Chapter 122 Whoever escapes, dies!

Great Xia Country, southwest hinterland.

The "Red Star" Special Aviation Materials Factory, Code 404 Workshop.

This place is the heart valve of the entire Great Xia Country's industry, working day and night to produce heat-resistant ceramic blades for the "Xuanbird" drone fighters. Inside the workshop, machines roared, blue electric arcs flashed one after another, and workers were like precise gears wound up, each of them racing against death.

But amidst this hustle and bustle, a pair of cold eyes was staring fixedly through protective goggles at the cooling vent beneath the main console.

"Engineer Liu, what are you looking at? The tolerance for this batch must be controlled within 0.01 millimeters; Commander Lin gave a strict order." A technician nearby wiped the sweat from his brow and asked casually.

The middle-aged man known as "Engineer Liu" adjusted his glasses, a stiff smile pulling at the corners of his mouth: "It's nothing, I see this machine is vibrating a bit, just checking the anchor bolts."

His name was Liu Wei, the chief engineer of the Red Star factory, and also a titan in the field of materials science in Great Xia Country.

Of course, he had another identity—the "Deep Sea," a mole planted by the CIA in the Great Xia Country's industrial system for twenty years, codenamed "Woodpecker."

Ten minutes ago, he received an encrypted instruction from across the ocean: "The ark is about to set sail, this is the last ticket. Destroy the Red Star factory, and we will pick you up at the coordinate point."

Liu Wei reached into his wide work pocket and touched the miniature tactical nuclear bomb disguised as a thermos. The yield was not large, but it was enough to instantly vaporize this factory buried deep underground, along with three thousand high-level technicians.

"Sorry, everyone."

Liu Wei muttered to himself. Every man for himself, or heaven and earth will destroy him. That was the ark, the ark that could escape the Solar System! Who would want to stay on this broken ball to be buried with it?

He pretended to bend down to tie his shoelaces, and while the patrol guard's gaze swept past, he quickly shoved the "thermos" into the maintenance port at the bottom of the main console, his fingers trembling as he pressed the red detonation key.

At this moment, his heart was pounding wildly.

As long as he pressed this for a second, he could leave Earth!

"Snap!"

A large, calloused hand, like withered tree bark, reached out from the side without warning and gripped Liu Wei's wrist tightly.

Liu Wei was terrified out of his wits and looked up abruptly.

Coming into his view was an old, gnarled face that grinned, revealing a mouthful of teeth stained yellow by smoke.

"Chief Engineer Liu, I just cleaned this place, what are you stuffing inside?"

It was Old Man Zhang, who was responsible for the workshop's hygiene. He was usually timid, handed out cigarettes to everyone, had a hunchback, and was always holding a broom.

"Let go! You stinking janitor!" A fierce light flashed in Liu Wei's eyes, and his other hand instantly pulled out a ceramic dagger, stabbing fiercely at the old man's throat.

He had received professional training; this strike was fast, accurate, and ruthless.

However, what happened in the next second caused Liu Wei's worldview to collapse.

Old Man Zhang, who usually panted just from walking, had eyes that instantly became sharper than a falcon's. He didn't dodge, but instead, using an angle that defied human mechanics, slammed his shoulder into him.

"Baji, Iron Mountain Lean."

"Bang!"

With a muffled thud, Liu Wei felt as if he had been hit by a heavy truck; his whole body flew sideways and slammed heavily into the machine tool. The ceramic dagger was in Old Man Zhang's hand at some point, pressing against his throat.

"Cough, cough... you..." Liu Wei spat out a mouthful of fresh blood, his eyes full of disbelief.

"Retired for forty years, my hands are a bit rusty." Old Man Zhang calmly pried the "thermos" from Liu Wei's hand, then grinned at the camera: "Commander, does this count as a work-related injury? Can I get reimbursed for cigarette money?"

...

"Celestial" Fortress, core command room.

Lin Yuan watched the old face of Old Man Zhang, which was wrinkled like a chrysanthemum, on the screen, the corners of his mouth rising slightly.

"There's enough cigarettes, special supply ones. Also, record a first-class merit for him."

