Extraterrestrial demons invaded; I laid the groundwork eight years in advance.

Countdown to the second large-scale invasion: 3 hour.

Lingnan, Shenzhen-Hong Kong City, Old Town.

Chen Fan sat on the edge of the rooftop of a residential building, his back against a parapet wall about half a person's height, his fingers unconsciously tapping lightly on the hilt of a knife.

The air was filled with the smell of moss and rust after the rain, and occasionally a dog barked downstairs before falling silent again.

He looked up at the sky.

The rain has stopped, and a sliver of the moon is peeking out from the horizon. It's as if the heavens knew something big was going to happen tonight, and had cleared the southeastern sky of rain beforehand.

He then looked down at the alley below the rooftop.

This was a spot he specifically chose. The alley was narrow, with densely packed buildings on both sides, and the population had already been evacuated. If the rift were torn open here, the monsters wouldn't be able to escape and would be forced to follow the alley.

Footsteps sounded behind me, and reserve member Xiao Zhou walked out of the rooftop entrance, carrying two cups of instant noodles.

"Captain, want something to eat?" Xiao Zhou handed over a cup.

Chen Fan glanced at it but didn't take it: "You eat it. I'm not hungry."

Xiao Zhou squatted down next to him, ate a mouthful of noodles, and said indistinctly, "I called home in the evening."

Chen Fan turned his head to look at him.

"My mom asked me if I was coming home for dinner, and I said I was working overtime," Xiao Zhou said, chewing his noodles, his voice muffled. "She believed me. She even told me to take care of myself and not eat instant noodles all the time."

Chen Fan remained silent.

Xiao Zhou took a few bites, then suddenly stopped, staring at the noodle cup in his hand: "Captain, do you think... if I don't make it back, will she know how I died?"

The night wind blew up from the edge of the rooftop, and the city lights in the distance were blurred into a hazy blur in the mist.

Chen Fan remained silent for a long time, then said, "Then go back alive. Have dinner with your mother."

Xiao Zhou lowered his head, took a big slurp of noodles, and said nothing more.

  

Countdown to the second large-scale invasion: 2 hour.

Guanzhong, Xijing City, suburban granary.

Zhang Heng squatted on the steps at the entrance of the granary. The night wind in the north was much drier and colder than in the south, and it felt like fine sandpaper rubbing against his face.

The tin roof of the granary rattled in the wind, and several sparrows were startled and flew away from under the eaves.

Two reserve soldiers squatted behind him, one repeatedly checking the Velcro on his combat uniform, and the other wiping the blade with his sleeve—the knife had already been wiped six times and was so shiny that it could reflect a person's image.

"Captain," a team member wiping his knife suddenly spoke up, "Were you afraid the first time you went into battle?"

Zhang Heng watched the sparrow fly away.

"I'm scared," he said, "but I don't have time to think about it."

"No time to think?"

"When the monsters surge out of the rift, you can only see the closest one. Kill it, and the next one will take its place. There's no time to think about fear, no time to think about whether you can get back alive." Zhang Heng's gaze fell on the dark plain in the distance. "You can only kill. Once you've killed all the monsters, you won't have to be afraid anymore."

"Yeah. Once we've killed them all, we won't be afraid anymore," a team member muttered to himself as he wiped his knife.

Zhang Heng stood up and stretched his wrists. He glanced at his phone—12:05 AM.

"Check the equipment, one last time," he said.

Countdown to the second large-scale invasion: 1 hour.

A mine in the western suburbs of Shanghai.

Liu Feng stood at the edge of the mine pit. The night wind blew from the open field, carrying the pungent smell of mud after the rain.

Footsteps approached from behind. He didn't turn around—he knew from the gait that it was Wang Lei, a veteran member of Dawn, the former captain of the Eighth Squad, and now the commander of the Fourth Army Corps.

"Chief Instructor, there's still one hour left." Wang Lei walked up to him and handed him a bottle of water.

Liu Feng took it and held it in his hand. The bottle was icy cold, a stark contrast to the warmth of his palm.

"Nervous?" Liu Feng asked.

Wang Lei paused for a moment: "A little. Last time we fought the first tier, this time we're fighting the second tier. I don't know if I can even manage to cut through it."

