I started with a portal, then turned around and handed it over to the nation.

"They broke up, so they broke up."

Lin Dezhu slammed the chopsticks down on the table with a loud thud.

He glared at his wife.

"I knew that girl was arrogant and had a lot of ulterior motives! She's not good enough for our son! Our son is now doing great things for the country, why would he worry about not finding a good wife?"

He turned to Lin Mo, his face now displaying a proud expression.

"Good riddance! Someone who can only share the good times but not the bad is better off without! A true man has nothing to worry about when he can't have a wife!"

"What do you know!" Wang Guifen retorted, arguing with her husband, "Finding a partner these days is so difficult! Besides, Xiao Wan isn't as bad as you say..."

Lin Mo looked at his parents, who were arguing heatedly for him, and felt both amused and warm inside.

Memories of Su Wan have become distant after surviving a life-or-death ordeal. The sadness of being dumped has long been overshadowed by other things.

He tapped the rim of the bowl, interrupting his parents' argument.

"Dad, Mom, it's all in the past. It was my own problem, it has nothing to do with anyone else."

His calm tone silenced Wang Guifen and Lin Dezhu.

They looked at their son and realized that he really was different from before.

The confusion and resentment of the past were gone from his eyes, replaced by a composure that they couldn't quite understand, but could sense.

Lin Dezhu nodded in satisfaction and picked up his chopsticks again.

"That's right. Be able to take it on and let it go."

He picked up a piece of peanut with his chopsticks, put it in his mouth, and chewed it slowly.

"Son, we won't ask what your specific job is; that's the rule."

His voice wasn't loud, but every word was powerful.

"But remember, from the moment you put on this uniform, you no longer represent yourself. You represent the country, the army."

"Think about the consequences before you act, and don't bring shame to the country."

"Understood, Dad." Lin Mo nodded heavily.

Wang Guifen, standing to the side, sighed as she looked at the serious expressions on the father and son's faces.

She knew she couldn't win an argument with her husband, and she also knew her son had grown up and had his own career.

Her worries shifted to a different direction.

"Career is one thing," she put down her chopsticks and looked at Lin Mo earnestly, "but you can't just focus on your career and neglect your relationship."

She tried to use a trendy word to persuade her son.

"I've heard that young people these days all want to find someone to eat with or play games with... You can't just find yourself an office buddy!"

"Work is work, and life is life. You need someone who cares about you and understands you."

"You old woman, what nonsense are you spouting?" Lin Dezhu frowned as he listened.

Lin Mo understood the meaning behind her mother's words.

That is the simple wish of mothers everywhere.

Looking at the new gray hairs at his mother's temples and the deeper wrinkles around his father's eyes, he felt an even greater sense of responsibility.

He no longer lives solely for himself.

Behind him stood his parents, and the nation.

Lin Mo put down her bowl, looked at her parents, and her eyes were firm.

He nodded solemnly.

"Dad, Mom, don't worry."

I know what I'm doing.

After finishing breakfast, Lin Mo's anxious heart finally settled down.

He watched as his father picked up the newspaper, walked to the deck chair on the balcony, put on his reading glasses, and leisurely basked in the simulated sun overhead.

He watched as his mother tied on her apron, humming a little tune, and tidied up the dishes in the kitchen, muttering about what delicious food she would make for him for lunch.

This long-lost noise and warmth made him feel like he had come back to life.

The next morning.

Great Wall Base, Pangu Operation's dedicated combat conference room.

The atmosphere in the operations room was completely different from the rest of the base. There were only cold metal walls and a stifling silence.

The room had no windows, and the overhead light was so bright that it illuminated every corner.

The huge circular conference table was already full of people.

They sat upright with their hands flat on their knees.

They were elite special forces from three different military regions, and their armbands were embroidered with images of snow wolves, tigers, and eagles, respectively.

At this moment, the forty-eight soldiers were gathered together, unusually quiet.

Only suppressed whispers could be heard among the crowd.

"Hey, did you hear? This mission is classified as S-level, which has never happened before."

One of the Tigers remained completely still, his lips barely moving, the sound squeezed out from his throat.

