Panshi Fortress · Central Command Center
A deathly silence, like congealed ice, enveloped the entire Command Center!
On the gigantic holographic screen, a soul-shaking scene was playing repeatedly!
In the image! That pure! Blazing white! Cold! Pillar of light, like a spear of creation, silently tore through the sky! It pierced through the Zu Long Avatar! Instantly annihilating it! Erasing it! Leaving behind only a core of the Dragon Vein on the verge of shattering!
No sound! No explosion! Only an absolute destruction that was suffocating!
The image froze on the last frame of the Ru Shou warship transforming into a cold stream of light and disappearing deep within the radiation clouds!
Qin Weiguo sat in the main seat, his face ashen! His knuckles were white from clenching! His nails dug deep into his palms! Blood slowly dripped between his fingers! But he was completely oblivious!
His gaze was fixed on the screen! His eyes were filled with unbelievable horror! Bone-deep fear! And a profound humiliation, as if he had been utterly crushed! Utterly ignored! Like an ant!
Panshi Fortress! Had paid the price of Xiong Yan's death! Li Fan's critical injuries! Chu Hang's partial disability! Zhou Yunguang's mental breakdown!
Over three hundred elite soldiers sacrificed! Almost all their resources were used up! Only then did they barely escape the encirclement of Ling Chen and the ghouls!
And the Central Special Task Force only dispatched one warship!
It only fired one shot! It easily obliterated the peak Limit Breaking Stage Zu Long Avatar that had nearly wiped out the entire Panshi Fortress! The one that even Ling Chen was wary of! As easily as crushing an ant!
They didn't even spare them a glance!
What a disparity! What a mockery! What despair!
“Cough cough…” A weak cough broke the silence.
Chu Hang lay on a stretcher in the corner, a massive bloody hole in his chest wrapped in thick bandages, but dark red blood continued to seep out. The mask on his face had long since shattered, revealing a pale, handsome, but bloodless face. He struggled to sit up, but the movement aggravated his wound, and he let out a suppressed groan.
“Chu Hang! Don't move!” Chen Xue quickly stepped forward, soft silver light emanating from her palms, trying to stop the bleeding. But her face was also pale, her eyes hollow, and her movements carried a subtle tremor.
The scene on the screen just now had slammed into her like a heavy hammer, shattering her last shred of faith in “justice” and “rules”!
“Commander…” Chu Hang's voice was hoarse and weak, yet it carried an unprecedented gravity and urgency! He ignored Chen Xue's dissuasion, his gaze fixed on Qin Weiguo, “We were wrong! Terribly wrong!”
Qin Weiguo slowly turned his head, his bloodshot eyes looking at Chu Hang.
“We relied too much on abilities!” Chu Hang's voice carried a hint of pain and deep lingering fear! “Rule Judgment is strong! But in the face of absolute power, in the face of scientific might that disregards rules, rules are as fragile as paper!”
He struggled to raise his hand, pointing at the Ru Shou warship frozen on the screen!
“That is the future! That is power! Pure energy! Pure destruction! No need for rules! No need for abilities! Only the most precise calculations! The most powerful energy source! The most terrifying weapon platform!”
“Ling Chen is a monster! Zu Long is a disaster! But the Central is the true master! They possess the ultimate power capable of obliterating everything!”
Chu Hang's voice became a violent cough due to his excitement, and blood once again spilled from the corner of his mouth! But he still stared fixedly at Qin Weiguo!
“Commander! If Panshi Fortress wants to survive! If it wants to establish itself in this apocalypse! And even have a voice in the future! It must change!
It must abandon its over-reliance on abilities! It must fully develop technology! Especially new technologies developed based on ability energy! Weapons! Defense! Energy! Everything!”
“Otherwise, next time, whether it's Ling Chen, or Zu Long, or even the Central, they will only need one finger to completely crush us!”
Chu Hang's words! Were like a thunderclap! Striking heavily at everyone's hearts!
Inside the Command Center! A deathly silence! Only the low hum of instruments and the heavy, suppressed breathing of the crowd!
Lin Wei stood in the corner, her amber pupils fixed on the Ru Shou on the screen, her Discernment ability operating frantically!
She tried to analyze the energy composition of that light beam! She tried to decipher the structure of that warship! But all she got was a cold jumble of data and a sense of powerlessness from the depths of her soul!
Zhou Zhengyang's face was ashen, his lips trembling slightly. He thought of the soldiers who sacrificed themselves in the ruins of the Zoo! He thought of Li Fan's critical injuries! An unspeakable grief and powerlessness almost swallowed him!
Chen Xue stared blankly at Chu Hang, then at the cold warship on the screen, and the silver light in her palm completely dimmed.
She had always thought that silver light could heal pain and bring hope, but now she found that in the face of such absolute destruction, her silver light was like a firefly to the blazing sun! Ridiculously tiny!
Qin Weiguo slowly stood up.
His tall figure was slightly hunched! He walked to the huge floor-to-ceiling window, looking at the silent fortress shrouded by the blood moon outside! Looking at the survivors struggling to survive in the ruins!
His eyes were filled with pain! Humiliation! Unwillingness! But even more so, a kind of resolute determination that came from being completely awakened!
“Chu Hang is right!”
Qin Weiguo's voice was hoarse and heavy! Yet it carried an unquestionable iron-blooded resolve! “We were wrong! Terribly wrong!”
He suddenly turned around! His voice was as resonant as steel!
“From today onwards! Panshi Fortress's strategic focus will be completely shifted!”
“First! Establish the 'Panshi Technology Research Institute'! Lin Mo will serve as the director! He will be fully responsible! Possessing the highest priority resource allocation rights! Personnel selection rights! Research project decision rights!”
“Second! The Research Institute's core mission: Analyze the essence of ability energy!
Develop new weapons based on ability energy! Defense systems! Energy cores! Communication technology! Bio-medical technology! Everything that can enhance the fortress's overall strength and survival capability!”
“Third! All ability users! Must unconditionally cooperate with the Research Institute's research work! Provide ability samples! Energy data! Combat data! Violators will be dealt with by military law!”
“Fourth! All fortress resources! Will be tilted towards the Research Institute! Prioritized! At all costs!”
“Fifth! Intelligence Department! Fully collect Central Special Task Force technology intelligence! Especially all information regarding the Ru Shou warship and the Gui Xu Annihilation Cannon!”
Qin Weiguo's voice grew louder with each sentence! Heavier with each sentence! Like war drums! Beating in everyone's hearts!
“We want technology! We want weapons! We want power! Power enough to stand firm in this apocalypse! Power enough to be taken seriously by the Central! Power enough to control our own destiny in the future!”
“This is not a request! Not a suggestion! But an order! It is the highest strategy concerning the life and death of Panshi Fortress!”
“Do you understand?!” Qin Weiguo roared sharply! His voice like thunder!
“Yes! Commander!!!” Inside the Command Center! Everyone! Including the critically injured Chu Hang! Struggled to straighten their bodies! Roaring hoarsely! Their eyes filled with a desperate resolve and a glimmer of ignited hope!
Technology! Is the future!
The trumpet of Panshi Fortress's technological awakening officially sounded!