108: Chapter 108 The Spark

11:00 PM, CIA Intelligence Bureau.

Advisor Cole sat at the end of the conference table, with a cup of cold black coffee and a frayed action report spread out before him.

The cover of the report was printed with "Planet Wuhu Superpower Serum Incident: Phase Two Deduction."

The Director sat across from him, took off his reading glasses, placed them on the table, and rubbed the bridge of his nose with two fingers.

He had already smoked four cigarettes tonight; a pile of filters lay scattered in the ashtray at the corner of the table, and the air was thick with the weary smell of tar mixed with cold coffee.

"You're saying they went to the Interstellar Court, and the Ball Chief didn't even see them?" Advisor Cole flipped the report to the last page, which was printed with the three deduction paths he had drawn by hand.

The optimal path was for Mary to successfully file the case through Maya's connections; the second-best was for Danzo to dismiss it but for Maya to privately inform Chen Mu; and the baseline was at least getting a case filing receipt from the Interstellar Court.

But none of the three paths read "couldn't even get through the door."

The Director nodded. Before him lay a memorandum, a real-time record sent back by field agents stationed at the United Nations Building this afternoon.

The record was short, with only three lines: Targets entered the lobby, Danzo appeared, targets left.

"Danzo appeared in person." The Director pushed the memorandum forward half an inch. "As soon as Mary and the other two walked into the lobby, the front desk made a call, and the Chief of Staff came down himself within minutes.

"His exact words were, 'The Interstellar Court was not established to handle your trivial matters. Leave at once.'"

"I thought she could rely on her sister's connections to successfully file the case." Advisor Cole flipped back through the report, looking at the three paths he had drawn on the title page, and left a faint indentation with his fingernail next to each one. "As it turned out, her sister's connections were only enough to get her into the lobby and have the front desk make a phone call."

The Director pushed the ashtray aside with a hint of irritability in his movements. "Not only that. There was an accident at the Wuhu Shop this afternoon as well. A-Zu suddenly appeared in the store, publicly insulted humanity, and almost came to blows."

"The agents we arranged on the perimeter didn't have time to react at all, and none of the subsequent arrangements we planned were used. The entire operation was ruined by him alone."

Advisor Cole's finger stopped on the report. He had already received the briefing on the conflict at the Wuhu Shop today. This briefing revealed a crucial piece of information: A-Zu was irritable and prone to anger, but he wasn't completely brainless.

Just then, there was a knock on the conference room door, and a young female agent squeezed through the gap, clutching a tablet.

On it was Mary's video, with the scrolling comments and profile pictures in the comment section piling up at a speed the naked eye couldn't follow.

"Director," she turned the tablet toward the conference table, "Mary Rodriguez just posted a video online calling for a public boycott of the Superpower Serum.

"The view count has already surpassed 200,000 within twelve minutes and is growing exponentially. Should we notify the major platforms to take it down immediately?"

Just as the Director was about to speak, Advisor Cole slammed his coffee cup onto the table.

"Wait!"

Advisor Cole stood up, a sharp light suddenly flashing in his eyes. "Have the Government Information Office and all partner internet companies give this video the maximum promotion. Every channel must be activated; we must ensure the entire world sees this video."

The Director sat up straight in his chair. "Advisor Cole, won't doing this provoke those Planet Wuhu people? A-Zu just lost his composure in the shop this afternoon. If this video is pushed to the global trending topics, he might..."

"I intend to provoke them."

Advisor Cole placed the tablet on the conference table and tapped the screen; the video began to play again.

"Director, from the moment the Ball Chief descended until now, we have been doing the same thing from beginning to end: guessing.

"Guessing what he wants, guessing how far he can go, and guessing where his bottom line actually is."

He moved his finger away from the screen and turned to the Director. "You and I both know that these Planet Wuhu people will strike against us sooner or later.

"Earlier, Black Panther told me about his Photographer Theory. I think the lion metaphor is quite apt: the lion is locked in a colosseum, and it's not that it isn't hungry, but that it hasn't yet figured out how high the colosseum walls are.

"Once it knows the wall is just high enough for it to leap over, it won't wait any longer. So we must strike proactively while it's still hesitating and test everything that can be tested.

"Only then can we prepare our next move."

The Director was silent for a moment, then pressed his cigarette butt into the ashtray, crushing out the last spark.

Then he stood up and ordered with military decisiveness, "Did you hear what Advisor Cole said? Notify the Government Information Office and contact all partner social platforms and news media. All channels, maximum traffic—push it now."

"Yes, sir!" The subordinate snapped to attention and turned to leave.

Advisor Cole sat back down and picked up the cold coffee, his gaze falling back to the comments section on the screen.

No one could have imagined that the fuse for this war between humanity and aliens would actually be lit by a high school girl.

——————

Fifth Avenue, 9:00 AM sharp.

Kara stood behind the glass door of the Wuhu Shop, holding a rag used to wipe the counter.

She had been standing there clutching it for five full minutes, and not a single bottle of potion had been sold at the counter.

At this time yesterday, the queue would have snaked from the shop entrance all the way to the street corner, with people arguing until they were red in the face over who got to be in front.

But today, she could count the people passing by outside on one hand.

What on earth was going on?

Kara flipped the rag over, the antennae on her head curling slightly. They had been on Blue Star for less than a week and hadn't yet gotten used to using mobile phones, so they naturally had no idea what was happening on the internet.

"Kara." A-Zu's voice came from behind her. "What is going on?"

Kara immediately bowed her head. "My apologies, Prince. I will go and investigate the cause at once."

"No need." A-Zu suddenly raised a hand, his ears twitching. "I think I know why."

He stepped outside, and the moment the shop door was pushed open, the sunlight of Fifth Avenue hit him directly in the face.

He stood at the entrance, his antennae remaining perfectly still in the morning breeze, as he looked at the crowd that filled the entirety of Fifth Avenue from one end to the other.

They held placards in their hands—some printed, others handwritten with markers.

A young girl held a sign over her head that read, "I don't build palaces; I am the foundation."

Beside her was a veteran who wasn't holding a sign but instead held his open veteran's medal box solemnly in front of his chest.

Under the medals was a slip of paper with a single line: "Human knees are reserved for the church."

When A-Zu stepped out of the shop, the crowd erupted in the loudest roar of the day.

A young man shifted his placard from his left hand to his right, took a step toward A-Zu, and shouted with all his might, "Low-level race? Low-level race my ass! Go home and cry to your mama!"

An old lady nearby added in a voice even louder than when she normally scrambled for discounted milk at the supermarket, "Go back to your own planet! You're not welcome here!"

A-Zu stood on the stone steps of the shop entrance, followed by Kara, Karl, and several C-class Wuhu People.

He listened to the shouts and looked at the raised placards, then slowly turned his head and looked at Kara with a smile.

"Kara, tell me, why do these ant-like low-level species dare to provoke a high-level being like me so brazenly?"