185: Chapter 185 Panic in America: Internal Rifts Intensify
As the warm current of the "Civilization Cornerstone Plan" quietly permeated the lands of the Human Civilization Guardian Alliance member states, on the other side of the ocean, in that land once self-proclaimed as the "City upon a Hill," what surged was a bone-chilling cold current and a panic bordering on boiling point.
Washington, Capitol Hill.
Inside the solemn classical building, the atmosphere was like a pot of boiling water about to explode. The temporarily assembled "Post-War Emergency Committee" was holding a closed-door meeting, but the arguing could almost pierce through the thick oak doors.
"... This is betrayal! A naked betrayal!" An assemblyman who was a spokesperson for traditional energy giants, hair combed meticulously, waved a report with a red face and thick neck. "Look at these data! Our shale oil extraction costs have dropped to a historic low, but the international market oil price... has already fallen below the extraction cost line! All because of that damn, ubiquitous 'community fusion reactor'! And our medical group stocks have evaporated by seventy percent over the past three months! Just because of the rumors of those 'nanobots'! Our agricultural companies..."
"Enough, Assemblyman Johnson!" The interim chairman of the committee, former Secretary of State Wilkins, pounded his gavel hard. His complexion was even more sallow than a few months ago, his eye bags heavy, but deep within his eyes still flickered unwillingness and calculation. "Complaining won't solve the problem! What we are discussing now is how to deal with... the increasingly loud voices within the country."
He signaled his assistant to project several public opinion poll data onto the screen. The shocking curves were almost dropping vertically—the approval rating for the current government and the Emergency Committee, and the recognition of the policy of "maintaining independence and not joining the Human Civilization Guardian Alliance." In contrast, the curves soaring like rockets were the proportion of the public who believed "joining the Human Civilization Guardian Alliance is the only way to survive," and the longing for technologies such as "high-yield seeds" and "new medical treatments" provided by the Human Civilization Guardian Alliance.
Even more glaring was the real-time scrolling social media sentiment summary next to it, with shocking keywords:
#I want to live#
#Why can't my child get nanobots?#
#Hunger marketing? No, it's a policy of waiting to die!#
#Human Civilization Guardian Alliance save my mom!#
"The public is short-sighted! They only see the petty gains right in front of them!" Another representative from the traditional military-industrial complex said coldly. "They don't understand at all what joining the Human Civilization Guardian Alliance means! It means we have to hand over military command, accept the technological rule of that Lin Mo and the Dragon Country behind him. Our industrial system, our values, everything we have will be devoured! We will no longer be a great country, just a... province of the Human Civilization Guardian Alliance!"
"But if our people die because they can't get treatment, and riot because of food rationing problems, what 'greatness' will we have left?" A relatively young voice sounded. It was Alice, a newly elected assemblyman from the West Coast tech district. She had once been a rising star in Silicon Valley, and at this moment, her face carried obvious exhaustion and anxiety. "Gentlemen, be realistic! Our remaining space forces are still floating in low Earth orbit, and most of our technical backbone has been poached by the Human Civilization Guardian Alliance or has defected voluntarily. Our fusion research is still stuck on paper, while others have already built community energy centers! Our biotechnology is still in the laboratory stage, while others have already started using nanobots to treat cancer! The gap isn't narrowing; it's widening at the speed of light! What are we using to 'maintain independence'? The corpses of the public?"
The meeting room was dead silent. Alice's words were like a cold dagger, piercing through the last layer of self-deceiving arrogance of the old forces.
Wilkins' fingers tapped the table unconsciously. He knew what Alice said was the truth. Since the victory of the "soaring heavens" and the launch of the "Civilization Cornerstone Plan," the Human Civilization Guardian Alliance had demonstrated not just military potential, but a comprehensive, dimensionality-reduction strike-style model of civilization development. The ability to quickly and universally convert cutting-edge technology into livelihood dividends was lethally attractive to the general public.
What was even more terrifying was the brain drain. Over the past few months, the number of top scientists, engineers, and doctors "slipping" to the Dragon Country, the Polar Bear Country, and even Europa (countries that had deeply integrated into the Human Civilization Guardian Alliance) had grown exponentially. They took away not just their brains, but hope. What remained in the country, besides the vested interests tied to old benefits, were ordinary people full of despair and anger.
