Chapter 167: Falling into the Abyss

Chapter 167: Plunged into the Abyss

"General Hurst is here," the guard whispered.

Su Quan, already in a foul mood, frowned at the mention of Hurst. "What does he want?"

The guard swallowed nervously. "General Hurst requests your presence."

Su Quan turned on his heel.

"What are you doing here?" Su Quan demanded coldly the moment he saw Hurst.

Hurst narrowed his eyes. "I should be asking you that. You're lost in a haze of pleasure every day, getting nothing done."

"If you can't handle it, then train some capable alphas. How about you and Song Yuqing just disappear?"

Su Quan smirked. "Do you think that's possible?"

Train other alphas, make himself obsolete—was he that foolish?

Hurst's face darkened. "Then do your job properly."

"The defeat in Sri Lanka will do you no good."

"You, more than anyone, should know that losers have no chance of getting close to Song Yuqing."

Su Quan certainly understood that only the victorious could approach Song Yuqing.

"If you continue to neglect your duties like this, I'll have no choice but to take Song Yuqing."

At the mention of Hurst taking Song Yuqing, Su Quan's eyes turned dangerous. "You want to take him? Impossible."

Hurst's voice was cold and stern. "You have plenty of time with him. If you keep prioritizing these distractions over your responsibilities, the next time I come, it will be to take Song Yuqing."

Having delivered his warning, Hurst didn't linger, turning to leave as if his sole purpose had been to remind Su Quan.

"Something's wrong—they're gone."

No sooner had Hurst left than an alpha guard reported the news.

"Who's gone?" Su Quan's gaze turned icy, his voice chillingly low.

The alpha's hands trembled as he swallowed. "They're... they're all gone."

Su Quan's psychic energy unfurled, the immense pressure from a top-tier alpha instantly causing the reporting alpha to bleed from every orifice.

Hurst!

Playing nice with him, while secretly planning to take Song Yuqing to control him.

The three stood near the black box. Xiao Jinshi spoke up to alert them, "Someone is using psychic energy."

"Roughly several dozen meters from here."

Song Yuqing nodded.

Su Quan must have received the news and assumed Hurst had taken them.

It was indeed Hurst's men who had made their move. These guards would naturally be more loyal to Hurst than to Su Quan.

Even if Su Quan killed all the guards over this incident, they would only believe they had sacrificed their lives for Sri Lanka's great cause.

All they had done was, after Hurst brought them out of prison, turned against those alphas, killed them, and escaped.

They regrouped here.

Song Yuqing's expression was cold.

"You go out first. Xiao Jinshi and I will handle the rest," Pei Huai said.

Song Yuqing didn't agree. "I need to see Su Quan dead with my own eyes to feel at ease."

Xiao Jinshi looked down at Song Yuqing, whose long, dark eyelashes lowered, concealing the relentless determination that usually lay hidden in his cool eyes.

Song Yuqing had planned everything perfectly, outwitting both the people of Xinzhou and Sri Lanka.

He was an unforeseen variable in Song Yuqing's plan.

And also the most crucial element in Song Yuqing's plan.

His brother, after all, hadn't gone so far as to consider paying any price to ensure Su Quan would definitely die.

Or perhaps Song Yuqing had considered it but wasn't prepared to sacrifice anyone.

As Xiao Jinshi thought this over, he took Song Yuqing's unusually cold hand. When Song Yuqing turned to look at him, Xiao Jinshi smiled.

Xiao Jinshi lowered his head and kissed the back of Song Yuqing's hand. "I didn't get enough kisses earlier. Let me have one more."

Song Yuqing: "..."

Pei Huai rolled his eyes. *Not enough kisses?* After all that kissing, it still wasn't enough? He had almost thought Xiao Jinshi had really lost it.

Song Yuqing interrupted Xiao Jinshi's action. "Stop kissing. Save it for later."

Xiao Jinshi was good at reading between the lines, his eyes lighting up. "Does that mean I can kiss you freely outside?"

Song Yuqing: "..."

