Who says a sickly daughter can’t break through the weirdness?

What's more, our research work is also carried out underground. After a hundred years, are we still worried that we won't be able to find a way to completely kill the Black Tide?

Don't forget, we've already killed Kuroshio's clone once. If it happened the first time, there will be a second time. Even its original form cannot escape the fate of being slain by humans."

"Hundreds of years?" Li Huaiyuan couldn't help but sneer, "It seems you've been away from the front lines for too long, Minister Zhou. As the Minister of the Department of Assessment and Resistance of the Mysterious Resurgence, you don't even understand the dangers of the Black Tide?

Will it last for hundreds of years? The daylight hours are getting shorter and shorter. Daytime will no longer exist. From now on, there will be endless night, which means that the Kuroshio will exist forever.

If this trend continues, the Republic will be completely destroyed by the spread of the Black Tide in a month at most. The "iron can" made of white flames will not be able to withstand the erosion of the Black Tide.

"boom!"

Zhou Guangxun slammed his palm heavily on the alloy table, causing the holographic projection to shake.

"Commander Li, you're exaggerating!" His knuckles turned white, veins popped on the back of his hands, and his voice, filled with suppressed anger, echoed within the dome. "You're only boosting others' morale and destroying your own prestige!

"We have so many generals here at the scene. Do you know that your words have shaken the morale of the army and that you will be punished according to military law?!"

The conference room suddenly fell into silence.

The blue light of the holographic projection shone on everyone's tense faces, as if to solidify the tense atmosphere into substance.

Li Huaiyuan's eyes swept around calmly. The military and political leaders sitting around the round table were either staring at the data board with their heads down or rubbing their teacups nervously.

Whether they were generals or politicians, everyone present knew very well that the topic they were arguing about was not the Black Tide at all, but the struggle between the "Survivalists" and the "Conservatives".

The [survival faction] attempted to overwhelm the [conservative faction] headed by Zhou Guangxun and take full control of the command.

Zhou Guangxun would naturally be worried about this. Once the other party came to power, the conservatives would be completely marginalized.

It is extremely ironic that at this critical juncture, there is still internal conflict over the ownership of power.

They all know this truth, but for their own interests, they cannot back down.

Zhou Guangxun didn't really want to live in disgrace. It was completely contrary to what Li Huaiyuan said. He was too aware of the horror of the black tide, so he lost his will to resist and tried to hide in an underground shelter and rely on stored supplies for "long-term development."

With their current military strength, without a breakthrough in qualified personnel and psychic weapons, it is simply a fantasy to want to fight against the Black Tide itself.

Since going to the front line means committing suicide, why not try to preserve the manpower as much as possible, develop quickly, and wait for the subsequent counterattack?

In fact, it’s not just Zhou Guangxun who has the same idea, many people have the same idea.

After all, as long as they can keep warm by the fire, they don't care whose flag is burning in the stove.

Others echoed Zhou Guangxun's statement, accusing Li Huaiyuan of being too radical and unable to distinguish between the two sides. What's more, some even directly pointed out the local criticism that he was utilitarian and adventurous, which would send all national defense forces into the abyss.

Li Huaiyuan looked around at the group of well-dressed bureaucrats in silence.

He noticed Zhou Guangxun quietly reaching for the emergency communication button under the seat, and also saw several military generals exchanging meaningful glances.

He lowered his head, snorted suddenly, and stood up.

Politicians are still trying to play rhetoric and use delaying tactics to counter his negotiations, but he had already anticipated all this.

He looked at Xu Mengqiu beside him and asked, "Is everyone here?"

Xu Mengqiu responded coldly: "Commander, we are ready."

"action."

A cold light flashed in Li Huaiyuan's eyes.

Upon hearing this, Zhou Guangxun, the leader of the conservative faction, suddenly changed his expression: "What are you preparing for? Li Huaiyuan, what do you want to do!?"

As soon as he finished speaking, the lights around the conference table suddenly flickered and then went out. Only sporadic emergency lights came on, illuminating the chaos.

Politicians exclaimed one after another.

"What happened?!" Zhou Shixun stood up suddenly and roared.

Before he could react, the armored blast-proof door of the command center suddenly closed with a deafening roar, completely sealing off the entire space.

"boom!!"

The next second, the ceiling dome, which was made of white flames and alloys and was strong enough to withstand missile bombing, exploded, and four figures wearing special armor fell from the sky!

"Boom boom boom!"

The sound of heavy objects falling to the ground one after another caused the entire conference room to shake violently!

The four figures that landed on the ground were standing around Li Huaiyuan, each of them standing straight, like a statue.

A suffocatingly powerful aura emanated from their bodies, and even the surrounding air was distorted by their overly powerful energy fluctuations.

A conservative general wearing a white flame tactical goggle stared at these people in amazement, his face turning extremely pale in an instant:

"Spirit, spiritual energy, a full 1?! Who are these people?!"

