Chapter 154: Chapter 147: The Deadlock of a Trapped Beast, the State of Humanity

...

Gui Zian chose the very same hotel Fang Tangtang had brought Gao Neng and Shen Ning’Er to last time. It wasn’t far from the Eastern Capital Military Academy, but the prices were astronomical.

Clearly...

Gui Zian was also wealthy.

Gao Neng wasn’t surprised. If a Tier Seven Powerhouse couldn’t even afford a single meal, then the powerhouses of this world would be utterly worthless.

Gui Zian ordered a table full of dishes and several bottles of wine.

This surprised Gao Neng a little. ’A military academy teacher taking students out for heavy drinking? That doesn’t seem logical at all.’ But none of that mattered now.

After the dishes arrived, Gao Neng and the others didn’t pick up their chopsticks. Instead, they stared eagerly at Gui Zian.

"Let’s eat while we talk!" Gui Zian was the first to start. As he ate, he began to speak, "I know you all have questions, but some of these issues are too involved. Even I don’t know the full story."

"Even you don’t know, Teacher?" Kong Kun was clearly surprised. After all, Gui Zian was the Vice Dean of the Eastern Capital Military Academy. If even he didn’t know, just how classified was this matter?

"I can only give you a few main points." Gui Zian waved his hand and continued, "Just now, Kong Kun asked why the reforms are only starting now. This question is both complex and simple."

He paused for a moment.

Gui Zian went on, "First of all, what do you think war is fought with? Duels between powerhouses? That’s part of it... but not the whole picture! In essence, no matter what kind of war it is, what it comes down to in the end is overall strength, not the strength of a single ’individual’...

But where does that overall strength come from?

Resources!

To put it simply, in the history before the Great Cataclysm, which dynasties had sufficiently powerful armies? The Golden Era of Tang Dynasty, the Han Dynasty Era—those all count. But if you analyze them, you’ll discover a common principle.

It’s resources again!

If a nation is strong enough, its military will become powerful. If a nation is weak, its army’s combat strength will naturally be insufficient. Therefore, fundamentally, if you want to wage a war, you must first have enough resources!"

Hearing this, Gao Neng, Fang Tangtang, and the others nodded lightly. Without resources, you couldn’t have a well-trained army, because you couldn’t manufacture better weapons and armor, nor would you have enough provisions to support the consumption of war.

There’s an ancient saying: An army’s provisions must be secured before its troops can be deployed.

That’s the principle at work.

Seeing Gao Neng and the others nod, Gui Zian continued, "What does a twenty-year cycle represent? It means that the alien powerhouses can be resurrected after twenty years, but it also represents another problem, which is...

A great war every twenty years!

The Great Cataclysm happened nearly a hundred years ago. In that time, humanity has fought a total of four great wars. The Human Alliance of today is, in truth, a shadow of its former self.

In the first great war, although humanity suffered heavy losses, it ended in victory. By the second great war, humanity didn’t achieve much of a victory.

By the time of the third great war, humanity was defeated. It was only after that era began that humanity established the Alliance and consolidated all its resources.

But even so, it was already too late...

The war eighteen years ago was arguably the most brutal one. Before that war, humanity had other lands besides the City of Hope. But after that war, we could only hole up in the City of Hope. The Alliance was on the brink of collapse. Do you understand what this means?"

"Teacher, are you saying that the Human Alliance’s remaining resources are no longer enough to support another great war?" Feng Qingqing’s tone changed.

"It’s not as simple as just being unable to support a war..." Gui Zian sighed. "The loss of land means the speed of resource collection is a fraction of what it once was. As we’ve weakened, they’ve grown stronger. After occupying vast territories, the aliens’ development over the past eighteen years has made them even more powerful!"

"Then is there any hope for us? Are we... just supposed to wait for death?" Feng Qingqing’s body trembled slightly. She knew of the aliens’ existence.

But she never knew the situation had become this dire.

These things...

Her family had never told her.

"Of course there’s hope. Humanity will never just wait to die. As long as a single one of us remains, we will fight to the death. But reform is now imperative!" Gui Zian gritted his teeth.

"Teacher, what kind of reform?" Kong Kun asked again.

"Is it about consolidating resources?! To cultivate a group of the Strongest?" Feng Qingqing also pressed.

"Heh... The Strongest aren’t so easily cultivated just because you say so. However, you’re not entirely wrong. Consolidating resources is indeed one aspect, but this time, our goal isn’t the Strongest. It’s high-tiers!"

"High-tiers?"

"The resources required to cultivate a single one of the Strongest is often hundreds, even thousands of times greater than for a high-tier. Moreover, it takes longer and involves far more uncertainty! Because you simply don’t know if piling on hundreds of times the resources will actually produce one of the Strongest!" Gui Zian explained.

