CHAPTER 42: CHAPTER 41: MA RAN’S LEAVE REQUEST

"Alertness and hostility."

The body language expert wiped the cold sweat from his forehead: "To express a friendly attitude and sincerity, it’s best if everyone puts down their weapons."

The soldiers in uniform ignored him.

But a voice came through the earpiece.

"Listen to him."

One by one, the semi-automatic rifles were placed on the ground.

Almost simultaneously, the alien invaders pulled the trigger.

Decisive! Resolute!

Not a hint of hesitation or indecision!

It was as if this simultaneous firing was something they had done hundreds and thousands of times!

Quick and clean, without any sloppiness, they moved with a thunderous force that incited fear.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Blazing red lasers, in the blink of an eye, landed among the communication team.

The aliens’ marksmanship was poor, lacking accuracy.

But their weapons compensated for this deficiency.

The blazing red laser merely skimmed the negotiating expert’s left hand, and within a second, his entire arm was completely scorched, emitting a nauseating smell of burnt flesh.

Not only that!

Two seconds later, the negotiating expert was charred from head to toe, the whole person turned into black coal.

"Fire! Fire! Fire!"

An angry voice came through the command channel: "Permission to freely retaliate!"

"Immediately eliminate these aliens!"

...

Ma Ran didn’t sleep a wink last night, constantly sketching the Enclosure Text in his mind, hanging on until dawn.

Around 10:40 AM, the "DJI" app sent an urgent video meeting invitation.

Ma Ran finally awaited the outcome: under a barrage of firepower, all alien invaders perished, none survived.

Yet in the process...

A total of thirty-nine heroes sacrificed their lives heroically!

The only solace was that civilian casualties were zero.

Compared to the number Ma Ran had predicted, the final casualty figures seemed somewhat better.

However...

No one felt joy.

They only felt a chill of fear.

Ma Ran didn’t look at President Huang Weiguo beside him, he just lowered his head, staring at the phone camera.

After a while, he sighed and said, "It’s my ability that’s too weak, the content I can foresee is limited."

"If only my [Limited Foreknowledge] were a bit stronger..."

Before all this, Ma Ran had only mentioned the arrival time and place of the alien invaders’ vanguard and the casualty numbers for Earth humans.

After all, this event was not something Ma Ran had personally experienced before his rebirth and he didn’t know all the details.

In his previous life, in the final years, all Earthlings had come to a common understanding — upon seeing any alien life, do not attempt to talk to them or harbor any illusions, just go all out immediately!

Whether it’s a sneak attack or a frontal assault, find every possible way to kill them!

This was the knowledge gained at the cost of life and blood by many Earth Guardians!

Thinking of this, Ma Ran’s face turned somber, his fists clenched tightly.

His jaw clenched so hard it creaked, his eyes filled with gloom: "I hope nothing like this happens again in the future..."

Ma Ran had considered this possible development in the situation.

Not everyone could trust him one hundred percent like Old Huang does.

After this incident, Ma Ran’s identity as a [Prophet] would be cemented, and those above would place greater trust and importance in him!

But just thinking about those thirty or so who shouldn’t have died made Ma Ran extremely displeased.

Upon hearing this, President Huang’s heart skipped a beat, he opened his mouth, pondered for a while, and finally said, "This time it’s our fault."

"What you’ve done is exceptionally well."

"Without your prophecy, we wouldn’t dare imagine how disastrous this outcome could have been!"

The aliens’ marksmanship wasn’t quite up to par, but their military discipline was very high.

They fired without hesitation, slaughtering Earthlings like gamers shooting NPCs in a game, without any empathy.

Based on Ma Ran’s foresight, combined with Jinshui Town’s defense setup, traffic situation, and local garrison training level among other factors, the combat power of the aliens was reverse-engineered, and the leaders of various academic societies had done their utmost to overestimate the enemy’s combat capabilities.

But it turned out that Earth’s overestimation was, to the alien invaders, still an underestimation.

The equipment of the alien invaders, their weapons, were all very advanced.

Compared to Earth weapons, there was a significant gap.

To put it in examples, it was like the difference between a wax paper cap gun and an M4A1 rifle.

The pristine white full coverage protective clothing seemed unremarkable, but whenever a bullet or shell landed on it, a faint ripple would emerge, neutralizing the impact and shrapnel lethality.

After a handful of negotiation team members retreated, the battlefield commander decisively initiated a saturation fire strike.

With the explosion of bullets and artillery fire, the alien invaders’ protective suits were finally breached.

The fifty-member alien vanguard, annihilated!

At this point, President Huang paused, his hands trembling slightly: "You provided prophecies and warnings, yet we thought ’the more friends, the more paths’ and even naively wanted to ally with the aliens to pursue development together."

"We were too wishful thinking."

"Even within the nations on Earth’s homeland, not all countries are as peace-loving as China, so how could we expect aliens to share our values?"

"If someone must be held responsible for this, that person must be chosen from among us old guys!"

This was President Huang’s heartfelt remark!

He felt nothing but guilt at that moment.

If a few hours earlier, he had been more decisive and firm in his attitude in the encrypted communication channel, perhaps no one would have died!

After all, with Ma Ran’s prophecy, linked with same-level institutions by various academic societies, full preparations were made.

The discrepancy in casualty numbers does not indicate a problem with Ma Ran’s foreknowledge.

On the contrary, it perfectly illustrates that Ma Ran has accomplished a great feat!

"Ma Ran! I’m sorry!"

"Child, you are our country’s supernova and the hope for the future, please don’t put too much pressure on yourself!"

"Blame me, it’s all my fault! At my age, still so naive... after today, I will voluntarily submit my resignation letter, asking the organization to punish me! This way, I will feel a bit better."

"Oh, your good intentions with bad outcomes..."

"In the future... we must not harbor any illusions!"

"Taking responsibility, can you bear it? Want to run away when things go wrong? Where do you think you’ll run? When there are more alien invasions, will you just hide your head like an ostrich, pretending nothing happened?"

"Remember the mistakes we made, and for the rest of our lives, strive with all our might to make amends..."

Ma Ran didn’t have much time for sorrow.

From this year onward, Earth resembled a newcomer in a multiplayer online game who just passed the new player protection period, facing alien invasion forces one after another, confused and helpless.

Enemies kept appearing, at frequencies denser than the discarded paper balls in a geek’s bedroom wastepaper basket.

After committing to memory the faces and names of the fallen, Ma Ran silently exited the online meeting hall.

He took a deep breath, looked at Old Huang, and said solemnly, "I want to take leave to go to the A3 District."

——

Thanks to Chao Youjiu for the two chicken legs (200 points) gifted to Ma Ran!

Thanks to Autumn Wind’s Thousand-Year Awakening for the chicken leg (100 points) gifted to Ma Ran!

Thanks to umbrella for the 1888 points gifted! (The rewarding backend for QQ reading sometimes does not give notifications, so it’s recommended to use the Qidian app)

Thanks to Moyu Xingyuan for the 100 points gifted!

Thanks to Guiyuan Chang for the 500 points gifted!

Thanks to I Heart Youyou Book Club for the 200 points gifted!

Thanks to Autumn Wind’s Thousand-Year Awakening for the 100 points gifted!

Thanks a lot! (๑▽๑)