Leah's face showed a flash of unwillingness. She did not want to die here.But it was hopeless. She had already used up her final ability—a burst-type skill. Now, her power was completely drained, her energy nearing exhaustion. There was nothing left she could do.So be it.She stopped struggling and closed her eyes, waiting for death.But… why hadn't that sea lion bitten her yet? Was it going to toy with her first?She gritted her teeth and forced herself to fight one last time.Opening her eyes again, she saw someone."Gray!"She called out in shock and joy.But underwater, the sound never left her own ears.When she turned around again, the sea lion was gone.If it weren't for the fact that it had chased her all the way here, she would have thought everything earlier had been nothing but a hallucination.Ray had saved her.At that moment, her emotions surged beyond description.He had saved her before, but never when things were this desperate. Just moments ago, she ha

Ezra nodded—then shook his head again.The contradictory gesture left Ray slightly confused. Only after a moment of thought did Ezra explain, "It is indeed a state-backed organization. But with the rise of ability users, power structures have shifted dramatically. The current decision-maker is a young faction leader."Ray shrugged. "Doesn't matter. As long as it's an official national organization, that's fine. I'm just worried someone might be impersonating the state to scam people."Reconstruction is a good thing. Even though the weather still feels like hell, after the Purple Moon, everything has evolved. Humanity's survival is no longer a problem. So it would make sense that the next step is rebuilding."Ezra nodded, a spark lighting up in his eyes. "It's also a chance to expand and reclaim territory."Ray patted his shoulder. "From now on, I'm going into retirement. I'll be living my peaceful countryside life. Don't come looking for me."Ezra rolled his eyes. "You're so stro

Ray had only managed to harvest 3,000 units of golden snowflakes in the second half of the month.In other words, even the golden snowflakes were declining.Would it eventually stop altogether? Possibly.If that happened, would the path of evolution be severed? Ray didn't know.During this period, national power finally began to show its full strength, reorganizing scattered regions and restoring order. Every city was now actively engaged in reconstruction.Since killing ability users no longer yielded ability energy, the hostility and conflict between people quickly faded. Coupled with the overwhelming authority of the state, who would dare stand against such a tide?However, the weather was far too cold. Even ability users with strong resistance to the cold had no desire to spend every day shivering.As a result, most regions had begun constructing underground cities.Earth-type ability users excavated tunnels. Physical-type ability users handled transport. Metal-type ability

"Do you only care about where it's snowing?" Ezra said irritably. "The new leadership lineup has been decided—"Ray quickly cut him off with a smile. "No need to tell me all that. I'm just an ordinary citizen. I don't care about national affairs. I'll just stay on my own little patch of land and mind my own business."Ezra couldn't help but laugh and curse under his breath.He had always tried to stir up Ray's sense of responsibility, hoping he would contribute more to the country. Yet Ray was completely immune to persuasion.Still, that was far better than having someone ambitious enough to turn the entire nation into his personal domain.So Ezra would only bring it up when the opportunity arose, never pressing too hard—afraid that pushing too far might backfire and end up cultivating an even more terrifying monster."Fine, forget it if you don't care," he said. "But this new assembly also passed a set of new laws. It's not the final version, but there won't be major changes. I'

Shortly after, Ray received a message—just a single coordinate, nothing more."Alright. I'll go take a look at these Valenamese brutes," he said.He was never one to meddle in other people's affairs. So why was he taking this so seriously now?Because he was about to become a father.At a time when Gohaven was in the critical phase of reconstruction, a group of Valenamese intruders had shown up to disrupt things—slowing down development, or worse, potentially seizing territory if they were strong enough.There was no way Ray would accept that.For him, how long could a trip like this even take?He opened a map and entered the coordinates.It was close—right near the border between their country and Valenam, in a small county called Delonghi.It seemed Ezra had led a team there and encountered the invading force. A battle broke out, but they suffered a crushing defeat. Only four people survived, and even then, they escaped separately.That made sense. If they had all fled in t