Hearing Yang Jia say this, Bai Shu couldn't help but be shocked.

While she had considered these questions, she couldn't grasp them as thoroughly as Yang Jia. Ultimately, she viewed everything from the perspective of a superior, from the perspective of the greater good of humanity. She had been taught from a young age that sacrifice was inevitable. Naturally, people like them had to focus on the bigger picture, prioritizing the important and letting go of the minor details.

It was only because of her own character that she did not agree with the practice of filling the gap with human lives.

But Yang Jia was different. She was originally an ordinary person, born and raised in this land. For a long time, her demands were no different from those of any ordinary person. Therefore, she could better understand their hardships and helplessness, and more easily recognize their expectations and needs.

"You're right." She was silent for a moment before expressing her opinion. "But we're pressed for time. So while I agree with you, if push comes to shove and we can't come up with a better solution, I'll have no choice but to support them."

She paused before saying, "There are still two million people on Earth. We can't afford to lose them. We must capture Hope Star!"

"I know." Yang Jia nodded. She had always considered herself a human being, so she knew that if it really came to a critical moment of life and death, she would naturally not care about these things.

Besides, Li Bai was still on Hope Star. Yang Jia also had her own selfish motives. She could afford to lose others, but not Li Bai.

Even if she, as an NPC, doesn't want players to mess up the world, what good would it do her if Earth were destroyed and humanity were extinct? On the contrary, the intelligent mainframe needs electricity to function, and it also requires regular maintenance and parts replacement, and so on ...

So after knowing that Hope Star was in trouble, she just wanted to buy time and come up with a better plan.

After reaching this consensus, Bai Shu left. Her current goal was to hold off the six major guilds and prevent them from causing trouble. She also had to gather information from Hope Star to ensure they could hold out. She also had to react before they collapsed and begin preparations in time.

Although this approach seems unfair to those soldiers who have already rushed to the front line and are likely to sacrifice their lives on the battlefield, after all, if a large number of people join in and quickly resolve the war, a large number of them can survive.

But let’s not talk about whether this kind of exchange is meaningful or not. Once this flawed research result is leaked, who can guarantee that the bigwigs above will only use it this once?

After all, this kind of thing is best used to train death squads. It can increase combat effectiveness in a short period of time, and when it's used up, it will die automatically, eliminating the need for cleaning. Who in high positions doesn't have a few inconvenient tasks to attend to?

Going a step further, what if it falls into the hands of criminals?

This head cannot be opened.

Furthermore, there was one thing Yang Jia hadn't told Bai Shu, but she had already made up her mind. Even if a better vaccine was developed that could resolve the virus's hidden dangers while also improving human health, she wouldn't just hand it over.

This is the trump card that she and Li Bai will use to gain a foothold, turn the tables, and control the situation in the future. How could she just hand it over to someone else?

The people currently participating in this project have been carefully selected. After all that has happened, those who remain are already very convinced of Yang Jia and Li Bai. These people are carefully selected, and the key experimental steps are only controlled by a few people, including Du Qing, which maximizes the possibility of a traitor.

Of course, if there are people planted among these key figures by others, then Yang Jia can only admit defeat.

As long as these people can keep it secret, she will be able to hold this thing in her hand and use it to pry open a gap in the Earth's human beings who have already formed a complete and meticulous system.

Thinking of this, Yang Jia slowly let out a breath and said to Bai Ting, "You heard too, something happened to Hope Star, and we're running out of time. So we have to speed up the experiment again and strive to get results as quickly as possible." When she said this, she saw Bai Ting frowning tightly. She paused before continuing, "We need more test subjects."

Currently, there are only five people participating in this experiment. After all, it is a human experiment. Although no one will die in the game and although the other party's consent has been obtained, everyone in the laboratory is very cautious and no reckless actions are taken.

Yang Jia agreed with this attitude, but unfortunately, they could no longer wait.

Seeing Bai Ting remained silent, Yang Jia continued, "Something happened to Hope Star. It's still confidential information and can't be made public. So only I can personally take part in it and convince others to volunteer."

