The voice abruptly ceased. Du Zhanpeng’s body began to slacken. His pupils could no longer focus. The last vestiges of life force seemed to be drawn from his body by the Grim Reaper. Yet, his cracked, deathly pale lips bloomed into a smile. The proudest, most brilliant smile in the world.

It was a smile blossoming with life. The satisfied smile of an elder brother who cherished his younger sibling. He knew that by transferring his blood and true qi into his younger brother’s body, he could certainly help him survive this razor's edge between life and death. He knew that when Du Peng awoke, he would become a powerhouse surpassing Qin Fen. He knew that his stubborn grandfather, because of this incident, would have to change his cold perspective.

Qin Fen stared blankly at Du Zhanpeng in his arms. That peaceful smile, for a fleeting moment, overlapped with the image of Qin Zhan.

A vast, white world, where snow fell thickly. A corner of the city.

A young child huddled inside a shack resembling a doghouse, rubbing his hands back and forth, trembling violently. The weather was already frigid, and hunger made it impossible for his body to generate heat. Only two tattered pieces of padded cloth covered him.

The dilapidated wooden door suddenly burst open. Snow and fierce wind swirled in the doorway. A youth stood there, happily holding two steaming sweet potatoes.

"Eat this..."

"Brother, aren't you eating?"

"No need. Brother already ate his fill!"

"Then I'll eat them all."

"Eat, eat! As long as I’m here, you won't starve."

"Why are you looking at me like that? I’m your older brother, of course, I'm responsible for everything you have."

Qin Fen’s arm trembled slightly. As the disciple of several drill instructors who were butchers, he possessed a heart of steel. Even if someone pressed a gun to his head, he could maintain the coldest composure.

However, at this moment.

Qin Fen could not maintain his composure. He could watch countless people die, but he could not watch a brother who gave everything for his sibling perish.

"Can't die, can't die, can't die..."

Qin Fen mumbled incessantly. The foundation he had only just entered, the Five-Star Meteor Rank, was too unstable to manage. The purest true qi generated by breaking through to the Meteor Rank was, in this moment, entirely converted into the true qi of the Rebirth Art. His free hand shook as he fumbled at his belt, pulling out a five-colored pill. This was a special pill from the Dragon-shaped Belt.

The [Life-and-Death Pill]!

A pill full of variables that Elder Yin had repeatedly warned him about.

"Old Yin, Old Yin, I’m counting on you. Everything depends on you." Qin Fen forced open Du Zhanpeng’s tightly clenched jaws and pushed the [Life-and-Death Pill] into his mouth: "Du Zhanpeng, Du Zhanpeng, you are Du Peng’s brother. He is still so young. Don't you want to watch him grow up? He still needs your protection. Do you hear me?"

"Where's the chopper? Where's the chopper! We completed the mission! Hurry up! The chopper!" Out of control, he roared into the communicator again and again: "Chopper! We have severely wounded personnel here! Can you hear me, you bastards!"

Du Zhanpeng's body was cooling down bit by bit. The Life-and-Death Pill had long dissolved and entered his abdomen, yet not a single trace of life force emanated from him.

The sounds of intense fighting in the distance had also stopped. Chaotic footsteps echoed from the tunnel. Lin Ling was the first to rush out. She darted to Qin Fen’s side and crouched down, placing her fingers on Du Zhanpeng's pulse.

Two seconds. Lin Ling lifted her wrist. Her expression was as cold as ever as she stated, "Dead."

"Young Master Du!"

Xing Wuyi shoved aside the new recruits blocking his path. Having expended so much energy, he staggered mid-stride and tumbled near Qin Fen.

"Young Master Du... Young Master Du..." Xing Wuyi nervously patted Du Zhanpeng's icy face: "Young Master Du, wake up. Young Master Du... Young Master Du..."

"What happened? What in the hell happened?" Xing Wuyi completely collapsed, roaring at Qin Fen: "What is this! Young Master Du has the Savage Tiger Bio-Beast! Young Master Du has the Seven-Star Immortal Thunder Art!"

Qin Fen stared blankly at Du Zhanpeng in his arms. His body was completely cold, and there was no trace of blood color in his skin; he appeared so peaceful. The faint smile on his lips was still so content.

Xing Wuyi froze for a few seconds, then grabbed the communicator near his mouth again: "Where is the chopper? Are you all dead? Come here! We have injured people here! Here..."

Xing Wuyi saw the place where Du Zhanpeng’s and Du Peng’s wrists met. He froze again. A painful smile slowly spread across his lips.

"Heh heh... Hahahaha... Hahahaha..." Xing Wuyi threw his head back, laughing, tears flowing uncontrollably: "You did it... You actually did it in the end... You damn fool, you damn..."

The loud laughter turned into deep sobs. Xing Wuyi collapsed onto the ground, weeping like a heartbroken child. The spoiled brat who usually looked down on everyone was nowhere to be seen. He was simply crying; only crying could vent his immense sorrow.

