As Lü Zhongqi spoke, he broke into a violent coughing fit.
His coughs were like a gale, making the flame of life in his eyes sway violently, its brightness visibly dimming by an entire order of magnitude.
His voice grew deeper and more cryptic, as though it were drifting up from twisting cracks at the bottom of an abyss. "If everything develops in the smoothest possible direction, if we can conquer the Otherworld and develop civilization while preserving the social system, traditional virtues, and even individual forms of the Earth Era, then naturally, nothing could be better.
"But before considering how to achieve victory, one must first consider how to face defeat—this is a basic quality that any qualified decision-maker must possess.
"What if the war potential of the Another World Natives is vastly greater than that of the Monster Civilization, even far beyond our imagination?
"What if the Iron Torrent, founded upon vast and even bloated logistical supplies and modern technology, proves unsuited to the Otherworld battlefield, where Spiritual Energy is abundant and individual combat power is extraordinarily strong? What if the mechanized legions that Dragon City Civilization painstakingly built with astronomical resources and decades of time are smashed into utter disarray by Otherworld powerhouses comparable to Doomsday Beasts?
"What if Dragon City Civilization not only fails to conquer the Otherworld, but is instead conquered by it? What if ninety-nine percent of Earthlings' descendants are killed or wounded, and only the last wisp of our civilization's flame remains, like a candle in the wind, barely clinging to life?
"Do not think I am crying wolf. Since even the Monster Civilization—with dozens of Doomsday Beasts, thousands of Hell Beasts, and hundreds of thousands of Nightmare Beasts—has been pinned down in the desolate southern corner of the Another World Continent, there