The story is not as complicated as imagined.
Twenty years ago, the lackeys of the alien invaders came to the Wei family and found the current head of the Wei family, Wei Bai.
The purpose is to make the upper echelons of the underground world cooperate with humans on the ground.
At that time, Wei Bai was shocked that there were still humans alive on the ground, so he had a very formal meeting with them.
At that time, the lackeys of the alien invaders were very friendly and polite. Their attitude could not even be described as "negotiation" but rather "discussion."
They told Wei Bai about the situation on the ground, and showed him the status of the prosperous human cities on the ground in the form of photos and holographic projections.
Wei Bai saw the sky for the first time and he was extremely excited because his lifelong pursuit was to see the sun again with the mission of the underground world.
The other party told him that as long as he formed an alliance with them and continued to cooperate, the humans who had lived in the underground world for a long time would be able to return to the surface and see the light.
For Wei Bo, this condition was too generous and too tempting.
But... he didn't agree at that time.
“When that group of people talked to Grandpa, they didn’t mention alien invaders. Instead, they kept talking about… ‘Gods.’” Wei Shishi looked at the table blankly and said softly.
There were two people negotiating with him, one man and one woman. When they mentioned "God", there was a hint of fanaticism in their eyes.
At first, Wei Bo just thought it was their belief and didn't think much about it.
Because things like faith are very common in the underground world.
In this oppressive underground world where the sky is only three thousand meters high, it is difficult for people to survive without faith.
The two statues of Xu Xin and Xu Ying, represented by the central city, are the biggest beliefs of the underground world and it is no exaggeration to call them religions.
In the underground world base, nearly half of the people believe in these two "gods" because it is these two "gods" who give them the greatest hope.
"Of course, I don't believe in you. Because we in the Wei family are all atheists."
Wei Shishi glanced at Xu Xin and said.
"Although we in the Wei family have not fully disclosed your identities, we have hinted that you are humans who have traveled through time through technological means and whose lifespans have been extended."
"In the eyes of our Wei family, you are very powerful humans, not gods. Of course, many people still respect you very much. For a family like ours, it is inevitable to respect the strong, but this is not faith."
Xu Xin smiled bitterly.
The god they worshipped was not him, but Xu Xin of that time and space.
He seems to be... a bit of a bully.
However, Xu Ying beside them is indeed the "god" they believe in.
Wei Shishi continued speaking.
Under the influence of the god-worshiping atmosphere of this underground world, Wei Bai did not initially have any extra opinions about the "god" that the other party had always mentioned to protect them.
But during the discussion, he gradually realized that something was wrong.
The other party never mentioned the biggest enemy on earth, the alien invaders who invaded the earth thousands of years ago, slaughtered a large number of life on earth, and almost wiped out the human race on earth.
From the other party's explanation, he quickly realized that the other party was a lackey of the alien invaders!
He also saw the red lines on the other person's wrist that were inadvertently revealed, and immediately understood everything.
As the head of a noble family that has existed for thousands of years, Wei Bai would certainly not lose his composure.
He remained calm and used a friendly and positive attitude to get a lot of information from the other party.
And that information made him even more frightened.
It was also at this time that he learned about the so-called "survivors".
Yes, he knew most of what was happening on the ground.
Twenty years ago, three groups of survivors arrived on the surface of the earth.
As a leader of the underground world, he had been influenced since childhood and hated the alien invaders on the ground to the core, so he naturally could not agree to this matter.
He tried many methods, but failed to figure out how the other party reached the underground world and how to go back.
Not knowing how the other party got to the underground world, he didn't know how to counterattack.
The negotiation was over. There was no failure, and no success.
The reason Wei Bai gave was that there were hundreds of millions of people in the underground world, and it was not easy to decide the fate of hundreds of millions of people. He needed some time to consider it.
The other party also expressed understanding.
After that, the Wei family's hidden factory began to manufacture weapons and equipment with all its strength. Even though resources were already in short supply at the time, the Wei family still spent most of their spare resources to make stronger armaments to be prepared for any eventuality.
During this period, Wei Bai also held discussions with the heads of the other two families.
After all, the Wei family alone is not enough to solve such a big problem.
But the results were not ideal.
The other two families did not have a heritage like the Wei family, and they did not expect that all the heads of the Wei family had had contact with Xu Xin and others.
They have no obsession with returning to the ground, nor do they have any deep-rooted hatred towards the alien invaders.
