Rejecting Tsinghua and Peking Universities: I Will Lead Harbin Institute of Technology to World Lead

Old Li's shout of "Sword drawn!" was like a thunderclap, completely shattering the brief, eerie silence that had descended upon the battlefield due to the fall of the Western Federation.

China, this ancient nation regarded as a lamb to the slaughter by the subterranean civilization and which the Western Federation attempted to overtake, has finally revealed its true fangs, which it has carefully honed and tempered over time, to the invaders!

There was no traditional salvo of missiles, nor an overwhelming barrage of machine gun fire.

The first to unleash their power were the four Xuanyuan-class space carriers hovering in the sky! The massive, ultra-compressed laser main gun arrays, optimized using the Golden Crow theory, located on the hulls and bows, completed their final charging! The energy at the muzzles was compressed to its limit, forming a point of absolute darkness that seemed capable of swallowing light—a terrifying sight. Then, from the core of this darkness, a pure golden light, even more intense and concentrated than the sun, suddenly burst forth!

"Golden Crow Main Cannon, fire!"

Four beams of pure gold, each over three meters in diameter and composed entirely of destructive energy, pierced the sky in an instant, like the world-destroying flames spewed out by the mythical golden crow! Their target was none other than the largest and most energy-efficient Poseidon-class capital ships at the core of the Atlantis fleet formation!

Following closely behind, the Fuxi fighter group, having completed its refit, simultaneously opened fire from the Golden Crow laser turrets beneath their noses! Hundreds of thinner, but equally deadly, golden-red beams of light, like a sudden storm, enveloped the Shadow Shuttle assault ships that were roaming around and attempting to harass them!

The White Tiger armored warriors, some wielding individual Golden Crow laser guns for precise bursts, others carrying multi-barreled small Golden Crow beam launchers for area suppression! Fine, precise golden beams wove a three-dimensional net of death from the ground and low altitude, blocking any possible escape routes for the enemy ships, and focusing particularly on the swarms of ferocious beasts attempting to pour out from the hatches on the hull of the Poseidon!

The entire defensive line of China instantly transformed from an iron wall into an erupting volcano! They used their own methods against them! And with even stronger and more ferocious methods!

"They...they also have the Light of Judgment?! No! The energy signature is stronger! Fire!" The exclamation of the Atlas Grand Commander echoed in the bridge of the Poseidon, carrying a hint of panic that he himself was unaware of.

Faced with the sudden and powerful laser frenzy that originated in China but was even more formidable, the Atlantis fleet unleashed the full firepower of all its ultra-compressed laser cannons almost simultaneously! Hundreds of Shadow Shuttles and dozens of Poseidon ships spewed out dense beams of blazing white light, meeting the overwhelming golden light head-on!

In the next instant, a battle of energy, unprecedented and unparalleled, unfolded in the heavens above, a battle worthy of being recorded in the annals of civilization!

Pure gold and blazing white, two beams of destructive energy representing the pinnacle of different civilizations' technologies, collided violently in the sky above northern China!

The anticipated earth-shattering explosion did not occur immediately. When two lasers of similar nature, but with higher energy density and purity than the Chinese laser beam, collided in mid-air, a peculiar phenomenon of energy annihilation and neutralization occurred!

Sizzle—Boom!

The point of contact erupted with a deafening roar and thud, more deafening than thunder, as if space itself were being torn apart! The golden and white energies tangled, neutralized, and annihilated each other in a frenzy, bursting forth with an extremely dazzling light that illuminated the entire sky as if it were daytime, even briefly surpassing the sun's brilliance! The energy shockwave, like a tangible tsunami, spread wildly in all directions, stirring up the clouds and even causing raging waves to rise on the sea below!

However, this seemingly evenly matched contest did not end well.

The Atlantis lasers were neutralized, neutralized, and annihilated by the Golden Crow lasers more efficiently during the collision! Although the golden beams of the Chinese lasers were also weakened as a result, a considerable portion of them still stubbornly penetrated the wall of fire caused by the energy collision, like arrows piercing through a rainstorm, continuing to shoot towards their intended target—the Atlantis warships!

"No!! Energy shield at maximum power! Dodge! Dodge now!" Nereus's desperate roar rang out in the Atlantis communication channel.

But it was too late.

Even weakened, the Golden Crow Beam still carried terrifying power, slamming into the energy shields and armor of the several Poseidon-class capital ships at the forefront, as well as dozens of Shadow Shuttle assault ships!

Boom boom boom boom—!!

This time, it was no longer a silent ripple of energy.

The Poseidon's thick energy shield, capable of withstanding giant waves and ordinary missiles, rapidly thinned and twisted under the continuous burning of the Golden Crow beam, like butter being sliced ​​by a scalding knife, and finally collapsed completely with a pop! The dark blue hull armor, now unprotected, appeared so fragile in the face of the golden beam!

A blinding light exploded on the ship's hull! The sturdy alloy was instantly melted and vaporized, exposing the internal structure to the high-temperature plasma, triggering a chain reaction of explosions! A Poseidon ship had a hole several meters in diameter torn in its side, spewing out flames and thick smoke; another ship's bow main gun array was directly melted down, turning into twisted scrap metal; and several more Shadow Shuttle ships had their energy cores or propulsion units precisely pierced by golden beams of light, exploding into brilliant but brief fireballs in the air like ignited fireworks!

"Warning! Abyss Fury's shields are overloaded! 47% structural damage! Main guns disabled!"

"Thruster-43 damaged! Power lost!"

"The Poseidon's starboard armor has been penetrated! Fire has broken out in the interior compartments!"

The piercing alarms and damage reports instantly overwhelmed the Atlantis fleet's communication channels. In the command center, the face of the Atlantis Grand Commander shifted from shock to anger, then to a hint of barely concealed terror, before finally turning ashen.

