“Auntie! Where exactly is Grandpa?!” A fire blade split open a zombie’s head. Xiahou Hetian kicked open the command room door, but there was no sign of Xiahou Zhong.
Xiahou Luoyu leaned over and took a look, unable to stop herself from cursing. “That old man! Instead of staying here properly, where the hell did he run off to?!”
Roars gradually approached, accompanied by a pungent stench of corpses.
Gui Ling’s expression changed. He immediately grabbed Xiahou Luoyu by the shoulder. “The zombies are coming! Hurry, let’s go!!”
Xiahou Jue and Xiahou Yuchi brought Guan Ze and An Ruxin to the cultivation room. When they saw the two little ones safe and sound, they all breathed a sigh of relief.
Ever since these two young masters had moved in here, outsiders had never been allowed to enter except for members of the Xiahou family. Precisely because of this, when the disaster broke out, no zombies had appeared here.
Xiahou Jue closed the door, drew the curtains, and activated the protective measures. Only then did the tension everyone had been carrying finally ease.
An Ruxin ran over to the nutrition pods. Looking at the two little ones sleeping soundly, she gently stroked the nutrition pod.
“You scared me to death!” Guan Ze patted his chest and reached out to flick the nutrition pod. “You two little brats!”
“Big Brother, what should we do now?” Xiahou Yuchi looked at Xiahou Jue beside him, his voice heavy.
Xiahou Jue’s brows were tightly furrowed. Looking at the two sleeping little ones, his expression softened, and his voice became gentler as well. “For now, we’ll stay here. Jingchen and Jinghe still can’t leave the nutrition pods, and no one can say for sure whether there are any remaining viruses in the air outside.”
“What the hell is going on?!” Guan Ze slammed his fist onto the table beside him and cursed under his breath. “At first, I thought I was having a nightmare!”
Xiahou Yuchi took Guan Ze’s hand, silently offering him comfort.
An Ruxin sighed. “I wonder how the Lian siblings are doing now!!”
“Big Brother, I’m scared!” Lian Xiaozhu obediently curled up in Lian Yucheng’s arms and spoke timidly.
Long Ying carefully tightened the curtains and then turned around and sat down beside Lian Yucheng. “There are monsters everywhere outside. We can’t get out.”
Lian Yucheng’s brows were tightly furrowed, confusion flashing through his eyes. “I wonder how Little Guang is doing now.”
“Big Brother, Second Brother will definitely come save me!” Lian Xiaozhu said softly. “I like Second Brother the most.”
“Don’t be afraid.” Seeing Lian Yucheng’s worry, Long Ying tightened his grip on Lian Yucheng’s hand and said quietly, “With me here, I’ll definitely protect you.”
“Mm.” Lian Yucheng nodded and returned his smile.
“You’re absolutely insane!”
Lian Qiguang stared directly at Wuma Yan, terrifying cold light surging through his deep black eyes.
“Very soon, Teacher will become just like me too.” Wuma Yan smiled, carrying a hint of madness and hysteria. “I’ll make Teacher forget that man, forget this world. When that happens, there will only be me in Teacher’s eyes.”
“In your dreams!”
Qianming in Lian Qiguang’s hand pointed toward Wuma Yan as he spoke coldly. “Even if I die, I will never become that disgusting monster!”
“Teacher, that isn’t up to you!”
Wuma Yan’s face turned cold. He instantly disappeared from in front of Lian Qiguang.
Lian Qiguang’s expression tightened. He spun around, holding Qianming horizontally across his chest and blocking Wuma Yan’s hand.
“I hate it when Teacher looks at me like this. I hate it when Teacher talks to me like this. Teacher belongs to me. You did before, and you will in the future too!”
Wuma Yan crazily left one wound after another across Lian Qiguang’s body. The hatred, disdain, and mockery in Lian Qiguang’s eyes drove him insane.
He absolutely would not allow Teacher to abandon him. That would be even more painful than killing him.
