Yang Ning... Yang Ning is a person with a kind of reckless madness and highly compelling unorthodoxy. Whether it's his calm and composed command or his domineering decisiveness, it has a fatal attraction to young people.

He is an out-and-out "C-level sniper". No matter how unorthodox he is, he is still a hero of the times.

Even if he is outrageously bold, among the most conventional young people, how many don't have a bit of rebelliousness in their hearts? Out of ten young people, probably nine would aspire to become someone like him, and the remaining one, lacking ambition, would generally settle for becoming the wife of such a person.

Their return journey was not very smooth. Since air traffic relies entirely on electromagnetic systems for support, the entire air route network was completely paralyzed after the electromagnetic gun attack.

Ground transportation simply did not have that much capacity, and an emergency lane had to be cleared for ambulances coming and going, resulting in the entire city being stuck in a major traffic jam, trapping them on the road for nearly two hours.

To make matters worse, the dust stirred up by the electromagnetic gun condensed with the water vapor in the night sky, and it started raining like mud in no time.

"No way around it, how about this," Yang Ning said, "Everyone bear with it a bit, shrink the vehicles to within 1.2 meters, and we'll detour through the underground city."

The underground city was crowded with narrow roads, with a speed limit of 40 miles per hour, and all motor vehicles were required to be no wider than 1.2 meters.

Fu Luo thought to herself, this guy just trampled on at least a hundred laws, and now he suddenly knows to respect traffic rules.

...He really did have his principles.

The near-ground mecha disguised as military vehicles quickly shrank to 1.2 meters wide and detoured into the underground city.

Later, when Fu Luo recalled it, whether it was the previous ambush or the mecha battle, she was only following Yang Ning's commands in a state of confusion and chaos, without any intuitive concept... until she embarked on this seemingly settled return journey.

For the first time in her life, the concept of 'war' was stripped of its romanticized armor of heroic legends and mighty battleships, hitting her in the face with a bloody and tragic reality.

The leading military vehicle braked abruptly, and those behind had no choice but to stop as well. Yang Ning rolled down the window and asked the guard who got out in front, "What's the situation?"

The guard stood still in a daze for a while before coming back to his senses. He turned his head and said in a low voice, "Colonel, the road ahead is gone."

The entire underground city had collapsed, the narrow passages were cut in half, and a small "cliff" had formed between the upper and lower levels, with a vertical drop of more than a dozen meters. Standing on the cliff, it was like looking down from the roof of a small high-rise building.

The miserable state of the entire underground city was in full view.

It looked like it had just experienced an unprecedented earthquake.

The high density of buildings had become a disaster, and who knows how many people were buried under the collapsed ant holes.

"It was the shock wave from the electromagnetic gun that caused resonance," a guard said in a low voice, "It changed the geological structure of the lower layers, and this section sank."

Fu Luo's heart tightened, and she subconsciously asked, "If it's like this underground, what about above ground?"

The guard heard this question and was stunned for a moment, then seemed to smile wryly as if helpless - she had asked a very unrealistic question, but based on the friendship of having just fought together, he still patiently answered.

"Above ground is different. The building density above ground is very low, and each foundation is cast with anti-subsidence high-polymer molds. Especially in the central business district, where there are many high-rise buildings to create a commercial shopping atmosphere. The cost of ground treatment there is as high as one million Earth dollars per square meter. It's said that even if the entire underground were to collapse into a massive pit, the central business district could remain suspended, relying on the tension of the high-polymer surface. This is also the reason why real estate prices above ground are getting higher and higher. Technology has divided the world above and below ground into two different worlds."

It turned out that the ambulances coming and going one after another were all going to and from the underground city.

Most of the roads were impassable, and large cranes and ambulances could only enter and exit the underground city through special narrow passages, moving very slowly. Some people even knelt on the ground, digging with their hands for their homes buried inside.

An injured old man sat blankly by the roadside, with fine sand and gravel still in his hair.

A sharp wailing sound came from somewhere, sounding a bit distorted as they stood so high up.

Everywhere the eye could see was a scene of devastation.

Yang Ning was silent for a moment. "Let's go back. Don't block the way and cause trouble here."

