Chapter 114 - 82: Warehousing a Nuke

Chapter 114: Chapter 82: Warehousing a Nuke

"Reporting!"

The reconnaissance captain’s voice was hoarse, but it carried the distinct, steely ring of a soldier.

He straightened his scarred, battered back and reported to Governor Yang and Major General Xie:

"Reconnaissance squad mission complete, reporting for duty! Roster of fifty, thirty-five have returned! Fifteen killed in action!"

The report struck everyone’s heart like a heavy hammer.

Everyone knew that exploring an unknown Exotic Realm would be fraught with danger.

Thus, the gazes directed at them were filled with respect.

Governor Yang strode over to the captain in a few quick steps and clapped him heavily on the shoulder, his voice thick with suppressed excitement:

"Good, good, good! You’ve all worked hard! You are the saviors of Yang City, true heroes! A great reward is in order! The names of all the fallen soldiers—not a single one is to be missed. Compile the list and report it immediately! Their families will receive the highest standard of compensation from the Governor’s Mansion. We will not let our heroes shed their blood in vain only for their families to shed tears!"

Beside them, Major General Xie, the iron-willed general of the Nanjiang Military District, could no longer contain his urgency.

His sharp gaze fell upon the captain.

"What exactly is the situation on the other side of the Star Gate? Report all intelligence you’ve gathered, in detail, without omitting a single word!"

The reconnaissance captain took a deep breath, fighting through his pain. He spoke with extreme speed, yet with perfect clarity, recounting everything they had seen and heard on the other side of the Star Gate:

The space barely ten miles across, as narrow as a cage; the Pigman army pouring in endlessly from another Star Gate on the opposite side; the Spiritual Qi so dense it was almost tangible; and the rare Spirit Grass growing everywhere...

As the captain delved deeper into his report, the expressions of Governor Yang and Major General Xie grew increasingly grim.

Their brows furrowed into deep lines.

The intelligence briefing finally concluded.

The two men fell into a brief silence, digesting the shocking information.

"The other side of the Star Gate... it’s not the Pigmen’s home base, but a ’world interstice’ caught between two worlds?"

Governor Yang was the first to speak, summarizing the situation:

"A diameter of only ten miles? And the Pigmen on the other side are frantically sending reinforcements through another Star Gate, intending to make another move on our Blue Star?"

He quickly distilled the core points.

"Exactly!"

A sharp glint flashed in Major General Xie’s eyes. His unique military acuity allowed him to instantly grasp the key:

"This world interstice is a vital choke point! It’s the only springboard connecting the two worlds! It’s a strategic location that must be contested, as the Military School dictates! We must take it at all costs! Only by firmly controlling this place can our Blue Star be invincible. From here, we can advance to attack the Otherworld or retreat to defend our home!"

Governor Yang’s gaze turned to the deep blue Star Gate, but his face was clouded with worry. He slowly shook his head.

"Difficult! It’s too difficult! General Xie, tens of thousands of Pigmen are entrenched in there, forming an ironclad defense! The deadliest part is the Star Gate... it’s too narrow!"

He held up his fingers to illustrate:

"It’s barely ten meters wide. How can a large army deploy? How many troops can we commit at one time? This is just a piecemeal strategy! We’d be throwing lives into a bottomless pit. The cost... is unimaginable!"

He paused, his tone growing heavier.

"And what about our tank divisions! They’re our trump card in ground warfare, but only one can barely squeeze through that narrow Star Gate at a time! The advantage of a massed charge is completely gone. They’d just be sitting ducks in there! This war... how are we supposed to fight it?"

Major General Xie also felt how thorny the problem was. His brow tightened as he paced a few steps, then said in a low voice:

"No matter the cost, we must fight! This world interstice must be taken! But... we certainly can’t afford to suffer catastrophic losses..."

He stopped abruptly, a ruthless glint flashing in his eyes.

"For now, our only option is to use a strategic deterrent! I will immediately apply to the Nanjiang Military District High Command for the emergency deployment of a high-yield strategic nuclear warhead!"

"The Star Gate only restricts living beings below First Grade from entering. A missile? That’s a metal object! It shouldn’t be subject to that limit!"

"We send a nuke in with precision and detonate it in that small space with a ten-mile diameter... Hmph!"

He let out a cold snort.

"Forget a hundred thousand Pigmen—even two or three hundred thousand would be vaporized into dust by the instantaneous high temperatures, shockwaves, and radiation! A permanent solution!"

"No! Absolutely not!"

Governor Yang practically jumped to his feet, waving his hands frantically, his face set in firm opposition.

"A nuke! That’s a last resort! The radiation contamination would be too severe! So what if we flatten the Pigmen and take the world interstice? The place would be a dead zone for decades! How could we use it? How could we station troops there?"

"Besides..."

"That world interstice has a Spiritual Qi concentration ten times greater than the outside world! The soil contains a strange energy, making it a natural, top-tier cultivation base for Spirit Medicine!"

"I’ve even thought of the blueprints already! After we take it, we’ll immediately organize people to clear out fields for medicine and mass-plant rare Spirit Medicines! How many of Yang City’s Martial Artists would that benefit? How many masters could we produce? You drop one nuke, and not a single blade of grass will grow. The soil will be completely ruined! How are we supposed to farm then?!"

Major General Xie was rendered speechless by Governor Yang’s "farming" theory. He stared wide-eyed and, after a long moment, finally managed to choke out a sentence:

"Yang! This is a life-or-death war between two species! It’s a matter of survival! And you... you’re still thinking about farming to get rich?!"

Governor Yang looked as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

"General Xie, you don’t run the household, so you don’t know the price of firewood and rice! I am a governor. I not only have to fight a war, but I also have to consider post-war development and improving the overall Martial Dao strength of Yang City!"

"To be in a position is to be responsible for its duties! We must win the war, but development can’t stop either! Such a perfect piece of land, a true treasure—to not use it to grow Spirit Medicine would be a blasphemous waste! Waste is shameful!"

Major General Xie was completely speechless. He rubbed his temples and said irritably: