"Not enough!"
"You alone are not enough as a bargaining chip."
"At the very least, it will take the lives of all of you in power, including your bloodlines and descendants."
It was Liu Sandao who spoke.
As the ruler of a city with over 100,000 survivors, the apocalypse of the past two months has stripped away all his naivety.
At the same time, Liu Sandao no longer trusts anyone except himself and the knife in his hand.
"I've worked so hard to get to where I am today; your life can't buy back my trust."
Liu Sandao has witnessed too much of the dark side of human nature during these two months of doomsday, and he is no longer as naive as before.
Is the life of a supreme commander really that important?
It's important, but it's also not important.
For the ruling class, exchanging a representative of their class interests for the elimination of all threats is a very worthwhile deal.
There are other military commanders besides Marshal Gao, but the real threat comes from the Demigod and the demise of the Ancient God.
There are too many instances of betrayal among humans. Whether others are willing to believe them is their business, but Liu Sandao does not trust.
"Yes, Liu Sandao is right."
Even if you were willing to let Ling Xiao die with us, and even if you added yourself, it still wouldn't be enough.
"Everyone knows that you rulers hate us commoners who rose up in this chaotic world."
Sacrificing you alone will not earn me my trust.
Another burly man stood up.
Although the Demigod all received the system's final mission and understood that the Ancient God were their ultimate goal.
However, this does not prevent them from suspecting the ill intentions of another group of people with conflicting interests.
Don't spout Great Dao about how the world will perish if we don't cooperate for the sake of humanity's future.
As long as the world does not truly perish, human conflict will never cease.
It is never a bad thing to think of those in power with the worst possible intentions.
" Liu Dabiao, what do you want? I've already gone with you to fight the Ancient God, and Marshal Gao is willing to risk his life to vouch for it. Don't be ungrateful!"
A man in military uniform behind Marshal Gao stepped forward, and a powerful aura swept out.
Major General Lin Xiao, Demigod on the government's side and the Lord of Space.
It was precisely because of his and another military Demigod's mutual assistance that the government forces were able to maintain maximum control over Huaxia.
" Lin Xiao, don't try to intimidate me with your bravado. I'm not someone to be trifled with."
"If you hadn't invited Grandpa here today, I wouldn't even bother cooperating with you."
The burly man Liu Dabiao was not intimidated at all.
Although Lin Xiao's spatial ability can be said to be the most mysterious power among the seven Demigod of Huaxia, appearing and disappearing without a trace, he can also manipulate spatial power to launch powerful attacks such as Space Slash.
Although both are Demigod, the other is stronger than him, but not to the point of overwhelming him.
Lin Xiao's expression changed. He was afraid of provoking the other party too much, so he could only withdraw his aura and speak calmly:
"Don't forget, the system's final mission for us: without the military's nuclear weapons, do you really think you can deal with the Ancient God?"
"Of course we have no way to deal with the Ancient God, but you are probably more anxious than we are."
Liu Dabiao was nothing like his reckless appearance; instead, he succinctly revealed the key point.
"Anyway, I'm just a worthless old man. Before this apocalypse, I was just a pig butcher."
"These past two months of the apocalypse have been more enjoyable than being an emperor. I've enjoyed everything I could, and I'm not afraid of death."
"As for the system's so-called tasks, heh, I don't even have much interest in becoming a god."
"We don't know what's behind this, and I'm afraid that after all our hard work, we'll just be slaughtered like pigs."
Liu Dabiao's words, though seemingly rough, were actually quite shrewd. He appeared indifferent to the mission, but in reality, how could that be?
The more you bring something up and talk about it, the harder it is to let it go.
In particular, every Desire Pursuers who can reach the level of Demigod is someone who has maximized their own desires.
You're saying he doesn't want to become a god?
Nobody would believe that!
But whether they believed it or not, everyone knew why Liu Dabiao said that.
Increase the stakes, get the government forces to keep betting on the lives of important figures. Only by making them all suffer losses can the possibility of a backstab be minimized.
In short, when groups with differing interests want to cooperate, sacrifices and concessions are inevitable.
Silence fell, and the meeting room was plunged into a brief silence.
Finally, it was Marshal Gao, the old man, who broke the silence:
"Alright! I can grant your request. I will explain to the committee members that the leaders of key departments and their descendants must be bound to you."
"We are all in this together, sharing both prosperity and adversity. Doesn't that demonstrate our sincerity in cooperating?"
"Old Gao! You can't do that! Even without them, Wang Que and I can hold off the Ancient God. There's no need to gamble the entire leadership team against them."
Lin Xiao, who was standing nearby, spoke up to warn him, saying that this was no joke.
The plan to hunt down the Ancient God is not guaranteed to succeed. What if it fails, given that the lives of the Huaxia leadership are tied to these individuals?
Once Huaxia loses its advanced combat power (Demigod) and its high-ranking military leaders, it will truly have no hope of revival.
"There's nothing we can't do. Since they're being asked to risk their lives, we're naturally not going to hesitate either, as long as they can unite with us to get through this disaster."
Marshal Gao remained calm; this situation had been anticipated even before the meeting.
His promise was not made up on the spot, but rather a preparation that had been made long ago after unanimous discussion among all the top leaders of Huaxia.
It's not that no one has considered taking advantage of the opportunity to eliminate the Ancient God to deal with these self-proclaimed heroes as well.
But they were all scolded for not considering the bigger picture.
Now is not the time for internal strife. The Ancient God continue to grow stronger, and humanity must eliminate them before they develop to the point where even nuclear weapons cannot defeat them.
As for whether it succeeds or not, and who will be the Inheritors to Huaxia after the war.
This issue is no longer under consideration.
When the nest is overturned, no egg remains unbroken; only by overcoming this difficulty can we consider other things.
As long as the people living on this land are Huaxia, then Huaxia civilization will endure forever.
"Now, can you all trust me and hear the battle plan?"
Marshal Gao smiled faintly, glanced around the room, and no one objected anymore.