Time passed, and while the Apocalypse forces were rapidly integrating, the undercurrents of the outside world never ceased.
Dragon Country, a highly guarded underground command center.
The Tang Blade Man—whose real name was Jun—finally arrived at a meeting room filled with screens after going through layers of identity verification and a long wait.
The atmosphere in the meeting room was solemn. A man stood in the center, quietly looking at the dense streams of data on the screens. He was none other than the SSS-Level Talent holder announced by Dragon Country—Luna.
Luna didn't look very old, but his eyes seemed to pierce through countless time-spaces, holding a depth and weariness that didn't match his age.
He wasn't wearing a military uniform, just a simple dark Zhongshan suit, yet he naturally radiated a majesty that made people afraid to look directly at him.
Jun didn't waste time on pleasantries.
Regarding what 'Kong' had done in 'Aliens vs. Predator' and his subsequent 'Explanatory Report,' he believed that with Luna's abilities, he was already well aware, perhaps even knowing the details better than Jun himself.
Kong's layout was indeed meticulous, packaging his reasons—forced retaliation, eliminating potential threats, and cutting down powerful enemies for Dragon Country—to be almost impeccable. In the eyes of some high-level officials, he might even be considered decisive and meritorious.
But Jun didn't come here to argue about right or wrong, or rather, not just for that.
"Mr. Li."
Jun got straight to the point, his voice steady.
"I know you possess intelligence channels far beyond our imagination. You even know how many SSS-Rank Hunter there are in the entire world."
"So, I would like to ask: among these ten SSS-Level Talent Hunters, has one already died?"
Jun paused for a moment and added.
"I know the chance of it being alive is slim; the possibility of survival in that situation is extremely low, but I need to confirm."
Luna's gaze shifted from a screen displaying complex energy waveforms to Jun's face, seemingly unsurprised by his question.
He didn't answer directly. Instead, he closed his eyes and spoke slowly.
"SSS-Level Talent... do you think that's just a rating?"
Luna's voice wasn't loud, but it carried a powerful penetration that momentarily stunned Jun.
"In the underlying logic of the Main God Game, or rather, beneath the level of rules we can currently glimpse, SSS-Level Talent is a watershed."
"Below it, whether it's SS-Rank or S-Rank, they are essentially still players, soldiers, and top performers within the rules, still bound by them."
Luna's fingertips unconsciously tapped lightly on the tabletop. He opened his closed eyes; his originally black pupils had turned a purple-gold color.
"But for SSS-Rank, every single one of them has begun to touch or even distort parts of the rules. Their talents themselves might be rule fragments or the prototypes of authority. You can view them as walking anomalous rule entities."
"To put it simply, below SSS-Rank, all are mundane. SSS-Rank is no longer mundane. To think that the dangers of a single Xenomorph dungeon could kill a Hunter who possesses an SSS-Level Talent and has begun to grow..."
Luna shook his head, his tone certain.
"Difficult, extremely difficult. Unless another SSS-Rank Hunter took action, or they encountered some kind of erasure mechanism that we currently cannot understand."
Jun's heart sank, yet it also seemed to carry a trace of absurd hope that even he hadn't noticed.
After all, given the situation at the time, it seemed impossible for the other party to be alive. According to the movie's settings, no creature could survive once a Xenomorph Embryo had successfully gestated and burst from the chest.
Luna seemed to read Jun's complex emotions. He didn't continue his explanation but gave the answer directly.
"From the arrival of the Main God Game until now, not a single SSS-Level Talent holder has fallen."
Jun took a deep breath, his chest heaving slightly. Even though he had prepared for the worst in his mind, his heart couldn't help but tremble upon hearing this result.
The memory of that tyrannical aura in the Pyramid surfaced in his mind—an aura of energy that wanted to destroy everything, exaggerated to the point of despair and suffocation.
"So."
Luna stepped in front of Jun, bringing with him an invisible pressure.
"Jun, what you really want to talk about is the conflict that occurred between you, 'Kong,' and that SSS-Rank Hunter last time, isn't it?"
Jun's eyes flickered, and he finally stopped hiding things. He described in detail how, in the underground nest of the Pyramid, Lilith had been implanted with an enhanced Xenomorph Embryo by Kong via space transfer, and Kong's desire to enslave Lilith.
He also emphasized the terrifying evolutionary potential and powerful destructive force Lilith had displayed at the time.
Luna listened quietly, his expression unchanging, but his fingers stopped tapping.
The only sound in the meeting room was the faint hum of the instruments running.
After a long while, he finally spoke. His voice was terrifyingly calm, yet it sent a chill through Jun.
"If it is truly as you say, and its evolution path leans toward absolute power and destruction while possessing an SSS-Level Talent, then Kong's actions are no longer a risk—he is creating an enemy for Dragon Country."
"An enemy that, at our current stage, we would have to pay a tragic price to deal with."
Luna paused, every word crystal clear.
"I will write an order for you to have Kong monitored. If his selfish actions provoke an SSS-Rank Hunter into taking retaliatory action against Dragon Country..."
"When that time comes, there will be no need for the enemy to act. Dragon Country will clean its own house, making him pay with his life in an attempt to appease the anger."
SSS-Level Talent holders, especially those with extreme individual combat power, must be befriended or avoided until Dragon Country has grown to a sufficient height. One must never form a death feud without cause; this was a strategic bottom line.
Dragon Country could not gamble the fate of the entire nation for a sinner who wanted to enslave such a powerhouse.
Jun remained silent. He could hear the decisiveness in Luna's words.
In the face of the nation's overall interests, individual gains, losses, rights, and wrongs were sometimes just that cruel.
At the same time, he realized more profoundly to what extent the threat level of Lilith's existence had been raised...