[Fetal Status: Early Pregnancy (only 1 day). Risk of Bloodline Conflict: High-Risk Alert (the Dragon-Phoenix Bloodline and the Heavenly Snake Supreme Bloodline are fiercely clashing). Severe emotional turbulence in the mother! Host, soothe her immediately!]
The system's warning rang like a cold alarm bell, pounding frantically in the depths of Xiao Zhan's consciousness. Its flashing lights seemed intent on illuminating every corner of his reason.
Xiao Zhan's arms tightened around her without him realizing it, as if he meant to draw this peerlessly beautiful, yet now impossibly fragile, body into his very bones. He would shield her with his own body, shutting out every harm and disturbance from the outside world, and raise a safe sky over her head. He could clearly feel Medusa's stiffness and the faintest tremor, like a withered leaf swaying in the wind, stirring his pity. He could also sense, deep within her flat belly, a faint pulse that resonated with his bloodline—a quiet message of life. It was his child, the new life conceived by him and Cai Lin in the accident atop the pagoda, where raging energy and uncontrolled instinct had intertwined. A glimmer of hope in the darkness.
In an instant, a torrent of relief, joy, responsibility, and overwhelming protectiveness burst through the dam, sweeping away every hesitation and calculation in Xiao Zhan's heart. His gaze turned resolute and fiery, as if it could set everything ablaze.
"Cai Lin." Xiao Zhan's voice was low and resonant, like the pulse of the earth, carrying a decisiveness unlike anything he had shown before. It rang across the silent oasis, clear and strong, reaching not only the queen in his arms, but also every stunned Snake-People warrior below. "Marry me." Those three simple words struck every heart like a heavy hammer, sending ripples through