234: Chapter 234 Climax: The Vanguard of the "Scavengers" Arrives!
At that moment, the entire world fell silent.
In Ark City, Lin Mo's office. He had just put down the report on the global trust index and was preparing to continue processing the mountain of documents on his desk. Su Xiaowan was still standing by his side, holding his hand.
A piercing alarm tore through all the tranquility.
It wasn't an ordinary alarm. It was a red alert—a top-level alarm that had never sounded before, enough to make the heart of anyone who heard it stop.
"Warning! Solar System Edge Early Warning Network—Highest Level Alert!"
"fuxi's" voice was no longer its usual calm, but carried a sense of urgency that even an AI couldn't completely hide. A massive holographic projection instantly unfolded in front of Lin Mo; on the edge of the star map, three glaring red light spots were flashing frantically.
"Three unidentified units—breaching the Kuiper Belt!"
"Energy signature analysis in progress... Complete! Targets confirmed as 'Scavenger-Type 7' combat units! Scale far exceeds the previous 'Probe' level! Individual energy readings—470 times that of a 'Probe'! Three times that of the main units that previously attacked the Moon!"
"Speed: 12% of the speed of light! Continuing to accelerate! Estimated time of arrival in the inner Solar System—72 hours!"
Su Xiaowan's hand suddenly tightened, her knuckles turning white.
Lin Mo stared at the three frantically pulsing red light spots, his pupils shrinking. Three times the main units that had nearly destroyed the Moon! One-twelfth the speed of light! Seventy-two hours!
Without any hesitation, his voice instantly rang through Ark City and, via the quantum network, reached the ears of every core GDA member:
"Activate the 'Doomsday Protocol'! All directors, all generals, all department heads—to the Assembly Hall immediately! Three minutes!"
Earth, the former North American Affiliated Zone, a community square on the edge of the New York ruins.
Old John was carrying a second cup of coffee, preparing to bring it to that group of engineers from Europa. Little Amelia followed behind him, skipping and singing a nursery rhyme she had just learned.
All the holographic screens in the square switched simultaneously.
No longer reports on reconstruction progress, no longer cheerful music, but a line of blood-red, constantly flashing large characters:
[Highest Level Red Alert—All Citizens Please Note—This Is Not a Drill—This Is Not a Drill—]
The coffee cup in Old John's hand shattered on the ground with a crash.
Little Amelia stopped singing and stared blankly at those red words, her small face instantly turning pale.
In the square, everyone stopped their work. A deathly silence.
It was unknown who was the first to rush toward the nearest underground bunker entrance.
The crowd surged frantically like a startled colony of ants. But there was no screaming, no pushing, no trampling. The countless drills over the past three months had carved "how to face a red alert" into everyone's bones.
Old John scooped up Little Amelia and rushed toward the bunker with the crowd.
His lips were trembling, but his steps did not falter.
The Moon, "Guanghan Palace" base.
Wang Lei was in the biomaterial cultivation factory, discussing the ratio for the next batch of materials with several young engineers. The moment the piercing alarm sounded, the data pad in his hand dropped to the floor with a clatter.
He jerked his head up, looking at the familiar starry sky outside the dome. Those three red light spots were already clearly visible on the star map, like three red-hot daggers frantically stabbing toward the heart of the Solar System.
"All personnel—to combat stations immediately! Base shields to full power! All defense platforms activated! This is not a drill! Repeat—this is not a drill!" His voice boomed in every corner of the base.
The young engineers' faces were pale, but no one panicked. They quickly rushed to their respective posts, their movements as fast as if they had trained a thousand times.
Wang Lei stared fixedly at those three light spots, his fists clenching until they cracked.
"Just finished one battle, and three more come..." he muttered to himself. "Damn it, can't they give us a moment to breathe?"
But he had no time to complain. He turned and rushed toward the base command center.
Mars, Lovo Base, Kelson's laboratory.
The moment the alarm sounded, Kelson's hand trembled violently, nearly throwing the data pad in his hand. He jerked his head up, looking at the red star map that suddenly popped up on the wall, his pupils shrinking.
Three times the previous main units. One-twelfth the speed of light. Seventy-two hours.
His first reaction was not fear or despair, but a nearly pathological excitement unique to technical fanatics.
"Three times... three times the 'Scavengers'..." he muttered to himself. "What kind of structure will their energy circuits have? How powerful will their weapons systems be? Their..."
Before he could finish, he was interrupted by a cold voice behind him.
"Kelson."
It was the Research Director. He stood at the laboratory door, his face as solemn as a dead man's.
"What are you thinking? You want to study them? You want to watch them tear the Earth to pieces just to study their remains?"
Kelson froze. He looked at the Research Director's bloodshot eyes, seeing the deep-seated fear and anger within them, and suddenly snapped back to reality.
He looked down at the cold monitoring bracelet on his wrist.
"I'm sorry," he whispered. "I'm just... used to it. Used to wanting to study something the moment I see something new. But you're right, now is not the time for research. Now is... the time for battle."
He looked up at the Research Director: "What can I do?"
The Research Director was silent for a few seconds before saying, "Do your job. Perfect that 'White Paper'. If humanity survives this battle, your research results will be put to use. If not..."
He didn't finish.
But both he and Kelson knew that if they couldn't, nothing would matter.
Ark City, Assembly Hall.
In three minutes, all core members were present.
No one spoke. Everyone stared at the three steadily approaching red light spots, listening to "fuxi's" cold, emotionless analytical report:
"target a: Energy signature analysis—Main weapon suspected to be 'Spatial Fault Cutting', capable of creating permanent local spatial rifts to tear apart all material structures."
