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

The first person to appear with Su Qiong was Zhang Daoxuan, Old Master Zhang, her superior, the deputy minister of the military.

He had a kind smile on his face and followed Su Qiong on the left, his steps slow and gentle.

Immediately afterwards, Li Weiguo's figure also appeared.

His weathered face was full of fortitude, his back was ramrod straight, and he was meticulous in the manners of a soldier.

He looked at Gu Xu with approval and relaxation in his eyes, as if he were looking at a good subordinate who had just returned from a victorious battle.

Then it's Jiang Shu.

The little girl was still holding the military-grade tablet computer in her hands. She tilted her head, winked mischievously at Gu Xu, and had two shallow dimples at the corners of her mouth.

And there's Zhou Yi, Zhao Yuanlong...

They're all here.

Everyone Gu Xu knew, everyone in this world who had crossed paths with him and whom he considered "his own people," all appeared in this strange white space at this moment.

They did not communicate or make a sound.

They walked side by side, following Su Qiong's footsteps as they approached Gu Xu.

Their facial expressions were remarkably consistent—gentle and tolerant.

It carries that comforting feeling that makes people let down their guard.

It's so realistic.

When Gu Xu could finally see clearly the wrinkles in Zhang Daoxuan's clothes, the tiny scar on Li Weiguo's eyebrow, and the faint light reflected from Jiang Shu's tablet screen...

Every detail tells Gu Xu that these people are living, breathing people.

As time goes by, those familiar faces draw ever closer.

Su Qiong was less than three meters away from him.

She reached out, as if to put her hand on his shoulder.

That hand looks very real.

Her nails were neatly trimmed, and there was a thin callus on the web of her thumb—a mark left from years of holding a knife.

Gu Xu had seen it countless times.

But at that moment, the old heart in his chest suddenly skipped a beat.

"Thump—"

This sound perfectly overlapped with the constant, muffled heartbeat echoing from the outside world.

Gu Xu felt as if he had been pricked by a needle.

In an instant, the drowsiness that had almost robbed him of his ability to think was still there, but a certain string was plucked.

wrong.

That's very wrong.

When did his old heart begin to synchronize with the frequency of this wretched place?

"Thump—"

one more time.

The beating of the old heart and that voice from the outside world collided once again on the same beat.

This time, Gu Xu could feel a subtle pulling sensation in his heart.

It was as if an invisible thread passed through his chest and connected to something in the depths of darkness.

The line is tightening.

He was trying to lock his heartbeat rhythm to the other person's frequency.

Gu Xu's eyebrows twitched involuntarily.

They instantly became alert.

Because he remembered.

The last time I encountered this situation was in the Silver Moon Realm.

That time, he found the brain of the past.

That thing was the same way—first it used mental interference to make him dizzy and disoriented, and then it tried to establish some kind of connection when his consciousness was at its weakest.

He almost didn't make it through.

Now again?

Gu Xu cursed inwardly.

This is really weird.

Seriously? Every time I need to find a part, this has to happen?

Last time it was mental pollution, this time it's hypnosis plus synchronized heartbeats?

Have these broken parts come to life?

Or are they organized and disciplined?

Will they have to claim lower body paralysis next time they look for a leg?

Despite his complaints, Gu Xu was well aware of how dangerous his current situation was.

The Heart of the Past is one of the most essential components of his being.

The body of the ancient god, the pump of calamity, all depend on the normal functioning of this heart.

If the heart's beating frequency is completely synchronized with external factors, it means that his heart no longer completely belongs to him.

What will happen at that time?

He didn't know, and he didn't want to know.

"Thump—"

The third synchronization.

This time, Gu Xu could feel that the beating rhythm of the old heart had begun to deviate significantly.

The rhythm of his own heartbeat was being gradually covered up and replaced by another beat.

That rhythm contained a chilling vitality.

It's not his vitality.

It's that thing.

Su Qiong's hand was almost touching his shoulder.

Her smile remained flawless.

But Gu Xu had no interest in caring about her anymore.

Screw Su Qiong, screw illusions.

The most pressing issue now is only one thing—to get the heart rate back up.

Gu Xu decided not to continue fighting off sleepiness.

Based on the experience just now, this drowsiness is not some ordinary mental attack at all.

It's more like a symbiotic effect—synchronized heartbeats are the goal, and drowsiness is just a means.

The more you try to fight sleepiness, the more distracted you become.

The more distracted you are, the faster your heartbeat will synchronize.

This is a trap.

A trap that makes you lose sight of the bigger picture.

Then forget about it.

Feeling sleepy?

let it be.

Gu Xu changed his approach.

Instead of trying to fight the overwhelming feeling of fatigue, I focused all the attention I could muster on one thing.

Chest.

The heart of yesteryear.

His consciousness, like a sharp awl, pierced through layers of drowsy fog and plunged straight into the depths of his heart.

The heart of yesteryear still beats.

"Thump—"

It was another synchronized beat with the outside world.

But this time, Gu Xu's consciousness had entered his heart.

He could feel it.

At the heart of the old soul, an energy that does not belong to him is seeping in.

This energy was extremely hidden, as thin as a hair, unless he focused all his attention on it.

It's simply impossible to detect.

It gradually embeds itself into the rhythm of the heart's operation, following a certain resonant frequency.

Each synchronization deepens the embedding.

If this happens seven or eight more times, the control of the Heart of the Past may completely change hands.

A cold glint flashed in Gu Xu's eyes.

The old heart is his.

He endured the excruciating pain of his soul being torn apart in that bloody passage in Beichuan City, gradually integrating it into his own body.

Why should we be assimilated by a strange fetus that hasn't even been born yet?

Just because you can hypnotize people? Just because you can jump the loudest?

I decide what's in my heart.

Gu Xu's consciousness suddenly contracted, then slammed down on the old heart like a hammer.

It was clearly a direct and violent interference with the rhythm of the heartbeat.

Driven by consciousness, the beating frequency of the old heart suddenly accelerated from the previously guided "thump-thump-thump."

Two jumps per second.

Three jumps per second.

Five jumps per second.

The throbbing became faster and faster, more and more violent, like an engine whose accelerator had been floored.

The external energy that tried to embed itself into the rhythm of the heart instantly lost its footing in the face of this violent acceleration.

All frequency matches were misaligned in an instant.

It's like two gears that were originally meshed perfectly, but suddenly one of them starts spinning wildly, and the other is blown away.