But what did that signify? It seemed meaningless, didn't it? We just need to avoid contact with those ground forces, right?" Zheng Zha asked Chu Xuan curiously.

Chu Xuan seemed to have finalized his computer virus creation plan. At least since escaping Washington yesterday, he hadn't touched the laptop again. Instead, the girl was eagerly flipping through the notebook, constantly peppering him with questions about the creation details. Of course, she hit a wall every time, but she persistently kept pressing, as if completely oblivious to Chu Xuan's already obvious cold demeanor.

At this moment, Chu Xuan was being badgered by this woman; even someone without emotions like him seemed to feel annoyance. He frowned slightly: "This is normal. The condition for surviving this horror movie is living for a certain amount of time. By extension, if we managed to leave Washington and then quietly hid in a suburban sewer, three days would pass with ease. The only reason we are fleeing now is because we lack a Psychic Controller to mask the West Sea team's mental scans. But what if our Psychic Controller were intact? Is this horror movie world meant for us to sightsee in?" "So, the aliens' ground forces must possess an extremely potent search system, capable of scanning all life forms within a certain radius, and one that cannot be shielded by psychic abilities..." Zheng Zha paused upon hearing this.

He immediately grew excited: "A life-form scanner? And one immune to psychic shielding? Damn it, isn't this the most useful tool in team combat? When both sides have Psychic Controllers and both employ shielding, doesn't the side possessing this tool achieve invincibility? We must obtain this! Chu Xuan, make more of these things; strive to equip every member of our Central Continent team with one!" Chu Xuan let out a cold laugh, swatting away the laptop Yang Xuelin held out toward him. He merely looked at Zheng Zha and stated, "What size?" "What size?" Zheng Zha asked dumbly.

"The most primitive radar required a battleship to be installed, and those alien spider-like combat craft are not sized appropriately for all terrains, such as urban ruins. The reason they are designed to be so massive, besides storing the energy for their force fields, is, I believe, due to the size constraints of this search system. How many people in the team do you think can haul something weighing a thousand pounds around? Do you expect someone to carry three or four cubic meters of equipment into a duel with a clone? The wisdom of mortals..." Chu Xuan said with a hint of disdain.

Zheng Zha's face flushed. If it weren't an emergency, he usually refrained from activating the third stage of the Gene Lock during normal conversations with his teammates. This was partly to conserve stamina, but respect was also a significant factor. Yet, when speaking to Chu Xuan, did activating the third stage of the Gene Lock count as showing respect? Zheng Zha sighed helplessly: "Yes, yes. Compared to you, I am naturally blessed with mortal wisdom. But we can't just abandon this technology, can we? We finally made it to this world of Battle: Earth, and we finally encountered aliens using this technology. If we don't secure it this time, even if we complete this horror movie world, we might never get it later!" "No need to rush..." Chu Xuan adjusted his glasses, then casually pushed away the laptop Yang Xuelin offered, saying coolly, "There will be opportunities... for more technology as well..." (No rush? Does that mean we’ll get the UFO after Area 51, and then go steal technology from the alien headquarters?) Since the failure of the first counterattack, the atmosphere aboard Air Force One had become extremely bleak. Everyone kept their lips tightly sealed, silent, with only the highest-ranking government officials conferring in hushed tones. Occasionally, words like 'nuclear bomb' slipped out of their discussions, indicating that the aliens' zero-casualty victory had utterly terrified them. Under such circumstances, the first thing to come to mind was naturally humanity's ultimate weapon.

The US Secretary of Defense, possessing sharp, hawkish eyes, was relentlessly persuading the President to issue the order to launch nuclear missiles at the aerial fortress.

"Mr. President! Even the Air Defense Command is gone! And the Joint Chiefs of Staff unanimously agree on launching a saturation nuclear strike as retaliation. Issue the order quickly; if we delay any longer, we might not even have the chance to launch the missiles." The Secretary of Defense boomed at the President.

The President appeared deeply conflicted. He sighed and turned to the elderly general: "What about the civilians around the three cities? And the ground forces? Has there been any reaction from the alien ground troops?" The elderly general shook his head: "Most of the civilians around the four cities have been captured. Those aliens seem to be using high-tech search methods; even our embedded special forces soldiers did not survive. But thankfully, most of these civilians have been detained. The aliens have not committed genocide..." "Most?" The President paused, asking directly, "What does that mean? What happened to a portion of the civilians?" The elderly general lowered his head and murmured, "About one-tenth of the civilians were not detained... Monitored via the still-controllable military satellites, this portion seems to be used by the aliens as some kind of experimental material. Their flesh and blood were extracted, leaving only scraps of skin scattered around. That extracted organic matter was injected into a massive, rotating container. They might be trying to fabricate something..." "Fabricate something? Fabricate what!" The President nearly roared: "To use the flesh and blood of our human beings to fabricate something! Don't tell me they traveled countless light-years just to enjoy a cannibalistic feast on Earth! Damn it..." "Immune system."

