The system handed me over to the state.

"I'm giving you a mission... Declare war on that country, declare war on Shenzhou! The Shadow Empire will launch a war against Shenzhou after the world barrier shatters. We must avenge... the Great General!"

The prime minister was stunned. "Your Majesty...you...you should rest first, and make a decision after a period of rest. Making a decision now is too hasty. Moreover...if we really have to start a war, the whole country will have to be mobilized. If we lose..."

"We will not lose, the Shadow Empire will never lose... The Shadow will never lose to the Light."

Although the Emperor's face was pale and weak, his pale golden eyes were exceptionally resolute, while the Prime Minister's equally pale golden eyes revealed a hint of sorrow. "Your Majesty... I... I understand..."

"I will do as you say... but what you need now is rest. Only when you are well-rested can you command us in battle."

"Now, you should rest. Leave the rest to me."

...........

"Be careful, everyone! Be careful when moving these things, don't break them."

After the Iron Curtain force field was canceled, the troops that had been waiting on the periphery entered the battlefield and began to search and inspect the surrounding area again to make sure that no Shadow Empire soldiers had been missed.

The soldiers wore heavy power armor. In six months, the power armor of Research Institute No. 1 was successfully put into mass production. During the six months, the factory operated at full capacity and successfully equipped about 30% of the soldiers in each military region with this power armor.

The remaining 70% of soldiers will be equipped gradually over the next six months, as the factories are still working hard to produce them. After all, the goal of Shenzhou is to equip all soldiers with power armor before the war begins.

This is a specially made power armor. In addition to life support functions and various new weapons, the most important thing is that it is a special defensive device that they have developed over the years through reverse engineering and reverse analysis of the magic of the Shadow Empire's soldiers. It can make the soldiers completely immune to the Shadow Empire's possession-type magic.

Now, standing before this weapon that truly resembled a sword, Bronya asked in bewilderment, "Is this... the Emperor's Blade? It looks like a rather uniquely shaped sword. I thought they were going to assemble some incredibly powerful contraption."

Before me lay a black sword with a somewhat bizarre shape, resembling a strange pistol. The hilt even had an area that looked like a trigger, but overall, it still resembled a sword—a...not-quite-standard sword.

"So, they plan to use this sword to destroy the Iron Curtain Force Field? It doesn't look like something that... could unleash such power."

Based on China's current understanding of the Iron Curtain, there is only one way to break through its force field: consumption. Maintaining the Iron Curtain force field requires a large amount of energy. Because of the major breakthroughs in the research on the Power Gem over the past six months, they can now activate this almost money-burning Iron Curtain force field anytime, anywhere.

If the opponent wants to break through the Iron Curtain Force Field, they can only do so by continuously attacking and depleting the energy that sustains the Iron Curtain Force Field. When the energy is exhausted, the force field will naturally disappear.

The most significant difference between the Iron Curtain Force Field and ordinary shields is that it seems to have no upper limit.

With China's current technology, apart from nuclear weapons which have not been tested, even electromagnetic railguns cannot instantly penetrate the powerful defenses of the Iron Curtain force field.

However, considering the vastness and unknown nature of the universe, China's leading scientists will continue to focus on how to break through the Iron Curtain force field.

"I don't know... It looks like a gunsword, but... how does this thing fire?"

The researchers from Research Institute No. 1 who came to take away the research items also looked puzzled. Moreover, if it is to unleash powerful energy, then what about the energy core?

You could even just add a gemstone set in it.

Bronya frowned slightly. She couldn't sense anything special about the thing in front of her... Maybe they hadn't noticed it, or maybe they had been misled... In any case, she really wasn't sure.

"Let's take it back and study it slowly... Hmm?"

Just then, Bronya suddenly heard the voice of the personnel in the control room of Laboratory 1, "Something's wrong! We've detected energy fluctuations and corresponding spatial beacons from your location!"

Bronya's gaze sharpened. "Everyone, prepare for battle. The enemy is coming."

Chapter 223: The Enigmatic Empire

As the Prime Minister of the Shadow Empire led the two envoys through the teleportation tunnel and landed safely, what the three of them saw were countless dark gun barrels pointed at them—well, gun barrels that looked like cannon barrels.

Bronya scrutinized the pale-faced man in the richly dressed man before her. The man first raised his head, looking at the sun in the sky, a hint of longing flashing in his eyes. Then he turned his gaze to the people in front of him. "I am the Imperial Chancellor of the Shadow Empire. May I ask if you are soldiers of the Divine Continent Empire?"

Bronya exchanged a glance with the researcher beside her, then turned her gaze to the military commander present. The commander hesitated for a moment, then said, "Um... Major General Bronya, your rank is higher than mine. Shouldn't it be your turn at this moment...?"