In the past, Yang Jia would not have come up with such an idea, because she was just an NPC. Now she could even log off, so it should be no problem to refresh after death. Even if she failed, the most she would suffer would be some hardship.

Anyway, even if you don’t get the modified vaccine, you will be tortured all the time once you are infected.

Bai Ting was persuaded by Yang Jia and had no choice but to arrange this matter.

…

There weren't many troops stationed on Hope Star. After all, it was once quite peaceful. However, the base's importance necessitated a heavy military presence. Consequently, only a single division was originally stationed there. Fortunately, there were several resource stars around Hope Star, such as mining stars, which also had military bases. After the incident on Hope Star, these troops were immediately dispatched. Furthermore, because Hope Star's territory had recently expanded significantly, a significant number of troops were dispatched.

All in all, there are nearly 20,000 people in total.

But among these 20,000 people, there are people from the three major districts.

When they first explored Hope, the three regions considered establishing their own bases. After all, they were already fighting each other on Earth, so it was unlikely they would suddenly become close friends on Hope. However, the conditions on Hope were too harsh, and the cost of separation was too high, so they had no choice but to work together to build a single base.

It was a good idea at the time. When everyone has their own base in the future, this place will become a public base and also serve as a gateway to and from Hope Star, which is just right.

However, not long after, the DIE virus broke out, catching the people on Earth off guard.

No one wanted to separate until this sword hanging over their heads was completely resolved. After all, virus research needed to be carried out together, to prevent one area from developing something without sharing it. Now that everyone was working together, any results would be impossible to hide.

Just like the project "Reality" was jointly carried out by people from three districts, the base on Hope Star also has the same structure.

Since they weren't here to fight, the power of decision was vested in the researchers. Each of the three major areas of the base had a research institute, and the three directors were the highest officials there. To prevent anyone from disobeying orders, the generals sent here had naturally undergone numerous tests and their positions were not high.

Therefore, whenever there was something going on on the planet, the three deans would discuss it together, and if there was something that needed to be decided, they would vote. Because there were three of them, it was rare for them to disagree, so everything had been fine until now.

But once war breaks out, the situation is different.

The three deans were researchers, so how could they know how to fight? They could only delegate power and trust those battle-hardened generals.

However, after the generals stationed on Mineral Star arrived, the situation subtly changed. Although the generals stationed on both Mineral Star and Hope Star were of low rank and position and dared not act rashly against their superiors, now that their superiors were not taking charge, they naturally wanted to fight for command.

Not only are there disputes between the three regions, but there are also fights within the three regions, to the point that these regions with different numbers are so inconsistent that no one listens to each other and each acts independently.

It would be fine if we did this at other times, but what time is it now?

Even if they worked together, they wouldn't be able to deal with these mad beasts, let alone disunity. After all, the beasts had no intelligence. Even after their bases were established, their defenses were top-notch. The reason they were losing ground and shrinking territory was actually here. No one wanted to fight to the death and then be taken advantage of.

The researchers couldn't see this, but Li Bai knew it all too well. However, she didn't say anything. After all, no matter who was in power, it wouldn't be her turn.

It wasn't that her rank wasn't high enough. Thanks to her previous achievements, she'd already been promoted from captain to major, putting her on par with the military commanders and giving them a fighting chance. Unfortunately, she was now a lone commander, without even her squad. Whatever she wanted to do, it was just wishful thinking.

But...it's not like there is no chance at all.

Although Earth has enjoyed peace for many years, the exploration of outer space has never ceased, and so has the war. The battlefield naturally has its own independent and effective system.

For example, in an emergency, if their commander is killed, another commander of the same rank will take command and continue the battle. This wartime order is not specific to any particular region, but is something that everyone on Earth must obey.

In other words, if these six or seven troublemakers who refused to submit to each other were all dead, as the person with the highest military rank on Hope Star, she would rightfully take the leadership of this army!

This is Li Bai's only chance.

Of course, the probability of this happening is not much higher than the Earth exploding tomorrow. But sometimes... opportunities are created.