Zheng Zha suddenly interjected from the side. He was currently in the process of unlocking the third stage of his Gene Lock. When he heard of the aliens' actions, this thought instantly sprang to mind. It was related to another film he had once watched, a story where aliens also invaded Earth. In that film, the aliens were as extreme as those in Battle: Earth. The original plot of Battle: Earth only featured aerial attacks against humans, whereas that other movie focused solely on ground assaults. However, in that other film, humanity did not win the war; in fact, the aliens perished in the final moments, defeated by Earth's own microbial system. Those aliens lacked any immunity to these microorganisms or bacteria, leading to their mass death on Earth... Zheng Zha focused on this point. He nodded: "It's because the aliens do not possess immunity to Earth's microbes and bacteria. If they intend to live on Earth long-term, they must adapt to the environment here. And since we humans are intelligent beings like them, if they require the immunity system of a humanoid life form, the immunity within our bodies would be precisely what they need..." Although this was merely speculation, the President fell silent after hearing it. He seemed to ponder for a long time before stating, "That is highly probable... The probability is quite high. Does this imply they plan to reside on Earth permanently? Do they intend to transform the entire planet into something of their own? And they use life as their immunity medicine..." The President suddenly raised his head sharply. He addressed the Secretary of Defense: "If we use nuclear weapons, what about the civilians who were captured? Can we rescue them first?" The Secretary of Defense brightened at this and immediately said: "Our operational objective isn't to annihilate every alien in the Earth sphere; it is to first strike the space fortress possessing weapons of mass destruction. Once the main fortress is destroyed, the ground aliens will eventually be annihilated due to energy depletion. The space fortress is currently hovering above the destroyed cities; there are no civilians there left to rescue. As for the detained civilians... Mr. President, those spider-like combat units also possess protective shields against attacks, so our goal remains to breach that aerial fortress first..." "No! We cannot use nuclear weapons!" Suddenly, a voice called out from the doorway of the conference room.

David, the original male protagonist of the film, stood there, looking gravely at everyone: "Are you planning to use nuclear weapons on your own planet? Do you know the consequences of doing so? Once we use nuclear weapons, other nations will immediately follow suit. With so many alien fortresses descending across the globe, the instant launch of nuclear missiles will be enough to plunge us into a nuclear winter! It will kill both us and the aliens simultaneously!" The Secretary of Defense, seeing the President on the verge of being persuaded, had an unexpected disruption. He was furious and immediately stood up, shouting: "Remember your station; you are merely a guest here. Get out! Someone escort him out!" Following behind David was a man in his early sixties, who immediately declared loudly: "Wait, you have no right to tell him to shut up. If it weren't for my David, you'd all be dead in the White House by now! Why silence him? Furthermore, resorting to nuclear weapons is merely a reflection of your incompetence. If you could defeat the aliens with conventional weapons, why resort to nuclear ones? These politicians spout nothing but nonsense. I recall you acquiring a UFO forty or fifty years ago, right? Near... somewhere in Mexico, was it? How is it? Decades of research, and still no solution for the aliens?" The President exchanged a wry smile with the elderly general. The President walked over to the old man and said: "Rest assured, we are currently contemplating ways to defeat the aliens without resorting to nuclear weapons. As for those rumors about the aliens, they are nothing more than rumors..." However, as the President spoke, the Secretary of Defense displayed an embarrassed expression, muttering: "Mr. President, that's not entirely accurate... Area 51 does exist..." All eyes immediately turned to him, and Zheng Zha and the others finally let out a breath of relief. Finally, they were about to obtain the only means of counterattack available to them: the undamaged alien flying saucer that humanity had obtained decades ago. But just as the Secretary of Defense finished speaking, something in his pocket began to ring. He startled, quickly pulling out a mobile communication device resembling a phone. He managed to utter a few words before the device slipped from his hand and clattered onto the floor. The hawk-eyed man mumbled dumbly: "We've been attacked... Area 51 was just attacked. A fortress fired its main cannon directly above them..." Jump to