"Commander, that miniature nuclear bomb has entered the countdown, 30 seconds left." gaia's voice was calm and without ripples, "It is recommended to have Old Man Zhang throw the nuclear bomb into the exhaust shaft immediately."

"Throw it? That's too wasteful."

Lin Yuan stood up, a flash of tyrannical coldness appearing in the depths of his eyes.

"Since it's a gift sent by the Eagles, we must reciprocate; we have to send it back."

"gaia, charge the space jump engine."

"Lock coordinates: North America, Nevada, Area 51 underground base."

...

Across the ocean, Nevada.

This was the Eagles' most top-secret military exclusion zone. Five hundred meters deep underground, a huge cavity had been excavated, and tens of thousands of elites were working day and night.

Under the huge searchlights, a three-thousand-meter-long silver spaceship was parked quietly.

This was the "ark".

It didn't have any weapon systems installed; all the space was used to load cryogenic sleep pods and luxurious living supplies. Its propulsion system was built by the Eagles with the power of the entire nation, and its sole purpose was—to escape.

"Hurry! Hurry! Are the red wine and artwork from District 3 loaded yet?"

"Has Mr. Morgan's thoroughbred horse arrived? That must be loaded onto the ship with priority!"

The base Commander was roaring into the walkie-talkie when suddenly, the base's air defense alarm screamed shrilly.

"Warning! High-energy space reaction detected! Warning!"

"What is that? A missile from Great Xia Country?" The Commander looked up in horror.

There was no missile.

There was only a strange distortion of space.

It was as if an invisible giant hand had crudely torn open the curtain of reality.

The next second, several figures fell out of thin air and landed heavily on the launch platform of the "ark" spaceship.

It was Liu Wei, who had just been in the Great Xia Country factory, along with several other spies who had infiltrated other key departments and hadn't had time to act yet.

Of course, there was also the "thermos" in Liu Wei's arms, which was flashing a countdown frantically.

"Countdown: 00:05"

Liu Wei was stunned.

He looked around blankly.

The familiar Stars and Stripes, the familiar white faces, and that... ark he had dreamed of?

"I... I made it?" Liu Wei was ecstatic, "The extraction was this fast?!"

"Fxxk! What is that?! A bomb?!" The Eagle Commander looked at the red light in Liu Wei's hand, his eyes almost popping out, "Throw him out! Hurry!!!"

Before they could make a move, Lin Yuan's indifferent face was once again forcibly connected to every global channel.

Including every big screen in this top-secret base.

"Since you want to get on the ship so much, I'll give you a ride."

On the screen, Lin Yuan snapped his fingers.

"Boom————!"

That miniature nuclear bomb exploded with a roar right next to the "ark"'s most vulnerable propulsion engine.

A mushroom cloud that was not exactly huge rose up in the enclosed underground space. Although it was not enough to destroy the entire base, the violent explosion wave instantly tore apart the "ark"'s thrusters, triggering a secondary explosion of the fuel inside the spaceship.

Flames swallowed everything like a frenzied dragon.

Those red wines, famous paintings, and thoroughbred horses that had just been moved on, along with the spies who were dreaming of escape, instantly turned to ashes.

But it wasn't over yet.

Lin Yuan's voice, like the judgment of a judge from hell, exploded in the ears of billions of people around the world.

"I'll show you a big treasure too."

Above space, the armor layer at the bottom of the "Celestial" Fortress slid open slowly.

A giant gun barrel with a diameter of over five hundred meters, like a heavenly pillar, slowly extended and locked onto the coordinates in Nevada.

That was the titan-class main cannon—the "Starlight Destroyer".

"Charging 30%."

"Fire."

There was no earth-shattering roar, only a beam of ghostly blue light that was almost aesthetic, silently piercing through the atmosphere.

It accurately penetrated the crust, like a hot knife cutting through butter, plunging straight five hundred meters underground.

A few seconds later.

The Nevada desert suddenly rolled like ocean waves.

Subsequently, the earth collapsed, and magma surged.

