Returning to hometown to farm: The apocalypse system arrived ten years earlier?

Chapter 383 The Era of Great Counterattack Begins
"Forget it, let's wait until we have all nine pieces before we divide them up." Because in the other seven planets in space, there must also be beasts at the God-King level.

However, he didn't plan to go hunting. Instead, he intended to fuse with the "Heart of Earth" first before making any further plans. Ideally, he would reach the Planetary Ruler realm before the other God-Kings.

In any case, Earth is the foundation, and it must be protected.

News of what happened here would eventually spread, and the alien beasts in deep space would surely launch another large-scale attack. Li Xiang decided that there was no time to lose and he should immediately begin fusing with the Heart of Earth.

He bowed to see the four earth vein dragon spirits off, then glanced at the god-level starship floating in the dark universe, but didn't dare to go up for a moment.

The situation was special just now, and it was indeed quite enjoyable for all ten of them to unite. However, now that the crisis has temporarily passed, it is undoubtedly a pipe dream to want to unite all ten of them again.

Li Xiang knew with his toes that it was absolutely impossible!
"Unfortunately, it was only halfway done." Because during the battle, everyone poured their spiritual energy into his body, and their spirits merged into one, but their bodies remained separate.

It's different from proper dual cultivation. After all, this is combat.

Therefore, Li Xiang called it "half," but even half of it was incredibly exciting and exhilarating, as evidenced by the fact that he broke through several minor realms in one go.

"I wish there would be another dangerous moment like this next time." Li Xiang was startled by this thought. He shook his head repeatedly, thinking, "No, I'd rather not. I'd rather not experience such a life-or-death crisis."

He flashed to the side of the "Heart of the Earth," communicating and merging with this symbol of "Earth's Authority."

On the starship, Yao Yao covered her mouth and chuckled, whispering to Zhao Xueqing and Lei Xiaohui beside her, "Brother Xiang was really fierce just now, he doesn't dare to come up now."

Zhao Xueqing and Lei Xiaohui couldn't help but smile charmingly. To be honest, even if Li Xiang dared to come up, they wouldn't dare to be so "bold" again.

They didn't care, but Jiang Cai'er and Luo Feifei definitely wouldn't. The fact that a fight hadn't broken out was already a huge step forward.

About an hour later, the goddesses had recovered to about 70% of their strength, and the huge starship returned to Earth in an instant, docking at the space port.

Jiang Cai'er invited everyone to City 03. Since she was being so open, she decided to be even more generous and allocated several houses from City 03 for everyone to choose from. However, these houses were not located together, but rather scattered throughout the city.

Yao Yao, Zhao Xueqing, and Lei Xiaohui already owned houses here, but their previous homes were too small, so this one is an upgrade.

"When people come to City 03 in the future, they will have a place to stay instead of having to stay in a hotel."

Now, with the reopening of the intercity underground transportation network, the flow and cooperation of people in various underground cities have been strengthened, leading to a shortage of hotels. Furthermore, during the previous lockdown, hotels were practically nonexistent.

A portion was later approved under emergency measures, but it was still insufficient to meet the needs of Chinese people who love to travel.

So everyone was very happy. Not only did Chiba Yukio and her daughter choose a large house, but Eileen also chose one. Yao Yao, Zhao Xueqing, and Lei Xiaohui naturally didn't stand on ceremony with Jiang Cai'er and each chose a house. When Luo Feifei saw that everyone had made a choice, she stopped being coy and picked one herself.

"I have a lot of things to do, so I can't keep you company." Jiang Cai'er thought to herself, "I've been generous enough." She didn't dwell on this matter and immediately threw herself into her other work.

The digital life forms are numerous, but their main tasks are twofold: first, to process and optimize various government affairs to ensure the efficient operation of the entire country; and second, to conduct scientific research and military buildup.

There are already five skeletons of god-king level alien beasts, each of which is enormous, with a length of two to three thousand kilometers. If they are to be converted into a star mothership, it is not as simple as just enlarging them.

Because of its larger size, more inscriptions, longer processing time, and greater technical difficulty.

Such a massive God-King-class starship mothership can't possibly still be equipped with the old shipborne weapons, can it? The power level just doesn't match.

Not only are the shipborne weapons incompatible, but the shipborne detection equipment, stealth technology, engines, and so on are also unsuitable. Further research and upgrades are needed.

This will all take time.

Jiang Cai'er returned to the Earth's core and discussed the next steps with Li Xiang.

Both of them believed that the matter should be kept secret, and the only plan for now was to keep the killing of these several Divine King Realm beast kings deep in the earth's core a secret for the time being.

If word gets out globally, it might reach the ears of some Saint-level alien beasts. Those beasts might have ways to communicate with outer space. That would cause endless trouble.

