Lin Xian looked at the completely naked Hua Xiaoling before him and suddenly felt a chill surge through his body—not an internal sensation, but genuine physical coldness.

It felt like snow was falling.

Lin Xian scanned his surroundings and was shocked to discover that the space around him had transformed. He now stood within some concrete fortifications, an old-fashioned kerosene heater hissing nearby, walls peeling to reveal rust stains, weapon racks displaying AK-74 rifles and RPG-7 rocket launchers, while frost patterns formed on windows from the extreme cold.

The naked Hua Xiaoling slowly approached him. Lin Xian frowned, intending to step back, but found himself completely paralyzed.

He could only watch helplessly as the completely naked Hua Xiaoling walked up to him. Then, her facial features suddenly shifted, her hair transforming into chestnut-red curls. Lin Xian felt himself falling backward, and 'Hua Xiaoling' smoothly straddled him, now inexplicably wearing a disheveled military-style white shirt that had been pulled open, with a discarded coat lying on the ground.

Lin Xian glanced at the name tag on the military overcoat's inner lining—it read "Yelena Panova" in Russian.

What was happening?

Lin Xian felt completely disoriented. Had he somehow been transported into a scene where he was having a secret late-night rendezvous with a Soviet female officer?

Whoosh!

Suddenly, piercing red alarm lights began spinning violently! Air raid sirens blared outside. Before they could even stop their movements, the blast door was pounded violently! A guard's shout pierced through the storm: "Captain! Highest-level 'Halo' alert! Base emergency summons!"

A teacup fell and shattered. They hurriedly separated, scrambling into their clothes. 'Lin Xian' grabbed his overcoat and rushed outside where wind and snow poured in, the alarm sirens devouring the silence, roaring deafeningly in his ears. The outside view transformed into a snowy pine forest landscape as he leaped into a military jeep, tires skidding on ice, headlights like dying beast's eyes tearing through the blizzard's veil.

This was definitely not holographic projection. Lin Xian felt completely immersed, as if he had become another person.

He quickly composed himself, absorbing the details around him. The dashboard reflected his pale face—this outdated military jeep had been phased out for at least 60 years. The scene appeared to be set in some era of the former Soviet Union.

The jeep passed through camouflage nets and heavy reinforced concrete fortification entrances. Lin Xian jumped out and quickly entered a passageway with a group of guards. Inside stretched a long, dim corridor already filled with the dense echo of boots. Peeling wall sections revealed gray underlayers as old fluorescent tubes buzzed with pale light. The air carried a mixture of engine oil, cheap tobacco, and strong disinfectant.

Lin Xian's gaze swept across the corridor walls and suddenly froze.

This was the 'Cassandra' Strategic Missile Early Warning Center!

The elevator descended into the earth's depths, hydraulic doors hissing open. A massive radar screen occupied an entire wall, flashing monotonous green lights displaying complex constellation-like grids. Five light points crossed the polar ice cap as countdown numbers pulsed like a heartbeat. Several soldiers in khaki uniforms sat solemnly before the screens, everything shrouded in low, rigid mechanical operation sounds.

"Yakov, repeat!" A tall lieutenant colonel stood at the front, his voice deep and resonant.

"Satellite data reconfirmed, Lieutenant Colonel! Trajectories locked on Moscow, Kiev... Total five missiles, estimated 28 minutes to reach homeland."

Deadly silence fell amidst the alarm's roar. One could almost hear sweat dripping from foreheads as all eyes remained fixed on the pulsating red numbers representing destruction's countdown. Oxygen seemed instantly sucked away, a suffocating apocalyptic dread gripping every heart. Some unconsciously clenched fists until knuckles turned white.

Lin Xian's gaze swept across the figures and he immediately realized something. He looked up at the warning center's clock.

1983, September 26, 11:32.

Lin Xian's heart sank as he looked up to see the figure turning toward him.

"Lieutenant Sergey, any abnormalities in North American command chain?"

"Negative!" The response came from 'Lin Xian' himself as he stepped forward to report. "Cassandra system falsely reported solar flares three weeks ago, but nothing with this trajectory."

Looking at the middle-aged officer, Lin Xian guessed his identity.

Lieutenant Colonel Stanislav Petrov, tonight's duty commander. Around fifty years old with graying hair, he wore no uniform jacket, only a faded army green shirt with open collar and rolled-up sleeves. His entire being seemed shrouded under immense pressure.

