Deep Space Scavenging, Hand Over Alien Warships at the Beginning

Chapter 121 Earth Turmoil”Beep—”

There were no celebratory fireworks for the holidays.

In the same second, every connected screen across the globe—from the massive displays in New York’s Times Square to old mobile phones in remote African tribes, and even the smart TVs in every household—was forcibly cut off.

In their place, against a pitch-black background, appeared a line of scarlet countdown numbers that looked as if they were dripping with blood.

【Time until engagement: 89 days, 23 hours, 59 minutes, 12 seconds】

There was no explanation, no reassurance.

Only the artificial intelligence known as ”gaia” broadcasted a message across the globe in a cold, emotionless electronic voice: ”Warning, this is not a drill. Repeat, this is not a drill.”

Silence.

A deathly silence lasted for about ten seconds.

Immediately after, the virus known as ”panic,” arriving three months ahead of the Mechanical Papacy’s fleet, ignited the Earth first.

North America, San Francisco.

Flames engulfed the streets.

The hot-blooded crowd had now turned into beasts that had lost their reason.

”The apocalypse is here! The Daxia people are crazy! They want to turn the Earth into a battlefield!”

”Loot! Only by hoarding supplies can we survive!”

The supermarket’s glass doors were shattered by the crazed crowd, shelves were toppled, and everything—from canned goods and bottled water to useless luxury handbags—was frantically torn at by countless hands.

A woman holding a baby was knocked down into the stampeding crowd, her cries instantly drowned out by sirens and gunfire.

Europe, Paris.

A group of fanatics dressed in black robes occupied the Eiffel Tower plaza.

They held up inexplicable totems, which were simple sketches of the Mechanical Papacy’s warships.

”That is God! It is the God here to cleanse our sins!”

”Hand over Lin Yuan! Hand over the Heavenly Court! Beg for God’s forgiveness!”

They set themselves on fire and even began attacking the police maintaining order, shouting slogans of atonement while their eyes flashed with hysterical madness.

The thin paper screen of human nature, in the face of an existential catastrophe, was not even as sturdy as a piece of soaked toilet paper.

”Heavenly Court” fortress, core command hall.

Lin Yuan sat in the command chair, still holding that cup of slightly cool goji berry tea.

On the massive holographic screen, divided into hundreds of small windows, the chaos on the ground was being broadcast in real-time.

Chen Weiguo stood beside him, his brows furrowed into a ”river” shape, not even noticing that the cigarette in his hand had burned down to his knuckles.

”It’s chaotic, everything is chaotic.”

Chen Weiguo’s voice was hoarse.

”The crime rate in major global cities has soared by 4000% in the past two hours; logistics are paralyzed, and factories have shut down. Even within our own Daxia, some people have started...”

He paused, not finishing his sentence.

”People have started cursing me, haven’t they?”

Lin Yuan blew on his tea, his tone flat.

Chen Weiguo sighed and clicked on a video.

In the video, there was an elderly white man in a suit, his hair combed to a slick shine.

He sat in a luxurious European-style study, swirling a glass of red wine, and on the mantelpiece behind him sat a solid gold model of the ”Noah’s ark.”

Edward Morgan.

The head of a top Western financial conglomerate and the financial backer behind the so-called ”Free Federation.”

At this moment, he was facing the camera, conducting a global live stream in a tone of feigned compassion.

”...This is a war with no chance of winning. Lin Yuan, this arrogant dictator, has kidnapped the fate of all humanity! He wants us all to be buried with his ridiculous hero dream!”

”We cannot sit and wait for death! On behalf of the ’Humanity Seed Preservation Committee,’ I announce the launch of the ’ark project’! We will concentrate the remaining resources of the world to build one hundred light-speed starships, taking the best genes of humanity—scientists, artists, and elites with proof of wealth—and leaving Earth!”

”As for the poor... oh, God bless you, you can stay on Earth and act as glorious cannon fodder for Lin Yuan’s war.”

In the live stream chat, the bullet comments were refreshing frantically.

Some were cursing, but more people were asking in despair: ”How much for a ticket?” ”Take me with you!”

”Heh.”

Lin Yuan looked at the old man and suddenly laughed.

