All the heavens, starting as the ruler of the universe

When Ao Qing entered the base, everyone around him was in a hurry.

As soon as he entered, he saw a huge electronic screen hanging in the center of the hall, with several lines of text flashing on it: "Monster Invasion Countdown: 7 days".

The words were red, which stood out starkly in the dimly lit hall.

A few people were standing below the screen: Newton Geizler, Herman Gottlieb, and the doctor duo from the movie.

Ao Qing had seen them in the movie.

But at this moment, the two people were surrounding a man, and their posture was more like that of subordinates waiting for instructions from their superiors than colleagues.

Newton held a data panel in his hands, pointing to an analysis chart of some kind of monster organization, muttering something under his breath.

Herman stood beside him, adjusted his glasses, and unusually, did not refute Newton, but nodded in agreement.

A man was standing in front of the two people.

White coat, black hair, Asian face, very young, no more than thirty years old.

He wasn't wearing any identification badges on his chest, his hands were in the pockets of his white coat, and he was listening to Newton's report with his head slightly tilted to the side.

After listening, he said something in a low voice, and Newton and Herman nodded at the same time, then turned around and went about their business, as respectful as two doctoral students meeting their mentor.

Ao Qing was quite certain that this person did not exist in the original plot. In the movie, Newton and Herman were independent scientific advisors, but the scene in front of him was clearly two doctors reporting to a higher-level "chief".

Raleigh Beckett walked in from another direction.

He had already treated his nosebleed, and his face was covered with medical tape. As soon as he entered the lobby, he walked towards the man in the white coat.

"Doctor," Raleigh said excitedly, "your exoskeleton is amazing."

The man turned around, glanced at Raleigh, and said, "Your reaction was too slow. You should have started it earlier and not left it until the end."

Raleigh nodded without saying anything.

Just then, footsteps came from the stairs.

Steker Penticos strode down from the direction of the control room, the black officer's boots making a series of dull thuds on the metal steps.

He stopped at the corner of the stairs, his gaze sweeping over the crowd in the lobby and landing on the man in the white coat.

"Doctor, come up here for a moment, there's a new development."

Ao Qing watched the man in the white coat walk up the stairs and disappear through the door of the control room.

However, this could not stop Ao Qing. His divine sense spread out like water, and all the scenes upstairs were displayed in his mind.

In the control room, Penticos stood in front of the holographic tactical table, his arms crossed.

The holographic screen displayed post-war assessment data for Victoria Harbour, damage reports for the Gipsy Danger, and an analysis of the combat effectiveness of the external armor that had just fallen from the sky.

Each data point is marked with a green "Excellent" label.

When the doctor walked in, Penticos did not stand on ceremony.

He swiped his finger across the screen to reveal a new tactical model—not a mech, but a row of firepower platforms fixed to a giant wall.

"Doctor, your external armor is indeed very useful," Penticos said. "Without it today, the Dangerous Gipsy would be useless, but the budget for orbital deployment is too high, and we can't afford to build a second weapon platform."

Zhao Yi didn't respond. He stood across the tactical table, waiting for Penticos to finish speaking.

Penticos pushed the holographic model to the center of the table.

It was a design drawing for a row of fixed turrets, with their bases embedded in the concrete structure of the giant wall. The caliber of the turret barrels was smaller than that of the plasma cannons on the mechs, but there were many of them, covering a wide area.

"Could it be made like this?" Penticos pointed at the turret model. "A fixed turret, or a movable turret, placed on the coastline, without the need for rail deployment or atmospheric reentry protective coating."

"That's a good idea." Zhao Yi shook his head. "But our enemies aren't monsters in a game; they won't stupidly huddle together and charge at our turrets."

"They are intelligent and tactically capable. Whether it's flanking maneuvers or surprise attacks, these weapons fixed to the wall are completely ineffective."

"As for mobile ones," Zhao Yi pondered for a moment, "no, they're too slow. The monster can get from the seabed into the city in just a few minutes. And if we use an airplane, the damage rate is too high. The laser weapons will be destroyed along with them, making the cost even higher."

Penticos remained silent for a moment. He didn't refute, because he knew Zhao Yi was right. The speed of the monsters' tactical evolution was always the most unpredictable variable in any operational plan. Fixed turrets couldn't defend against flanking maneuvers, mobile turrets couldn't keep up with the speed, and air strikes were too costly.

"So what's your suggestion?"

Zhao Yi reached out and swiped to open a new interface on the holographic screen.

It is a spatial coordinate, marked in the depths of the Pacific Ocean, in the Mariana Trench, in the Challenger Deep.

"Deep-sea fissures".

Penticos stared at the coordinates without saying a word.

"Monsters are crawling out of the rifts. No matter how many turrets we set up on the coastline or how many mechs we build, we're just fighting a war of attrition. As long as the rifts exist, the monsters will never be eliminated. Their appearance frequency is increasing, from once every few years to twice every few months now. If we continue like this, we will definitely lose."

Zhao Yi's voice wasn't loud, but every word he uttered was delivered steadily in the quiet control room.

"Instead of spending the budget on artillery, it's better to spend it on things that can solve the problem thoroughly."

Penticos stared at the coordinates and remained silent for a long time.

The location of the deep-sea fissure is no secret, nor is it a secret that monsters emerge from there.

But no one ever really considered it, not because they couldn't think of it, but because no one knew what lay beneath the crevice, and no one was confident they could launch any combat operations at that depth on the seabed.

How confident are you?

"Fifty percent," Zhao Yi said.

The control room fell silent.

Outside the window, the waters of Victoria Harbour are calming down, and the cleanup of the monster's blood has begun.

Penticos lowered his crossed arms and placed his hands on the edge of the tactical table.

What do you need?

"A mech that can dive to the seabed," Zhao Yi said. "It doesn't need to fight; it just needs to be able to dive to the edge of the crevice and place something there."

"What is it?"

"Nuclear bomb." Zhao Yi's voice rang out.

Just as Penticos was about to speak, the alarm suddenly shattered the silence of the control room.

The holographic screen was forcibly switched, and a huge red dot appeared on the deep-sea monitoring interface, with an energy reading far exceeding level four.

"Sir! A new monster signal has appeared in the deep-sea rift—Level 5! The energy is still rising!"

Zhao Yi's expression changed.

He stared at the holographic scan of the monster's size—not any monster from the movie, not the Poison Woman, not any design he remembered.

It was moving deep in the Pacific Ocean, its target being this city.

"How could this be?" Zhao Yi was somewhat incredulous. This monster had never appeared in the story before, nor had a Level 5 monster ever appeared at this time!

In the corridor, Ao Qing leaned against the wall, taking in everything in the control room with his divine sense.

The sudden appearance of a level-five monster was beyond the transmigrator's control.

"Looks like he's just an ordinary person." Ao Qing was somewhat disappointed.