Chapter 1 The Scars of War

In the early morning, as the day dawned, an aerial view of Kuangxi Island revealed the wreckage left behind by the war, like ugly scars on a work of art.

The smoke had long since dissipated, but the ruins had yet to be cleared.

Li Tianran stood at the edge of the ruins. Qin Yiming approached from a distance, holding a stack of documents. He stood beside him and said softly, "Boss, the statistics for this war are out."

"Speak," Li Tianran nodded.

"In this war, we killed 1,382 Followers, including 1,002 from the Marine Clan and 380 from the Stellar Clan. Of course, this is based on the existing remains. During the war, some Followers' bodies were completely destroyed, leaving no trace..." Qin Yiming looked at the battlefield ruins and sighed, "This time, we've eliminated at least two-fifths of the Ancient Civilization's power. This is a truly unparalleled victory!"

However, Li Tianran's face didn't show much joy after hearing Qin Yiming's words.

He took a deep breath, as if reluctant to ask, but finally he opened his mouth: "What about our losses?"

Qin Yiming scratched his head. He flipped through another stack of documents and reported various data to Li Tianran: "In this operation, we lost a total of twenty-seven mecha warriors and three hundred and twenty-seven buildings..."

"Including seventeen residential buildings, twenty factories, and thirteen warehouses..."

"The castle and small buildings were also affected by the aftermath of the war and were completely destroyed..."

Kuangxi Island's losses this time were also not small. Although preparations had been made in advance, it was impossible for Li Tianran to move all the buildings away and leave a blank area as a battlefield.

Moreover, in order to ensure the strongest suppression effect on the Marine Apostle, he had to choose the battlefield location in the most core area.

The most core area also meant the most advanced and important area.

This time, one-fifth of the entire core area of Kuangxi Island was destroyed. It would take at least a month to rebuild, and it would consume a lot of resources.

However, Li Tianran had already prepared for this, so he didn't have any emotional changes at this time. He just continued to ask, "What about the casualties?"

Qin Yiming smiled and said, "The casualties in this war are basically negligible. All two hundred Second Evolution Pioneers who participated in the mission returned unscathed. Although some were injured, it wasn't serious."

The Second Evolution beings had incredibly tenacious vitality. The Second Evolution Pioneers who participated in this mission had previously fought a large number of Followers, and basically no casualties occurred on either side.

Although in the previous war, the Pioneers had cut down some Followers, it only made them lose their ability to fight. Without hitting their life defect, it wasn't fatal.

It could be said that the Pioneers had been fighting fiercely with the Followers, with blood flowing everywhere, but the total number of deaths in that war did not exceed fifty!

Most of the Followers died after Kuangxi Island appeared, under the suppression of the island and the destructive fire of the mecha warriors!

Second Evolution creatures were such perverted creatures!

The Second Evolution Pioneers, exhausted after a bloody battle, quickly evacuated to a safe area after Kuangxi Island appeared. After a night of rest, they had returned to their peak state.

Li Tianran nodded. He was very satisfied with the Second Evolution Pioneers' first battle performance.

Two hundred people managed to hold off nearly ten times their number of Followers for three minutes. Although there was the blessing of equipment and the special training effect of the Earth Clan, it was enough to prove their strength.

This ace army proved in this war that they had long since grown into the sharpest sword in Li Tianran's hand!

"Then... have the data from Kani City been compiled?" Li Tianran was silent for a long time. When he said this, his voice became a little low.

Qin Yiming was stunned. He opened his mouth and pulled out the bottom one from the folder in his hand.

At this time, his arm trembled a little, as if the A4 paper he was holding in his hand had become heavier than a mountain. He swallowed and said softly, "After the war last night, I sent people to Kani City to carry out rescue and statistics work. This is the data sheet they sent back. You... you should read it yourself!"

Qin Yiming looked at the shocking numbers on the A4 paper. Those were all vivid lives. At this time, he was a little unbearable to open his mouth and handed the form to Li Tianran.

"Read!" Li Tianran didn't reach out to take it, but said in a deep voice.

As a high-level leader, one must have a sufficiently strong mentality and be able to remain calm in the face of Mount Tai collapsing!

Whether facing a great victory or a great defeat, one must maintain a normal mentality!

