But I will accompany you all the way through the abyss

Rumors that‍​‌‍‍‌‍‌‍⁠‍‍‍⁠⁠‌‌‌​​​⁠⁠​ the Spire would be abolished spread wildly for a few days, then everything came to an abrupt halt.

That towering, sharp building stood safely outside the Dome of the Main City. The elevator rose straight up. Separated by a transparent elevator door, the Protectors looked up at the person inside.

A hood pressed down on a head of white hair, but the strands couldn’t hide the deep coldness in those golden eyes.

An Yu calmly swept his gaze over every Protector the elevator passed. The gazes outside, however, avoided his one after another; the Protectors lowered their heads involuntarily.

From some unknown time, like a dried-up furrow finally being irrigated, those golden eyes were suddenly filled with other meanings. Although still vacant, they carried a massive and indescribable sense of oppression. Looking down from above, it made the Protectors dare not meet his gaze, as if one more look would lead to perishing in the most tragic way.

It was said that the people from Black Tower only held reverence for An Yu’s current aura, but did not feel the terror of facing an abyss.

The Protectors said that was the suppression of chaos by order.

Aberrant tides began to sweep across the world once again, coming even more menacingly than the wave last winter. This time, a large number of unrecorded aberrants appeared. Every disordered zone was accompanied by bizarre mental entropy increases and non-biological fusions.

The Spire’s monthly meeting had been going on for eight hours. Tang Feng frowned deeply as he listened to reports, while An Yu, sitting beside him, simply browsed his terminal while gnawing on bread, as if nothing was different from when Qin Zhilu was there.

But everyone knew everything had changed. That ordinary human who was once despised had become the true leader of the Spire.

It was he who kept Qin Zhilu.

It was also he who sheltered everyone here.

The screen vibrated; the octopus chibi popped up a message.

Your terminal has no program malfunction, but why does the monitoring APP always crash repeatedly? Could it be that you yourself always exit the moment you click it open?

An Yu, watch if you want to. If my calculation is correct, what he minds least is your scrutiny.

Thinking that your gaze might be on the other end of the screen actually makes him feel less lonely.

An Yu’s fingertips paused, but he turned off the screen and looked up. “Abandon District 05.”

The conference hall fell into sudden dead silence.

Tang Feng, who was painfully coordinating manpower, paused. “Abandon it?”

“Mhm. Survivors are less than one in ten thousand. Infection status cannot be estimated. No need to waste resources. Call everyone back to save more people.”

An Yu neatly folded the bread paper bag as he spoke, opened another pack, lowered his head, and continued gnawing as if nothing happened.

Tang Feng scrutinized him for a moment. “Okay.”

The Protectors below let out a soft sigh of relief.

Actually, everyone was waiting for such a decision, only no one had the courage to say it out loud.

They looked at the figure curled up in the chair hugging his knees and gnawing on bread. In a trance, they actually felt that it was Qin Zhilu sitting there.

—The person who used to be responsible for making such decisions.

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Even last night, there were a few moments when his mental power briefly jumped back to 31.

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At this moment, Qin Zhilu also happened to be holding a baguette, chewing quietly in small bites. An Yu watched for a while and couldn’t help but slow down his own chewing movements.

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Just then, someone stood up and asked him, “Corner, is the 199th floor recruiting a new supervision subject now?”

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An Yu glanced over. That person subconsciously avoided his gaze but soon forced himself to look up. “There are few high-ranking members left. We need to replenish new strength.”

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That Protector’s face turned pale as his lips trembled uncontrollably.

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Another person hesitated, “Zhao Ran… didn’t he return to his human identity?”

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Zhao Ran placed the packed dinner on Qin Zhilu’s desk. Sitting in that wide chair, An Yu looked even thinner. Zhao Ran hesitated to speak, but finally just knocked on the lunch box. “Eat it all. You are very exhausted recently.”

