We have no choice!

The speaker was a stern-faced leader in charge of domestic security.

"It's too risky! This is nothing but a gamble!"

He rose, sweeping everyone with a piercing gaze.

"We know next to nothing about that world. All our intelligence comes from Lin Mo alone! How can we guarantee its accuracy?"

"What if the Demon Clan over there is far stronger than we imagine? What if they charge back through the portal we build?"

"Can our cities and our people withstand endless hordes of monsters from another world?"

"What if their magic can easily disable our firearms, turn our tanks into scrap metal, and detonate our missiles in midair?"

"This isn't alarmism. This is completely uncharted territory!"

"We're gambling with the fate of all of Great Xia and the lives of its people!"

"That's not foresight. That's madness!"

The enthusiasm that had just flared in the conference room cooled considerably.

He was right. The risk was immense.

The unknown was the most terrifying enemy of all.

"A gamble?"

Elder Zhao suddenly gave a cold laugh.

"Aren't we already gambling?"

He walked over to the world map that covered almost an entire wall.

Vast stretches of the map were marked in a shocking red, indicating dead zones rendered uninhabitable by geological disasters and extreme weather.

"We're betting that tectonic movements won't tear apart the underground cities we exhausted our national resources to build before their time."

"We're betting that solar winds won't strip away the atmosphere we depend on within ten years."

"We're betting that those countries throwing bombs at one another in the ruins over a single expired can of food won't go mad enough to aim nuclear weapons at our last remaining refuge!"

"Tell me, when have we ever gone a single day without gambling?!"

Elder Zhao spun around, his eyes blazing as he stared straight at the security chief.

"Now we have a table with better odds and richer rewards. We have a chance to be the house ourselves, and you're telling me not to play?"

He extended a finger and jabbed hard at the scarlet region on the map.

"Look here! Look at these places!"

"We have nowhere left to retreat!"

"We have no choice!"

Those last two sentences thundered through the room, shattering the final traces of hesitation and doubt.

That was right. They had nowhere left to retreat, no other choice!

Rather than sit and wait for death, they would fight for life with their backs against it!

The fire in everyone's eyes burned brighter and steadier than before.

At that moment, the meeting shifted from whether the plan was feasible to how it would be carried out. After half a day of efficient discussion, they finally settled on three broad priorities.

"Good!" Elder Zhao surveyed the room. No one had any further objections, and his eyes gleamed with resolve.

"Based on our discussion, I'll go over everything once more so we can catch anything we missed."

"First, we must send troops!"

"This is the best way to demonstrate our sincerity to the Elves and open the road to another world."

"Second, we must establish our role!"

"We are not invaders. We are here to aid another civilization and act as equal trading partners!"

"Until we have secured a foothold in that world, we must keep a humble stance. Cooperation and mutual benefit must be our guiding principles!"

"We must not give any race on the Terra Continent even the slightest reason to regard us with suspicion or hostility!"

"Third, authorization!"

His gaze turned to Zhao Gang.

"Give Comrade Lin Mo full authority to represent Great Xia and advance cooperation with the Elf Queen. Whatever the cost, we must establish the portal."

"We must also demonstrate that we have no territorial ambitions on the Terra Continent. We are something akin to mercenaries, there to help them fight the Demon Clan."

"We can pursue everything else gradually afterward. Don't arouse suspicion or put them on guard."

"Does anyone have anything to add?"

No one spoke.

"Good. Then that's settled for now!" Elder Zhao slapped the table, finalizing the decision.

"Zhao Gang."

"Here!"

"Go back immediately and tell him our decision. Tell him he isn't fighting alone. Behind him stands the full support of Great Xia and all its people!"

Zhao Gang straightened and immediately saluted, accepting his orders.

But Elder Zhao suddenly waved a hand.

"No, wait."

"I'll go back with you."

"I want to meet this fine young man myself!"

"I want to thank him in person!"

And so, the meeting's arrangements were finalized in orderly succession.

With time pressing, the five leaders issued a continuous stream of verbal orders to their subordinates, leaving the signed paperwork to follow afterward.

Beneath the night sky, hidden currents stirred throughout Great Xia. For many, this was destined to be a sleepless night.

In the Arctic Theater, inside an underground base beneath the permafrost.

The stark temperature difference between the surface and the underground whipped the air into a frenzy. Bitter winds scraped across the base's wide-open entrance like countless little knives, letting out shrill howls.

A figure stood like a javelin on a raised platform inside the entrance, the general's stars on his shoulder boards gleaming beneath the searchlights.

His face looked as though Siberia's frigid winds had carved it themselves, every wrinkle holding a tale of gun smoke and frost.

Long Zhan, commander-in-chief of the Arctic Theater!

The elite Red Wolf Special Operations Brigade under his command was a blade of the nation he had personally forged, with several legendary exploits to its name.

Amid the turmoil of the Doomsday crisis, his military achievements had earned him rapid promotion. Following the consolidation of the theaters, he had become one of only two theater commanders, leading the Arctic Theater's five hundred thousand troops!

At that moment, he was watching the soldiers training in the bitter wind ahead.

"Sir!"

A young secretary rushed over through the freezing wind, his military greatcoat nearly torn off by the gusts.

"An encrypted message from New Kyoto! Highest priority!"

Long Zhan's gaze remained impassive as he turned and strode toward headquarters.

The heavy alloy door shut out the howling wind. Inside his office, he opened the top-secret, red-header document.

There was no lengthy prebattle rallying speech, only a few brief, cold commands.

[Secret order: Long Zhan, supreme commander of the Arctic Theater, is ordered to select twenty thousand top combat personnel from the Snow Wolf Special Operations Brigade and all directly subordinate units within 72 hours, form the First Expeditionary Army, enter level-one combat readiness, and await transport orders.]

[Mission objective: classified.]

[Combat location: classified.]

[Anticipated enemy: classified.]

Was this a fucking fake? That was Long Zhan's instinctive reaction.

Even at my rank, everything is still classified?

He checked the source of the message. It had indeed arrived through an encrypted channel, and the document did indeed bear his direct superior's signature.

Once he confirmed its authenticity, his pupils contracted sharply.

An expeditionary army?

That term had been gathering dust for far too long.

On Blue Star, geopolitics had now been compressed to the extreme.

Within the Arctic Circle, several major powers were crammed together like cornered beasts. Any military action sent ripples through the entire region. An "expedition" was out of the question.

Could we be going to Antarctica? But that's the Antarctica Theater's jurisdiction.

Or are we heading to the equator?

Sending troops there to let the earth barbecue them?