I object!

The teacup did not break. It rolled a few times across the thick carpet, and the warm tea soaked a small patch of Elder Zhao's trousers, but he did not notice.

The next second, he shot up from his chair.

The old man, normally as steady as a mountain, moved as quickly as a young man.

He rounded the enormous desk in a few strides and rushed up to Zhao Gang, gripping his shoulders with both hands so hard that Zhao Gang felt a sharp pain.

"Zhao Gang!"

Elder Zhao's voice trembled violently.

He stared at Zhao Gang.

"Are you certain that every single word you said is true?!"

Facing those bloodshot eyes blazing with fire, Zhao Gang straightened his back and answered with absolute conviction,

"I stake my life on it. Every word is true!" Once he finished, his voice began to tremble,

"Sir, our civilization... can be saved!"

Boom!

Those words struck like a thunderbolt, tearing through the dark clouds of despair in Elder Zhao's heart.

His hands abruptly released Zhao Gang's shoulders.

He staggered back two steps, then paced excitedly around the office, murmuring over and over:

"Good! Wonderful!"

"Wonderful..."

As he paced, the eyes of this old man, whose hair had turned white as he toiled for his country and its people, bearing the fate of the remaining seven hundred million, suddenly reddened.

Two streams of hot tears broke free, running down the wrinkles on his face.

Seeing this, Zhao Gang, a man as tough as iron, suddenly felt his nose sting, and his eyes reddened too.

He knew how crushing a burden this old man had carried over the past two years. With the entire world descending into chaos on the brink of annihilation, he had single-handedly held Great Xia together.

Only after a long while did Elder Zhao stop pacing. He raised a hand and forcefully wiped the tears from his face with its back, regaining his composure.

But the light in his eyes was utterly different from the weary glimmer that had been there before.

It was the light of hope, a fire that could sweep across the plains!

He turned, strode back to his desk, and pressed the button on the red telephone.

"Li, notify the other four. We're holding an emergency meeting in an hour!"

Inside the conference room.

The air here seemed heavier than outside. The long mahogany table gleamed like a mirror, reflecting the quiet overhead lights and a succession of deeply solemn faces.

When they pushed open the door and saw Zhao Gang, every one of their hearts gave a heavy thump.

Zhao Gang.

Among Great Xia's highest leadership, that name now represented a signal in itself.

The first time he had appeared here, he had brought news of "Blue Star's Great Deceleration." Afterward, the "Ark" Project had begun, and excavation of thirty-six enormous underground cities had secretly commenced around the globe.

That had been Great Xia's first struggle beneath the shadow of the apocalypse.

The second time he had appeared here, he had reported the existence of Lin Mo, a man who had traveled to another world. Thus, the "New Hope" Project had been born.

For the first time, Great Xia had turned its gaze toward the magical continent called Terra. That had been the first glimmer of light in the darkness.

And today was the third time.

Elder Zhao wasted no time on opening remarks.

He merely gave a look, and Zhao Gang stepped forward, laying out all the intelligence Lin Mo had brought back about "Astral Teleportation" and the construction of a two-way portal.

Zhao Gang recounted everything steadily and clearly.

Every word was like a heavy bomb detonating silently in the conference room.

A pin drop could have been heard.

Then came heavy breathing, rising one after another, no longer possible to suppress.

A gray-haired leader in charge of the economy underwent a rapid series of changes in expression. Instinctively, he reached for the pocket of his Zhongshan suit.

His fast-acting heart medication was inside.

Beside him, a leader with general's stars on his shoulders clenched his fists until his knuckles turned white, the muscles in his arms bulging against his crisp military uniform,

"Zhao," he said, his voice slightly hoarse and his gaze bright,

"Does that portal really exist?"

"Yes!" Zhao Gang answered without hesitation,

"The Holy Human Race possesses this technology!"

It was confirmed: this was no trick of the ears, no joke!

The general's chest rose and fell rapidly with excitement he could barely contain.

"Comrades," Elder Zhao said, looking around the room, a complicated, unreadable light surging through his perpetually bloodshot eyes,

"We have been searching for a way out. Now, a bright path has appeared before us."

He paused, then asked:

"Let's hear your thoughts. Is this a heaven-sent opportunity, or Pandora's box?"

Bang!

With a thunderous crash, the military leader slammed his hand onto the table and sprang to his feet.

His face was flushed with excitement,

"An opportunity! Of course it's an incredible opportunity!"

"Our situation is already ten thousand times worse than any disaster that could crawl out of that box!"

"The planet beneath our feet is turning into an enormous coffin!"

"What are we staying here for? To be buried with it?!"

"With this portal, we can send our troops through, drive our tanks through, and set up our missiles on the other side!"

"That's a new planet, a new home!"

The leader in charge of the economy adjusted the glasses on the bridge of his nose and spoke:

"I agree with Yang, but we should be a little calmer." He had already recovered, and a shrewd light gleamed in his eyes.

"This isn't merely a matter of seeking refuge and expanding our territory."

"This is an entirely new world. That means limitless resources and limitless markets!"

"Think about it. Our heavy industry was forced to shut down by the disaster. The steel, cement, and machine tools sitting in our warehouses are a burden to us, but what would they mean to another world that's still in the age of swords and spears?"

"We could trade our cheapest industrial goods for their magical ores, rare magical plants, and even biological materials with extraordinary properties!"

"That trade alone would be enough to instantly revive our national economy, which has stagnated because of the disaster!"

"It could set our factories roaring again and let hundreds of millions of people find work again and put a hot meal on their tables!"

"Life wouldn't be so hard anymore!"

"There's also the question of civilization itself," added a bespectacled, scholarly-looking leader in charge of culture and technology.

"If we can decode the Elves' longevity genes, we could break the limits of the human lifespan."

"The Dwarves' runic technology is an entirely different technological system from our own, operating beyond our rules of physics. It might resolve countless bottlenecks in energy and materials science."

"And then there's the Holy Human Race's spatial magic..."

As he reached this point, an almost obsessive longing appeared in his eyes.

"If we could master even one ten-thousandth of its mysteries, it would mean a leap to an entirely new dimension for our whole civilization!"

Every word they spoke struck a chord with everyone present, sketching a vision of the future so dazzling it left them spellbound.

Yet amid this fervent atmosphere, a dissenting voice rang out,

"I object!"