“Boom!!”
Lian Qiguang was sent flying several meters and crashed heavily into the snow. Bright-red blood stained the pure white snow, creating a horrifying sight.
“Teacher.”
Wuma Yan’s face carried a gentle smile as he slowly approached Lian Qiguang.
“Come with me. That way, we’ll never have to be separated again.”
Looking at Wuma Yan gradually approaching, a faint glimmer flashed through Lian Qiguang’s eyes, and the corners of his lips curved into a shallow smile.
“Wuma Yan, I told you before. You’re too arrogant!”
Lian Qiguang leaped upward. Vines rose beneath his feet, instantly growing dozens of meters high.
Standing atop the vines, Lian Qiguang looked down at Wuma Yan on the ground, his face filled with mockery.
“Wuma Yan, do you still remember what I said when I came here? Would I have come looking for you without a trump card?”
Vines as thick as the arms of an adult man stabbed fiercely toward Wuma Yan.
Wuma Yan leaped into the air and dodged the vines. Using the writhing vines as leverage, he struck toward Lian Qiguang with one palm.
Lian Qiguang did not dodge. Instead, he charged straight forward.
Green light swirled around his body as Qianming in his hand thrust directly toward Wuma Yan.
The tip of Qianming pressed against Wuma Yan’s palm, the two sides locked in a stalemate. Bright-red blood continued to flow from the corner of Lian Qiguang’s mouth, and he could clearly feel his life slipping away.
Qianming emitted a buzzing vibration under Wuma Yan’s attack, while the black mist surrounding Wuma Yan’s body corroded the frenzied vines around them.
Suddenly, Lian Qiguang sensed a familiar aura.
His pupils tightened. He abruptly turned his head and saw a spaceship gradually approaching.
It was him…
A smile appeared on Lian Qiguang’s pale lips. Against the backdrop of the bright-red blood, it was breathtakingly beautiful yet strangely demonic.
Shaoxuan, if there really is a next life, I will definitely wait for you. I’ll wait for you to find me.
Lian Qiguang withdrew his gaze and looked sharply toward the crazed Wuma Yan. His grip on Qianming suddenly tightened.
Now!!
Under Wuma Yan’s astonished gaze, Lian Qiguang withdrew Qianming.
Wuma Yan was unable to control his own force in time, and it directly pierced through Lian Qiguang’s body.
Blood bloomed through the air like strange, bewitching flowers.
Lian Qiguang suddenly moved forward and tightly embraced Wuma Yan.
The green energy around them spread open, and at some point, it had already formed a huge net that tightly wrapped around the two of them.
Wuma Yan struggled desperately to break free, but the more force he used, the tighter the net became.
Lian Qiguang held Wuma Yan tightly and refused to let go. As the green net continuously wove itself tighter and tighter, their bodies gradually began to melt.
As if seeing the astonishment in Wuma Yan’s eyes, Lian Qiguang smiled.
It was different from his usual innocent, almost naive smile. This was a cold, emotionless, almost maniacal laugh.
“Wuma Yan, don’t you love me? Then die together with me.”
When Lian Qiguang had been imprisoned by Wuma Yan in District Seven, he had experienced a breakthrough and obtained a legacy from within the spatial dimension—or perhaps it was more accurate to call it a memory.
The mutant wood-type ability he had always believed he possessed was actually the Power of Life.
The former owner of this space had originally been an ancient High God, the Mother of Earth.
Back then, when she repaired the Heavens with stones, one discarded stone fell down. She used her divine power to refine it into a space, turning it into a jade pendant.
Before she died, she sealed her power and a drop of blood from her heart within the stone, waiting for the day when humanity would once again face an apocalyptic disaster, when a destined person would open it.
The Power of Life could purify the darkest and most evil forces in the world. It represented hope.
But to awaken this power, the inheritor had to use their own body as the conduit and their blood as the sacrifice.
