Respite

At Googol Tech headquarters, the electromagnetic radiation produced by the nuclear blast had destroyed most communication equipment. But for the Hong Alliance's important facilities, this was not irreparable damage. The shadow of nuclear war hanging over them for years had long since made them prepare a great many contingency plans. EMP attacks were merely one of them.

More than ten minutes later, the interrupted communications were reestablished. Six figures appeared before the black stele once more, and the meeting resumed.

The youngest-looking middle-aged man among the six spoke first:

"The other side has no intention of using large-scale nuclear weapons to attack cities. Those nuclear weapons were EMP weapons enhanced for electromagnetic pulse effects. He wants to destroy our communications system. Most cities are now in chaos. Public transportation has come to a halt, while smart cars and drones have made emergency stops after losing communication."

Unlike the elderly, wise-looking people seated around him, this man appeared rather fierce, carrying the hard, iron-blooded air of an active-duty soldier.

Xiang Anmin, commander of the Hong Alliance Army and Air Force, was fifty-three this year. Compared with the eldest, Ji Hong, he was a full generation younger, and he was half a generation younger than Zhuge Hao and the others. He belonged to the new generation born after the founding of the Hong Alliance, the same generation as Wang Fantian and the others. He was also the first person of his generation to receive Special-Level Clearance.

Nuclear weapons were devastatingly powerful, but to the Hong Alliance and the Commercial Alliance, their radiation was more dangerous than the shockwaves produced by their explosions.

New high-energy batteries had brought laser weapon output to the megawatt level. The ground-based anti-missile laser weapons in every major city could continuously output lasers exceeding one hundred megawatts, enough to intercept intercontinental ballistic missiles outside the atmosphere.

This was why Special-Level Clearance permitted the use of nuclear weapons. Hydrogen bombs were no longer weapons capable of exterminating humanity. The Hong Alliance possessed sufficient power to destroy them thousands of miles away.

Nowadays, many countries no longer produced high-yield hydrogen bombs. Instead, they stockpiled vast quantities of highly radioactive dirty bombs. They could only struggle to preserve their independence with weapons that would take their enemies down with them. Even the remaining seven billion people in the world combined were no match for either of the two major organizations.

Nuclear weapons, born a century ago, had maintained this world's fragile balance. But with technological advancement, hydrogen bombs capable of destroying the heavens and earth were no longer an unsolvable trump card, and the ballistic missiles that carried them were gradually losing their former dominance. The world's balance was already on the verge of collapse, and Li Heng's appearance was the final straw that broke the camel's back.

Even if he did nothing, the leap in biomedical technology brought by the Immortal Cell alone would give the Hong Alliance the power to confront the entire world within a dozen years. The dirty bombs stockpiled by those countries would no longer threaten this powerful organization that had conquered cancer. The unification of Human Civilization was already an unstoppable trend of the times, only a matter of sooner or later.

Xiang Anmin said to the seniors present:

"Most medium- and short-wave communications are now blocked by electromagnetic radiation. Long-wave communication can only transmit extremely limited information. Our control over the major cities has fallen to its lowest point."

"Three minutes ago, I received a report of a Monster attacking people. A four-legged Monster with a tail attacked a residential area. After killing civilians, it Devoured their flesh and blood completely. Fortunately, the surveillance system inside the residents' homes was not damaged by electromagnetic radiation and recorded the scene. I believe this is a new wave of attacks by that super organism."

Ji Hong sighed upon hearing this. "Troubled times indeed. The war has already begun. I wonder how many lives will be lost this time."

He said, "Xiang Anmin, you will command the armed police system to maintain order in the cities. The border defense forces must also remain alert. We must first stabilize our interior with all our strength. Only a secure rear can give us the capacity to face a powerful enemy for the long term."

"Zhuge Hao, contact the Free Business Alliance. Claim that we have come under attack from an extraterrestrial Civilization. There is no harm in telling them about the South Sea Fleet's battle losses. Emphasize that even high-yield hydrogen bombs cannot eliminate it."

This was a war that would affect the entire world. No one could stay out of it. As humans, they could only stand united against the outside threat.

A super individual that could not even be killed by nuclear weapons—this fact alone would be enough to keep those old rivals on the other side awake at night, leaving them no mind for their messy little schemes.

Ji Hong then looked at Wu Siyang. "Contract our defenses. Abandon defense of the seas. Our advantage lies on land."

Finally, he looked toward the man beside him who bore a similar appearance and said, "Ji Tongchen, widespread communication outages will certainly cause public panic. The lack of surveillance records will also create many cases that are difficult to judge. Use your discretion in handling the balance involved."

Ji Tongchen nodded. He wore round-framed glasses and a white shirt, looking like a professor teaching at some university. He oversaw the Hong Alliance's entire judicial system, and together with Zhuge Hao, he maintained the smooth operation of the vast Hong Alliance.

Ji Hong concluded, "The Hong Alliance is entering First-Level Combat Readiness. This war concerns the fate of all humanity. Everyone must act cautiously. Meeting adjourned."

Southern Region, in a small park, the young man who had torn apart and Devoured his former lover had completely lost his human appearance. His tailbone protruded from his body, transforming into a tail covered in bone spikes. His former white shirt had been ripped apart, the hair on his body had become dark and tough, his snout protruded outward, and sharp fangs were covered with scraps of flesh and blood.

