Gu Lin showed with his actions that he no longer wished to focus on his career. The longer time went on, the more apparent it became that he wasn’t prioritizing the construction of the base.
After the matter with Professor Fang was resolved, the Imperial Capital was renamed as Huaguo’s First Base. Unnecessary elements were discarded, and the base transformed to better suit post-apocalyptic survival. Other areas followed suit and established various major bases one after another.
The Li family rose to prominence during this time and firmly established their position. At an appropriate moment, the Li family revealed that Li Shu was a junior of their family, and from then on, the number of people trying to use Gu Lin’s status to climb up decreased significantly.
What a joke. If Li Shu was just an ordinary person, they could still stretch their claws, but since he was the cherished youngest son of the Li family, who would risk messing with him now? Were they not satisfied with how comfortably they were living?
Everyone had seen how much the Li family valued their youngest son. It wasn’t just for show; they genuinely cared for him from the bottom of their hearts.
Lin Xuan returned to the capital just as he had in the original plot, only later this time. Compared to before, he had changed a lot. Li Shu ran into him on the street.
At that time, Li Shu had gone out with Gu Lin. Gu Lin had business to handle outside the base, and Li Shu had accompanied him to buy things. It was at this moment that they ran into each other.
If not for Gu Lin’s brief change in expression, Li Shu wouldn’t have even noticed that the person approaching was Lin Xuan. After all, he hadn’t spent much time with Lin Xuan. The emotional entanglements belonged to the original owner. To him, Lin Xuan was just an ordinary stranger now.
But for Gu Lin, Lin Xuan meant much more.
Li Shu shook the hand Gu Lin was holding, and when Gu Lin looked over, he said, “Let’s go.”
They passed by each other without so much as a glance from Li Shu.
Lin Xuan hadn’t expected to run into Li Shu at that moment. Unlike Li Shu’s indifference, he couldn’t let go of the past, and the guilt would haunt him forever.
“Boss, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
Lin Xuan averted his gaze. He knew some things couldn’t be undone. He had pushed Li Shu away with his own hands—what right did he have to try to make things right now?
For some reason, he had been asking about Li Shu’s life along the way. It wasn’t difficult as Gu Lin didn’t hide anything about his relationship with Li Shu, so it was easy to gather information about the two of them.
People didn’t know his identity or his past involvement with Li Shu. They assumed he was just another outsider looking to settle down, which was common after the base’s establishment. Many people from other regions brought their families to settle here.
After all, Huaguo’s First Base was the largest and safest. It had the most advanced technology and the most comprehensive infrastructure. The gap between ordinary people and the evolvers was small. As long as you wanted to live, you could survive here.
“Oh, you’re asking about our General Gu and his partner? They’re the most enviable couple around…”
Once the conversation started, the person being asked couldn’t stop talking, eagerly sharing everything they knew. They’d wanted to talk about it for a long time, but almost everyone in the base already knew the story, so finding someone who didn’t was rare. He wouldn’t waste this chance.
The speaker was excited, while the listener’s emotions grew more complicated. Lin Xuan didn’t know what he had expected to feel when he inquired about them, but after hearing the full story, his emotions became even more tangled.
Logically, he knew he should be happy for Li Shu. Wasn’t Li Shu’s happiness what he had always wanted? Perhaps his feelings were complicated because that happiness wasn’t given by him.
As he walked through his past mistakes, the fog of the past dissipated and he realized how wrong he was. He wanted to make amends, to take responsibility, but the person he had hurt so deeply was no longer waiting for him.
Li Shu had found his own happiness. The only one left clinging to the past was himself.
After they cleared out Professor Fang’s forces, they rescued another group of test subjects. Among the rescued were some who had undergone several modifications, and were considered half-finished products, while others had lost the will to live. After enduring inhuman torture, all they wanted was to be freed.
For those who still wished to live, Qin Mo took them in. After what they had been through, it would be hard for them to live like normal people again.
The first group they had saved also chose to stay. Most of them had been betrayed by their loved ones and sent into the lab. Compared to facing those human-faced beasts again, they preferred to stay here, where others had gone through the same. They weren’t blood relatives, but they were closer than family.
As time passed, this group grew in strength, and new members joined, some of whom sought them out by reputation. After some discussion, they agreed to let them in. A group without fresh blood would stagnate over time.
Though they had all been through great pain, those things were in the past. They couldn’t stay trapped in their suffering.
Li Shu would occasionally visit them in his other identity. He controlled the number of times the mysterious man appeared so that people would not ignore the existence of such a person, nor would they feel that he was overshadowing the main protagonist. His presence was not strong, but it could not be ignored.
