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“I’ve gained the strength to lead everyone out of here…”

I turned to look out at the night sky, my heart filled with a myriad of lamentations.

Sima Junmo and Ouyang Huiren exchanged a look with each other. Both of them could see that something was up, but they stayed silent.

Next came the actual details of how we were to evacuate. Once that was done, the two of them left the room. They still had patrol duty tonight, though, Floater left without saying a word either.

Bright and early next morning, the survivors had a hasty breakfast before preparing to leave. Some were excited about the prospect, some euphoric, and there were those who were a little doubtful.

Our pre-departure meeting wasn’t so much a meeting as it was a declaration of intent. I did not say much, but I did impress upon everyone that I would bring them all out of the city.

My three fire elementals took the lead in the caravan. The soldiers guarded our flanks while Floater covered our rear. Any supplies we had were basically abandoned in favour of lighter gear; everything was for the sake of leaving this forsaken dump.

As the soldiers herded the uneasy masses towards the outskirts of the city, any undead that dared show their ugly head were summarily trampled over.

A kilometer later, we arrived at the same outskirts surrounded by soldiers. The appearance of such a force only served to spur the survivors on in this final leg of their journey.

On the other side, the stationed troops had also noticed us. One of them contacted Sima Junmo on his comms channel and began discussing a plan of action.

Now… a plan of action might have been a little hyperbolic, seeing as they couldn’t be counted on to aid us from the other side. Sima Junmo understood this as well, but he couldn’t resist the urge to contact someone on the outside after so long. Southern Plains, as it was now, was no better than a giant prison. We were the ones trying to break out of this prison, though, we weren’t inmates.

Because the underground of the city was still guarded by several powerful undead, the soldiers on the outside couldn’t enter. Their multiple attempts had ended in heavy losses, thus did their plans finally cease.

Yet it could be said that the true reason why they gave up was because the majority of the civilians within the city were already dead. That, and the fact that I was on the inside deflecting any criticism for them.

The hot topic of the day was no longer that the army was incompetent, but rather about me…

For the people of this new world, Gaia, or maybe just the entire dimension, I was more famous than any idol or president.

A disaster of this scale was practically unheard of in modern Earth times. Gaia was no different. It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that there was no one who didn’t know of me at this point.

That was what Duanmu Xinqing told me. Honestly, this suited me just fine. After all, collecting faith had a lot to do with being well-known.

I had long pondered how we could leave this city, but I did not possess the strength to do so then. Things were different now…

I’m going to have my nether flame lioness do a round around the outskirts, let’s see if any undead dares show itself!

True to my word, I commanded my lioness to patrol the area.

When it first appeared, all the surrounding ghosts were drawn to it like flies to a flame. However, none of them dared venture closer than twenty meters. Their faces twisted into ghastly shapes, their ethereal hands morphed into horrific claws, yet none of them dared cross that line.

The nether flame lioness merely roared out of boredom and those ghosts who weren’t all too keen about approaching in the first place promptly retreated.

With such a powerful summon leading the way, the ghosts did not even try to block our path.

This scene was duly captured and uploaded on the net, turning it into a viral legend.

Throughout this final leg, I was on guard at all times, worried that some giant undead would just claw its way out of the ground and ambush us. Fortunately, this never happened -Karlston’s doing?

The survivors were safely delivered into the hands of the soldiers, at which I turned towards Southern Plains once more.

Naturally, the girls couldn’t bear to be left alone like that, but I had already discussed this with them last night. They knew their strength was lacking, so none of them said a word, though they desperately wanted to.

There were actually a bunch of reasons I had to return to Southern Plains, not least of which was to deal with the loose ends. Karlston had to be dealt with. More survivors needed to be saved. And I needed more faith. Also… this was also for my own humanity.

Ever since becoming a devil, I took extra pains in reminding myself that I had a human’s heart.

This was my personal fight to retain my human compassion!

In the following month, I scoured the entire city, saving thousands in the process. Unfortunately, this number did not cross the ten thousand mark. For a city that once boasted a population in the millions, this was just…

While doing so, I managed to locate Karlston’s hideout. It was a skyscraper owned by Life Unbound Biotech Private Limited. This was their headquarters. Former headquarters.

Karlston did not interfere at all during this entire process. In all likelihood, he had a plan of his own. If I had to hazard a guess, he was making ready for our final showdown.

Now that I had confirmed the rescue of all the survivors, I opened up a comms channel with Duanmu Xinqing.

Up till now, I did not contact anyone on my own, not since I recovered my memories. There was always this nagging feeling in the back of my head that I had deceived them.

In fact, this was even worse than deception.

Thanks to me, Duanmu Xinqing, Duanmu Bitong, Qiaoqiao, her aunty… they weren’t the only ones, too… a whole bunch of people were brainwashed to fit in this false identity of mine.

Ferti’nier shared this body with me, meaning her transgressions were mine to bear.

How was I to face them in light of all that? It felt like I had wronged them, but I couldn’t tell them the truth…

Truly, a difficult dilemma. I almost did not wish for my memories to return.

However, that thought was quickly banished. I was no longer that coward that only hid in the corner of his mind, unable to face reality.

After a month of silence, my first attempt at contact was immediately picked up.

As the all-too-familiar, yet somehow foreign, screen flashed to life, so did a maelstrom of emotions.

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