"Perhaps... we can try contact, limited cooperation?" A centrist assemblyman said tentatively. "For example, only introduce agricultural and medical technology, and exchange resources or markets for..."
"Naive!" Assemblyman Johnson interrupted rudely. "The 'civilization cornerstone' of the Human Civilization Guardian Alliance is a whole set of systems! If you accept the seeds, you have to accept its planting standards and agricultural management system, then accept its logistics and distribution network, and finally, accept its political influence! This is boiling a frog in warm water!"
"Then what do you suggest we do?" Alice glared back without showing weakness. "Continue to block the news? Tell the public that nanobots are a scam and high-yield seeds have genetic pollution? Do you think anyone believes that now? Mrs. Miller in the next state, terminal pancreatic cancer, went to Mexico, applied for a clinical trial spot through the channels of the Human Civilization Guardian Alliance that just joined, and now the tumor has shrunk by eighty percent! The news simply cannot be blocked! The public is not stupid!"
The argument escalated again. The old forces stubbornly wanted to hold onto their last fortresses and interests, while the clear-headed ones saw the imminent survival crisis and the boiling public opinion.
Just as the meeting reached a deadlock, Wilkins' personal assistant hurried in and whispered a few words in his ear.
Wilkins' face turned livid instantly, and he stood up abruptly: "What?! When did this happen?!"
"Just an hour ago, sir. The scale is very large, the police can no longer control it, and the National Guard is being mobilized."
Wilkins walked quickly to the window and pulled open the heavy curtains. In the distance, in the direction of the National Mall, there was a faint roar, and smoke and flashing police lights could even be seen.
"Gentlemen," he turned around, his voice hoarse, "I'm afraid we don't have time to argue slowly."
He signaled his assistant to cut the live footage into the meeting room screen.
In the footage, tens of thousands of people gathered at the National Mall, holding crude signs that read:
"GIVE US GDA TECH!"
"CURE, NOT WAR!"
"WE WANT TO LIVE!"
Among the crowd were elderly people in wheelchairs, parents holding sick children, and haggard workers. Their faces had no fanaticism for political demands, only the most simple, primal desire for survival and health. On the podium, a retired veteran who had lost all his hair due to cancer chemotherapy and had a hoarse voice was shouting: "I have shed blood for this country! Now I just want to live! Why should we be deprived of the hope that others can have?!"
The scene was beginning to spiral out of control. Some people were throwing debris at the cordon, and the police shield formation was swaying precariously.
The meeting room was silent. All the assemblymen stared blankly at the screen; that boiling public opinion was like magma, scorching the foundation of power they thought was solid.
"How... how dare they..." Assemblyman Johnson muttered, his face drained of color.
"What do they have to not dare?" Alice said coldly, "When just staying alive has become a luxury."
Wilkins closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he opened them again, only cold determination and a trace of imperceptible madness remained in his eyes.
"Notify the National Guard, they can use non-lethal weapons to disperse them if necessary, but absolutely do not let the situation deteriorate further, especially no deaths, that would be the last straw that breaks us."
He scanned the assemblymen present, his voice low and dangerous: "Gentlemen, the rules of the game have changed. Soft tactics won't work, and hard tactics... we can't afford to be hard for the time being. However, we might have one last card."
"What card?" someone asked.
Wilkins did not answer directly, but looked at the distant sky outside the window, as if gazing at the sea of stars that was being controlled by the Human Civilization Guardian Alliance.
"Contact our 'old friends' in Europa and... elsewhere." He instructed his assistant, "It's time to discuss 'Plan B'. If joining the Human Civilization Guardian Alliance means losing everything, then... perhaps we can make sure no one gets anything."
His words were like a venomous snake spitting its tongue, causing the temperature in the meeting room to plummet.
Alice looked at Wilkins' gloomy face, and a chill rose from the bottom of her heart. The counterattack of the old forces might be more desperate and... reckless than imagined.
The shouts from the National Mall came faintly through the screen, forming a jarring symphony with the cold calculations inside the meeting room.
The internal tearing of the Pretty Country, under the external stimulation of the Human Civilization Guardian Alliance's technological dividends and the internal pressure of the survival crisis, was sliding toward the edge of the abyss at an irreversible speed. And some people would rather light the fuse and perish with everyone than see the power and interests in their hands turn to dust under the sunlight of the new era.