Great, we're doomed now!

Please!

He's not some NPC from an American comic book, like Superman who's unrecognizable just because he's wearing glasses... Seriously, to a professional like him, Ye Shou's disguise is about the same as just wearing glasses.

That silly kid Jianwu is unaware that his whereabouts have been monitored all along—not out of malice, but because Guangguo needs to confirm where Ye Shou will appear and wait for the right opportunity.

Today, the mountain breeze is cooler than in the city, gently stirring the forest and creating waves of green.

Mitsukuni Shizuma slowly ascended the stone steps. Due to his advanced age, he became slightly out of breath after a short while, but he didn't stop. After passing through the last patch of shade, the view suddenly opened up—

This is a viewing platform prepared for tourists. Under the Chinese-style pavilion are antique-style benches, and further ahead is a protruding rock platform that is generally not allowed to be crossed. However, a person is standing on what looks like a dangerous edge.

Sure enough, it was here—Guangguo felt a slight excitement.

He was a young man who looked to be just over twenty years old, dressed in simple casual clothes, gazing alone at the setting sun gradually sinking into the mountains.

The mountain breeze swept over him, causing his clothes to sway slightly. He stood there motionless, as steady as a pine tree growing from a crack in the rock, his calm face as if he were contemplating something extremely distant.

Guangguo stopped and didn't go any further. He looked at the back of the figure, his lips moved, but his throat felt like it was blocked by something.

Decades have passed...

He went from a young man in his prime to an old man with gray hair, but Ye Shou was still the same as he remembered, as if time had never left any trace on him.

Look at those deep eyes... they must be worried about the future of humanity!

'Where will my harem life lead if things continue like this?'

— Ye Shouyi's eyes became complicated when he thought of Carmilla.

To be honest, he was well aware that he would eventually crash and burn.

Throughout history, all seemingly perfect and happy harem kings have only cleverly avoided certain conflicts through the arrangement of fate. Perhaps in anime, this can be taken as a joke and laughed off, but in reality, it is an intractable fundamental contradiction.

Ye Shou wasn't so confident as to think he could avoid these problems forever; he was already prepared for a bloody storm to come...

What? Why would someone knowingly go around "picking up" girls?

Just kidding, ever since he learned of Gatanothor's existence, he has been living in the moment and enjoying life to the fullest, so there's absolutely no reason for him to think about anything else!

If it weren't for this enormous shadow constantly oppressing him, preventing him from having the time and energy to properly handle "interpersonal relationships," Ye Shou, with his self-control and skill, could definitely have handled things much better and wouldn't have put himself in such a dilemma.

Therefore—

It's all Gatanothor's fault!

—This gives us another reason to defeat the evil god.

However, although Ye Shou was aware of the situation, he only thought of it as something out of a melodramatic soap opera. Ultimately, he possessed extraordinary combat power and was not afraid of things like machetes or chainsaws, so he felt somewhat fearless.

To put it bluntly, even if he stood still and let the girls have their way with him, they would have a very difficult time "separating" him physically.

Moreover, everyone here is a well-mannered child and would never take such an extreme approach; a slap would probably be the limit.

Ever since the maid "enlightened herself in Longchang" and grasped the core of the harem struggle, and began to sort out and organize these intricate interpersonal relationships from the perspective of the mistress, Ye Shou suddenly felt much more relaxed.

Although there is a "Fubuki" in the other world, he is confident that he can control the situation even if he is transferred to the main world in the future.

So at least until then, he always considered himself a successful harem king.

But Carmilla is different.

This female giant is prone to being paranoid... yet she also possesses the incredible fighting power to single-handedly suppress a planet!

Although her future as "Megalogeor" has vanished, this proves that she herself possessed the potential to become a celestial calamity, and frankly, she had a better future than many Giants of Light.

So Ye Shou didn't lie to her that day and told her frankly that he had a lover!

Carmilla readily stated that her pursuit of Yashou had nothing to do with whether Yashou liked her or not, and even less to do with whether Yashou had a lover.

Originally, if she could defeat Ye Shou, she would have secured the final victory. But since she couldn't win, she would condescend to have a fair competition.

(The implication is that she doesn't mind using force as long as she can win, and she doesn't care what Ye Shou thinks.)

Hmm, that's a simple thought process that fits the warrior's style.

Logically, since he had already informed Ye Shou in advance, there was nothing to worry about... But now there was a small problem that weighed heavily on Ye Shou's mind, and he always felt it was a hidden danger.

That is, although he said he had lovers, he didn't say exactly how many.

Hopefully, Carmilla won't mind such trivial details.

The key point is that Ye Shou didn't lie; he's an honest man!

"Ah~"

He sighed heavily again, his melancholy eyes filled with pity for the world—or at least that's how it appeared.

However, he had already sensed Mitsukuni's arrival, so he composed himself, turned around, and smiled slightly: "Hello, Mr. Shizuma."

Guangguo slowly bent down, placed his right hand on his chest, and bowed deeply.

Given his age and current status, he shouldn't be doing this, but perhaps he's acting on behalf of his past self from thirty years ago.

He once thought he would never need to use this gesture again in his life...

The old man's white hair at his temples was slightly disheveled, and his voice was a little dry, but steady and clear.

"Seventh Direct Intelligence Division, Third Seat Shizuma Mitsukuni reporting for duty... It's been a long time since I've greeted you, Lord Kuze."

Chapter 457: I even went out to buy a pack of cigarettes—(4K)

Ye Shou sat back on the bench, and Shizuma Mitsukuni sat down opposite him. The mountain breeze passed between the two of them, creating a very relaxed atmosphere.

