176: A sense of crisis is overwhelming! We must accelerate development!

When Lu Chen's ultimate battle cry, “Become the most terrifying hunter,” filled with defiance and madness, clearly echoed through the sightseeing hall of the “expedition,” the entire hall erupted!

All the top officials of Xia Country, who had just been despairing over the terrifying, apocalyptic “the cleaners,” suddenly felt as if the most powerful shot of adrenaline had been forcefully injected into their souls!

One by one, they fiercely climbed out of the cold abyss of despair!

Their faces were filled with determination!

Flames burned in their eyes!

“That’s right!”

Ye Qingcang, the Old General who always had a fiery temper, was the first to leap up!

He slapped his thigh and roared:

“What the hell is there to be afraid of?!”

“Isn’t it just some damn alien?!”

“Even if I turn into a ghost four centuries from now!”

“I’ll crawl out from underground,”

“to personally watch our Xia Country's Heavenly Court fleet blast their damned ‘the cleaners’ into cosmic dust!”

His roar, full of iron will and ferocity, instantly ignited the long-dormant fighting spirit in the hearts of all the officials present!

“Right! Screw them!”

“It’s just four hundred years!”

“Our Xia Country has survived five thousand years of trials and tribulations! Why should we fear some goddamn alien?!”

“Exactly! Lu Chen is right! We are not ants! We are hunters!”

Instantly!

The oppressive, despairing atmosphere in the entire sightseeing hall was completely swept away!

It was replaced by a morbid, frenzied, tragic sense of resolve, ready to burn their boats and fight with their backs against the wall—

—a heroic passion!

They knew.

From this moment on!

They would no longer be fighting for Xia Country!

They would fight for themselves!

For their descendants!

For the tiny, fragile, yet infinitely potential azure blue

planet beneath their feet!

They would fight!

And at this moment.

Kunlun Mountain Underground Base.

Long Weiguo and Wang Peng also witnessed it through heavenly craft's real-time broadcast.

They personally witnessed the “Cosmic Crisis,” an event worthy of being recorded in human history,

firsthand.

“Holy... holy crap.”

Wang Peng stared at the death

countdown on the screen, which was saturated with a bloody, destructive aura!

His honest, chubby face was filled with unprecedented, ghost-seeing

horror!

“Chen Zi, what kind of hornet's nest did he stir up?!”

“He actually managed to attract aliens?!”

“Shut up!”

Long Weiguo's face, usually as steady as a mountain, was also etched with unprecedented solemnity!

He knew!

The situation was serious!

So big that it had completely exceeded the limits

of everyone's imagination!

“heavenly craft!”

He picked up the internal communication phone, his voice cold and resolute!

“Hmm?” Lu Chen's characteristically calm voice came from the other end of the line.

“No, wait, it's Lu Chen!”

“Yes!”

“You brat, get your ass back here right now!”

“Forget about that damn Mars place for now!”

“Right now, we have more important matters to discuss!”

“Discuss?”

A light chuckle came from Lu Chen on the other end of the phone.

“Director Long.”

“You're not trying to discuss with me how to surrender to that damned ‘the cleaners’,”

“are you?”

“You!”

Long Weiguo was instantly left speechless!

His old face flushed crimson like a pig's liver!

“Alright, I'm done joking with you.”

Lu Chen's voice suddenly became incredibly cold and serious!

“Director Long, listen carefully.”

“Starting right now.”

“I want you to use every bit of power you possess!”

“At the fastest possible speed!”

“For our Xia Country, and for the entirety of human civilization!”

“Establish an ultimate Information Barrier capable of defending against any malicious prying from the depths of the universe!”

“Information Barrier!”

“At the same time!”

His voice grew even more impassioned!

“‘god of fire,’ ‘Kua Fu,’ ‘Shennong,’ ‘Jianmu,’ ‘Kunpeng’”

“All sub-projects under the ‘pangu’ banner!”

“Starting today, I want all of them to enter the highest level ‘wartime’ status!”

“I don't care what methods you use!”

“I want to see, in the shortest amount of time possible,”

“an unprecedented, explosive great leap”

“in Xia Country's technological level!”

“Because,”

his voice became incredibly solemn!

“The time we have left,”

“is running out.”

That afternoon.

A highest-level emergency meeting, more serious and somber than any before,

was secretly convened in Meeting Room No. 1 in Xia Country's Jinghai City!

Also remotely connected via the Pangu Virtual World were the supreme commanders of over two hundred countries and regions worldwide!

There was not a single expression on their faces!

Only the dead ash of despair, as if they had lost their parents.

Because just this morning!

The “the cleaners” ultimatum, filled with death and destruction, personally signed by Lu Chen,

had been sent out!

It had simultaneously been delivered to every one of their top-secret inboxes!

“Gentlemen...”

The Chief in the meeting room slowly began to speak.

His voice was hoarse and heavy.

“I believe everyone is already aware of the situation.”

“Now,”

“I want to hear your thoughts.”

The entire conference room was deathly silent.

No one spoke.

Because everyone's minds were still trapped in the immense fear dominated by the death

countdown—a fear capable of suffocating the entirety of human civilization!

“I propose,”

Ultimately, it was the newly appointed Western Alliance Acting Commander who first broke the oppressive silence.

He looked at the calm Eastern Youth on the video screen!

His blue eyes were filled with endless bitterness and pleading!

“I propose that starting today!”

“All nations and all peoples of humanity cast aside all prejudices and hatred!”

“And form an unprecedented, unbreakable,”

“Earth United Front!”

“We must contribute all our resources, all our talents, and all our strength,”

“without any reservation!”

“To be uniformly deployed by Mr. Lu Chen!”

“To jointly confront the apocalyptic crisis that will descend four centuries from now!”

“crisis!”

His declaration, full of tragic resolve akin to “a warrior cutting off his own arm,” instantly received unanimous agreement from all the national commanders present!

agreement!

“I agree!”

“We agree too!”

“For humanity!”

“For survival!”

In an instant!

Meeting Room No. 1 was filled with an unprecedented, united, tragic

passion!

Meanwhile, on the video screen.

Lu Chen watched the “historic” scene unfolding before him.

There wasn't the slightest ripple of emotion on his face.

As if all of this was completely expected.

He simply looked calmly at the group of “Earthlings” on the screen who had completely abandoned all selfish motives, and slowly said:

“Very good.”

“Since everyone has agreed.”

“Then I announce.”

“The Human Civilization ‘Self-Rescue’ Plan,”

“begins now!”