At this moment, Xing Wuyi was no longer the annoying tag-along of Du Zhanpeng among the trainees. There was no hanger-on in this world who would weep so uncontrollably at the death of the master he followed.

At this moment, there was only Xing Wuyi, grieving the loss of his dearest friend.

"No... No... I have medicine here. I have medicine..."

In the middle of his breakdown, Xing Wuyi rolled and crawled through the mud, returning to Qin Fen’s side. He pulled several pills from an inner pocket. These pills, emitting a faint fragrance the moment they were exposed to the air, were clearly extraordinary just by their scent.

"He is dead." Lin Ling, seemingly unaffected by anyone's emotions, continued to look coldly at the frenzied Xing Wuyi: "Even if you feed him immortal elixirs, he is still dead."

"Take it, take it, swallow it!" Xing Wuyi seemed not to hear Lin Ling’s words. He just kept shoving the pills into Du Zhanpeng's mouth: "Eat... Eat... Damn it, hurry up and eat..."

A scientist in his forties, wearing a white lab coat, Mr. Kenary, the chief designer of the Nano-Battle Suit, was successfully rescued from the cellar by the new recruits and brought into the crowd.

He stared blankly at the thirty-odd young recruits. Almost every one of them was smeared with blood. Near them and beneath their feet lay nearly sixty corpses!

Nearly sixty young recruits, whose futures held limitless promise, lay silently on the ground.

Life had already departed from them.

Every surviving recruit wore an expression of inexplicable grief and indignation. These were their comrades-in-arms! Comrades who ate from the same pot and slept in the same quarters!

"Kenary!" Xing Wuyi, lying on the ground, roared and charged in front of him, landing a heavy punch on the man's face, sending him sprawling into the mud.

"Look! Open your eyes and look! Look!" What flowed from Xing Wuyi's eyes was no longer just tears, but blood too! He pointed at the nearly sixty corpses on the ground: "Do you see it, you bastard! A few hours ago, they were all alive. They could jump, they could laugh, they could fight, they could joke around. Some of them would talk about their parents with happy expressions. Some would talk about visiting their parents, their girlfriends, or paying respects at their elders' graves after this training was over..."

Xing Wuyi’s legs buckled, and he knelt in the filthy mud, mumbling incessantly, "In just a few hours! They're dead. All dead..."

Kenary sat frozen on the ground, listening to the young man's enraged weeping. He didn't know what to say.

The roaring sound of the approaching helicopter blew away the mud on the ground and stirred the hair of the people below, but it could never disperse the endless sorrow.

Over a dozen white-clad paramedics quickly disembarked from the aircraft. They swiftly examined the corpses, and upon confirming that no one was alive, they began loading the fallen recruits onto stretchers.

The stretchers, loaded with bodies, were stood upright in the cabin, and the bodies slid down onto the floor of the cabin with a dull thud.

This muffled sound struck the souls of all the surviving recruits like a bullet.

"Stop!" Xing Wuyi stood up and looked at the medical personnel treating the bodies of the new recruits as if they were dumping trash onto the stretchers. He said calmly, "You don't need to. These are our brothers. We will handle them ourselves."

Without any command, the thirty-odd recruits bent down, some carrying, some supporting, swaying slightly as they walked toward the aircraft cabin.

Qin Fen, carrying Du Zhanpeng, walked past several medical personnel who didn't understand what was happening and said in a very soft voice, "They are all heroes. Heroes should not be treated by having trash dumped onto their stretchers." The smoke from the island's fierce battle had not yet dispersed, and several X2 helicopters were slowly ascending.

Few people knew that a fierce battle had taken place here. Even fewer knew that nearly sixty young soldiers had lost their lives here.

Inside the helicopter, Xing Wuyi sat like a wooden carving. He stared blankly at Du Zhanpeng in Qin Fen's arms—a man destined for a dazzling future, a man who should have had a brilliant life, yet he foolishly chose this path.

"He is my brother."

"It’s fine if that little fellow hates me."

"I am his brother, after all."

"There’s no need for him to know. Really. I just need to do what a brother should do."

"Wuyi, if you tell him, we won't be friends anymore. If anything happens, can you take care of him for me?"

"Treat him the way you treated me."

Xing Wuyi's mind was flooded with memories of the past. Du Zhanpeng, who in the eyes of many was always proud and always suppressing his younger brother, showed a completely different side only in front of him.

"I hate him..." Xing Wuyi muttered coldly through clenched teeth. He turned his head to look at the unconscious Du Peng: "Why, why must a brother always sacrifice for his younger sibling?"

Xing Wuyi’s neck felt as if it were fitted with a steel rod as he stiffly turned his head back to look. "Truly. But rest assured, I will never break the promise I made to you. I will stay with him, just as I treated you."

P: The first chapter today is much later than the agreed time. I truly couldn't rush this chapter. I used two packs of tissues... I hope everyone will like this chapter, and that you will like Du Zhanpeng.

Where in this world is there a brother who doesn't love his brother...

If you identify with Du Zhanpeng, if what he represents has touched something deep in your heart...