7: Chapter 7 The Weight of War

The Lieutenant's voice was like a steel blade, stabbing deeply into everyone's hearts.

"Eight... eight hundred million?"

In the carriage, many people gasped.

"To be precise, that was the data from last year's census—around eight hundred and thirty-seven million."

The Lieutenant's voice was devoid of any emotion, as if he were merely stating today's weather.

"And those are just the recorded ones in the Nanling region. If you include the ultra-small ferocious beasts, those lurking underground, and the newborn cubs, the number would be much higher."

Dead silence.

Absolute silence.

The students who had been cheering moments ago looked as if they were being strangled; their mouths were wide open, yet they couldn't make a sound.

The class monitor Zhao Fansheng's smile froze on his face, and a notebook fell from the hand of a boy beside him with a thud.

Eight hundred million.

How large was that number?

The entire faculty and student body of Jiangcheng University totaled less than three thousand people, and that included all four grades from freshman to senior year.

How many people were in the entire Jiangcheng? Less than five million!

What about Great Xia? The total population had only recently surpassed one billion...

This meant that in the Nanling region alone, the number of ferocious beasts was close to eighty percent of the national population.

"Im... impossible, right?"

A girl said, trembling.

"How big is Nanling? How could it possibly hold eight hundred million ferocious beasts?"

"It can hold them."

The Lieutenant let out a long sigh.

"Because ferocious beasts don't need to go to school, they don't need to shop at malls, and they don't need to see doctors. As long as they have food, they can survive."

"They can live in caves layer upon layer, they can be active twenty-four-seven, and they can eat anything—including their own kind!"

"An adult female Rock Wolf can give birth to six to eight cubs per litter, twice a year. The cubs reach sexual maturity in six months and then continue to breed."

"Have you all studied exponential growth?"

Someone nodded subconsciously.

"Then you should know what that eight hundred million will become within five years if left unchecked."

The Lieutenant paused for a moment.

"If my math is correct, it should be eight billion."

"A tenfold increase!"

"What about ten years later?"

"Eighty billion!"

The students fell silent.

The numbers coming from the Lieutenant's mouth were large enough to crush their psychological defenses.

The false sense of security brought by blowing up the Rock Shadow Leopard earlier was now torn to shreds.

The Lieutenant walked back to the front of the group and patted the combat knife hanging at his waist.

"So, these are the real main force."

He then pointed to the assault rifle on his back.

"And these, of course."

"Are artillery and bombs useful?"

"Yes, of course they are!"

"When a beast tide forms a scale that impacts the defensive line, a single 155mm shell can kill dozens or even hundreds of them."

"But more often than not, the ferocious beasts are scattered. They lurk, they ambush. Several shells might not even trade for a single beast!"

He pointed toward the distant mountain forests.

"Dozens of Rock Wolves might be hiding there, split into over a dozen small teams, infiltrating through a dozen paths simultaneously."

"Where do you fire the artillery? Where do you drop the bombs?"

"The ultimate form of war still relies on people."

The Lieutenant's gaze swept across every young face.

"It relies on soldiers, it relies on you Awakeners, holding knives and guns to kill those beasts!"

The Lieutenant's words were like a heavy hammer, striking fiercely at everyone's hearts.

The boys who had just been fantasizing about killing as many as came were now pale-faced.

They finally understood why the news always emphasized the importance of Awakeners and why the country invested heavily in establishing martial arts universities.

It was because only Awakeners—those with extraordinary physical fitness who could use special abilities and efficiently kill ferocious beasts with cold weapons—were the cost-effective solution.

Otherwise, like just now, a single large-caliber shell eliminated one Rank 2 Shadow Leopard, but at what cost? Eight thousand Great Xia Coins!

But there were over eight hundred million ferocious beasts in the entire Nanling. If they used shells for all of them, even if one shell could eliminate one beast, the cost would exceed sixty trillion—not even emptying the national treasury would be enough.

And this was just the Nanling region. Looking across the entire country, the number of ferocious beasts was even higher. How could they fight?

The Lieutenant was right; to deal with ferocious beasts, they had to rely on Awakeners!

The convoy restarted and drove toward the final leg of the journey.

But the atmosphere inside the vehicle had completely changed.

No one spoke; no one looked out the window.

Everyone kept their heads down, processing the information they had just received.

The carriage remained silent for a long time until someone finally whispered:

"My cousin said that the first time he went to the battlefield, he killed three ferocious beasts and then vomited for a whole day. It wasn't out of disgust, but because he suddenly realized that at that rate, he would have to kill three hundred and eighty thousand beasts just to match the daily population growth of beasts in Nanling."

"Then... then what's the point?"

Someone asked with a sob in their voice.

"The point is..."

"If you don't kill them, they will break in and kill your parents, your friends, and your neighbors. And then they will breed even faster."

Lin Mo suddenly spoke, his voice so calm it was out of place with his surroundings.

Everyone looked at Lin Mo.

He was still staring out the window, his profile looking cold and hard in the afterglow of the setting sun.

The Lieutenant glanced at Lin Mo through the rearview mirror, a hint of surprise flashing in his eyes.

...

...

After a journey lasting eight and a half hours, the convoy finally drove through the base gates.

At this time, the setting sun had just sunk below the mountain ridge.

On the watchtower, searchlights turned on, cutting piercing beams of light across the sky.

When many people got out of the vehicle, their legs were still weak.

From fear, and also from the heavy burden.

This was the first time they truly understood the weight of the word 'war.'