Volume One, Chapter 42: Was I Destined to Grow Old Alone?

Over the past half month, aside from occasionally helping Dr. Zhong dissect strange beasts, Lin Yun spent the rest of his time soaking his feet, chatting idly, and drinking with Gu Chen and the others. After all, anyone who could enter the Paranormal Guard Bureau possessed some degree of capability. However, these people had all started taking it easy, and their leveling speed was as slow as a crawling snail, likely taking a whole year just to advance by a single minor rank. Lin Yun had already hatched a plan in his mind: in two months, he would pretend to advance to a Tier 3 Intermediate Esper, revealing just a sliver of his talent—not too exaggerated, lest it attract unnecessary trouble. Following that, he would coast along in the paranormal prison for a dozen or so years, slowly climbing the ranks step by step, and sooner or later, he would become the Commander-in-Chief of the Paranormal Guard Bureau.

"Could it be..."

"Heart-Consuming Soul-奪-Dispersing Powder? Are you the Poison Maniac Qin Wujie?" Lin Tianya asked, staring at the figure in black opposite him with utter horror.

With a few crisp sounds of paper being cut, Naruto dispatched the remaining thugs, leaving only a single captive alive.

Watching Ling Xuan take his leave, my mind was in a turmoil of endless yearning and sorrow, impossible to dispel. I lazily leaned against the imperial couch, gazing blankly at the latticed window.

Yet, the more flustered and exasperated Li Siming became, the more confident I grew.

None of the remaining armed police officers wanted to flee, but they had no time to take aim and fire back in retaliation. Just like their comrades who had inexplicably sacrificed their lives moments before, they fell one by one.

A pain maddening enough to drive one insane hammered into his mind like iron nails, striking in relentless waves. He immediately collapsed onto the large bed a few paces away, covered in cold sweat. His thin shirt clung tightly to his back, twisting into warped, distorted wrinkles with his movements.

Xuan Zhe chuckled and nudged Shao Lian. Shao Lian turned his face to secretly glance at Feng Yi, his handsome face blushing crimson. Realizing her own slip of the tongue, Feng Yi looked back and, seeing Shao Lian's state, was overcome with embarrassment, her face flushing bright red as well.

I looked back and saw it was a man carrying a bow and holding a sword, panting as he slashed through the bushes with his blade.

Little did they know that the reason for such a high degree of integration was that it had stripped away its own core vitality and swarm-power in order to parasitize the body of this white tiger.

Thus, only Su Zhou and Raymond remained in the commentary booth, while the cameras diligently continued their work, transmitting the news and footage of Su Ping'an's safety from China to all corners of the world.

Q17 gritted his teeth, silently raising the heavy sword and Gauss machine gun in his hands. Johnny, standing beside him, also raised the flame throwers on both wrists.

When the dwarf's hand once again touched Q17's body, Q17 used his actions to demonstrate the self-sacrificing spirit of a marine. He closed his eyes, his face displaying an inexpressible mix of determination, grief, loyalty, and absolute resolve.

"That's right, Li's eldest girl and our Tiehan are quite a match, both in age and appearance. Why not ask someone to go sound out Granny Li?" Old Madam Zheng said, her aging eyes squinting.

"All right, you can go back now." Chai Jiayin walked up to her front door, gently knocked on the panel, and turned to say to Qin Yu.

"Instructor, why are you here, and dressed like this?" Jing Yuan looked at him after he lowered his hand, revealing a black eye, and held back a laugh.

Cui Shu looked haggard and desolate, his brows tightly furrowed, his eyes brimming with despair, and his gray beard stained with sweat. Evidently, his fierce and passionate speech just moments ago had exhausted his mental and physical strength.

Observing the situation on the court, Yu Manman pondered: It seems these core players from Jingtian University are also planning to adopt a defensive strategy of "full-court man-to-man" coupled with comprehensive "zone defense" in this final quarter... This is no longer merely a contest of physical stamina; it will also depend on which team has better chemistry and coordination.

