Chapter 846

Capital Military Region, temporary meeting.

In the meeting room located a hundred meters underground, more than ten department representatives stared gloomily at their respective reports.

Twenty-four hours had passed since the trial ended.

The teams that participated in the trial had already returned.

Immediately after gathering information and inquiring about the situation, their reports were extremely detailed.

But after reading them, everyone kept an eerie silence.

"Pat—"

A thick white stack of reports was slammed heavily onto the table.

A hawkish high-ranking official, half angry and half incredulous, spoke coldly:

"If I hadn't personally interrogated this report, I would even think that the people who returned from our team are all spies!"

"We spent massive manpower and material resources, equipped with biological armor... and you tell me that, aside from Lin An, our entire Military Region only earned 31 kill points in the deathmatch battle!!"

It was even more absurd than expected.

The other reporter being questioned remained silent, letting out a bitter smile inside.

To be honest, he didn't even believe what happened in the deathmatch battle.

But the reality is indeed like that.

It's hard to imagine that the Military Region trial participants sent by all of Huaxia actually just got a free ride, experiencing no conflict with other war zones from start to finish.

Even when Lihao and the others cautiously rushed up to the first level, they were shocked to discover that Lin An had already dealt with all the enemies.

This feeling was like when nations confront each other, one would think it was a life-and-death war.

As it turned out, an ordinary citizen of our nation single-handedly wiped out over a dozen enemy aircraft carrier fleets and, as an afterthought, burned down their presidential palace.

"One person blowing up the 'whole world'—even a lunatic wouldn't dare fantasize that."

The more they thought about it, the more absurd it seemed; the middle-aged man who first questioned it slammed his hand on the table and rose:

"They're all Second Level! Tell us, does Lin An have ten hands or ten eyes?"

"Did those who participated in the trial just eat plain rice?!"

"Enough!"

From the main seat, Lin Zhan coldly rebuked:

"Do you want to doubt Lihao's loyalty? Or doubt every warrior of the Underground City Project?"

"The facts are exactly so! We must accept reality!"

"Now is not the time to discuss how Lin An did it! But how to announce it externally!"

The rebuked middle-aged man's face turned a shade of iron-blue.

He also knew he had been somewhat out of line.

But this matter truly exceeded his comprehension.

As a strong supporter of the Underground City Project, they were filled with absolute hope for it.

But the current turn of events is almost shaking everyone's confidence.

As one of the main participants, how could he stay calm!? That was their painstaking effort! Their hope!

"General Lin Zhan is right; our top priority is how to explain the situation to all the Military Regions and all of Huaxia."

A relatively composed high-ranking official, with a complex expression, spoke to ease things:

"For ordinary survivors it's fine to say; right now the chat channels are filled with celebratory, excited news."

"As long as no one deliberately steers the topic, most survivors will only think that this trial's first place resulted from Lin An's and our joint efforts."

He sighed:

"The problem is that a few Military Regions learned the inside information of the deathmatch through their own channels."

"Moreover, some scattered participants in the deathmatch, after returning to the real world, also revealed part of the situation. This makes it easy for some people to develop strong distrust toward us."

"Once someone with ill intentions stirs the mud, sways hearts, and claims the military is all…"

The words are hard to say out loud.

Everyone in turn sighed in their hearts, also knowing he was right.

The Capital Military Region has held on until now largely because other war zones have been giving it blood transfusions.

In the eyes of the vast majority of survivors, they are the hope of ending the apocalypse and the leaders in restoring order.

But once people are shocked to discover that they are merely 'strong on the outside, weak within,' and that the entire military is inferior to a single Lin An,

then their authority and prestige will suffer greatly.

The atmosphere was heavy.

After a while.

An Awakened One who had personally participated in the trial, steeling himself, prepared to comfort everyone:

"Lin An is indeed strong; he exceeded our expectations."

"But you all don't need to worry too much, or doubt the Underground City Project."

"First, the Underground City Project, including General Lihao's strength, is plainly visible and highly effective."

"The reason this deathmatch produced such an absurd result is largely because Lin An's strength happened to hit the critical point."

It's not a war crime.

After a brief pause, this Awakened One explained in detail:

"According to our analysis, Lin An's ability to achieve such an exaggerated record largely stems from his accumulation of advantages in the earlier trial rounds, which he exchanged for powerful skills."

"And due to the accumulation of those advantages, his power surged during the deathmatch to an infinite level equivalent to Third Level."

"We are all Second Level, yet he is Third Level—just think, how could we fight him?"

Only with his special skills and various coincidences did this lead to him being able to suppress everyone alone.

If other war zone Awakened Ones attacked even a bit stronger, or if Lin An's speed were a bit slower...

Lin An can at most oppose a single war zone, and then he will be surrounded and killed! Or he can only constantly flee.

Seeing everyone's complexion gradually improve, the speaking Awakened One couldn't help but sigh in relief.

As if to verify his own statement, he pointed out several important pieces of information from the report:

The North America War Zone actually also almost killed Lin An, and the attacker was only one person!

I just don't know why, but the Awakened One of the North America War Zone, when Lin An was about to lose his combat ability, chose to withdraw.

On the report, it turned out to be Andre wearing a crown.

We speculate that this North American leader named Andre likely wants to conserve his trump card! Or perhaps he thinks that fighting to the end would result in mutual loss, and he doesn't want other war zones to reap the benefits!

The finger points to the simulated drawing, Andre's shattered mirror—important intelligence privately sent by the European War Alliance.

Faced with Lin An's death skill, as outside observers, they did not know what had happened then.

Given all the speculation, they all believed this was the greatest possibility.

As long as Andre does not withdraw, there is a high chance they could fight to the death against Lin An's second outbreak. As for why Andre would rather give up seizing the disaster mitigation reduction...

Someone speculated that the internal power struggle in the North America War Zone is extremely severe; Andre likely does not care about the whole war zone, and he hopes to advance further amidst the chaos.

As for the outstanding figures of other war zones, they might also harbor the same idea.

Dying once, but you lose points..

If that's really the case, then that would be good.

Not knowing what emotion to hold, facing this series of events.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, unable to help but turn their gazes toward Lin Zhan.

A few seconds later, Lin Zhan showed no expression, gesturing for everyone to sit down:

No need to discuss so much further. Try to suppress the true situation, just in case.

As for Lin An's side, we will externally announce that he is one of our military's key projects. The confidentiality is extremely high, which also helps to shut the mouths of those with ulterior motives.

Lin Zhan and Lihao will promote in sync, but try to weaken Lin An's influence as much as possible.

Just as the words fell, several Awakened Ones who participated in the meeting exchanged glances and blurted out:

What reward should we give Lin An? I previously gave the title of Lookout Jiang Three Provinces; what should we give now?

Give him a substantive post, a military rank!?

The complexion was grim.

Maintaining people's hearts largely depends on rewarding merit and punishing fault. But the problem is that the Capital Military Region itself is dirt poor, able to give out only honorary titles.

Just thinking that Lin An poses a threat to them yet doesn't even bother with them afterwards makes everyone feel uneasy.

Their greatest advantage is that authority and popular support lie with them, but similarly, these two points are like a tight-fitting spell, binding them.

Scanning the whole venue, a few seconds later, Lin Zhan calmly made the final decision.