Emergency Meeting!

The doors to Secret Conference Room One were tightly shut.

The heavy silver-gray blast-proof alloy doors completely sealed this place off from the outside world.

There were no windows, no unnecessary furnishings.

Nie Dingguo walked to the control console and swiftly entered a string of dynamic passwords.

Then—

He underwent dual verification through iris and fingerprint scans.

"Beep—"

Accompanied by a crisp electronic chime.

The screen covering the entire wall lit up.

Static flickered for half a second.

Then the image instantly stabilized.

A large, ancient and solemn conference hall appeared on screen.

More than a dozen military and political officials bearing golden stars on their shoulders sat upright on either side of a long conference table.

Any one of these people could make Dragon Country tremble three times over.

Yet at this moment, all of them held their breath, without even a single cough.

The instant the connection went through.

Everyone on the other side of the screen turned their eyes toward the camera at once.

More than a dozen intensely oppressive gazes pressed over like something tangible.

Lin Yuan unconsciously clenched his fists.

Even though he was already a late-stage Tier One martial artist, with a punching force exceeding ten thousand kilograms, his breathing still stalled.

This was completely different from facing ferocious beasts.

This was the weight of power, the embodiment of an entire nation's fate.

"Greetings, chiefs!"

Nie Dingguo abruptly stood at attention and gave a military salute as standard as could be.

Lin Yuan reacted quickly.

He copied Nie Dingguo, straightening his body and saluting as well.

Su Qingxue did the same.

"Sit."

Elder Long gestured, signaling everyone to take their seats.

He leaned forward slightly, his gaze settling on Lin Yuan.

"This must be Comrade Lin Yuan."

"Just as expected—an outstanding young man. A hero truly rises in his youth."

Elder Zhan also leaned closer to the screen, looking Lin Yuan up and down.

His gaze was like that of someone admiring a peerless divine weapon.

"I saw the physical assessment report just sent over by the Northwest Military Region."

"Punching force: twelve thousand five hundred kilograms. One hundred meters in 2.7 seconds."

Elder Zhan slammed a hand heavily onto the table.

The impact made a tea cup lid rattle with a clang.

"Good lad!"

"With those physical abilities, you're practically a humanoid main battle tank!"

The other senior officials nodded in succession.

A major reason they had convened this meeting today was to see this legendary trump card for themselves.

In just one month.

He had gone from an ordinary college student delivering food to a monster beyond human limits.

That rate of growth was simply terrifying.

If he had been an enemy agent, they probably would not have been able to sleep peacefully.

But Lin Yuan's background was spotless. His family had been honest, law-abiding Dragon Country citizens for three generations.

That meant Dragon Country possessed a trump card capable of overturning the entire board.

Lin Yuan felt a little uncomfortable from Elder Zhan's praise.

He coughed twice, lowered his arm, and sat properly in the leather chair.

"Let's skip the pleasantries."

Elder Ye suddenly spoke, bringing the subject back on track.

He opened a top-secret file in front of him.

The sound of pages turning was especially distinct in the silent conference room.

"Instructor Su."

"The intelligence department was deployed as early as a month ago."

Elder Ye adjusted the glasses on his nose.

His sharp gaze stared fixedly at Su Qingxue through the screen.

"Major nature reserves across the country, deep mountain forests, and even remote Gobi wastelands."

"We dispatched our most elite special forces teams to conduct comprehensive searches."

"The situation is extremely grim."

"In the tropical rainforest along the southwestern border, several giant wolves over five meters long have been discovered."

"Not only are they incredibly fast, they are also extremely bloodthirsty. They tore an entire poaching gang to pieces."

"In the uninhabited region of the Altun Mountains in the northwest."

"Enormous gray bears have appeared. Even large-caliber sniper rifles cannot penetrate their hides."

"More frightening still."

"Many small animals are mutating as well."

"For example, certain venomous snakes in the south can even evade thermal imaging locks."

Elder Ye tossed the report in his hand onto the table.

His brows were drawn into a deep furrow.

"But the strange thing is."

"The number of these mutated animals is not large, and the extent of their mutations varies greatly."

"We have not seen the overwhelming, unstoppable apocalyptic scene you described."

"..."

After hearing this.

There was not the slightest surprise on Su Qingxue's face.

Her voice was cold and clear, like a basin of icy water thrown into the conference room.

"Because spiritual energy has not fully revived yet."

"What currently drifts between heaven and earth is merely scattered spiritual energy that has leaked out."

"It is like a light drizzle before a storm."

"Only a very small number of fortunate animals, or animals that already possess a certain kind of vitality, can absorb this spiritual energy and mutate."

"They are merely the scouts of the apocalyptic disaster."

In an instant.

The senior officials on the other side of the video fell into brief silence.

Everyone was processing the news.

Just a light drizzle had already made wild animals impervious to blades and bullets.

When the true storm arrived, what would humanity use to resist it?

Elder Yu tapped the table.

He oversaw the economy and logistics, and what concerned him most was how to minimize losses.

"Since there are only sporadic mutations for now."

"Can we strike first?"

"Instructor Su, you are a reborn individual."

"You should know better than we do where animal mutations first appeared in your previous life."

"And where the largest numbers of mutated animals emerged."

Elder Yu adjusted his glasses, a glint of resolve flashing through his eyes.

His speech grew faster and faster, as though he were already calculating how to deploy troops.

"As long as you provide accurate coordinates."

"I can mobilize a large force immediately and conduct a thorough physical sweep of those areas."

"Crush the danger in its cradle."

"Could that delay, or even prevent, the outbreak of the beast tide?"

Faced with such iron-blooded decisiveness.

Lin Yuan could not help turning to look at Su Qingxue as well.

It truly was a good idea.

Before the ferocious beasts had fully developed, they could simply carpet-bomb the area with artillery.

Mutation or not, everything would be blasted into pulp.

However.

Su Qingxue shook her head helplessly.

A painful memory flashed through her eyes.

"Elder Yu."

"You are thinking too simply."

"On Blue Star in my previous life, no one knew in advance that spiritual energy would revive."

"On the day the disaster erupted, everyone was going about their normal work, school, and lives."

"Then the gates of hell opened without warning."

At this point.

Su Qingxue's hands clenched involuntarily.

Her knuckles turned faintly white from the force.

"Cities were torn apart..."

"Skyscrapers collapsed beneath the trampling of giant beasts."

"Communications were cut off, transportation was paralyzed, and order completely ground to a halt in those first few days."

"In that apocalypse, where everything could collapse at any moment."

"The first thing every survivor thought upon opening their eyes each day was how to stay alive today."

"When they did not even know whether they would live to see tomorrow."

"Who would have the leisure to investigate which forest the initial disaster had emerged from?"

"And who would care about the exact coordinates where the first mutated ant appeared?"

"..."

As Su Qingxue's words fell.

The conference room became deathly silent.

Lin Yuan felt as though something had fiercely clenched his heart.

He could completely imagine that despair.

No order, no laws—only the pure law of the jungle.

In that kind of environment, people did not deserve to be called people. They were merely walking pieces of flesh.

On the other side.

The elderly men before the screen exchanged glances.

In each other's eyes, they saw profound shock and helplessness.

Yes.

How could they use the mindset of a peaceful age to demand so much from a survivor of the apocalypse?