In the apocalypse, I hoarded goods and handed over my storage space to the government.

Su Ran interrupted Li Guodong, her tone becoming extremely resolute.

"Old Li, Great Xia is a unified whole. The decision-making level is responsible for formulating strategies, and the front line is responsible for execution."

He straightened up, and a sharp aura burst forth from his body.

My travel plans remain unchanged.

Su Ran grabbed the top-secret file folder on the table and held it in her hand.

"You hold a meeting in the country to discuss how to treat them."

Once the plan is finalized, send it to me directly via encrypted satellite channel, and I will fully cooperate.

"If they want to kill, I am the sharpest blade in the Great Xia Dynasty. If they want to recruit, I will be responsible for shattering their pride."

Su Ran walked up to Li Guodong and said, "The domestic tone has been set, and I'll take charge of making the move."

Li Guodong looked at the tall, upright young man in front of him for a long time before his tense shoulders relaxed.

"good!"

He stood up and solemnly saluted Su Ran.

"Have a safe journey. Great Xia awaits your triumphant return."

"I'm gone."

Su Ran returned the greeting, said nothing more, and strode towards the door.

The alloy door slid open.

In the corridor, Bai Lu and Ye Xiao were already dressed.

Ye Xiao, dressed in a black combat uniform, was leaning against the wall, tossing a military-grade compressed biscuit to catch it. When he saw Su Ran come out, he caught the biscuit and stuffed it into his mouth.

"Brother Su, has the deal been reached?"

"It's settled."

Su Ran glanced at the two of them. "Are you all ready?"

Bai Lu stepped forward, her voice clear, cold, and crisp.

"We can leave anytime."

"Then let's go."

The three walked side by side toward the elevator.

Ten minutes later.

Kunlun Base, No. 1 take-off and landing platform.

The streamlined "Mysterious Maiden" fighter jet lay quietly under the lights.

The engine began to warm up, and a bright blue exhaust flame roared out.

Su Ran sat in the driver's seat and fastened the seatbelt of her anti-G suit.

Bai Lu and Ye Xiao sat in the back cabin.

Ye Xiao excitedly touched the weapon mounting system next to the seat, while Bai Lu closed his eyes to rest, his mental energy already habitually spreading outwards for alert.

"Tower calling. Advisor Su, the runway is cleared, and the dome armor is deployed. Clearance for takeoff."

The controller's slightly trembling, impassioned voice came through the communication channel.

"receive."

In the driver's seat, Su Ran gripped the control lever and pushed the throttle valve all the way down without hesitation.

boom!

The immense force slammed the three of them hard against the back of their seats.

The "Mysterious Maiden" fighter jet shot into the sky like a black lightning bolt along the sloping tunnel.

The moment we burst out of the underground city's dome, blinding sunlight pierced through the clouds and shone on the cabin windows.

Su Ran looked down at the scene.

Below lies the devastated yet vibrant landscape of the Great Xia Dynasty.

Countless towering steel fortresses and high walls rapidly receded and shrank in the field of vision.

He turned his head and stared at the glaring red line on the tactical terminal that stretched straight into the far north ice field.

If it's inconvenient for Great Xia to play the villain, then let him do it!

"First stop, Siberia."

Su Ran coldly uttered a few words.

The high-altitude airflow screeched against the fuselage, producing a sharp and piercing whistle.

The fighter jets flew completely out of the Great Xia Air Defense Identification Zone.

Below, the reassuring steel walls are no longer visible, nor are the soldiers patrolling and guarding the border.

This is what the apocalypse should look like.

……

Thousands of miles away.

Across the ocean.

Deep in the Colorado Plateau, three thousand meters underground.

"Eden" National Strategic Bunker.

Here, you can't feel the mutated storms on the surface, nor can you hear the roars of monsters.

The artificial sunlights, running 24 hours a day, illuminated the entire dome as if it were daytime.

In the circular conference room in the core area of ​​the bunker.

This is a weekly, top-level cabinet meeting.

President Jopden slumped in his leather high-backed chair, twirling the Montblanc pen in his hand.

"Report on all indicators last week."

He tapped on the table, his voice carrying the languid air of someone who had been giving orders for years.

The Minister of the Interior opened the thick document in his hand.

"Mr. President, the self-circulation system inside the bunker is currently functioning perfectly."

Air purification and water filtration in each zone are within the maximum redundancy range.

He cleared his throat, his tone revealing a hint of barely suppressed relief.

"The early leak of the 'Eden' plan led to a nationwide riot that broke out prematurely in the country."

