“Awoo!”

More and more mutated beasts began to climb the steel walls, and the remaining Pioneers began to hunt the monsters.

Lu Chi raised his blade, each strike taking the lives of one or two mutated beasts. Li Tianran stood beside him, similarly slaying the mutated beasts and Beast Kings like an ordinary soldier.

But gradually, Lu Chi noticed that something seemed off about Li Tianran.

Li Tianran was indeed killing the monsters, but his method wasn't about a swift, clean, and fatal blow. Instead, it bordered on "torture!"

He didn't aim to sever the mutated beasts' necks or heads, but instead directly cleaved their entire bodies in half with a single strike. Or, he'd use his gravity ability to crush them into a mass of rotten flesh and blood right before his eyes!

This method of killing was certainly visually impactful, but it consumed several times more stamina than simply targeting vital points. It was an inefficient way to fight.

And as someone who'd fought on the battlefield countless times, how could Li Tianran not know the drawbacks of this method?

"..." Lu Chi looked at Li Tianran without speaking. He had questions, but he didn't voice them.

Another terrifying mutated beast lunged forward, and Li Tianran directly pressed his large hand on its head, forcefully slamming it against the steel barrier beneath his feet.

With a sickening crack of breaking bones, the mutated beast's head exploded like a watermelon!

Foul-smelling blood and brain matter splattered on Li Tianran.

Li Tianran remained expressionless, raising his blade once more to cleave another mutated beast in half at the waist!

Lu Chi frowned.

If he was only suspicious before, now Lu Chi was almost certain that Li Tianran's current behavior was a form of "venting!"

Like some people who smash their phones or TVs when they argue...

Releasing the negative emotions in his heart through this method!

And these negative emotions were perhaps anger, perhaps frustration, perhaps resentment, perhaps... fear!

Lu Chi cleaved the neck of a mutated beast with a single stroke, and some information flashed through his mind.

Kuangxi Island was now incredibly powerful, holding a high position in the Human Alliance, and possessing a steady stream of resources. Its future was limitless!

At this moment, Li Tianran, as the Lord of Kuangxi Island, should be riding high and feeling triumphant. So where did these negative emotions come from?

"Li Han..." Lu Chi's eyes narrowed. He instantly thought of what had happened the other night. Although he hadn't witnessed it firsthand, Tang Su and Yuan Wen had told him the whole story.

Regarding this matter, everyone except Bai Jingyan felt that Li Tianran didn't seem to take it to heart, because he had been acting normally these past two days, showing no particular concern or anxiety about Han Han.

But now, looking at Li Tianran's frenzied slaughter of the mutated beasts, Lu Chi vaguely felt that Li Tianran's calmness these past two days seemed to be an act!

Bang!

Li Tianran stretched out his hand, once again crushing the head of a mutated beast. By now, not only Lu Chi, but other Pioneer warriors had also noticed Li Tianran's abnormality.

Because Li Tianran was fighting... too ugly, too bloody and violent!

Completely different from the ease and composure he usually displayed when slaying mutated beasts!

Clap!

Lu Chi reached out and grabbed Li Tianran's wrist, saying in a deep voice, "Your condition is no longer suitable for staying on the battlefield. Please leave the battlefield to us!"

Whoosh!

Li Tianran suddenly turned his head, his gaze fixed on Lu Chi.

What terrifying eyes! His gaze revealed boundless anger and madness, with flames burning as if to tear everything in front of him to shreds!

Even Lu Chi felt a chill run down his spine when faced with such a gaze.

"Let go of me," Li Tianran said without any emotion.

"Please withdraw from the battlefield," Lu Chi said, gritting his teeth as he met Li Tianran's gaze head-on.

"..." Li Tianran stared at Lu Chi. After a moment, he stabbed a mutated beast that was charging up from his left side with a single blow, turned around with large strides, and left the steel wall.

...

Half an hour later, the battlefield gradually calmed down. It wasn't because Li Tianran had won and completely annihilated the beast tide, but because the failure of the first attack had led the beast tide to temporarily retreat. They withdrew more than a hundred kilometers from the Kuangxi Island battle line and began to regroup, preparing for a second attack.

The Kuangxi Island forces also didn't rashly pursue, because according to the arranged battle line, their task was simply to defend this sea area and prevent the beast tide from breaking through, not to completely annihilate the enemy.

