The system handed me over to the state.

"Understood, Your Majesty."

"...Just call me Xiao Su Su, that's your privilege."

Bronya blinked. Did Su Mengyao consider her her best friend? It seemed a bit inappropriate that she was allowed to address her like that in such a serious setting where orders were being given.

But seeing the slight displeasure in Su Mengyao's eyes, Bronya immediately repeated, "Understood, little Su Su, I will try my best."

Su Mengyao's expression brightened, and her tone became much lighter as she spoke, "Dr. Ji Chengtian, I will gather several researchers to take over your affairs and ensure a smooth handover."

"Furthermore, I request that within six months, you be able to provide basic training to individuals with psychic abilities, or even military-grade gene serum. Is that possible?"

Ji Chengtian pinched his chin, calculating rapidly in his mind, and finally nodded, "Psychic users can do it, and we can even accelerate it to 3 months later, but the gene serum may take longer, possibly close to a year before it can be used. The main reason is that... the serum's effectiveness requires training, which is a necessary process that we cannot shorten."

"Then do your best!"

Su Mengyao looked around and said, "Everyone, the extent to which China can achieve in future wars depends entirely on you. I will withstand all the pressure from home and abroad and give you the freest space for research and training. Work hard! The future of China and its people lies ahead."

Chapter 177: Just a tiny bit better than you, just a tiny bit!

People often say that where there is light, there is darkness, and where there is light, there is shadow. But what would it be like if shadow swallowed the light, swallowed the planets, and swallowed the universe?

And Renmodis is such a country.

The former shadow god, at the urging of his followers, used his power and strength to devour the star system of the planet where his followers lived. As a result... he was still weak in the face of the power of the cosmic god. The unbalanced shadow power transformed his star system into a shadow kingdom drifting in the cracks of reality.

The people of the Shadow Kingdom live in the shadows all day long. In the shadows, their eyes emit a faint golden light. This is the final blessing bestowed upon all the people by the priests of the Shadow Believers, allowing them to see things in the shadows.

In the shadowy palace of Lenmudis, as darkness surged, a whisper echoed from the shadows, "Your Majesty, our reconnaissance has encountered obstacles..."

"explain."

“We have detected a world filled with light. We are approaching it. The people in that world are determined and terrifying. It took Richard three days to successfully invade and control the body of an ordinary person.”

"Furthermore, during our control plan targeting the president of a country, an unexpected incident occurred. A human with extraordinary powers rescued the leader, and Ariel and his companion went to silence him. Your Majesty, what should we do?"

The being in the shadows slowly opened its golden eyes, eyes filled with majesty but devoid of any emotion. It stared at the shadow guards kneeling before it, saying, "The power of the shadows cannot penetrate, so destroy them completely."

How long until the world barrier is lifted?

"Your Majesty, the barrier between the two worlds will take at least a year and a half to be lifted, but we can send out small groups of troops for larger-scale infiltration during this period."

"The population of these countries is terrifying, numbering in the billions. The disappearance of a few individuals would go completely unnoticed. We have ample time to infiltrate and understand these countries from the grassroots level, and the moment the barrier is removed, we will engulf them in an instant."

The Shadow Emperor remained silent, seemingly considering the feasibility of the plan. After a few minutes, his golden eyes closed again. "Do as you say. I'm tired, Prime Minister. Come with me to rest. You can handle the rest yourselves."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

.........

At Research Institute Base 1, Bronya stared at the slowly writhing shadow energy before her, somewhat puzzled, and said, "What form does its power take? This looks like a lump of black mud."

"This is the power of the gods. The people of that world betrayed their gods, but because the gods' power was too great, they suffered a backlash. Before their destruction, the gods' priests stole the gods' power to save the people of their kingdom."

"From that time on, they became a shadow kingdom drifting in the cracks between reality. According to the system's records, dozens of instances of this shadow kingdom invading the real world have been observed. Some civilizations resisted and repelled them, but others failed and were swallowed by the shadow, becoming part of the shadow kingdom."

"But you can rest assured that Earth civilization can easily defeat them. You just need to be careful of their strange shadow magic and try to avoid infiltration warfare."

Tong Xi crossed her arms and explained while looking at the shadowy entity locked inside the iron curtain glass box in front of her, "Moreover, this is the first time I've seen a civilization that can capture this kind of thing. This should be of great help to your large-scale monitoring in the future."

