187: Chapter 187 The Order to Slay Ten Thousand Ships Arrives; Two Factions Race Against Time

"The dispute between your Longevity Faction and Tech Faction has been making those elders in the Senate increasingly impatient recently."

Cecilia looked at the two faction officials in front of her who were still at odds, merely having switched to a more respectful tone while continuing their verbal sparring.

Zhang Long pressed his lowered head down another half an inch.

"Lord Archon, the Longevity Faction has had no intention of disturbing the peace of the Senate from beginning to end; we will handle our differences with the Tech Faction ourselves."

Joshua also immediately chimed in, his tone at least two degrees lower than when he had retorted to Zhang Long just now.

"Lord Cecilia, the Tech Faction has always respected the authority of the Senate."

"If the elders need us to provide any supplementary arguments regarding the interstellar colonization plan, we can submit them at any time."

Within the Deep State, the Senate was the highest existence above all else.

The five Archons were responsible for executing decisions, while the decisions themselves came from the Senate.

Whenever the Senate intervened in any matter, it meant that the matter no longer belonged to internal disputes between factions,

but had risen to the level of the entire Deep State organizational structure, becoming a core affair that had to be ultimately adjudicated.

"The elders have discussed for a long time and believe that the concepts of both your factions—whether it is blockading Earth or interstellar colonization—seem to have a certain degree of logic."

"Since we cannot distinguish which is superior in reasoning, let us distinguish superiority through fists and kicks."

"This method is clearer, more intuitive, and fairer."

Zhang Long slowly brought the blue gloves he had been holding behind his back to the front and leaned his body slightly forward.

"May I ask, Lord Archon, does the Senate mean for us and the Tech Faction to directly demonstrate military force?"

Joshua also immediately raised his head, a flash of sharp light crossing the depths of his eyes.

"If the Senate permits, the Tech Faction can prove at any time..."

"The elders mean, naturally, not to have both sides fight each other; that would damage internal harmony and unity too much."

"Aren't the million fleets of the Grey Alien coming soon?"

"Therefore, the Senate has specially issued a 'Ten Thousand Fleet Slaying' order."

She paused between Zhang Long and Joshua, gently gathering the cuffs of her gray robe,

"At the time of the invasion by the million fleets of the Grey Alien, whichever of you, the Longevity Faction or the Tech Faction, can first destroy one hundred thousand starships of the Grey Alien in the shortest time,"

"then the Deep State will subsequently fully execute the long-term policies according to that faction's concept."

Zhang Long put the blue gloves back behind his back, straightened his waist, and his tone resumed his usual calmness and certainty.

"The Longevity Faction accepts the adjudication of the Senate."

"One hundred thousand ships—I will pave the entire asteroid belt with their wreckage, letting the fleet of the Zeta Star step on the ruins of their own hulls before flying into the Solar System."

Joshua likewise straightened his waist, placing his black gloves and blue gloves side by side in front of him, a grim arc flashing across the corners of his mouth.

"The Tech Faction does not need an asteroid belt as a graveyard."

"Our fleet will intercept and blow them to pieces halfway before they can fully form from the transition state."

"It is good that you agree." Cecilia did not look at them again, turned around and walked a few steps toward the courtyard.

That floating gate silently unfolded again in the night sky ahead of her,

and golden light steps cascaded down layer by layer.

Before stepping onto the first light step, she turned her head to look at the two men, her tone flat and certain,

"The final results of the Ten Thousand Fleet Slaying will be personally adjudicated by the Senate."

"Before that, no one is allowed to conduct any form of internal crossfire on the surface of the Earth again."

"Keep all your firepower and wait for the Grey Alien to come."

"All of you, go back."

Zhang Long and Joshua lowered their heads simultaneously and responded in unison.

Cecilia's figure ascended step by step on the golden light steps, finally disappearing behind the floating gate as the two door panels closed silently,

that huge spatial rift also vanished silently from the night sky at the exact same instant the door panels closed,

leaving behind only a patch of residual starlight that was still flickering slightly from the high temperature of the previous electric arc.

Zhang Long turned around, his gaze sweeping across Diana's face with a flat tone, but lacking the tit-for-tat tension he had when speaking to Joshua earlier.

"Return to Casablanca Manor."

"From now on, all combat-readiness resources of the Longevity Faction will be prioritized for the Ten Thousand Fleet Slaying."

"Regarding technological assistance, I will have a specialist deliver the first batch of new equipment lists directly into your hands."

Diana lowered her head.

Biden stood beside her without saying much, merely nodding slightly to Zhang Long.

But his chest rose and fell twice noticeably at that instant.

In order to defeat the Tech Faction in the Ten Thousand Fleet Slaying, the Longevity Faction would subsequently transfer all kinds of technological equipment and combat-readiness resources to his government regardless of the cost.

This meant that he no longer needed to be like before, waiting every time Zhang Long was in a good mood to be bestowed with a few pieces of low-end technological data.

This technological equipment would become hard achievements of his presidential term that no one could take away.

