"Vigilance and hostility."
The body-language expert wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. "To show our friendly attitude and sincerity, it would be best if everyone put down their weapons."
The soldiers in uniform ignored him.
But a voice came through the earpieces.
"Listen to him."
One semi-automatic rifle after another was placed on the ground.
At almost the exact same moment, the alien invaders pulled their triggers.
Decisive! Resolute!
Without the slightest hesitation or wavering!
It was as if they had carried out this perfectly synchronized shooting hundreds or thousands of times already!
Clean and efficient, without the slightest bit of wasted motion. Their swift and fierce actions struck terror into people's hearts.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
In the blink of an eye, streaks of searing red laser fire landed among the communication team.
The aliens' marksmanship was terrible, and their accuracy was lacking.
But their weapons made up for that flaw.
The searing red laser merely grazed the back of the negotiator's left hand, yet within a mere second, his entire arm had been thoroughly burned to a crisp, giving off the nauseating smell of roasted flesh.
And that wasn't all!
Two seconds later, the negotiator was charred black from head to toe, reduced to a human charcoal briquette.
"Open fire! Open fire! Open fire!"
A voice brimming with fury came through the command channel. "You are authorized to retaliate freely!"
"Kill these aliens immediately!"
Ma Ran had not slept at all the previous night. He had continually sketched out the ominous text in his mind, staying awake until dawn.
At around 10:40 that morning, an invitation to an emergency video conference arrived through the "Dajiang" app.
Ma Ran finally got the result: under the barrage of fire, all the alien invaders had died. Not one survived.
But in the process...
Some soldiers had indeed made the ultimate sacrifice.
The only thing worth celebrating was that there had been no civilian casualties.
Compared with the figure in Ma Ran's prophecy, the final casualty count sounded much better.
But...
No one felt any joy.
They only felt shaken by the aftermath.
Ma Ran did not look at Huang Weiguo beside him. He merely lowered his head and stared at the phone's camera.
After a long while, he sighed. "My abilities are too weak. The amount I can foresee is limited."
"If only my Limited Precognition were stronger..."
Before this, Ma Ran had only mentioned the arrival time and location of the alien vanguard, along with the number of Earth Humans who would die.
After all, Ma Ran had not personally experienced this incident before his rebirth, so he did not know all the details.
In the final years of his previous life, every Earthling had come to share one consensus: whenever they saw any alien life-form, they must not try to speak with it or harbor any wishful thinking. They had to attack together immediately!
Whether by ambush or a frontal assault, they had to find every possible way to eliminate the enemy!
This was experience countless Earth guardians had bought with their lives and blood!
At the thought of this, Ma Ran's expression darkened, and he clenched both fists.
His teeth clicked as he ground them together, his eyes filled with gloom. "I hope nothing like this happens again..."
Ma Ran had also considered that events might develop this way.
It was impossible for everyone to trust him one hundred percent like Old Huang did.
After this incident, Ma Ran's identity as a prophet would be completely confirmed, and the people above would trust and value him even more.
But whenever he thought of those who should not have died, Ma Ran felt deeply upset and unable to accept it.
When Director Huang heard this, his heart gave a sudden lurch. He opened and closed his mouth, deliberated for quite some time, and finally said, "This was our fault."
"You've already done incredibly well."
"If it weren't for your prophecy, we wouldn't even dare imagine how much more tragic the outcome could have been!"
Those aliens' shooting accuracy was not particularly good, but their military discipline was extremely high.
They opened fire without the slightest hesitation. When slaughtering Earth Humans, they were like an internet-addicted teenager shooting NPCs in a game, without the slightest sense of empathy.
Based on Ma Ran's prophecy, combined with the defenses around Jinshui Town, transportation conditions, the training level of the local garrison, and various other factors, the leaders of the various organizations had tried to estimate the aliens' combat strength as highly as possible.
But reality proved that Earth Humans' high estimate was still an underestimate of the alien invaders.
The alien invaders' equipment and weapons were both extremely advanced.
Earth's weapons fell far short by comparison.
To give an example, it was like the difference between a wax-paper-and-lead bullet flintlock and an M4A1.
The pure-white full-coverage protective suits looked plain and unremarkable, but whenever bullets or shells struck them, faint ripples would appear, neutralizing the destructive force of the shock waves and shrapnel.
After the few remaining members of the negotiation team withdrew, the Field Commander decisively initiated a saturation fire-strike operation.
As bullets and artillery shells exploded, the alien invaders' protective suits were finally breached.
The vanguard unit of fifty aliens had been completely wiped out!
At this point, Huang Weiguo paused, his hands trembling slightly. "You had already given us a prophecy and a warning, yet we kept thinking that having more friends meant having more options. We even foolishly hoped to form an alliance with the aliens and pursue development together."
"We were too one-sided."
"Even among civilizations native to Earth, not every country loves peace as much as ours does. How could we expect aliens to share our values?"
"If someone must take responsibility for this, that person must be chosen from among us old fellows!"
These were Director Huang's sincere words!
Right now, all he felt was guilt.
If he had been a little more decisive and taken a firmer stance in the encrypted communications channel a few hours earlier...
Perhaps no one would have needed to sacrifice themselves this time!
After all, with Ma Ran's prophecy, the various organizations had also contacted their counterparts and made complete preparations.
The discrepancy in the casualty count could not prove that there was anything wrong with Ma Ran's precognition.
On the contrary, it proved that Ma Ran had rendered outstanding service this time!
"Ma Ran! I'm sorry!"
"Child, you're our country's rising star and the hope of the future. Don't put too much pressure on yourself!"
"It's my fault. It's all my fault! I'm already so old, yet I was still this naive... After today, I'll submit my resignation voluntarily. That way, I'll feel a little better."
"Hey, you all meant well, but made things worse..."
"From now on... we can't afford to hold on to any more wishful thinking!"
"Can you afford to take responsibility? You make a mess and then want to run? Where do you think you can run? When aliens invade again, will you just hide your head and pretend it never happened because you can't see it?"
"Remember the mistakes we made, and spend the rest of our lives doing everything we can to make amends..."
Ma Ran did not have much time to grieve.
Starting this year, Earth was like a clueless newbie in an online game who had just passed the beginner protection period, facing one alien invading force after another in helpless confusion.
Enemies came one after another, appearing more frequently than the crumpled scraps of paper in a shut-in's bedroom trash can.
After memorizing the faces and names of the fallen, Ma Ran silently left the online conference room.
He took a deep breath, looked at Old Huang, and said solemnly, "I want to take leave and go to Area A3."
--
Thanks to Chao Youjiu for rewarding Ma Ran with two little chicken legs (200 points)!
Thanks to Qiufeng Yizui Mengxing Qiannian for rewarding Ma Ran with a little chicken leg (100 points)!
Thanks to umbreella for the 1,888-point reward! (Sometimes the Qidian Reading author dashboard doesn't send notifications for rewards, so I don't see them. I recommend using the Qidian app.)
Thanks to Ink Rain Star Fate for the 100-point reward!
Thanks to Ghost Resentment Chang for the 500-point reward!
Thanks to the reader Wo Xin Youyou for the 200-point reward!
Thanks to Qiufeng Yizui Mengxing Qiannian for the 100-point reward!
Thanks, everyone! (▽)
The update is complete!
If you spot any typos, awkward phrasing, or plot-bug issues, just leave a comment in this chapter's comments. I'll fix them as soon as I see them!
Mm!
See you tomorrow!
Before you continue