Xingyue’s sudden departure dealt a heavy blow to the morale inside the command center.
It wasn’t because Xingyue had left in a hurry, but rather—something like this had happened at Jiahai Pass, and yet there was something even more urgent that forced Xingyue to leave?
This meant that in other places too, a chain of major incidents was occurring.
“Let’s continue with the topic from before, we don’t have time to drag things out here!”
Xingyu stepped forward, going against the majority, and said, “Let’s do as Little Red Riding Hood suggested, use a Wangyue-class supermassive Star Ring to block the breach!”
“But what about the defenses at Jiahai Pass…”
“We can only do our best to make up for it. If we don’t hold back the seawater here, our entire line will collapse. If we don’t have the courage to go all-in now and stop the water, then the enemy wins—they’ve tasted success, and they’ll definitely try this tactic again, deliberately sabotaging our sea barriers. We absolutely can’t back down now!”
“Easy for you to say! Do you know the impact of dimensional beasts slipping in all the time? Without a stable internal environment, the inland economy will go backwards, businesses will pull out, people’s livelihoods will drop—then the southern economy is finished!”
“Are you going to save the economy, or save the land? You pick! Give up nearly forty percent of the south, move over a hundred million people, or use the supermassive Star Ring to plug the gap—which do you choose?”
This decision was already way beyond what any of them could authorize.
They had to report to the higher-ups.
Because it was an emergency, the Commander didn’t have time to go through the formal process—a red phone call went straight to the capital.
In less than two minutes, the Commander gave a reply, “Evacuate everyone from the supermassive Star Ring immediately and start the reclamation operation!”
With a clear directive, the Magical Girls sprang into action.
First, they controlled the Star Ring to lower at a steady speed, then began synchronizing the evacuation of personnel from the Ring.
Counting soldiers, researchers, support staff, and laborers, there were about 8,300 people—all of whom had to be evacuated before the massive Star Ring landed.
It was a massive operation with a very tight schedule—pulling this off would be enough to write into history books.
During the implementation stage, Xingyue returned.
“Sorry I was gone for a bit. Looks like you’ve all made the decision.”
“Xingyue, what happened?”
Xingyu quietly asked.
“The Rage-Eater Titan suddenly showed up in Huahai City, but Jinlin and Zhizhi managed to stop it.”
“Jinlin?!”
Xingyu sucked in a sharp breath.
Did Youyou really run into that monster?
“They’re both fine,” Xingyue added.
“…Alright, I got it. Xingyue, once the sea barrier breach is plugged, is there a follow-up plan?”
“Yes, at that point, we’ll have to play construction crew.”
Twelve minutes passed.
The supermassive Star Ring had already descended to less than 500 meters above the ground.
This giant, with a diameter of almost 10 kilometers, hovering at such a low altitude—it brought a suffocating sense of oppression that dwarfed even the endless sea.
The person commanding the Star Ring was still shouting hoarsely:
“Steady! Bring it down steadily! Slower…! Seal all compartments, land at the preset angle to minimize the area exposed to seawater! My god… oh my god… please let it not be ruined after a few months soaked like this…”
***
The Wangyue-class supermassive Star Ring was more than enough to plug this kilometer-long breach in the sea barrier, with plenty to spare.
To minimize damage, they rapidly calculated a huge number of placement angles, trying to keep the submerged area of the Star Ring as small as possible.
If the sea barrier could be completely repaired and the Star Ring wasn’t too badly damaged, maybe they could even salvage and use it again!
Thud.
When the supermassive Star Ring landed, the tremors could be felt even kilometers away.
As soon as the behemoth touched down, the results were immediate—the water gushing through the breach in the sea barrier was abruptly stopped!
Only a few trickles were left seeping in.
“Beautiful!”
Even Commander Wang couldn’t help but cheer aloud, and the people in the command center all breathed a collective sigh of relief.
The most difficult and dangerous phase was over.
Next, they just had to race to repair the sea barrier.
“Construction teams! Get moving! Build a new sea barrier in the shortest time possible!”
“But, Commander, the seawater inside Jiahai Pass hasn’t been cleared out yet…”
“I don’t care! Even if you have to use ships or planes, get the equipment over there as fast as possible!”
“Logistics! Pay attention on your end, too! If the construction team has to stop for even a minute because of you, I’ll stuff your boss into a cannon and fire them to the moon!”
Fueled by Commander Wang’s orders, the emergency repairs kicked off at full speed.
All the roads in Jiuminghai and neighboring cities were commandeered by the military, reserved solely for transporting supplies.
Military regions from all over sent reinforcements.
Special hazmat suits were worn to clear out seawater contaminated with material from Jiahai, and obstacles that had been washed away or destroyed were removed so supplies could be brought in by land.
The Magical Girls fought tirelessly, and only on the fourth day did they get a brief moment to breathe.
“Phew! I’m dead tired!”
Luo Zining collapsed onto the bed in their temporary quarters.
It was the first time she’d gone four days and nights without sleep, running around like a headless chicken, dashing wherever she was needed.
“Little Red Riding Hood, you want a shower? I’m too lazy, I just want… to sleep…”
“Ah, Haizhe, how can you fall asleep so fast? You’re filthy! Go shower first!”
“Nag, Huahua, you’re as wiped out as the rest of us.”
“Alright, everyone—shower, now!”
Luo Zining dragged them all into the bathroom.
Finally getting a break, it was important to make the most of the rest.
“Phew———”
Soaking in the big bathtub, Luo Zining nearly fell asleep right there, only waking up after swallowing a mouthful of water.
Left with no choice, she grabbed her phone to check the news.
Unsurprisingly, the headlines were all dominated by news of Jiuminghai and the fall of Jiahai Pass.
Every official channel’s headline was: “A Catastrophe Affecting Hundreds of Millions Is Contained—This Is Our Era’s Chernobyl.”
Though it had been a glorious, pyrrhic victory… no, it would be fair to call it a crushing defeat—the authorities were still bombarding the public with propaganda, packaging the disaster as a heroic feat on par with the “Chernobyl Incident,” and hailing the local military’s courage in cutting off their own hand to save the whole.
“It does sound inspiring, I guess…”
Luo Zining muttered weakly.
After fighting tooth and nail on the front lines, she finally realized just how much the information she received in the rear was sugarcoated.
Still, she understood.
After all, Jiahai Pass was now only a name—effectively lost. Over 3,000 local troops were lost, the supermassive Star Ring was gone, and from now on, dimensional beasts would be able to sweep into the hinterlands at will…
With so much bad news, if they didn’t push some positive stories, the whole country would fall into a panic.
Feeling helpless, Luo Zining checked the other trending searches.
One title caught her eye: “Huahai City Disaster Statistics Complete.”
Luo Zining’s sleep-deprived brain snapped wide awake in an instant.