"Nonsense, didn't you see that the best teams from our military regions have all come together? It's usually hard to even see the people from Snow Wolf and Azure Eagle."

His comrade next to him responded, but his eyes were fixed straight ahead.

"It's not just us. Yesterday, when I went to the equipment depot to pick up some things, I saw Professor Sun Dehai, that national treasure-level professor, rushing over with a group of experts, as if he had seen some kind of treasure."

"There are rumors that...we may be about to make contact with extraterrestrial civilizations."

This guess made the breathing of those around them quicken.

"quiet!"

A deep, stern shout came from the front of the formation.

He was the captain of the Eagle Squad. His gaze swept over the area where people were speaking quietly. His voice wasn't loud, but it carried weight.

"Everything is subject to the commander's orders! Any private speculation is strictly prohibited!"

The meeting room fell silent instantly.

All whispers ceased, leaving only the steady breathing of forty-eight men.

Just then.

"laugh--"

The heavy alloy doors of the conference room slid open silently to both sides.

A figure walked in against the light.

Long Fei.

He was dressed in a black combat uniform, expressionless, with cold eyes.

He walked step by step to the tactical board at the front of the conference room and stood still.

All forty-eight eyes in the room were focused on him.

Long Fei didn't look at anyone; he just stood there silently.

Time passed second by second.

The meeting room was so quiet you could hear everyone's own heartbeat.

Finally, Long Fei spoke.

His gaze slowly swept over everyone present, from the captain in the first row to the young team members in the last row.

"Everyone."

His voice wasn't loud, but it reached everyone's ears clearly.

"I won't say anything more. This mission is codenamed Pangu."

He paused for a moment, giving everyone time to process what he had to say.

"All I can tell you is that we are going to a place where no human has ever set foot before, to face an enemy beyond our comprehension."

His voice grew colder.

"Even a near-death experience is considered an optimistic estimate."

These words caused the pupils of all the seasoned soldiers present to shrink slightly.

They had carried out countless dangerous missions, but this was the first time they had ever heard the phrase "a near-death experience is an optimistic estimate."

Long Fei took in everyone's reactions, but ignored them and continued:

"Each of you is an elite selected from the entire army."

"Now, I'm giving you one last chance to choose."

He pointed to the door behind him.

"If anyone wants to leave, now stand up, turn around, and go out."

"I guarantee there will be no punishment. Your files will only have four words recorded: 'Obey assignment'."

The entire conference room was silent.

None of the forty-eight soldiers moved.

They sat even straighter than before.

Their chins were slightly raised, their eyes fixed on Long Fei without flinching.

Ten more seconds passed.

Twenty seconds.

Thirty seconds.

The gate was wide open, leading to a brightly lit passageway.

But not a single person moved an inch.

There seemed to be a small curve at the corner of Long Fei's mouth, but it disappeared in an instant.

"very good."

He nodded.

"Now, sign this top-secret agreement."

He turned to the side, revealing a stack of documents that had been prepared beforehand.

"Then, write your will."

The three team leaders immediately stood up, walked to the front, picked up the documents, and began distributing them.

One document was a thick confidentiality agreement, with terms so detailed they were enough to make one's scalp crawl.

The other document contained a blank sheet of paper and an envelope.

The paper was thin, but it felt heavy in these large hands that were used to handling guns.

In the meeting room, only the scratching sound of pens slicing across paper could be heard.

A dark-skinned member of the Tigers team wrote rapidly, as if he had a thousand words to say. His eyes were red, but he didn't let the tears fall.

A sniper from the Snow Wolf unit was silently drawing a picture on a piece of paper with a pencil. The picture showed a woman and a little girl with pigtails smiling at him.

There was also a young member of the Eagle Unit, who was biting his pen and staring blankly at the letter paper, tears silently streaming down his cheeks.

He sniffed, wiped his face haphazardly with the back of his hand, turned to his comrade beside him, and said in a self-deprecating, tearful voice:

"...Damn it, I used to always see those jokes online, like 'I earn three thousand a month, but I have the world in my heart'..."

He choked up, and his voice became even lower.