Chapter 430: Surrender? and Mist

Outside the bridge.

In Zero Four Earth's low‑Earth orbit, the defense cannons had long aimed their muzzles at the Angry Prayer, and, as the ship crew described, began charging.

Ri~!!!

A teal light filled the tip of the barrel.

Whoosh~!!!

After ten seconds of charging, all defense cannons finally fired at the Angry Prayer that was willing to "wait patiently," unleashing a dense barrage of plasma projectiles that also emitted teal light.

However, the moment the barrage was about to contact the Angry Prayer…

Boom!! Boom!!

The barrage erupted in violent explosions that could not be restrained, and the teal plasma flame instantly enveloped the entire Angry Prayer.

But frame‑by‑frame observation shows that before the barrage touched the Angry Prayer, a thin golden energy shield had already absorbed and blocked it.

At this moment.

On Zero Four Earth's surface, North America, the White House underground bunker in Washington, D. C....

"Madam President! After verification, all plasma barrages have hit the target!"

"The orbital defense cannons are recharging and are expected to fire again in fifteen minutes!"

"Madam President, the Warrior, Rocket and Loki squadrons have broken through the atmosphere and are expected to make contact with the target in two minutes, preparing for close‑range observation!"

Inside the emergency Command Center of the underground bunker, civilian soldiers' reports rang continuously, and every screen displayed real‑time status.

As the most important leader on site, Pa Te Li Xia·Lan Fu De wore a solemn expression, staring pensively at the screen whose communication had been cut by Gabriel, flashing a white no‑signal starburst.

Their Zero Four universe still had national distinctions, but after 1996, when all humanity jointly resisted an alien invasion and achieved a hard‑won victory, people worldwide realized that their universe was fraught with danger, and only by abandoning prejudice, conflict, and civil war, and choosing to make peace, could the remaining Earth of humanity have a future.

Consequently, the once‑nominal United Nations became increasingly important, and humanity reverse‑engineered a crashed ship of the so‑called Harvester Civilization, gaining a breakthrough in technological advancement.

In 2004, the governments of all humanity established the Space Defense Administration; since then, although soldiers still have nationalities, the armed forces answer only to the Space Defense Administration.

And the Space Defense Administration's "direct superior" is the United Nations…

However, this is viewed from Lanford's, the American side's perspective; in reality, as long as the world still has national divisions, no amount of surface brilliance can withstand the undercurrents.

Zero Four Earth's unity is forced, due to a greater threat in the universe, unlike Primary Universe humanity, which under Umbrella's steady guidance has advanced in thought and spirit.

It should be noted that although Primary Universe humans are extremely xenophobic, they are still friendly and welcoming to races willing to merge and integrate into society.

Nevertheless, one cannot say Zero Four humans are worthless; their spirit of refusing to submit is highly commendable.

Now Lanford is patiently waiting, awaiting the dissipation of the plasma flame to determine whether their attack was effective against the Angry Prayer.

Their orbital cannons can easily pierce the Harvester Civilization's Flame City Destroyer shield and hull armor; there is no reason they could not destroy a "small" warship only about eight kilometers long.

(In "Independence Day 1", the gigantic disc‑shaped warships that descended over each city, with diameters over twenty kilometers, were the Flame City Destroyers.)

Unfortunately, things in reality do not change because of her personal thoughts, nor do they follow that robber's logic of "everything must obey me."

Suddenly, a civilian soldier in charge of monitoring shouted, "The target still exists! Repeat, the target still exists!"

?!

Upon hearing that, everyone in the Command Center, including Lanford, turned their gaze to the central main screen.

When the teal plasma flame dissipated, the Angry Prayer was not merely "still existing"—it was completely intact, unaffected in the slightest.

"Chief!" another civilian soldier shouted, "The target also has an energy shield; our orbital cannons are ineffective!"

"What's the status of the three squadrons?!" Lanford asked hurriedly after regaining composure.

"Major Ka Er Jia reports the latest news, saying they can now see the target with the naked eye and are requesting permission to fire!"

"Approved!" Lanford ordered without hesitation, "Furthermore, in the name of the current President of the United States, I approve Major Ka Er Jia to deploy all their strategic weapons!"