"My foot! You get up there! It's you!"

Bronya forcefully pulled the Commander out; she didn't want to go up there! She didn't want to show her face in a situation that clearly indicated something big was about to happen.

The commander, who was forcibly pushed forward, had no choice but to bite the bullet and step forward, saying solemnly, "I am one of the commanders of the Northern Military Region of Shenzhou. Now, you are standing on the territory of Shenzhou. You either surrender immediately, or we will forcibly disarm you and make you surrender."

This is the land of China, and the soldiers of China dare to be so tough on the enemy. He didn't directly order his men to attack because the other party was a prime minister, who must be a powerful figure.

The Prime Minister nodded, and a servant beside him conjured a scroll out of thin air and placed it in the Prime Minister's hand. "Commander of Shenzhou, the Shadow Empire now officially declares war on the Shenzhou Empire! We will launch a full-scale war offensive against Shenzhou in six months!"

Bronya was stunned, and all the soldiers present were stunned. One was that what the other party said was simply too unbelievable, and the other was... a declaration of war? This was the first time in all their years of service that they had heard of someone daring to declare war on China.

However, considering the other party's special circumstances and the limitations of reporting, such action is not entirely incomprehensible...

"This is formal diplomatic declaration of war, isn't it?"

“That’s right! This is a formal declaration of war! From now on, the Empire will not send any military personnel into the Divine Continent Empire. In six months, we will launch an attack on the Divine Continent Empire.”

"At that time, the survival of both countries will be decided in this battle."

Bronya's expression was somewhat strange. She quietly asked, "Why...why are they so confident? They seem to think they're sure to win. It's...weird."

“I don’t know either… Miss Bronya, didn’t you say that you fabricated a fantasy to threaten them before? They don’t seem to have succeeded.”

The fantasy that Bronya submitted was constructed by the experts inside the research institute together with Bronya, and it was extremely realistic and oppressive.

The other person... seems completely unaffected, and even looks quite brave!

"I don't know. I did see that priest run away in fear. Could it be... that they realized it was fake, and that's why they angrily declared war on us?"

Bronya tilted her head. The commander hesitated. He didn't have the right to accept the declaration of war. The other side was clearly serious. If he accepted, it meant that China would inevitably face war in the future. But if he didn't accept...

Looking at the three people in front of him with their tough attitude, the commander felt a headache coming on and could only secretly cast a pleading look at Bronya.

Bronya nudged the researcher and asked, "Have you been notified of the situation?"

"We have already notified His Majesty that he and the cabinet members have held an emergency meeting to discuss this matter... It may take a little more time."

Bronya nodded and pressed her earpiece, saying, "I've already notified him. We're stalling him and discussing this matter."

“We need time. I am just a commander; I have no right to accept your declaration of war.”

The Prime Minister snorted coldly, "Fine, you can't do anything to me anyway. I'll wait here for you and see what tricks you can come up with."

The Prime Minister's behavior was unusually arrogant, as if he did not take Shenzhou seriously. This attitude displeased the commander. The soldiers held their weapons and pointed at the invaders in front of them. They knew very well what Shenzhou was suffering and also knew the origin of the invaders.

However, they have been struggling to find an opportunity to join the main battle because their strength is insufficient, and His Majesty's intention is to do everything possible to ensure the integrity of the army and prevent any loss of personnel.

Therefore, a major general's team with a 100% success rate in eliminating threats and remaining unscathed emerged and has been active ever since.

The warriors were eager to fight the invaders, but it was clear they were powerless to do so.

A few minutes later, after receiving the communication and confirming it, Bronya told the commander what to do next. The commander sighed, "We, Shenzhou... formally accept your declaration of war."

"We hope you can do what you are supposed to do. Within six months, we do not want to see anyone from the Shadow Empire. If you violate the contents of this declaration of war, we... will destroy you without hesitation!"

China is not afraid of any challenge or declaration of war. If you want to come, then come. They are not afraid, and are even happy for you to rush over and commit suicide.

The Prime Minister snorted again and handed the declaration of war to the commander. "Now, you can leave. In war, envoys are not killed. Consider yourself lucky."

The Prime Minister took a step back, their bodies enveloped in black weapons, and then disappeared from everyone's sight. The Commander handed the declaration of war to Bronya, who took it and glanced through it. It was nothing more than some jumps and related statements. The only thing that piqued Bronya's curiosity was that the other party used neat simplified Chinese characters.

Where did they get their Chinese language from? Their civilization and social structure are completely unrelated to China. Or did they defeat a parallel world's China civilization, and are these characters the result of that civilization merging with the Shadow Empire and taking root?