Pei Huai: "You really know how to read into things. *I* can kiss freely, but it's *me* who can kiss freely."

Song Yuqing: "..."

Pei Huai certainly knew how to specify the subject.

The alphas pursuing them followed the sound and spotted the three standing in a corner, chatting.

When their eyes met, Song Yuqing's amber eyes resembled honey, distant yet paradoxically gentle.

The alpha was momentarily dazed, still finding it hard to believe. What kind of reasonable person stops to chat after escaping?

Wait...

How could he even hear them chatting?

Before the alpha could say anything, Pei Huai snapped his neck and dragged him into the corner.

Xiao Jinshi glanced at the pile of bodies behind them and shook his head. "So stupid. They just keep coming, one after another, and we keep killing them."

"It's done," Song Yuqing said softly.

"Go get Su Quan and Hurst. I'll wait for you here."

Su Quan had originally gone to chase Hurst, but at the corner, he spotted Xiao Jinshi's figure.

Su Quan frowned, he didn't have time to think before changing direction to chase Xiao Jinshi.

Xiao Jinshi must know where Song Yuqing is.

Su Quan followed him all the way to where they kept the black box, but Xiao Jinshi was gone. Instead, he ran into Hurst, who had been chasing Pei Huai to that very spot.

Su Quan: "Hurst, look what you've done."

Whether Hurst was responsible for the current situation or not, if Hurst hadn't tried to take Song Yuqing away, things wouldn't have come to this.

The thought that Song Yuqing might have already escaped with his dog made Su Quan's anger boil over, and he directed all his fury at Hurst, that fool.

He had planned for so long to make Song Yuqing come to him willingly. Next time...

Who knows when he would be able to capture Song Yuqing again.

Hurst also had a cold expression. "That's because you're too disobedient."

Song Yuqing had escaped, and Hurst was just as frustrated. Su Quan acted recklessly, without any regard for consequences.

Song Yuqing was the person Su Quan cared about most. Only by controlling Song Yuqing could Hurst ensure that Su Quan remained a useful tool.

"Disobedient?" Su Quan laughed as if he had heard the biggest joke. The spiritual energy around him surged wildly due to his rage.

Su Quan and Hurst faced off. In Su Quan's eyes burned the fury over his interests being threatened and undisguised killing intent.

In the dark passage, the powerful auras of the two alphas clashed like storms, the air so tense it seemed about to spark.

Song Yuqing calculated the spiritual energy threshold needed to detonate the black box and whispered, "Go."

Almost as soon as Song Yuqing spoke, explosions rang out one after another. Blistering heat surged forth, and everything seemed to tear apart in an instant.

Song Yuqing's hand was grasped by a strong, burning hand. "Song Yuqing, if we die, we die together."

Song Yuqing turned. Amid the rolling flames, his eyes met Su Quan's—wild and intense.

However, just as Su Quan tried to pull Song Yuqing into his embrace and drag them both into the abyss of destruction—

Another tremendous force hit them from the side and behind.

It tore Song Yuqing and Su Quan apart.

Song Yuqing instinctively reached out in panic, his fingers brushing against Xiao Jinshi's fingers for a moment before they were pulled apart again.

Xiao Jinshi just smiled at him. "Brother, goodbye."

Let him be the final piece of Song Yuqing's plan, resolving Song Yuqing's remaining concerns.

Song Yuqing would probably remember him. But if he forgot... that would be fine too.

Su Quan was thrown back into the heart of the explosion, disappearing along with Xiao Jinshi. The spiritual energy, enough to burst glands, triggered a secondary explosion. A wave of scorching heat surged forth.

Pei Huai, without a moment's hesitation, grabbed Song Yuqing's hand and ran.

The deafening explosions roared like prehistoric beasts, instantly swallowing all sound. The blistering heat waves struck like solid walls, radiating outward with destructive force.

It melted everything alive, even turning the reinforced walls into molten lava.

Before his eyes was a vast, white world.

