Gu Lin had figured out his identity?
No, Li Shu thought about it and couldn’t think of where he had slipped up. His current identity was that of a mysterious man with an unclear background, always staying out of power struggles. He was strong, but he didn’t interfere in any political matters, as if he was only here to deal with Professor Fang.
A lot of people thought the same. When this person first appeared, they were worried about what Li Shu might do, but after so many days, they no longer had such concerns.
This person had appeared suddenly and was strange, but he didn’t have much of an impact on them. With Gu Lin acting as a mediator, the two sides maintained a friendly relationship.
Li Shu’s attitude toward Gu Lin was different, and likewise, Gu Lin’s attitude toward him was also unlike his interactions with others. Li Shu himself was unaware of this, but those around them could see it clearly.
‘Should I agree?’ Li Shu stopped in his tracks. He didn’t immediately refuse because he already had an answer in his heart.
Qin Mo had followed behind Li Shu this whole time, handling communication with others. Because of this, he could see more clearly that Li Shu treated Gu Lin differently from others. However, he would not leave until Li Shu said so.
The three of them stood at the doorway of the conference room, none of them moving. Fortunately, most of the people in the room had already left. Only a few remained, and these few were wise enough not to intrude at this moment.
They knew better than to meddle in the affairs of the powerful.
“Qin Mo, you head back first.”
Qin Mo had no objections. He would do whatever Li Shu said, and this time was no different.
Clearly, this wasn’t the best place to talk. Seeing that Li Shu was willing to have a private conversation, Gu Lin took him to a more suitable location.
As was his habit, Gu Lin first invited Li Shu to sit down, then sat across from him. He skillfully ordered Li Shu’s favorite drink before speaking at a leisurely pace, “Thank you for saving my life back then. If you ever need anything, just let me know.”
“I told you, it was just a small favor. You don’t need to dwell on it,” Li Shu bit on the straw lightly, wondering if this was the reason Gu Lin had asked him out.
Gu Lin didn’t say anything further. He had called Li Shu out on a whim. He wasn’t yet sure if the person before him was the one he suspected. One was cold and arrogant, the other kind and gentle—no matter how he looked at it, they didn’t seem like the same person?
Yet, from time to time, certain details made him suspect otherwise. Sometimes he even wondered if he was hallucinating from lack of sleep. How else could he imagine that two such completely different people could be the same person? But he couldn’t completely dismiss the thought either.
Now that the opportunity was right in front of him, should he uncover the truth?
When it came down to it, he hesitated. He was afraid of breaking something. He feared that if he exposed this secret, Li Shu would leave him as a result.
There must be a reason why Li Shu was hiding his identity. He didn’t know what Li Shu wanted, and he was afraid that speaking too hastily might cause trouble for him. Moreover, he was certain that Li Shu wasn’t evolver. Though he couldn’t gauge his full strength, the person sitting across from him was undoubtedly powerful.
Conflicting yet harmonious.
“Woo—”
The alarm interrupted the silent confrontation between the two. Without time to say much more, the tacit understanding they had built over time led both of them to act simultaneously.
Professor Fang had taken control of the infected.
The infected, who shouldn’t have appeared here, suddenly emerged one by one. They had no consciousness, only the desire to destroy. Li Shu faced them and quickly realized these infected were different from those outside the city.
These were Professor Fang’s modified experimental subjects.
In an instant, Li Shu understood the key point. Professor Fang had never been the type to wait for death. Now his forces were crumbling. No matter how you looked at it, he was not the indifferent person those people said. His confidence came from something else, something he hadn’t yet revealed.
How could a man who had rooted himself in the center of the capital’s power for so long, and was both bold and crazy, be taken down so easily?
Their actions had indeed been successful, and they did catch Professor Fang off guard. But that didn’t matter. As long as he wanted to, Professor Fang could leave his temporary prison at any time.
The streets were in chaos. The evolvers were organizing themselves to fight the infected, but there were too many of them, and these infected didn’t have the usual weaknesses. They were much harder to deal with.
The worst part was that any wound inflicted by these infected wouldn’t heal. Dizziness would follow, and if anyone let their guard down for even a moment, they would quickly fall behind.
“This isn’t working,” Gu Lin observed the situation around them and realized that continuing like this wouldn’t end well. The infected were tireless, but the same could not be said for the evolvers, and the longer this dragged on, the more disadvantaged they would become.
They had to finish this quickly.
Li Shu knew this too. They fought their way through the horde of infected, searching for the source of all this.
Professor Fang was surrounded by layers of infected, with a ring of evolvers around him—those who had cooperated with him before, including Ye Chengran.
Stopping to observe, Li Shu noticed something was off about these people. He summoned a trace of spiritual energy, bypassed the infected’s protective circle, and approached Professor Fang. His spiritual power was quickly detected and extinguished, but he had learned what he needed to know.
