Chapter 92
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Chapter 92: Those Willing to Help
The matter of the cycle of civilization is now classified as the highest secret within the Space Administration’s Time Bureau. Very few people are aware of the truth. Apart from Ying Zhao and Hu Jiao, who are still in the Time Bureau, only Zhu Long in the Bureau Office has learned about the information brought back by the exploration team from thirty thousand years ago through cross-time communication with Ying Zhao.
Since this classified information has not even been made public within the Bureau Office, the privileged few among the various organizations under the World Unity Organization, including the high-ranking members of the Special Operations Department, remain unaware. Among the leaders of the other organizations, only Wen Yang knows about these matters.
The mysteries surrounding the advanced technology from thirty thousand years ago are framed by the Space Administration as ongoing investigations of the data brought back by the Shan Hai Jing, as they are still sorting through it.
Although the matter of the cycle is tightly sealed, Wen Yang has privately discussed the coverage of radiation protection agents and the conditions for antibody generation with Yao Chi, along with the impending solar flares, which have been communicated in severity by the Astronomy Bureau of the Space Administration to the World Unity Organization and all affiliated organizations.
The news of an impending global catastrophe initially circulated only among the high-ranking members of the World Unity Organization and various nations. However, with the spread of the mobile virus crafted by Xue Zheng reaching every corner of the globe, the entire situation began to spiral out of the control of national decision-makers; it soon became impossible to keep it a secret.
Some relatively stable countries have begun actively preparing to expand shelters and other measures, continuously issuing official announcements regarding the progress and opening online applications for local refuge points.
Although there are still unavoidable dark operations by some privileged classes, overall, there is a proactive response, and significant widespread panic and riots have not occurred. In fact, many people online calmly posted about "meeting the apocalypse, missing work, and the planet exploding."
It is evident that people exhausted by their daily work would rather wake up the next day to find the apocalypse has arrived than open their eyes to realize they are late for work.
However, places like the Federation, which have suddenly been forced to disband and are engulfed in chaos, do not react so calmly to this news, especially the already declared independent Southern Federation and Western Federation. Both sides have clashed in the shadows and openly several times over resources, even attempting to make moves against the Alliance and the Northern Continent.
Even though Yao Chi is aware of the radiation protection agents and knows that nuclear radiation diffusion and solar flares are inevitable, she and her Special Operations Department continue to strive to maintain peace before the apocalypse. For if a comprehensive war involving multiple nations occurs, the world would be destroyed by a portion of people before the solar flares even strike.
Although the Special Operations Department constantly preaches peace, Yao Chi understands well that a world ruled by those people can never truly be peaceful; instead, it is more likely to become a wasteland.
Her original plan was to use the Southern Federation’s declaration of war and smuggling of supplies as a pretext to forcibly take over the Presidential Office in the Southern Federation under the name of the World Unity Organization. First, she would eliminate the financial conglomerates behind it, then deal with the Western Federation and the Northern Continent, stabilizing the areas with the most variables globally, allowing other nations on different continents to avoid the need to split their attention while expanding shelters due to worries about foreign invaders.
However, she had not anticipated that the Prometheus-355, filled to the brim with carefully hoarded resources by the Southern Federation, would be hijacked by Wen Jing along the way.
Of course, Wen Jing and Xue Zheng have their reasons, as the radiation protection agents have been deployed, but only a small portion of people have truly benefited. It won’t be long before those who fail to develop antibodies collapse in droves under the amplified radiation from solar flares.
Therefore, what matters most now is to ensure that the people from each continent who can survive have their bases and adequate resources without triggering a full-scale nuclear war.
The Federation was indeed a destabilizing factor for the world, but since the second collapse and the fall of the Euyun family, the Federation’s military capabilities have significantly dwindled, reducing its threat to the world. Now, their internal conflicts, whether in the Southern Federation or Western Federation, do not possess the strength to initiate a global nuclear war.
And while this hijacking situation may provoke the anger of the Southern Federation, the presence of the Western Federation keeps them from mounting an offensive eastward. After all, retaliation would yield no benefits and only delay their efforts to plunder resources elsewhere.
According to Wen Jing’s original plan, they intended to hide the Prometheus-355 at another abandoned airport after unloading all the supplies tomorrow. The onboard tracking devices had all been turned off, leaving the Southern Federation no resources to devote to investigating this area.
After hearing their plan, Yao Chi fell silent for a moment and then slowly spoke. “It seems you have given up on most people.”
“You can’t save everyone.” Since their last meeting had not been long ago, Yao Chi now appeared significantly more haggard. Wen Jing calmly looked at her. “No one should bear such a responsibility, so we can only help those willing to help. As long as we ensure we can rebuild civilization after the disaster, that is enough.”
Yao Chi quietly watched her for a long while before abruptly asking, “What is the current research progress of the asexual reproduction laboratory in the neutral state?”
Wen Jing smiled, “The progress is very smooth.”
After acknowledging this, Yao Chi nodded, and silence fell in the room. Just then, a knock came from the side; it was Dr. Elsie returning. She knocked three times before opening the door and poking her head in with a smile. “I hope I’m not interrupting you.”
Yao Chi replied, “Not at all. You’ve returned just in time; we just finished our discussion.” After speaking, she stood up and looked around at the others. “Make sure to move the cargo plane to a secret location first thing tomorrow.”