Looking at this man, Lin Xian felt rising doubts. What did Hua Xiaoling mean by this? What did she want him to see?

Lin Xian had studied Cold War history in Federation modern history classes and knew about this nearly catastrophic historical secret. But only now, experiencing it firsthand, did he truly feel that bone-chilling pressure.

The tense figure of Lieutenant Colonel Petrov stood rigid before the radar screen, bloodshot eyes fixed on the red dots. The highest alert meant immediate reporting was mandatory. After receiving this emergency information, the Defense Ministry would undoubtedly activate retaliation procedures, sending destruction orders to missile silos across the Soviet Union.

He picked up the red phone, fingers hovering centimeters above the red button, trembling slightly. Sweat gathered and dripped from his forehead.

"This doesn't make logical sense! Why would Americans launch only five missiles for nuclear war? This feels more like exercise malfunction or technical failure! But... what if it's not? What if this is a first strike?"

"22 minutes! Protocol requires immediate reporting!" A staff officer stood nearby. "We must respond!"

Retaliation meant war! A point-of-no-return nuclear war ensuring mutual destruction!

Time seemed frozen, only the red numbers mercilessly counting down.

The staff officer urgently reported: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel! Readings confirmed accurate! Twenty-one minutes remaining! We must report!!"

Lin Xian watched quietly. As an observer, he knew this was merely a historical information crisis. Waiting for ground radar system confirmation would reveal it as a misunderstanding, an information false alarm that would later become internet historical trivia, never even making history books.

However, his expected outcome didn't occur. Petrov suddenly closed his eyes, took a deep breath of the turbid air, then—under Lin Xian's gaze—pressed the communication button...

What!??

Bzzz~

A ringing tinnitus suddenly filled Lin Xian's brain, as if his current 'self' had also gone blank-minded.

Lin Xian opened his eyes, feeling his vision detaching from his body, continuously rising as if his soul was flying out—through the missile warning center's underground fortress, from the forests into the black firmament. A piercing cold penetrated his bones, exactly like foreseeing apocalypse on ancient battlefields.

As he flew higher, he witnessed with his own eyes: across that vast desolate land, nuclear silo iron doors suddenly swung open, missiles painted with red stars erupting forth, flames tearing through the gloomy sky.

Distant Baltic Sea waves churned as Borei-class nuclear submarines surfaced like giant beasts, submarine-launched ballistic missiles piercing the clouds with death's whistle, contrails dragging pale light.

Countless rising flames resembled brilliant stars soaring toward the firmament.

This deadly symphony instantly ignited nuclear war's overture. Across the globe, hellish flowers bloomed as multiple regions simultaneously launched dense missiles toward world's corners.

New York financial elites before skyscraper keyboards suddenly looked up as the window's intense light devoured everything. Their screams turned to dust on office chairs, suit fragments mixing with paper scraps flying like snow.

London street cafes barely emitted morning coffee aroma when pedestrians fled in panic. Shockwaves instantly crushed flesh into dust, the entire city reduced to boiling ruins.

Tokyo's late-night millions slept soundly. In four-generation households, grandmothers rested peacefully on tatami mats, children curled in parents' arms—all torn apart by explosions without warning, along with dwellings vanishing under light pillars. Entire Tokyo faced destruction flowers raining from three directions, merging into flames.

Nuclear descent came silently. Vast lands turned barren scorched earth, leaving only scattered heat waves from remaining sparks. Panic became futile symphony. California coastline tourists screamed and scattered across beaches only to collapse on sand melted by light.

Moscow suburban factories fell silent. Workers beside assembly lines hadn't even set down tools before high temperature and radiation vaporized steel and human bodies alike, leaving charred skeletons collapsed on ground.

Multiple suns ignited above cities, blinding light turning sky snow-white.

Lin Xian felt breath freezing, as if returning to that night when Doomsday arrived. Destruction came too suddenly—in the blink of an eye, the world ceased existing.

[No. 1 Human Civilization Outcome Preview Complete]

Inside the tent, Hua Xiaoling had vanished. Tea on the table remained warm as an extremely intense dark energy fluctuation filled the tent before rapidly disappearing. Lin Xian stood with complex emotions, watching as the projection sphere retracted its projection and slowly floated toward him. He reached out and caught it.

