Chapter 173: Chapter 173

"I’m just worried you might be afraid of me!"

"Afraid of what? Afraid you’ll stay handsome forever while I grow old and ugly?"

An Yan raised her eyebrows.

"Have you heard that joke?"

"Men are very faithful. At eighteen, they like eighteen-year-old girls; at twenty-eight, they still like eighteen-year-old girls; at sixty-eight, they still like eighteen-year-old girls."

"Until the moment they’re buried, they all like eighteen-year-old girls!"

"I’m the same as the man in that story."

Li Tianyao was speechless.

"Your eternal youth is a benefit to me!"

The man’s handsome face tensed slightly.

What did this little girl take him for?

"Why are you suddenly unhappy again?"

An Yan tilted her head, her eyes brimming with suppressed laughter.

"Isn’t it right to like you?"

Li Tianyao shook his head. As long as she liked him, what did it matter why.

"What’s wrong? Did the thought of me aging make you feel like you’re losing out?"

The man extended his index finger to her lips.

"No matter what you become, it’s all right."

"Then you must remember that phrase; you can’t forget it."

His cooperation filled An Yan’s heart with sweetness, but—well, she had to stay calm!

An Yan controlled her emotions and refocused her thoughts on the matter at hand.

"Immortality! In theory, it’s a good thing, but once this secret is known, there will surely be a ton of trouble!"

"That’s why I’ve built my own business empire!"

The man’s lips curved slightly.

In every era, he ensured he had ample resources, with his enterprises spread across the globe!

And he had more identities than just Li Tianyao!

In any case, whatever the era, any force wishing to oppose him had to consider whether they had the strength to do so.

What he wanted was that, should his identity be revealed, the only thing those in the know could do was to come join him, not stand against him!

"What about Gu Shifang? He’s also lived for over a thousand years, so why is he..."

Wiped out by Li Tianyao life after life!

"Gu Shifang comes into each life with the ambition to dominate the world, obsessed with creating an army of the Undying. But to dominate the world requires the use of force. Which ruler of a country would want their land engulfed in war constantly?"

"So, this is the difference between good and evil. Justice overcomes evil?" An Yan said.

The little girl’s understanding was quite on point.

"Have you never thought about dominating the world?"

A rare sense of weariness flickered across Li Tianyao’s features.

"What would be the point?"

"After dominating the world, what then? Would the descendants of those who died for that domination not harbor resentment? Would they not seek vengeance for their ancestors?"

"It’s better to protect than to destroy. I have seen ordinary people create one miracle after another in the most unassuming places! I’ve seen them struggle to survive!"

"I do not think that a world rebuilt with the lives sacrificed for the ambition of world domination would be any more perfect than the one we have now!"

"Given that, it’s better to be an observer and protect the world before us!"

An Yan stared at him blankly.

In that moment, she felt more than ever that he truly was like a god!

"Li Tianyao, I’m willing to accompany you, within my limited lifespan."

"But can you stop meddling with my friendships? I might also be an ordinary person who creates miracles!"

The man’s hand left her cheek.

"You’re different from them!"

Those people, whether outstanding or not, couldn’t touch his emotions. But she could. He was afraid that if he let go, she would be gone!

"How am I different?"

Just tell me what to change, and I will! For freedom!!

"If they were poisoned by Gu Shifang, I wouldn’t want to use my blood to exchange for an Antidote!"

He glared at her with an accusing look in his eyes.

It was the way one might look at a scoundrel!

An Yan felt ashamed under his gaze.

She softly called his name.

"I’m willing to stay with you, not betray you, but on this premise, can you give me a little bit of freedom? You know well that Gu Shifang wouldn’t dare to come close to you!"

The girl’s softened voice, like a gentle feather, unknowingly softened his heart.

"Okay, you can also associate with Su Siming and Liang Chen!"

"That’s great! Thank you!" An Yan’s lips curved into a happy smile. Whether she used a soft or hard approach, all that mattered was that one of them worked.

"But when I need companionship, you must stay by my side."

He was compromising, and naturally, she could too!

"All these years, haven’t you thought about expanding overseas?"

"I can’t get used to the food out there!"

He had followed Gu Shifang to Europe in the past, but he found everything there, from the food to the social hierarchy, very uncomfortable.

He didn’t like those Westerners with their high noses and deep eyes!

At first, he scorned their uncivilized ignorance, and later, he detested their arrogant greed.

So, he merely developed some followers there to handle various external affairs on his behalf.

An Yan couldn’t see through his thoughts, so she just assumed he had no power abroad!

"Where were you when the Allied Powers bullied us?" Thıs content belongs to novel[f]ire.net

Li Tianyao fell silent.

Having lived too long, other than looking for Gu Shifang, he didn’t care about anything else.

But since the girl had asked, he recalled seriously before saying,

"At that time, Gu Shifang had reincarnated into a foreigner’s body, and I went to look for him!"

"And the war against foreign invaders?"

"I was fighting the Living Dead created by Gu Shifang!"

"So, if it weren’t for you, our ancestors would have had to face not only the Great Powers but also the Living Dead?"

An Yan couldn’t quite believe it.

"And there was also the possibility of being infected by a virus, turning everyone on this continent into Living Dead!"

"Li Tianyao, you’re not kidding me, right? If there were really Living Dead, how could there be no record of it at all?"

This wasn’t ancient times. A hundred years ago, civilization had already advanced to a point where records would have been left.

"There are records. The smallpox, plagues, the Black Death, and so on, and those created by the biological warfare unit from Country R—all involved Living Dead. They just never had the chance to leave their research facilities."

An Yan looked at him in shock.

"Eliminating them completely and ensuring the infection didn’t spread was very tricky!"

Back then, he had also been largely isolated inland and knew little about firearms, suffering severe injuries several times.

The only fortunate thing was that those people only wanted to capture him alive and didn’t resort to large-scale weapons of mass destruction.

Otherwise, he didn’t know if he could have regenerated even if he had been blown into countless cells.

"Who exactly is Gu Shifang?"

An Yan furrowed her brow once more. "Do you know his background?"