That "ark" base, which had cost trillions of dollars and condensed the last industrial foundation of the West, was completely turned into a bottomless abyss of vitrified glass.

The world was dead silent.

Everyone watching the live broadcast, whether they were tycoons or civilians, felt a chill shoot from the soles of their feet to their scalps.

On the screen, Lin Yuan looked at the abyss with a blank expression and spoke slowly:

"You can be a deserter, swim out of the Solar System yourself."

"But whoever dares to use the life-saving money of all humanity to build a private ship, this is the end."

"On this planet, there are only those who die in battle."

"There are no cowards scared to death."

"Whoever flees, dies."

...

This time, there were no protests, no parades.

That extremely violent method, instead, was like a shot of adrenaline, fiercely stabbing into the nerves of all humanity on the verge of collapse.

Desperate people don't need gentle comfort, but absolute power and fairness!

Why should we wait for death while you can take a spaceship and run away?

Now it's better, everyone dies together, or... everyone lives together!

"Well killed! God Lin is awesome!"

"Damn! I wanted to go rob a supermarket just now, now I just want to join the army! This is what you call a real man!"

"Great Xia Country is mighty! Celestial is mighty!"

Within Great Xia Country, the public opinion trend completed a shocking reversal in an instant.

Those public intellectuals and big Vs who were originally being sarcastic and preaching "anti-war" and "surrender" were so scared looking at the abyss on the screen that their hands were shaking so hard they couldn't even type on their keyboards.

But they had no chance left.

"gaia, is the list ready?"

Lin Yuan turned off the live broadcast and turned to look at Chen Weiguo behind him.

Chen Weiguo took a deep breath and stubbed out his cigarette. This old man, who was usually gentle and refined, was now full of murderous intent in his eyes.

"A total of three thousand four hundred and twenty-one people. Including hidden spies, collaborators, and so-called 'experts' who spread panic."

Lin Yuan nodded, picked up the cup of goji berry tea that had already gone cold from the table, and drank it in one gulp.

"Do it."

"Tonight, clean the house."

...

That night, Great Xia Country did not sleep.

Black military armored vehicles, like ghosts, shuttled through the streets of major cities.

The special operation team codenamed "Inspectorate" knocked on the doors of luxurious mansions that had originally been tightly closed with thunderous speed.

"What are you doing?! I have freedom of speech! I want to see my lawyer!"

A certain "public intellectual" who usually held sway on the internet was dragged out of bed, screaming at the top of his lungs.

"According to the 'Wartime Order No. 1', you are suspected of treason."

The inspectorate captain had an expressionless face and directly put a black hood over his head, dragging him onto the car like a dead dog.

The same scene happened all over the country.

This was a scraping of the bone to treat the poison.

Although painful, after the pus and blood were squeezed out, what remained was an iron-like will.

The next morning.

When the first ray of sunshine shone on the land of the Divine Province, people were surprised to find that the streets had changed.

Those robbers full of hostility were gone, and those big loudspeakers spreading rumors had disappeared.

Replacing them were uniform military songs and the deafening roar of machines in factories.

All entertainment venues were closed.

All luxury shops were converted into war supply distribution points.

All factories, regardless of whether they produced cars, mobile phones, or underwear before, now only produced one thing—

Weapons.

This long-silent war machine of Great Xia Country had finally stripped away all rust and impurities and began to operate at full speed with terrifying efficiency!

"Report, Commander!"

Li Na walked into the command room with a data report, her face filled with unconcealable excitement.

"In the past 24 hours, the speed of global resources gathering towards Great Xia Country has increased by 300%!"

"The production of 'Heavenly Soldier' mechs has hit a new high, and it is expected that the first full division will be equipped next week!"

Lin Yuan stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, looking at the blue planet beneath his feet that was regaining its vitality, his eyes containing no joy, only unfathomable gravity.

"Not enough."

He muttered to himself, his fingers gently rubbing the [Mechanical Divinity Fragment] brought back from the battlefield.

"This level of resistance is still like a mantis trying to block a chariot in front of the Mechanical Papacy."

"We need even stronger power."

"Power strong enough... to make even gods feel fear."