I can upgrade the shelter-Chapter 793 - 691: The Domestic Situation

The state called Chen Xin back to the country because, as he feared, the counterattack against the alien creatures was not progressing smoothly.

One of the main reasons is that all human weapons are currently developed on the premise of ground operations; all kinds of heavy firepower effectively have no place to exert their strength underground.

Although the military initially asked Chen Xin to specially develop some equipment when planning the counterattack operations, and these pieces of equipment did perform well in the counterattacks, the narrow underground caves still severely restricted the military’s operations.

Putting other issues aside, the mere problem of bullets ricocheting off the stone walls of the underground caves has given the military a major headache.

Admittedly, with exoskeletons and power armor, the damage caused by stray bullets is minor, but there are still bullets that shatter soldiers’ helmets, causing facial frostbite or non-combat casualties from inhaling toxic gases in the underground tunnels.

Moreover, while power armor has enough defensive capability to withstand stray bullets, the bulletproof plates of the exoskeletons are not fully covered everywhere, and casualties still occur.

The disparity in force comparison and individual combat power between the enemy and us in underground caves led to the military’s offensive being unsuccessful, and it could even be said that the offensive suffered serious setbacks.

If it weren’t for the military possessing weapons like power armor, Titans, and spider robots, relying solely on regular soldiers, even with exoskeletons as support, they would only be passively beaten by alien creatures in the underground tunnels, having no chance to fight back, or even completely incapable of retaliation.

Therefore, during the year Chen Xin spent in Europe, ever since the military launched its counterattack, there have always been some people disparaging the military’s counterattack plan, claiming it was "too hasty."

From certain perspectives, such remarks are not entirely wrong, since the achievements obtained by the military can indeed be described as struggling.

However, some ill-intentioned people are suggesting that the military shouldn’t counterattack at all, that it would be sufficient to confine the alien creatures without troubling the people by attacking underground, and certainly no precious domestic resources should be used to support Europe or build the Eastern European defense line.

It must be said that these opinions do resonate with some segments of the general public, especially when they bring up the historic atrocities that European countries have committed against the Flame Country, which can easily provoke opposition among the public toward European countries. They oppose continued national assistance to Europe, even thinking it might be better if Europeans perished.

If it were in the past, when Chen Xin was just an ordinary person, he might have had the same thoughts.

Historically, these European countries have wronged us, so now they are in trouble, and us not kicking them when they’re down is already commendable enough; why would we repay their wickedness with kindness by helping them?

We are not living easily ourselves; our domestic construction needs resources and investments everywhere. Why waste precious human and material resources on those European ingrates only to end up with no gratitude?

Precisely because of such thoughts, there is quite a number of people domestically advocating this belief, wanting to sever ties with Europe, stop aiding them, and focus resources on restoring domestic production construction.

This perspective even finds some support among the high-ranking officials, which undoubtedly makes them very cautious, as such a trend gaining popularity would be of no advantage to the country.

The top brass is very clear that aiding Europe is a measure to withstand the much more fierce and challenging alien offense from that side; the Eastern European defense line is also prepared for this purpose.

However, Chen Xin’s outstanding work in Europe unexpectedly turned around a situation that even the top officials had a pessimistic attitude toward, effectively saving the European battlefield and allowing them to resist assaults far more terrifying than domestic ones.

And as the Eastern European defense line construction becomes more and more perfected and even begins to transform into fortifications along each line, it gradually seems to have turned into a backup plan that might not even be needed.

Yet, the leadership has never relaxed its vigilance because the aliens launched their attack on Europe from the Mediterranean, with all defenses laid out being concentrated on the northern shore of the Mediterranean, basically on the European continent.

As for the southern shore of the Mediterranean, the vast African continent...

The leadership dares not think of the consequences but is quietly preparing defenses, with the Eastern European defense line also extending towards the Middle East region.

After all, neither the Flame Country nor Lucia wants a scenario where the European defense line holds, but the aliens break through the African continent and then penetrate from the Middle East region, stabbing both nations in the back.

In fact, it was precisely because of such concerns that the military eagerly launched the counterattack.

Now, most of the military’s forces are concentrated in the Dongting Lake battlefield, and although the country’s large reserve forces and militia forces are not on the battlefield, should the aliens truly attack from the Middle Eastern direction, the military does not have the capability to engage in full-scale war on two fronts simultaneously.

Although some people regard the leadership’s concern as unwarranted worry, the leadership feels it must be cautious.

And constrained by the fact that there is already internal support for withdrawing from European operations, after multiple discussions, the leadership ultimately concluded that they should temporarily maintain the current state of affairs with Europe, while the military concentrates its efforts on eradicating alien creatures in the Dongting Lake Region as soon as possible, ending the large-scale war domestically.

In this way, the country can free up resources, whether to defend against possible offensives in the Middle East, to support Europe, or to strengthen domestic construction, there will be sufficient energy available.

Also, because of this decision by the leadership, it seems that to the military, Chen Xin, who could potentially bring major changes to the current battlefield situation, no longer has any reason to stay in Europe. He needs to be recalled to help the military gain an advantage on the domestic battlefield, thereby expediting the accomplishment of a strategic counterattack and the eradication of alien creatures.

Chen Xin only fully understood all this during a meeting with the leadership, where it was evident that both the leadership and the military had high expectations for him, even placing their hopes for a victorious counterattack upon his shoulders.

Even though Chen Xin is aware that the state definitely has more than just this plan, and surely there are other contingency plans that could change the tide of the battle, he still feels the heavy responsibility on his shoulders and the nation’s focus on him.

This also caused his nerves, which had relaxed upon returning to the country, to tense up again, even more so than in Europe.

After all, there were fallback options when things went wrong in Europe, but in the country, if something goes wrong, he feels that there would be no retreat for him, or at least he would not allow himself the possibility of failure.