345: Chapter 345 The Only Hope

"What?"

The Commander stood up abruptly, knocking the chair over, "Say that again?"

"Gu Fan is dead! They confirmed it themselves!"

Hearing this, the Commander stumbled back two steps, gripping the table to steady himself.

Gu Fan... is dead?

The strongest of the Dragon Kingdom's younger generation, the SSS-grade prodigy in whom so much hope was placed, just died like this?

Doesn't that mean that now, the hope of the entire Dragon Kingdom, and perhaps the whole world, rests solely on Chen Yi's shoulders?

"Commander, what should we do?"

The communicator asked anxiously, "Should we tell other countries this news? If it spreads, I'm afraid it will cause panic..."

"Keep it confidential for now."

He said in a deep voice, "Once this news leaks, the morale of all nations will completely collapse. Now we can only pray—pray that Chen Yi can create a miracle."

He looked toward the entrance of the secret realm outside the camp.

That huge spatial vortex was still rotating slowly, like a gaping abyss waiting to devour anyone.

It used to feel so familiar, but now it only sent a chill down one's spine!

"Chen Yi, oh Chen Yi... all hope now rests on you."

---

Just as the outside world was filled with anxiety.

Chen Yi, who was being counted on by everyone, was living a... hard-to-describe life!

Crystal Palace, Sunny Coast.

This was a perfectly man-made beach, where fine white sand sparkled in the sunlight and blue seawater gently lapped against the shore.

In the distance, coconut trees swayed, and seabirds soared.

The temperature was kept constant at a perfect 26 degrees, with a breeze carrying a faint scent of sea salt.

It was a picture of a vacation paradise!

But Chen Yi, currently lying on a beach chair, had a look of utter hopelessness on his face.

He was shirtless, wearing only beach shorts. His muscle definition was clear but not exaggerated, and his skin glowed with a healthy sheen in the sunlight!

Logically speaking, this should be the perfect state for enjoying a vacation.

However, his dark circles betrayed him.

"Master, come, ah! Eat an orange~~~"

Su Taotao sat on the chair next to him, peeled a slice of orange, and brought it to Chen Yi's lips.

She was wearing a cute pink bikini, her loli figure fully on display, with a sweet smile on her face.

Chen Yi opened his mouth mechanically and swallowed the orange slice.

"So sweet! These oranges must have been sitting for months, right? How are they still this sweet?"

"Hehe! That's because the sweet ones are obviously for you, Master!"

Su Taotao said as if it were a matter of course, "I'm fine with the sour ones."

"Wow, wouldn't it be better to just throw them away? Why waste them like that?"

"It's not a waste! Anyway, I like eating sour ones too, no worries!"

Chen Yi sighed and reached out to rub Su Taotao's head, "That won't do. You're my little cutie, how could I bear to let you eat sour oranges?"

"Then how about this~~~~"

Su Taotao seemed to think of something, leaned over, and kissed him, her soft lips pressing against Chen Yi's, "Now I've eaten a sweet orange!"

Chen Yi was ambushed and stunned for a moment, then smiled bitterly, "You, you, taking advantage of me every day!"

"Hee hee~~~"

This scene was seen by Shi Yuying, who was nearby.

She was lying on a beach chair next to Chen Yi, wearing an elegant white one-piece swimsuit, her mature curves fully displayed.

Seeing the intimacy between her daughter and Chen Yi, she couldn't help but chuckle.

Being young is so good!

Shi Yuying sighed in her heart.

She was thirty-seven when she died. Although her appearance became young again after reincarnating as the Demon Queen, her mindset was already different.

Seeing Su Taotao so happy, she felt genuinely relieved.

"Aunt Ying, you too, come and taste the sweet orange!"

Chen Yi suddenly turned his head and said to Shi Yuying.

Shi Yuying was stunned. Before she could react, Chen Yi had already leaned in and given her a light kiss on the lips.

"Ah, this..."

Shi Yuying's cheeks instantly flushed red.

She probably never dreamed that Chen Yi would pull this on her too.

But well... it didn't feel bad!

Watching this scene, Su Taotao wasn't jealous at all; on the contrary, she smiled even more happily.

For her, her mother's happiness was more important than anything else.

"By the way, Brother Chen Yi!"

Su Taotao peeled another slice of orange and fed it to Chen Yi, "You said before that I would learn a very powerful skill next? About how much longer will it take?"

Hearing this, Chen Yi brought up the system interface to check.

[Name: Su Taotao]

[Contract Master: Chen Yi]

[Bloodline: SSS-grade Taotie]

[Level: Tier 8, Stage 6]

[Physique: 740]

[Spiritual Power: 880]

[Attributes: Earth, Dark, Light, Shadow, Chaos]

[Skills: Devour, Life Drain, Black Hole Domain, Earth's Wrath, Light Devour, Dark Erosion...]

[favorability: 100 points]

[Affinity: 825]

[Skill to be Learned: Death Devour (Requires 1000 points of Affinity)]

[Evaluation: Ancient ferocious beast Taotie, can devour the life source of all things to nourish itself!]

It was still 175 points of Affinity short of being learned.

If he gave her private tutoring for one night, it would add at most 15 points; it was a long road ahead!

Chen Yi smiled helplessly, "It will take a while, I will take good care of you during this time."

"Really? Thank you, Brother Chen Yi, mwah~~~"

Su Taotao happily kissed Chen Yi again.

"You, oh you, never mind!"

Chen Yi sighed.

A month had passed since he killed Gu Fan and achieved his plan of killing three birds with one stone.

In this month, they had all been staying in the Crystal Palace every day.

On the surface, it looked like they were enjoying a sunny holiday, having a great time.

But Chen Yi knew that, in a sense, this couldn't be considered a vacation for him!

First, Chu Feiyu successfully faked her death; she was stabbed in the heart, so she was a great contributor!

So Chen Yi spent a whole week accompanying her alone, giving her private tutoring, and cultivating Affinity!

Secondly, Black Rose's acting skills were excellent; she successfully deceived Shadow Brake and Bone Erosion, making them believe she had controlled everyone!

This contribution was too great and needed to be rewarded, which meant another night!

Thirdly, Lilian, as a core figure who provided a large amount of key intelligence, naturally needed to be rewarded too, another night!

And since this plan was a great success, it naturally had to be celebrated in a big way.

Chen Yi held a large celebration, and the result... well, I won't go into details, but in short, it was very tiring!

Fourth, Shi Yuying's skills were very special.

She was the reincarnation of the Demon Queen, and her skill system was completely different from ordinary spirit beasts, and very powerful!

But her starting Affinity was low, lagging far behind the others, so she needed focused cultivation!

Fifth, Su Taotao needed to learn the ultimate skill Death Devour, which required extremely high Affinity, causing Chen Yi to have to work overtime from time to time to cultivate her!

Plus, he had to find time to guide everyone's cultivation and help them digest the large amount of rare cultivation resources they had obtained over the past few months...

It could be said that over this month, even though there were no external threats or mission pressures!

Chen Yi's average sleep time didn't exceed three hours.

It was even more tiring than exploring the Antarctica secret realm!