Chapter 1090 - Asserting Pressure

Translator: _Min_  Editor: Caron_

[According to informed sources, Celestial City Space Department successfully observed extraterrestrial civilization on Gliese 581g, initially determined to be an arthropod carbon-based life. The civilization is capable of interplanetary navigation…]

[On June 15th, the senior foreign ministers of ten countries gathered in Coro City to discuss countermeasures against aggression by extraterrestrial civilizations.]

[According to the diplomat who didn’t want to disclose his name and nationality, the foreign ministers at the summit voted on the resolution of ‘Evacuation from the Solar System’. Although the resolution wasn’t passed, it received a very high number of votes at the meeting…]

[X2 bacteria in Finland were made by extraterrestrial civilization, and the nest was an alien aggression outpost?]

Jiang Chen proposed to keep the meeting confidential, but he also leaked the news with mixed lies and truths.

The reason was simple.

He knew that once governments realized that it was impossible to defend against aggression, escapism would prevail among the elites.

1There was no need to analyze the reasons at all; the history of the apocalypse was a lesson in itself. Once these elites found themselves “with no chance of winning”, presented with a seemingly “better” choice, it would be impossible to expect them to fight to the death.

If they fought, it would be difficult to win.

If they escaped, the probability of survival would be quite high.

After all, it would still be a long time before Harmony’s space colonization ship arrived. The elites ultimately decided what the GDP favored. There would be two separate technology trees depending on if a “battleship” or “escape ship” was favored.

The most likely outcome was building a battleship while preparing for their escape path, and more effort would probably be spent on escape.

It was the simplest decision to make. The elites must think for the elites. Despite the difference in culture, the principle was universal. Take the UA as an example. Even if the senior officials of the current Democratic Party, such as Hill, wouldn’t live to see the day Harmony arrived, they still must have considerations for their own political career.

The Wall Street consortiums that controlled the politics of the country also manipulated the military. Would they be happy to learn that their days were numbered? What would be the significance of the wealth they accumulated since the colonial era?

If Hill dared to stop them from building a ship to escape, her scandals would make the headlines on the Washington Post the next day, followed by impeachment from the Congress up till the eventual re-election.

Not only the UA, but also countries such as Hua and Russia all held the same view. The only difference between them was the level of formality.

If they couldn’t reach an agreement on the most fundamental issues, then this war against all mankind would be lost from the beginning.

With public opinion stirred in a certain direction, the controversy continued to escalate. Not just Washington, London, Paris, but even Coro City saw protests. People held slogans and stepped out onto the streets to ask the government to disclose details of the Outer Space Security Summit.

The focus of public opinion was nothing but two points.

One was related to whether the T virus and the X2 bacteria were related to the aggression of the extraterrestrial civilization. The other was whether the representatives really discussed the construction of a Noah’s Ark.

Under pressure from public opinion, Secretary of State Kerry was the first to clarify.

In front of the media, he repeatedly reiterated that the topic of extraterrestrial civilization was indeed discussed at the summit, but the resolution on an “escape from Solar System” wasn’t discussed. Even if was discussed, the UA would never vote in favor of such a selfish resolution.

1However, simple clarification was obviously not enough to dispel the public’s concerns. Everyone knew that politicians were the unruliest. They used a set of rhetoric in front of the public while another kind of rhetoric behind closed doors.

After several organized protests, the people in demonstrations unanimously demanded that the next summit must be public to the world. The media had the right to exercise supervision. The people had the indisputable right to know…

The situation in all countries was similar. Even demonstrations didn’t happen in a few countries, the heated discussions online already told the same story.

Jiang Chen wasn’t too concerned about the demonstration that happened in Coro City.

The next meeting was scheduled for mid-July, when controversial issues such as the formation of the Earth Federation and the fight against extraterrestrial civilization would be discussed. Jiang Chen gave the governments enough time to digest the information they learned from the last meeting to then make a choice.

1On the second Saturday after the meeting, Jiang Chen took the space elevator to Celestial City.

Since the beginning of May, Celestial Trade’s space-related industries began to migrate to Celestial City. The ground command center in the northern part of the equator finally ended its historical mission. The personnel and equipment were all moved to Celestial City, occupying a separate external space station adjacent to the shipyard of Future Heavy Industries.

In the vicinity of this area, an aerospace industrial park was built. Not only assets of Future Group were located there, but factories invested by other countries were also located there. The factories mainly produced small and medium-sized spacecraft or aerospace equipment and accessories, directly or indirectly providing 27,000 jobs for Celestial City.

After getting off the elevator at the terminal, Jiang Chen took the express to the Space Department.

Kelvin was already waiting at the door. When he saw Jiang Chen, he immediately greeted him and welcomed him into the Space Department.

Because of Gliese 581g and the invasion of the extraterrestrial civilization, Kelvin’s hair almost turned white. His subordinates didn’t see their boss’s smile for a long time. But today, he wasn’t only smiling but ecstatic.

If you asked why, it was an important day today.

Just an hour ago, the colonization ship that flew to Mars successfully reached the orbit of Mars and hovered directly above the landing point. The first colonial chamber could land on Mars with Jiang Chen’s orders and take the first step of mankind to the stars.

While walking on the way to the command center, Jiang Chen learned about the colonization ship from Kelvin.

“What’s the situation with the colonists?”

“All the colonists have successfully woken up from the hibernation chamber. They’re in good health. The colonial chamber function is normal and entered the final deployment stage.” Kelvin was overjoyed.

“What are we waiting for?” Jiang Chen pushed open the door of the command center. He looked up at the big screen in the center at the red-stained land.

This moment finally arrived.

Jiang Chen took a deep breath and calmed down his mind. He placed the order for this historic mission in the command center with great excitement: “SS Heavenly Temple, initiate landing sequence!”