"Yes, chief!"

As the dialogue continued, the central main screen and the side monitors switched from low‑Earth orbit view to the pilots' perspectives of the Warrior, Rocket and Loki squadrons.

A massive force of sixty‑six multirole fighters resembling F‑22s or F‑35s, plus six flat, equilateral‑triangular bombers, surged rapidly toward the Angry Prayer in the atmosphere.

Yet just as all fighter and bomber pilots were about to pull the trigger to attack the Angry Prayer, which even orbital defense cannons could not affect, the Angry Prayer itself preemptively released a teal‑blue binding field that, in the blink of an eye, enveloped the three Zero Four human squadrons.

Subsequently, to the pilots' astonishment, their beloved aircraft began to fly autonomously, slowly approaching and entering the Angry Prayer's hangar, whose gates had already opened.

Immediately after, the Command Center completely lost contact with the pilots.

"."

Staring at the screen as it fell back into a no‑signal state, everyone fell silent, their faces filled with bewilderment, fear, and helplessness.

This…

How do we fight this?

Their orbital defense chain, along with the most advanced multirole fighters and bombers, when placed before the Angry Prayer, each appear as toys.

Realizing the reality, everyone felt only endless frustration…

Why, after they left Earth, traversed the Solar System with confidence, sharpening their blades for a march beyond the Solar System, do they encounter such a peculiar enemy?

And the opponent even claims to be a compatriot from the Primary Universe.

Otherwise…

Or choose the first option?

All are human; why kill each other?

Some civilian soldiers even began to wonder what they were truly aiming for with their actions.

Noticing the atmosphere in the Command Center was off, Lanford immediately spoke: "Everyone! We defeated the Harvester twenty years ago! We can also defeat the so‑called compatriots now! Who knows whether what they say is true or false? If we easily believe them and surrender at the first moment, then when reality differs from their claims, we won't even have a chance to resist!"

"At least we will try to resist! To fight! We will not, and cannot, surrender; we must overcome this hardship together!"

"For freedom!!"

"For freedom!!"

The atmosphere was instantly stirred by Lanford's speech, and everyone on the spot shouted in agreement; moreover, the speech hit the crux—indeed, their knowledge of the Primary Universe came entirely from Gabriel's account.

Who knows if it's true or false?

In fact, they consider it false, and thus it is false; even if Gabriel provides ample evidence, they will still call it "synthetic".

At that very moment, the central large screen that had just switched back to the real-time near-Earth orbit feed showed another supply ship belonging to the Blood Raven, which had just completed a slipspace jump.

Moreover, as soon as the slipspace jump ended, this supply ship, which had multiple uses such as supply, maintenance, and transport, immediately dumped a large number of supply pods onto the surface of Installation 04 (Earth).

At the same time, the Wrathful Prayer, which had already approached the target orbit, also dumped supply pods onto the surface.

Furthermore, over thirty more UNSC warships that belonged to Gustav's local forces and were considered affiliates of the Blood Raven also completed slipspace jumps, and, coordinating with the two Blood Raven vessels to maintain spacing, achieved a relative blockade of Installation 04 (Earth).

Then, all the vessels released large numbers of transport auxiliary troops, UNSC ground combat forces, and various armored vehicle flight formations; it appeared that the Blood Raven headquarters was preparing to carry out a very small-scale expedition.

Upon seeing this situation, the people in the Command Center had no choice but to overcome their fear, begin calculating and inferring the orbits and trajectories of all the supply pods and flight formations, and prepare to notify the Space Defense Headquarters to intercept them.

As the female president said, twenty years ago their predecessors were able to defeat the Reaper civilization; could they not create another miracle?!

However, their workstation screens showed that the Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars bases and colonies were losing contact one after another.

Furthermore, they detected main universe vessels that had completed a simple encirclement of Installation 04 (Earth) releasing an unknown frequency band.

When they were puzzled as to what kind of frequency band it was……

"Sizzle! Crackle!!"

The lights inside the Command Center began to flash violently, emitting a piercing sound.

Most importantly, their workstations in front of them instantly failed, and the screens lost all image, leaving them unable to comprehend or perceive the condition of near-Earth orbit and the outside world.

