human battlefield.
That once arrogant and unruly Mutated Conger Eel now had several of its tendons severed and struggling feebly on the ground.
It roared in fury, "You damned little insects! The King will annihilate all of you!"
The strongest in the S City Base was Wu Jiqing. At this moment, Ji Chuancheng was commanding from the rear headquarters of the main force, and Wu Jiqing was appointed to represent humanity in negotiations.
"Your King has never appeared to save you, which already speaks volumes. You are merely a pawn in its game. Beastly instincts are hard to change; you are ultimately just a lowly species."
"Silence!"
Qin Chu vaguely felt that Wu Jiqing's words were a bit strange, but before she could speak, she saw Su Weishang step forward and say, "Conger Eel, if you surrender, we humans can guarantee to divide territories with the Mutated Beasts and coexist peacefully."
Qin Chu finally couldn't hold back any longer, "Su Weishang! We never had such intentions, and given the current situation, it's impossible to achieve such an ideal state..."
"Human, are you deceiving me?"
Before Qin Chu could finish her reprimand, she heard a deep, magnetic male voice resonate from the sky.
The voice pierced through her eardrums and into her heart.
When she turned to look, she saw a man with an eerily pale complexion walking step by step through the air.
His steps were so graceful and composed, as if he were attending a grand banquet.
"The King..." Qin Chu murmured subconsciously.
The man clad in black swept his gaze over the humans on the battlefield, then his eyes lowered and fixed on Su Weishang. Su Weishang's expression was a bit odd as his face was deathly pale, but his eyes were unusually bright, as if he were extremely excited.
Qin Chu felt a wave of nausea.
She didn't understand the meaning behind Su Weishang's expression, but she had a strange sense of revulsion, feeling that Su Weishang's attitude towards the King was somewhat off.
The King simply gazed down at Su Weishang in silence for a long time.
The rustling wind swept across the beach.
Just as Qin Chu steeled herself to speak on behalf of the speechless Wu Jiqing, she heard the King suddenly sneer and mock Su Weishang, "Human, what right do you have to speak to me? Selfish and cruel, you slaughtered your own kind and now dare to deceive me?"
Qin Chu felt as if she had been struck by a thunderbolt.
She didn't fully understand the King's meaning, but as she watched Su Weishang tremble with a pale face, a flash of insight suddenly crossed her mind before disappearing so quickly that she couldn't grasp it.
At that moment, Wu Jiqing suddenly spoke, "Mutant Beast, your kin is now in our hands. If you wish to spare its life..."
"Let it die." the King said coldly and mercilessly before glancing at the Mutated Conger Eel without a hint of hesitation.
Wu Jiqing: "You!"
The Mutated Conger Eel trembled for a moment, then obediently lowered its massive head and did not dare to utter a word.
It had always known that the King was ruthless and devoid of emotion.
Nothing in the world could stir the King's feelings.
He was like a cold machine possessing a human appearance but with blood as icy as the fluid of a lifeless mechanism.
But the next moment, a cold voice interrupted the Conger Eel's thoughts: "Since you've come here, it means you want to negotiate." As the voice rang out, the crowd of Evolved Beings gradually parted to create a path for the cold and powerful man to step into the tense scene.
Ji Chuancheng lifted his icy face with his gaze subtly sweeping over the nervous Su Weishang beside him, before turning to the sinister and brutal black-clad Mutated Beast. He asked, "So, what made you come to this decision?"