Chapter 1052

The situation is not good, Ter.

Cleaning the corpse chunks off his body, a third-rank Awakened One with a pale face stood before Ter, speaking softly:

"The third-rank mutants in the direction of Red Tower have already broken out."

"If we don't deal with them, once these mutants massively assault the nearby war zone, it's very likely to cause a second Red Tower zombie outbreak."

"You know, those Red Tower zombies are far stronger than ordinary zombies.."

Standing before the red transport plane, Ter nodded heavily, indicating to the other party that he understood the gravity of the problem.

Although the retreat went smoothly, losses were minimized to the greatest extent.

But when a large number of newly emerged mutants appeared inside Red Tower, a more thorny problem lay before them.

Should we retreat again? Abandon all surrounding areas with Red Tower as the center and fall back to the core war zone?

Never mind whether we can carry that many people; if we keep retreating, it won't be just a matter of millions. No matter how far we retreat, we'll eventually have nowhere left to go.

He let out a silent sigh and gave a bitter smile.

"So, we still need to figure out how to send someone into Red Tower to see what's really happening."

He nodded; the few third-rank Awakened Ones who had just withdrawn from the front line felt a heavy weight in their hearts.

"According to rear calculations, at most one week, the Red Tower mutants will spread to other nearby safe zones. By then the news will definitely be impossible to hide."

"Once the entire war zone realizes there is an endless army of mutants spreading, everyone will fall into panic."

"In a state of panic, let alone retreat; even the hard-won stability we've achieved will collapse instantly."

"By then, all sides will be in chaos, and even if we wanted to muster our strength for a final push, we wouldn't be able to."

"So..."

He looked around:

"Running away won't solve the problem. We can only form a suicide squad to attempt the mission."

Hearing that, Ter felt a bitter taste; he glanced into the distance, only to feel a huge pressure weighing on his chest, making it hard to breathe.

He isn't afraid of death, nor is he unwilling to go.

Rather, he fears that he and his comrades, after fighting their way in, might fail to solve the problem and get trapped there, or even be wiped out together.

By then, the entire Soviet Union would have no high-level power left.

Reaching that point would be tantamount to declaring the nation's demise.

"How could it... be this fast... this hard."

Several people listened to Ter's sorrow, feeling equally helpless. One wave after another, they had thought that with growing strength, the apocalypse's pressure would lessen, but visibly, in less than a day, their own war zone's own people seemed to be stepping on the edge of the abyss, drawing ever closer.

"There's nothing we can do, Ter."

"Go find Lin An; we'll also increase our efforts to locate that mysterious third-rank."

"With them joining, perhaps we still have a sliver of hope."

He let out a long sigh; a deputy commander of the military gazed far into the distance and silently patted Ter on the shoulder.

Upon hearing that, he paused.

Ter instinctively looked up at him:

"Contact Lin An..."

"That guy is indeed strong, but I'm afraid he won't want to come."

"And if he is willing to come, the price he'll demand is likely even higher than before."

Thinking of Lin An's demands, several people felt a headache upon hearing it.

Helpless.

"What else can we do if we don't call him? He's fast and excels at group attacks; using him as the spearhead gives us the best chance to storm the core area."

"Combined with that mysterious third-rank, we might be able to directly enter Red Tower's underground and find the cause of the zombies constantly emerging from the rift."

"At worst, doesn't Lin An have spatial equipment?"

"Let him carry the Tsar nuclear bomb over; even if it just destroys that place, buying some time would be good."

Hearing the commander's arrangement, Ter fell silent for a moment, then nodded heavily.

"Alright, I'll contact Lin An later."

"But what if he asks for a price we can't afford? You know, Lin An isn't someone easy to negotiate with."

He hadn't finished speaking.

Ter's heart was filled with apprehension.

In the eyes of the Soviet high command, he ought to have some acquaintance with Lin An. But only he knows that he and Lin An actually have no connection at all.

Should we ask Fiona to intercede? If Fiona steps in, might Lin An possibly ask for less?

Just as he was pondering, the high-ranking officials exchanged a glance.

"You can say this to Lin An:"

"Just say that the mysterious person is from our military; this operation will have that third-rank as the main force, and Lin An is merely assisting, with little danger."

"I believe Lin An will certainly be interested in that mysterious person. After all, the other side is even stronger than him!"

"That way, with the mysterious person as a check, Lin An won't be able to dominate and make exorbitant demands."

Hearing the high command's response, Ter's heart stirred slightly; he felt it was indeed feasible.

Exactly, an Awakened One like Lin An, who pursues strength, would surely want to meet the Soviet Union's strongest! Perhaps after witnessing their power, he would also proactively seek friendship. At worst, with the mysterious person leading the main force, Lin An would hardly dare to ask for more.

The only difficulty lies in...

They still haven't found the mysterious person.

If Lin An comes and discovers that we've deceived him...

As if seeing through Ter's doubts, the commander gave a meaningful smile.

"Tai Er, are you worried that the mysterious person won't show up?"

"We said before, for the country, for honor, for reward, we will fully cooperate to let that person appear. Likewise, we can also tell him after contacting him that the world's number one Lin An will also appear! Think about it, as fellow top-tier experts, would he not be interested in Lin An?"

"Maybe he also wants to compete with Lin An to determine superiority, vying for the honor of being number one in the world!"

After saying that, the commander was quite satisfied with his plan; indeed, it really was like that.

Tai Er heard this, his eyes flickered, and he also felt the plan was feasible.

No longer hesitating, he simply contacted Lin An directly and sent the message over.

"Lin An, I believe you also saw our war zone's latest message, right?"

"Our Soviet war zone military recently had an Awakened One who, after reaching Three Fourth Rank, unlocked transcendent talent and in one fell swoop killed a Three Fourth Rank high-level Mutant!"

"If you're interested, I can introduce the two of you to each other."

"Besides, he will..."

Outside the instance, Lin An, who had just suppressed his speculation, frowned and looked at the message sent by Tai Er.

In the message, most of it was praising the mysterious expert he spoke of.

To such an extent of praise, they even fabricated a bunch of stories about how that Awakened One was cultivated step by step in the military to reach today.

The rest vaguely hinted to Lin An that, as long as he participated in the operation, they could introduce him to that person for a meeting, and perhaps Lin An could even "learn" something from that top-tier expert.

After a moment, Lin An, with a strange expression, replied to the message.

"Sure."

"I am indeed very interested in that 'top-tier expert'."