97: Chapter 98 Ji Linglong can break the shield with a single sword strike? The key is that she can't get over there!

In the depths of the desert night, the wind had completely stopped; even the usually restless sand seemed to be pressed to the ground by some invisible, massive force, not daring to make the slightest sound.

The whole world seemed to have fallen into an eerie silence, with only the cooling fan of the old-fashioned projector in the base's underground conference room buzzing.

This monotonous and dull noise was just like the countdown hanging over the heads of all humanity, slicing through people's fragile nerves every single second.

On the screen, that pale blue light shield covering Area 51 remained as steady as Mount Tai, emitting a despairing, cold light.

The red countdown numbers above—[29 days, 21 hours, 34 minutes]—seemed to stab fiercely into everyone's hearts with every tick, leaving them bleeding.

"We can't fight this; at this stage, it's impossible to fight."

Academician Li Zhenbang slumped in his chair, the pencil he had been using for calculations already unconsciously snapped into three pieces in his hand.

His eyes, once full of a thirst for knowledge, were now bloodshot.

"According to the data just transmitted back, that light shield is a standard 'Planetary-level Defense Field'. At the moment Xue Youyou attacked, the energy density at the point of impact soared to a terrifying value."

"It's like using a sharp dagger to stab a mountain cast from steel; although the dagger is sharp, the mountain is just too thick."

"Stellar-level..."

Lei Keming's fingers tapped unconsciously on the tabletop, making a ticking sound, appearing agitated.

He lit a cigarette but forgot to smoke it, letting the ash fall onto his brand-new military uniform.

"Old Li, what exactly is this so-called Star Alliance? Is it really that bizarre? Don't we still have the Taichu Realm? Can't our cultivators move mountains and fill seas?"

"Old Lei, you don't understand what I mean."

Li Zhenbang gave a bitter smile and pulled up a power comparison chart, his expression filled with deep regret, and even a kind of stifled anger.

"The combat power of the Taichu Realm is absolutely not below that of a level three civilization!"

Li Zhenbang stood up abruptly, pointing at the data on the screen, his tone excited:

"We've done model simulations! A great power at the Void Refinement Stage like Saintess Ji Linglong has enough individual destructive power to disintegrate this kind of planetary shield from the inside through the 'Law' level!"

"And an old monster like Blood Demon Old Ancestor, who is at the peak of the Mahayana Stage and has one foot in the Tribulation Transcendence Stage, doesn't even need to make a move; just by releasing his 'Demon Domain', he could corrode and paralyze all the electronic components of that Star Alliance fleet!"

"If he spared no cost, Blood Demon Old Ancestor alone could slaughter this fleet! In front of him, what is a level three civilization? Nothing more than a group of children holding toy guns!"

"Then what the hell are we afraid of!" Lei Keming slapped the table. "Call for backup! Get the Old Ancestor over here to take them down!"

"That's exactly the problem!"

Li Zhenbang sat back down in his chair, his voice becoming dry and desperate as he stated the most cruel fact.

"Help from afar is useless."

"The passage is closed. It will take six months to repair. And the enemy will arrive in 29 days."

"It's like holding the launch button for a nuclear weapon, but the missile is still locked in a warehouse tens of thousands of light-years away!"

"We watch helplessly as a group of robbers (level three civilization) armed with submachine guns rush into our home, while we only have a fruit knife (current Earth technology) in our hands."

"Although Xue Youyou is strong, she is only at the Nascent Soul Stage. Faced with the 'tortoise shell' of a level three civilization, her attack power isn't enough to break the defense."

"It's like sending a special forces soldier with a pistol to fight a tank; it's not that she isn't strong enough, it's that the magnitude hasn't reached that level."

"If the Saintess were here, even a single sword qi..."

Li Zhenbang closed his eyes in pain.

This is what is most despairing.

It's not that we can't beat them, but that the people who can beat them can't get here!

This is an extremely precise time-difference strike!

The Star Alliance must have calculated the window period when the Taichu Realm passage is closed!

The conference room was deathly silent.

This feeling of being stifled is ten thousand times worse than being directly defeated.

"Snap."

The potato chip can in Xue Youyou's hand was crushed flat.

She puffed out her cheeks, her small face full of defiance, and her heterochromatic eyes were burning with raging fury.

"I'm so mad! I'm so mad!"

Xue Youyou slammed the flattened potato chip can onto the table and jumped up, ready to rush outside. The demonic energy on her body was slightly out of control due to her emotional agitation, causing the table to vibrate and buzz.

"If Grandpa were here... no! If Linglong were here, she could split that broken shell in two with one sword! Would those tin-skinned mosquitoes dare to be so arrogant?"

"I'm going! I don't believe I can't grind it down! Even if I have to bite it with my teeth, I'll bite a hole in it! I don't believe any tortoise shell can withstand me smashing it every day!"

"Don't go."

Jiang Chen, who had been sitting silently in the corner, suddenly spoke.

His voice was very soft, but it carried an unquestionable calmness, like the only lighthouse in a storm.

"Youyou, come back. It's useless."

"Although your Asura Thorn is sharp, that shield is connected to an underground energy source. Your individual spiritual power is limited; trying to outlast an interstellar fleet is a bad strategy."

"And..."

Jiang Chen stood up, walked to the window, and looked at the pitch-black desert outside, his eyes cold and sharp.

"Since the Eagle Sauce dares to be so arrogant, it means they still have a backup plan. If you exhaust your strength, who will protect this last base?"

Global television, radio, and the internet were all looping that countdown, along with the face of the Eagle Sauce president, looking smug and triumphant.

["Give up resistance, stupid Earthlings."]

["The Star Alliance fleet has already warped. Don't count on your cultivators; we have detected that the space-time passage has closed."]

["Now, you are orphans."]

Fear spread across the globe like a plague.

The governments of many small countries had already collapsed, and the streets were full of rioters looting and burning.

Even within Huaxia, there were many voices of wavering.

"Jiang Chen."

Lei Keming walked up behind him and handed him a cigarette, his hand trembling slightly.

"Is there really no way to force open the passage on the Taichu side? Even if it's just to send over a single talisman!"

"Tried it."

Jiang Chen took out his phone, the screen displaying that grey system interface.

[Plane passage under maintenance. Remaining time: 5 months, 29 days.]

[Forced opening success rate: 0%. Note: Forget it, the system is out of power. Unless you can sacrifice the energy of a galaxy to recharge the system.]

"The road is cut off."

Jiang Chen threw the phone onto the table with a crisp "snap," a sound that seemed exceptionally harsh in the deathly silent conference room.

"Now, we are sitting ducks. Aside from waiting for death, it seems there's no other way."