Chapter 36: Arrival

Washington, D.C., the sky was veiled by thin clouds, resembling shy veils over the moon.

This was a region that had been abandoned, cleared of civilians, devoid of surveillance, and in the process of being revitalized into a commercial city.

Einer-New Alley.

Silent, cool, and desolate.

The dim streetlights buzzed, occasionally emitting a pop, causing the mosquitoes swarming around the lights to scatter, only to return shortly, drawn to the same light that startled them.

Jupiter and the others emerged from the sewer in an orderly fashion.

The light from the streetlamps and the moon's glow sparsely touched their confident, smiling faces.

Maslow divided human needs into five levels, ranging from low to high.

1. Physiological needs, including food, water, air, sleep, sexual needs, and other basic survival requirements.

2. Safety needs, involving stability, security, protection, order, and the alleviation of fear and anxiety.

3. Social needs, as humans cannot exist without emotional connections and interactions with others. This encompasses love, friendship, family bonds, and even the emotional exchanges that come from mingling with others. Because emotionally driven individuals cannot endure perpetual solitude in a dark room until death.

4. Esteem needs, the requirement for self-respect and the hope to be respected by others. It may not always involve seeking respect from others, but maintaining self-esteem is crucial.

5. Self-actualization needs, the highest level of mental and psychological well-being, achieved through self-fulfillment.

Jupiter and her companions lacked nothing in terms of basic necessities, and they were admired, respected, and appreciated by others. While they might not command the weather, they lived lives that were, in many ways, 99% better than those of ordinary people.

And there was nothing more fulfilling than saving the world.

How many people could claim to have saved the world?

This was an ideal worth pursuing and dedicating one's life to.

None of them had ever doubted that they would succeed.

Ever since humans evolved, they had been facing off against wild beasts, learning to use tools to conquer them, and beginning the consumption of meat. On this planet, they had conquered the land, explored the oceans, and gazed at the stars.

Early humans used rudimentary tools to hunt down mammoths.

Steel battleships, products of metallurgy, turned the oceans into humanity's backyard, enhancing the delectability of seafood.

Even the extraterrestrial monsters that had emerged from wormholes deep in the Pacific Ocean not long ago had been hunted down one by one by mecha created by humans.

In today's world, extraterrestrial visitors are merely a necessary step for humanity to venture into the stars.

Just as early humans learned to use tools.

Just as the current extraterrestrials arrogantly spread their superpowers, humanity will inevitably surpass the extraterrestrials, heading into space and a new era.

Today, they gathered around a round table in the sewer to discuss the strategies for the next ten years. This sewer may be foul-smelling, but in the future, it would be revered and admired by generations as the starting point of great pioneers who refused to yield.

They believed.

With calm confidence, emerging from the sewer, they couldn't help but share a knowing smile, a group of like-minded comrades, ready to stand side by side in battle, filling them with self-assured smiles.

They were steadfast in their belief.

Like clouds in the sky that couldn't conceal the moon, and certainly couldn't shroud the moon's brilliance, the moon's radiance shone upon them.

Nothing could stop them, nothing could halt those who held steadfast beliefs. They hung in the sky like a colossal moon, and the cloud cover was just a fleeting veil temporarily obscuring the moon.

It would eventually dissipate.

But within that dissipating haze, there was a tiny black speck, seemingly coming toward them from the moon, growing larger and closer until it blocked the moon completely.

The gaze of the crowd was fixed on this figure that obscured the moon.

"What's going on with you all? Don't give me that 'my whole family died' look just because I'm here. I prefer your smiling and confident faces."

H'el couldn't help but find it amusing. As he descended like the moon, his black cloak's hem billowed in the cold wind, casting a massive shadow that covered the moon, the night sky, and their line of sight. They could no longer see the moon.

He appeared as if a mythical being descending from a distant moon, approaching them, his gradually approaching figure stiffening their joints and blanking their thoughts.

Those who had never faced H'el couldn't imagine the immense pressure he exerted. It wasn't just the physical oppression, but also a suffocation akin to facing the core of a star.

