412: Foreign senior executives are feeling uneasy

Thousands of kilometers away from the Western Theater's secret base, in Paris, France.

After receiving the order issued by Yang Dian and sent by Ya Zi, Chen Xiang immediately commanded the Expeditionary Force and its affiliated legions to retreat from the front line, preparing to wait for Yang Dian to open the gate.

As he retreated, the front line immediately became tense.

Machina 03 was a bit confused and did not immediately launch a full-scale counterattack.

After all, such things had happened before.

Humans were cunning, and it had fallen for similar tricks several times before.

With Chen Xiang's retreat, it thought he was playing some kind of feigned retreat to lure them in.

It decided to wait and observe the situation further.

While the Machina was not in a hurry, France was.

Previously, every time Chen Xiang retreated from the front line, he would notify them to prepare for a counterattack.

But what did it mean to withdraw from the front line without a word this time?

Moreover, this time, it wasn't just a single direction of troops that withdrew; all five hundred Expeditionary Force soldiers and over 100,000 Lizardmen soldiers were pulled back from the front line.

Therefore, the French high-ranking officials who received the news all gathered together.

"Why did Huaxia suddenly contract its forces? Is it preparing to carry out some special military mission? Why didn't they inform us?"

Facing the inquiry from Louis, the Commander of the Ground Forces, President Maël rubbed his temples, looking troubled:

"It's not just the Huaxia troops on our side."

"Just now, I received messages from the leaders of Norway, Myanmar-Thailand, India, Turkey, and other regions; the Huaxia Expeditionary Force's troops in their areas also contracted at the same time."

"Almost all Huaxia troops stationed abroad abandoned their front-line positions simultaneously."

As Maël's words fell, someone in the conference room immediately voiced their confusion:

"Why contract forces at the same time? Are they preparing to directly attack the Machina's lair?"

"No, if they were going to attack the Machina's lair directly, they would definitely notify us in advance to cooperate, just like the previous times when they asked us to cooperate with them to complete missions."

"Do you think something might have happened within Huaxia, and they need to return to Huaxia?"

Upon realizing this possibility, everyone present immediately became restless.

"No, we can't let them go back."

"Now, on Earth, there are not only Machina but also the Weird!"

"That's right, the Machina are fine; they can't find bunkers deep underground, and even if the Machina rebel, they can only kill on the surface."

"But the Weird are different; the Weird are omnipresent, they can appear anywhere, and we need the Huaxia people to help us resist the Weird."

Maël put a packet of white powder from the table into a drawer, then looked at Foreign Minister André beside him:

"André, you represent the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to communicate with Huaxia, send them a communication request, and tell them that I want to speak with their Foreign Minister."

André nodded:

"I will now contact..."

Before André could finish speaking, Louis's Redmi phone on the table suddenly lit up.

He unlocked the screen, glanced at the newly received message, and then slumped back into his chair, looking dejected:

"The Huaxia Expeditionary Force sent a message."

"The Commander of the Expeditionary Force is preparing to counterattack the World of the Strange, and just ordered all Expeditionary Force soldiers to assemble; they will return to Huaxia for rest and recuperation, and then launch a counterattack against the World of the Strange in seven days to a month."

As Louis's words fell, France's Minister of Health, Walker, immediately erupted in anger:

"Fuck! How dare they withdraw their troops and counterattack the World of the Strange without our consent? What if it enrages those Weird and causes more Weird to descend?"

After speaking, seeing everyone looking at him with strange eyes, Walker couldn't help but frown:

"Why are you all looking at me like that? Did I say something wrong?"

Maël rubbed his temples, not wanting to talk to an idiot.

Louis pulled out the golden pistol from his waistband, pointing it directly at Walker.

"Because now the gun is in the hands of the Huaxia people."

"Because the Huaxia people hold the gun, their strength is stronger than all other countries on Earth combined; they can hit whoever they want."

"Is that reason enough?"

Walker stared blankly at the dark muzzle for a moment, then slumped his body in resignation:

"Then what do we do?"

"Hide back in the bunkers?"

Maël gave a bitter smile:

"What if the Weird appear in the bunkers? There's nowhere to escape."

After a bitter smile, Maël looked at Chelsea, the director of the European Paranormal Foundation:

"Chelsea, you've had more contact with Chen Xiang recently."

"Go talk to Chen Xiang and try to keep some of the Huaxia warriors."

"Money, beautiful women, resources."

"Anything we have, we can promise him."

"For the warriors willing to stay, we can provide them with endless fine wine, beauties, and delicacies."

"Even those damned Lizardmen."

"As the Commander of the Huaxia Expeditionary Force's Seventh Legion, I believe he has the authority to keep some people."

"Even if he doesn't have the authority, he can still make suggestions to the Commander of the Expeditionary Force."

After Chelsea nodded and left, Maël looked at Louis again:

"Louis, go appease the militiamen."

"With the Weird present, returning to the bunkers is impossible; we still need those militiamen to take up arms and protect us."

"And that group of blind nuns."

"Contact them."

"If the Huaxia people all leave, we will need their power to deal with the Weird."

"André, use diplomatic channels to contact Huaxia to see if we can use diplomatic means to retain some of the Huaxia Expeditionary Force soldiers..."

Just as the high-ranking officials of France, or rather, the high-ranking officials of various countries across Eurasia, became restless due to the news of the Expeditionary Force soldiers' imminent departure, Yang Dian, who had returned to the Expeditionary Force Base from the Western Theater, also frowned in distress.

"Commander, what are you pondering with such a worried look?"

Chen Ci, sitting not far from Yang Dian, adjusted the monitoring screen in front of her and looked at Yang Dian with some curiosity, saying:

"Are you worried about how to deal with the Weird?"

"That shouldn't be the case."

"You were very fierce last time when you used your Martial Dao True Body to help Wang Wu fight the Weird."

"This time, with your True Body going, shouldn't it be more like an unstoppable rampage?"

Yang Dian shook his head:

"I always feel that something bad will happen once I go to the World of the Strange."

Chen Ci sat up straight, her expression serious:

"Is there danger in the World of the Strange?"

"There's definitely danger, but that's for you all."

"I don't feel any danger."

At this point, Yang Dian subconsciously tapped the table a few more times, pondered for a while, and then spoke:

"I always feel that after I leave Earth, something bad will happen on Earth."

Chen Ci pondered for a moment and then said:

"Is it possible that such a bad thing has always existed, but it hasn't erupted because you are on Earth?"

"Once you leave, that thing will erupt and have a huge impact on Earth?"

"Is it the Machina, or those Alien Planet people from America who fell from the dimensional rifts?"

Yang Dian, tapping the table, suddenly thought of something:

"It could also be the World of the Strange."