At that moment, Lin Xian's Mechanical Heart interface suddenly popped up.

[Successfully converted mechanical source points +3000]

Lin Xian frowned, even more confused now.

Civilization outcome preview? What did it mean? Was some message being conveyed?

Human civilization ending in nuclear war—what did that represent?

And why had he absorbed so many mechanical source points???

Lin Xian looked at the projection sphere in his hand, momentarily unable to process.

"Lin Xian!"

The tent flap was thrown open as Chen Sixuan in power armor holding Night Hunter rushed in. Seeing Lin Xian, she immediately asked: "Are you alright?!"

Lin Xian looked around: "Where's Hua Xiaoling?"

"Gone. Suddenly vanished from my thermal radar. Didn't see how she left." Chen Sixuan opened her visor, looking at Lin Xian's complex expression with furrowed brows. "What did she show you? I've been watching you stand there for 20 minutes."

Lin Xian checked his watch: "20 minutes?"

"Yes."

"Really interesting."

During the earlier experience, Lin Xian felt he'd lived through an entire night of destruction, yet the timing confirmed only 20 minutes had passed.

"Our position must have been spotted, otherwise she wouldn't have suddenly appeared here." Chen Sixuan said. "But it seems she wasn't here to fight?"

"Doesn't appear so for now." Lin Xian took a deep breath, weighing the projection sphere in his hand. It had a button. He focused his gaze and pressed it with his thumb.

Time seemed frozen, only the red numbers mercilessly counting down.

[Initiate No. 807 Civilization Outcome Preview?]

"What? How did we jump from No. 1 to No. 807?"

"What are you talking about?" Chen Sixuan asked.

"I..." Lin Xian pointed at the light ahead, sighed, and briefly explained the situation to Chen Sixuan.

"How could this holographic projection make you feel immersed? Sounds like you were connected to some brain-computer program." Chen Sixuan analyzed immediately after listening.

Chen Sixuan raised her elbow, the spirit value detector on her wrist displaying a number.

32,609!

"Burst out instantly. The alert appeared, and you didn't respond, so I came immediately." Chen Sixuan's elegant brows tightened. "This reading matches S-level."

Lin Xian picked up the projection sphere: "Then I should guess the reason."

"What's going on?"

"This thing probably isn't just simple 3D holographic projection. Maybe my vision only sees holographic three-dimensional projection, but what this thing displays might be higher-dimensional imagery. That would explain my realistic experience."

This hypothesis combined what Hua Xiaoling had told him about Forbidden Artifacts and dark gear characteristics, while also barely explaining why his Mechanical Heart could absorb such massive dark energy and convert it into mechanical source points.

Hearing Lin Xian's words, Chen Sixuan fell silent before saying: "She left this with you—does she want to convey some message?"

Lin Xian nodded: "Can't tell yet, but this thing definitely relates to dark civilization. Maybe we can find some clues here."

As he flew higher, he witnessed with his own eyes: across that vast desolate land, nuclear silo iron doors slammed open, missiles painted with red stars erupting forth, flames tearing through the gloomy sky.

To test his theory, he sat down again, placed the sphere on the table, and told Chen Sixuan: "Keep watch for me. To see if I guessed correctly, I just need to try once more."

Distant Baltic Sea waves churned as Borei-class nuclear submarines surfaced like giant beasts, submarine-launched ballistic missiles piercing the clouds with death's whistle, contrails dragging pale white light.

"If there was danger, I'd be dead already." Lin Xian looked gravely at the projection sphere, took a deep breath, and reached out to press again.

[Initiating No. 807 Civilization Outcome Preview]

The projection device's center flashed with blue arcs again as holographic light gradually expanded, instantly enveloping the entire tent space.

When he opened them again, his vision brightened. He now stood atop an ultra-tall skyscraper. The sky seemed weatherless, clearly revealing some enormous planet hanging in space.

A gentle, clear female voice sounded behind him. Lin Xian turned—this time, he could actually control his body, yet felt a smooth mechanical torque sensation. Before he could examine himself, behind him stood an incredibly beautiful female robot. He couldn't tell if this was an AI Brain or a semi-mechanized human. The only certainty was that she was speaking to him.

"Individual Number 17695516." The female robot looked at him and continued.

"According to consensus neural decision instructions, please follow instructions to complete within five minutes..."