Moreover, it triggered a deep-seated, subconscious survival mechanism that had existed in human genes since ancient times, when facing formidable predators. This mechanism left them feeling physically uncontrollable, with their minds going blank.

In the presence of such power, all intelligence and cleverness seemed feeble and powerless.

"You... we..."

Jupiter's throat was dry and hoarse, her face frozen, and her mind blank.

Seeing H'el descend from the moon, occupying her entire field of vision, had already destroyed her inner defenses. She couldn't think of any way to escape this moment, to confront her fear of H'el.

Is everything... being seen by Him?

Humanity... is finished.

H'el glanced over, paying no attention to the group of people who had stiffened to the point of feigning death. As for Jupiter... he had never exchanged a word with this mere tool.

In fact, H'el's entire conquest work, aside from directly using his power to destroy American political figures and killing eight million people, all the tasks such as selecting suitable individuals to serve as mayors managing cities, police chiefs maintaining city order, and manipulating the military, were all completed by Dawn and Stacker, with Jupiter's assistance.

Among them, Dawn did 90% of the massive workload, using communication networks to arrange and issue all the orders. Stacker and Jupiter, on the other hand, provided directions that artificial intelligence couldn't comprehend, and then Dawn would execute them.

So, what was the point of having any communication with Jupiter?

H'el only cast a glance, ignoring them and finding his target in this procession.

H'el hovered in the air, paying no attention to Jupiter, and gradually moved toward Edward. His looming figure arrived in front of Edward, his right hand outstretched, and his index finger pointing down at Edward's forehead from a high vantage point.

In the moonlight, it was as if a deity was blessing mortals.

"So, it turns out I won!"

Edward had originally thought that H'el had come to find Jupiter and would casually cut down their group with a glance. After all, in the numerous actions H'el had taken before, he had been analyzed thoroughly by Edward. He understood that H'el was someone who couldn't tolerate any behavior that challenged him.

Any proactive attack or verbal provocation was seen by H'el as an attack on himself, so H'el wouldn't hesitate to kill.

As for their group, they had just made strategic plans for the next ten years of H'el's Earth empire in the sewer roundtable meeting. There was no reason for H'el not to kill them.

For him, it was as simple as a mere glance, as easy as pie.

But when H'el turned away from Jupiter and came straight to him, towering above with a godly presence, extending his index finger high above and pointing it towards his own forehead, as if to deliver his death sentence...

Edward understood. H'el didn't care about Jupiter and the others; he didn't care about their ten-year strategy for the Earth Empire. Instead, he cared about himself, about Edward.

He cared about Edward's psychological manipulation plan against him.

Alien, you still have emotions like the common people.

"Can you feel my threat?! Hahaha..."

Edward opened his arms, as if welcoming the gift of a god.

He wore a smile, brazen and utterly content, even in the next moment of his impending death.

In the face of such god-like power, death was already inevitable.

Why single out himself for death? Because he sensed a threat from himself, his emotional vulnerabilities had been exposed.

To perceive his value as a threat and thus eliminate himself physically, Edward knew he had already won too much.

Even if he died at this moment, there would still be successors, relentlessly targeting the weaknesses he had revealed, breaking his mental defenses, leading to his true psychological destruction.

In this moment, Edward embraced his impending death generously.

However, H'el simply tapped his forehead lightly, using his psychic ability to absorb his entire life into his mind, and then unleashed a burst of energy that shot into the sky and vanished.

He paid no attention to these insignificant beings.

Left behind, Edward and Jupiter felt humiliated and pained.

The tense tension in the group's bodies instantly dissipated.

"Did we just get ignored?"

Some cast intriguing glances at the figure disappearing into the distance.

Some remained silent, their gazes fixed on the dark silhouette in the sky.

There were those with a hint of coldness in their curled lips, some with calm expressions, and others, furious at being ignored, yet none would yield.

"You will regret this, one day, for ignoring humanity so blatantly! You will, without a doubt!" Jupiter's gaze turned instantly cold, her voice low and sinister.

"Have I failed?"

Edward lowered his outstretched hands, looking disheartened and lost.

°°°

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