Looking at her youthful face, Wang Li felt a pang of pity. He had been on the front lines for so many years, fighting against aliens and defending cities.

Now, however, he has to kill the very person he swore to protect with his own hands.

Just as I expected.

Gu Li's blue eyes brightened slightly, then she said weakly, "Or you could leave me here to fend for myself..."

Then, the man said painfully and with suppressed emotion, "There are too few pure humans with healing abilities. I can't save you. It's better this way than watching you turn into a filthy mutant!"

Feeling the gun pressed against his forehead as if it had been pressed somewhere, and starting to heat up faintly, a huge sense of crisis made the hairs on Gu Li's body stand on end.

Her eyes widened suddenly. No, is this person crazy?!

In a life-or-death moment, the hand gripping the gun barrel unleashed its greatest strength, hastily pushing the gun pointed at her to the side and rolling in the opposite direction.

Before he could adjust his posture, his right wrist made a crisp "crack" sound the moment it hit the ground.

Ignoring the excruciating pain in her right wrist, she forced a half-hearted smile at the man who was pointing at her again, her face pale.

Take a deep breath.

It was sunset, and a huge red sun was slowly sinking below the horizon directly behind the alien city, casting a blood-red hue over the dark city.

"If I could, I would like to know what it is before I die?"

He used all his strength to keep his frail body still in front of the gun barrel that had almost killed him, maintaining an expression of utter despair, and pointed to the dark city below the cliff behind him.

The man in front of her fell silent, and Gu Li felt a surge of joy.

There's hope!

She slowly moved backward, tentatively saying, "This is the first time I've ever seen this place."

“The city of alien species…” His voice muffled through the helmet: “Of course you’ve never seen it. It’s inhabited by filthy, high-level species.”

It sounds really cool, like humans have no way to deal with them.

I want to go even more now.

Gu Li took a few tentative steps toward the cliff. When she woke up, she seemed to hear the sound of flowing water at the edge of the cliff.

The middle-aged man didn't follow, but his indistinct voice continued: "The pollution is pervasive, and there is no cure once you are contaminated by the alien species. However, some people will retain their sanity and become those hideous monsters."

She understood; this city was the lair of those advanced species, existing independently yet possessing reason to communicate with them.

After escaping, this became their destination.

Gu Li turned around quietly with her back stiff. She hadn't gone too far; she was still about a dozen steps away from the cliff.

A familiar "click" sounded faintly from behind.

A chill ran down her spine, and she stopped pretending, immediately quickening her pace and rushing towards the edge of the cliff.

"According to the information just sent back to you, Ms. Gu, three days ago you were attacked by an alien species while traveling and your right hand was cut, which was deemed contaminated, and you were immediately deported."

Wang Li raised the gun and aimed it at the slender girl's back. He guessed that the frail girl in front of him might already be a high-level species that retained a human form, and his eyes gradually turned cold.

Apply slight pressure with your index finger on the trigger.

"Please answer, why were you able to maintain your composure, and what was your intention in trying to talk to me?"

In just a dozen or so steps, her heart nearly jumped out of her chest. She bit her lip, and the taste of blood gradually filled her mouth.

With the cliff so close, she took her final step, her heart pounding, when the gunshots overhead, like the Sword of Damocles hanging over her head, crashed down.

The excruciating pain from her back made her vision go black, and her entire body was thrown away by the enormous impact.

At the last moment, she looked at the line of people rushing towards her and gave them the middle finger.

No wonder they sent this middle-aged man to carry out the mission.

Damn, he's completely unyielding!