Dr. Elsie quickly agreed, then smiled as she escorted Yao Chi out. Wen Jing and Xue Zheng followed behind until they reached the front gate of the shelter. Yao Chi turned back, waved her hand, gave a deep look at Wen Jing and Xue Zheng standing inside the gate, then turned to get into the vehicle waiting in front, sent off by Dr. Elsie’s team to leave the armed-controlled area.
Once Dr. Elsie finished tidying up the various minor tasks, she led Wen Jing and Xue Zheng to the temporary room arranged for them. Because space was limited, they were only given a small room with two single beds.
Dr. Elsie said apologetically, “There’s still a portion of the air raid shelter that hasn’t been cleared out yet, and the current situation is indeed tight. Everyone is temporarily rotating between two-person and multi-person accommodations, and I’m included too; no exceptions can be made. I hope you don’t mind.”
Wen Jing smiled at her. “It’s fine; we only need a place to manage a night’s rest. You should get some rest too.”
After Dr. Elsie left, Wen Jing closed the door and turned to see Xue Zheng already lying on the left bed, swinging her feet in the air while savoring a nutritional supplement she brought back from the Ponsuo Tribe.
After finishing a bag in one go and folding the empty packet neatly, Xue Zheng sighed, “Tomorrow we’re officially closing the time channel from thirty thousand years ago, right?”
Wen Jing sat down on the empty bed beside her. “Yes, Ying Zhao should send a message once the closure is detected tomorrow.”
The two didn’t say much more, having a simple meal and washing up before falling asleep in their clothes.
The next day, when they woke up, they saw that people outside were already bustling about. Dr. Elsie informed them that the remaining supplies from the cargo plane were nearly unloaded. In about an hour, they would completely empty the cargo bay of the Prometheus-355, and Wen Jing realized they had started moving as soon as dawn broke.
Once all the supplies were unloaded, Wen Jing and Xue Zheng bid farewell to Dr. Elsie and the others, then moved the cargo plane to the previously confirmed abandoned airport hangar for hiding. Afterward, they retrieved the fighter jet they had flown in and left the Eastern Federation.
After the long flight and several engagements in shooting down enemy aircraft yesterday, the fuel of their fighter jet had already sounded warnings by the time they landed.
Fortunately, the Prometheus-355 had plenty of fuel, and it used the same nuclear fuel commonly used by the Federation. They had refueled the cargo plane before setting out. However, they could not replenish the shells used yesterday, so they would need to be more discreet on the way to the Northern Continent.
The Northern Continent had not been peaceful in recent days; it could even be said to be more chaotic than the Federation. But this chaos hadn’t just begun; it had persisted for many years, mostly stemming from internal geopolitical friction characterized by ethnic struggles and conflicts over beliefs. Only a few areas could be considered barely stable.
As Wen Jing and her team approached the airspace surrounding the Northern Continent, smoke suddenly arose from what had initially been a relatively stable flight route in the intelligence reports.
They planned to switch to another fighter jet before entering the airspace to avoid drawing attention to themselves in a Federation aircraft. As they got closer to the mainland, Wen Jing spotted a solitary fighter jet ahead.
As she carefully observed whether there was any value in it being hijacked, a surface-to-air missile struck that lone fighter jet. The explosion sent debris flying everywhere, scraping their fighter jet’s exterior and causing them to hear the painful sound of shrapnel slicing through their fuselage.
"It seems a sudden battle has erupted here. Our exterior is damaged, and we can’t activate stealth mode anymore. We need to switch jets quickly," Wen Jing quickly said to Xue Zheng, who was sitting behind her.
Xue Zheng scanned the surroundings and pointed at two fighter jets below them. “Let’s grab that one!”
Wen Jing looked down; it wasn’t too far, but the clouds below were thick, making the situation unclear. She couldn’t discern which faction those two fighter jets belonged to. They appeared similar to the model of the one just shot down, so if there were other pursuing fighter jets nearby, attempting a hijack could be very dangerous.
However, their current fighter jet was damaged, and it wouldn’t be long before they would be targeted, so a swift change was necessary. Without hesitation, she quickly descended, used the remaining shells to strike the nearby escort aircraft, then opened the cockpit and signaled for Xue Zheng to jump out.
At that moment, Xue Zheng had just finished off the two pilots with her laser gun and was spreading her wings to climb toward the cockpit. Suddenly, an artillery shell appeared below, striking her left wing.
The equipment she wore immediately issued a warning: "Wing Suit Damage 35%."
Wen Jing saw this unfold and activated the scanner to locate the origin of the artillery shell, but the clouds were too thick. Xue Zheng couldn’t stall the fighter jet below for too long, so she made a decisive call, abandoning that fighter jet and leaping downwards herself.
Once they both eliminated the pilots in that fighter jet and were about to cross into the cockpit, another artillery shell was fired from below, hitting Wen Jing’s right wing. Xue Zheng acted quickly, pushing Wen Jing into the cockpit just before another shell came in and hit her other wingtip.
"Wing Suit Damage 55%."
Xue Zheng was initially half-hanging on the outside of the fighter jet with her wing suit. She could still hold on at 35% damage, but after being hit again, the wing suit quickly became unable to support her, dragging her downwards.
When Wen Jing turned around upon entering the cockpit and found Xue Zheng hadn’t followed, she leaned out to grab her but came up empty.
She saw Xue Zheng, with her wings unable to retract, plummet into the clouds below.
