Chapter 69
The official meeting between the leaders had long since been scheduled, with the time and attendees finalized. The list provided by the United Star System included the Consul General, the consuls of each planet, Director Li Sheng, Ye Yuxing, and Qin Feng.
After reaching a cooperative agreement with the Beastman race, they had also negotiated the inclusion of some of their representatives. The Beastman Emperor, Jeqi, and Princess Ruoya had shown great enthusiasm for this meeting, pestering and pleading to participate. The United Star System had no choice but to communicate this to the Earth side.
The top leader had no objection to this and very happily agreed to the Beastman race’s request to join. And now, even the Interstellar Empire had thrown its hat into the ring…
One could only say that what was originally envisioned as a meeting between the Hua nation and the United Star System had now become a meeting between the Hua nation and the entire interstellar era.
The top leader was also stunned for a moment. On the other end, Ye Yuxing had already sent a long string of messages.
Xia Anran summarized it for him. The main point was that the Interstellar Empire was preparing to sue for peace and to unite the entire star system with the United Star System and the Beastman race to cooperate with the Hua nation.
“Ye Yuxing relayed the opinion of the United Star System’s Consul General. They have assessed the sincerity of the Interstellar Empire’s cooperation this time and feel that this agreement should be feasible,” she said.
The top leader didn’t hesitate for long and replied directly, “Good. We respect the opinion of the United Star System. We agree to this.”
She relayed his opinion to Ye Yuxing. Soon, a nodding smiley face emoji came back. How should she put it? It was like an upgraded version of that passive-aggressive soybean smiley face, very popular in the interstellar era. Heaven knew, the first time she had seen Ye Yuxing send this emoji, she had almost wanted to call the police. Alright, even now, she was still a little unused to it.
After relaying the message, the top leader let out a long sigh. “We can’t drop the ball either. We must promote cooperation as soon as possible.”
She instantly understood what he was talking about and asked with some curiosity, “Chief, you must have been very busy these past few days. Have the leaders from the other countries gone back yet?”
“A portion of them have left,” he said, rubbing his temples. “It’s still those few old acquaintances who want to get to the bottom of things.”
It was mainly some Western countries, led by Country A. These countries were usually as thick as thieves with Country A, and now they were following its lead even more closely. They had already stayed in the Hua nation for five days, bombarding the leaders in turn every day, either to visit and learn from their scientific research or just refusing to give up without finding some clue.
…
At this moment, in the residence specially arranged for them, the leaders of several countries were still holding a private meeting.
The head of state of country A, Kaelen, had a somewhat gloomy expression. He sat on the sofa, gently swirling the red wine in his glass, not speaking for a long time. The leaders of the few smaller countries had been chattering away, but they fell silent when they saw his dark face.
No matter how he had probed, the Hua nation had remained as steady as a clock, absolutely not falling for any of his tricks. And staying in their country for five days was already his limit. If he didn’t go back, that bunch of old men in his own country would surely cause a rebellion.
“Your Excellency, do you really believe what the Hua nation said is true? Will there really be a so-called alien invasion of Earth and a planetary explosion?” a leader of a small country still expressed his doubts. The Hua nation had yet to produce any solid evidence for this, so he was still half-believing and half-doubting. If this was a smokescreen released by them, the whole world would be thrown into chaos.
Kaelen looked up at him. This idiot.
The few countries that were on good terms with the Hua nation had already rushed back. According to the information sent back by their intelligence agents, they were indeed making preparations related to spaceships.
Sure enough, someone soon jumped out to refute him. “Your Excellency Fijis, if we are still harboring doubts about this matter, then aren’t we just wasting our time here?” The Hua nation’s recent technological breakthroughs were real. That this technology came from an exoplanet was the most reasonable explanation. Otherwise, there was no way to explain why they had achieved a great technological leap overnight while the rest of them had received no news at all.
After talking for a long time, not a single useful word was said.
Kaelen’s head ached. He took a gulp of wine and said, “Alright. We’ve stayed in the Hua nation for too long. The people here have always been cautious, and it’s difficult to get any clues from their words. Starting from tomorrow, I will return to Country A. I will make preparations on one hand and pay attention to the news from their side on the other.” This meant that Country A was also taking the stance that what they had said was true.
Fijis, who had just been speaking with great passion, nodded sheepishly and didn’t dare to speak again.
It really wasn’t a solution to always stay on their turf. And Kaelen was also confident that with the capabilities of his country’s intelligence agencies, as long as the Hua nation let down its guard or made a mistake in the chaos, they would have enough opportunities to find the answers he wanted.