His re-election, his power, and his vision of extending his lifespan through the technology of the Longevity Faction would all gain the most solid support in this Senate-designated Ten Thousand Fleet Slaying.

Joshua turned around and walked between Prant and Musk, his tone likewise resuming its usual calmness.

"The rules of the Ten Thousand Fleet Slaying are completely equal to both sides."

"Whatever the Longevity Faction can produce, the Tech Faction can produce as well."

"From now on, concentrate all our energy, lay all the playable cards on the table, win this war, and what will be executed next is the interstellar colonization policy."

Prant nodded slightly, the excitement in his eyes even more intense than when he heard the polling data at the banquet earlier.

To win the Ten Thousand Fleet Slaying, the Tech Faction would continuously push equipment, burst technology, and lay out resources for him in the coming time.

All of these would become the confidence for him to defeat Biden, move into the White House, and usher in the era of human interstellar colonization.

...

Hollywood Hills, detached villa.

Zhang Yi leaned against the back of the sofa, the system interface in front of him freezing on the image of Cecilia turning around to step onto the golden light steps and disappearing behind the floating gate.

He put the coffee cup on the coffee table, gently tapping the rim of the cup with his fingers, and an extremely faint, satisfied arc characteristic of a behind-the-scenes manipulator rose at the corners of his mouth.

Those spatial rifts, floating gates, golden light steps, and the set of fluid armor and light sword handed to Diana through Zhang Long's hands—

from beginning to end, had cost him about over one million emotion points.

And after Cecilia's appearance, a new prompt for emotion points coming in popped up on the system interface, about one million.

On the surface, spending one million and getting one million back seemed like busywork for nothing.

But he knew better than anyone that this was just that brief calm before the storm arrived.

In order to become the ultimate winners in the Senate-designated "Ten Thousand Fleet Slaying" mission, the Longevity Faction and the Tech Faction

would subsequently frantically transport technological equipment and combat-readiness resources to their respective agents, Biden and Prant, regardless of the cost.

Every time this technological equipment made its debut in the public eye, every time it was captured by news camera lenses, and every time it triggered large-scale discussions and debates on social media, it would trigger fluctuations of millions of emotion points.

The in-and-out of over one million right now was merely an appetizer.

The real Manchu Han Imperial Feast would be when Biden and Prant, each bringing the top technological equipment of the Longevity Faction and the Tech Faction, collided head-on in front of media lenses,

that tsunami-level harvest where all of humanity was repeatedly washed over by shock, fear, hope, despair, and fanaticism collectively.

In the corner of the system interface, the monitoring screen on Biden's side began to update.

Zhang Yi shifted his gaze over there,

the "Ten Thousand Fleet Slaying" plan had officially started.

...

Virginia, Shenandoah Valley, Federal Emergency Management Agency Alternate Command Center.

This command center was built deep inside the Shenandoah National Park, inside a flattened granite mountain.

It was an alternate node built during the Cold War to maintain the basic operation of the Federal Government after the outbreak of nuclear war, and it had never appeared on any public maps or government facility lists.

At this moment, the entire command center had completed a comprehensive renovation in accordance with the highest security clearance level.

The four walls were lined with electromagnetic shielding copper mesh and multi-layer wave-absorbing materials, and all ventilation ducts were equipped with acoustic jammers, so that any form of eavesdropping equipment would completely fail here.

This was the highest security clearance level set specifically to deal with Yuanzi.

They had long known that Yuanzi was an advance intelligence device sent by the Zeta Star to Earth.

Although Yuanzi herself did not possess offensive capabilities, if every deployment detail of the Ten Thousand Fleet Slaying was acquired in advance by Yuanzi and transmitted back to the Zeta Star,

then before the million fleets of the Grey Alien entered the Solar System, they would make preparations in advance, and the entire Ten Thousand Fleet Slaying plan would collapse without a fight.

Therefore, this meeting must never be conducted in public.

Leaving any line of discussion minutes on white paper was equivalent to actively sending an encrypted communication copy to the Zeta Star.

At this moment, inside this top-secret conference room embedded deep within the mountain,

on both sides of a black stone table about twenty feet long, sat the highest-level officials from various core nodes of Washington's power pyramid and scientists from top research institutions across America.

President Joseph Biden sat at one end of the stone table, with Vice President Harris and Secretary of Defense Graves seated to his left and right respectively.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley, National Security Council Chair Evelyn Strauss, Secretary of State Victoria Monroe, Chief of Staff Madeleine Rasmussen, and National Security Advisor Ronald Sawyer were all present.

The scientist array was headed by National Academy of Sciences President Hartford,

DARPA Director Margaret Vaughan, Department of Energy Office of Science Director Chamberlain, Office of Science and Technology Policy Director Gillian Frost, and several chief scientists from national laboratories took their seats in order.

But the person with the highest status in the room at this moment was not the president.

The person with the highest status in the room was a woman sitting at the head of the other side of the stone table, Diana Hopkins.

Today she wore a minimalistly tailored dark gray suit, her hair neatly tied back, with an encrypted tablet and a few thick, unopened archives placed in front of her.

All eyes in the entire conference room were focused on her.