Bronya blinked. "Tong Xi, what's your system's view on gods?"

Tong Xi blinked as well, “Gods… um… are very complex beings. You should know that in our system’s records, there are hundreds of ways in which gods are born. Depending on the way they are born, the essence and power of gods will also differ.”

"Then... is it possible for gods to arise on our Earth?"

Tong Xi raised an eyebrow. "Why are you suddenly asking this?"

Bronya crossed her arms. "I'm just... curious. With so many religions on Earth, is it possible that gods exist? Like the Western God or the Buddha in Buddhism, is it even possible?"

"...Impossible. Gods cannot be born on Earth. To be precise, the chances are very small because there are still too few people who believe in them."

"Of course, the small number of people is a problem. The most important thing is that Earth is a civilization that follows the path of technology. The chances of a technological civilization giving birth to a god are much more difficult than those of a magical or fantasy civilization. But it's just that the chances are small, not that it's impossible. However, I think if a god were to be born in China, the most likely candidate would be that one."

"Which one?"

"Don't play dumb with me, you know perfectly well what you're doing!"

Bronya chuckled. "That's right. If there's a best chance of a god being born, then that one is the most likely candidate."

"Yes, yes, I understand. So, the next question is, what price will Earth civilization have to pay if it wants to win this war?"

Tong Xi frowned, pondered briefly, and said, "I don't know. It depends on which country they attack first. If they attack China first, I'm not kidding, China will have to pay the price of at least half of its territory to repel them. If it's Europe or the Americas, the probability of them falling directly is very high."

"Half of the country..."

Bronya looked somewhat helpless. Half of the country—it's easy to say, but in reality, it's a price that the people of China simply cannot accept.

"It's a huge price to pay... I still hope they start their invasion from Europe. But after this war, we should be able to determine who's the boss."

"That depends on you yourselves. I won't take action. The intelligence I provide has limited use. Once you establish a comprehensive monitoring mechanism, the situation should improve a lot."

At this moment, Bronya turned her gaze to the passage beside her, where Seele and Black Seele stood side by side at the entrance. Seele waved to Bronya with a smile, while Black Seele turned her head away haughtily. Bronya also smiled and waved back, knowing that she should go and attend to other matters.

"One last question, what exactly was included in the power you gave Seele back then?"

"Hmm... the four mage job advancements in Arad, all the Herrscher abilities in Honkai Impact 3, the Blade Queen's swarm energy, Nerazim's void energy, Darram's psionic energy, and finally, Zhongli's demonic power in Genshin Impact."

"That sounds like a very interesting power, but what about her choice?"

"In the end, she chose to let me activate the power of the stigma behind her. She now possesses the dual power of the Herrscher of Death and the Sea of ​​Quanta. As she grows up, her individual combat strength will be slightly stronger than yours."

Chapter 178: Too Barren

"Hmm, they have absolutely no combat experience."

Bronya swung her energy sword upwards, sending Seele, who was wielding a black-purple scythe, flying. Seele crashed to the ground some distance away, the scythe falling to the side. She clutched her backside and complained, "I don't look like someone with any combat experience at all, do I?"

"Too...."

Bronya stepped forward. "Next, let's test your proficiency with your Herrscher abilities."

The power of the Herrscher of Death is something that directly controls life and death. Such power is really a bit overpowered. Bronya is not sure to what extent Seele can do it, so she thinks it is more appropriate to test it before formulating a battle plan.

However, no sooner had Bronya finished speaking than an alarm suddenly sounded inside the base. Bronya frowned. "Looks like there's an emergency... Come with me."

After saying that, he led Seele and ran quickly down the corridor toward the command room, but halfway there, the base's internal broadcast suddenly came on.

"Major General Bronya, please lead your team to the Hyperspace Teleportation Chamber immediately."

Bronya repeated the words three times and clicked her tongue. Her team currently consisted only of Seele; the others had not yet been selected. Therefore, for the time being, the only people dealing with the invasion from another world were the two of them.

"What... happened?"

"It's probably related to those extradimensional invaders... Alright, hurry up and get there. You can just watch from the sidelines for the first operation. Since you don't have any combat power, it's more important for you to protect yourself."

