Faint golden light shimmered on his palm. I could feel my muscle tissue and skin regrowing at high speed. There was a faint sensation of tugging and pulling.

I continued to watch him with a smile, but I caught someone out of the corner of my eye. I turned to look, and I saw Uncle Mason. He was watching Ghostie as he leaned on the door frame, his eyes brimming with tears.

I noticed he wasn’t hiding his feelings, even though I was looking right at him. He looked at me with many questions in his eyes. There was pain, joy, disbelief, and uncertainty in his gaze.

I bit my lip and nodded at him. My eyes had welled up with tears, too.

“Vroom…” The revving of an engine came from the sky above. Uncle Mason looked up and pointed at the sky. He then turned and left.

It must be He Lei and Ah Zong!

“It’s done,” Ghostie said seriously. He turned back and slowly withdrew his flipper. In his dark and shimmering palm sat my fully recovered hand. He fell silent, simply continuing to sit across from me.

I lifted my hand happily, exclaiming, “Wow! It looks even better than before!”

“You’re still in a mood to make jokes!” He suddenly roared at me, as though he were letting out all the anger he’d suppressed earlier.

I looked at his neck, and he stared back at me and yelled, “What are you looking at?!”

“I’m looking for your speaker’s volume switch. I want to lower the volume!”

“Be serious!” He yelled again. He Lei rushed in like lightning, but was frightened, and he stumbled.

He Lei didn’t know what had happened, and he looked at me with a confused expression. Then Ah Zong slowly walked in, asking flirtatiously, “What’s going on this time?”

“Ghostie, why are you so angry?” He Lei looked at Ghostie and me, confused. He glanced at me then gave Ghostie a serious look, asking, “Ghostie, are there any misunderstandings?”

Ghostie stood up angrily. He grabbed my hand and glared at He Lei furiously, barking, “This guy was acting recklessly again. He nearly lost his hand!”

He Lei was shocked. Ah Zong immediately stood up straight and looked at my hand anxiously. He relaxed when he saw my hand intact. He inspected my hand and commented curiously, “It looks alright, though.”

“I healed it!” Ghostie’s tone rose due to his anger.

“It wasn’t that serious!” I pulled my hand back.

“You had two finger bones exposed! How is that not serious?!” Ghostie roared at me. He Lei and Ah Zong were stunned again.

“What war causes no injuries? Back in Silver Moon City, when He Lei and the others went into battle, there were so many casualties. My injury was nothing compared to that! Isn’t that right, He Lei?” I looked at He Lei, and I thought he would agree with me. Who could have guessed that his face would grow grave, and he would look gloomier than Ghostie? The chill emanating from his body immediately lowered the temperature of the tent.

I suddenly felt awkward. I continued, “On top of that, don’t I have you? Look, my hand is fine now! If there were to be a next time…”

“There will be no next time!” Ghostie suddenly bellowed. “How dare you think about ‘next time’?! He Lei, watch him! Don’t let him go into battle again!”

“Mm!” He Lei nodded grimly. His expression definitely said that he wouldn’t allow me to set foot outside of the tent.

“Ghostie! I am the King!” I bellowed too, as though I were back in the time I’d always argued with Harry.

“The King has to live until the end! We can serve as sacrifices if necessary!” Ghostie patted his chest.

“Don’t you dare!” I immediately stood on the stool and wanted to pull him toward me, but I forgot that he was wearing a specially-made battle uniform that had no collar. I couldn’t grab hold of anything, and I was furious. I grabbed his helmet and knocked my head against it. “Dang!” I felt pain bloom across my forehead, and the water in his helmet swished about too.

I stared at him angrily, crying, “Don’t you dare die!” Ghostie was instantly stunned, and he stared at me with his fish eyes.

I let go of him and turned to look at He Lei and Ah Zong. I roared, “None of you are allowed to die! Do you hear me?! What would be the point of me doing all of this if you were to die?! The most important people to me are all here! If you were to die, what would be the point for me to conquer the world?! What would be the point of me changing this world?! That’s not a price I’m willing to pay! I want to live with all of you in the brand new world, not just survive by myself!”

I let out what I’d long since kept at the bottom of my heart, and the entire tent fell silent.

Ah Zong looked at me, his charming eyes quivering.

I felt fragile emotions surging in me. I lowered my head in distress, saying, “Do you think I want to bring all of you to fight wars for me? Who doesn’t know that war is filled with uncertainty in terms of life and death? What I least want to see is for any of you to get injured, but I have no choice. You’re the people I trust the most. You’re the strongest people in this world, too. I believe in your capabilities. Only when I’m with all of you do I see hope, and even victory, in this war! We must stay together until the end. Don’t make me regret my decision to bring all of you with me. Don’t make me live alone with guilt in the end…”

I took a deep breath to calm myself down and to regain my cool. They remained quiet too, lowering their heads in silence. No one spoke again.

If I could take care of this world alone, I would fight alone. However, I didn’t have the capability to. I needed comrades. I needed powerful comrades.

I was quiet for a while. Then, I jumped off the stool and stood in between Ghostie and He Lei. I said grimly, “Take a break and prepare to attack the city! The situation will be different from our previous surprise attack. The other party has definitely made preparations.” I walked away after that.

When I walked past Ah Zong, he turned lazily and whispered into my ear, “Let me keep you company.” I didn’t speak, but continued to walk forward. Ah Zong followed by my side with soft footsteps. As I walked out of the base, I saw Zi Yi standing by the door. He glanced at me with his grim expression.

Ah Zong held onto my shoulder and guided me to the spaceship. I climbed atop the spaceship and sat on its wing.

The smell of barbecue wafted through the air. I looked, and I saw the others busy grilling corn and black buns. The grill had come with the base camp and was fully automated. Everything Raffles invented had legs and knew how to pack up on its own.

Fat-Two, Pelos, Lucifer, Sia, Xiao Ye, Marcus, and Ernie were there. The last two were stowaways who had come along with Angelina.

They were Pelos’ brothers, and Pelos was their leader. Just like Pelos, they had high aspirations. They wanted to do something big and leave their names in history!