We should wait until he has fully integrated with the Heart of Earth before making any decisions.

Jiang Cai'er picked a Divine King Realm beast from Li Xiang. The weakest one was over 2200 kilometers long, 800 kilometers wide, and about 500 to 600 kilometers high. Of course, it was not a regular cuboid, but a streamlined shape, with the body of a beast.

Because it was too large, Jiang Cai'er found it inconvenient to carry, so Li Xiang helped deliver it to the previous production workshop.

This first one, due to insufficient preparation, requires experimentation and is essentially an experimental vessel. The rest remain hidden in Li Xiang's interdimensional warehouse.

After delivering the goods to their destination, Li Xiang returned to the Earth's core, while Jiang Cai'er gathered her team and mobilized a large amount of manpower and resources to begin modifying the beast's body.

In a way, it's similar to decorating a house. First, you need to hollow out the parts that you don't want, and then you need to do the overall layout, design, and planning.

After the layout plan was completed, the "shipborne mobile supercomputing center" was the first to be built.

This time, due to the enormous size of the "spaceship", Jiang Cai'er designed a total of eight sets of shipborne quantum computer matrices, each consisting of 20,000 quantum computers, for a total of 160,000 computers, distributed in eight different places on the ship.

Fortunately, we had enough stockpiled beforehand, otherwise we wouldn't have been able to produce so many quantum computers in such a short time.

Soon after, life support systems, shipboard ecological farms (oxygen lungs), and various functional compartments also began construction.

Millions of robots, robotic arms, and robotic spiders move in and out, while tens of thousands of engineers and workers stay on site daily. Hundreds of thousands of troops are also stationed nearby to provide security.

Since this is the heartland of Country C, it would be virtually impossible for superhumans from other countries to infiltrate. Furthermore, more than ten large armies of alien beasts, each commanded by a Saint-level alien beast, are stationed further out. Safety is not a concern.

Meanwhile, one of Jiang Cai'er's digital life clones began to oversee the research and development of core components, such as engines, weapon systems, protection systems, and detection systems. Even though Jiang Cai'er's computing power is astonishing and she has a vast number of scientists and researchers from various fields working under her, it is estimated that this God-King-class starship will not be able to enter service for at least three to five years.

Three to five years is already considered extremely efficient. Before the apocalypse, some countries' aircraft carriers took more than ten years to enter service.

Eileen had children at home, so she couldn't wait to return to France. After she got back, she briefly mentioned some things that happened during her trip, which naturally excited and surprised everyone.

"Dad is so amazing!"

"The other aunties are amazing too!"

Shen Wenqian blinked, utterly astonished: "My God, my cousin-in-law actually..."

However, times have changed, and my cousin's status is different now, so it's understandable.

Especially abroad, many men die in wars, and there are far more women than men. Often, a man can have several wives at the same time. As the first person on Earth to do so, even if this matter spreads, it probably won't have much of a negative impact.

Actually, the happiest person was Shen Wenqian, who hadn't been home for many years.

The children also wanted to go to the distant Eastern country. They had never traveled far from home, let alone left their home country. So Shen Wenqian immediately packed her bags and prepared to take the children to City 03.

Eileen, of course, wouldn't spoil their fun. She gathered a few trusted confidants, made some arrangements for the base, and then personally piloted a magical alchemy ship to take Shen Wenqian and the children there.

Chiba Yukio and her daughter did not immediately return to Mount Fuji. The three of them stayed there, so there was no need to go back to pick them up. They settled down in City 03. They decorated their new house and bought all sorts of local specialties from City 03. This was the most prosperous and advanced city in the world, with many high-end goods, or luxury goods, that were not available in other places.

Chiba Yukio and her daughter own several underground cities in Japan and are incredibly wealthy. This time, they went on a shopping spree in City 03, spending lavishly and attracting a lot of attention.

Chiba Yukio is over forty years old, but she looks only twenty-seven or twenty-eight. When she walks with the twin magatama, they don't look like mother and daughter, but rather like an older sister with two younger sisters.

While they were shopping, some men overestimated themselves and tried to chat them up, but the three of them naturally ignored them and easily dealt with them using divine-level methods.

What a joke! They are three divine-level beings; why would they look down on ordinary men? Besides, their foundation rests on Li Xiang. Their loyalty to Li Xiang is beyond question.

Unfortunately, Li Xiang never returned. After playing for about ten days, they got bored, and there were too many things to deal with in Japan. So the three of them said goodbye to Jiang Cai'er and left City 03.

Yao Yao, Zhao Xueqing, and Lei Xiaohui each had their own careers. They didn't stay in City 03 for long before returning to Los Santos, Guanghan City, and Jade Rabbit City respectively. Every day, besides cultivating, they were extremely busy.

