The Choice of A

"No, no, no. Captain Chen is a force to be reckoned with; of course, he can handle things," Liu Wenbo interjected.

Chen Xun lowered his head and spoke tactfully, "It's just that disaster management involves many trivial tasks. These small things shouldn't trouble Captain Chen. Besides, we're short on manpower and resources, so when I saw you, I thought maybe there were other teams joining us."

"Of course, if there aren't, it's not an issue! Xin Chang can overcome any difficulty!"

Liu Wenbo quickly chimed in, "We will follow Captain Chen's lead and do everything we can in the Third Apocalypse to ensure the people regain a safe and harmonious survival environment."

"Hmph."

Chen Dafeng scoffed coldly, a slight smirk playing on his lips.

This kid, Chen Xun, knew how to speak well. Chen Dafeng didn't feel like getting into it and shrugged it off. "We've got both people and supplies, but they're still on their way. It'll take a few hours for them to get here. I came early."

"Huh? Captain Chen, why did you come so early? Aren't you worried about the Heart-Monsters attacking the later teams?"

"Why are you asking so many questions? What's it to you? That's classified military information!"

Chen Dafeng glared at Chen Xun. "I came because I felt like it! Why worry about Heart-Monsters? That's a child's fear. No one in my team is useless!"

"Now, as for you, get to work!"

Chen Dafeng pointed at Chen Xun and Liu Wenbo. His tone was harsh, but everyone had grown used to it by now. Even the smarter people understood the underlying meaning of why Chen Dafeng had been sent by Jinling — his temper and strength were exactly what was needed to keep the unstable Xin Chang under control.

If anyone else had led the team here, there might've been a focus on political decorum or human connections. But Chen Dafeng didn't care for such things. He'd kill anyone who didn't obey him, wielding his privilege to kill as a way to maintain dominance. His very presence was enough to instill fear and keep potential troublemakers in check.

"Yes, yes, Captain Chen, please rest. We'll take care of the important matters."

Chen Xun nodded respectfully. He had worked with Chen Dafeng long enough to know how to calm the beast.

Exchanging a glance with Liu Wenbo, the two of them began distributing the books and assigning people to copy them, while others worked on setting up the communication equipment to reconnect with Jinling as soon as possible.

Just under half an hour later, a new message appeared in front of everyone.

[Attention all survivors!] [The Third Round of the Apocalypse War instance will begin soon!] [In one hour, the voting phase will open, and the guidance information from our national military will be revealed.]

The Third Round of the Apocalypse War was upon them.

Survivors all over the world, including those in Jinling and Xin Chang, received the notification at the same time.

Mike, observing Chen Dafeng's reaction, quickly switched views and grabbed the nearby communication device.

"Notify them immediately. The vote will be executed uniformly, and everyone must follow the arrangements. Wait for the official voting information in the chat channel."

"Also, inform Xin Chang that their voting policy must align with Jinling's!"

Mike's words were easily interpreted as him attempting to manipulate the voting results behind the scenes, though he had no intention of clarifying it. This was, in fact, a good opportunity to test the trust people had in the command center.

"Yes, sir!"

The staff at the command center quickly mobilized and used the restored communication link to contact Xin Chang, passing on the leader's instructions.

...

"Yes, yes! Understood!" Chen Xun nodded seriously, putting down the magic communication device. He looked up to find Liu Wenbo gazing at him with concern.

"Any new instructions from Jinling?"

"Just got back in touch; it must be more detailed arrangements for the Third Apocalypse, right?"

"No, it's about the voting for the Third Apocalypse War."

Chen Xun shook his head. "Jinling hasn't specified what difficulty to vote for, but the leader wants us to reassure the people of Xin Chang and ensure they follow the unified voting instructions."

"He's controlling the vote options!"

A staff member from the Xin Chang command center blurted out in shock, eyes wide.

The room went silent as everyone processed the statement. No one spoke, but they all shared a tacit understanding of what it meant.

Most of the survivors working in the command center were talented and politically astute. With the national military out fighting, news of an attempt to control the voting was disturbing, and no one was certain how it would play out.

But no one dared speak openly. After all, everyone's survival depended on the leader, and it was up to him to solve the disaster issues of the two cities.

"Why is no one saying anything?!" Chen Dafeng suddenly cut through the silence. He took a bite of his banana, tossing the peel aside before casting a bored glance around the room. "The leader gave an order. Why aren't you all acting? Do you want to be lazy?"

