400: Mother!

Gu Qinghan looked at the silent room and said nothing further.

He simply held Chen Yuting's hand next to him and gave it a gentle squeeze.

Over the past ten minutes, he had relayed all his conjectures to the generals and high-ranking officials of the Shangjing Base.

Except for the matters concerning the gods, which he could not disclose, he had revealed all other details without reservation.

After a long silence, Zheng Shanhai sighed softly.

However, in the current quiet environment, that sigh sounded remarkably clear.

"Alright, it seems we still underestimated the difficulty of this game.

Thank you for bringing this news; it is very important to us, and our subsequent plans may need to be altered.

Our current defensive measures would likely offer no protection against the terrifying creatures you described."

Zheng Shanhai spoke slowly, his voice tinged with weariness.

This man was not old, yet in the short three months since the game began, his hair had turned mostly white.

Chu Tian stepped forward at this moment, attempting to forcefully lighten the mood:

"It's fine. Based on the scene Gu Qinghan witnessed, it looks like I could fight several dragons."

However, Zheng Shanhai glanced at him, and there was no happiness in his eyes.

Although he did not know Chu Tian's secret, he could guess that such tremendous power must come at a heavy cost.

Chu Tian realized the atmosphere had grown even more awkward, so he immediately changed the subject:

"Right, Gu Qinghan, what about you?

You saw many people fighting dragons; you couldn't have just been standing on the sidelines, could you?"

Gu Qinghan’s hand, which was holding Chen Yuting’s, suddenly stiffened, but he quickly smiled and said:

"Of course I was fighting dragons, but there were too many dragons around; I couldn't keep track of them all."

He was lying.

In that visual sequence, what he had seen were gods surrounding him whose faces were indistinct.

But he absolutely could not tell them this, otherwise those gods would have a legitimate reason to strike him.

Chen Yuting seemed to sense Gu Qinghan’s distress and gently squeezed his hand back with her soft, small one.

Her action told Gu Qinghan that she would always be by his side.

The conference room fell silent once more; no one could quickly process such a massive amount of information.

Just then, the door to the conference room was suddenly kicked open.

Gu Qingyuan stood proudly and spiritedly in the doorway; he had already reverted to his child form.

The clothes that had previously fit him well were now baggy, making him look slightly comical.

The soldier behind him seemed not to have anticipated this guy being so aggressive; his outstretched right hand hovered in mid-air, leaving him momentarily awkward.

Gu Qinghan turned to look at him, raised an eyebrow, and asked:

"Did you finish the task I assigned you?"

Gu Qingyuan nodded and swaggered over to Gu Qinghan’s side:

"Of course! When I handle things, you can rest assured!"

Gu Qinghan nodded, only to realize that Chen Yuting was currently sizing up both him and Gu Qingyuan.

Seeing Gu Qinghan look her way, Chen Yuting gave him a puzzled look and asked:

"Aren't you going to explain yourself?"

Gu Qinghan scratched his head, just about to give Chen Yuting a brief explanation, when he heard Gu Qingyuan immediately shout, his eyes sparkling:

"Mama! I finally see you, Mama!"

A moment later, Gu Qinghan, carrying Gu Qingyuan—who now had bumps all over his head—left the conference room with Chen Yuting.

"I'll take my people back to Whale Fall City first. After all, I need to redraw some plans there as well.

If anything comes up, you can contact me via the teleportation tower."

Chu Tian nodded, then suddenly spoke up to remind him:

"The hundredth day since the game started is seven days from now. Remember to come to the Shangjing Base then.

It will be a grand celebration, so don't be absent!"

Gu Qinghan nodded, then fled the place as if running away.

Ten minutes later, Gu Qinghan met Wang Yan and the others in a wide square.

The number of people hadn't changed, but Gu Qinghan noticed that everyone had sustained injuries to varying degrees.

However, with the help of the Healing-type Professionals at the Shangjing Base, most were fine, leaving only a few severely injured individuals who required the support of their companions.

"Boss, you're back!"

The moment Wang Yan and Meina saw Gu Qinghan, they both displayed obvious joy.

Gu Qinghan nodded and smiled at the two of them, saying, "Thank you for your hard work."

One of them had fully assisted him inside the secret realm, while the other had led people outside the secret realm, fighting all the way to the Shangjing Base; both were truly dedicated and responsible.

He looked at the heavily injured Professionals and asked:

"How did they get injured so severely, and why haven't they recovered after so many days?"

Wang Yan glanced at the injured people and sighed softly:

"These are wounds left by Dragon Ants. There is an extremely strange energy at the site of the injuries preventing recovery.

Even the skills used by those Professionals are swallowed up by this energy immediately after being released.

Therefore, for all this time, these more severely wounded individuals have only been able to rely on their own regenerative abilities to heal."

Gu Qinghan raised an eyebrow after hearing this. Could the energy Wang Yan mentioned be the Dragon Power?

He looked at Gu Qingyuan, who was following closely behind him, and gestured with his chin, saying:

"Go take a look. Can you absorb that kind of energy?"

Gu Qingyuan mumbled "Oh," and, like an eggplant hit by frost, listlessly walked toward the injured individuals.

With the help of a companion, one of the injured unwrapped the dressing on his wound, revealing a bloody, mangled injury underneath.

Even from a distance, Gu Qinghan could tell that the wound was starting to show signs of decay.

He had never imagined that this power would be so tyrannical, capable of injuring Professionals to such an extent.

Gu Qingyuan approached, sensed the energy briefly, and then communicated with Gu Qinghan mentally:

"It's not Dragon Power, but it carries the aura of Dragon Power.

It must be a new attack method that the Dragon Ants evolved with the aid of Dragon Power."

"Can you fix it?"

"Of course, it's a piece of cake."

As Gu Qingyuan finished speaking, he suspended his small hand above the person's wound without touching it.

Subsequently, amidst the churning pus and blood, visible wisps of energy were absorbed by Gu Qingyuan.

The person's body suddenly began to twitch from the pain, but then he heard Gu Qingyuan say:

"Bear with it, or your wound will continue to worsen."

The pain caused the person's lips to turn white, but fortunately, it stopped after only about half a minute.

"This appears to be a toxin, but Dragon Power exists within the toxin itself.

The toxin corrodes the wound, while the Dragon Power devours external energy, which is why the injury continues to worsen and cannot be healed."

Gu Qingyuan treated the injuries of the wounded one by one, while simultaneously explaining his findings to Gu Qinghan mentally.

Gu Qinghan seemed to realize something, staring at the wounded man’s visibly corroded injury and pondering for a few seconds.

"Is this... ant acid fused with Dragon Power?"