After all, it happened thousands of years ago.
Things that happened thousands of years ago are already forty or fifty generations away for them, and they basically have no impression or feeling about them.
Moreover, those rumors that the ground is full of dangers and like hell were spread by them, with the purpose of preventing people from yearning for the ground and wanting to return to it.
The heads of the two families had no opinion on the fact that there were still humans on the ground.
They even believe that the legend that alien invaders conquered the Earth thousands of years ago may not be true. It is likely that some geological disaster occurred on the ground that caused humans to migrate underground. Today, the ground is no longer suitable for survival, and there is no need to go up there.
In short, their attitude is very simple. The ground is too dangerous, and going against alien invaders is tantamount to seeking death. Whatever you want to do, don't involve us, and don't bring disaster to the underground world.
Even though resources were scarce at the time, they had no intention of returning to the surface. They planned to solve the problem from other areas underground, after all, the underground world was very large.
In the end, the negotiations came to nothing.
"Wait... do the other two families know about this?"
Xu Xin asked with a frown.
"… According to what Grandpa said, only the heads of the two families knew about it, and the two did not spread it to the outside world. Because if the residents of the underground world knew that there were people on the surface, and even came to pick them up, there would always be some people who yearned for the surface. At that time, I'm afraid it would be a mess."
This is indeed true.
The people here have been taught since childhood that the ground is dangerous and that if exposed to sunlight, their bodies will fester and die. As a result, humans have now come down from the ground and are planning to take them up...
Lies and facts, which one will people choose
Perhaps the older generation will choose the former and continue to live a stable life, but the new generation may set off a wave of resistance.
For the sake of the stability of the human base in the underground world, the heads of the three families decided not to make this matter public.
"That's why, even though the three family heads knew about this, the rest of the people in the base were completely unaware of it. I only learned about this from my grandfather yesterday."
yesterday…
Um.
Although several days had passed in Xu Xin's subjective time, he spent most of his time in the World Tree.
According to the time outside the World Tree, Xu Ying and Li Wenxi only returned this morning.
The siege of the World Tree also took place yesterday.
"What happened after that?" Xu Xin was a little confused. "So it seems that your grandfather didn't intend to rebel?"
Wei Shishi clenched her fists and gritted her teeth, "Those lackeys brought the biggest mutant attack in history!"
Wei Bai himself actually didn't want to have anything to do with these people.
He was someone who had met Xu Ying and knew what the situation was like on the ground, as well as the character of the other party's lackeys.
The opponent's sudden appearance left him helpless and he could only defend passively.
This was also the method of neutralization that he discussed with the three family heads.
If they are really worried, they can just ask the Wei family, who are responsible for the armed forces, to strengthen their strength and ensure that the other party does not harm them.
As a family that exploits controlled resources, the Yuan family will also open the door to the Wei family.
After that, Wei Bai once again negotiated with the two humans who came up from the ground and told them that the people underground had no intention of returning to the ground.
The other party expressed regret at the time and left without saying anything.
Things got out of control after that.
A few days later, mutant creatures appeared in several cities in the heart of the underground human base.
That’s right, the attack was not launched from the outskirts of the underground human base.
Those mutant creatures that were originally surrounding the periphery of the underground human base suddenly appeared in large numbers in the hinterland for some unknown reason!
Although it did not appear in the most central city, several surrounding cities were attacked!
That battle was extremely brutal!
Although only a few cities were affected, these are the most densely populated cities among the underground human bases!
Even if the Wei family has weapons that can easily kill mutant creatures, they cannot resist the enemy's attack.
And in this battle, Wei Bai's son, Wei Shishi's father, who was about to inherit the position of head of the Wei Bai family, and her mother were killed in the siege of mutant creatures.
Those who surrounded and attacked them were all advanced mutant creatures.
Even though they had the highest degree of protection and the Wei family inflicted heavy damage on the enemy with their weapons, they were eventually attacked by flying mutant creatures while preparing to evacuate, resulting in the destruction of the plane and the death of everyone on board.
Wei Shishi said, without any emotion: "When they died, I was still young, and I don't have many memories of them. But grandpa..."
When Wei Bo arrived at the scene, he saw only two unrecognizable bodies.
Fortunately, the plane had just taken off and was not going very fast, so the body was left intact.
