Forget-me-not Milk?

Even though it was already nine o'clock at night when they arrived, the airport was still packed with reporters and the families of the victims.

Such a large-scale rescue operation had attracted attention from all across Huaguo. Jinshan City was one of the world's top international metropolises. The victims were not only from Huaguo, but from many other countries as well.

There was no way to conceal an accident of this scale.

When everyone silently disembarked from the plane, the media came forward to interview them. The tragic results they announced plunged the noisy airport into silence.

Thirty-two aircraft had been dispatched. Twenty-nine people had been rescued, and eight had died on the return journey.

Tens of thousands of compatriots had been buried overseas. Some bodies could not even be found amid the vast ruins.

Further rescue operations were still underway, but rescuing people from Honkai beasts and nuclear radiation was as difficult as one could imagine.

Still, all they could tell the media was that there was still hope, and that further rescue operations would follow.

"Someone from the relevant department will contact you soon. I suggest that you agree to join them. Your ability is very powerful, and you have plenty of room to grow. Having professionals guide you will benefit you."

Zhao Qi had already reunited with his family. Gu Yan had not even had time to leave the airport when Xu Muchi called out to him.

"Okay." Gu Yan agreed, showing an appropriate amount of surprise on his face.

Xu Muchi nodded slightly, then left.

Gu Yan walked at an unhurried pace as he made his way around the bustling crowd.

"If I don't join an official organization, I might face plenty of restrictions. I'm not exactly a five-star citizen, so there's no harm in joining."

"As for freedom... In a world watched by the Honkai, it's either your family is destroyed or you rise up and resist. As long as I'm on the side of civilization, that's enough."

He had no intention of "saving the world" alone. That was impossible.

He had not earned anyone's trust yet. Or rather, humanity would not believe in a Herrscher who fought for humanity in such a short time. Getting them to accept it would take time.

Before then, he absolutely could not reveal his identity as a Herrscher candidate.

Wait, the people of this era did not even know what the Honkai or Herrschers were yet!

What a headache...

"Xiao Yan!"

A familiar voice interrupted Gu Yan's thoughts. When he looked up, the person had already thrown her arms around him.

"Sis? I thought you weren't coming to pick me up."

He was not saying that casually. The mother and daughter really were capable of it.

Right, the airport they had landed at happened to be in Gu Yan's hometown, Hai City.

"Why didn't you come out with the others? Mom thought something had happened to you and nearly fainted. It scared us to death. Fortunately, you're all right!"

Gu Li was usually cold and aloof. She had never been good at communicating with others, and she had rarely shown concern for him throughout their lives.

His mother was different. She was extremely devious. In other families, when siblings fought, the mother would come to calm them down. In his family, when mother and son fought, his sister would mediate; when the siblings fought, his mother would cheer them on.

Still, it was an interesting family.

"Something came up just now, so I was held up for a while. Where's Mom?" Gu Yan did not reveal anything related to his ability. If his family knew too much, they would never feel at ease about him.

"She's in the car. It's nothing serious."

The two of them had come over very early to wait, worried that Gu Yan might have been injured.

"We didn't have time to eat dinner, and then we waited for ages. She had a bit of low blood sugar, and she got really worked up just now. She only recovered after going to the convenience store to buy some snacks. Don't worry, she's fine."

At this, the corner of Gu Li's mouth twitched. She did not explain that Mother Gu had stopped feeling down the moment she got the snacks, looking just like a child.

She bought Forget-me-not Milk, did she?

The short walk took the two of them twenty minutes. Gu Yan felt that his sister had shown him more concern today than she had over the previous decade and a half combined.

"Well, well, when did you two siblings become so close?"

Mother Gu pretended to be surprised when she saw the two of them slowly approaching.

"Sis, did you just hear Mom's voice?" Gu Yan opened the car door and got in.

"No. You must have imagined it."

Gu Li played along, her expression half amused and half mocking.

"Tch. You ungrateful brats." Mother Gu sat in the passenger seat and opened a bag of snacks.