"If you can't cut them down, stall them for now and wait for me." Liu Feng's tone was as calm as if he were talking about the weather. "The master said that second-tier monsters are not invincible. Their eyes, abdomen, and joints are all weaknesses. As long as the spiritual energy concentration reaches the standard, I will immediately break through to the second tier."

Wang Lei turned and glanced at him.

Liu Feng's profile was clearly defined in the night, revealing no emotional fluctuations, like a rock polished by wind and rain.

In the distance, on the wasteland of the mine, the nine team members were scattered at various points. Because a Tier 1 Triple Monster had appeared here last time, they were divided into two groups.

Some team members leaned against the mine carts and closed their eyes to rest, some were checking the blades of their knives, and others were chatting to relieve their stress.

Time ticked by, and the atmosphere grew tense.

Xiaoqingshan Villa.

The raven perched on Shen Bai's shoulder, as quiet as a black stone.

"Master, all combat teams are in position," Xiao Cheng's voice rang in his mind. "Tens of thousands of predicted rifts, each with at least one team stationed there. 12,102 official members and 47,657 reserves have all arrived at their designated positions."

"Understood," Shen Bai replied in his mind.

"Master..." Xiao Cheng hesitated, wanting to say something but stopping herself.

"What's wrong?"

"I've done everything I could. Data, forecasting, communications, monitoring... but I can't stand on the battlefield like Dawn. I..."

"You've done a great job," Shen Bai interrupted her. "Tonight, monitor the data closely and provide timely support; that's what it's like on the battlefield."

Xiao Cheng was silent for a moment, then softly hummed in agreement.

Shen Bai looked up at the large screen on the wall of the study, where the predicted locations of more than 10,000 fissures were densely covered on the map.

The data from the Eye of the Spirit is scrolling in real time—the spiritual energy concentration curve is approaching the second-tier threshold.

Xiao Cheng reviewed the data from the last invasion—during a large-scale invasion, there is a high probability that several battlefields will contain far more high-level monsters than other rifts.

Last time it was a mine, and this time it's most likely to be another mine. So Liu Feng stayed there.

As the spiritual energy recovery spreads, the concentration of spiritual energy in the world has become more even, and regional differences are becoming smaller. The Eye of the Spirit and Little Orange can detect spatial fluctuations and predict the location of rifts in advance, but they can no longer predict what level of demons will appear after the rifts open.

He didn't go to any battlefield. With tens of thousands of rifts opening simultaneously, he could deal with one or two, but he couldn't attend to them all.

The only effective approach is to break through to the second tier first. In the event that the battlefield gets out of control, only with the support of evolution points at the second tier can one turn the tide.

As for how to get to the battlefield in an emergency—he glanced at a function in the corner of the panel, then looked away.

It was exactly 2:00 AM.

The countdown has reached zero.

Between heaven and earth, spiritual energy silently crossed the threshold of the second stage.

Shen Bai sat cross-legged in the center of the study, sensing that the door had been opened.

The three cultivation methods are simultaneously activated to their fullest potential.

His mind surged like a tide, his spiritual energy vortex spun rapidly in his dantian, and his blood and qi roared through his meridians—all three barriers loosened at the same time.

Spiritual energy surged into the study from all directions, becoming increasingly rapid. A raven flew up from his shoulder and landed on the top of the bookshelf, its black eyes fixed on Shen Bai.

Shen Bai's breathing became extremely shallow and slow, each breath causing the surrounding air to tremble slightly.

He focused his mind on his body, advancing simultaneously along the paths of the three paths.

The spiritual energy of heaven and earth flows into the body, causing the blood and qi within to surge and collide with the incoming spiritual energy, thus fusing and refining a trace of power different from the blood and qi.

The thin mist of spiritual energy within the middle dantian also contracted rapidly as the vortex circulated. As spiritual energy surged in, the spiritual energy began to compress and condense, gradually transforming into a new form.

The spiritual power in the sea of ​​consciousness also began to surge continuously. Under the nourishment of spiritual energy, when the spiritual power mist spread throughout the entire sea of ​​consciousness, some indescribable things emerged, like a harbinger of some deeper power.

The three forces impact each other simultaneously, pulling and resonating with one another.

On the big screen, at the very moment he entered his breakthrough, red dots lit up one after another all over the world, filling the screen with dense red light and turning the entire map blood red.

The war has begun.