Qiongzhou Island, Wenchang Temporary Center.
The Eighth International Multilateral Symposium on Mars Rescue.
There are 48 hours left until "Helios" hits Earth.
The atmosphere at today's meeting was somewhat depressing, and the meeting venue was moved back to the lounge where we used to eat sunflower seeds.
"Considering that 'Helios' cannot be intercepted once it gets close to Earth's atmosphere, Earth actually doesn't have 48 hours left." Liao Changtian continued to give his report seriously. "The critical time is 8 pm tomorrow."
"Tomorrow? Tomorrow is the Lantern Festival. Time flies!" Chief Engineer Yang Jiandong exclaimed.
"This might be the last Lantern Festival," Xiao Yimin sighed. "By the way, Changtian, Mars Boy went back to the 'Bird's Nest' yesterday, right?"
“Yes,” Liao Changtian replied. “Ivanka has been stripped of her privileges and is being kept in the living quarters.”
"What a pity, your plan almost succeeded," Xiao Yimin sighed.
“It wasn’t almost; Changtian’s plan actually succeeded.” Yang Jiandong shook his head and said, “It’s just that no one would have thought that Ivanka would be a ticking time bomb.”
“Actually, I’m not surprised.” Liao Changtian looked up at the sky and said, “As a princess of the United States, she has to do this. If she doesn’t, she is betraying the United States.”
“Indeed.” Xiao Yimin nodded. “After ‘Sun God’ and ‘Nuclear Bondage’ are activated, Ivanka should be able to imagine that the United States will be abandoned by the whole world. Only by doing this can the United States have a chance to turn the tide.”
“But that doesn’t change the fact that she will become a traitor to the whole world and a sinner in history!” Yang Jiandong said sternly.
“Yes.” Liao Changtian also shook his head, turning his gaze away from the sky. “So, whether she is a traitor to the United States or a traitor to the whole world, she chose the latter.”
"I heard that US government staff have started setting up tables in the square again recently?" Yang Jiandong asked.
"Yes."
Are there many people in line?
"There are so many that the boxes for collecting forms are overflowing."
"Uh..." Yang Jiandong felt somewhat surprised and found it hard to accept.
"I even had someone steal a form from the box. Teacher, would you like to take a look?" Xiao Yimin handed the form to Yang Jiandong. Yang Jiandong unfolded it and saw that it was completely blank, with only two lines of large characters:
"I have no regrets about being born Chinese!"
"I'll still be a flower grower in my next life!"
"Hahaha—" Yang Jiandong burst into laughter, "Our people are quite lovable!"
At this moment, Minister Zhao Li and ESA Director General Brosnan walked in together, and the meeting participants were finally all present.
"Minister Zhao, do you have any new updates?" Xiao Yimin asked, standing up.
"There's too much information, so I'll just pick the key points," Minister Zhao Li said as he sat down. "The Antarctic-United Nations Conference has reached a preliminary agreement to make Antarctica the common territory of all peoples of the world, without any national boundaries. A joint government covering all countries in the world will be established in Antarctica, with the United Nations Conference of All Humanity as the highest authority, to lead the world's reconstruction efforts."
"That's great!" Yang Jiandong said with some surprise. "The world has become more united as a result, and this may become a new starting point in human history!"
“But…” Minister Zhao Li shook his head, “this agreement was ultimately not approved.”
"What? What time is it? Not even half of the votes are in favor?" Chief Engineer Yang Jiandong said with a hint of disappointment.
"No, in fact, far more than half of the countries voted in favor." Minister Zhao Li's expression turned grim. "Some countries exercised their veto power."
"..."
The expressions on everyone's faces instantly turned grim.
"I'd like to brief you on the latest situation." Minister Zhao Li's expression suddenly turned very serious. "I'll reiterate once again, this is all top secret information. You all need to listen carefully, but you can only listen and not take any notes."
"First, the military forces of the European Union have made it clear to us that if we launch an offensive, they will become our staunch allies."
"Second, to show our sincerity and determination, there are no Russian soldiers stationed along the border with our northern border; they are all gathering in the Bering Strait."
"Third, Wano Country and Goryeo have offered to provide maritime transport support for our troop deployment."
"Fourth, the borders of the country have been reopened. The military forces of the South American Revolutionary Union have been divided into two parts. One part has gone to the Drake Passage to cut off the enemy's supply lines in Antarctica, while the other part has been assembled and boarded ships on the Caribbean coast."
"Fifth, the East African PLB, representing non-community military forces, has completed its assembly at the Cape of Good Hope. They are willing to follow our command and cross the sea to attack Antarctica at any time."
"The whole world is now waiting for our response."
