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

"And those cat demon claws!"

Chen Yan also squeezed in and shoved Sun Dehai aside:

"The density and toughness of that biological skeleton are astonishing! It's lighter than titanium alloy, yet three times harder! If it could be used to make joint connectors for individual soldier armor..."

"And that ore!"

"Alright, alright!"

Zhao Zhenguo's head was throbbing from the noise of the two old men. He rubbed his temples and waved his hand helplessly.

"The stuff is all in the warehouse, it can't be stolen. After the meeting, you can study it however you like."

Zhao Zhenguo looked at Lin Mo, who was sitting at the end of the long table.

"Lin Mo, the door has gotten bigger, which is a good thing. But there's no such thing as a free lunch."

Zhao Zhenguo tapped the table: "What did the system say? This time the commotion was so big, what was the cost? When is the next mission?"

The meeting room fell silent instantly.

All eyes were on Lin Mo.

Lin Mo took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and let his consciousness sink into the void that only he could see.

A pale blue screen unfolded on his retina, and lines of data streamed rapidly across it.

A few seconds later, Lin Mo opened his eyes, his voice a little hoarse: "Let me tell you some good news first."

He stood up, walked to the whiteboard behind him, picked up a marker, and wrote down a set of numbers.

"5 meters x 4 meters. Duration: 10 minutes."

The pen tip leaves the whiteboard with a soft "squeak".

"This is the current specification of the teleportation portal." Lin Mo turned around and looked at everyone. "It's the same as what we estimated last night; these are the exact figures."

"I knew it!"

Sun Dehai slapped his thigh, ignoring Zhao Zhenguo's warning, and stood up abruptly, gesturing with both hands to form a huge rectangle in the air:

"Five meters high, four meters wide... Old Zhao! Do you know what this means? It means our transportation bottleneck has been completely broken!"

Sun Dehai grabbed the teacup on the table, took a big gulp, and didn't even wipe the water off his beard.

"Don't even mention trucks, we could dismantle those heavy-duty drilling rigs and transport them there! We could build a power plant right there at that camp!"

"We don't have to rely on those few solar panels anymore!"

Chen Yan couldn't sit still any longer; the ballpoint pen in his hand clicked loudly as he pressed it.

"If it's this size, the 99A's main gun barrel can pass through without being removed. Even with the full set of reactive armor, it's only a little cramped."

The atmosphere in the conference room was reignited, and several staff officers even began to discuss the loading plan in hushed tones.

"but."

Lin Mo's voice wasn't loud, but it instantly silenced the conference room.

He snapped the cap off his marker with a loud "snap," which sounded particularly jarring in the quiet conference room.

"There's also bad news."

Lin Mo looked back at the light screen on his retina, where a bright red countdown was ticking away second by second.

"The next mission has been issued."

Lin Mo's Adam's apple bobbed as he read aloud the line of blood-red text:

Mission objective: Kill the Goblin High Priest.

Location: Deep within the Rotten Swamp, at the Blackwater Altar.

"Enemy characteristics: Commands goblin legions and possesses advanced plague magic."

When the word "plague" was mentioned, Lin Mo clearly felt Wu Qian, who was sitting opposite him, stiffen slightly.

But that's not the worst part.

Lin Mo paused, his gaze sweeping over everyone present, finally settling on Zhao Zhenguo's face:

"Task time limit: 10 days."

"When will the portal open..." Lin Mo held out a hand, "In 6 days."

A dead silence.

Chen Yan, who was just excitedly discussing driving the tank in, had his mouth half-open and couldn't close it.

The teacup in Sun Dehai's hand stopped in mid-air, and a few drops of brown tea spilled out and landed on the table.

"How much?" Zhao Zhenguo's voice was low. "How many days?"

"Six days."

Lin Mo repeated himself, his tone certain: "The portal will open in six days. Once inside, we have ten days to complete the decapitation operation. Failure means annihilation."

"This doesn't make sense!"

The staff officer in charge of intelligence analysis suddenly stood up, the chair scraping against the floor with a grating sound.

"The previous schedule was always thirty days! A full month of cooldown period! Why was it suddenly shortened by three-quarters this time? This has completely disrupted our preparation schedule!"

"Six days..."

Logistics Minister Liu Jianjun's face turned pale instantly, and the calculator in his hand fell to the table with a clatter.

"Six days isn't enough time just for resource allocation and loading! Not to mention the need for acclimatization training in the new environment!"

"What's the reason?" Wu Qian remained seated in the shadows, his fingers rhythmically tapping his knees, and asked calmly, "Has the system provided an explanation?"

Lin Mo shook his head, sat back down in his chair, and rested his chin on his hands:

"There's no explanation. But I have a guess."

He pointed to the dimensions on the whiteboard behind him:

"We got an S rating for this mission. We were rewarded with a full ten Beacon Fragments. After I used the fragments to upgrade the system, I made the door more than twice as big."

Lin Mo looked at Zhao Zhenguo: "I think this is like dynamic difficulty balancing in a game. As we become stronger, the system provides more resources and the entry barrier is lower, so correspondingly... the pace will speed up."

"It's forcing us."

Long Fei had been leaning against the corner without saying a word, but then suddenly interjected.

He toyed with the dagger he had brought back from another world, the blade dancing between his fingertips:

"We were given a month before because we were weak, and going in meant almost certain death. Now we have guns, cannons, and even territory."

"The system has determined that we have the capability for 'rapid elimination.' Therefore, it is not giving us any breathing room."

Long Fei slammed the dagger into the table, the tip sinking deep into the wood: "It wants to see us run, not walk."

The air in the meeting room was somewhat heavy.

"Plague magic..."

"Snapped!"

Zhao Zhenguo slammed his hand heavily on the table, this time causing the water in the teacup to spill out.

"What's the panic!"

The old general stood up straight, and in that instant, his powerful aura intimidated everyone.

"What's wrong with six days?"

Zhao Zhenguo surveyed his surroundings, his gaze sharp:

"During the Korean War, in the second phase of the campaign, our soldiers marched through Sansuoli. They covered 72 kilometers on foot in one night! Who gave them any preparation time back then?"

"Now that we have tanks, airplanes, and a complete industrial system, are we afraid?"

He walked up to the map, waved his hand, and drew a red circle directly in the area representing the swamp.

"Whether it's magic or a virus, whether it takes six days or six hours."

Zhao Zhenguo turned around, his voice firm and resonant:

"Now that the door is open and the road is wide, we must fight this battle well."

"Order: The entire base is on Level 1 combat readiness. All leave is cancelled. Everyone is to take turns resting and working in shifts."