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Zhao Ran hesitated for a moment. “Are you not feeling well these past two days?”

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But that drowsiness was hard to resist. The only difference from his childhood was that whenever he was drowsy, there was a secretive whispering deep in his consciousness, and he didn’t know whether it was hypnotizing him or trying to wake him up. When An Yu struggled to wake up from the whispering early this morning, he suddenly had the illusion that he caught a trace of a rule woven by some unknown spacetime in a certain snowflake outside the window.

A shattered spacetime is hidden in the snowflake fragments.

The guess he once half-jokingly made with the Commander actually became traceable.

Zhao Ran sat on the sofa sizing him up. After a long while, he suddenly asked, “Were you also sleepy when you went to see Qin Zhilu?”

“Huh?” An Yu was interrupted in his thoughts and froze for a moment. “What?”

“You went to see him. Don’t think I can’t tell.” Zhao Ran curled his lips, his long fingers swiping across his own neck and collarbone. “It wasn’t there in the morning.”

An Yu glanced at the desk clock on the corner of the table. The shiny metal reflected the streaks of crimson on his neck and collarbone.

He couldn’t resist going to Brain again. Although he was very afraid the Commander would be angry at his unauthorized action, he really wanted to see him.

Qin Zhilu was indeed very angry. He kissed very fiercely, not gently at all, not even giving a chance to admit mistakes or beg for mercy. Leather gloves gripped An Yu’s fragile neck. An Yu could only be forced to tilt his head back hard, trying to get more oxygen. The corners of his eyes were scarlet, his chest heaving like the stress reaction before near-death in District 53.

Only when he was really about to suffocate did Qin Zhilu let go of him, but pressed his forehead against his and asked viciously, “Tell me, if I also can’t resist acquiring your genes, will I explode and perish like those aberrants?”

An Yu’s consciousness was still drifting. Hearing this, he subconsciously reached out to push the person holding him and said, “Then don’t kiss me anymore, mmph…”

Before he finished speaking, Qin Zhilu pinned him directly against the wall and roughly bit on his neck.

The moment he bit down, An Yu felt those fangs turn back into human teeth, grinding his skin fiercely, hurting him, but not really breaking the skin.

Even with his mental power at only 30, Qin Zhilu could still largely suppress the expression of his aberrant features.

But when emotions surged, some signs would inevitably slip out. Several pitch-black tentacles slid out from under his clothes, immediately wrapping around An Yu’s waist and nuzzling eagerly against his inner thighs.

“Rein it in,” An Yu couldn’t help but say. “You held back the scales last night…”

“Being covered in scales is disgusting,” Qin Zhilu whispered in his ear, the tip of a tentacle nudging his lower abdomen again. “But you like the tentacles. Although I’m starting to forget things, I still remember you liked hugging them back in District 53.”

Before leaving the room, An Yu lowered his eyes and said, “You haven’t lost control yet.”

Qin Zhilu raised an eyebrow. “Are you looking forward to it?”

“No.” An Yu shook his head, licking the corner of his mouth which was swollen and numb. He touched his burning collarbone with lingering fear and whispered, “I just think you’re already very fierce without losing control.”

“Scared?” Qin Zhilu walked towards him, took off his glove, and placed his palm on An Yu’s head. He rubbed it vigorously at first, then gradually softened his touch to be gentle.

“Then behave yourself from now on.”

His slender, slightly warm fingers stroked the old scar behind An Yu’s ear. He leaned down to hug him, encircling him in his arms, and whispered, “Do you really know what it means to reveal your ability to humans?”

“The abyss,” An Yu answered in a low voice, tugging at the corner of the Commander’s shirt by his ear. “It is the abyss. I will go with you, Commander.”

The tall, solid body stiffened for a moment. An Yu seized that moment to hug him back. “I am the killing weapon you selected for yourself.”

“I won’t kill you, Commander.”

“But I will accompany you, killing all the way to the end of the abyss.”