Luo Feifei spent a few days with her mother in City 03, and then went to the Earth's core to visit Li Xiang, who was in seclusion.

However, Li Xiang was at a critical juncture, so she didn't want to disturb him too much. She figured that Li Xiang wouldn't be able to leave seclusion for a while, so she returned to Ceres Star and then set foot on the ancient star road, returning to the Azure Spirit Star Region.

Now that the star path between the two has been opened, she has the ability of space anchors, the artifact Frostbloom Sky-Splitting Thorn, and has advanced to the God King realm. Traveling between the two star regions is quite easy for her. She wants to continue to expand the star map, spy on the enemy situation in the Black Mist Star Region, and find a true new home for humanity in the vast universe.

Although the Azure Spirit Starfield is wonderful, with her current level of cultivation, she naturally knows that the planets there all have owners and may not be able to accommodate Earthlings.

If we could find an unclaimed, habitable planet, that would be a fallback option.

The solar system remains fraught with peril. In particular, she had heard Li Xiang mention that within the sun, there were several even more powerful alien beast kings.

……

Near the Earth's core, in the dark universe, Li Xiang floated in the air. A miniature version of the blue planet (the heart of the Earth) in front of him had a subtle exchange of spiritual energy with him, which was quite mysterious.

This time, he achieved "resonance" extremely quickly, even a tiny bit faster than when he merged with the Heart of the Moon.

Because, during the fusion, the Heart of Earth seemed to show him a subtle favor. Li Xiang guessed that it might be because he was an Earth native superhuman, and the process took much shorter than expected.

According to the original estimate (normally refining the moon would take three to five years, but after he used achievement points to exchange for it, it would only take one year), now refining the Earth would probably take at least twenty years, and even with achievement points, it would still take four to five years. However, with this added sense of "closeness" and the reduction in achievement points, it might only take about two years.

Li Xiang's accumulated hundreds of billions of achievement points were once again exhausted. Using good steel where it's needed most, this kind of expenditure was still worthwhile.

When the refining progress bar reached about 76%, an anomaly occurred. The great inscription "Earth Pivot Evolution Record" inside his body suddenly vibrated, flew out of his body, merged into the "Heart of the Earth", and evolved from the form of an inscription into a book.

This integration caused the progress bar to advance by another ten points in an instant. Li Xiang was pleasantly surprised and continued to make great strides.

Becoming the master of the Earth is just around the corner.

……

Upon receiving this news, while Jiang Cai'er was engaged in large-scale construction and scientific research on Earth, she also dispatched three fleets, each led by a god-level star carrier, along with several star carriers of the same class as the Cloud Whale and tens of thousands of Xuan Bird space fighters, to begin a global cleanup operation.

On Earth, all the God-King level and God-rank beasts have been killed, leaving only Saint-rank and below. In the past, humanity was unable to deal with these beasts, but now, with the explosive development of technology, the high-energy particle cannons of starships can easily kill Saint-rank beasts, so a global extermination operation has naturally been put on the agenda.

In an instant, war raged across the globe, and the cries of strange beasts echoed everywhere.

Eileen, Chiba Yukio, and Yao Yao also dispatched their respective armies to assist in the battle.

The Twin Magatama have personally fought on the front lines, even participating in battles at the God-King level. Now, hunting these Saint-rank and below enemies is as easy as cutting melons and vegetables. There are just too many of them; they can't be cut down all at once.

Many Saint-level alien beasts perished tragically, and their corpses were collected into the mothership. These Saint-level alien beast carcasses were also valuable; they could be converted into small warships or transport aircraft, saving a lot of materials and time.

The Narwal Airborne Carrier was a purely technological product, with later upgraded versions incorporating elements of extraordinary civilization. Its combat power and size were roughly equivalent to a Saint-level alien beast. Therefore, it could also be called a "Saint-level" airborne carrier.

As the war continued, other underground cities also received the news and sent their troops and superhumans to join the battle. Some media reporters even risked their lives to enter the battlefield to report live.

The era of humanity's great counterattack has arrived!
Netizens around the world are excited and buzzing with excitement.

"It's a shame I'm not a superhuman! I want to go to the surface and fight the enemy too!" A shut-in pounded his chest, hating himself.

"I'm too young. I want to go, but my mom won't let me. She says it's too dangerous," a little boy said, waving his small fist. He was already a second-tier superhuman, but only eight years old. Going to the surface would only allow him to replenish the energy of the alien beasts.