Only then did the two of them notice the lingering moisture in Mother Gu's eyes. The snacks had been unopened before.

The car had already started moving, but the family was somewhat quiet.

"Mom's hungry. Let's go have something good tonight. Xiao Yan has made it home safely too."

"Yay!" Gu Yan was the one who said it.

"Why don't I get this kind of treatment when I'm at home?" Gu Li seemed to be in a good mood as well, and she became more talkative.

"I put two eggs in the instant noodles I made for you yesterday. How can you say that? You're going to make Mom sad!"

Gu Yan's lips curved upward in the back seat as he looked out the car window.

Tall buildings rose one after another, their lights illuminating the city's night sky. Cars came and went, while pedestrians were sparse.

Some faces showed exhaustion, others grief. Some people were drinking themselves senseless alone, while plenty of others traveled in groups.

These were the people of an era of peace. They did not know what would happen in the future, nor did they know that whether their lives were happy or difficult, their present way of life was about to leave them.

Disaster was coming—or rather, it had already happened across the ocean.

Perhaps such an ordinary life was what was truly rare?

"I want to find a job."

Gu Yan's sudden words left the mother and daughter in front stunned for a moment.

Of course, finding a job was only an excuse. He could not exactly attend university normally while shining in an Ability User organization and saving the world on the side, could he?

"No!"

Gu Li's sudden objection startled Mother Gu, and the little snacks in her hand fell.

"I mean, not right now. You just got home, so rest for a few days first. You can decide what to do afterward."

After going through such a disaster, taking a few days to relax would be good. Mother Gu also agreed with her daughter.

"Uh, okay. It's not a big deal. I'm perfectly fine." He had thought his sister objected to the idea, though her objection would not have mattered anyway.

"Listen to your sister. Get some proper rest for a few days and forget about those unpleasant things."

Gu Yan did not argue further. He propped up his head and continued looking at the scenery.

As long as it put them at ease, that was enough. Let it be.

In an office somewhere.

Knock, knock, knock!

"Come in." Qin Hong'an looked solemn as he went over the documents in his hands again and again.

"It's Senior Xu. You worked hard this time." Only after looking up and seeing who had arrived did he put down the documents, his solemnity turning into respect.

Xu Muchi waved her hand. "You've already learned about the situation, right? What do you think?"

"This disaster in Beautiful Country is very strange. Many things have already exceeded our understanding." At this point, he paused and secretly gauged Xu Muchi's reaction.

"You've already fought her. The woman called Ji has not appeared since then, but..."

Qin Hong'an took out a report and handed it to Xu Muchi.

"This is what happened after you left Jinshan City. A gigantic humanoid creature appeared there."

Xu Muchi quickly finished reading the report, her expression calm.

After they left, that unknown energy had given birth to the Fire Giant named Surtur, whose surface temperature reached four thousand degrees Celsius.

Surtur had already been killed by the black dragon Elfa, but according to the accompanying reconnaissance unit, Surtur possessed high-temperature resistance, as well as extraordinarily powerful regenerative abilities and defensive strength.

Its defenses could easily withstand anti-tank missile attacks, while its regenerative ability was so formidable that even after the black dragon had beaten it into a puddle of flesh, it recovered completely after some time.

Only after the black dragon destroyed more than three hundred unknown tissues with extremely high energy concentrations distributed throughout its body was it able to kill Surtur.

"Elfa preserved Surtur's entire head and handed it over to Beautiful Country. They've invited us to provide technical assistance in deciphering the information in Surtur's brain, hoping to obtain useful intelligence."

"Why are you telling me this?" Xu Muchi truly had not known about these developments, but she was not interested in them either.

"Senior Xu, did you get something wrong? You're my superior. Isn't this what I'm supposed to do?" Qin Hong'an wore an exasperated expression. Although Senior Xu did not handle affairs, she was one of the founders of the Ability Department of Huaguo.

"You can decide. Haven't things been going well all these years?" Xu Muchi poured herself a cup of tea with practiced ease, showing no embarrassment, even though she had genuinely forgotten about this.

"Oh, right. I did come here to give you something to handle."