Bronya put away the declaration of war. "Continue to clean up the battlefield and bring back everything useful. We can take a good rest for the next six months. After six months, it will be our most critical moment."

Bronya clenched her fists. Six months later, she would leave Shenzhou to complete her mission, which also involved war, but how long that war would last was completely unknown...

We can only speed things up as quickly as possible, and hopefully her power won't be restricted by then.

Chapter 224: Britain's Plea for Help

“Something seems a bit off. If we carefully gather the existing intelligence, we can discover that this Shadow Empire is a hybrid of multiple cultures. Its social structure is clearly based on Western medieval civilization, with the presence of imperial power and religion forming part of the empire's social structure.”

"However, according to the intelligence we have obtained, there are many strange social classes within this empire. We do not yet know the specifics, and our knowledge is limited, so we can only make some guesses."

"Finally, there is this so-called declaration of war. We analyzed the materials and language in the declaration of war. The language in the other party's declaration of war uses a mixture of our ancient Chinese and modern vernacular Chinese."

"The text is mainly in simplified Chinese characters, and some sentences show a subtle Western-style Chinese feel."

Ji Chengtian presented his research to everyone, and Bronya, stroking her chin, said, "I don't care about these things... I just want to know what's going on in Europe and America."

"And then there are the countries around us. They keep saying they're going to build defenses against the upcoming invasion from another world, but so much time has passed and we haven't seen them take any substantial measures at all."

"In addition to the Empire's sudden teleportation attack on our capital, I have reason to suspect that Europe and America may have already fallen, and that the high-ranking officials of those countries have been taken over by the Empire. They are even constantly learning about those countries' military equipment and various kinds of knowledge in order to use them against us."

"Is it that serious? If they really figure out the foreign power and acquire those weapons to use against us... then we'll be in big trouble."

This is indeed a very serious problem. Lao Yu is certain that if the foreign countries have really fallen, then they will have to fight alongside those countries. In addition, with the arrival of the Shadow Empire in six months, can they really withstand it?

"Perhaps... we should prepare for a technological breakthrough?"

Bronya proposed an idea: with a technological breakthrough, they could immediately develop a large number of technologies to solve this crisis. The sheer superiority of technology is something that cannot be resolved by sheer numbers or high-threat weapons. If they could achieve this, they could easily resolve the crisis.

"But a technological breakthrough requires a solid foundation... and China at present does not fully possess such a foundation... It has technology, but lacks the foundation to unleash it."

So... what to do? Lightweight power armor is the limit they can currently achieve. Heavier power armor, such as the CMC series power armor in the Civilization Pack, which uses cold fusion technology, is something that Shenzhou cannot produce in the short term.

Of course, the most important thing is the weaponry. The C-14 model 8mm 'Stabilized' Gauss rifle, which is commonly used in the Civilization Pack, has the crucial electromagnetic acceleration technology miniaturized, which is something that China can hardly achieve in a short period of time.

So... what kind of technology can they use and quickly develop now?

However, just as everyone was pondering, Lao Yu's adjutant suddenly walked to the table and indicated that he had something to say. Lao Yu nodded, "What is it?"

"We have just received a message from a member state of the European Union, saying that they are already surrounded by shadows and they cannot hold on for long. They hope that any country that receives this message will provide them with assistance."

Old Yu raised an eyebrow. "Do these guys now realize how serious their situation is?"

"Can you specify which member state it is?"

Bronya asked, and the adjutant glanced at her and replied, "Britain was a very powerful empire in Europe when it joined the European Union, and it has been in a dominant position among the member states since then."

"This is the detailed content of the communication."

The adjutant uploaded the communication information to the console. After a brief transmission adjustment, the console began to play the audio for the message.

This is the British Empire, a member state of the European Union. We are under attack from the shadows. Our defenses can hold, but we cannot hold out much longer.

[Countries that receive this message and still have survivors, please immediately assemble in Britain. We need every possible means of survival!]

[Countries outside the European Union, the British Empire begs for your help! The United States has fallen, and the shadow of war is about to engulf the entire world. We can't hold on much longer!]

After the information playback ends, a coordinate is displayed. This coordinate, placed on a world map, shows the current location of Britain.

"So, besides the crucial plea for help, the most important thing in this message is the news that the United States has fallen... Can we interpret this as the United States being controlled by the Shadow Empire? Perhaps many civilians haven't been captured yet, but the military and the highest levels of government have all fallen. Is that the right interpretation?"

Old Yu's expression was very serious. If that were really the case... even if they knew this information, they had no evidence to prove that the other party had been taken over by the Shadow Empire. Verbal accusations were unreliable.

Therefore, if the Shadow Empire were to launch an attack on China with the help of the United States' military power, China might actually face some difficulties.