So, when the leaders of the few smaller countries obsequiously stated that they would follow their big brother’s footsteps and also prepare to return home soon, Kaelen smiled meaningfully. “You don’t have to be in such a hurry to go back. After all, the scenery here is nice. For those who haven’t been here in a long time, you can enjoy it for a while longer.”
The moment he said this, the few of them exchanged a look and instantly understood his meaning, readily agreeing. This was him telling them to continue to stall the Hua nation here, to divert their attention. This was one of their common methods of cooperation over the years.
…
After ending her call with the top leader, Xia Anran also got into a car back to the villa. Ren Yi, as usual, stayed at the military region and would only be back the next day. She sat in the car, a little drowsy. It was already past nine at night. Although it wasn’t her usual bedtime, she was really tired after running around all day. And now, sitting in the soft and comfortable seat, with the experienced driver provided by the leaders driving so smoothly even on the bumpiest roads, and the air conditioning thoughtfully adjusted to the right temperature…
“Miss Xia, would you like a blanket?” the driver asked, seeing her eyes were almost too sleepy to open.
She nodded. He took out a not-so-thin blanket and gave it to her. The moment she wrapped herself in it, she let out a sigh of satisfaction. It was so comfortable.
“Our journey is about one or two hours. You can rest for a while,” the driver said as he drove steadily.
After thanking him, just as she was about to happily doze off, the phone in her pocket suddenly began to vibrate.
She sighed and took it out. She had thought it was another message from Ye Yuxing, but it was just the system, having a party by itself.
[The admin panel is about to be full! How can you be sleeping?!]
[Ahhh, get up and clear the memory! I’m about to crash!]
[It’s full, it’s full! It’s about to overflow…]
Xia Anran: “…”
“What’s wrong with you in the middle of the night?”
The system felt wronged.
[It’s all because of that documentary you uploaded! My comment section is about to explode!]
[Isn’t anyone going to do something about this?!]
Confused, she opened her personal space and clicked on the newly opened “Classic Hua Nation Film & TV” section. Then she was shocked awake by the view count, which was already soaring towards forty billion. The Interstellar Empire and the Beastman race had also joined her livestream now. Her peak viewership could reach about fifteen billion. How many times had they re-watched it to get to forty billion? Not to mention the comments and bullet messages below. Just looking at them gave her a headache, let alone the system feeling like it was about to explode.
She opened it and saw that the snowstorm of comments all had one meaning: Update the next episode immediately!!!
The system was miserable.
[Not only do I have to support the livestream data now, but also the video data! It’s so hard, sob, sob, sob.]
[The admin panel of this antique phone of yours is about to explode!]
She was beginning to understand why it wanted to buy a house. Its working environment was truly terrible.
She rubbed her nose. “Then what can I do? Delete these comments?”
“Read but don’t reply?”
[That’s not a long-term solution! How about you get a new phone?]
The system was secretly egging her on.
She thought about it seriously. Getting a new phone wasn’t a bad idea. This one was indeed a bit old.
Seeing her start to browse for new models online, the system got anxious again.
[The phones on your Earth are all the same, more or less! Buy one from the system! It’s cheap and good! You won’t regret it!]
She closed the shopping interface and looked at the system with a half-smile. “Trying to sell me something again, are you?” she said, closing her eyes. “No money. And no loans.”
System: […]
[Why are you so heartless!!! I’m not just doing it for myself! This crappy phone of yours is really affecting performance!]
[You don’t need a loan! The videos you post also have earnings, hehehe.]
[Although it’s not much, it’s enough to get a new phone. I’ve already picked out a basic model for you…]
Before it could finish, she had thrown the phone aside, pulled the blanket over her head, and was no longer paying attention to it. This thing had been getting a little too arrogant lately, always trying to get her to spend money for its own enjoyment.
The system was in a powerless rage, vibrating wildly on the side. The commotion was so great that even the driver couldn’t help but glance in the rearview mirror several times. “Miss Xia, your phone seems to be ringing nonstop.”
“It’s an old phone. It has a virus. It’s fine. It’s like a lunatic all day.”
[…]
After she said that, the system quieted down and went off to play somewhere else. Based on her understanding of it, it was probably going to cause more trouble, but she had no time to deal with it right now.
The system was quiet for the rest of the journey. She took a nap in the car and when she woke up, she was back at the villa in the capital. After thanking the driver, she had no energy to chat with Director Huang and the others. She washed up and went back to her room to rest. After all, there was a tough battle to be fought tomorrow.
At two o’clock the next afternoon, the epoch-making first video conference between the Hua nation and humanity from ten thousand years in the future officially began.