Seeing this, Lanford's expression grew extremely grave; without needing to have her subordinates test it, she knew their communications had been unilaterally cut off by the Blood Raven.

"Sir." The elderly defense minister, over sixty and having experienced the war twenty years prior, remained unflustered, approached Lanford's side, and proposed: "We can try to restore contact with each base using shortwave, and we also need to invite the ambassadors of all nations to participate in the deliberations."

"Hmm, do as you say."

Lanford had no objection, and she lifted her left hand to knead her temples hard, easing the nervous tension caused by the various sudden events.

"Boom—…! Boom—…!"

However, as one wave subsided another arose; the people heard and felt repeated thuds, as if heavy objects were continuously striking the ground above the fortress, which made Lanford's headache worsen and worsen.

Immediately she also ordered the minister behind her: "Send someone up to check what's happening."

"Yes, ma'am."

The defense minister nodded and immediately dispatched two fully armed squads of Secret Service elites equipped with plasma rifles and advanced armor, who took the elevator to the White House on the surface.

When the twenty-four elites sensed a jolt, then heard the elevator emit a "ding~!" chime, and the safety doors slid open to either side……

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

"Rat-a-tat-tat!!"

Unidentified large-caliber rifles or machine guns, as well as small-caliber weapons with extremely rapid fire, rang out with sharp gunshots around the White House.

"Thud! Pfft!"

"Ah!!"

"Help!"

Following that came the muffled thuds of human bodies suffering heavy blunt impacts, along with screams and cries for help born of fear and panic.

!!

Hearing the commotion of such fierce fighting, all the Secret Service elites became alert, quickly deploying an indoor combat formation, splitting into two teams that proceeded down the left and right corridors, intending to gather as much information as possible before swiftly withdrawing back to the underground fortress.

Soon afterward.

The left team left the narrow, dim corridor and arrived at the south-facing reception hall with floor-to-ceiling windows, where they found civilian staff hiding under desks and beside sofas, trembling.

Besides that, a Secret Service agent in a suit was crouched in the corner with his hands over his head, muttering: "Giants… they are giants… giants even more terrifying than the Reapers…"

?

Giants?

The Secret Service elites froze.

What kind of giant could reduce a Secret Service agent to such a state?

However, the elites did not dwell on it; instead, they immediately expanded their formation, spreading out to advantageous corners and cover for defense, and assigned two personnel to begin questioning the survivors in the hall, hoping to determine exactly what had befallen the surface.

As for the captain in charge of this team of elites, he stood to the right of the floor-to-ceiling window, gazing out at the White House lawn garden, trying to spot any enemy traces.

However, outside the White House, thick white fog hung everywhere, like some kind of extremely hard-to-dissipate alternative smoke grenade released by main universe humans, obscuring everything to the naked eye—nothing but a blank white expanse.

At that very moment, two bursts from a large-caliber rifle went "Bang! Bang!", shattering the floor-to-ceiling window with a "Crash! Crash!" and striking the captain and another elite in the chest.

Instead of the expected bodily explosion, the captain's and the elite's chest armor caved in, and the two were blown backward by the powerful impact of those two shots, their bodies tumbling uncontrollably.

"Pffah!!" Meanwhile, blood gushed uncontrollably from their mouths and noses.

"Thud!!" Finally they collapsed to the ground, either fainting or dying instantly; in any case they lay motionless.

?!

"Fire! Fire!"

Seeing the captain and a comrade lost in an instant, the deputy commander quickly took over command, ordering the remaining Secret Service elites to fire a volley at the lawn garden outside the window.

"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"

Dense, small blue-green plasma volleys erupted from the barrels, piercing the glass and cutting through the fog.

"Hum~! Hum~!" However, the elites only heard the feedback hum as the plasma volleys struck the energy shield.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!" and sustained bursts from large-caliber weapons.

"Pfft!"

"Ah!"

Thereafter, all the remaining Secret Service elites met the same fate as their captain and comrade, collapsing to the ground and losing combat capability.

"Thud, thud."

At that moment, the deputy commander heard heavy footsteps approaching; summoning his last strength, he lifted his head and happened to see a group of figures over three meters tall moving toward them.

(End of chapter)