National Fate: Eight Yin Generals Guard China from Their Sleeping Coffins

Southeast Asia.

Inside the master bedroom of a sprawling private estate.

Li Lianjie inserted all ten fingers into her sparse hair and pulled it backward forcefully.

He felt a sharp pain in his scalp, but he showed no sign of letting go.

Three tablets were placed on the mahogany desk in front of me, all locked to the Singapore-exclusive split screen on the global Sky Screen.

The picture is appalling.

The young awakened one, who had lost his sight while deflecting the plasma cannon, was lying amidst piles of severed limbs and bones, retching incessantly.

Lying around were Singaporean civilians who had been forcibly dragged into the battlefield by the system to die.

More than three hundred living people were torn into mincemeat by the monster within minutes.

In the upper right corner of the screen, a line of scarlet numbers is jumping wildly.

[The remaining number of candidates in the Singapore candidate pool is 4,231,105.]

Li Lianjie was panting heavily, his chest heaving violently.

He gripped his left wrist tightly with his right hand, his lips moving rapidly and bloodless.

"Four million two hundred thousand... minus those who died in the previous wave... the mortality rate is rising..."

He nervously repeated the numbers, calculating the probability of being selected and sent to that meat grinder.

For every player who dies, the system will randomly select a substitute from this pool to fill the vacancy.

Completely disregarding social status and wealth.

Even if you hide in a nuclear air-raid shelter 10,000 meters underground, that golden light can accurately strike you out and throw you into the battlefield of national destiny.

The door was pushed open.

A personal assistant quietly walked in, carrying a bowl of steaming hot, top-quality bird's nest soup.

"Boss, you haven't eaten for three days. Please have something to eat."

"roll!"

Li Lianjie suddenly stood up, his large silk nightgown hanging comically on his thin, bony body.

He slapped the tray over.

The blue-and-white porcelain bowl shattered on the floor, and scalding hot bird's nest splashed onto the assistant's trouser leg.

The assistant took two steps back, not daring to utter a sound.

Li Lianjie braced his hands on the table, staring intently at the bloody battlefield on the screen.

He spent 80 million US dollars and went through many difficulties to obtain this Singapore passport.

At that time, he felt that it was an incomparably noble passport, representing financial freedom and upward social mobility.

Now, this passport has become a death knell.

As long as he has this passport, he will forever be bound to the war machine of that tiny, vulnerable nation that could be destroyed at any moment.

"Immediately contact your connections in Beijing! No matter the cost, even if it means donating all my overseas assets, make sure I regain my Chinese citizenship!"

Li Lianjie yelled at his assistant, spitting everywhere.

The assistant turned pale and stood there shaking his head.

"Boss, China completely locked down its household registration system three days ago. Now, even a cleaning lady's household registration is worth more than ten mountains of gold. And..."

The assistant swallowed hard and lowered his voice.

"Moreover, China has introduced new regulations prohibiting any foreign nationals from staying in China for any reason. The border troops have all been equipped with psionic weapons, so they can't get in at all."

Li Lianjie's body suddenly shuddered, his knees buckled, and he slumped into the large leather chair.

He was completely shut out of that only safe zone in the world.

In a large, single-level apartment in the heart of Shanghai, China.

The floor was covered with shards of glass and fragments of cosmetics.

Kim So-yeon sat in front of the leather sofa with her hair disheveled, her exquisite manicure digging into the expensive carpet.

In the void, a semi-transparent system light panel was floating in front of her.

[Warning regarding the Bald Eagle's candidate pool: The number of remaining candidates has fallen below 20 million. Casualty rate rating: SSS.]

The line of red text pierced her retina and went straight into her brain.

Manager Park Min-ho was kneeling on the floor not far away, his hands covering his head, his crotch was already soaked and emitting a foul smell of urine.

"Min-ho, is this what you meant by 'absolutely foolproof'? Is this the bright future you've planned for me?"

Kim So-yeon got up, rushed to her manager, grabbed the manager's collar, and shook him wildly.

"Why should we become American citizens?! Answer me!"

Park Min-ho forcefully shook off her hand, his neck flushed as he retorted.

"You're blaming me now? Who was it that begged me to go through immigration agencies just to get that Hollywood role with no lines? Who was it that shouted 'I love China' in broken Chinese on a Chinese variety show, only to turn around and pay taxes to the United States?"

Park Min-ho pointed to the red words on the whiteboard, his voice completely changing.

"Now look what's happened! That commander David from the Bald Eagles is a madman! He'll even throw a senator's son out as a human shield to block artillery shells! If we get picked, we won't survive a second inside; we'll just become monster food!"

Kim So-yeon covered her ears and screamed like a madwoman.

Back then, she made a fortune in China by relying on her innocent image. Driven by vanity and the desire to avoid high taxes, she decisively obtained a US green card.

She even spent money to publish articles criticizing several local actresses in China.

She was as arrogant then as she is now.

She shakily pulled out her phone and opened China's largest social media platform.

