Chapter 413: Once we kill it, we'll get married!

Looking at the man before her, in the next moment her arms unconsciously wrapped around Qin Hao's waist.

Qin Hao's body stiffened for an instant.

But it was only an instant.

He did not instinctively retreat as before, nor did he push her away with the excuse of "attention influence".

He likewise extended his arms, his motion shifting from stiff to fierce, and he tightly embraced her with a backhand.

He could clearly feel the trembling of her petite frame in his arms, and he could also smell a faint fragrance.

At this moment, all the external clamor seemed to have been muted.

He was no longer the joint army chief commander who commanded billions of starfleets and decided the life and death of countless civilizations with a single word.

He was no longer the god lofty above the nine heavens.

At this moment, he was merely an ordinary man named Qin Hao.

Outside the lab, the piercing alarm still echoed faintly, a signal that the meme virus was still ravaging the outer defense line.

Inside the lab, data streams cascaded like a waterfall, frenziedly flooding the holographic screen.

Everything was in disarray, with battlefire scattering everywhere.

But all of this seemed unrelated to the two embracing each other.

In this small space lay the edge of the universe, the sole sanctuary.

There were no excess words, nor any need for explanation.

One embrace outweighed thousands of words.

Their heartbeats transmitted through their chests, gradually syncing, an echo of soul resonance.

For a long time.

So long that Qin Hao felt his arms going numb before the person in his embrace finally moved.

Qian Yin slightly lifted her head from his embrace, her eye sockets red as a rabbit's,

yet her face bore a smile that was both heartbreaking and comforting.

"I'm fine."

Her voice was hoarse, with a hint of nasal congestion, "Moreover… I've caught it. I've locked onto the fatal weakness of that bastard Overlord."

Upon hearing this, Qin Hao's heart clenched sharply.

He lowered his gaze to look at her.

Looking at her face, fatigued from prolonged high-intensity work, and at the glint of wisdom in her eyes that still shone despite her extreme weakness,

A feeling of indescribable pity and guilt surged like a tide, nearly overwhelming him.

It was he who personally placed this girl, who ought to have been peacefully wearing a lab coat and conducting research in the laboratory in peaceful times,

a girl who would occasionally frown over a data error,

repeatedly pushing her onto this cruel starry battlefield.

It was he who forced her to confront those indescribable horrors, making her repeatedly leap on the brink of life and death.

Qin Hao reached out, his rough fingertip gently wiping away the tear about to fall from the corner of her eye.

The motion was so gentle it seemed not to be wiping away tears, but dust from a priceless treasure.

"I know."

His voice was low and gentle, warming the surrounding air by a few degrees, "You did well, truly… thank you for your hard work."

Qian Yin shook her head, then buried her face again in his chest, like a cat reluctant to leave warmth.

"As long as I can help you, as long as I can spare you one frown… it's not hardship."

Those words struck the softest spot in Qin Hao's heart.

He held her, silent.

His gaze swept over Qian Yin's head toward the outside of the lab.

There lay the deep, boundless universe, the burning defense line, and the abyss named "Return to Zero".

But at this moment, Qin Hao's eyes held no trace of their former coldness and calculation.

Only a ball of fire.

A ball of fire ignited, named "humanity".

But some words must now be spoken.

Qin Hao drew a deep breath, gently supported Qian Yin's shoulders, and pushed her back slightly so she could look into his eyes.

His gaze was unprecedentedly solemn.

"Qian Yin."

"Huh?" Qian Yin blinked, somewhat dazed, as if startled by his sudden solemnity.

"Listen."

Qin Hao's Adam's apple rolled as he spoke each word deliberately,

"When this war ends,"

"when I… personally twist off the head of that pretentious Overlord,"

"we will get married."

Silence.

A deathly silence.

Those words struck her heart like a thunderclap from the nine heavens.

She was completely dazed.

She jerked her head up, staring at Qin Hao in disbelief, her eyes—once full of wisdom—now wide as saucers, her lips slightly parted but emitting no sound.

Marriage?

These two words, for her,

Too distant, too extravagant,

Too... dreamlike.

She had waited for these words, waited too long, too long.

Long enough that she thought she would never hear them in this lifetime.

Starting from several hundred years ago, when she first saw that vigorous, ambitious young man pointing out the rivers and mountains in the corridors of the Science Academy.

From her burying herself in tedious data piles without hesitation to catch up with his footsteps,

Starting from spending five hundred years of painstaking effort to forge the 'Cosmic Singularity' for him.

Starting from the countless times she looked at his back, wanting to reach out but then withdrawing.

All the waiting, all the sacrifice, all the grievance and endurance.

At this moment, they all received the most perfect, most overbearing response.

The immense joy flooded over her like a tsunami, happiness so intense it made her feel breathless.

The crystal-clear tears slid down from her eyes once again.

But these were no longer tears of fear, nor an outpouring of grievance.

These were pearls of joy.

They slid down her weary face, and under the refraction of the laboratory lights, they burst forth with a brilliance surpassing any star.

"Good."

She nodded heavily, her voice choked yet crystal clear.

A thousand words ultimately condensed into this single character.

A single 'good' surpasses all worldly sweet nothings.

Just as the two were pouring out their hearts, in Qin Hao's mind,

the long-dormant system suddenly went berserk and started flooding the screen.

【Ding! Detected host's emotional fluctuations breaking through the critical threshold!】

【System notification: The humanity anchor 'Qian Yin' has been established as the highest priority!】

【Warning lifted: Divinity corrosion risk reduced to zero!】

【System notification: The humanity anchor has been forged, emotional links greatly strengthened! Mental barrier stability increased by 300%!】

【Congratulations, host! The perfect fusion of host's will and rule power's compatibility grants you the qualification to assault a 'higher life level'!】

A series of golden system notification sounds exploded in Qin Hao's mind.

He could clearly feel that the power within him, which had become somewhat restless from overusing rule power,

now became extraordinarily docile and condensed.

Like a wild horse that had broken free, now fitted with reins.

A drifting lone boat found its harbor.

A sense of clarity swept over his whole body.

Qin Hao finally understood that the limit of power was never that severing emotions and desires, lofty divinity.

That so-called transcending emotions was merely a deviant path of evolution.

True power is rooted.

It is protected, warm, and filled with the mortal warmth of humanity!

Precisely because there is someone he wants to protect, a place he must return to,

and that lamp left burning for him in the midnight.

Only then does he dare to charge into that vaster, more dangerous sea of power, without fear of getting lost in endless void.

Qian Yin is his warmest, brightest coordinate in this dark universe.

As long as she is there, he will forever be Qin Hao, not some damned god.

Qin Hao took a deep breath, feeling the surging, roaring power within him, and looked again at the girl in his arms.

Seeing the light reignite in her eyes, seeing her unreserved reliance on him.

A surge of heroic spirit shot straight to the crown of his head.

What Overlord?

What zeroing out?

Who dares to move my woman, who dares to ruin my wedding?

Then they all must die!

"Wait for me."