No one said a word. They slowly retreated along the original route and silently followed the long line of traffic jammed up from the ground, moving slowly.

Since civilian communications had not been temporarily restored, information dissemination was hindered. Along the way, whether it was calling an ambulance or a rescue team, it had to be done by people shouting. Some underground city collapse points had been discovered, and the entrances were crowded with a constant stream of ambulances that just couldn't get in.

And more collapse points had not been identified. Often, people who seemed to be in a frenzy would rush to the surface, randomly stopping passing vehicles, gesticulating and shouting for help.

"If you need to contact me, it'll be best to use the military signal." Yang Ning, who had been resting with his eyes closed on the side, suddenly spoke up. "I estimated it wrong. Civilian communications won't be restored quickly, but..."

He seemed to hesitate for a moment, then continued, "Anyway, when emergency calls and police calls can be used, it means that large-scale civilian signals have been restored through the Earth's ether communication system."

Fu Luo felt her hands on her knees trembling. She heard her own barely steady voice softly ask, "Why restore communications but not open up civilian signals?"

"If civilian signals are turned on tonight, large-scale protests will erupt on Earth tomorrow, do you believe it?" Yang Ning's voice carried a hint of weariness. "Turmoil and war will cause the long-accumulated contradictions in society to erupt violently. Without any buffer, it will lead to disaster."

Fu Luo was in a daze, seemingly at a loss.

"In the future, people will no longer flock to the square together to watch movies, shop, or pay attention to fashion shows." Yang Ning said softly, "Riots, protests, crackdowns, a large number of people with nothing to do, endless turmoil... The public security that has been stable for hundreds of years will be completely gone, and all kinds of unimaginable deformed social phenomena will emerge one after another. The huge military expenditure consumed by the war will squeeze the living space of the middle class through tax burden when the economy is on the verge of collapse."

Yang Ning sneered, sounding a bit sharp: "The scene of everyone working together against the enemy only appears in movies."

Fu Luo was stunned for a while, and suddenly said to herself: "Then what... what should I do?"

She could neither lead public opinion, nor join the medical rescue team, nor mediate between interest groups, nor reconcile the contradictions between the rich and poor, nor revive the severely damaged world economy...

The building was about to collapse, and even if she wanted to use the tiny force of an ant to push it, she couldn't find where to start.

This time, Yang Ning was silent for a long time. Just when Fu Luo thought he was not going to answer, she heard the man's voice coming from beside her.

"Soldiers," Yang Ning said, "we never ask this kind of question."

When Fu Luo got home, it was almost eleven o'clock. She lived on the ground. Except for a crooked short tree in the small courtyard at the door, there seemed to be no more damage.

If she hadn't seen it with her own eyes, Fu Luo would have thought that the entire underground city was a nightmare she had fabricated out of thin air.

This was a world that belonged to the ground... and the underground.

The door had a recognition system. When Fu Luo walked within twenty centimeters, the access control automatically opened.

Fu Xiaoxin came back from the laboratory without even changing her clothes, and sat alone on the silent sofa in a daze until she heard the door.

Fu Xiaoxin suddenly jumped up, the hem of her lab coat was caught by the leg of the coffee table, making her stumble.

The coffee table made a "clang" sound, and half of the water in the teacup that had already cooled down was spilled in an instant.

"Mom," Fu Luo lowered her head and took off her shoes, "what are you doing?"

"I... what am I doing..." Fu Xiaoxin was at a loss for words for a while, and then asked incoherently, "Why are you back? Ah? Why are you running around when it's so chaotic outside? How did you get yourself so dirty? Huh?"

"The Ground Forces was blown up, it's useless to stay there, the temporary chief specially approved it."

"What?!" Fu Xiaoxin's voice suddenly rose by eight degrees, like a mother hen whose neck was pinched.

Now the main battle faction in space controlled the situation, and the official information was accurate and fast, but the ground was still in a mess, with all kinds of rumors.

Fu Luo's ears had suffered a whole day of torture. Stimulated by such a sharp voice, she immediately realized that she had accidentally shocked Fu Xiaoxin, and hurriedly made up for it, pretending to be indifferent and smiling foolishly: "...Of course I'm just teasing you."