And the battle line was like a military formation, not to be easily changed. Once changed, vulnerabilities might appear.

So in this situation, both sides temporarily maintained a rare peace.

Taking advantage of this lull, Lu Chi took off his helmet and came to Li Tianran, who was sitting in the distance.

"Boss," Lu Chi began, "I have a question... I don't know if I should ask it."

"Speak if you have something to say, fart if you have something to fart," Li Tianran said coldly, staring blankly at the sky in the distance, the helmet stained with blood discarded at his feet.

"You're venting your emotions, your condition is very abnormal!" Lu Chi said in a deep voice, "Is it because of the abnormality on your sister's body?"

"..." Li Tianran didn't speak.

"If it's really because of your sister, why don't you comfort her?" Lu Chi continued, "You are a leader. A leader shouldn't bring emotions into war. You were very dangerous just now. You were letting your anger and desire for venting control you. If there were Beast Kings lurking in the beast horde, you could easily have been ambushed."

"..."

"Your current state is not good. You need to adjust before commanding this war..." Lu Chi said very seriously.

"..."

"What exactly is wrong with you?" Lu Chi frowned and asked loudly.

"You said it yourself, I'm a leader!" Li Tianran suddenly grabbed Lu Chi's collar, and said through gritted teeth, "On Kuangxi Island, the employees regard me as a spiritual belief, my sister regards me as the only family member she can rely on, I am the pillar of the entire Kuangxi Island!"

Lu Chi was stunned for a moment and asked, "So?"

"So? So I can't retreat, I can't be afraid, I can't lose control!" Li Tianran sneered, "Even if I feel fear and confusion about the future in my heart, I have to pretend to be indifferent, confident, and in control of everything! Because if I'm confused, the people below me will completely panic and their morale will collapse!"

"Yes, I am indeed venting, because the anger and fear in my heart have nowhere to go..."

"You thought I really didn't care about what happened to Han Han these past two days? Wrong. She's my sister, she's the one I care about the most! But let me tell you, why I didn't go to comfort her... because I have no way to solve the problem that happened to her. I'm full of fear and confusion about her future! I told Bai Jingyan that I could control everything, but in reality, I don't even know who the enemy is... Maybe the enemy will take Han Han away, maybe she is the enemy herself!"

"I can't use those perfunctory lies to comfort Han Han, because we're too familiar. Even if I hide it well, as long as I talk to her about this, she will definitely be able to detect my unease and fear, and thus infer my true attitude towards this matter!"

"Rather than that, it's better not to communicate with her and create a relaxed atmosphere for her! Seize every opportunity to strengthen my own strength!"

"Do you know why I value this war so much? Because the Alliance promised that if we win this battle, they will invest a lot of resources, and Kuangxi Island will completely become a peak superpower-level force. Maybe by then, I will have the power to solve the problem that happened to Han Han!"

Lu Chi was stunned.

In his memory, Li Tianran had never been so out of control. He was like an emperor, a wise and resourceful emperor, but who knew how much pressure he was under?

Just like Li Tianran said, an emperor cannot show any weakness to his subordinates, because if the emperor is weak, then the entire dynasty is finished!

But an emperor is still a person after all, and he will also have unsolvable problems and difficulties, but he has nowhere to confide them. Over time, the pressure in his heart becomes a thunder that may explode at any time!

"Why the hell am I telling you all this?" Li Tianran released Lu Chi's collar, his face full of exhaustion. He closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, the decadence and helplessness on his face had completely disappeared, replaced by confidence, indifference, and arrogance. He sat there as if he were an emperor sitting on a golden throne. "Forget everything I said, and get out!"

Lu Chi didn't move.

Li Tianran's eyebrows shot up.

Lu Chi suddenly stabbed his steel blade into the ground and said in a deep voice, "You are the emperor, and we are the swords, shields, and soldiers. We can't help you solve problems and difficulties, but we can guarantee... that when an unstoppable disaster comes, we will die in the front!"

Emperor and soldiers are mutually complementary.

The emperor is the support for the soldiers.

And the soldiers are the emperor's confidence!

"I swear with my life that I will help you win this war! If, in the event of a future danger, there are enemies who want to harm and separate you from your loved ones, they must first step over my corpse!" Lu Chi said extremely seriously, word by word.

"The oath begins today and lasts forever."