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

The creaking of the metal platform beneath their feet grew increasingly piercing, as if it were about to snap completely at any moment, plunging them and this steel tomb into deeper darkness. Su Wan's sobs were suppressed in her throat, turning into violent, silent tremors. Her hands gripped Li Haotian tightly, her cold fingertips almost digging into his flesh.

Li Haotian didn't turn around; he could feel the destructive aura emanating from the collapsing world behind him. He pulled Su Wan along, practically dragging her, towards the sloping breach. The faint light shining through there was their only hope.

The short distance of a few dozen meters felt like a crossing between life and death. Debris and broken steel bars rained down from above, creating deep craters behind them. Li Haotian, with his superhuman reflexes, repeatedly pulled Su Wan away, narrowly avoiding their attacks.

"Almost there!" he growled, his voice hoarse but carrying an undeniable power.

However, when they finally reached the light, their hearts sank to the bottom.

It was a huge, irregular breach, which should have been their escape route. But now, it was completely blocked by several concrete blocks weighing tons and twisted steel beams. Light was squeezing in weakly through the gaps in the pile of rubble, as faint as a candle flickering in the wind.

The road is blocked.

The color drained from Su Wan's face, and despair washed over her once more like a tidal wave. She released Li Haotian's hand, leaning weakly against the cold wall, her eyes vacant.

"No...no..." she murmured to herself, tears streaming down her face once again.

Li Haotian remained silent. He stared intently at the pile of boulders, his chest heaving violently. Just then, another violent tremor shook the area, and a massive concrete slab detached from the dome above them, whistling through the air as it crashed down onto the path they had come from, completely blocking the already narrow passage!

Their escape route was also cut off.

They were trapped in this cramped space, being buried alive.

"Boom—Crack—"

Terrifying sounds of rocks being crushed and shattered came from all directions. This space was being slowly crushed by forces coming from all sides.

Su Wan closed her eyes in despair.

Just then, Li Haotian's pupils suddenly contracted. His gaze passed over the despairing Su Wan and landed on the other side of the tunnel wall. There, not far from the stone door opened by Lin Mo's blood sacrifice, a new geological fissure had appeared in the rock wall due to the violent tremors!

The crevice was narrow and hidden, sloping upwards and disappearing into the unknown darkness. A faint breeze was blowing from the depths of the crevice, carrying... the fragrance of earth.

That's the vibrant scent of the earth!

"Su Wan!" Li Haotian whirled around, grabbed Su Wan's shoulders, and shook her violently. "Open your eyes! Look there!"

His voice was like a heavy hammer, shattering the despair in Su Wan's heart. She looked in the direction Li Haotian was pointing, and when she saw the crack and felt the familiar airflow, a glimmer of light rekindled in her empty eyes.

"There's still a way..."

"There's still a way!" Li Haotian answered confidently. Without hesitation, he turned and rushed to the crevice, shining his flashlight upwards. The crevice was narrow, barely wide enough for one person to pass through, and filled with sharp, jagged rocks. But more importantly, it led upwards!

"I'll go first, you follow behind me. No matter what happens, don't let go!" Li Haotian said, then crawled into the crevice using both hands and feet.

The sharp, jagged rocks tore through his already tattered clothes in an instant, leaving bloody gashes on his body. But he seemed oblivious to the pain, driven only by an almost animalistic instinct to desperately climb upwards.

Su Wan followed closely behind, but her movements were far less agile than Li Haotian's, and she nearly slipped several times. But whenever she was exhausted, Li Haotian's steady voice or a strong hand would come from above, pulling her back to safety.

"Grab it here!"

"Step firmly on this stone!"

From the darkness beneath them came a deafening roar, like the earth splitting open. The entire passageway seemed like a dying beast making its final struggle. Countless boulders crashed down from where they had just passed, crushing everything into dust. They could clearly feel the rock wall beneath their feet collapsing inch by inch.

Speed! We need to be faster!

Li Haotian gritted his teeth, squeezing out every last bit of strength from his body. The muscles in his arm tore from the excessive force, and blood flowed down his arm, soaking the cold rock.

I don't know how much time passed—maybe a minute, maybe a century. Finally, a blinding white light appeared ahead.

It's an export!

"Hold on tight!" Li Haotian roared, unleashing his last bit of strength as his body shot upwards.

The instant his head emerged from the crack, a deafening roar came from behind him, as if the entire underground world had been utterly crushed. A powerful shockwave erupted from the crack, violently shoving Su Wan, who had only poked half her body out, back out.

Li Haotian grabbed her tightly with his backhand, and the two rolled together, falling onto the soft mud.

They finally came out.

Li Haotian lay on the ground, panting heavily, greedily inhaling the air mixed with the smell of grass and blood. He was covered in wounds, his bones felt like they were broken, but the feeling of his feet firmly planted on the ground gave him immense peace of mind.

Su Wan lay sprawled beside him, motionless, only the faint rise and fall of her chest a testament to her survival. Long-suppressed emotions, overwhelmed by the shock of surviving such a ordeal, transformed into silent tears, soaking the ground beneath her.

Li Haotian slowly raised his head and looked up at the sky.

Sometime later, the thick, filthy clouds that had shrouded the sky and earth had dispersed. A ray of golden sunlight, like a sword of God, pierced through the clouds and fell upon this ravaged land.

The sunlight was warm, shining on me and dispelling the cold and deathly silence deep underground.

He slowly sat up and looked around. Before him lay a scene of utter devastation. The earth was riddled with jagged cracks and massive craters. In the distance, the city's outline was reduced to ruins, still emitting wisps of smoke. And not far from them, a crater so enormous it defied description, like an unhealable, ugly scar on the earth, stood where the inverted pyramid had once stood.

The war is over, but the wounds it left behind are profound and unsettling.

Su Wan slowly sat up. Looking at everything before her, at the sunlight piercing through the clouds, the tears on her face finally stopped. She didn't cry anymore, but just watched quietly, her eyes filled with endless weariness and sorrow.

Liu Hu, Lin Mo... those vibrant faces overlapped with this desolate ruin.

Li Haotian reached out and gently grasped Su Wan's cold hand. Neither spoke, but they both understood everything from the warmth of each other's palms.

They survived, but some people are forever left behind in yesterday.

The sunlight grew stronger, dispelling the last vestiges of gloom and illuminating this world, now silent yet ravaged. A new era quietly began on these ruins.