"How is this possible... Their weapons... are stronger than ours?!" He stared at the damage indicators on his own warships flashing on the screen, listening to the heavy loss reports from his subordinates, and a chill ran from the soles of his feet to the top of his head.

The advantages of civilization and the arrogance of technology crumble so completely in the face of an absolute power disparity.

"Mr. President... China's... China's weapons seem... even more powerful than the aliens'?!" In the Western Federation's underground command center, an aide stammered as he watched the satellite footage of the Atlantis warships being damaged one after another.

The president, slumped in his chair, was deathly pale, his lips trembling, yet he couldn't utter a single word. He had just witnessed his proudest weapon being destroyed by aliens like flies being swatted, and now he saw those same aliens, who had destroyed his weapon, being crushed by China in an even more domineering and powerful way…!

Intense humiliation, jealousy, and a deep-seated fear nearly consumed him.

On the battlefield, China's attacks did not stop in the slightest despite the initial success.

"Enemy shield breached! Armor damaged! Focus fire!" The voice of the Chinese frontline commander was frighteningly calm.

"Golden Crow Formation, continue the siege! Fuxi Formation, missile finishing blows! White Tiger Squad, clear out the remaining enemies and beast hordes!"

The order was executed efficiently. Golden beams of light, like precise scalpels, relentlessly sliced ​​through the enemy ships that had lost their shields. Immediately afterward, air-to-air and air-to-ground missiles, trailing plumes of flame, soared from the wings of the Fuxi fighters and from ground silos, hurtling towards the Atlantean warships that were already smoking, ablaze, and with their maneuverability greatly reduced!

"Retreat! Order all fleets to retreat immediately! Return to the Arctic Passage!" Atlas finally snapped out of his shock and rage, letting out a hoarse, unwilling roar. He understood that if they continued fighting, his conquering fleet would likely be completely annihilated here! The surface world was far more terrifying than he had imagined, especially this eastern nation!

However, the commander of China seemed to have anticipated this scene.

"Kuafu System, lock onto the retreat trajectories of all enemy ships! Wukong Space-based Platform, authorize the use of Punishment Mode to blockade the enemy's retreat routes!" In the ground command center, Elder Li's voice carried an unquestionable decisiveness.

Just as the remaining Atlantean warships hastily turned around, preparing to flee towards the North Pole—

High above in the heavens, the Wukong Space-based weapon platform, which had been silently hovering, revealed its terrifying power as a sword of the heavens to the world for the first time!

Several energy beams, far thicker than the Golden Crow's main cannon, deep purple in color and almost non-reflective, fell abruptly from their synchronous orbit at nearly a vertical angle, like punitive spears hurled by the gods! They did not directly attack the warships, but rather precisely bombarded the front and sides of the Atlantis fleet's retreat path!

Silent and unnoticed, yet with terrifying effects!

The airspace hit was instantly ionized and heated to unimaginable temperatures, forming continuously burning, distorting plasma clouds and high-energy radiation bands! The very structure of space seemed to undergo a brief distortion! Any object attempting to cross this death zone would be instantly melted by the high-temperature plasma or torn apart by the violent energy turbulence!

The escape route has been completely blocked!

"No!!!" Atlas's desperate roar echoed across the bridge of the Poseidon.

Heavenly fire blocked their path ahead, while golden crows pursued them relentlessly from behind.

China's all-out counterattack reached its climax at this moment.

The final order, issued from the China Command Center, was concise and cold:

"Annihilate."

In an instant, all the Golden Crow beams, missiles, and even the secondary guns of the Xuanyuan ship, the machine guns of the Fuxi fighter jet, and the various weapons of the White Tiger armor, like a storm, completely overwhelmed the Atlantis fleet that was trapped in the northern sky of China and had no way to advance or retreat.

Boom boom boom boom boom boom boom—!!!

The continuous, earth-shattering explosions became the final melody of the sky. One after another, Shadow Shuttles exploded into brilliant but fleeting fireballs, like lanterns being lit. Under the concentrated fire, the massive Poseidon-class warships, their shields shattered, armor cracked, and keels broken, carrying the despair and resentment of countless Atlantean warriors within, trailing billowing smoke and flames, plummeted from tens of thousands of meters into the cold sea or the desolate earth like broken-winged steel giants, their cries echoing through the air, stirring up towering columns of water and clouds of dust that blotted out the sun.

The devastating fireworks display, dazzling to the extreme, lasted for a full ten minutes over the northern border of China.

When the last Shadow Shuttle ship attempting to break through was struck by the golden crow beams of three Fuxi fighters and disintegrated in mid-air, the flames and roar of the explosion gradually subsided.

The sky became clean again.

All that remained were countless fragments of unburnt metal and ashes slowly falling from the sky, like black snowflakes; on the sea, large swaths of oil, wreckage, and the corpses of rampaging beasts that hadn't had time to escape floated; the air was thick with the strange smell of ozone, molten metal, and charred flesh.

The Atlantean fleet, which blotted out the sky, came in a raging storm, but left... vanished without a trace.

The ambition of the subterranean civilization to return to the surface and attempt to conquer the world was crushed by the absolute power of China under this eastern sky.

A catastrophe that could have engulfed the world and destroyed civilization was nipped in the bud just as it began to bare its fangs.

Above the vast sky, only four Xuanyuan Sky Carriers stood majestically, their silver-gray hulls reflecting a cold and dignified light in the sunlight after the smoke of war had dissipated, like four immortal monuments guarding civilization.

Deep within the Earth, the Neo-Poseidonian civilization, which lasted for millennia, has seen its sharpest claws and most fervent dreams of conquest vanish into the dust of history, a mere insignificant sigh.

The battle of civilizations has already been decided.