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

Jopden's roar echoed through the circular conference room.

No one responded.

He slammed his fist on the table, causing the pen to roll off and its nib to split.

"Convene an emergency meeting."

"All cabinet members, military personnel, academicians, and intelligence officers, arrive within ten minutes."

"Those who are late will be demoted to the seventh-level civilian district."

The Secretary-General's Adam's apple bobbed as he replied, "Yes, Mr. President."

Ten minutes later.

The highest conference room in the Eden Bunker.

The atmosphere was even more oppressive than last time.

Last time, it was the Commonwealth of Great Britain and the underground government of Europe that sided with Great Britain.

That could at least be explained as political betrayal.

This time, the Great Xia directly used more than 700 nuclear bombs to turn an entire continent into a wasteland on the map.

"Mr. President, the emergency meeting has been convened," the Secretary General said.

Jopden raised his hand and pointed to his seat.

"sit."

All senior cabinet officials took their seats.

The satellite imagery on the main screen was switched to one side, while the other side displayed a global radioactive dust model and underground signal monitoring maps of various countries.

Secretary of State Rudio sat on the left side of the long table, the folder in his hand already crumpled.

He opened his mouth, but only managed to squeeze out one sentence.

"Mr. President, we need to confirm whether Great Xia is prepared to take the same measures against North America."

These words made the atmosphere in the meeting room even more tense.

War Minister Hegesses stood to the side, his face pale.

He usually likes to talk about nuclear deterrence.

But deterrence and actually launching an attack are two different things.

Daxia has just demonstrated to the world that nuclear weapons are not old relics displayed in a glass case for people to see.

That's a button.

Press it, and a piece of the world will be missing.

"They might not do that to us."

The Commerce Minister took off his glasses and wiped the lenses with a handkerchief.

"North America still has numerous survivor camps and industrial relics from the old era. If Great Xia wants to take over the global order, it won't easily destroy this continent."

Are you sure?

The press secretary sneered, "Doesn't Australia have cities, ports, or mines?"

"Australia no longer has any large-scale human regimes. North America is different," the Commerce Minister began.

"What's the difference?"

The Secretary-General of the Information Bureau countered, "The difference is that we're still hiding underground, not responding, not surrendering, and not making any statements?"

A hushed argument began to break out on both sides of the long table.

Some say that Great Xia is engaging in strategic deterrence.

Some say this is intended for North America.

Some have mentioned that the remnants of the British Commonwealth government and the European underground alliance have successively connected to the global relief channel led by Great Britain.

Others put it even more bluntly.

"We're the only ones left who haven't joined the Great Xia system yet."

After those words were spoken, no one argued anymore.

Jopden stood in front of the main seat, staring at the screen, his chest heaving heavily.

Secretary of State Rudio said in a deep voice, "Mr. President, the situation this time is more dangerous than the Commonwealth of Great Britain and Europe collectively turning to Great Britain."

"Last time, they only lost an ally."

"This time, the Great Xia demonstrated their dominance in the end times."

Jopden did not speak.

He stared at the charred outline of Australia on the screen.

A few seconds later, he asked, "What are our former allies' reactions now?"

The press secretary immediately retrieved the surveillance data.

"The Europa underground channel also contains a large number of encrypted communications."

The content hasn't been fully deciphered yet, but keywords include 'fear,' 'obedience,' 'Great Xia authorization,' and 'avoiding stimulation.'

He paused for a moment.

"The newly established Commonwealth government has sent a new confirmation of nuclear weapons cooperation to Great Xia."

They said they support Bactria in taking all necessary actions for the survival of human civilization.

Hegeses cursed.

"That old dog Luke knelt down faster than anyone else."

Silence fell once again in the conference room.

The British Commonwealth has knelt down.

Europa knelt down.

A beacon of freedom has emerged on the surface of North America, desperately trying to squeeze into the embrace of Great Xia.

At that very moment, the Great Xia used 3.5 billion tons of energy to turn a continent from a map into a radioactive wasteland.

It's hard not to overthink this.

"Da Xia is flexing its muscles, and it's also showing off its courage."

Hegesses crossed his arms and spoke in a deep voice.

"They want to tell us that any piece of land can be wiped off the strategic map if they want to."

"Today is Australia."

He looked up at Jopden.

"What about tomorrow?"

No one dared to utter that word.

North America.

Jopden's face twitched. "They dare to use nuclear weapons against North America?"

Rudio did not answer immediately.

He spoke after a few seconds.

"What if Great Xia believes that something exists in North America that threatens human civilization?"

In the conference room, someone picked up a water glass, but their hand trembled slightly.

The bottom of the cup tapped softly on the table.

The sound was very soft.

But it was jarring.

That's enough.

Jopden suppressed his anger and looked toward the intelligence office seat.

"Hall, this is your intelligence department's assessment."

Just then, at the end of the conference table, a middle-aged man with gray hair looked up.

He is Hall, the head of external disaster assessment at the intelligence department.

They don't usually have a strong presence.

But he has the most surface data.

"Mr. President."

Hall's voice was low. "Our intelligence department has another assessment."

Jopden looked at him.

"explain."

Hall stood up and pulled up a set of data on the Australian disaster.

On the screen is a heat map composed of numerous stacked red dots.

"This is the distribution of life energy reactions on the Australian continent before the Great Xia nuclear attack."

He raised his hand and swept it across the entire territory of Australia.

"According to our model, Australia has formed a complete mutated ecosystem. Mutant rabbits, mutant kangaroos, mutant insects, and mutated crustaceans along the coast are all evolving at a rapid pace."

Hegeses frowned. "What are you trying to say?"

Hall looked at him.

"I think the Great Xia might really just be there to clean up the mutated creatures."

Inside the meeting room, many people looked up.

This judgment is completely different from their previous one.

Rudio frowned. "You don't consider this a deterrent?"

"I believe deterrence is a side effect."

Hall replied quickly, "The real reason is that Great Xia's assessment of the future evolution of the catastrophe is more severe than ours."

He continued cutting the images.

"Australia is isolated overseas, making ground troop landings extremely costly. The number of monsters isn't in the millions, but in the tens of billions, or even more."

"Conventional operations require resupply across the sea, and landing points are repeatedly swallowed up by mutated beast hordes."

"Given the current strategic logic of the Great Xia, complete annihilation is indeed the fastest, simplest, and safest solution."

The Minister of Commerce couldn't help but speak up.

"But Australia is tens of thousands of kilometers away from the mainland of Great Xia! And those monsters don't travel by boat."

Hall glanced at him.

Before the catastrophe, no one believed that the dead could stand up and bite people.

Although Australia is geographically isolated, it is not necessarily safe forever.

The Minister of Commerce immediately pressed further,

"You mean, they'll be able to cross the sea in the future?"