"Target B: Energy signature analysis—Main weapon suspected to be 'Matter Decay Ray', capable of accelerating target atomic decay, causing any material to turn into basic particles within seconds."
"Target C: Energy signature analysis—Main weapon suspected to be 'Gravitational Singularity Projection', capable of creating micro black holes in the target area to swallow everything."
"Three-target coordinated combat mode simulation: Complete. Success probability assessment—In the absence of external interference, the probability of victory for humanity's existing fleet and defensive forces: 7.3%."
7.3%.
A deathly silence.
Elder Chen slowly stood up and looked at Lin Mo. His lips moved as if to say something, but no sound came out.
Lin Mo sat in the main seat, motionless. There was no expression on his face; he just stared fixedly at those three red light spots, at that 7.3% chance of victory.
After a long time, he spoke.
His voice was as calm as if he were discussing what to have for lunch today.
"7.3%. That's enough."
Everyone was stunned.
Lin Mo stood up and walked to the massive star map. His gaze swept over everyone present—Elder Chen, General Xu Rushan, Wang Lei (holographic projection), Dr. Elena Chen, Su Xiaowan, and countless other faces filled with tension, fear, and yet expectation.
"Seventy-two hours. Three times the previous main force. A 7.3% chance of victory." His voice grew faster and more powerful. "This is what we are facing. Are we afraid? Of course. So afraid we can't sleep, so afraid we want to cry, so afraid we want to run."
"But where would we run? The entire Solar System is their prey. The entire Earth is their target. Our entire civilization is on their 'purification' list."
He turned to face the three red light spots, the 7.3% chance of victory, and the endless, cold starry sky:
"Seventy-three days ago, when we faced 'Hades' and the 'avengers', our odds were even lower. But we won. Not because we were stronger than them, but because we were more united, smarter, and understood better—what it means to 'stand tall even in death for those behind us'."
"Seventy-two hours from now, we will win again. Not for the 7.3% chance of victory, but for the 92.7%—the people who must survive!"
In the Assembly Hall, there was silence for a few seconds.
General Xu Rushan was the first to stand up. In his eyes burned the exact same flame as Long Zhantian's: "The 'North Heaven Gate' fleet is on standby!"
Wang Lei's holographic projection snapped to attention: "The 'Guanghan Palace' garrison will fight to the death!"
Dr. Elena Chen took a deep breath: "The Research Center will work without rest for seventy-two hours to prepare every usable weapon!"
One by one, everyone stood up. On those faces, fear remained, but above fear was an even more fervent—will to fight.
Lin Mo's gaze swept over them, finally landing on the fourth "Scavenger" still silently floating at the edge of the star map.
It remained silent. Still cold. Still motionless.
What was it waiting for? Waiting for humans to be destroyed by their own kind? Waiting for that 7.3% chance of victory to turn to zero? Or waiting for an answer that even it didn't know would appear?
Lin Mo had no time to think about these things. He withdrew his gaze and issued the heaviest command of his life:
"Activate the 'guardian of civilization' emergency plan. Within seventy-two hours, all resources will lean toward defense. All non-essential production is suspended. All eligible personnel will enter the reserves according to the plan. All..."
He paused, his voice turning low:
"Everyone who can fight, prepare for battle. Everyone who cannot fight, prepare—to survive."
"For those who have already died. For those children still in their swaddling clothes. For this damn but lovely civilization."
"This battle, we are definitely fighting."
In the Assembly Hall, there were no cheers.
Only a silent, steel-like determination.
Earth, in the underground bunkers of every city.
Countless people huddled under dim lights, staring at the holographic screens on the walls. The screens were broadcasting live from the Ark City Assembly Hall. They saw Lin Mo's calm face and heard his powerful words.
No one spoke.
But countless hands quietly clenched in the darkness.
Old John held Little Amelia, sitting in a corner of the bunker. The little girl looked up and asked softly: "Grandpa, are we going to die?"
Old John was silent for a few seconds, then looked down into his granddaughter's clear eyes.
"No," he said, his voice raspy but firm. "Because we have Lin Mo. Because there are those willing to die for us. Because all of us are together."
Little Amelia nodded and buried her face in her grandfather's chest.
She didn't know what the "Scavengers" were, didn't know what a 7.3% chance of victory meant, didn't know what would happen in seventy-two hours.
But if Grandpa said they wouldn't die, then they certainly wouldn't.
Because Grandpa never lied to her.
Ark City, Lin Mo's office.
After the meeting ended, everyone went to their posts, diving into those seventy-two hours of frantic preparation. Only Su Xiaowan remained by Lin Mo's side.
She looked at his face, which was so calm it was almost cold, and suddenly asked: "Are you really not afraid?"
Lin Mo was silent for a few seconds. He turned and looked at her.
In those eyes, there was no coldness, only a deep, bottomless fatigue—as vast as the universe itself.
"I'm afraid," he said softly. "Scared to death. Afraid I'll miscalculate a step, afraid that 7.3% will turn to zero, afraid to see Earth become a second Taishan Ship, afraid..."
He didn't finish.
Su Xiaowan gently hugged him.
"Then let's be afraid together," she whispered in his ear. "And once we're done being afraid, we keep fighting."
Lin Mo closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
He opened his eyes and looked back at the starry sky outside the window. Those three red light spots were frantically approaching. The fourth "Scavenger" remained silent.
Seventy-two hours.
The countdown begins.