The job change is a bizarre and calamity; the nation begs me to tone it down.

Gu Xu felt his eyelids grow heavy again, and a sharp pain shot through the depths of his brain.

This is a warning sign of severe mental exhaustion.

His massive, sky-covering Cthulhu-like body began to disintegrate at a visible rate.

Those thick tentacles transformed into countless black specks of light, drifting away in the wind.

Those giant purple eyes also quickly dimmed.

In just a few seconds, the indescribable object that had triggered global panic completely disappeared from the atmosphere.

Gu Xu's body also broke free from that high-dimensional divine state and returned to its original human form.

Without the support of the power of calamity, he could no longer maintain his hovering position at the edge of space.

Gu Xu fell rapidly toward the ground like a withered leaf, pulled by gravity.

The wind howled in his ears and stung his cheeks.

His clothes fluttered loudly under the high-speed friction, almost torn apart.

He tried hard to control his body, but his limbs were limp and even lifting a finger was extremely difficult.

Fortunately, although his divine state has ended, he is still the Lord of the Old Ones.

Although the passive rules of the Calamity Domain have been greatly reduced in scope, they still exist around him.

When he was still several thousand meters above the ground, a thin layer of black mist automatically gathered and formed beneath his body, like a soft net, greatly cushioning his descent.

This prevented him from falling to his death upon landing.

Soon, he passed through the clouds and descended straight into the heart of the Divine Xia Empire.

His landing point was Longjing City, the capital of the Shenxia Empire.

More accurately, it is the square in front of the Longjing City Military Headquarters' Supreme Command Center.

Gu Xu's body finally landed steadily in the center of the wide square.

The moment his feet touched the hard granite ground, he let out a long breath, feeling his legs go weak and almost collapsing to the ground.

"Damn, if I were to fall on my butt like that, it would be incredibly embarrassing!"

Fortunately, Gu Xu still had some burdens to bear, so he gritted his teeth and forced himself to hold on.

After all, as the deputy chief of staff of the God-Slaying Army, how could he afford to lose face on his own doorstep?

As soon as he landed, before he could even look around, he heard a series of extremely orderly footsteps.

Countless fully armed military soldiers quickly converged from all directions of the square.

They surrounded Gu Xu's location.

These soldiers were the elite of the Longjing defense forces, and the equipment on each of them shone with the light of high-level rules.

But by then, they had already surrounded them.

But no one dared to point their weapon at the seemingly weak young man in the middle.

Look around.

All the soldiers looked at Gu Xu with an extremely complex gaze, filled with utter shock and awe.

After all, the young man in front of them was a major general in their military.

He was also the one who swept through the geniuses of various countries in the Silver Moon Realm, and ultimately even shattered space with his true form.

The existence of something that could trigger a global earthquake.

The crowd didn't linger for long; soon, the soldiers at the front retreated to both sides like a tide, making way for a wide passage.

Immediately afterwards, two figures walked quickly down the passage.

Leading the way was naturally Minister Li Weiguo of the Supreme Command, followed by Elder Zhang Daoxuan.

Gu Xu relaxed a little when he saw the two familiar faces.

As he smiled, he even raised his hand and made a very casual salute.

"Minister Li, Mr. Zhang."

"I have successfully completed my mission."

"The mission to kill Chief of Staff Gu Xu of the Divine Army has been successfully completed."

As Gu Xu had anticipated, he had delivered such a perfect answer sheet that these two old men, who had always worked tirelessly for the country, would surely jump for joy.

Even if they don't award him a special honor medal on the spot, they'll definitely give him a promotion.

However, when Gu Xu saw the expressions on their faces...

His heart suddenly skipped a beat.

Neither Li Weiguo nor Zhang Daoxuan showed any joy that would normally accompany a great victory.

Their expressions were extremely complex.

There was a deep sense of relief at seeing him return safely, mixed with an undeniable feeling.

The unforgettable grief and pain.

Li Weiguo's steps seemed somewhat heavy as he walked up to Gu Xu. His hair, which was usually meticulously combed, was now somewhat disheveled.

His eyes were bloodshot, and his eye sockets were so red they looked like they were about to bleed.

He looked at Gu Xu, his lips trembling slightly, as if he had a thousand words to say.

But in the end, those words stuck in his throat.

Finally, he simply reached out and patted Gu Xu's shoulder heavily.

His grip was very strong, conveying a sense of relief as if he had finally found his pillar of support.

"Good lad... I'm glad you're back safe and sound. I'm glad you're alive."

Li Weiguo's voice was extremely hoarse, with a strong nasal tone.

It seems as if he forcefully suppressed some kind of emotion.

Standing to the side, Zhang Daoxuan didn't joke with Gu Xu as usual.

The wind in the square carried the chill of early autumn, swirling up a few fallen leaves.

Gu Xu's smile gradually faded.

He sensed that something was wrong.

The atmosphere was too oppressive; it wasn't like a victory celebration at all.

Although the soldiers around him were filled with awe for Gu Xu, Gu Xu looked closely and found that many of them had a deep sadness hidden in their eyes.

Some soldiers even still had traces of blood and the smell of gunpowder on them.

Li Weiguo's words, "It's good that you're back safe and sound," sounded more like a relief at surviving a disaster.

Instead of praising the victors.

A thought suddenly flashed through Gu Xu's mind.

He suddenly remembered the time when he was pulled into a mental illusion by the Old Brain on the dark side of the moon.

And then there were the scenes he saw when his future self appeared.

In those images, the battle flag of the God-Slaying Army was broken and trampled in the mud.

Hundreds of thousands of soldiers were turned into cold corpses.

General Zhou Yi was nailed to the broken city wall, Deputy Chief of Staff Su Qiong lay in the mud, and Jiang Shu, with both legs broken, looked at the sky in despair from a pool of blood.

At the time, he thought it was just an illusion created by his old mind to destroy his humanity.

The later appearance of the black-robed youth confirmed that it was not just an illusion, but a very likely future.

The reason that future version of himself traveled back through time was to change everything.

He has now completed his third transformation and successfully fused with the Brain of the Old Ones.

But what exactly happened outside while he was trapped in the secret realm?

How is the defense line in the East China Sea doing?

Gu Xu's brows furrowed tightly, and a sense of unease began to creep into his heart.

But obviously, his worrying is pointless.

Instead, he looked directly at Li Weiguo and Zhang Daoxuan.

Gu Xu's smile faded slightly, and his tone became more serious: "Minister Li, Mr. Zhang, please don't try to fool me."

"You two look so upset. What happened?"

"Is there a problem with the East China Sea defense line?"

"Sister Qiong, Jiang Shu, the brothers of the God-Slaying Army, and Commander Zhou, how are they now?"