Talk, Then War

In the command room of a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier over a hundred kilometers away, a middle-aged man in uniform was speaking with an elderly man. The old man in the projection wore a white naval uniform. His graying short hair was sparse, his posture was not particularly upright, and he wore a kindly smile. If not for that uniform, he would have looked like the friendly grandfather next door.

Wu Siyang, commander of the Hong Alliance Navy, controlled one-third of the world's most powerful military force. Golden branches and three gold stars adorned his epaulets, and he too possessed top-level clearance. This battle would ultimately be decided by him from the rear—whether nuclear weapons needed to be deployed.

The middle-aged man in the command room wore golden epaulets edged in black, representing the navy. Embroidered golden branches and a single gold star decorated their bases. The highest rank for an officer personally commanding frontline combat was major general. This general, Long Yuan, was the successor the old man thought most highly of.

Unlike the old man's calm composure, Long Yuan frowned as he discussed the conclusions calculated by the staff headquarters and artificial intelligence. His right eye had an Anomaly pupil covered in blue-green lines. It was a mechanical prosthetic eye, installed after his retina had been burned by intense light during a mission. Its vision far surpassed that of an ordinary human eye.

This mission was unlike those in the past, when they had faced human fleets. Their opponent was a small super-biological entity. Aside from its immortal constitution, it possessed growth potential beyond everyone's imagination. It was impossible to estimate what it had become after a year. At the very least, every overt and hidden defensive measure on that island had been silently dismantled.

Wu Siyang said calmly, "You consider matters thoroughly, adapt to changing circumstances in battle, and dare to take the lead. Those are all qualities a general needs. Very good."

Then the old man changed his tone. "But a commander does not fight on the front lines. A commander controls the overall situation from the rear. In the face of major events, one must remain calm. Every order carries the lives of tens of thousands."

Long Yuan nodded. The old man was teaching him the difference between a frontline general and a rear-echelon commander. It was common knowledge within the military that the old man regarded him as his successor, because every one of his achievements had been won through real combat. No one of his generation was more outstanding than him.

To dare to take the lead meant shouldering the heaviest responsibility while still delivering the best result. As the successor of the next generation, he could not hide in the rear. The only way to win people over was through genuine victories.

However, this opponent was different from all those before. As an organized military force, they were calm and restrained most of the time. More often than not, they engaged in conventional weapons clashes and exercises meant to display force.

But when the target became a super lifeform with immense power, the uncertainty of individual will expanded enormously. According to the research results the Hong Alliance had obtained from the protein known as Lh-1, this super-biological entity likely possessed the power to destroy Earth's entire ecosystem. It was a colossal potential threat no less serious than nuclear war.

"Unidentified external communication request detected. Block the other party's signal?"

The supersonic fighters and drone swarms from the land-based airfields had already set out. They needed only a few minutes to encircle that region, yet an unknown communication request arrived at precisely this moment. Such a coincidence might mean that their every move was under the other party's watch.

Wu Siyang gave a slight nod, and Long Yuan ordered, "Connect the communication."

The image of a child with a golden vertical eye on his forehead appeared before them. Li Heng smiled and greeted the two generals.

"Gentlemen, I have long admired you. I was quite a fan of yours when I was little."

Wu Siyang looked at the adorable Little Boy with four huge wings growing from his back and revealed a kindly smile. Watching from the side, Long Yuan could not help feeling that the scene resembled the absurdly warm exchange between a grandfather and grandson.

The old man smiled. "The past is gone. Those who lead the age are found in the present. Your cells have advanced the Hong Alliance's biotechnology by at least several decades. Because of them, an old friend of mine can live at least ten years longer. In terms of your contribution to the people, you have done more than I have."

As research into and applications of Li Heng's cells and the Lh-1 protein deepened, the Hong Alliance had pulled hundreds of thousands of patients and elderly people who had effectively been sentenced to death back from the brink. The Hong Alliance's average life expectancy even had a chance of reaching one hundred within ten years. Such a contribution to the entire population was undeniable.