Hearing the words "1 spiritual powers", not only the general, but even Zhou Guangxun felt as if he was struck by lightning!

What does it mean to have a spiritual energy value of 1?

You know, there are only about 8000 "alienated" Black Tide clones!

In other words, any one of these people with mysterious qualifications is capable of single-handedly fighting against the alien Black Tide clones!

"This is our confidence in fighting the Black Tide." Li Huaiyuan said in a deep voice, "Weren't you curious before whether I was hiding anything from you? Now I can tell you--"

"[Ascendant Project] was a success."

"They are all 'Ascendants' who successfully survived and transformed from the [Ascendant Project]."

"They are the sword of our Republic, our trump card against this desperate world!"

"With them here, we have a chance of victory against the Black Tide!"

Chapter 176: Counterattack Plan against the Black Tide (5K)

There was dead silence in the conference room.

Several ascenders stood silently behind Li Huaiyuan. The air seemed to become sticky, and the breathing of everyone present could be clearly heard.

Zhou Guangxun's Adam's apple rolled, and his fingers tapped the table unconsciously, with a slightly messy rhythm.

He glanced at the exit of the conference room several times, but it had already been blocked by armed men arranged by Li Huaiyuan in advance.

The other politicians who supported him, including the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Resource Management, began to sweat and their faces turned pale.

Li Huaiyuan did not rush to speak, but just looked around the room quietly, letting the silence spread in the conference room.

He knew that silence at this moment was more powerful than any words, because the existence of the Ascendant itself was the most powerful deterrent.

After the appearance of these ascenders, the balance of the entire negotiation clearly began to tilt towards the survival faction.

After a while, Zhou Guangxun rolled his Adam's apple and spoke slowly in a gloomy tone: "As far as I know, the [Ascendant Project] was strictly banned by the country more than ten years ago.

As for the reason for the ban, I think Commander Li, who received the order and personally led the team to seal off the laboratory, should be very clear about it, right?"

"Understand." Li Huaiyuan replied indifferently.

His calm, casual tone made Zhou Guangxun's face stiffen, and he didn't know how to start the words he had prepared.

"I never thought that as the commander of a military region and a key leader of national defense forces, you would actually support those lunatics from the Illuminati!"

Zhou Guangxun stared at the other person intently, veins popping out on his forehead. "The Illuminati was labeled a cult and severely cracked down by the state five years ago. After the mysterious arrival of the remnants, they took advantage of the nationwide disaster and resurrected the [Doomsday Faction] under the guise of the Illuminati, committing all sorts of evil!

In other words, you are now the same as the [Doomsday Faction]. According to the National Security Law, I can completely... "

"Things are different now, Minister Zhou," Li Huaiyuan interrupted rudely, his voice quite cold. "I don't care about positions. I just need a solution, a solution to destroy the Black Tide."

The Illuminati is an ancient sect created by combining Eastern and Western folk customs and religious beliefs. The specific year of its birth and origin cannot be traced, but according to the oral accounts of the oldest surviving personnel, this sect had already taken shape and developed at least a thousand years ago, even in the Bronze Age.

The infamous "Doomsday Sect" is a church re-established by scattered members of the Illuminati after it was listed as a cult and completely banned. It has been able to develop rapidly due to the coming of the doomsday and the collapse of order.

The original Illuminati was not an extreme church like the Doomsday sect whose members were all idiots and lunatics, but a legitimate church with legal status and authorized by the official religious management department.

The functions it performs on a daily basis are no different from those of the Christian and Catholic churches in Shen Qinyin's hometown.

Just like what is shown in movies and TV shows, the Illuminati also has unknown secrets——

For example, mysterious rituals, religious exorcisms, ghost and god worship, etc.

When Shen Qiyin was looking for white flame ore, she encountered a small altar of the Doomsday Sect in Jiuyin Mountain.

In fact, strictly speaking, it was not the work of the doomsday faction, but originated from the sacrificial rituals of the Illuminati.

In addition to these little-known metaphysical and occult secrets, the Illuminati's biggest secret is the "doomsday prophecy" related to the end of the world.

Almost every time an archbishop takes over the position, the previous archbishop will tell him the secrets related to the "end of the world".

Most of the core members of the Illuminati firmly believe in it and began preparing to fight against the end of the world a long time ago.

The "Ascendant Plan" is the most important "salvation plan" among them.

As mentioned earlier, long before the end of the world, the core members of the Illuminati already knew about things related to the strange resurgence. Of course, due to the mainstream world's materialistic scientific viewpoint, these so-called prophecies and warnings were naturally regarded as religious folk superstitions.

In order to fight against the strange revival, a former bishop of the Doomsday Faction accidentally obtained "forbidden knowledge" that did not belong to the earth, and learned from it the way to cultivate "superhumans", which are today's qualified people.

From that time on, the "Ascendant Project" began.