It was already nine at night. After feeding several times, his body weight had increased severalfold and his strength had reached five tons, enough to smash through the steel security doors of residential homes. Every living thing in the city was food to him.

However, these Monsters born from human collapse retained only instinctive hunger. They constantly expended enormous amounts of energy to sustain their increasingly powerful bodies, making them like hungry ghosts that could never be satisfied. Their perception of danger had been suppressed to the lowest point by endless hunger, and their intelligence was inferior even to that of pet cats and dogs.

The smell of blood finally drew the guardians of order. The armed police had returned from chaos to order. They operated in squads of Twelve, arresting every criminal for trial while also dealing with these dangerous organisms that possessed power beyond ordinary humans.

A black police dog guided this armed police squad. It was a super police dog that had undergone genetic modification. Over the past year, the Hong Alliance had gradually begun putting new biotechnology into use. In terms of strength alone, this police dog rivaled several adults, while its enhanced sense of smell could track a specific target from more than ten kilometers away.

The mindless predator smelled food and immediately turned to run toward it. There were more than a dozen large organisms there, enough to give its starving body a full meal.

Several hundred meters away, the squad leader had already spotted the conspicuous Inhuman figure through his infrared night-vision goggles. Communications were chaotic now, making drone reconnaissance support unavailable, but the Third-Generation Exoskeletons they wore could still function normally.

This equipment had been designed with EMP bombs and microwave weapons in mind. It had been stored in electromagnetically shielded areas and used a mixed wave-absorbing material of ferrite and graphene, capable of converting external electromagnetic radiation into heat and greatly weakening electromagnetic interference. After brief repairs, it could be put into service.

"Target located. Begin capture."

A blurred, hoarse voice sounded in the squad members' ears. Long-wave communication quality was terrible, but it was enough for them to communicate in real time within a kilometer.

The sound of feet pounding the ground rose. Twelve figures, moving no slower than the mutated Monster, charged forward in an encircling formation. These Monsters kept appearing among the population without any pattern. In one sealed underground shelter, a Monster had suddenly appeared and slaughtered dozens of civilians. They needed to capture these creatures and study the cause of their existence.

The Monster crawling along the ground finally saw humans less than a hundred meters away. It excitedly opened its fang-filled mouth and charged at its food. But in the next instant, several bullets burst bloody blossoms across its limbs, and its charging body crashed to the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.

With a pained roar, the mindless Monster twisted its limbs and began repairing itself. Electromagnetic Rifle rounds powerful enough to shatter an ordinary person's bones had inflicted only flesh wounds on it. As the energy it consumed continued to increase, its strength was improving in every aspect.

It sprang up from the ground and violently swung its tail. Power sufficient to snap a tree more than ten meters tall swept toward the squad leader at the front. Yet the squad leader swiftly crossed his arms before his chest and absorbed the enormous force completely, his body merely taking a few steps back.

The Third-Generation military exoskeleton had abandoned heavy alloy armor and hydraulic drives. Once worn, its total weight was under 200 kilograms. It relied entirely on artificial muscles developed from Cucumber Fiber, which possessed sixty times the strength of ordinary human muscle.

The anti-G filling inside the exoskeleton allowed its wearer to withstand fifteen Gs of overload. On level ground, it could run at one hundred kilometers per hour, and its single-arm strength exceeded 2.5 tons. Combined with intelligent assistance systems, soldiers who had undergone years of martial arts training in virtual worlds could defeat this mindless, clumsy Monster barehanded.

His left foot stamped a deep print into the muddy ground, and his right leg lashed out like a whip. The high-strength artificial muscles faithfully carried out every command from the wearer. The tremendous force drove his hard alloy boot into the Monster's mouth, shattering its fangs into fragments as a large spray of blood mixed with saliva flew through the air.

Before the Monster could react, the other eleven squad members fired continuously at its limbs. Dozens of bullets struck the joints with precision, twisting its limbs into grotesque, distorted shapes.

The unarmed squad leader stepped forward, pinned the dazed Monster beneath his foot, and tore off its limbs one by one. Large amounts of blood dyed the forest floor red. Left with only its torso, the Monster let out agonized howls. It no longer had the ability to regenerate its damaged limbs.

He stomped repeatedly on the protruding bony tail. Spattering blood dyed his alloy boots red, and he dismantled the Monster until only its head and body remained.

"Damn it, I really want to kill you outright."

The squad leader, who had stomped the Monster's hard skull into the mud, cursed under his breath. Then he waved to the other members and said:

"Inject it with anesthetic and bind it with high-strength fiber netting. Number Two, take this thing back and wait for Googol Tech to collect it. I'll take the dog and the others to keep catching these damned things."

A squad member carrying a large backpack took out a syringe. The tips of these syringes were made of high-strength alloy. He injected a large dose of anesthetic into the Monster's body. The sedative, enough to put several elephants to sleep, gradually silenced the Monster, which had still been howling with its mouth open.

The squad member called Number Two bound the sleeping Monster with a black fiber net. He swung it onto his back like a sack of sweet potatoes, then turned and ran into the distance.

The rest of the squad continued searching the city for these Monsters mutated from humans. As the Hong Alliance gradually returned from chaos to order, these clumsy predators were no different from laboratory Little White Mice before this colossal entity.