Godslayer: The Progenitor of Symbiotes

With no one around, Chen Shu carried Qin Xue as they strolled forward on the street, with the swordsman following slowly. Fortunately, with the symbiote present, their wounds had already healed.

"Boss, this whole thing is my fault. I knew something was wrong, but I still..."

After hesitating for a long time, the swordsman finally decided to apologize. After all, before he came to the capital, Chen Shu had specifically instructed him to protect Qin Xue.

"No way, you're in this state and you're still thinking about apologizing? With all these severed limbs, will you even be able to fight in the future?"

Chen Shu tightened his arms around Qin Xue, casually interrupting the knight's apology with a hint of a smile in his voice.

"...It's alright, I will improve my strength as soon as possible. The symbiote arm is more useful than my own limbs."

The swordsman thought for a moment, a smile appearing on his face. Following Chen Shu's words, he spoke calmly, showing no concern for the impact of losing his arm.

"Here, take this." A tentacle popped out from behind Chen Shu, handing a pale golden pill to the swordsman.

The swordsman took the pill, picked it up and looked at it with a puzzled expression. The pill was slightly smaller than a thumb, and it emitted a pale golden glow, making one's first thought upon seeing it to be to swallow it whole.

"This is the [Gathering Pool Pill]. After taking it, it can elevate your spiritual power to the 'Pool' realm."

This pill was obtained from over a hundred lottery draws during this trip. I still have one [Condensing Cup Pill] in my system space. Although this broken thing looks useless, it is still very useful for someone like me.

Besides the [Gathering Pool Pill], Chen Shu also has a [Gathering River Pill] in his system space. However, Chen Shu plans to give it to Xia Ke in a couple of days so that he can first get used to the mental strength of the "Pool" realm.

"Boss, this... it's better not to give it to me. You can give it to someone else. I won't be going to the battlefield, so I won't need it."

The swordsman returned the pale gold pill in his hand to Chen Shu.

...Well! Chen Shu finally understood. The knight-errant was dissatisfied with his arrangement, leaving him here and burying his ambitions.

"Don't worry, not just anyone can awaken the power of the extremely high-risk forbidden ruins. Keep it. The current arrangement is only temporary. In the future, your bold words can come true."

Upon hearing this, the knight-errant blushed, realizing he had inadvertently spoken his true feelings.

"No, boss, I didn't mean that..."

"Alright, our association is just starting out, so we'll definitely need to do everything ourselves. Shenli and the others are all the same. From now on, you'll be my right-hand men, so don't worry."

Chen Shu slowly spoke, explaining that at this stage, he didn't have a large number of lottery draws. At the snail-paced pace of the Sand City hunting team, killing even one mysterious creature a week would be quite good.

“Alright.” The swordsman nodded emphatically. “I’m really looking forward to the day when I’m strong enough to fight alongside our leader.”

"Alright, it's getting late. You should go back now. I'll be going to the Qin residence later." Chen Shu nodded and urged the swordsman to hurry back.

"Alright, boss, call me if you need anything." The swordsman nodded and turned to walk towards the Qin residence.

After the swordsman's figure disappeared into the shadows, Chen Shu spoke calmly, "Am I that scary? I kept trembling."

Qin Xue had already woken up halfway through the journey, but after realizing that she was being held by Chen Shu, she pretended to be still unconscious.

Upon hearing Chen Shu's words, Qin Xue gripped the hem of her clothes tightly with both hands, her knuckles turning white, perhaps from the excessive force.

After a long pause, Qin Xue slowly opened her eyes, looking up at Chen Shu's profile, the fear in her eyes not yet completely dissipated.

"You just followed any guy with my face whoever came looking for you? And you almost got kidnapped?"

Chen Shu lowered his head slightly, looking at Qin Xue, who was as nervous and confused as a lamb to the slaughter.

Seeing the color of Chen Shu's pupils and combining it with the conversation she had just heard, Qin Xue finally confirmed that the Chen Shu who was holding her was the real Chen Shu.

Suddenly, she hugged Chen Shu tightly, burying her entire body in his chest. All the things that had happened during the day, all the grievances and frights she had suffered, turned into tears and sobs...

Within these cries, there seems to be a deeper sorrow, something akin to... a dream come true, only to be shattered...

Feeling the gradually warm and moist sensation coming from her chest, Chen Shu, having not experienced what happened during the day, naturally could not understand Qin Xue's feelings and could only offer soft words of comfort.

"Okay, okay, everything's alright now, don't worry, I promise I'll never allow anything like this to happen again!"

Qin Xue raised her head, her eyes brimming with tears, her slightly reddened eyes fixed on Chen Shu...

Feeling a little embarrassed by Qin Xue's continued stare without saying a word, Chen Shu asked, "What's going on? Why are you staring at me like that?"

Upon hearing Chen Shu's words, Qin Xue lowered her eyes and whispered, "I know I shouldn't ask for anything, but... I want that thing too."

"What is it?" Chen Shu didn't understand what Qin Xue meant.

“Symbiotic.” Qin Xue seemed very afraid of angering Chen Shu, so she spoke very quickly and in a very soft voice.

However, these three words were crystal clear to Chen Shu, and just as Qin Xue had expected, Chen Shu decisively refused.

"No."

"Why? You gave it to everyone else, but not to me?" Qin Xue was still unwilling to give up and wanted to try to negotiate.

"If the sky falls, the tall ones will hold it up. You don't need to, and shouldn't, get involved in this kind of thing."

Chen Shu spoke slowly, his tone more serious than ever before.

"Then why did you get involved in this kind of thing? There are so many people who are more capable than you."

Qin Xue was still unconvinced and glared fiercely at Chen Shu.

“I have reasons for doing this out of necessity, and also, there is no one in the world more talented than me.”

Chen Shu's serious answer seemed to contain a hint of boasting.

"I also have my own compelling reasons!" Qin Xue's answer was firm and straightforward.

“…Oh.” Chen Shu nodded indifferently. “If I say no, then no. If you have it, then you have it.”

"...Ouch!" Qin Xue's pitiful face immediately scrunched up, and she angrily tried to slap Chen Shu, but then, as if remembering something, she stopped and glared at Chen Shu, saying, "Let go of me!"

"Hmm... I won't let go. Anyway, you look quite good when you're angry, so keep being angry." Chen Shu ignored Qin Xue's fierce glare and continued walking forward.

Suffocated by Chen Shuhao's unreasonable words, no matter how much she struggled, she could not shake Chen Shuhao's iron-like arms.

"Don't move. The guy impersonating me isn't dead. If you want, I'll leave you alone now."

Chen Shu lowered his head and looked into Qin Xue's eyes.

"..." Qin Xue thought for a moment, her expression complicated, and finally nodded obediently, "Oh."