Curling both hands into claws, the white light at his fingertips left ten white streaks in the air, crisscrossing as they charged toward that writhing body... followed by a dull thud resembling grinding sand and stones.

Yu Manman used the magnetic stripe card to unlock the door of X-6, and with another kick, sent Geng Haoshi flying inside. Because Geng Haoshi had just woken up, the kick sent him sprawling straight onto the floor.

"Tianer, where are you going?!" An old man sitting in the village doorway basking in the sun asked Wen Tian.

"Was it Long Haoran's people keeping tabs on us just now?" Helan Yao furrowed her brows. It seemed the people over in Wanyue were already aware of the news that they were safe and sound.

"That won't do. I'm not a prodigal son, how can I always take losses without ever gaining any advantage?" Gan Ran said with a completely straight face.

Hearing Feng Shixing's reply, Dusha responded with a trace of disappointment, then turned her head and refused to look at him again.

And the reason Tang Luo worked so hard was merely to be capable of shielding his entire clan from harm when that time came.

Right at that moment, from outside the door of the secret chamber, a slightly timid voice suddenly rang out, directly interrupting his train of thought.

The position of Noble Consort in the palace, which had remained vacant for so long, was rumored to have originally been reserved for that Princess of Dongjiao.

If Su Ruran were truly to be publicly scalded by splashed water within Guihua Palace, not only would the Duke of Ning's Manor have to bear the responsibility, but Empress Zhou and the other three overseeing the selection would likewise be blamed for failing to properly govern the inner court.

Seeing his master's father-in-law speak up, Bai Ming gave an acknowledging nod, left a few guards to watch the entrance, and led the rest into the courtyard.

A single arrow pierced horizontally through the bucket suspended from the well-sweep, likely also piercing the earthen vessel inside. Whether it was water from Chang'an or water from Xilu, it had long since mixed together, gurgling out and dripping down along the white goose feathers at the tail of the arrow.

Being household retainers, they could certainly afford a table of food and wine, but this kind of favored treatment could never be measured by the monetary value of mere food and wine.

Just as Liang Shaoxuan had anticipated, after Yao Dongli fell silent, Chen Ruyan turned her gaze toward Liang Shaoxuan instead.

Qi Fei's mouth curled into a smile as he said, "There are plenty of things you haven't anticipated yet." With that, he directly conjured a fireball and hurled it down into the center of the ring of Qi.

Yun Luo shook his head with a worried expression. By now, he was gradually figuring things out and understood the reason for Cui Zhi's flat refusal, internally cursing himself for being thick-headed.

Meanwhile, the third batch of warships entered the harbor one after another, paired side-by-side and linked stern-to-bow, extending all the way out to the open sea where they finally successfully docked with the Zheng He, which was anchored five nautical miles away.

Both Yun Luo and Cen Wuxin understood the crux of the matter and exchanged an understanding smile. Noticing that Lu Qi looked somewhat baffled, Yun Luo roughly recounted the story between Shao Lingzhi and Zhang De'an.

Once upon a time, she found her mother's nagging utterly exasperating, but now she realized those sounds were the most beautiful words in the entire world.

Dong Yuqing had no spare energy to bother with Yao Dongli and the other two. After tossing out a warning, she refused to even look at them again.

Chen Yu subconsciously looked up. She saw that the newcomer was a man wearing a long black down jacket, a white sweater underneath, and black casual trousers.

"Let's go." Ye Youchen tightened his grip on Chen Yu's hand and led her toward the room. After opening the door, Chen Yu discovered several more doors inside, each marked with a number.

Yun Luo forced himself not to look at that fledgling landscape, turning instead to gaze at the fore-porch of this doorway. On both the left and right sides of the porch stood a divine statue: one had a hand raised to shield its eyes in a gazing posture, while the other held a hand cupped to its ear in a listening pose.

The fingers in the picture were plump and slender, looking absurdly fair. Paired with the gentle warm-toned lighting, they resembled a work of art without a single flaw.