The whole nation: You're put to survive on a desolate planet, you'll be running an alien b

There was no expected annihilation, nor the tranquility leading to the other shore.

As the pure white light of purification engulfed everything, Li Haotian's only thought was to face the end with Lin Mo. However, reality forcibly dragged him out of the farewell ceremony in a more brutal and cruel way.

He felt as if he were being gripped tightly by an invisible hand that contained the weight of the entire world, and then violently thrown in a certain direction.

The concepts of time and space became completely blurred at that moment. He could neither hear nor see anything, only feeling an extreme sense of tearing apart at the level of his soul. Immediately afterward, an overwhelming force slammed into his back, as if to smash him into a pile of minced meat.

"puff--"

The excruciating pain returned instantly! Li Haotian felt as if his spine had been broken into several pieces, and his internal organs had shifted due to the violent impact. A mouthful of hot, sweet-smelling blood gushed uncontrollably from his mouth. His body, like a withered leaf tumbling in a hurricane, crashed heavily onto a twisted and deformed metal floor, slid for more than ten meters, and finally came to a stop against a broken section of a huge metal pillar.

"Ugh..."

A painful groan stuck in his throat. He struggled to get up, only to find his right arm hanging at an odd angle. The excruciating pain of broken bones made his vision blur. Incessant, terrifying roars filled his ears, like the simultaneous howls and screams of ten thousand steel behemoths.

He managed to lift his head, and was instantly stunned by the sight before him, forgetting to breathe.

The once deep, mysterious, and oppressive underground courtyard has been completely transformed into a living hell.

The colossal inverted pyramid "singularity" antenna, along with its golden heart, has vanished, replaced by a bottomless, massive sinkhole whose edges are still crumbling. Above the sinkhole, the enormous dome that once served as the "sky" of the underground world is now riddled with spiderweb-like cracks that continue to widen. Blinding beams of light stream down from the cracks—long-awaited sunlight from the surface—but now appear like swords of judgment.

The entire atrium's structure was crumbling. The enormous petri dishes that had once hovered stably in the air were now bursting open like punctured balloons, their viscous liquid mixed with the incomplete remains of monsters cascading down like waterfalls. Countless metal platforms, walkways, and supporting beams were being torn apart by an invisible force, falling like raindrops into the ruins below. Each impact triggered earth-shaking tremors and deafening roars.

Everywhere there was falling, everywhere there was wailing. This was not a world dying, this was a prison collapsing in despair.

"Lin Mo..."

Li Haotian muttered to himself unconsciously, but then another, clearer name struck his confused mind like lightning.

"Su Wan!"

Oh, right, Su Wan! Liu Hu sacrificed himself to cover her and the others' escape! Where are they now? Did they escape safely?

This thought acted like a shot of adrenaline, injecting energy into Li Haotian's already collapsing body. He didn't know how far the effects of self-destruction had spread, but the current collapse, which had clearly extended to the ground, made "safety" a distant dream.

He gritted his teeth, ignoring the excruciating pain coursing through his body, and used his unbroken left arm to support himself as he slowly crawled up from the rubble. With each movement, his muscles and bones protested against the unbearable strain, but he persevered, his eyes like searchlights, frantically searching the chaotic scene for any familiar figure.

"Su Wan—!"

He roared with all his might, but the sound was swallowed up by the deafening crash of another massive metal platform crashing to the ground. The world's lamentation was too great; the individual's voice seemed so insignificant.

He began to move, staggering like a toddler learning to walk. He dodged the falling rubble, skirted the broken cables still sparking with electricity, and navigated through a maze of ruins. His consciousness was wavering from blood loss and excruciating pain, but his belief in finding Su Wan was like a taut string, keeping him from collapsing.

Suddenly, his gaze was drawn to a patch of white in the distance. It was a tattered piece of fabric trapped under half a metal platform, and the style... looked very much like their combat uniform!

Li Haotian's heart clenched, and a sense of foreboding made him practically tumble and crawl over. The platform was enormous; in his current state, it was impossible for him to move an inch. He circled around to a gap in the platform, lay down, and peered inside with difficulty.

Below, a figure covered in blood was curled up, her long hair disheveled and stuck to her pale face—it was Su Wan!

Her eyes were closed, and her chest was rising and falling weakly. She was clearly still alive, but her condition was extremely bad.

"Su Wan! Su Wan! Wake up!" Li Haotian anxiously reached in and gently patted her cheek.

Perhaps it was his voice piercing through the chaos, or perhaps it was the touch on her cheek that had an effect; Su Wan's eyelashes trembled slightly, and she slowly opened her eyes. Her gaze was initially somewhat unfocused and confused, but after a few seconds of focusing, she finally saw Li Haotian clearly in front of her.

"...Haotian?" Her voice was hoarse, like sandpaper being rubbed, filled with disbelief.

"It's me." Li Haotian grinned, wanting to tell her "It's okay," but the movement aggravated the wound on his face, causing him to wince in pain. "How are you feeling?"

"I..." Su Wan moved slightly, then gasped in pain, "It seems... my leg is broken... Brother Tiger... he did this to cover us..."

At this point, her eyes instantly reddened, and tears mixed with dust washed away, leaving two clear streaks.

Liu Hu… This name sank Li Haotian's heart as well. He glanced at the ever-expanding sinkhole, and amidst the increasingly terrifying sounds of collapse, he could almost hear the final cries of countless lives. Everyone lived under the influence of the "Mother," and its death affected every corner of this vast underground world.

He took a deep breath, suppressed his surging emotions, and said in an unquestionable tone, "If you want to give him an explanation, you have to live first."

He reached out, squeezed through the narrow gap, and grasped Su Wan's hand tightly. Her hand was cold and trembling, but when she felt the warmth of his palm, she gripped it tightly again, as if she had grabbed the last piece of driftwood.

Just then, a concrete block weighing several tons broke off from the crack in the dome above them, crashing down with a deadly whistling sound less than twenty meters away! The ground shook violently, and the metal platform on which the two were standing emitted a piercing, twisting sound.

"Boom—"

A new crack appeared in the ground beneath their feet.

The whole world is indeed collapsing. And they are right at the heart of that collapse.