Otherworldly Affairs Office

Pei Yan, who was at the training base, was completely unaware of the undercurrents within the Divine Desire, but after a video call with Wang Wenze he felt the pressure from the outside world more keenly, which made him throw himself more earnestly into the training. Ten days before the two-month training period ended, he had already exceeded the pre-set training goals and his physical condition had reached the standards set by Gu Shenghui.

Five days later, Pei Yan and his group walked out of the secret base located in the primitive rainforest. Unlike the eager Xiaosun from the research team who couldn't wait to jump into the car that came to pick them up, Pei Yan looked back at the receding dense forest, estimating that he would never forget this place. Reflecting on the past half month of training, it had given him a transformational growth from body to soul.

A month ago, the regular physical training had already ended, and the remaining training was one-on-one training with General Ni. The content of the training was very simple: survive. Survive under Captain Ni's pursuit without using any abilities!

Unlike Xia Yu's mixed martial arts philosophy, Captain Ni's moves were simple but deadly and relentless, never dragging out. With daggers, crossbow arrows, and firearms taking turns, he didn't give Pei Yan, who was fleeing exhausted in the jungle, a moment to catch his breath.

Pei Yan went from being caught off guard and in a sorry state to having a methodical response, and eventually, he could even find opportunities to ambush and counterattack. Although most ended in failure, he tirelessly enjoyed playing cat and mouse with the General again and again, until the day the training was announced to end early, he even felt a bit of unfulfillment.

Now, Pei Yan, with a dark complexion and a face that still retained a bit of childishness, moved with efficiency and a soldier's mark etched deeply in his bones. According to the reports by Hu Wenjun and Gu Shenghui, if Pei Yan, when he first entered the Investigation Hall, was an ordinary piece of iron that was forged into a precious sword, then this jungle trip was the sharpening needed for the sword, ready to be drawn to win battles at any moment.

Apparently, Gu Shenghui was still not satisfied with merely a sharp sword; he now wanted to add some attributes to this sword!

While Pei Yan and his team walked out of the tropical rainforest and returned to the military base to rest, far away in the psychiatric ward of the Capital Medical University Affiliated Hospital.

Gu Shenghui was holding a bowl of century egg and lean meat porridge, feeding the patient in front of him wearing the hospital gown, even though the other party was unappreciative, dodging the spoon as he muttered to himself at the stone in his hand.

But Gu Shenghui was neither angry nor impatient. His normally stern face showed a rare warmth, like coaxing a child, taking the chance while the other person was unsuspecting to quickly feed him a mouthful. He then carefully wiped the soup dripping from his mouth with a towel.

As he stirred the porridge, Gu Shenghui talked to himself in front of the patient: "Old Xie, Mu Haoran still thinks about you. You really exposed yourself the last time we met him, couldn't hold it in, popped up, couldn't suppress you, and Elder Lin saw through the flaw."

The mental patient referred to by Gu Shenghui as Old Xie trembled at the name Mu Haoran, stopped his muttering, and the next second raised his head sharply, swinging the stone in his hand towards Gu Shenghui's head.

Gu Shenghui made no attempt to dodge, letting the other's hand holding the stone rain hits on his head and body, from start to finish not making a sound, not even shifting the hand holding the porridge bowl.

By the end, whether Old Xie had vented his anger or his hand was tired, he finally stopped the assault, leaned back in the chair, gasping for breath. Seeing he had stopped, Gu Shenghui spooned some more porridge towards him. The other shut his mouth, shaking his head stubbornly. They continued this offer and evade game until Old Xie reluctantly opened his mouth and took a bite of porridge.

Seeing him eat, Gu Shenghui sighed in relief, continuing to stir the porridge, and sighed: "I know you hate, and I know you're angry! Angry at your own blindness, angry at your own uselessness, both of us are the same, useless people. We've both seen him! He's stronger than before even with our combined four awakened abilities after the fusion, I still don't feel confident of winning."

"Argh! You have feared him since before! He's not as frightening as you think!" Old Xie on the chair seemed to have a moment of clarity, the previously dull eyes flashed with a sparkle, and he let out a long breath, raspily speaking.

"You're right, I was always the weakest among the three of us. Back then during the Daoist Plane chase at Celestial Sword Manor, even though I was the field commander, it was relying on your abilities that had him dying so miserably at our hands, venting the grudges in our hearts."

Upon hearing this, Old Xie nodded his head, his hazy mind recalling the spirited times when the three of them, risking their lives under pressure for the girls who were victims, were filled with revived grandeur, shouting excitedly, "Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful!"

Hearing the noise inside the room, a patrolling nurse rushed in, saw the patient in a state of madness, and turned to call the doctor.

Gu Shenghui quickly stepped forward to explain, whispering something to the nurse, whose face clouded with dissatisfaction, said: "How can you as a family member be like this? Weren't you told when you came that you should try not to mention past events to him as it might trigger him? His condition has finally stabilized a bit recently, you could provoke a relapse!"

"Get out! Get out of here! What do you know about it! I'm Xie Chujun! The Xie Chujun feared by the Four Realms! You know nothing!" Xie Chujun shouted, holding onto the chair, struggling to stand, pointing at the nurse angrily, but before he could say more, he sat back down as his body gave out.

The nurse, though cursed, didn't get angry; such situations were common. The person next door even claimed to be the reincarnation of the Great Sage Equal to Heaven! But the nurse's glance at Gu Shenghui was one filled with more reproach.

This Director Gu, normally so authoritative and commanding in the hall, could only nod repeatedly, apologizing while making promises and respectfully seeing the nurse out of the room.

Turning back to glance at Xie Chujun, whose few words had left him flushed and breathless, Gu Shenghui sighed, casually placing the porridge bowl on the rack, stepping forward to pat his chest, soothingly whispering, "I should have let you absorb my abilities back then."

"It makes no difference who it is, one of us must lie here to nurture that thing, it was the plan you and I came up with."

After finishing his words, Xie Chujun brushed away Gu Shenghui's hand resting on him, leaned his head to the side, and asked, "Got a cigarette?"