202: Chapter 202 The Power Struggle Encounters Internal Resistance

Biden tapped his fingers lightly on the tabletop.

"Everyone here, do you have any good ideas?"

The entire conference room fell into a deep and prolonged silence.

Minister of Defense Graves spread his thick palms flat on the tabletop, his lips pressed tightly together. He wanted to speak several times, but ultimately only shook his head slowly.

Harris placed the coffee cup in her hand back onto the tabletop, the bottom of the cup hitting the ceramic saucer with a very slight crisp sound, and then remained silent.

Chief of Staff Madeleine Rasmussen and Sawyer exchanged a glance,

in that look, there were no backup plans that could be brought out for on-the-spot discussion, only a mutual helplessness that they had long tacitly understood.

Mark Milley spun his inseparable tactical pen around his fingers several times, placed it on the tabletop, and sighed slightly.

Everyone present was clear that

Prant was able to leak information so unscrupulously because standing behind him was the Deep State Tech Faction.

Furthermore, the direct conflict between the Longevity Faction and the Tech Faction had been forcibly frozen by the "Ten Thousand Ship Slash" order issued by the Senate.

Now whoever made the first move against the other side's people would be openly defying the Senate's ruling.

This path simply would not work.

Alan Holt slowly closed the meeting minutes in front of him, which had been synchronized and transmitted back from United Nations headquarters,

and raised his eyes. His tone still maintaining his customary calmness and precision, but everyone present could hear a trace of unprecedented sharpness from the rhythm of his speech.

"At present, Prant's playing style is a dead end for us."

"The Longevity Faction has issued a ban forbidding us from revealing the existence of the Deep State to the outside world, but the Tech Faction has not issued the same ban to Prant."

"We cannot say anything, yet Prant can keep talking."

"As time goes on, with one growing while the other wanes, domestic public opinion will only become increasingly unfavorable to us."

Biden lifted his crossed hands from the tabletop, placed them on the armrests, leaned forward slightly, and spoke in a steady tone, yet every word carried a chill that had bottomed out after being suppressed for a very long time.

"Alan, speak directly."

Alan Holt pushed those United Nations meeting minutes to the center of the tabletop. His tone remained unhurried, but the blade in his phrasing was beginning to outline itself.

"Since the domestic path is impassable, let us take the international path."

"Currently, countries like John, Gaul, Mao Bear, Ah San, and Sakura have formed a huge momentum at the United Nations."

"Under the righteous banner of 'a formidable enemy is before us, and all humanity should unite', they are demanding that we publicly share the technological assistance of the Deep State."

"These countries each have their own calculations:"

"John and Gaul want a share of the pie, Sakura wants the qualification to survive on borrowed time, Ah San wants chips to simultaneously lift external threats and internal collapse, and Mao Bear wants to recover the platinum mine agreement previously taken away by Diana with interest."

"However, inside the United Nations Security Council chamber, they have temporarily formed an extremely rare multi-country joint pressure front."

Minister of Defense Graves slammed a palm onto the tabletop, causing the repeatedly circulated United Nations meeting minutes with curled corners in front of him to jump half an inch, his voice hoarse and undisguised:

"Do these countries have any shame left?"

"Half of our armed task force was pierced through when Hoover Dam was bombed and in Long Island by Solomon's Nano-Carapace, and Diana single-handedly charged into the Mao Bear positions carrying a light saber—these costs were bought with our lives!"

"By what right are they now holding up the banner of all humanity to split the spoils?"

Mark Milley placed his thick, heavy palms on the tabletop, his tone steady and suppressing restraint:

"The banner they are holding is indeed all humanity."

"The scene of Trisolaris being destroyed was pushed to the entire world simultaneously by Yuanzi, and the Zeta people did not favor any country."

"Therefore, from a factual level, this is not just a crisis for the Lighthouse Country alone; it truly is a survival issue for all humanity."

"This is also their diplomatic leverage."

Harris placed the coffee cup back onto the saucer, her tone cold and acerbic:

"They use all humanity as leverage, yet the other end of the leverage pries open the technological assistance our side obtained from the Longevity Faction."

"This business is certainly calculated well."

Alan Holt waited until they had all vented their anger one by one before continuing:

Hawthorne had temporarily suppressed this matter at the United Nations.

He opened another briefing labeled "On-site Response Records of the Permanent Representative of the United States of America to the United Nations" and pushed it to the center of the tabletop,

"From beginning to end, Hawthorne answered all questioning with only one sentence:"

"We do not know what the Deep State is, we do not know what the Longevity Faction is, we do not know what the Tech Faction is, and we have never received high-civilization technological assistance from unknown sources. All the above accusations have no factual basis."