Fu Xiaoxin slapped her hard on the back, making Fu Luo choke on her own saliva and cough incessantly.

"Are you trying to kill me so you can have a replacement?" Fu Luo sat on the sofa with a thud.

"Speak plainly!"

"The communication system has collapsed, the Ground Forces is now an empty shell, and the temporary chief has disbanded us." Fu Luo said, "What about my dad and the others? Uncle Robin and the others are all okay, right?"

Fu Xiaoxin glared at her with a stern look: "You take care of yourself first! Why are your clothes so dirty? How did you tear a piece off your sleeve? And what's that stuff on your hands?"

Fu Luo said with a straight face: "There was a traffic jam on the way back. I originally wanted to walk through the underground city, but it collapsed inside, so we came out. It might have been rubbed off in the underground."

After saying that, she herself was a little surprised.

Fu Luo was not a person who could lie. She could never hide her thoughts on her face. Every time she was forced to tell a lie, her palms would sweat and her face would turn pale, more nervous than letting her blow up a bunker. She didn't expect that after only one day, she seemed to be reborn and gained this skill.

Was it because of Yang Ning's influence?

While thinking wildly, she saw that Fu Xiaoxin had already stood up to call relatives and friends to check on their safety.

Huh, what? Is there a signal?

Fu Luo took out her mobile phone and found that the signal grid was still empty, but the emergency and police call column was already lit up.

"When the emergency and police calls can be used, it means that large-scale civilian signals have been repaired through the Earth's ether communication system."

Yang Ning's words flashed in her ears.

Fu Xiaoxin was in the system and was also a high-level technical staff. It turned out that she also knew.

Fu Luo opened a hidden signal conversion software in her phone, entered it and used a virtual proxy to skillfully convert the military signal into a civilian one. The signal strength indicator immediately showed full bars.

Every word Yang Ning said was correct. Fu Luo's heart sank, and she unconsciously thought of the scenes she encountered on the road again.

"Luo Luo." Fu Xiaoxin hurriedly finished reporting safety and sat down opposite her with a serious look. "I have something to ask you."

Fu Luo looked up.

"Your father said that they are repairing the second-level protection network. After that, the Ground Forces will be taken over by the ground technical engineers, and the original Ground Forces organization will be withdrawn. Among them, the serving personnel will be reassigned." She stopped here and carefully observed Fu Luo's expression.

Fu Luo's expression didn't change much. Firstly, she didn't intend to stay in the Ground Forces for a long time. Secondly, she had already learned from Yang Ning that the organizational structure of the Ground Forces was going to change.

Fu Xiaoxin asked, "Where do you want to go in the future?"

"Go to the front line in space." The five words were already on the tip of Fu Luo's tongue, but after turning around, she forcibly swallowed them back.

"As long as it's on the ground, no matter what you want to do, mom will support you."

Sure enough, Fu Xiaoxin said the next sentence like this.

Fu Luo didn't make a sound, and the two fell into silence.

"Forget it," Fu Xiaoxin's expression softened a little, she stood up and patted Fu Luo's head, "go and rest first, anyway, you are still young, and there is no hurry to consider such long-term things. The situation is chaotic recently, so just stay at home honestly, it's not bad to read more books, and wait until it's more stable before deciding your future."

After Fu Xiaoxin finished speaking, she took off her lab coat and walked towards her own bedroom.

Fu Luo swallowed back her words just in time. For her, this was already a remarkable improvement. At this moment, she finally couldn't help herself and called out to Fu Xiaoxin, tentatively saying, "Mom, if I said I wanted to..."

Fu Xiaoxin's footsteps paused, but she didn't turn around. Her voice, however, sank, "Do you know how many people died outside the space fortress today?"

"According to incomplete statistics, the Earth Allied Forces lost 130 large battleships, not to mention countless other supply ships, scout ships, and so on. An hour ago, the confirmed casualties had already reached more than 30,000, and this number is still rising. Even General Zhao Youxuan's vanguard has suffered more than fifty percent casualties." Fu Xiaoxin took a deep breath, and by the time she exhaled, she was already trembling slightly.

"Do you want to die?" she asked word by word.