Wu Siyang praised Li Heng's achievements with a genial smile, looking just like an old man who appreciated a promising junior. There was none of the drawn-sword tension one might have expected upon their first meeting.

Then he shook his head and said with some distress, "Unfortunately, you have gone a little too far. You blocked and disguised the base's signals for an entire year. Although you never left the island, you made a lot of people nervous. Compared with ordinary flesh-and-blood people like us, your power is simply too great."

If Li Heng had not possessed such terrifying power, perhaps he could have lived more easily instead, just as he had during the past few years, leisurely playing games at home.

But as the researchers of the Hong Alliance Academy of Sciences dug deeper, the horrifying power concealed within those cells frightened them more and more. The alert level in the South China Sea had consequently been raised yet again.

Although Li Heng had not personally killed anyone so far, he was still a dangerous independent entity. For the safety of all humanity and even every living creature on Earth, the Hong Alliance could only choose to confine him to the island in the face of such overwhelming uncertainty.

Humans were born capable of lying. Those lies allowed the false masks between people to conceal the malice hidden in their hearts, creating the superficial beauty of human society.

Yet those same false lies filled humanity with suspicion. It was inconspicuous among ordinary people, but when that chain of suspicion was magnified to powerful nations, or even a super lifeform like Li Heng, those unable to trust one another could only prepare for the worst.

Judging by the present situation, such precautions had been necessary. Individual desires continued to swell with status and power. It was precisely his immense power that had led Li Heng down his current path.

Greater ability did not bring greater responsibility, but greater desire. An individual life possessing power beyond the ordinary could hardly continue living its previously mundane life in obscurity. Once one's own power was enough to contend with society's rules, individual will would rise above the rules formed through the mutual compromises of the majority.

Whether that will was good or evil, it was destined to inflict a tremendous shock upon the existing social order.

Wu Siyang put away his kindly smile. At this moment, he looked like a majestic old lion. The naval commander earnestly advised, "Li Heng, in my eyes, your essence is no different from the child in this appearance. I believe you are simply a somewhat special child. Even if you have done a few excessive things, it is nothing irreparable. Go back to the island and let everything return to how it was."

This was the final ultimatum. Once the first shot was fired, there would be no turning back. Whether Li Heng ultimately died or the soldiers here fell in battle, it would be an enormous loss for the Hong Alliance.

Li Heng shook his head and transmitted a list. It contained hundreds of millions of names and their respective times of death—the list of people who had died around the world over the past year. His expression was somewhat at odds with his childish appearance as he said with a hint of melancholy:

"In ten years, the Hong Alliance can reach an average life expectancy of one hundred. In twenty years, it can reach one hundred and twenty. In thirty years, everyone can retain eternal youth and escape almost all sickness and pain. Compared to the past, those are unimaginable achievements."

"But during that time, three billion people around the world will still die. If this technology could be spread throughout the world, they would not have to die either. With the Hong Alliance's current productivity, it could fully support fifteen billion people."

This was the result of precise calculations. Every year, the Hong Alliance invested sixty percent of its fiscal revenue into medicine and food. Its rapidly advancing biotechnology had greatly reduced costs, and combined with increasingly mature commercial Controlled Nuclear Fusion Technology, one percent of the investment would be enough to achieve the same results. Productivity had already increased by more than a hundredfold.

Wu Siyang shook his head helplessly. The idea was certainly beautiful, but leaving aside whether the other side of the world would simply stand by and watch, many ordinary citizens and high-ranking officials within the Hong Alliance alone would fiercely oppose it.

The various ethnic groups within the alliance had ideological conflicts of every kind and formed different groups to fight for their own interests. Much less selflessly sharing with the entire world an achievement that could have belonged solely to them.