Chen Dafeng didn't care about what others were thinking. He only knew that when the leader gave an order, it had to be carried out. As for whether it was right or wrong, he didn't care. He only cared about whether he and his sister were treated well under the leader's command.

"If life is good, follow the leader's orders. If not... well, that's impossible. The leader could never overlook me, Chen Dafeng! I'm out here risking my life!"

"Captain Chen's right. Everyone, let's get moving!" Liu Wenbo broke the silence, smiling to ease the tension. "Hurry, let's show the leader and the people our action!"

"Chen Xun, why are you still dawdling?" Liu Wenbo urged the surrounding staff to get back to work and reminded Chen Xun to do his part. Only then did Chen Xun lift his head, meeting Liu Wenbo's eyes.

"Old Liu, this might be the higher-ups' intention, not just the leader's personal decision."

"You've been a commander before, you know communication between leaders and their subordinates is possible. From the leader's past actions, it's clear he cares deeply for the country. He's unlikely to have ulterior motives."

"As for why he hasn't explained this… maybe it's because he doesn't fully trust Xin Chang yet. After all, we've caused a lot of trouble before, and the rescue teams here aren't stable."

Chen Xun glanced at Chen Dafeng. He wasn't hiding anything, and perhaps he intended for Chen Dafeng to hear it — trying to signal that they still wanted to cooperate and do the job properly.

But Chen Dafeng was too busy peeling an orange to notice Chen Xun's gaze, let alone catch the hint.

Well, I can't rely on Captain Chen for this. He doesn't care about the political intricacies.

"Let's get to work," Chen Xun muttered in resignation, exchanging another glance with Liu Wenbo. Together, they stepped aside, leaving the staff to continue dealing with Chen Dafeng.

An hour later, a new message appeared for the survivors in both cities.

[The voting phase begins now!] [Before voting, the guidance information for the country's Apocalypse War will be revealed.]

[The guidance message is as follows:] "The commander is responsible for the vote."

The guidance message was simple, but it carried a lot of weight, revealing an important piece of information — the higher-ups had already set up a system through the commanders to manage the voting difficulty.

This was a test, an attempt to control the war's difficulty to their advantage.

Smart people in both cities quickly realized what was happening. Most of the regular survivors didn't think too much about it, but they understood the message.

Jinling and Xin Chang survivors now awaited the official voting details in silence.

[The guidance information has been revealed. The online voting begins now.]

[The Third Round Apocalypse War difficulty options are as follows (single choice):] [F-level, E-level, D-level, C-level, B-level, A-level, S-level.]

[Difficulty increases in order, with basic survival resources awarded starting from D-level. Resources double with each difficulty level!]

[The theme of this war: Challenge!]

[War scene: Random global terrain map environment.]

[Duration: 21 days.]

[Victory condition: Complete all challenges within the map.]

[Defeat condition: Fail to complete all challenges before time runs out.]

[Army participation limit: 10,000 soldiers, with corresponding equipment and items. A total of 10,000 challenges must be completed within a month.]

[Challenge projects: Special tasks that test both wisdom and courage, pushing human limits and beyond. These will randomly generate in the war instance, with random types. Successful challenges yield random rewards; failure leads to monster spawns.]

[For each difficulty level, the monster count doubles with each failed challenge, with D-level being the base unit of 10,000.]

[The vote begins now! The voting time is one hour. If you don't vote, you will automatically be assigned D-level difficulty.]

...

As the new voting information appeared, Mike did not immediately issue orders. Instead, he analyzed the details of the Apocalypse War in front of him.

"Challenge projects?"

"This sounds like a series of instance-based challenges. Does this really fall under the category of 'war'?"

Mike furrowed his brow, trying to make sense of the Third Apocalypse's mechanics. From the introduction, it seemed that the challenges would test both intellect and strength, which, in a way, aligned with the idea of war.

But the real issue was that neither the survivors nor the military knew the exact nature of these challenges.

"If we pick A-level difficulty, and fail a challenge, it could spawn 80,000 monsters… but what if it spawns 800 million?"

Mike's eyes widened as he realized the terrifying scale of the stakes. If the difficulty was high enough, it would far surpass anything the previous rounds had prepared them for.

And the thought of being forced to fight 80 million monsters—never mind 800 million—was almost beyond comprehension.

"...This is the worst-case scenario."