Chapter 1 An Unsettling Calm

After unifying the chain of command, Li Tianran began to focus all his energy on planning the attack against the Ancient Civilization. The time for the counter-offensive was drawing closer, and everything was proceeding according to his plan, but for some reason, he always felt a vague sense of unease.

This unease stemmed from the Ancient Civilization's recent reactions.

Since the Battle of Cartier Castle, all five Ancient Civilization factions had fallen into an extremely eerie silence. Although they would occasionally send some lesser creatures to lead beast tides against human defenses, the number of creatures never exceeded three or five at a time, and they never caused any significant commotion!

Some might think that the Ancient Civilization's reaction was due to being frightened by Li Tianran in the Battle of Cartier Castle, so they were now lying dormant, quietly waiting for the full recovery of their power.

But Li Tianran didn't think so!

The Ancient Civilization had experienced many eras and participated in countless brutal wars. The Battle of Cartier Castle might make the Ancient Civilization wary of Li Tianran, but it would definitely not reach the point of fear.

Moreover, after Li Tianran announced his "Counter-offensive" plan and the "North Heavenly Gate" plan, the Ancient Civilization, through some means of bribing human traitors, knew Li Tianran's future movements. Therefore, they should understand that no matter how harmless they appeared at this time, they would soon face a violent counterattack from humanity.

Therefore, their current calmness seemed very abnormal.

If he were Li Tianran, he would definitely create chaos in the human defenses at all costs, delaying the schedule of the "Counter-offensive" plan!

But their current performance was like fully cooperating with Li Tianran's plan, like allowing human civilization to continue developing.

Such a low level of war sensitivity was very abnormal for an Ancient Civilization that had existed for countless years!

In short, Li Tianran felt that their behavior was very strange.

Either something was wrong within them, or they were plotting an even bigger conspiracy!

If it was the former, it would be fine, but if it was the latter… the problem would be more serious.

But humanity currently had no ability to pry into the Ancient Civilization's movements, so now they could only rely on speculation to try to figure out the other side's intentions.

"The North Heavenly Gate project will be completed in eighteen hours, and the counter-offensive plan will be fully launched in forty-eight hours." Li Tianran narrowed his eyes and said softly, "No matter what ghosts you're plotting, in forty-eight hours, it will all be too late!"

…

Late at night, eleven o'clock.

The dark night covered the entire world, and the world seemed to become silent.

The light of some large searchlights was as weak as candlelight in the dark world.

At this time, located in the western inland of the entire human defense line, near the ocean plate, was the country of Gaozhou.

This was a medium-sized country. After the unification of command, most of the country's troops were transferred to the border, and the number of troops stationed in the city's interior was less than three-tenths of what it once was.

However, since the human civilization's troops had been unified, Gaozhou did not have to worry about being invaded by other countries, and under the protection of the human defense line, basically no large beast tides could invade the interior. Therefore, these troops were more than enough to maintain security within the territory.

Bolan City, the capital of Gaozhou.

Nearly 200,000 civilians and nearly 30,000 soldiers, as well as hundreds of Evolver warriors, lived here. It was the city with the strongest military force and the most stringent security in the entire country of Gaozhou.

Because of the existence of the Presidential Palace and the Supreme Command Center, the patrol strength here was far higher than in other cities.

The earth rumbled and vibrated, and more than a dozen tanks rolled over the ground. An entire mixed force of about eight hundred people drove through the streets of the shelter. After the world's disaster, countries had introduced a "curfew" system. Whenever night fell, civilians could only stay in the underground air-raid shelter and were absolutely not allowed to go out.

This was also to maintain internal stability.

After all, in the current environment, many civilians living in shelters might commit crimes for a little bit of living resources, and the night provided a cover for crime. If the activities of civilians were not restricted, I am afraid that these inland troops would be exhausted every day dealing with various homicides and robberies.

"Standing guard during the day and patrolling the streets at night, the daily working hours are more than fifteen hours. I feel like I'm about to collapse... I've been losing hair very quickly recently, and I feel like my life is about to be drained!" In the mixed force, a soldier with bloodshot eyes lowered his voice and complained to his companion next to him.

"You should thank God that you weren't transferred to guard the defense line!" A middle-aged sergeant next to him said with a sneer, "Although the work intensity in the inland is high, at least there is no danger to your life! It's different on the defense line! You have to deal with those monsters every day… their mortality rate is almost a hundred times higher than ours!"

The previous soldier grumbled a few words and stopped talking. Obviously, compared to guarding the defense line, he suddenly felt that his job was very easy.

The entire team moved forward silently, and only the sound of tanks crushing the ground and neat footsteps echoed in the night sky.

But at this moment, the officer riding in the tank at the very front of the team suddenly shouted, and the tank stopped abruptly, so the troops behind also stopped.

"What happened?"

"Why did it suddenly stop?"

The soldiers in the rear muttered, craning their necks to look forward.

Finally, someone saw clearly that on the empty shelter street at this time, in front of this team, they saw a person standing there!

He was standing less than fifty meters in front of the team. They couldn't see his face or figure clearly. They could only see that he seemed to be wearing a black cloak similar to that of the Grim Reaper, wrapping his entire body from head to toe.

"Which team are you from?" the officer at the front shouted sharply.

The person did not answer, but took a step forward.

"Are you a civilian? Stop where you are! Otherwise, I'll shoot!" The officer frowned, his hand already on the holster at his waist, and his voice raised several decibels.

But the other party seemed not to have heard the officer's warning and still maintained a steady pace, walking towards them unhurriedly.

"..." The officer frowned, without any hesitation, he directly drew his gun and fired!

During this period of time, he had also seen many civilians who ran out of the air-raid shelter under the cover of night, trying to steal something. For those who did not listen to advice, they were always shot dead!

The gunshot rang out.

A sneer appeared on the officer's face. He was just about to wave his hand and ask someone to drag away the body of this guy who didn't know how to live or die, but the next scene made him feel extremely terrified.

The figure did not fall.

Instead, he slowly raised his head.

With the help of the searchlight, the officer finally saw what was under the black mask.

That was… a perfect, almost divine face.

"Kuang Feng…" The officer felt as if his throat was being strangled, and he only had time to spit out two syllables before his consciousness fell into darkness.