Seele nodded and followed Bronya to the Hyperspace Teleportation Room, an area in the research base specifically for hyperspace teleportation. From here, hyperspace teleportation could transport her to any place in the world.

As soon as they entered, the person in charge of the hyperspace teleportation room handed Bronya a walkie-talkie and said, "I'll tell you the details after the teleportation is complete! Now, let's teleport there."

Bronya immediately understood the seriousness of the situation and pulled Seele into the teleportation chamber.

Seele nervously looked around. As the teleportation was activated, a blinding white light filled their vision. After the white light disappeared, the two found themselves in an empty supermarket.

After a careful observation, Bronya determined that it was probably a department store or similar place. She then picked up her communicator and said, "This is Bronya. The teleportation has ended. I'm ready to go at any time."

Old Yu's voice came from the other end of the communication, "Bronya, the situation is urgent. Just now we detected fluctuations in shadow energy. We have confirmed that at least one intruder from another world has entered this area through teleportation. We have sealed off the surrounding area and sent everyone to the quarantine zone."

"You need to find the intruder in this area, or among those who are quarantined."

"Received, I will do my best."

After the communication ended, Bronya said solemnly, "The armed police and special forces have sealed off this area. Our objective is simple: quickly find the intruders and eliminate or capture them."

"Little Rabbit".

The heavily armored bunny emerged from the void, startling Seele. She looked at the heavily armored bunny in front of her with some surprise. What a...what a cool robot!

"This is Heavy Bunny, my companion as the Herrscher of Reason, one of my family members. Now she will be responsible for protecting you as you move around in this area. Remember, when you encounter enemies, do not hold back. They will not hold back against you, so you cannot hold back either."

"Yes...I...I understand."

Afterwards, Bronya and Seele split up. Seele turned around and looked at the heavily armored bunny protecting her from behind. She was a little embarrassed. Wow, she looked really strong. Just how powerful is Bronya, the first contractor?

I must catch up with her quickly.

..........

After parting ways with Seele, Bronya walked quickly through the department store, activating the scanning function of her goggles. After inputting the characteristics of the shadow energy, Bronya began to search. Soon, she found the residual traces of shadow energy and followed the trail in front of her.

On the other side, Seele also received a scanning goggles as a gift from Little Rabbit. The more Seele used them, the more she felt how convenient the goggles were.

Soon, she also discovered the remaining shadow energy. The thought of fighting made Seele tense. However, at this moment, Bronya had already followed the clues and found a hidden mezzanine in the department store. It seemed to have been converted into a warehouse-like area. Bronya glanced at it and decisively aimed at a spot. Icarus fired without hesitation.

In an instant, a beam of azure light pierced through the pile of goods and struck the shadows lurking behind.

The moment the shadow was struck, substantial black energy blocked her path, yet the blue beam still pierced through her chest.

Bronya maintained Icarus's sniping stance, approached the woman in front of her, and looked at her. Bronya used Icarus to lift the black cloth covering the woman's face. Hmm? It's pretty tight.

After a careful look, she realized that the woman in front of her was extremely thin. Her entire body was covered in black cloth and metal armor, and not a single part of her body was exposed. If it weren't for the slight protrusion on her chest and her figure, she wouldn't even know whether the woman was male or female.

Looking at the woman's chest, where a slowly writhing black shadow filled the void in her body, Bronya raised an eyebrow. Instantly, the warehouse lights came on. She had already hacked into the department store's control system when she entered. Sure enough, the moment the lights came on, the shadow on the woman's chest vanished instantly, fleeing as quickly as a vampire caught in the light.

The woman before Bronya, unable to gather any shadows, struggled briefly, convulsed, and then black liquid flowed from the gaps in her cloth and armor. Her life force rapidly faded, and she became a corpse before Bronya's eyes.

"As expected?"

Bronya murmured to herself, it seemed her guess was right, the light was the biggest weakness of these guys hiding in the shadows.

However, these creatures should be able to move normally in sunlight. The only reason they die so quickly is when they are injured and recovering, because there is no shadow energy to restore their bodies.

After Bronya notified Lao Yu to send special personnel to handle the situation, she continued searching the mall. Who knew how many people had come? A thorough search was definitely the right thing to do.

Chapter 179: Miniature Sun

"Did you find anything else?"