Inside the Command Center, everyone stared fixedly at the main screen.
No one spoke.
A little over ten minutes earlier, the tactical map on the screen had still been a horrifying sea of blood red.
The red dots representing the Demon Clan had multiplied wildly across the city map like an out-of-control virus, swallowing every corridor and every sector.
Now, the blue dots representing Great Xia's military surged outward from the city's core like a cold tsunami of steel.
Wherever the blue dots swept through, swaths of red dots went dark.
Sector G3, cleared.
Sector B2, cleared.
The heat signatures of the two fifth-order demons rampaging through Sector H5 had also vanished completely.
The red markers that had been darting all over the screen just minutes earlier were being engulfed by blue at a visible rate.
"Unbelievable..."
The adjutant swallowed hard, his voice trembling.
"Without us even realizing it... our army has already become this strong?"
Zhou Shan stood before the screen with his arms folded. At those words, the corners of his mouth lifted.
"The Demon Clan is strong, but Great Xia's military technology hasn't been standing still either."
"If Great Xia's ace division can't even drive back a few bugs, I'll court-martial myself when I get back."
He turned toward Lin Shigong, whose eyes were bloodshot.
"City Lord Lin, get some rest."
"As long as Great Xia's battle flag still flies, Tianxiong City will not fall."
Lin Shigong looked at the defensive line that had stabilized again on the screen and the sectors they had reclaimed. At last, his anxious heart settled.
Tianxiong City had finally held.
He turned to face the original team in the Vault who had endured more than ten hours alongside him.
Technicians, staff officers, communications personnel-every one of them was grimy and disheveled,