Snow fell like feathers silently, covering the mountains, trees, and the entrance to the underground base that had just witnessed a cataclysmic destruction.

All was silent, save for the mournful whistle of wind through barren branches.

It was as if the previous explosion, sacrifices, and escape were nothing but a thrilling, intense dream.

His thin clothes were soaked through by snow, the cold penetrating his entire body.

Song Yuqing's mind was filled with the memory of Xiao Jinshi pushing him away.

He had sensed Xiao Jinshi's intention. He thought if he held on, Xiao Jinshi would grasp his hand too, and they would leave together.

A snowflake landed on Song Yuqing's trembling eyelashes, melting into an icy droplet that traced a path down his cheek like a belated, silent tear.

Pei Huai trudged through the snow to Song Yuqing's side, taking off his own coat and draping it over Song Yuqing's shoulders.

Pei Huai raised a hand to cover Song Yuqing's eyes. Song Yuqing's eyelashes fluttered faintly against his palm, like the broken wings of a butterfly unable to take flight.

"Qingqing, don't look anymore."

Pei Huai had seen too many vibrant lives before battle, only for them to perish on the battlefield the next moment.

Even Pei Huai, accustomed to such scenes, couldn't remain entirely unaffected, let alone Song Yuqing.

Song Yuqing grasped Pei Huai's wrist. "I'm fine."

His voice, struggling to stay calm, trembled slightly in the cold wind. Before he could stand, Song Yuqing lost consciousness, collapsing into Pei Huai's arms.

Pei Huai carried Song Yuqing on his back, trudging step by step through the snow.

Hurst from Sri Lanka Continent lost contact. Due to unclear reasons, the military strength of both continents drastically declined, almost losing their former glory.

The war machine that Sri Lanka Continent had poured immense resources into building crumbled rapidly due to the sudden disappearance of key figures and massive internal losses. It no longer posed a substantial threat to New Continent.

The armies of the two continents proved utterly vulnerable against New Continent's forces. Their defenses collapsed at the slightest touch, occupied territories were lost continuously, and morale hit rock bottom.

On New Continent's side, under Qi Zhengqing's iron-fisted command and precise strikes, they advanced with unstoppable momentum.

Qi Ran was like a drawn blade, leading elite troops to mercilessly drive the dispirited invaders back across the border.

Qi Ran's tactics were flexible and ruthless, repeatedly dividing and encircling the enemy, annihilating or capturing the scattered forces without giving them a chance to recover.

Where Qi Ran's troops pointed, they advanced beyond the border.

For the first time, New Continent's flag was planted in the capital of Westland Continent.

Both Sri Lanka Continent and Westland Continent sued for peace.

The clouds of war seemed to be dispersing in an unexpectedly swift manner.

New Continent celebrated nationwide, everyone praising the councilor who had led them to break through the deadlock.

Ye Siling and Qi Zhengqing both knew that the root of this victory lay in Song Yuqing's decisive action of eliminating the key members leading the war in Sri Lanka Continent.

New Continent Capital, Top-floor office of the Parliament Building.

Outside the window was a roaring, brilliantly lit sea of celebration, with snowflakes drifting down amidst the dazzling fireworks, yet indoors, a cold and desolate silence pervaded, utterly at odds with the revelry outside.

No one had more authority than Song Yuqing to decide whether to accept the surrender terms from Sri-Lan Continent and Westland Continent.

Qi Zhengqing thought he ought to fetch Song Yuqing home.

But he could no longer go.

After making one last call to Qi Ran, Qi Zhengqing’s straight, proud posture trembled almost imperceptibly.

The alpha pressed his fingertips against the cold glass window, leaving blurred prints behind.

His body, weakened from immense strain, suddenly collapsed like a mountain stripped of all support, slamming hard against the cold floor.

He never got to see his lover return.

Author's Note:

Song Qingqing frantically hits Xiao Jinshi: "This is what you get for spouting nonsense, always saying you'll go die—now look, you’ve really gone and died!"

Xiao Jinshi: "...I have to keep getting beaten even as a ghost?"