Before the end of the world, in an era without "forbidden knowledge", the only way for ordinary people to obtain "qualifications" and become "ascendants" with extraordinary powers is to go through a series of cruel trials, human body transformation, genetic modification, etc. left by the bishop who created the plan.

Most importantly, since older people are completely unable to "compat" this "power" that does not belong to this world, and only young children have a slight "affinity", the Illuminati can only use the experimental population on orphans who have been abandoned by their families, whose parents have died, and who have no one to take care of them.

Of course, this matter could not be hidden from the eyes of various governments. At first, they knew the secret and turned a blind eye.

There are also some powerful people who do this for their own selfish interests and to consolidate their rule.

You know, in that era when the end of the world had not yet come, people with super powers were something that only existed in movies and were hard to come by. Everyone wanted to obtain such a powerful power for their own use.

However, the Ascendant Program has lasted for hundreds of years, and countless children have died as a result of it, with very little achievement, which has caused all those involved to gradually lose patience.

In addition, as the scale of the Ascendant Program continues to expand, more and more orphans disappear mysteriously, and terrifying rumors about mysterious experiments and national conspiracy theories begin to spread among the people.

Some children who luckily survived the experiment, although they gained some extraordinary abilities, became twisted and crazy due to genetic mutations and mental pollution, which eventually led to many horrific and vicious () incidents.

These vicious () incidents took a lot of effort from the authorities to be successfully covered up. Under pressure from the public and the gradual loss of patience with the experiments on extraordinary people, a large number of chaebols secretly withdrew their investments.

As the world enters the information age and the Internet becomes more and more developed, it becomes increasingly difficult for children to hide their whereabouts. Governments can no longer sit idly by and are forced to launch a full-scale crackdown on the Illuminati.

Almost overnight, the "Ascension Project", which was once tacitly allowed to exist, was secretly classified as a crime against humanity, the Illuminati was listed as a cult, all core members were wanted worldwide, and the project was naturally forced to shut down.

The person in charge of shutting down the Ascendant Program in the country was Li Huaiyuan. When he led the team to forcibly seal off the Illuminati's underground laboratories, he accidentally noticed that some of the children who were subjected to the experiments had already possessed a considerable degree of extraordinary abilities.

Although the extraordinary abilities at that time seemed quite immature compared to today, it was undoubtedly a major breakthrough.

Unlike most leaders of other countries, after coming into contact with the Ascendant Program and knowing that there are extraordinary powers in this world, Li Huaiyuan became convinced that the prophecy about doomsday was true.

In order to cope with the inevitable doomsday, Li Huaiyuan made a desperate decision.

He deceived his superiors and subordinates, sealed off most of the laboratories, retained a small number of laboratories and related personnel, and continued to provide them with financial assistance.

The Ascender Program lasted for hundreds of years, and more than one million children across the country died prematurely as a result. Only a handful of them ultimately became "Ascenders."

It is no exaggeration to say that a big part of the reason they can become "Ascendants" is that after the strange revival, the world welcomed a power that did not belong to it.

Zhou Guangxun was so shocked by Li Huaiyuan's cold and ruthless side that he was speechless.

Although as politicians, they all think of human life as "a string of numbers" and are more concerned about national interests than specific lives.

But no matter how much one loses his humanity, there must be a bottom line. At least Zhou Guangxun can't be like Li Huaiyuan, who doesn't mind making any sacrifice as long as he can achieve his goal.

He took a deep breath, forced himself to calm down, and asked coldly, "So, you think you can rely on these Ascendants to declare an all-out war against the Black Tide's true form? What do you think your chances of winning are?"

"Twenty percent," Li Huaiyuan said calmly, "If my friends can help, maybe it can be increased to thirty percent."

"30%? Are you kidding me?!"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Guangxun immediately became furious: "A 30% chance of success? What's the difference between this and sending one's own death? Li Huaiyuan! You are using our national defense and our soldiers to die!

Those soldiers are not just numbers, they are real people! They are not tools for you to command and order around, understand?!"

Li Huaiyuan stared at him indifferently, his tone as calm as ever: "Minister Zhou, face the reality. You think your fortress is impregnable, but it can't even stop my men. How can you stop the invasion of the Black Tide?"

The Black Tide is not human, it is a natural disaster. Natural disasters will not negotiate, will not show mercy, and will only devour everything.

Either counterattack now or die. In a war between nations, a 50% chance of success is worth a gamble, and in the face of a natural disaster, a 30% chance is enough to fight tooth and nail."

The atmosphere in the conference room was extremely tense.

Finally, the military chief of staff stood up and said in a deep voice, "I support Commander Li's decision."

His attitude was also the attitude of most of the generals present.

Zhou Shixun's face changed drastically. He knew that once the military reached a consensus, the obstruction of these politicians would be meaningless.

Li Huaiyuan didn't even give him time to think and immediately ordered: "I now declare that Operation Dawn has officially begun."