He didn’t involve himself in their affairs, only serving as their protector. Once everything settled, he planned to gradually reduce his appearances and fade from the base’s memory.
This identity was originally created for Gu Lin. Now that Gu Lin no longer needed him, it was time for him to step off the stage.
The Li family had mixed feelings toward Gu Lin, the man who had stolen away their precious son and brother. On one hand, they were grateful to him for bringing Li Shu back to the capital. As an ordinary person, how could Li Shu have made it back unharmed without Gu Lin’s careful protection?
Even if he had returned, he would have surely suffered much more. The family had observed their interactions closely and had to admit that Gu Lin treated Li Shu with nothing but care.
Li Shu didn’t say anything, but some things were still traceable. As the Li family’s power grew, certain matters began to surface, such as those involving Lin Xuan.
The Li family had always been curious about how Li Shu and Lin Xuan broke up. Since Li Shu never spoke about it, they didn’t ask. But as the truth came to light, the events of that time were revealed one by one.
Upon learning what had really happened, the Li family was furious. The child they had cherished so dearly had suffered so much for that man. If Tan Chu hadn’t already been dealt with, they wouldn’t have let him go. As for Lin Xuan, at first, they didn’t feel much about him. But after discovering the truth, they could no longer treat him as just an ex-boyfriend who had broken up with their child.
They couldn’t even imagine how helpless Li Shu must have felt back then. As an ordinary person, how could he possibly have faced the long journey to the capital on his own?
It was at this moment that they were truly grateful for Gu Lin’s appearance. No matter what, if it hadn’t been for Gu Lin, Li Shu’s suffering would have been far worse. Just for that, they were willing to let go of all their prejudices against Gu Lin.
So, on another visit to the Li family, Gu Lin discovered that their attitude toward him had changed. Though he didn’t know why, the change was certainly a positive one. He had seen how the Li family treated Li Shu, and of course, he hoped their relationship would be approved by them.
In the third year of the apocalypse, Dr. Bai, along with other scholars from the base, developed a vaccine to combat the infected. The major bases of Huaguo united to carry out a plan to clear the infected.
Half a year later, the clearing plan was in its final stages.
As the main force behind the plan, Gu Lin had been out in the field for six months. Meanwhile, Li Shu’s other identity remained a mystery, only occasionally appearing on the battlefield. No one dared to say anything because he was too powerful. Every time he acted, he turned the tide and greatly reduced the casualty rate among the evolvers.
As an ordinary person, Li Shu naturally stayed behind. Even though Gu Lin knew Li Shu wasn’t as harmless as he appeared, he still left enough people behind to protect him.
When Gu Lin and his team returned, the entire base gathered to welcome them. Li Shu also arrived at the base’s gate. The area around the capital had been the first to be cleared, so now people could move around outside the city.
The first thing they heard was the roar of engines.
Li Shu had participated in the battle, even rescuing many evolvers from high-level infected. Some of those evolvers were now sitting in the vehicles that were about to arrive—they had become heroes of humanity.
The direction of this world had completely deviated from the original plot. In the original plot, there was no such clearing plan. The infected were never eradicated, and the gap between ordinary people and the evolvers had only grown larger, eventually becoming an irreconcilable conflict. Under both internal and external pressures, human life became increasingly difficult.
In every world Li Shu had experienced, the fate of the protagonist and the trajectory of the world always veered into the unknown.
People in love could always spot each other in a crowd.
The vehicle in the lead came to a stop, and under thousands of watching eyes, the man in uniform stepped out of the car. He bent down to say something to the person inside before walking toward the crowd.
Behind him, the vehicles continued to move, but the man steadily approached his target.
Everything else faded away, and Li Shu could only hear his own heartbeat.
“Thump—thump—”
At that moment, he thought of nothing else. His eyes and heart were filled only with the man coming toward him. In fact, they hadn’t been apart for long, but it felt like they were reuniting after being separated across worlds.
“I’m back, Shu Shu.”
The man pulled him into an embrace, his kiss falling on Li Shu’s neck. He murmured softly in his ear, “I missed you so much, Shu Shu. I finally get to see you.”
Chasing after you across worlds and breaking the chains of time was worth it—seeing you has turned all the hardships into sweetness.
“I missed you too.” Li Shu hugged him back. This was the first time they had been separated for so long since he entered this world. Even though he had seen Gu Lin in his other identity, they were close to strangers when in the other identity. Moreover, they were on the battlefield with barely any time to speak.
As they hugged each other in the middle of the noisy crowd, this reunion was meaningful in so many ways. Gu Lin held him tightly. “We won’t ever be apart again.”
I will always, always stay by your side.