Xiao Yimin, Yang Jiandong, and Liao Changtian all stared wide-eyed.
Liao Changtian was the first to react: "If this continues, the world will become riddled with holes."
"Although Antarctica is full of hope, at present, only the near-shore areas can survive on fish, while the inland areas are still covered in ice and snow."
“The only continent suitable for survival…” Xiao Yimin glanced at the people around him, “What are we going to do with those ‘natives’? After all, in their eyes, we are the invaders.”
"Excuse my bluntness, Mr. Xiao," said Brussnan, Director General of the European Space Agency, "You are too fixated on morality and ethics. The reason why there has been no war in Antarctica so far is because your country has placed the 39th Army Group as a buffer zone between the United States and other countries."
“If it weren’t for the profound lessons we’d taught them before, they would have already struck first.”
"The whole world is waiting for your response, because this war will be a small-scale war like World War I. And you are currently recognized as the strongest on land!"
"Have you forgotten yourselves? You possess the only army in the world that has ever truly defeated them on land!"
"Sigh," Xiao Yimin sighed, "all of this could have been avoided."
“I don’t think even Ivanka expected things to turn out this way,” Yang Jiandong said. “The US’s desperate gamble is about to be met with a backlash from the whole world.”
"Even if we win, the price we pay will be far too heavy," Liao Changtian said with great distress. "What about the people in the country? Are we going to send them to Antarctica now? To the Americas? Those places will become the front lines of the war. And what good will it do to wait at home? All we'll get is 'Sun God'."
"These are matters for the decision-makers to consider, not something we can control." Xiao Yimin patted Liao Changtian on the shoulder. "It's getting late, everyone should go to sleep. Tomorrow is the Lantern Festival!"
"We still have to celebrate the holiday." Yang Jiandong patted his bottom and stood up. "Go get some sleep! You two work overtime every day. If you miss tonight, you'll never have the chance to sleep in again!"
"Hahaha--"
Xiao Yimin and Liao Changtian both laughed, said goodnight to each other, and went back to their rooms to sleep.
This is the first time Xiao Yimin has gone to bed before midnight since becoming the director of the National Space Administration. He also specifically instructed the staff on duty not to wake him even if the sky were to fall, as he wanted to have a good late sleep.
If the sky falls, there are tall people to hold it up; to hell with the end of the world!
...
"The bureau chief? The bureau chief?"
While half asleep, Xiao Yimin realized someone was calling him.
Xiao Yimin opened his eyes and found that it was Xiao Li, the staff member on duty, calling him from the side.
"Didn't I tell you?!" Xiao Yimin's temper flared up instantly, and he roared, "Didn't I tell you? Don't call me even if the sky falls! Do you think I'm just talking nonsense? Do you think I'm just letting it go in one ear and out the other? Can't I even get a good night's sleep before I die?!"
Xiao Li, who was waking him up, was terrified and stammered, "The bureau chief... the big boss is on the phone... looking for you..."
"What's so great about him? I'm not answering!" Xiao Yimin had just lain down when he felt something was off. "What big leader? Which big leader from which region?"
"The capital city of Yanjing is the largest."
"Yanjing?"
Xiao Yimin jumped out of bed with a bang.
"You can't even speak properly, I really want to beat you to death!" Xiao Yimin jumped out of bed and ran to the communications room wearing only his boxer shorts.
"Yes, yes! Mission accomplished!"
After receiving the call, Xiao Yimin immediately went to the base gate, where an armored vehicle was already waiting.
Several fully armed special forces soldiers got out of the armored vehicle and handed him a safe.
After Xiao Yimin took a look at the contents of the safe, he ran like a madman to Liao Changtian's residence.
Liao Changtian was unusually early to bed when suddenly there was a loud bang as his bedroom door was kicked open.
"Director?" Liao Changtian was startled by Xiao Yimin's barge in. "Even if it's the end of the world, there's no need to be so rude, is there? You don't have to pay for the broken door, do you?"
Without saying a word, Xiao Yimin lifted Liao Changtian off the bed and said excitedly, "We have an opportunity now! An opportunity to save all of humanity!"
"Save all of humanity?" Liao Changtian thought the bureau chief must have gone mad from sleep. "How? Call in a god to save us?"
"That's right! They're immortals!"
Xiao Yimin slammed the stack of documents in his hand onto Liao Changtian.
Liao Changtian picked up the stack of documents with a puzzled look, flipped through a few pages, and then his eyes widened even more!
Finally, Liao Changtian jumped out of bed with a "bang," and ran outside in his boxer shorts, shouting as he ran.
"Wake everyone in the base!"
"Bring everyone who can still breathe to the control room!"
"The gods are coming to save us!"
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