Qin Yiming knew what Li Tianran meant. He calmed his emotions, and then looked at the data sheet and began to speak slowly: "According to statistics, the damaged area of Kani City exceeds sixty-nine percent!"

"There are seventeen breaches in the outer city wall, with a total damaged area of twenty-seven kilometers!"

"The inner city command center, barracks, and communication center have all suffered irreparable damage and lost all their working functions!"

"The roads in the city are severely damaged, with a damage rate of more than seventy-two percent. The ground is cracked and collapsed, making it impossible to pass normally!"

"Two thousand three hundred and twenty-seven buildings collapsed in the city!"

"A large amount of seawater poured into the city from the damaged city wall, and one-third of the city was flooded!"

Qin Yiming read on, his eyes finally reaching the [Casualties] column at the bottom. He paused, his breathing becoming a little rapid: "The city defense damage data is complete! Next is... the casualties!"

"The casualties are as follows!"

"The EU 13th Division, stationed in Kani City, originally had a total of 170,000 people, of which 156,000 were combat troops, and 14,000 were logistics and communication personnel!"

"According to statistics, the number of surviving soldiers in Kani City at this time is 3,866!"

"Among them, 1,002 are seriously injured and 2,131 are slightly injured!"

"The confirmed number of deaths is 41,597!"

"The number of missing persons is 124,537!"

"Mylon, the commander-in-chief of Kani City, is dead!"

"Tia, the chief of staff, is dead!"

"John, the commander of the Evolver troops, is dead!"

"The Minister of Communications is dead..."

As the names were read out one by one, Qin Yiming's voice became lower and lower.

In this war, the Kani City Legion was almost completely wiped out, with 170,000 people being reduced to just over 3,000.

And the [Missing Persons] in the data did not mean that these soldiers still had a chance of survival, but because their bodies could not be found...

The Black Night Apostle's attack method was to spray high-temperature lava. This lava could dissolve rocks and turn Kani City into a stone field similar to ruins. Under this high-temperature attack, most human soldiers' bodies were simply unable to withstand it...

Those [Missing Soldiers] suffered a more tragic fate than the confirmed dead soldiers. They were likely directly vaporized by the high-temperature lava, or simply wrapped in the lava, and their bodies turned into part of the lava.

If the cooled lava that had turned into stone was broken open, perhaps the remains of those missing soldiers could still be found...

"..." Li Tianran closed his eyes and remained silent for a long time.

"Count how many soldiers who died in Kani City have families, and provide their families with a pension three levels higher." Li Tianran spoke again: "After rebuilding Kani City, build a stone monument in the center of the city and carve their names on it."

"Issue a notice to the entire human world, announcing that the Marine Apostle has been killed!"

"Tell the entire human world that all the soldiers of Kani City participated in the operation to kill the Marine Apostle!"

"Posthumously award them the title of 'Human Hero', do our best to find their bodies, and give them a grand and solemn burial!"

Li Tianran said, this was the greatest compensation he could give to the soldiers of Kani City.

These soldiers died because of his strategy.

Although casualties were inevitable in war, this time, Li Tianran still felt his mood was a little heavy.

He knew very well that as a leader, he should "focus on the big picture." The so-called "benevolence does not command troops, and righteousness does not gather wealth." In order to achieve the goal, one should use any means necessary. As long as the final victory can be achieved, the means are not important...

He understood all these principles.

But in his heart, it was still difficult to calm down.

"This is the price of power..." Li Tianran muttered to himself.

He used to just lead Qin Yiming, Ding Lu, and a few others to survive in the apocalypse. At that time, the pressure he faced was just to ensure that these few people were well-fed, well-clothed, and lived well.

Later, he built his home on Kuangxi Island. At that time, he just wanted to lead his hundreds of subordinates to make a name for themselves in the apocalypse and establish their own achievements. At that time, he was besieged by countries all over the world, and the pressure was nothing more than victory or defeat in war.

But now, he had become the leader of the entire human world, wielding supreme power. His former ideals and wishes had all been realized, but now he felt unparalleled pressure.

Not only in war, but also psychologically and mentally.

The victory or defeat of every war, the resource supply of every country, the life and death of every soldier...

These things all weighed heavily on Li Tianran, making it impossible for him to break free.

Now that he thought about it, Li Tianran felt that the easiest time in his life was when he had nothing and was farming and fishing with Ding Lu and Qin Yiming at the Nancheng Farm.