"Ah, overtime, overtime, nothing but overtime."
Lu PingAn felt as if he had been cursed. He had only just returned home, yet one impossible-to-refuse invitation after another had come his way.
Of course, it was not all bad news. Everything back home was fine, and his family was safe. That was the reassurance that put Lu PingAn most at ease.
But in truth, he already knew why he was so busy.
"The Great Counterattack will begin in half a year at most?"
"I heard three months before. But there are too many factors involved. Logistics have to be prepared and equipment upgraded. It may not even be finished within half a year."
"Still, after three years, the counterattack is finally beginning."
Three years ago, the Sakurajima Battle had been a battle doomed to defeat. Even under the banner of a "victorious strategic withdrawal," it could not conceal the fact that humanity had lost most of the Pacific Ocean, while the Eastern Kingdom had lost the first island chain's defensive line.
It was no one's fault. When the planes opened wide, the whole world had been unprepared to face marine creatures and races from other worlds. In particular, before the threat from the deep sea emerged, most human nations' militaries had still considered all manner of land-based creatures their hypothetical enemies. They lacked both the experience and the technology for this.
Though they had lost that battle, they had indeed bought time for domestic technological transformation, industrial relocation, and talent training.
Over the past three years, the entire Eastern Kingdom—even the whole human camp—had been paying for that defeat and for the shortcomings it had exposed in humanity's ability to fight naval wars.
This was not a problem that could be solved overnight, so the first priority was still to establish