"No matter how much evidence the Mao Bear representative brought out, no matter how the Ah San representative roared, and no matter how John and Gaul repeatedly pressed, Hawthorne always used the same smile and repeated that exact same sentence."

"Later on, the Mao Bear representative directly smashed a fist onto the table and roared in English toward the hall dome, 'Why don't you go jump off this building?'"

"Hawthorne still wore that expression and repeated that sentence once more."

This remark elicited a few sporadic, suppressed sneers.

But the laughter did not last long.

Because Alan Holt's next turning point was already lingering on his lips.

Biden gently closed his fingers resting on the armrest into a fist, looking at Alan Holt with a gaze that had already anticipated the other party's entire subsequent logical layout.

"You want to take the international route; how specifically should we do it?"

Alan Holt closed the United Nations meeting minutes in front of him again, placed both hands flat on the tabletop, and switched his tone back to his habitual intelligence-analysis rhythm:

"Since we can no longer salvage domestic public opinion in the short term, we might as well cast our gaze outward."

"Just taking advantage of this node where countries like John, Gaul, Mao Bear, Ah San, and Sakura want us to make technological assistance public, we can transform the international desire for high-civilization technology into chips for us to consolidate our world hegemony."

"No matter how much Prant's leaks say and no matter how true they sound, they cannot directly turn into US dollars and oil, nor can they turn into orders and jobs."

"However, the benefits brought by world hegemony are concrete and real."

"As long as this matter can be accomplished, voters will naturally return to our side."

After he finished speaking, Mark Milley's eyes lit up immediately. He raised his hands that had been resting on his knees and spread them flat on the tabletop, lowering his tone, but every word carried a decisiveness that required no extra analysis:

"This method is feasible!"

"No matter how much Prant talks, he cannot talk out a single greenback."

"The benefits brought by world hegemony are what is hard; I have seen too much of this."

"As long as we re-dominate the distribution arrangements for high-civilization technological assistance on the international stage, these benefits will repeatedly wash over all levels of society: military-industrial orders, energy quotas, tax-free access quotas—every single one of them can be turned into solid cash and votes."

Harris placed the coffee cup on the edge of the saucer and nodded along.

Evelyn Strauss raised her ten fingers that had been clasped together on her knees and placed them on the tabletop, nodding along as well.

Then, Minister of Defense Graves placed those thick, heavy palms back onto the tabletop once more. A sneer hung at the corners of his mouth, but the sarcasm in his tone carried a highly experienced submission to political laws.

"Wherever the interests lie, the voters' ballots lie. They only ever look at interests."

He was the first to speak out in support, and after a period of silence, the remaining few also successively leaned their bodies slightly toward the center of the tabletop.

Just at this moment, Secretary of State Victoria Monroe suddenly spoke.

Her tone remained steady and precise, but every word carried undisguised scrutiny.

"Uniting countries like John and Gaul requires us to share the technological assistance we obtained from the Longevity Faction. This matter cannot be bypassed logically."

"My responsibility is to remind everyone present:"

"Those engineering blueprints, superconducting formulas, Behemoth Factor, and gravity well coordinates that we obtained—every single one of them was fought for by us through a narrow escape from death."

"Now we are going to let them be circulated under a multilateral framework?"

She spread her hands out and placed them on the two edges of the tabletop,

"Absolutely impossible."

Victoria Monroe's words were like a sharp knife, directly cleaving the international strategic consensus that had just gathered into two halves.

The high-ranking officials present—Harris, Graves, Mark Milley, Evelyn Strauss—adjusted their sitting postures almost simultaneously, shifting back from their earlier excitement into a cautious and solemn tension.

The technological assistance of the Longevity Faction was their absolute trump card,

and distributing the trump card as a public resource—once this thought was placed back under rational scrutiny, no one could calmly accept the inequality and potential risks within it.

Chief of Staff Madeleine Rasmussen gently closed the United Nations meeting minutes in front of her, her tone remaining her customary calmness and precision,

but everyone present could perceive from the way she narrated that she was laying the groundwork for a larger operational plan.

"We can do it this way: outwardly announce technology sharing, but in reality establish rules and restrictions."

"Make those countries wanting technological assistance complete various transformations according to our will: industrial restructuring, unification of financial regulatory standards, and binding import-export reviews to our bilateral rules."

"Give them hope, yet keep them always one step away from truly getting what they want to use."

"Stringing them along can also consolidate our world hegemony."

Victoria Monroe slowly moved her gaze away from Chief of Staff Madeleine Rasmussen's face and shook her head slightly.

"Other countries are not fools either."

"Without obtaining real benefits, they will not listen to us indefinitely."

"The diplomatic patience of John and Gaul on this matter is at most enough to support one window period; give them another piece of circular clauses, and they will withdraw on their own."