The evacuation of major tycoons and political figures was hampered, and ultimately only 6.12 million people successfully entered the bunkers.

"But precisely because the number of people is far lower than the expected upper limit of 20 million, our existing strategic reserves, when distributed equally among each person, have actually doubled."

God bless America.

The Interior Minister even chuckled.

"With the existing output of hydroponic farms and the supply of synthetic protein, even if the underground is sealed off for a hundred years, these six million people can maintain an extremely decent standard of living."

It could be said that the riots helped us filter out the unnecessary mouths, allowing us to perfectly preserve the core of America's scientific, military, and industrial elites.

The president stopped twirling his pen and nodded almost imperceptibly.

If fewer people survive, there will be fewer people to share the pie.

This perfectly aligns with his initial logic of selecting interests.

The alloy door to the conference room slid open.

War Secretary Hegses strode in and pushed a briefing stamped with a top-secret red seal onto the center of the long table.

"Gentlemen, we're in big trouble! The intelligence agency has just intercepted a global plaintext broadcast."

Hegesses looked around, his face turning ashen.

"The Great Xia Dynasty has declared its entire territory liberated. They've wiped out all the mutated creatures within the country! It's unbelievable!"

In the vast space, the officials who had been discussing the distribution of supplies fell silent.

The cabinet officials looked at each other in bewilderment.

"Not only that."

Hegeseth flicked his fingers and tapped the briefing: "The Great Xia leadership has issued a global call for dialogue."

It demands that all governments hidden underground return to the surface and jointly build a defense against the apocalypse.

They even declared that they were about to form an expeditionary force to conduct a global extermination operation!

The press secretary pushed up his gold-rimmed glasses, leaned forward, and spoke urgently.

"Mr. President, Great Xia is flexing its muscles to the world. Do we need to respond?"

Or could the White House send a courtesy congratulatory message via an encrypted channel?

"Congratulations? Congratulations on trampling us underfoot?"

Secretary of State Rudio let out a cold laugh and pushed away the coffee cup in front of him.

"Don't forget how they stole the Reagan from the high seas before the catastrophe!"

By issuing this official document now, we are essentially acknowledging their status as the new world hegemon!

"But they have already liberated the entire territory; that's an indisputable fact!"

The press secretary-general refuted this, speaking very quickly.

"We're like rats underground, while they're building civilization on top. If we completely sever ties, who will set the rules for the future surface?"

If the Great Xia really sends its army to North America, we won't even have a chance to negotiate!

"Let them come! North America is our territory!"

Hegeseth slammed his hand on the armrest.

"The Colorado bunker can withstand even a direct hit from a nuclear bomb!"

We still hold the launch codes for 2000 nuclear missiles!

Unless those Easterners have gone mad and want to drag human civilization down with them!

"That's a classic case of burying your head in the sand, my Minister of War!"

The Commerce Secretary couldn't help but interject, looking anxiously at the President.

"The Great Xia now holds an absolute advantage in resources and military strength."

"If we take advantage of this appeal and try to send a special envoy to negotiate a technology-for-resources deal, perhaps we can..."

"Absolutely impossible!"

The sounds of arguing echoed through the meeting room.

Some advocated contact, at least to ascertain the current military strength of the Great Xia; others insisted on remaining underground like turtles, refusing to bow to the East.

That's enough.

The president spoke, his voice not loud, but it carried an absolute sense of oppression.

"The impact of this natural disaster has exceeded our expectations. Frankly speaking, the Great Xia Kingdom is too powerful now."

The president took the briefing in his hand, glanced at it, and then casually tossed it into the shredder at his feet.

The sound of gears meshing is especially jarring in a quiet room.

"They have not only preserved their complete national structure, but even their industrial system is intact. What do we have to offer them in negotiations?"

The president surveyed the crowd, his words sharp and cutting.

"Do you really think that by returning to the surface and cooperating with them, the United States can regain its former glory?"

"Faced with an absolute disparity in strength, so-called cooperation is nothing more than handing over our last six million elite soldiers to their expeditionary force as expendable supplies and cannon fodder!"

He stood up, placed his hands on the table, and looked down at his cabinet members.

Even if the cooperation succeeds, the mutated creatures will be completely wiped out.

The future world order has already been set. We can only be relegated to a second-rate vassal state, at the mercy of Great Xia.

"Are any of you willing to go to Jade City and beg for food?"

No one answered.

Politicians accustomed to giving orders are never willing to relinquish their power. This is greed ingrained in the very nature of capitalism.