It is the most painful thing for an old person to see his young son die. After that, Wei Bai became depressed, his temperament changed drastically, and he no longer participated in decision-making.
The next generation head of the family died and became decadent. Wei Shishi was still a little kid at the time, and the Wei family was in complete chaos.
"Grandpa's personality changed drastically, not just because of my parents' death." Wei Shishi bit her lip and said, "If it was just the death of the two of them, even if Grandpa, as the head of the family, was very sad, he would not have ignored the Wei family and been depressed for nearly a year."
“… Those lackeys are trying to contact your grandfather again.” Xu Xin sighed.
"That's right." Wei Shishi nodded.
The other party used some unknown method to enter Wei Bo's private room, and at the same time directly revealed to Wei Bo: they were the ones who caused the mutant creatures.
This, they said, was the price Weber paid for rejecting them.
This is also telling the humans in the underground world that you have no ability to resist.
If they don't cooperate with them, everyone in the underground world will die in pain like Wei Bo's son and daughter-in-law.
At that time, Wei Bai, the mentally stable head of the Wei family, had a very strong urge to kill for the first time, and he put it into action.
But it didn't work.
The opponent came prepared, even his face was protected tightly, and the gun in Wei Bo's hand didn't even make him retreat.
The gun he used for self-defense was not a top-notch weapon, but it was one of the most powerful portable pistols. Even so, he did not hurt the opponent at all.
This time, the other party had a completely arrogant attitude, which was completely different from his previous kind and humble attitude.
After subduing Wei Bai, the other party did not harm Wei Bai, but instead offered him very tempting conditions.
Even if they cooperate with them, most of the humans in the underground world will die, because their "gods" do not need so many humans, but if they do not cooperate with them, everyone will die.
As long as Wei Bai agrees and lets the Wei family serve as a base for the aboveground forces to infiltrate the underground, they can guarantee that no one in this central city, including the Wei family, will die.
At the same time... they will resurrect Wei Shishi's parents.
"Resurrection?" Xu Xintong's eyes shrank suddenly, "Is it true? Or is it false?"
"It's fake." Xu Ying shook her head, "But Wei Bo always thought it was real because..."
"Because those two lackeys brought my father back to life in front of grandpa." Wei Shishi said.
It seemed that the other party deliberately left Wei Shishi's parents' bodies intact when they died.
The two men had been dead for less than a day and had not yet been buried.
Under the actions of the other two, the already cold body of Wei Bai's son sat up in front of Wei Bai's shocked and ecstatic eyes, and even said with difficulty: "Dad..."
Then lie down again.
"The group of lackeys told him that my parents' brains were not damaged and that they could be revived if stimulated and repaired." Wei Shishi whispered, "But he must make a choice within half a day."
Xu Xin looked at Xu Ying.
Xu Ying shook her head: "The rest of the body's functions have ceased, and there is no way the brain can be repaired, let alone for a day. It's completely dead."
That's true.
The brain is the most precious and fragile part of the human body. If it lacks oxygen for just a few minutes, the brain will suddenly die even if other parts of the body are still healthy.
This is also why there are so many vegetative patients who have complete physical functions but are brain dead and have no consciousness.
In most cases, the brain is the first organ to die.
It's been a day since he died, his brain is probably already...
"But my grandfather did see my father sit up and talk. He thought that alien technology had the ability to repair the dead brain. After all..."
Wei Shishi looked at Xu Ying: "After all, Grandpa has seen people who have lived for hundreds of years. If he can make people live forever, why can't he be resurrected from the dead?"
"… This is impossible." Xu Xin frowned.
"Of course not." Xu Ying shook her head.
"Although we can live so long, extending lifespan is based on the premise that life is still alive. Even in nature, there are some examples of immortality, such as the Turritopsis dohrnii. But resurrection from the dead is pure nonsense. If dead lives can be brought back, then those alien invaders can really be called gods."
"But my grandfather didn't think so at the time. He believed that in the face of the invaders' force, it was impossible for our Wei family to protect everyone, or even... no one."
Wei Shishi looked at the two of them, her eyes slightly red: "If it were you, what would you choose?"
"On one side, everyone dies together, all lives are destroyed, and the underground world becomes a complete purgatory."
"On the other hand, some people can survive, and my parents and his son can be resurrected."
"I only have half a day to choose. After half a day, my parents will be completely dead and will never have a chance to come back to life."
"If it were you, what would you choose?"