’Uncertainty...’ Gao Neng understood what Gui Zian meant.

’To become one of the Strongest, you need more than just talent and resources. You also need opportunity. Without opportunity, no amount of resources can create one of the Strongest.’

But if that was the case...

’Will those who truly hold power agree to it?’

’To take the resources that originally belonged to them and give them to others?’

’Just to create more high-tiers?’

This wasn’t just reform anymore!

’You could say it’s completely cutting off the hope for those people to become one of the Strongest. This kind of reform is terrifying. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call it snatching food from a tiger’s mouth.’

"Will those who have a chance of advancing to become the Strongest agree to this? They are the highest echelons of the Human Alliance... And what are we?" Gao Neng voiced the doubt in his heart.

"Of course they won’t agree!" Gui Zian glanced at Gao Neng and nodded. Then, he continued, "Moreover, those in the upper echelons don’t believe that high-tiers are useful in a real war!"

"..." Feng Qingqing and Kong Kun exchanged a look.

’It’s not just the top brass, is it?’

’Even we don’t think a few hundred more high-tiers would make much of a difference on a real battlefield.’

’Isn’t the battlefield dominated by the Strongest?’

"I know you’re all thinking the same thing. ’The Strongest dominate the battlefield’—that seems to be a universal truth. But the problem now is... we don’t have enough resources, and we don’t have enough time!" Gui Zian had naturally seen what they were thinking.

"But what if it’s useless? If the high-tiers can’t make a difference on the battlefield, and we don’t have enough of the Strongest, then wouldn’t humanity... really be doomed?" Feng Qingqing said again.

"If we had two more years, would we have enough of the Strongest?" Gui Zian retorted, his eyes dimming. "In the war eighteen years ago, more than half of humanity’s Strongest fell. The number of Strongest humans have now... won’t exceed twenty. And the aliens, two years from now, do you know how many of the Strongest they will have?"

"How many?"

"At least one hundred!"

"One hundred?!" Hearing this, Feng Qingqing’s eyes went wide.

"And that’s just a conservative estimate based on the battlefield eighteen years ago. In these past eighteen years, the aliens have occupied vast amounts of land and resources. Their rate of development is several times faster than ours. If some new members of the Strongest appeared during these eighteen years that we don’t know about... then in two years, the number of the aliens’ Strongest will be over one hundred!"

"..." Feng Qingqing and Kong Kun fell silent.

Twenty of the Strongest for humanity.

Over one hundred for the aliens.

How could they possibly fight?!

With a five-to-one disadvantage, it was impossible.

"The Human Alliance is in a checkmate. For the past eighteen years, the Human Alliance desperately consumed resources, trying to create more of the Strongest. But to this day, only two people have become one of the Strongest in these eighteen years... With only two years left, how many more can we possibly create?" Gui Zian let out a sigh as he finished.

"Teacher, are we going to die?"

"Will humanity really vanish from this land?"

"Teacher, what are we going to do?"

"..."

At this point, Feng Qingqing’s words were becoming incoherent.

"Now, do you understand why the reform is only happening now?" Gui Zian poured himself a glass of wine and downed it in one go.

Kong Kun didn’t speak.

Fang Tangtang was also silent.

And Gao Neng now understood. ’The Human Alliance wanted to create the Strongest, but it was just too, too difficult. The plan to create the Strongest had failed.’

’Only two years left...’

’Humanity can’t continue down this path.’

This wasn’t reform.

It was a gamble.

A high-stakes gamble between life and extinction.

The atmosphere in the room grew oppressive. Gui Zian ate his food and drank his wine, but said no more.

After a moment of silence, Kong Kun poured himself a glass of wine and, mimicking Gui Zian, downed it in one gulp. A faint blush appeared on his face.

Feng Qingqing also started drinking.

She seemed to hold her liquor well, at least better than Kong Kun.

Fang Tangtang had actually been drinking from the moment she sat down. Now seeing everyone else drinking, she raised her glass and held it out to Gao Neng.

"Cheers!"

"Cheers." Gao Neng raised his glass. He was also affected by the mood. Amidst the oppressive feeling in his chest, a sudden, heroic boldness surged through him.

He drained the glass.

A burning sensation spread through his stomach.

Seeing that everyone had had a drink, Gui Zian’s gaze grew profound. He swept his eyes over the four faces before finally putting down his chopsticks. "Do you all think there’s no hope left?"

"Teacher, is there any hope?" Feng Qingqing struggled to lift her head.

"Of course there’s hope. As long as there is even a sliver of hope, we will not give up. We cannot give up. Because if we do, all that’s left is to wait for death!" Gui Zian nodded with a solemn expression.

"What hope is there? The aliens have over a hundred of the Strongest, and we have less than twenty! Humanity will surely be annihilated!"