She wanted to see if there was an opportunity to stir up public opinion and use her existing fan base to gain sympathy from the Chinese leadership.

As soon as the screen lit up, a pinned trending post immediately dominated the headlines.

The headline is bold and eye-catching: "A Look Back at Those Celebrities Who Dared to Quit Their Citizenship—They're Now All in Line Waiting to Die!"

Kim So-yeon opened the comments section with trembling hands.

No one showed any sympathy; the screen was filled with jubilation.

These bastards used to run wild, and now they're in this mess. Karma is getting its comeuppance!

The person upstairs is right. They embezzled our domestic money to pay taxes for foreigners, and now it's their turn to pay for the foreigners' lives.

[I just checked the internet, and those so-called wealthy overseas Chinese businessmen actually posted a video demanding that China send troops to bring them back. I immediately sent them a single, elegant sentence in Mandarin.]

Do you really think you're some kind of superhuman? You think you can just renounce or reinstate your Chinese citizenship whenever you want?

[For your information, the system's locking rules are absolutely binding. As long as you hold that country's passport, whether you're hiding in a basement or in outer space, the system can still transfer you there, soul and all.]

Therefore, a passport is a death warrant; the system recognizes residency, not the person.

[They won't be free unless everyone in their country dies. Hahahaha!]

My grandpa got caught in a spiritual rain yesterday and ran five kilometers without getting out of breath.

[Thank you, ancestors! Thank you, our grandmasters! Chinese citizenship is now the most powerful life-saving weapon in the entire universe!]

[...]

As she looked at these comments, Kim So-yeon's vision began to blur.

She shoved Park Min-ho aside and scrambled to rummage through the drawers under the dressing table, finding the eagle-beak passport that she had once boasted about everywhere.

"I don't want it anymore! I'll tear it up! If I tear it up, I won't be a Bald Eagle anymore!"

Kim So-yeon tore at the small document with all her might.

The binding rules imposed by the system cannot be resolved by physical destruction.

Even though she had torn her passport into hundreds of pieces, the red warning sign in mid-air remained fixed in front of her, the red light growing increasingly glaring.

"I had no choice but to go live and beg them!"

Kim So-yeon climbed back to the sofa and put her phone on the stand.

She didn't even put on makeup, and started her live stream with messy hair and a tear-stained face.

Millions of online users flooded in instantly.

Everyone knows that this woman in China was just there to watch the show, like watching a monkey show.

Kim So-yeon knelt down directly in front of the camera, her forehead hitting the floor with a heavy thud.

"My fellow countrymen, please forgive me! I was wrong! I was really wrong!"

Kim So-yeon cried so hard she made no sense of decorum, her snot and tears all mixed together.

"My heart will always be with China! I'll donate all my money to Project Hope right away. Please, I beg you, let the authorities show some leniency and grant me refugee status, even if it's just to prevent the system from taking me away..."

The barrage of comments exploded instantly, filling the entire screen.

[Oh, isn't this Ms. Jin, a noble citizen of the Bald Eagle? Why are you kneeling before us ordinary people?]

Don't randomly claim kinship; who's your family? Your family is currently acting as bait outside David's bunker.

【Now you're thinking of donating money? Too late! What China has in abundance right now is money and supplies. Your little bit of greenbacks isn't even enough to wipe your butt with.】

[Hurry up and pack your bags, Commander David is waiting for you fresh troops to take the hits.]

Seeing how badly she's crying, I'm going to have to eat two extra bowls of rice tonight to celebrate.

[Guess how many seconds she can last before the monster eats her? I'm betting one second!]

[I'll hold it down for half a second!]

【..........】

Kim So-yeon looked at the screen full of mockery, not a single person spoke up for her.

She desperately raised her hand, trying to grab the phone screen.

"No...you can't just stand by and watch me die. I brought you so much joy before..."

Before he could finish speaking...

A sudden change occurred.

The ceiling of the penthouse in Shanghai was not cracked, but a blinding golden beam of light, completely ignoring the physical obstacles of concrete and steel, crashed down from nowhere.

The golden light precisely enveloped Kim So-yeon, who was kneeling on the ground.

The live stream screen froze instantly.

Manager Park Min-ho let out a piercing scream, staggered backward, and slammed his back against the wall.

Kim So-yeon, standing in the beam of light, abruptly stopped speaking.

Her body, starting from her fingertips, rapidly transformed into luminous particles that dispersed.

The particles surged along the beam of light toward the enormous crimson space in the sky.

That is, two seconds.

The beam of light dissipated.

In the live stream, where Kim So-yeon was originally kneeling, there was only a puddle of yellowish urine and a few pieces of torn passport fragments left.

On the Chinese internet, all the ridicule and angry shouts were paused at that moment.

Immediately afterwards, the server was flooded with ten times more barrage of comments than before.

Holy crap!!!

[It's gone! It really was taken by the system!]

[A living person, teleported on the spot! This is like a magic trick of turning people into real beings!]

Heaven is watching what people do; retribution comes faster than lightning!

[Good riddance! A cause for celebration!]