Chapter 1198: Protection

The hills were razed to the ground.

The fiery red fringe swallowed the lush green land, and all the wild animals living within it were melted in an instant. The Grim Reaper's absolute domain opened, reaping tens of millions of natural lives in an instant.

Dense red paper was scorched and tattered, falling in a flurry through the air. On the wasteland where residual fire danced, a figure in a miserable state was pieced back together...

"Cough, cough, cough, cough, cough..."

Chen Ling, covered in blood, coughed violently. The air was filled with a pungent, strange odor, and hot blood dripped from his nose and mouth, staining the pitch-black ground.

But soon, these injuries were staunched. He stood up shakily; other than looking terrifyingly covered in blood, he had no serious injuries.

Chen Ling was a disaster, after all; his physical constitution was not something an ordinary human could compare to. Even though the air was now filled with nuclear radiation, he didn't feel much, only feeling extremely uncomfortable from the shockwave of the explosion just now.

"Is this the power of a nuclear weapon..." Chen Ling muttered to himself while wiping the blood from his face.

"If nuclear weapons could still be used during the Nine Sovereigns era, resisting the disasters wouldn't have been so difficult... No... I seem to be a disaster myself..."

Chen Ling shook his dizzy head and stumbled forward.

During the escape from the explosion just now, he and Ying Fu had been completely separated. Ying Fu seemed to have other means of resisting nuclear weapons and didn't know where he had hidden... But Chen Ling couldn't be bothered with him. The most important thing now was to save Lu Xun and the others from Wushan town!

The world war had begun, and the Great Cataclysm had opened its prologue. Any corner of this world could be dangerous, and he had to ensure the safety of the Nine Sovereigns.

Chen Ling thought as he walked to the edge of the devastated mountain range, looking toward the direction of Wushan town.

The next moment, he froze in place.

He saw that among the hazy clouds, a second brilliant point of light was falling straight toward the center of Wushan town...

……

The 7012 Underground Project.

*Boom—!!!*

A slight tremor of the mountain came, and everyone in the conference room froze, looking around blankly, as if they didn't know what had happened.

"Was that an earthquake?"

"No way... Since this underground project dared to be built here, it shouldn't be on an earthquake belt."

"Did the air-raid siren just go off?"

"What exactly is going on? Where is Director Sun? Why hasn't he come out yet?"

"I thought it was strange before, why choose this place for the meeting... What exactly is your 749 Bureau planning to do?"

“……”

Bursts of commotion came from the conference room. The people, who already felt something was wrong, began to question the 749 Bureau's arrangements even more. In the crowd, Minister Han's eyes stared straight at the ceiling, wondering what he was thinking.

"Minister Han... what exactly is going on?" Zheng Zhiqing moved to his side and asked in a low voice.

"Something must have happened outside." Minister Han sighed softly.

"I hope His Majesty can turn danger into safety..."

A few rooms away.

Sun Bumian frowned as he looked at the slightly trembling surroundings, slowly releasing his grip on Sun Zhongliang's throat.

Sun Zhongliang's feet returned to the ground, his face still deathly pale. The staff and military personnel nearby immediately stepped forward to support him, shielding him behind them.

"You organized this Wushan Assembly in advance just to gather all the successors and send them into this underground project?" Sun Bumian seemed to understand something.

"This is a nuclear war sweeping the globe. No densely populated area can be spared." Sun Zhongliang spoke slowly. "You Divine Path holders are the treasures inherited from our country's thousands of years of culture, the concrete embodiment of human spiritual civilization... If you die in a nuclear war, it will be a huge loss."

Sun Bumian finally knew why this Wushan Assembly was held so hastily. I'm afraid that both at home and abroad, it was only in the last two days that they truly realized the terrifying impact of technological regression. The 749 Bureau being able to gather so many people in just two or three days was already extremely efficient.

No wonder they insisted that he return to the country immediately, and no matter what, didn't want him to go out again. It seems they had long anticipated that the United States would soon become a wasteland. Recalling him in a hurry was also to better protect him.

Sun Bumian admitted that he had some prejudices against Sun Zhongliang before, but now it seems that he had indeed done what the 749 Bureau should do most...

"Since it's for protection, why not just explain it clearly?" Sun Bumian asked again.

"First, how to deal with nuclear war is the country's highest secret. If it were leaked in advance, and the news were passed abroad through spies, things would be quite tricky. Not to mention anything else, if a large number of countries knew we were hiding in Wushan, dozens of nuclear weapons would turn this place into a wasteland that couldn't recover for hundreds of years.

Second, people have selfish motives. If they knew a nuclear war was coming, what would happen to their parents, wives, children, relatives, and friends? The 7012 Underground Project is only so big, and the population it can accommodate is extremely limited. We can't let them bring their families... We are protecting the successors themselves, not their relatives and friends.

Third, if they learned that the 7012 Underground Project couldn't accommodate their families, they would either choose not to come and share the fate with their families, or they would choose to secretly tell the people around them to let them go to the best and most advanced shelters first.

If these people spread the news, it would cause large-scale panic. Once the public is in chaos, it will lead to a large number of tragedies... Never trust human nature. When the threat of death is placed in front of them, too many people will choose to abandon their humanity and become beasts that are selfish to the extreme."

After listening, Sun Bumian fell into silence.

Sun Zhongliang was right. No matter from which angle you look at it, not telling them the truth was the most correct choice... At least regarding the Wushan Assembly, Sun Bumian couldn't find a single fault.

"I understand." Sun Bumian sighed.

"You are right, but I don't intend to hide here... Even if it's chaotic outside, this place doesn't belong to me."

"I'm sorry, Mr. Sun, this is a one-way ticket." Sun Zhongliang replied calmly. "Once you enter the 7012 Underground Project, you cannot leave. You are also our important protection target."

"I can't go out either?"

"Yes, no one can."

Sun Bumian's brow furrowed again. "Then how long do we have to stay here?"

"Stay until all danger passes... Maybe a month, maybe a year, or maybe... ten years." Sun Zhongliang paused for a moment. "Before the crisis on the surface is completely lifted, no one can leave. This is an order from above.

Please rest assured, the reserves of the 7012 Underground Project are enough for everyone to use for fifty years."

Sun Bumian shook his head repeatedly.

"Impossible, I won't stay here that long... I'm going up."