Everyone in the center, including Professor Fang, could no longer be called “human.” He didn’t know what experiments Professor Fang had conducted on them, but these people had been turned into something similar to the infected, except that they had retained a small portion of their consciousness.
Since they were no longer human, Li Shu fought with even more abandon. Together with Gu Lin, they slaughtered all the infected that had suddenly appeared. When reinforcements arrived, all they could witness was the aftermath of the battle.
As the smoke cleared, Li Shu and Gu Lin looked at each other across the field of infected bodies.
“You’re truly powerful,” Professor Fang struggled to his feet. He was covered in various wounds and looked miserable, but his eyes were still bright and filled with an intense fervor. “How did you do it? You’re clearly not…”
Before he could finish speaking, his body slowly collapsed, and he had no chance to say the rest of his sentence.
On the other side, Gu Lin slowly lowered his hand, the black power in his palm gradually dissipating. His downcast eyes were filled with darkness.
Soon after, the military began evacuating the crowd and clearing the battlefield. There was nothing more for Li Shu and Gu Lin to do here; they were respectfully escorted aside while others took over the situation.
Li Shu stood quietly to the side, with Gu Lin not far from him. Gu Lin wasn’t watching the battlefield; instead, his gaze was fixed on Li Shu, deep in thought.
If he had had doubts before, now he was almost certain—this mysterious man who had suddenly appeared was somehow connected to Li Shu. He didn’t know how it was done, but everyone had their secrets, and he wouldn’t force Li Shu to say anything.
There had to be a reason for not telling him, so he decided to act as if he didn’t know. There was no need to get to the bottom of some things, and he would know everything when it was time for him to know, just like those fleeting dreams.
Gu Lin hadn’t told anyone that ever since he reached the bottleneck of the fifth level, he had been dreaming every night. At first, the dreams were vague and incomprehensible, but over time, they became clearer. He could now piece together what had happened from those fragments.
With these dreams as a foundation, it became easier to understand Li Shu’s true strength. If he thought about it carefully, Li Shu had never lied to him. He never revealed his true identity, and he had never asked. He had subconsciously placed Li Shu in the position of a weaker person.
It wasn’t just him—who could have guessed that two such different individuals could be the same person?
It was their preconceived notions that rejected this answer.
Gu Lin even suspected that the mysterious man had appeared because of him. Whenever he encountered difficulties, that person would appear. When the problem was solved, that person would disappear. It was like this every time…
The haze cleared, and the mysterious man was still in his black cloak that hid any identifying features. Thinking back, he realized that this man barely spoke at all, perfectly matching the image of the silent, mysterious man that others had described.
The sudden battle had extinguished any desire to ask questions. Thinking of the inexplicable sense of familiarity he felt, Gu Lin decided to let it be. He would follow Li Shu’s wishes. If Li Shu didn’t want to reveal his identity, he wouldn’t press him.
Sensing that Gu Lin might have figured out his identity, Li Shu had been waiting for him to bring it up. But after a long wait, the only thing that came was Gu Lin treating him better and better, without ever mentioning the matter of his identity. He even helped him quietly deal with some loose ends.
After Professor Fang’s defeat, his deeds were exposed to the public. He fell from being revered by all to being despised by the masses in a short span of time. No matter what accomplishments he had made, given the things he had done, he deserved his fate.
Unlike the original plot, victory came more easily this time, and Gu Lin suffered far less. Ever since meeting Li Shu, his life trajectory had taken a drastic turn, veering off the course it was supposed to follow.
With Professor Fang’s downfall, those who had colluded with him were punished, and the capital’s power circle underwent a complete reshuffling.
In this operation, Gu Lin was the one who had contributed the most. Unlike the previous person in power, he was more practical. He didn’t consolidate his power drastically as he had in the original plot. Instead, he spent more of his time accompanying Li Shu.
After changing his fate, Gu Lin felt that nothing mattered more than spending time with Li Shu.
So, Li Shu noticed that, after the battle, Gu Lin, who should have been busier, seemed to have more free time. It was as if the power shifts in the imperial capital had nothing to do with him.
At first, he thought it was just a coincidence, but after waiting for a while, he realized that Gu Lin still hadn’t gotten busy. It wasn’t that he wasn’t doing his job—he still did what he was supposed to do. But beyond that, there was nothing more.
Li Shu was the first to lose his temper. After waking up in the man’s arms at noon one day, he couldn’t help but ask, “Aren’t you busy lately?”
How come he spent most of the day at home? He handled official business only when Xu Yanqiu and the others brought it to him!
“I want to spend more time with you. I’ve been thinking, I was wrong before and neglected you. From now on, I won’t let that happen again.” Gu Lin spoke softly, tightening his arms around the person in his embrace.
Li Shu, who hadn’t been able to use his other identity for a long time, was baffled by Gu Lin’s sudden clinginess.
‘Honestly, wasn’t this the time to focus on your career?’