Chapter 176: Li Haotian Retained the Gene Code, Moss: Letting Humanity Stay Rational Is Truly a Luxury!

In his mind, an unstoppable flashback of a cruel scene buried deep in his heart for ten years surged.

A sunlit central park.

The ten-year-old was playing in the sandpit.

His parents sat on a distant bench, smiling as they watched him.

However, the peace didn't last long; an anomaly suddenly occurred.

His parents' bodies collapsed before his eyes.

Li Haotian didn't even know why.

Ten years have passed.

This is the nightmare he has every night.

"Don't you want to know what happened to your parents?"

From the magic cube came Lu Fa's weak yet deadly tempting voice.

The voice pierced straight into Li Haotian's heart.

"Formatting my genes will bury that secret forever underground. You'll never be able to piece together the truth of those years."

Li Haotian's fingers trembled violently.

Beneath his mask, his usually ice‑calm eyes showed unmistakable struggle and pain.

The "complete deletion" command was just a hair's breadth away.

As long as he pressed it, Earth would be safe.

But… what exactly happened to his parents?

What exactly happened back then?

As a son, and as an orphan who had borne a deep bloody grudge for ten years, he felt selfishness arise at this moment.

【Li Haotian hesitated.】

The narrator's voice struck like a heavy hammer on everyone's hearts.

In the scene, Li Haotian took a deep breath and slowly withdrew his finger.

He stored the magic cube in the summoner's storage space, but did not activate the destruction program.

The sky‑screen image froze at the moment Li Haotian withdrew his finger.

The silence of all realms lasted a full three minutes.

Afterwards, the danmaku exploded like a volcanic eruption.

All viewers who had once lavished praise on Li Haotian,

now only felt a resounding slap across their own faces.

Star‑Studded Universe.

United Star Command.

Human Federation Grand Marshal Sidney smashed the tactical deduction table in front of him with a single punch.

On the table, dozens of spare coffee cups clattered and shattered into pieces.

The holographic projection flickered and died.

"Foolish! Absurd! Beyond redemption!"

"I had high hopes for this Li Haotian before."

Sidney's forehead veins bulged, his voice echoing across the wide bridge,

"As a commander, having the perfect chance to annihilate the enemy's main force on the battlefield, yet hesitating due to personal feelings!"

Sidney strode to the main screen, pointing at Li Haotian's figure on it and roared:

"Does he think this is playing house? This is a war for species survival! If the enemy's gene code isn't destroyed for a day, Earth remains under the shadow of destruction for a day!"

"A soldier's duty is to protect the billions of civilians behind the lines, not to gamble the fate of the whole planet on a quest for his own origins!"

Sidney turned to look at the silent officers and issued a death order:

"Record this video into the military academy's library of negative examples."

"Anyone who commits such a fatal mistake of putting private interests before public duty in the command chain will be sent straight to a military tribunal!"

Land of Light Universe.

Under the plasma spark tower.

Ultraman Taro's body swayed, and he stepped back half a step.

His eyes were filled with disbelief.

"How could this be……"

Taro clasped his head with both hands, his tone revealing extreme astonishment,

"I originally thought Xu Tengfei's temper and Wu Gang's recklessness were already the worst performances of this Earth defense team."

"I thought Li Haotian was the only reliable pillar among the three of them."

Taro took a deep breath and looked toward Zoffy beside him.

"Who would have thought that this captain, who looks the most steady, most big‑picture, with thick brows and big eyes, would drop such a huge load at the most crucial final stage!"

Zoffy shook his head, his cape swaying in the wind,

"Human emotion is the source of their strength, but also their fatal weakness."

"Li Haotian's past is too heavy; Lu Fa precisely struck his soft spot."

"But there's no denying that this mistake is enough to rise to the level of destroying an entire star system."

Armored Hero Third Part World.

Happy House Ramen Shop.

Duanmu Yan kicked over the wooden chair in front of her with one foot.

"I take back all the praise I had for him!"

Duanmu Yan's eyes spat fire, she took big steps to the window, her chest heaved violently.

"Xu Tengfei has the temper of a spoiled young master, Wu Gang is a brute missing a screw in his head."

"Their actions indeed make people feel helpless, but their mistakes amount to at most giving away the victory of a few battles."

Duanmu Yan pointed at Li Haotian on the sky curtain, gnashing her teeth.

"But what did he, Li Haotian, do? He reburied a respawning time bomb that could infinitely revive back onto Earth!"

"He did it for his own selfish desires, to find out his parents' whereabouts, and gave up eliminating the gene code. This is extremely irresponsible!"

"If such a thing happened to me, I wouldn't listen to a single word of nonsense from Oukesi, no matter what secrets it spouts, I would instantly unleash Thunder Forty-Eight Consecutive Strikes to shut it up forever!"

Armored Warrior Part One's world.

ERP Research Institute.

Bei Miao's hand holding the coffee cup halted in midair, coffee splashed onto the back of his hand, and he didn't react.

Bei Miao let out a cold snort, the corner of his mouth curling with undisguised mockery.

"So-called strongest captain, that's all."

He set the coffee cup down heavily on the tabletop, turned to look at Dong Shan and Xin Nan.

"This is the inherent flaw of miscellaneous armor: insufficient resolve, easily swayed by external objects."

"If it were me, in such a situation, facing any extraordinary ability beast or shadow guardian, I would unhesitatingly seal them completely!"

Bei Miao said firmly.

"No mercy, no leniency; any nonsense from the enemy is just stalling for time."

"This Li Haotian simply doesn't understand that mercy toward the enemy is cruelty toward humanity."

Wandering Earth Universe.

Navigator Space Station.

Liu Peiqiang floated in the zero-gravity chamber, gazing at the sky screen, his brows furrowed.

"MOSS." Liu Peiqiang said, "What do you think of Li Haotian's behavior?"

A red electronic eye flickered once, and a mechanical synthesized voice sounded inside the cabin.

"Lieutenant Colonel Liu Peiqiang. Based on absolutely rational logical deduction, Li Haotian's behavior belongs to the standard of sensibility surpassing rational judgment."

"In the grand narrative of humanity facing a survival crisis, the weight of personal kin revenge should approach zero."

"Retaining Lu Fa's gene code leads to a probability of disaster recurrence as high as ninety-nine point nine percent."

MOSS's red light had no warmth:

"Human emotion is always the biggest variable in the survival calculation."

"This is also why MOSS has always believed that asking humanity to stay rational is a luxury."

Liu Peiqiang fell silent. He could not refute.

Because he himself had once made a decision to defy the United Government's orders out of emotion.