The courtyard's brutal aura, thick with gun smoke and blood, dissipated as the seven military jeeps drove away.
Ye Wenjun tactfully took his men and left as well, giving the family space to reunite after their ordeal.
Supported by his parents, Liu Dayong shuffled toward Chen Lin, one step at a time.
He stared fixedly at this "little brother" who was a year younger than him.
His thoughts churned like a storm-tossed sea.
He could never forget how, in that vile compound, the thugs who normally treated human lives as worthless had been slaughtered with overwhelming ease by thirty black-clad warriors who descended from the sky.
Nor could he forget how, on the border highway, the man in a black suit and sunglasses who always followed Chen Lin had strolled toward the tank formation, then... caught a shell with his bare hands and torn those steel monsters apart as though they were paper.
Yet that godlike being now stood quietly behind Xiao Lin, like the most loyal of servants.
Liu Dayong dared not think any further.
It was already beyond anything he could comprehend in his twenty-odd years of life.
Those thoughts flashed through his mind in an instant.
The next second, Liu Dayong abruptly pushed his parents' arms aside. His knees buckled, and with a thud, he dropped firmly onto the bluestone paving in front of Chen Lin!
"Xiao Lin!" He raised his head, unwavering resolve in his bloodshot eyes. "You saved my life. From now on, whenever you have a use for it, it's yours!"
His sudden kneeling startled everyone.
Chen Lin hurried forward and helped him up with both hands, unsure whether to laugh or cry.
Dayong was still just as he had been as a child-straightforward to a fault.
"Dayong, what are you doing?" Chen Lin