Luo Lan falling unconscious earlier and the faint glow emanating from his body had proven a fact to Ren Xiaosu: Luo Lan had really awakened his power.

Before this, Ren Xiaosu had gotten used to the fact that the fatty was just a normal person. But now, his power was awakened.

However, Luo Lan did not answer Ren Xiaosu’s question. Instead, he looked at the Qing Consortium soldiers around Zhou Qi.

They were still standing, to the end guarding Zhou Qi.

Ren Xiaosu saw countless withered vines pierced through these Qing Consortium soldiers, but none managed to hurt Zhou Qi.

These Qing Consortium soldiers had formed the world’s strongest wall for Zhou Qi with their mortal bodies.

Luo Lan stood in front of them and said, “Actually, I’m just a fat man with a blessed life to have you all sacrifice your lives for me. If I weren’t born in the Qing Consortium and had a powerful younger brother, I would probably be much worse off than you guys. Even though I’m randy, gluttonous, not really able to endure hardships, and scared out of my mind, I still chose to do what’s most dangerous in the world.”

No one interrupted Luo Lan; everyone listened quietly as he spoke.

Luo Lan continued, “Before we set off, I even joked with you guys that I would find you the most beautiful wives in the Central Plains and let you bring them back home. I’m sorry I couldn’t do it. At that time, I was just bragging. All of you should know that I’m fond of bragging and don’t know when to stop….

“But I digress. What I wanted to say is that I’ll still have to face a lot of danger in the future. Will you still continue to protect me?” Luo Lan stared hard at the dead Qing Consortium soldiers. As the stronghold went quiet, all everyone could hear was their own breathing.

The moment Luo Lan finished speaking, golden figures walked out of the bodies of the Qing Consortium soldiers. The golden silhouettes even retained the appearances of the soldiers. The platoon commander looked at Luo Lan with a smile and said, “Boss, it’s been a while.”

Before this, the Qing Consortium soldiers experienced endless darkness and loneliness without knowing how long had passed. It wasn’t until they heard a call summoning them in the darkness that they came to keep the appointment.

Tears started to fall from Luo Lan’s eyes again. He wiped his tears away while smiling. “Fuck!”

Other than cursing like that, Luo Lan did not know what to say.

Ren Xiaosu watched silently from the sidelines for a long time. He could not tell what kind of power Luo Lan had. He could actually bring back the dead in another form so that they could continue existing in this world.

Ren Xiaosu got very excited. If only he had a Perfect Skill Duplication Scroll right now! He would copy Luo Lan’s skill straight away!

However, it seemed that the prerequisite of this power was that the other party must be willing to be summoned. These golden figures were spirits guarding Luo Lan. After they talked for a while, the golden silhouettes of the twelve Qing Consortium soldiers walked into Luo Lan’s body one by one.

“This is the power you’ve awoken?” Ren Xiaosu inquired.

“Yes,” Luo Lan nodded and sighed. “I’ve finally become a supernatural being too.”

No one else said anything else. It was not appropriate to say too much with outsiders like Li Ran and Zhou Tao around. It would be better to talk in private later when they got a chance to do so.

Luo Lan turned his head to the Hope Media reporter, Zhou Tao, and said, “If I pay you ten million yuan, can you keep today’s events a secret?”

Zhou Tao shook his head. “I’m sorry. Everything that happened today is of great importance, so I have to record it.”

Ren Xiaosu was a little surprised. Zhou Tao actually remained unmoved even though Luo Lan offered him ten million yuan. This Hope Media reporter was too stubborn.

However, Luo Lan’s concerns were necessary. On one hand, Luo Lan did not want others to know that he awakened his power. Sometimes, it would be much more effective to keep an ace up the sleeve.

On the other hand, Ren Xiaosu and Zhou Yingxue had revealed many things about themselves in this battle, especially Zhou Yingxue, who had absorbed the life force of the creeper vine that had taken over the entire stronghold. If anyone with bad intentions learned about this, it might spell big trouble for her.

Luo Lan looked at Zhou Tao and said with a frown, “You can pretend that you were seeking refuge today and did not see anything. Just by doing so, you will earn yourself ten million yuan. There’s probably no better deal than this in the world, right?”

Zhou Tao said stubbornly, “You can silence me if you want, but you can’t force me to lie.”

Ren Xiaosu sighed. He did not know how to feel about this reporter’s undaunting spirit anymore. Sometimes, having such a principled intellectual like him around was a very frustrating experience. They could not kill him even if they felt like doing so.

Luo Lan said, “Actually, what you want to record are the events of the disaster that took place today, right? In other words, you only want to detail how it ended.”

“Yes,” Zhou Tao nodded. “This matter is very important to mankind.”

“But my power has nothing to do with this matter. Can you keep it a secret by not recording it or telling others about it?” Luo Lan asked.

Zhou Tao thought for a moment before nodding. “I can do that.”

Luo Lan pointed to Ren Xiaosu and Zhou Yingxue and said, “The two of them came into this terrifying place to save us. How many people in this world do you think are willing to risk their lives for their friends? They’re our saviors! After saving you, is it appropriate that you turn around and sell them out by telling everyone about their powers?”

This time, Zhou Tao started feeling conflicted.

Luo Lan felt that he had to resort to moral coercion to deal with a principled person like Zhou Tao. He told him, “I don’t mind you recording this incident nor object to Hope Media publishing the report about them in the newspapers. But I have a suggestion for you. Can you keep your saviors’ identities anonymous in your article and just report that ‘someone’ saved the entire stronghold? There shouldn’t be any conflicts like that, right?”

Zhou Tao looked at Ren Xiaosu and was about to say something. “You—”

“Watch your tone!” Luo Lan interrupted. “You should address him as ‘savior’!”

Zhou Tao was speechless. So was Ren Xiaosu.

Luo Lan knew he convinced Zhou Tao. He said with a smile, “I know that Hope Media also keeps some of their files confidential, and a lot of the information will only be released after 50 years. So about this matter, can you place it into the confidential files?”

Finally, Zhou Tao said with a sigh, “I’ll do as you say.”

After getting this reply from Zhou Tao, Luo Lan finally felt at ease. Zhou Tao had been following them all the while, so Luo Lan eventually figured out what kind of person Zhou Tao was.

There wasn’t a need to measure others by his own standards when making an agreement with someone like Zhou Tao. That was because Zhou Tao would definitely keep his word as long as he promised so.

After the matter was settled, Luo Lan heaved a sigh of relief and felt a little more at ease. Suddenly, Zhou Qi’s voice rang out beside them, “Fatty, I wanna wait and see when you plan to help me up…”

Zhou Qi was even coughing up blood as he spoke. Only then did everyone suddenly remember that Zhou Qi was still alive.