Spiritual Energy Revival!

An hour later.

Two off-road vehicles drove into the Southwest Military Region.

Inside the base, there was a guard every few steps and a sentry every few yards.

The barrels of their guns gleamed with a faint metallic sheen.

Two guards pushed open the conference room doors.

Lin Yuan strode across the threshold.

More than a dozen people in the spacious conference room rose to their feet in unison.

Aside from the military district higher-ups bearing general's stars on their shoulders,

five fully armed soldiers stood in the corner of the conference room as well.

Captain Zhang Qiang stood among them.

He stared at the young man entering the room, his hands trembling slightly.

He had been transferred from the Northwest Military Region.

He knew all too well what terrifying explosive power lay hidden within Lin Yuan's body.

"Colonel Lin!"

"We've finally been waiting for you!"

Zhao Dingbang strode forward to greet him.

The general, already past fifty, tightly grasped Lin Yuan's hand with both of his.

"Sir!"

"Lin Yuan reporting for duty!"

Lin Yuan withdrew his hand and gave a military salute.

Zhao Dingbang laughed twice and led Lin Yuan to the head of the long table.

A holographic projection was operating in the center of the conference room.

A vast map of the Southwest floated in midair.

"Time is tight."

"We'll get straight to the point."

"In a few days, at dawn on the ninth."

"The world will undergo a full-scale Spiritual Energy Revival."

Zhao Dingbang's smile vanished, his expression turning grim and murderous.

The atmosphere in the conference room instantly froze.

Then,

Zhao Dingbang raised a hand and pointed at the red dots on the holographic map.

"The higher-ups have sent people to conduct extensive field surveys."

"A very small number of abnormally large predators have already appeared in the deep mountains and ancient forests."

"But that isn't the most fatal problem."

"The most fatal problem is our cities."

"Cats, dogs, parrots, hamsters, even cold-blooded reptiles."

"These pets kept in countless households are the hidden ticking time bombs."

"..."

Looking at the red dots representing pets on the map,

Lin Yuan felt his scalp go numb.

In every major first-tier city, the number of pets was astronomical.

"They can mutate too?"

A colonel could not help asking.

His voice carried an unmistakable dryness.

"We don't know."

"So far, no mutation cases have been found in cities."

"But on the ninth, when spiritual energy fully revives, no one knows what will happen!"

Zhao Dingbang shook his head.

In some of the country's deep mountains and ancient forests,

the mutated animals had already begun to show themselves.

Yet no pet mutation cases had appeared in the cities.

But the fact that there were none for now did not mean there would be none later.

If they did not prepare in advance, massive chaos was inevitable.

"Sir."

"What are the orders from above?"

Lin Yuan spoke bluntly.

He did not care about the process, only how they would solve it.

"The higher-ups have issued the newly developed Spiritual Energy Detectors."

"Every military region has been allocated a batch."

"Starting today, the entire military will mobilize and station troops in every city."

"On the ninth, the moment the instruments sound an alarm,"

"if mutated pets are detected, coercive measures will be taken immediately."

"Those that remain docile will be gathered in underground air-raid shelters for centralized management."

"Those that turn vicious will be executed on the spot. They will not be allowed to harm civilians under any circumstances!"

"..."

As Zhao Dingbang's words fell,

the entire conference room fell deathly silent.

This was undoubtedly a cold-blooded, iron-fisted order.

If it was truly carried out, it would inevitably provoke enormous public resistance.

"Comrades."

"We only have three days."

"Within three days, we must clear every city and restore normal operations."

"One week after the Spiritual Energy Revival, on the sixteenth,"

"the wild beasts in the suburbs and deep mountains will form massive beast tides."

"If the cities have not been cleared by then, we'll be attacked from both front and rear. Not even immortals could save us."

"..."

So that was it.

A look of understanding appeared on Lin Yuan's face.

Trouble within and threats without.

The Dragon Country higher-ups had made this move with extraordinary decisiveness.

First, they would ruthlessly cut off the internal threat, then gather heavy forces to resist the external threat.

"Sir."

"Which area is assigned to me?"

The next moment,

Lin Yuan stood up.

He could depart at any time and guard the most densely populated residential areas.

"You?"

"You don't need to go anywhere."

Yet Zhao Dingbang merely waved a hand at Lin Yuan.

Lin Yuan froze.