Xiahou Shaoxuan staggered into the battlefield. When he saw that more than half of Lian Qiguang’s body had already melted away, his eyes instantly became bloodshot, and his heart felt as though it were being torn apart.
“Wife!!!”
Xiahou Shaoxuan roared hoarsely. He gathered his ability and desperately tried to force his way toward Lian Qiguang.
But every time he approached the writhing vines, he was violently repelled by a tremendous force.
Lian Qiguang sorrowfully watched Xiahou Shaoxuan throw himself into the danger again and again like a moth flying into a flame, his body covered in wounds.
Tears melted the frozen blood on his face.
“Teacher…”
Half of Wuma Yan’s body had already melted away. His head had split open as well, revealing a crystalline black crystal core inside.
Wuma Yan slowly stretched out one hand and, with great difficulty, returned Lian Qiguang’s embrace.
“Teacher, why… why won’t you… love me…”
Lian Qiguang raised his head and narrowed his eyes at the gray, gloomy sky.
“Wuma Yan, I gave you all the freedom I had in my entire previous life. Wasn’t that enough?”
“All I want is Teacher’s heart.”
“…In the next life, don’t meet me again.”
As the power continued to pour out, the snake-shaped mark on Lian Qiguang’s chest gradually became lighter until it disappeared completely.
As the power was exhausted, the green net around the two of them also vanished in an instant.
The vines withered, and both of them fell from the sky.
Looking at the man running toward him, Lian Qiguang smiled.
A smile of satisfaction.
A gentle smile.
“I… love… you…”
Lian Qiguang opened his mouth, but he could no longer make a sound.
Yet Lian Qiguang knew that he understood.
He heard it.
He understood it clearly.
Just as Xiahou Shaoxuan opened his arms and was about to touch Lian Qiguang, Lian Qiguang’s body suddenly scattered, turning to ash and vanishing.
“Don’t!!!”
A mournful cry pierced through heaven and earth.
Wuma Yan lay on his back on the ground, quietly staring at the sky.
Snowflakes fell into his eyes, quickly melting before flowing out like tears.
Two-thirds of his body had already melted away, and most of his head had disappeared as well.
Am I about to die?
The corners of Wuma Yan’s lips curled upward.
It feels unexpectedly easy.
A thin, frail figure slowly walked over through the wind and snow and knelt down beside Wuma Yan.
Wuma Yan struggled to turn his face to look at the sorrowful expression on the young man’s face. He forced himself to pull out a smile.
Seeing that the man seemed to be saying something, Qiu Lima bent down and brought his ear close to the man’s lips.
“Run. Don’t let… humans catch you. They won’t spare you.”
“Take the crystal core from my head. In the future… in the future, you have to become stronger. Otherwise… you’ll be bullied again.”
Qiu Lima quietly looked at Wuma Yan.
Then he slowly embraced Wuma Yan, his cold lips landing on Wuma Yan’s blood-stained lips.
“I told you, I won’t let you die before me.”
Qiu Lima held Wuma Yan tightly, as though he were holding the love of his entire life, afraid that someone would take him away.
“If there really is a next life, I’ll find you, and then I’ll fall in love with you again.”
As if he realized what Qiu Lima was about to do, Wuma Yan widened his eyes before finally turning it into a helpless smile.
“You idiot! I never realized it before, but perhaps… perhaps I did like you a little too.”
With a tremendous explosion, Qiu Lima detonated his crystal core.
The two tightly embraced each other, turning to ash and vanishing together beneath the heavy snow.
An endless, desolate expanse of white stretched before the eyes.
Blood covered the ground, a horrifying sight.
A man dressed in a tattered military uniform knelt in the snow, like a child who had lost his entire world, crying aloud with all his strength, his cries tearing through his heart and lungs.
The heavy snow that filled the sky was driven by the howling, mercilessly cold wind, covering everything and hiding all the sins beneath a blanket of white.
The man’s body was gradually buried beneath the heavy snow.
Frozen solid…
(P.S. There is no Chapter 162 to begin with.)