This uneven distribution of resources had existed throughout Human Civilization for thousands of years. Perhaps it would continue forever.

Li Heng had not expected to convince them with a few words. In the Hong Alliance's eyes, his power lay only in his terrifying destructive potential toward the ecosystem. They regarded Li Heng merely as a powerful superhuman, not as an organization qualified to stand on equal footing with them.

After all, what could one person do? No matter how powerful he was, he was still only one person. The fact that the Hong Alliance had mobilized ten percent of its naval strength and a small portion of its air force already showed how seriously they took him.

However, Li Heng's form of life had long surpassed mere genetic mutation. What the Hong Alliance could see in his cells was only a small fraction of his power. What made him terrifying was not merely his individual strength, but his ability to mass-produce that strength.

For example, deep beneath the sea, where Human Civilization had never truly ventured, there was an army hidden there that was no weaker than theirs.

After a year of development and construction, the time was ripe. This was the force that could awaken Human Civilization from its lofty arrogance, the force that could unite humanity.

Li Heng's expression suddenly changed from that of an innocent, adorable child to the cold indifference of a God. At that very moment, a piercing alarm sounded through the command room.

Wu Siyang and Long Yuan immediately snapped out of the seemingly harmonious conversation. Artificial intelligence converted the detected sonar signals into projected visual images. Looking at the densely packed red dots covering the entire sea, the old man's previously composed expression changed as well.

In the depths of the ocean, the submarines belonging to this carrier battle group finally discovered the high-speed objects rushing toward them. Only when they came within five kilometers did they finally realize what they were—a massive school of Sailfish several meters long.

Yet these Sailfish moved through the sea at over 350 kilometers per hour. A layer of supercavitation surrounded their bodies, isolating them from the viscous resistance of seawater. After being detected by sonar, their tails changed shape, further increasing their speed.

These Sailfish had been parasitized and modified by Jelly. They were biological torpedoes of the deep sea. Normally, they were merely common creatures found everywhere, but when a target appeared, they revealed their savage true forms.

This was the first wave of attack. Possessing an information disadvantage, the Hong Alliance had never considered that these creatures could transform into torpedoes and launch themselves at them. Now, it was too late.

The submarines launched lightweight torpedoes to intercept them. But these Sailfish had real pilots. The Jelly individuals sharing the same memories never feared death. Every individual was only one part of a vast Jelly organism. They controlled the torpedoes in real time, sacrificing their lives to guide them into their targets.

Dozens of submarines three hundred meters beneath the surface were completely wiped out in that single strike. These Sailfish torpedoes were heavy torpedoes over five meters long, and the high-energy material inside made them more powerful than conventional cruise missiles. Countless metal fragments mixed with raging currents, throwing the sea into chaos. Only the bubbles rising to the surface remained as proof that those submarines had ever existed.

The communication signal was cut off. Li Heng turned to look toward the horizon. The surveillance Seagulls dozens of kilometers away had already sent him images of the hundreds of supersonic fighters, with dense formations of supporting drones ahead of them. Those tens of thousands of aircraft were likewise a force capable of destroying a nation.

The fleet could be left to the Jelly organisms, but he would need to face these air forces alone.

Still, he was not truly fighting alone. The seabirds and marine creatures spread across these waters were his eyes and ears. Every living thing from the sky to the ocean floor was within his observation. In terms of information, he still held the advantage.

His four wings slowly flapped, then rapidly changed shape and covered Li Heng's body. He now looked exactly like those supersonic fighters.

"Only the strong have the right to negotiate."

Blue flames erupted, forming rings of Mach rings. The acceleration he endured at that moment exceeded a thousand g. He broke the sound barrier almost instantly, cloudlike white rings covering his body as he shot into the distance.

He was not someone who could only flap his wings and fly leisurely. A target moving below the speed of sound was easy prey. Even a Small Combat Angel could reach Mach 4.5. Li Heng would only be faster and stronger than his creations.