”Want to take the elites away? Leave the mess to the common people?”

”Commander, this kind of thing, even on Earth, which is only a 0.7-level civilization, would get someone strung up on a lamppost, right?”

Chen Weiguo’s face was livid.

”They control nearly 60% of the West’s energy and heavy industry. If they truly go on strike or even commit sabotage, our logistical supply lines will be cut in half. Using the military to suppress them now? I’m afraid it will cause an even greater backlash.”

”Suppress?”

Lin Yuan shook his head, put down his teacup, and a trace of cold mockery flashed in his eyes.

”That’s too low-level.”

”gaia.”

”Here, Commander.”

gaia, dressed in a Gothic lolita outfit, instantly appeared in mid-air, even holding a virtual grim reaper scythe in her hand, clearly having been unhappy with that old man for a long time.

”Check the assets under this Edward’s name, and all the accounts for that ’ark project’.”

”Locked.”

gaia licked the corner of her mouth.

”Including his encrypted accounts at Swiss banks and control over all smart devices on his private island in the Caribbean.”

Lin Yuan leaned back in his chair, his fingers tapping gently on the armrest.

”Since he wants to leave Earth so badly, let’s grant his wish.”

”For someone who wants to be a deserter, there’s no point in keeping money, right?”

”Freeze all his assets and transfer them to the ’Heavenly Court’ wartime fund. Cut off the energy supply to all his businesses—especially the villa he is currently in.”

”Also,” a cruel arc hooked onto the corner of Lin Yuan’s mouth, ”help him post a bounty on the global dark web. I want to see how the ’mob’ he usually exploits will treat this ’elite’ when he becomes a pauper.”

”Command executed.”

On the screen, Edward Morgan’s live stream suddenly flickered.

The once-bright study was instantly plunged into darkness.

Immediately after, the fully intelligent, bulletproof door made a ”click” sound as it locked, trapping him firmly inside.

”What’s happening? Where are the lights? Bodyguards! Bodyguards!”

Before the old man could finish his panicked screams, a line of large text suddenly popped up on the computer screen in front of him:

【Your asset balance: 0.00】

【Your status: Traitor】

【Remaining survival time: Depends on when your neighbors break down the door.】

The next second, the live stream signal was forcibly cut off.

Chen Weiguo watched this scene with complex eyes.

He knew that from this moment on, Lin Yuan was no longer just the soldier charging into battle; he had truly become a chess player.

A tyrant who would not hesitate to get his hands covered in blood for the sake of victory.

”Report!”

A communications officer suddenly screamed, breaking the deathly silence of the command room.

”The Equatorial One space elevator base is under armed attack!”

Chen Weiguo turned around abruptly.

”Who did it?!”

”It’s the mercenaries of the ’Free Federation’! And... and a large number of incited civilians!”

The communications officer’s voice was trembling.

”They... they number over one hundred thousand! They have breached the defense line and are seizing the high-strength nano-carbon tubes and fusion fuel being transported to the ’Heavenly Court’!”

The screen image switched.

The Equatorial One base in the Pacific Ocean was ablaze.

Tens of thousands of people were swarming the hundred-meter-high base walls like ants.

Even though the garrison had fired warning shots and even used tear gas, under the agitation of mercenaries from the ”ark faction” mixed in with the crowd, the crazed mob could not be stopped.

Some were driving trucks into the gates, others were attacking the guard towers with Molotov cocktails.

Even worse, several armed helicopters with unidentified markings were strafing the garrison at low altitude.

”Commander! The garrison brigade requests permission to fire!” the communications officer roared.

”If we don’t counterattack, the base will fall! Once the supply of raw materials is cut off, our fighter production line will come to a halt!”

Chen Weiguo’s hands were gripping the edge of the table so hard his knuckles were white.

Those were one hundred thousand civilians down there!

Although incited, they were still living human beings!

If he ordered a massacre, Daxia’s international reputation...

”Transfer control.”

Just as Chen Weiguo hesitated for that one second, a cold voice rang in his ear.

Lin Yuan stood up.

He did not look at Chen Weiguo, but looked directly at gaia.

”gaia, ’Heavenly Court’ close-in weapon system array, C-sector 1 through 10, charge.”

Chen Weiguo’s pupils contracted sharply.

