Survival of the Nation: My luck was a tiny bit worse.

"And that encounter..."

Ou Yun added.

"It never revealed its full form. What we saw was only the part above ground; no one knows how much lies below. If its true form is that mountain, then what we fought back then... was merely a finger it extended?"

Sigh, the forbidden area setting is so useful! No matter what kind of monsters or demons appear next, it can always turn the tide and save the day, haha...

Maxim swallowed hard. "You trapped three giant beasts and the two of you with just one finger?"

"right."

"So, what we're going to fight tomorrow... is this whole mountain?"

"right."

"..."

Maxim thought to himself, "Dude, we're here to fight against the Five Finger Mountain in the forbidden area."

"It doesn't necessarily mean attacking the entire mountain."

Leng Ruolan drew a circle on the tactics board.

"No matter what species you are, even a mountain should have a core. Just like the Abyss Bone Demon has an energy core, this kind of giant abyss creature must have a control center."

"Find that central hub, destroy it, and the whole mountain will just be a pile of ordinary rocks and bones."

How can you be sure it has a core?

"Because all abyssal creatures have it."

Chen Hao opened his notebook, which was filled with structural analysis diagrams of various abyssal creatures.

"From the Abyss Bone Demon to the Abyss Scorpion, their body structures vary greatly, but they all have one thing in common—they contain high-density energy crystal nuclei within their bodies."

"This core is both their energy source and their fatal weakness. Once the core is destroyed, the entire body will disintegrate."

He turned to the latest page, which showed a hypothetical cross-section of the pillar in the basin.

"Based on this ratio, if the mountain is dozens of times larger than the pillar, then its core would be approximately this size—"

He gestured with his hand to indicate the size, "That size when an adult is shrunk into a ball?"

"It's so big? Wouldn't that make it easy to find?"

"You need to understand, this involves finding a core the size of a curled-up adult in an entire mountain—"

Leng Ruolan looked at Ou Yun expressionlessly. "Easy to find?"

"That's true..."

After a moment's thought, Ou Yun...

Then he turned to look in the direction where the helicopter was parked.

"How about we just use missiles to flatten the entire mountain?"

Allen: ...

As expected of people from China, they explode at the slightest provocation!

"The missiles are not powerful enough."

Chen Hao shook his head. "Brother, have you forgotten? Abyssal matter has extremely high resistance to conventional explosions. Last time we used a special missile from the Forbidden Zone to blow up that winged bat, and it only blew off half its head. If the surface of that mountain is covered with abyssal matter, conventional firepower will hardly be able to cause effective damage!"

"Were the missiles in the basin last time specially made?"

"Possibly? That's the helicopter's built-in weapon system... There are only six in stock, one was used before, and there are five left."

"Five..."

Ou Yun narrowed his eyes. "Is that enough?"

"Concentrated bombardment of a single point should be able to break through the surface layer of abyssal material. But the key is—"

To be honest, Leng Ruolan really wanted to blow it up—who would mind being able to solve things by simply pressing a few buttons?

pity--

"The key is that we must find and destroy the core immediately after the bombing, otherwise it will have been a waste of time."

Leng Ruolan shrugged. "So, tomorrow's operation will be divided into three phases."

She went back to the tactics board and quickly marked it with charcoal.

"Phase one: air strike. Helicopters carrying five specially designed missiles will conduct concentrated bombardment of the target area to penetrate the surface defenses."

"The second phase is the ground assault. After the bombing, I led the team through the breach into the mountain to locate the core. The North and South groups of lynxes kept watch on the perimeter to prevent other players or mutated beasts from taking advantage of the chaos to launch a sneak attack."

"Phase Three: Core Destruction. After finding the core, the eldest brother will deliver the final blow with the Abyss Sword. Based on past experience, the Abyss Sword deals double damage to Abyss-type targets... It should be able to destroy the core in one hit?"

Because this matter could only be left to his older brother, Leng Ruolan always had a strange feeling that it wouldn't be resolved so smoothly... Haha.

"etc--"

As expected, Ou Yun raised his hand, "Why am I the one who has to cut down the core? Can't you go?"

"Because only your sword can deal effective damage to a Lord-level Abyss Core."

Leng Ruolan gave her a "I knew you'd ask this" look. "My Shadow Blade can also hurt abyssal creatures, but its damage cap isn't high enough. Your sword, judging by its stats, is clearly designed for that."

"Then why don't you take this knife and try it out!"

It seems feasible on the surface, but in reality—

"No."

Leng Ruolan slowly refused, "My intuition tells me that only you, Big Brother, can use such an outrageous weapon. We can't achieve this effect."

"What kind of twisted logic is this Tamagotchi?"

Ou Yun hesitated, but Chen Hao pressed down on her shoulder.

"To be honest, brother, that's what I think too."

"..."

"Alright, it's settled then."

Leng Ruolan patted the charcoal ash off her hands.

"Everyone get some rest tonight. We'll set off at dawn tomorrow. Douglas, double-check the terrain details to Ivan. He's the fire support team leader, and he needs to plan the bombing angles in advance."

"clear!"

"Allen, you stay at the camp and help Chen Hao. Although you have a leg injury, your eyesight is fine—go to the top of the watchtower and keep an eye on the surroundings. If there's any trouble, just send out a signal flare. Brother Chen will teach you how to use it."

"receive!"

"Brothers from the Bear Country and the Pakistan Country—"

"I know, I know. Keep a close watch on the camp."

Alexander, having already learned to answer quickly, exclaimed, "This time, all the traps have been rearranged; I guarantee not even an ant can crawl in!"

"It doesn't matter whether ants can crawl in or not, the important thing is that people can't crawl in."

"People can't climb over here either. We added a ring of duct tape around the outside of the low wall; anyone who dares to climb over will get stuck to it and become easy prey for the carnivorous plants!"

"..."

Hmm...that's fine too.

Leng Ruolan remained silent for a second.

"Meeting adjourned!"

*

As night deepened, the camp was filled with the rustling sounds of people organizing their equipment.

The soft clanging of metal, the click of weapons being chambered, and the sound of the carnivorous plant wriggling its tentacles in the experimental field—all sorts of sounds mingled together.

Ou Yun lay in the hammock, looking at the starry sky above.

Green Bean lay on his stomach, its tail tip flicking and brushing against his chin.

"We're going to fight the boss tomorrow."

He spoke as if to a mung bean, or perhaps to himself, "Do you think we'll win?"

Green Bean yawned.

"That's true, it's pointless to ask you."

Green Bean patted his chin with its paw.

"Okay, okay, you'll protect me, I know."