Guardian

Outside the cemetery in the suburbs of Luoli City, a girl with beautiful, long, jet-black hair was dressed in black casual wear, standing tall with a straight back. Her every move and gesture exuded a natural and contented grace. Even in stillness, her charm was captivating.

Gu Xiaoxi placed a bunch of white chrysanthemums on her mother's tombstone.

"Mom, rest assured, I will take good care of myself." Gu Xiaoxi kowtowed to the tombstone and turned to walk down the hill.

By then, dusk was nearing, and the golden sunlight made the tombstones on the hillside glisten.

Gu Xiaoxi descended the hill and sat at the deserted bus stop, waiting for the bus.

Suddenly, a jarring screech of brakes pierced the air.

Gu Xiaoxi looked up curiously and saw four or five black luxury cars blocking a deep green military vehicle, JP80.

In the blink of an eye, eight stocky men, armed with handguns, stepped out of the luxury cars and slowly approached the JP80.

From where Gu Xiaoxi stood, she could clearly see a man in military uniform sitting in the driver's seat of JP80.

His face was smeared with blood, obscuring his features, but the vaguely discernible contours of his face suggested a remarkable bearing.

"Quan Shaoqing, you are done for!" the leader of the men in black snarled with a fierce smile, his handgun ready to pull the trigger.

Meanwhile, the man inside the vehicle was as pale as paper at the corners of his mouth, yet his expression was unusually cold, staring at the eight men surrounding him, his deep and starry eyes suddenly flashing with a cold light. "Hmph! Before I die, I will see that you all are brought to justice," he declared.

Gu Xiaoxi narrowed her eyes, her gaze intense. It was apparent that Quan Shaoqing had been shot in the shoulder, as his military green jacket was soaked with a large patch of blood.

Despite this, his moves were extremely tricky. He managed to dodge the bullets, quickly crawled out of the car window, threw a punch with his left hand, flipped backward with his tall body, and performed the movements seamlessly, agile as a leopard.

In just a few exchanges, he had knocked all eight men in black to the ground.

Gu Xiaoxi watched, speechless. Was this man even human? His moves were swift, accurate, and ruthless; Gu Xiaoxi hadn't been able to catch several of them before she saw the men in black floored, coughing up blood, and fainting.

Gu Xiaoxi looked on admiringly at the man not far away, who stood tall, his military green silhouette against the afternoon sun, casting a majestic profile akin to that of the War God, inspiring awe and reverence.

Gu Xiaoxi thought that might be the end of it, but from the foremost black luxury car, an obese middle-aged man alighted once again.

The middle-aged man held a gun aimed at Quan Shaoqing's head, "You're at your limit. Quan Shaoqing, even deploying your entire unit wouldn't be enough to catch me," he said.

Quan Shaoqing clutched his chest with one hand, his fingers clenched so hard that his nails dug into his flesh, the pain keeping him barely conscious. Even if he had just one breath left, he was determined to put the drug lord in front of him behind bars.

Yet, indeed, he was out of strength; due to excessive blood loss, his consciousness was slowly slipping away, even now he was struggling to hold on.

As the drug lord Zhang San was about to pull the trigger, Quan Shaoqing felt that even taking a single step was difficult. Was this how he was going to die?

A murderous intent flashed in Quan Shaoqing's eyes as he drew a dagger from his bosom.

Even in death, he would take these criminals down with him.

"Hahaha! The much-revered General of the Z Division is just this after all, Quan Shaoqing. Go die for me!" Zhang San laughed maniacally, looking at Quan Shaoqing as though he were already a dead man.

However, before his finger could pull the trigger, a large rock fell from the sky and smashed heavily onto his head. Blood gushed out from the bald spot on his head like a fountain.

Gu Xiaoxi dusted off the stone debris from her hands, stood with her hands on her hips, and looked at the drug lord Zhang San, who was slowly falling to the ground. Her beautiful eyes curved into a playful arc, "I've been watching from the side all along, and you didn't even consider me a factor. Bullying a people's hero, you deserved to have a big rock fall on you from the sky."

In the end, she made a funny face at the Zhang San, whose eyes hadn't yet closed in death.

Under the setting sun, Quan Shaoqing watched the girl's elongated silhouette and that cute, mischievous face.

The man, who had been expressionless, curved his lips into a faint smile, casting a meaningful glance at Gu Xiaoxi.

Ultimately, the dagger fell from his hand, he lost his strength, and collapsed on the ground.

*

One week later, at the largest Military Region Hospital in A City.

In a high-end VIP ward, the man leaned back on the hospital bed, holding a stack of documents.

"Superior officer, are you really going to be Miss Gu's guardian?" Lin Mi was utterly baffled. Quan Shaoqing, who only ever caught criminals and defended the nation, never meddling in other affairs, was now showing interest in an orphan.