"My God, Country C is so powerful! In just a few years, how far has it led us to develop? It's even able to launch a counterattack! I can't believe I'm witnessing this in my lifetime!" A scientist in his forties from North America exclaimed. He was originally very pessimistic, especially in the first two or three years after the apocalypse. He felt that humanity had no hope and didn't even want to have children. He felt that being born would only lead to suffering and becoming food for alien beasts, so why bother having children?
Now that he sees hope, his first priority is to go find his wife and try to have a baby.

There is hope, and there will be descendants.

……

#EarthDefeats# topped the trending list on Chinese social media platforms, with tens of millions of discussions appearing on underground forums around the world:
A user named @WastelandRanger from the Seattle Underground City forum in North America commented: "Just finished watching the live stream! The Xuanming's ion cannon shattered the carapace of a Saint-level alien beast with a single shot. That firepower is way more impressive than the Statue of Liberty holding its torch! When will Li Shen start selling weapons to outsiders? We'd be willing to trade our entire Las Vegas Underground City's deck of cards for it!"

A netizen from the Berlin underground community, @EuropaSurvivor, wrote: "I envy the Chinese fleet for having Goddess Jiang's 'Heavenly Calculation Center' command system! We were still using WWII-modified tanks to fight alien beasts yesterday... I strongly demand technology sharing!" (Image: Rusty armored vehicles and the silhouette of a giant beast faintly visible in the black fog in the distance)

Japanese Tokyo Bay underground city otaku blogger @AnimeSamurai: "The scene of Chiba Yukio joining the battle is so exciting! The shikigami samurai sword slashes combined with holographic tactical projections are like a real-life version of Sword Art Online! I beg the official team to release a collaboration figure!" (Retweeted over 50 times)
A netizen from the underground city of the Sahara in Africa, @SandWarrior, wrote: "Our road protection team is still using earth-based abilities to dig trenches... We're begging City 03 to send a God-class mothership to wipe out the Sandworm Queen in the desert!" (Video attached: A 100-meter-long sandworm overturns a power plant)

The South American rainforest underground city environmental organization @GreenLungs posted: "A counterattack is good, but please, fleet, don't use thermonuclear weapons! The last mutated giant tree in the Amazon is a treasure for ecological research!" (This sparked thousands of controversial replies)

Front page of Country C's "New Era Daily":
Title: Counter-offensive Plan Launched! Humanity Seizes Strategic Initiative for the First Time

Content: Jiang Cai'er announces in City 03 that the extermination fleet, centered around the God-class starship, has annihilated 87% of the high-risk alien beast groups in Southeast Asia. (Accompanied by numerous close-up shots.)

Special report by the international media outlet Pan-Asia Times:
Title: From Underground Cities to the Stars: How Did Country C Achieve a Civilizational Leap in Five Years?

Analysis: Comparing Country C's "Quantum Computing Satellite Matrix" and "Psionic Shield Transportation Network" with the predicament of other countries still relying on traditional energy sources such as coal and oil, according to expert opinion: "Li Xiang-Jiang Cai'er Technology-Superpower dual-drive model has allowed Country C to enter the 'post-apocalyptic era' ahead of schedule."

A controversial editorial in North America's Voice of Freedom, titled "Beware of New Hegemony! Is the C Country Fleet Expanding Under the Guise of Counter-Offensive?", was several thousand words long and sparked numerous comments.

Moscow's Red Square Underground City: Citizens gather in front of the holographic screen in the square, and whenever the live broadcast shows the main cannons of a starship firing in unison, the crowd shouts "Hurrah!" Sales of vodka from Country C, which is dumped in Country C and brewed in Country C, surge by 300%.

Mumbai’s underground black market: Smugglers take advantage of the situation to sell “replica Xuanming coating paint”, claiming that applying it to the roof can dispel black fog (later confirmed to be fluorescent dye).

Sydney Opera House Underground City: Artists created the giant sculpture "Breaking the Cocoon" using animal bones and scrap steel, symbolizing humanity breaking free from the shackles of darkness.

Phenomena derived from the influencer economy
Blogger @TechWitch from City 03 streamed "Learn Coding with Goddess Jiang," demonstrating how to write a simplified "Mythical Beast Tracking Algorithm" using the Tiansuan Center's open interface, attracting over 800 million viewers.

North American influencer @PrepperKing launched "Apocalypse Counterattack Gear": including a replica of a crystal-gold weapon keychain and toothpick cases in various forms of Saint-level beasts, raising over 100 million US dollars in crowdfunding.

Some political experts have commented that this great counter-offensive was not only a military victory, but also a turning point in reshaping human civilization's ideology and technological beliefs. As the pinned post by user @MoonRabbit from City 03 stated: "From the tea gardens of Guanghan City to the cannon fire of the God-class mothership—we have finally turned the end-of-the-world era into the prologue to interstellar civilization!" (This post was liked by Li Xiang himself.)

(End of this chapter)