The senior officers around him also looked puzzled.

Was Dragon Country's strongest martial artist really being kept in the conference room as a decorative mascot?

"Colonel Lin."

"Killing dogs and cats is work for conventional troops."

"In the entire Southwest Military Region,"

"as of today, before spiritual energy has revived,"

"only nine people, including you, have successfully sensed spiritual energy and become true martial artists."

"The task for you nine is to remain in the safest place in the military region."

"Adjust your physical condition and bring yourselves to peak form."

"Wait."

"Wait for the Spiritual Energy Tide to sweep across Blue Star on the ninth."

"Use that mighty force of heaven and earth to charge upward with everything you've got!"

"The stronger you become, the greater Dragon Country's hope of surviving the beast tide!"

Seeing Lin Yuan's confused expression,

Zhao Dingbang smiled, then explained.

Upon hearing this,

Lin Yuan fell silent for a moment, then nodded heavily.

Good steel belonged on the blade's edge.

What he had to deal with was the Peak Second-Order Stage Ferocious Beast that would soon appear outside Shu Capital.

The meeting ended.

The enormous machinery of the nation began operating at full speed.

Military trucks covered with rain tarps drove out of the major military regions one after another.

East Gate Market, Shu Capital.

Old Wang, the butcher, had just hung half a pig on an iron hook.

When he turned around,

the boning knife in his hand nearly fell to the ground.

At the end of the street,

two wheeled armored vehicles stood parked at the intersection.

Fully armed soldiers were setting up a long cordon.

One soldier had even mounted a heavy machine gun at the street corner.

"This..."

"Are we going to war?"

Old Wang turned his head and looked uneasily at Auntie Li, who sold firewood.

A handful of scallions was still clutched in Auntie Li's hand, and her eyes were wide with shock as well.

Just then,

several neighborhood committee workers walked down the street with loudspeakers, broadcasting announcements.

"Attention, all citizens."

"Starting today, our city will cooperate with the military in a week-long joint counterterrorism drill."

"Please maintain your normal daily routines."

"Do not panic, do not believe rumors, and do not spread rumors!"

"..."

At the same time,

the internet erupted as well.

The top ten trending searches on Weibo were entirely occupied by reports of troops entering cities across the country.

"Magic City here. Three infantry fighting vehicles are parked downstairs from my place!"

"Same in the Imperial Capital. I just saw SWAT officers setting up sniper rifles on a rooftop!"

"What the hell happened?"

"Is the apocalypse coming?"

All kinds of conspiracy theories ran rampant.

But barely half an hour later,

every post carrying inflammatory or panic-inducing sentiments vanished without a trace.

Internet regulators simply pulled the plug and blocked IP addresses, acting with ruthless efficiency.

In neighborhood chat groups of every size,

grid workers and local police officers began frantically reassuring the public.

"Everyone, rest assured."

"The country is carrying out an important deployment."

"Food supplies are sufficient, and water and electricity will continue as normal."

"As long as you don't go out and cause trouble, everything will remain as usual."

"..."

In less than half a day.

Most ordinary people gradually calmed down.

This was Dragon Country.

These were the people of Dragon Country.

Their trust in the nation was etched into their bones.

"Disperse, disperse. If it's just an exercise, then it's nothing serious."

"Props to the soldiers, still protecting the country during the New Year."

"If the country says everything's fine, then it's definitely fine. Time to go home and make dumplings."

The streets remained as lively as ever.

People still haggled in the markets.

Some middle-aged women doing square dances even tried to drag the soldiers on guard into dancing with them.

No one noticed.

Though those soldiers maintained friendly expressions.

Their fingers curled around the triggers had never relaxed.

The ninth day of the Lunar New Year.

At dawn.

The horizon had only just begun to pale.

Inside the main monitoring room of the Southwest Military Region.

An operator staring intently at the screen suddenly had his pupils constrict.

"Beep, beep, beep—"

A piercing alarm rang out.

The red lights on the walls flashed rapidly, dazzling everyone's eyes.

"Report!"

The operator's voice cracked as he sprang out of his chair.

"The Spiritual Energy Detectors are off the charts across the board!"

"The readings... the readings are skyrocketing exponentially!"

Zhao Dingbang strode up to the screen.

As he watched the lines shooting straight upward, the muscles in his face twitched.

It had come!

The Spiritual Energy Revival!