Chapter 1 The End

Nine minutes ago, in the desolate Gobi Noah Desert, the shattered and scarred Tower of Babel finally succumbed to the relentless bombardment of the Kunlun Battleship after countless attacks. Its extremely strong metal structure completely collapsed.

With an earth-shattering explosion, the immense marvel of architecture crumbled into countless fragments across the desert.

The sky was filled with black smoke, and metal shards rained down like deadly hail.

"Target destruction level: one hundred percent!"

"Target mechanical structure completely destroyed!"

"Target electronic core completely destroyed!"

"No repair value, no possibility of repair!"

In the command room, the notifications from the Kunlun Battleship echoed in Li Tianran's ears as the crimson dot representing the Tower of Babel disappeared from the satellite screen.

"It's collapsed!"

"Finally destroyed it!"

At that moment, not only in the command room, but even on the battlefield, the Human Alliance erupted in a frenzy of cheers.

The Giant City had escaped.

The Tower of Babel had been destroyed.

The beast tide in the desert would also be wiped out.

The war... was finally over.

But Li Tianran didn't wallow in the joy of victory. He used a detector to quickly confirm the Giant City's location, making sure it had truly left the battlefield and couldn't return in a short time. Then, he immediately issued a series of orders to the Alliance generals.

"I'm leaving here immediately. I order a swift and complete end to the war!"

"No need to pursue the fleeing beast tide!"

"Treat the wounded, clean up the battlefield, and collect the remains of the Tower of Babel!"

"Tabulate battle losses. After completing all this, lead the armies back to their respective bases immediately!"

Li Tianran swiftly issued the four orders, then gave the Kunlun Battleship instructions to ascend to high altitude and head towards the T-119 defense line at full speed.

The news of the ancient civilization's crushing defeat in the Gobi Noah Desert would soon spread among the Apostles through their communication channels.

As he expected, Zhang Shoucheng's forces on the T-119 defense line were likely facing incredibly terrifying pressure.

Every second Li Tianran was delayed meant hundreds of soldiers could die on the front lines.

"Engines engaged… ETA to T-119 defense line: thirteen minutes and twenty-seven seconds!"

The Kunlun Battleship quickly provided a time estimate, not far from Li Tianran's previous prediction.

"..."

Li Tianran stared at the T-119 communication station, which still hadn't responded. His hands clenched tightly behind his back.

To be honest, he was very surprised that Zhang Shoucheng's unit had managed to hold out this long.

He possessed the Kunlun Battleship, a large Allied force, and had fought against two Apostle factions simultaneously in the Gobi Noah Desert, only to barely win. Meanwhile, the defensive forces on the T-119 line were too weak, consisting of only a battered Northern Border Legion and a hastily assembled army, yet they had faced two Apostles and a marvel building at the same time...

Including Li Tianran, almost no one could imagine what a tragic scene it was.

If the difficulty of today's battle in the Great Desert was "Hard," then the difficulty on the T-119 defense line was "Hell!"

The Kunlun Battleship sped towards the defense line at several times the speed of sound. Soon, the Great Desert disappeared from Li Tianran's sight...

...

The dense tide of beasts had already climbed to the top of the tallest signal tower in the center of the battlefield.

Zhang Shoucheng looked at the battlefield with a trace of nostalgia and emotion in his eyes.

He thought of his life, spent in war and gunfire.

He was born when the Federation was invaded by foreign enemies. As a child, he never even met his grandparents. He only learned from his parents that they had died in the difficult eight-year war of independence.

When he grew a little older, the European Union attempted to conduct military activities on the Federation's border by invading the Southern Chao Kingdom. To resist the EU's ambitions, the newly established and struggling Federation once again mobilized its army to the Southern Chao Kingdom, and his father gloriously became a member of the expeditionary force.

After that battle, Zhang Shoucheng lost his father and gained the title of "martyr's family member."

When he turned eighteen, he disregarded his mother's objections and resolutely put on the same military uniform as his grandfather and father, embarking on that glorious but difficult path once again.

From then on, he appeared on the battlefield time and time again.

The Aid-South Resist-Europe War, the Aid-Laos Resist-Europe War, the Border Self-Defense War, the Counterattack War...

He rose from an unknown soldier to become a squad leader, platoon leader, and company commander.

His position rose higher and higher, but the familiar faces of those who enlisted with him and lived in the same camp became fewer and fewer.

"Little Yang from Huze died in the Aid-South campaign..."

"Li Huzi from Nanming died in the Self-Defense War..."

"Lao Tie, Ming Guang... served as the vanguard in the Counterattack War and never returned..."

"..." Zhang Shoucheng recalled those friends and comrades from his youth. Although most of them had died many years ago, their voices and smiles now appeared clearly in his mind.

After decades of military life, experiencing countless battles large and small.

At this moment, Zhang Shoucheng suddenly missed his long-dead comrades.

In fact, he had always envied those comrades who died on the battlefield.

In the past, the vanguard and suicide squads were not for just anyone. They had to be carefully selected by superiors. Only the most elite and loyal soldiers could be selected. No one would retreat due to cowardice or fear of death.

After all, who could refuse the glory of "bringing honor to ancestors, making a name in history, being brave and fearless, and taking the lead"?

When he was young, his physical condition was poor, and he failed several applications to serve in the vanguard. Although he had survived the war by chance, he always felt that he was missing something compared to those who had already died.

He would never forget that the night before a certain war, a comrade who had been selected for the vanguard put his arm around his shoulder with a smile and said, "Shoucheng, after this battle tomorrow, I'll be a household hero, you know... even if I die, my name will be recorded in the textbooks of our descendants!"

"Hu Zixiao, who served as the vanguard in the Counterattack War... took the lead, was brave and fearless, severely damaged the enemy... and died heroically!"

"Kid, you have to know! Dying gloriously on the battlefield is not a privilege everyone has! You... you're still far from it!"

Zhang Shoucheng still remembered the sincerity and longing on his comrade's face when he said these words.

Later, more and more comrades told Zhang Shoucheng similar things. They died on the path of charging forward and fulfilled their lifelong wishes.

They died, but they were satisfied.

Zhang Shoucheng survived and rose higher and higher in the ranks, but in his dreams over the years, he still dreamed of the faces of his former comrades countless times.

They still looked smug, patting Zhang Shoucheng on the shoulder.

"Boy, what if you're now the head of the military region? Are you qualified to die like us, like a warrior... gloriously on the path of charging forward?"

Zhang Shoucheng stood up, tightly holding the three-phase nuclear controller, the only device that could maintain a stable signal on the battlefield.

In the countless days of the past, Zhang Shoucheng did not have this qualification.

But today... he felt he did.

"Vanguard, suicide squad... you guys, haha, how can your scenes compare to the scale of what I'm about to do today?"