”Lin Yuan! What are you doing?! That’s a close-in weapon system! That’s for shooting down missiles! One shell...”

”One shell, and it’s a no-man’s-land the size of a football field.”

Lin Yuan calmly finished the sentence.

He walked to the massive floor-to-ceiling window, overlooking the blue planet beneath his feet.

From this height, that chaos, madness, and blood were nothing more than insignificant dust.

”Benevolence does not command an army.”

Lin Yuan’s voice was very soft, yet weighed a thousand jun.

”We only have three months. Every gram of fuel, every ton of metal, is for the soldiers on the front line to save their lives. I cannot let my soldiers fight aliens with fire pokers just because of a bunch of idiots.”

”Since they don’t want to live, then don’t.”

”Fire.”

gaia had no expression on her exquisite little face, only absolute execution.

”Command confirmed. Target: 3-kilometer area around the Equatorial One base. Executing ’cleanup’ procedure.”

Earth, Pacific Equator.

On the noisy battlefield, a mercenary leader was carrying a rocket launcher, grinning as he aimed at the base’s gate.

”Charge! Once we loot the supplies, we can get on the ship! Don’t be afraid, the Daxia people won’t dare to actually shoot and slaugh—”

He didn’t finish his sentence.

Because it was dawn.

The originally dark night sky was suddenly pierced by ten straight beams of light that seemed to come from the gods.

There was no sound of an explosion.

Because the speed of sound could not catch up with the speed of the tungsten alloy kinetic energy shells.

”Szzzz————!”

That sound was like a red-hot iron pressed into butter.

The crowd charging the base looked up in terror, only to see a golden rainstorm.

That was the ”Heavenly Court” fortress’s close-in weapon system—high-energy electromagnetic kinetic shells with a firing rate of 11,000 rounds per minute.

Ten whips of fire descended from the sky, accurately lashing the open ground around the base.

Dirt, rocks, armored vehicles, and even those few armed helicopters were all torn apart and vaporized by the violent kinetic energy the instant they touched the light beams.

The earth trembled, and the ocean boiled.

Just five seconds.

A charred trench five meters deep and thirty meters wide appeared around the base.

Inside the trench, nothing remained except for vitrified rock.

Not even bodies remained.

The hundred thousand crazed people, in front of that chasm, were as if hit by a freezing spell, braking their steps dead.

That fear originating from the depths of the soul instantly froze all fanaticism.

This was a dimensionality reduction strike.

This was the wrath of God from 36,000 kilometers above.

”Heavenly Court” command room.

Lin Yuan watched the instantly silent battlefield on the screen and turned around with an expressionless face.

”gaia, connect to the global broadcast. Force access to all channels.”

The next second, Lin Yuan’s cold, stern face appeared once again on every surviving screen across the globe.

This time, there was no more hot-bloodedness or banter in his eyes, only a suffocating majesty.

He did not roar; his voice was even somewhat low.

”I am Lin Yuan.”

”I don’t care if you want to build an ark or worship aliens; that is your freedom. But before you die, don’t stand in my way.”

”From now on, Daxia issues ’Wartime Order Number One’.”

Lin Yuan held up one finger.

”First, anyone who sabotages production, loots supplies, or incites deserters, regardless of identity or nationality, will be considered guilty of crimes against humanity.”

”Executed on the spot.”

”Second, the ’Heavenly Court’ fortress’s main cannon has been disengaged from safety, locking onto one hundred and twenty key industrial zones around the globe. If anyone wants to try it, you are welcome to.”

”Finally.”

Lin Yuan paused, his gaze seemingly piercing through the screen and into the heart of everyone harboring ulterior motives.

”Those who want to live, report to the nearest recruitment center at 8:00 tomorrow morning. Earth does not support idlers.”

”Communication ended.”

The screen went black.

The world was quiet.

Chen Weiguo watched Lin Yuan’s back for a long time before trembling as he took a cigarette from his pocket, lit it, and took a hard drag.

”You kid...”

”Now, the whole world is cursing you.”

Lin Yuan didn’t look back, only watching that endless deep space.

”Let them curse. As long as we can win, I can bear this blame.”

”After all... in this world, good people don’t live long.”