The two quickly realized that although Mitsukuni came from the main world and was even a member of TPC, he was actually a "person from the future"—relative to the time when Ye Shou was in the future.

He and Ye Shou traveled through different timelines. If Ye Shou were to return to the main world now, he would find that the man named "Shizuma Mitsukuni" had just graduated from university and officially joined the Kuze Group due to his excellent internship performance.

In the future, Guangguo was caught up in an out-of-control quantum experiment and came to the parallel world "Toriga". Thirty years passed there - before he became the middle-aged man in front of Ye Shou at this moment!

All of this makes this person's experience truly quite bizarre.

After briefly recounting his experiences, Guangguo looked at Ye Shou expectantly, like a student waiting for a teacher to grade him. This man, whose life was nearing its end, revealed his childlike innocence at this moment.

This is something that cannot be shown to others. For a man, it is a matter of course to make himself strong, and both his education and his environment constantly remind him of this.

So as he grows older and has more to protect, the man, who was as hot as magma, will gradually cool down to be like a talking steel plate.

This is especially true for someone like Guangguo, who carries a special mission and puts immense pressure on himself.

There are many things he can't even share with his family, and many emotions have to be buried along with these secrets—only in front of Ye Shou does he not need to hide himself.

Ye Shou's surprise and admiration brought Guang Guo immense joy and relief.

In this way, he can stand tall and claim that he has lived up to the name of TPC!

"To be able to do this all by yourself in another world," Ye Shou said, his tone serious and without any politeness. "It's really remarkable. Even if I were in the same situation, I might not be able to do better than you."

Mitsukuni shook his head: "I'm just standing on the shoulders of giants... those technologies are all things left behind by you and Director Sawai. Even if it's just a sub-memory, it's enough for me to establish the Shizuma Foundation."

He paused, then lowered his eyes: "To be honest, I was never among the best. There were many people in my cohort who were better than me. I was just lucky. I brought a terminal with me when I transmigrated, and I happened to land in an era of economic turmoil... Someone else might have done even better."

This humility wasn't just politeness; it was because the person genuinely thought that way, which touched Ye Shou.

To be honest, humans are not a particularly noble race. Selfishness, greed, irritability, jealousy... Individually, such people will never disappear. And at the group level, conflicts between tribes and nations are an eternal theme throughout the history of civilization.

Such ugly acts can be seen in human societies, both past and present, as if humanity has made no progress at all over the years.

Therefore, the final boss in many works comes up with the idea of ​​destroying "stupid humans," and this reason is relatively sophisticated, so much so that many protagonists cannot even directly refute it.

But Ye Shou felt that this was arrogance.

If we can use the phenomenon of "evil" to negate humanity, then we can also affirm and uphold humanity from the perspective of "good".

Aren't people like Sawai and Mitsukuni, and organizations like TPC and TPU, proof that humanity is making progress?

There is no shortage of idealists in any era, and as God said, "Even if I could find ten righteous men, I would not destroy the city."

Therefore, Ye Shou always held hope for humanity, even after witnessing their many foolish acts and the destruction of an entire civilization in the ancient times. This never shook his belief.

—Because he was never short of “righteous people” around him.

Previously, there were scientists and teammates from the GUTS team, and now there is Mitsukuni Shizuma, proving that TPC's philosophy is silently influencing many people in places he cannot see.

The light, like a bond, continued to be passed on...

Guangguo raised his head, his gaze passing over Ye Shou's shoulder and landing on the setting sun gradually sinking among the distant mountains.

“When I was young, I always wanted to see a giant in person.” His voice softened. “Not on TV or in the news, but to see him standing on the earth with my own eyes. Back then, I felt that if I could just stand next to him, my life would be worthwhile.”

"That's an exaggeration." Ye Shou shook his head with a smile.

“I never thought I’d only achieve this at this age.” Mitsukuni smiled, the wrinkles at the corners of his mouth becoming more pronounced. “And not in the original world… You really can’t predict life.”

call

The mountain wind suddenly picked up, making the pine branches outside the pavilion rustle.

Guangguo paused for a moment, as if he had suddenly remembered something, and took out a letter from his pocket.

The envelope was obviously old, with frayed edges, and his name was written in neat regular script in Chinese characters—he must have kept it hidden for a long time.

"My sister... this is a letter for her, I wrote it a long time ago... and it actually got sent out, haha~"

Gwangkook looked down at the envelope: "When she time-traveled, she had just started university, and now..."

Ye Shou took the letter: "Right now, they're probably still high school students or even junior high students."

“She’ll be really bothered to receive something like this so suddenly,” Mitsukuni said with a wry smile. “If possible, I hope you can keep it for me for a while until that accident happens… then give it to her for me.”

And then tell her your brother was reincarnated into another world? That sounds like a hellish joke.

"Don't you have any other plans? From my perspective, if we had made preparations in advance, we could have prevented the accident and 'saved' you."

“Wouldn’t that cause a spacetime paradox?” Guangguo smiled and refused. “Besides, I’ve already started a family and have relatives I can’t bear to leave in this world… Furthermore, if I hadn’t traveled through time, I wouldn’t have been able to build the TPU, and many people who would have received help would have fallen into trouble, which is something I don’t want to see.”

Ye Shou couldn't help but nod.

"I understand... In that case, I'll keep it for you."

Thank you very much.

"Actually, I can take you back to your 'hometown' too." Ye Shou smiled slightly at him. "Although you don't plan to change the 'future,' have you ever considered going back to visit your relatives and seeing them with your own eyes from afar?"

"……well?"

Mitsukuni was taken aback, then slowly realized what he meant: "You can travel freely? That can't be right. In fantasy works, these kinds of events are usually one-off... Huh? Can I go back?!"

"Of course, although it's a little troublesome."