"The President is absolutely right."

Hegeses was the first to speak, a sneer playing on his lips.

"Didn't the Great Xia claim that it would launch an expedition to clear the surface of the earth? There are so many mutated creatures in the world, numbering in the tens of billions."

He gave a sinister smile.

"Let Great Xia fight. Let them exhaust their national strength, resources, and army in an endless meat grinder."

Getting bogged down in a global war would be entirely beneficial to us. We can simply sit back and watch the show unfold.

The president sat down again, looking at the members of the united front with satisfaction.

He looked across half the long table and stopped at an elderly man in a white coat at the end.

That was Dr. Steven, the head of the highest academy of sciences at "Eden".

"Doctor, what's the progress of the research on those 'special survivors' with supernatural abilities that the military captured on the surface last week?"

Upon hearing this question, the air in the conference room inexplicably turned cold.

The so-called "special survivors" are wild awakened individuals who survived the mutation attack and awakened their superpowers in the brutal battles on the surface.

The White House special forces paid a considerable price to determine the source of these capabilities.

Several surface shelters were destroyed, and live targets were captured in the ruins and sent directly to the deepest underground laboratory.

Dr. Steven opened the tablet computer in his hand.

"I'm sorry, Mr. President, the exact triggering mechanism has not yet been found."

The doctor pushed up his glasses, and the screen's glow reflected on his face, giving him a morbidly strange look.

"We conducted a comprehensive analysis of three of the targets."

This includes removing the frontal lobe of the brain, extracting the spinal cord from a living donor, and testing for neuronal hypertension.

Without the use of anesthesia, their chest cavities were directly opened to observe organ remodeling. It must be said that their physiological response data is quite unique.

He spoke chilling words with nonchalance.

In the bunkers three thousand meters underground, human rights have long been a joke of the last century.

"However, we did find some mutated segments in their gene sequences that did not belong to the human genome."

These fragments can reorganize cells and even defy existing thermodynamic laws, generating energy out of thin air.

Let's call it the 'divine factor' for now.

Dr. Steven raised his head, his eyes flashing with madness.

"Give me a little more time and enough test subjects to experiment with, and I'm sure I'll be able to extract the perfect potion."

"You have the time. And I will dedicate unlimited resources to the Academy of Sciences."

The president stared into Steven's eyes, his tone both fervent and icy.

"If we don't have enough test subjects, we'll pick them from the lowest-ranking civilian areas!"

Those inferior people without technical backgrounds who couldn't afford the tickets to sneak in were just wasting food.

They'll all be allocated to you; you don't need to worry about any losses.

"For every ten thousand that die, ten thousand more will be replaced!"

The cabinet officials remained silent, and not one of them raised any objections.

In this dog-eat-dog underground kingdom, the lives of those at the bottom are like consumables in a laboratory.

"I only want one result."

The president rested his hands on his chin.

"To completely crack this genetic code, we only need to master the technology to mass-produce supernatural abilities."

"Doctor, you are the Prometheus of the new era of civilization; your great America has borrowed divine power."

"With a super army that surpasses conventional firearms, what are those mutated beasts on the surface? What is Great Xia?"

"At that time, we will return to the surface with godlike power."

Go and give our old adversaries, who have bled themselves dry, a proper audience. Take over all the fortresses they've painstakingly built.

Thunderous applause erupted in the meeting room.

Dr. Steven stood up and bowed deeply.

"As you wish, Mr. President. Science will bring you ultimate victory. God bless America."

"Then, let's establish the core policies for the current stage before the meeting adjourns."

The president surveyed the room and slowly and deliberately issued his final instructions.

"Maintain the established strategic plan; the 'underground bunker for fifty years' policy remains unchanged. Cut off all overt communication with the outside world and continue to be blind and deaf."

The meeting ended, and the officials gradually rose and left.

The president called the press secretary and the war minister aside.

"Mr. President, is there anything else you require?"

The president walked to the holographic world map on the wall.

On the map, the territory of the Great Xia was marked in an extremely glaring red.

"Since the Great Xia expeditionary force is going to step out of the country, it will inevitably have to extend the supply lines and cross an extremely vast area."

His fingers traced the line between Europe and Asia.

"Go, activate the highest level coded channel."

"Go and contact those 'good allies' we used to have hidden underground."

The president turned around, a venomous glint in his eyes.

"Tell them that the chariots of the Great Xia will soon be passing over their heads."

Everyone here is smart; they'll know how to handle this…