Chapter 514: Unveiling the Hidden Might

In the Huaxia Battle Zone, there are actually 93 Peak Third-Stage fighters.

Not the less than twenty you might have seen…

Inside a tense office, after Li Xuanguo quietly finished his first sentence, Yenir—who had been seated on the sofa—suddenly turned pale.

Even though he had braced himself mentally, he never expected Li Xuanguo to start off with such bombshell news!

“Ninety-three!?”

Instantly, Yenir looked up, his breath catching as he instinctively questioned in disbelief.

What kind of joke is this!? Even if there had been that many Peak Third-Stage fighters in his past life in the Huaxia Battle Zone, things wouldn’t have turned out so disastrously!

The Fourth Stage mutants were all among the last to appear, yet already in the early to mid-period the Authorities found themselves unable to cope!

In his memory, there were at most about a dozen Peak Third-Stage fighters! And that count even included Yinglong’s group!

If the Chinese Military truly possessed so many top-tier combatants…

With nearly a hundred Peak Third-Stage fighters, even the Fourth Stage had its moments of might!

With that in mind, what’s the point of even trying!

“That’s right.”

“Actually, if you count the Peak Third-Stage fighters hidden within the Private Faction, the number is even higher.”

The Prime Minister slowly nodded, a hint of bitter irony playing on his lips.

He was not at all surprised by Yenir’s intense reaction.

Then he slowly sat down beside Yenir and began to speak as if recounting a piece of history:

“Yenir, you’re too young…”

“Many things your generation knows have been concealed.”

“It all began with the apocalypse 67 years ago, when the catastrophe struck.”

“At first, China suffered heavy casualties; in the early days of the outbreak, barely one in ten survived…”

“But you must understand that once Awakeners emerged among humankind, our overall strength skyrocketed.”

“Sixty-seven years…”

“Apart from the ten most chaotic years, by around year 13 the various Safe Zones had been established, and the Military had also reformed its structure.”

“By year 30, our population surged from under 7 million at its lowest to over 700 million! The number of Awakeners even broke the 20 million mark, and that number is still rising rapidly!”

“Under the leadership of the first batch of High-Level Awakeners, we quickly regained our vitality! Aside from the zombies roaming within the cities—which we didn’t even need to clear—we can boldly say: We survived!”

With a tone of reminiscence, Li Xuanguo’s face softened as he recalled the past.

“Following the emergence of the first Peak Third-Stage fighter, then the second, third, and fourth—the continuous flow of top-tier warriors, sharing dungeons and battle strategies, quickly pushed the number of Peak Third-Stage fighters past 100 by year 40!”

“Plus, with the development of Awakening Potions, even ordinary people saw their chances of becoming Awakeners soar under the potion’s protection!”

“It was a golden age! With Safe Zones numbered from 01 all the way to 300, all established during that time!”

“Spiritual Energy Fighters! Psychic Weapons! System Access Buildings! Even the relaunch of global satellites! In that golden age, we nearly restored the radiant glory of human civilization!”

Listening to Li Xuanguo’s impassioned account, Yenir’s eyes shimmered, though he said nothing.

He knew this version of history was somewhat different from what he had always known.

In the Awakeners Training Camp, only the Four Commanders were mentioned when describing top-tier forces. Yenir had always assumed that the number of Peak Third-Stage fighters was a state secret.

And besides…

The number of Awakeners Li Xuanguo just mentioned seemed suspiciously high.

If his memory served him right, the rate of Awakeners among ordinary people was about one percent—even with the aid of potions.

But according to Li Xuanguo, that ratio in the era over 30 years ago was as high as one in 20 or 30?

Sensitive to numbers, Yenir suddenly realized something.

Something’s off!

With such a high number of Awakeners and Peak Third-Stage fighters, why was the Huaxia Battle Zone’s situation deteriorating so drastically!?

Sure, Awakeners can die in battle! But their losses could never outweigh the number of new ones born!

Where did all the Awakeners accumulated over the following decades go!?

Under normal circumstances, that force would be enough to wipe out every monster within our borders!

Spirit Energy Technology? Industrial production!? Honestly, Yenir had never noticed any significant industrial output in the Tianfeng Security Zone, now or before!

As expected.

After a brief silence, the Prime Minister suddenly let out a mysterious, low laugh, his tone laced with a hint of mockery as he spoke.

“Yenir, you figured it out, didn’t you?”

“In your education, Awakening Potions were only briefly mentioned, and there were no accurate numbers regarding the battle strength of the Huaxia Battle Zone. It seems that Spirit Energy Technology was something the Military reserved for themselves.”

“But in reality, if one out of every twenty people is an Awakener…

“As long as resources are abundant—and with dungeons still in existence—most Awakeners can eventually push themselves to the Second-Stage limit as long as they don’t die halfway.

“Even if only one in a thousand Second-Stage fighters reaches Third-Stage, 20 million Awakeners would produce 20,000 Third-Stage fighters!!”

“And that’s not even accounting for the population explosion—we should actually have far more survivors than that!”

“After all, with fewer monsters and special events occurring subsequently, humans could survive quite easily!”

“With Spirit Energy Technology and ore-based alternative energy, our industrial production might not match pre-apocalypse levels, but it’s more than enough to feed everyone!”

“But then why aren’t there so many Third-Stage fighters? Why aren’t there more people? And why must we still endure hunger?”

With a light chuckle, Li Xuanguo calmly looked out the window at the gigantic statue standing in the Capital Core.

It was as if he were talking to himself.

“Because… we’re afraid. Afraid that if you knew just how powerful we once were, you wouldn’t have to live so ‘miserably’.”

Turning his head, Li Xuanguo stared seriously at the stunned Yenir before abruptly speaking again.

“Yenir, have you ever heard the story of the 33 Taels of Silver?”

“In this world, it’s not only zombies that will devour you…”

“People will, too.”