In the presidential meeting room, the upper echelons of the new government were conducting an urgent meeting in the heart of Shanghai.
All Military, political and regional leaders were here with the exception of a few missing in action due to the invasion of foreign races and natural disasters. Seated around the long conference table included both physically and through video calls included the four major generals of the army, the president of China's new government and her advisor, the leaders of commerce, education, internal affairs and other heads of government.
The president of China had drawn strict borders at Jinan, the capital of Shandong province as an initial point of conquest towards the north, just hours after the invasion and its details reached her ears.
"An unprecedented catastrophe has occurred in Chinese lands. At first, we believed this was only Shanghai and could be controlled, however, we have now received data from regions throughout China that shows similar events occurring all over our homeland. The worst of it is our northern capital Beijing; not only have we lost complete control of the surrounding cities with radio silent transmissions, but if the imperial faction uses this as an opportunity to control the capital of China, the new government will be threatened." General Wang, a known opportunist and reckless military leader, commented.
After saying his piece, the Minister of Education, Dr Han, berated General Wang, "How on earth can you think about an internal conflict considering what's going on!? We should be cooperating with the other factions to retake our lost cities, and our scientists should be thoroughly studying this 'Status Screen'!" He yelled.
"Do you think I'm being unreasonable Dr Han?" He replied calmly, "Yes, this is a disaster, but the invasion can also be an opportunity for the human race, or in particular, China. If we can extract information on interstellar travel or those 'Gates' from the beasts, we can further advance humanities technology! Would any faction or government dare to rebel against us?!" He bellowed.
"I agree with General Wang" General Chen added on, "But our first priority should be to create safe havens for the civilians. Barricade and fortify small towns to store our people with the military protecting the camps, we should also ensure our factories are untouched. China can, in emergency, be self-sufficient with ammo and weapon manufacturing for a few years, this should be enough to wipe what's left of those Orcs and Goblins, assuming there will not be another invasion soon. Let's focus on opportunities once the civilians are brought to safety."
At this moment, the president of China's official advisor, Tao Jue, spoke up. "This issue cannot be solved within a year." He stated before continuing, "retaking hundreds of northern cities from both the monsters and the imperial faction is not an easy feat, especially so when they are fortified. You must all remember that our economy is crippled and without Beijing and its surrounding land, we can just about function due to our imports and exports through Shanghai and its nearby coastal regions, but which country will be focusing on trade at the moment? This invasion isn't restricted to China at all - its worldwide."
The Minister of Finance, Mr Jiao, agreed with the advisor, stepping forward respectfully with a bow, "I completely agree with Sir Advisors explanation. To be completely honest, I expect a complete economy shutdown within half a year. We don't have the luxury of trade and our contact with half of China is mostly crippled either through roads or by foot. The most we could do is send the navy ships we have on standby to northern coast regions, but as we know - we lost contact with them only 140 miles on their initial voyage. It's likely the invasion isn't just restricted by land."
The Advisor once again stood up, explaining, "Let's plan our next steps with the information we know and have confirmed." He looked at everyone individually before continuing, "First, this status screen is real, not illusionary like we had initially believed. Using heated weapons to kill Orcs and Goblins does not improve our general statistics, but cold weapons like blades, blunt objects and throwable weapons are able to certify as experience to this system. Although I don't enjoy a higher being taking my life and the lives of my people as a game, we have little choice. Its best to make the most of every advantage we have. Employ weapons when cleaning up cities towards the northern border but use cold weapons whenever possible as we cannot be reliant on modern weaponry right now, our stockpiles will not last forever." He thought before looking at General Wang.
"General Wang, get in contact with the Martial Alliance, they are likely to become a strong faction through the use of cold weapons. I want a ceasefire to hostilities and cooperation between us, if possible, for now fortify our safe regions and cities, withdraw all military personnel from the north."
The advisor sat back down, just as his ears almost bled from the complains of every member currently in the room.
"My family is north! You cannot pull back our soldiers from retaking lands!" This sentiment was echoed by almost everyone there, General Wang included.
Tao Jue stood back up with furrowed brows, this time with less patience. "Are you all truly fools?! We have received reports of large white furred beast species massacring the imperial faction northbound, and even if we were to annihilate them, could we hold onto so much territory if our soldiers are spread so thin and another calamity arrives? another wave of those monsters? perhaps even stronger?!" Breathing out and calming down, Tao Jue said his last sentence, "Listen, the imperial faction is doing us a favour here, if they can retake and control the northern region, we can focus on protecting and securing the central region with enough provisions and defences to survive another attack. We must focus on one task at a time. The martial alliance may be able to assist us in retaking the north if they comply. That's all; Pull back all forces to our newly drawn borders, contact the martial alliance and create a ration system for civilians - we cannot go hungry at this junction, or we will have a riot on our hands. We must show the people of China that everything is under control, do you all understand?" He sternly looked at the others.
"Yes Sir!" they echoed, some reluctantly ending the video call in rage.
Hours after the conference was ended, martial law was enacted onto the citizens of newly bordered China, all regions out of these borders were now to be abandoned by the Military in order to focus on protection and maintain authority. The current citizen count was estimated to be around 285 million, with over 1.1 billion Chinese people missing in action.
Scholars in the future would name this 'The Day Hell Descended'.