11: Chapter 11 Chaos

When Maya rushed into the corridor, the entire Seventh Precinct had turned into a chaotic hive.

Telephones were ringing from every desk, one after another, wave after wave, like some kind of out-of-control percussion.

Someone was shouting into a phone, someone was shouting into two phones at once with one wedged against their shoulder, someone slammed their phone down and then picked it up to continue shouting.

The 911 emergency lines had exploded. Everyone in the United States was asking: Is that thing on TV real? Are we going to die? Is the government lying to us? Has God abandoned us?

No one could answer these questions, except for Chen Mu.

Maya ran through all these sounds, her soles hitting the terrazzo floor, every step landing on the beat of some telephone ring.

Someone called her name, but she didn't look back; even when someone bumped into her from the side, she didn't stop.

The chief's office door was closed. Maya didn't even knock and just barged straight in.

At this time, the chief was standing behind his desk, a telephone receiver wedged between his ear and shoulder, shouting with both hands waving in the air:

"Maintain public order? Mr. Mayor, why don't you go out and see the streets?"

In Maya's impression, the chief usually spoke in a slow and steady manner. Even during the last shooting in Brooklyn when seven hostages were trapped in a bank, his speaking speed hadn't been half as fast as it was now.

"It's all gone mad! Mad, do you understand? Traffic in all of Manhattan is paralyzed. Everyone is fleeing the city, and the lines at gas stations are backed up for six blocks."

"Supermarkets have been emptied, and people have started smashing shop windows. Our entire precinct, even if we count the janitors, only has a few hundred people."

"A few hundred people! What do you want us to use to maintain order in a city of ten million?"

He paused, listening to the person on the other end of the line. Then his hand started waving again.

"What did you say? The National Guard will arrive in half an hour? Fine, I'll do my best. But Mr. Mayor... Mr. Mayor?"

He pulled the receiver away from his ear, stared at it for two seconds, and then slammed it back onto the landline.

"Fuck!"

He looked at Maya, who had barged in, took a deep breath, and leaned his hands on the desk. "Ms. Maya, I know you have many questions, but you can see for yourself."

He jerked his chin toward the door. The telephone rings in the corridor outside were still ringing incessantly. "Right now, all of humanity has many questions, so could you please leave first?"

Maya waved her hand. "Chief, you've misunderstood. I'm here to report something important, a major matter that may concern the fate of humanity."

The chief looked at her. He pulled his hands back from the desk, wiped his face, and then nodded. "Then keep it brief."

"Thompson and I seem to have captured the envoy who came from the aliens to negotiate with humanity."

"Pfft!"

The chief had just picked up a water cup from the desk and taken a sip. Hearing this, the water sprayed from his mouth, exploding into a mist in the air above the desk.

He coughed several times, wiping his mouth with his sleeve, his eyes fixed on Maya.

"Ms. Maya, I understand how you feel, but at a time like this, please don't make such jokes."

Maya took her phone out of her pocket, swiped a few times, and pulled up the video of Chen Mu blowing up the fountain.

She placed the phone on the chief's desk. The chief stared at the words 'The Blue Planet is about to be liberated' on the screen and asked, "When did you catch him?"

Maya checked her watch. "About fourteen hours before the President's speech. He warned us then that within forty-eight hours, we would believe everything he said was true."

The chief closed his eyes for a moment, then quickly rounded the desk, walked up to Maya, and pressed both hands on her shoulders.

"Officer Maya, I order you to return to the interrogation room immediately and watch this man."

"Until I receive orders from above, no one—and I mean no one—is allowed in. Understand?"

Maya straightened her back. "Yes, sir."

She gave a salute and ran out. The sound of her soles on the terrazzo floor grew more distant.

The chief stood where he was and picked up the telephone receiver on the desk again.

"Mr. Mayor, it's me. You'd better sit down and listen to what I have to say."

Meanwhile, the full video of President Trump's national address was spreading across the globe at a speed never before seen in the history of the human internet.

The comment section below the video was even more lively.

"Is this fake? This is a damn movie trailer, right? Tell me this is a movie trailer."

"I'm in Brazil. I've pointed my telescope in that direction, and I saw it too. There really is an alien fleet!"

"I'm in South Africa. I saw it too. Not photos—they're moving on their own."

"Coordinates: New Delhi. There's no one left downstairs from our building. Everyone is running home, and the supermarkets have been looted."

"Coordinates: Tokyo. The government hasn't made a statement yet, and NHK is still broadcasting TV dramas. Did they not get the news??"

"Coordinates: Moscow. It's three in the morning here, and I've woken up my entire family. We're already prepared to head into the mountains."

"Coordinates: Great East. The communities here have already been mobilized, but there's no news from the official channels yet."

"Can someone tell me this isn't real? My daughter is only three. I don't want her to go through the end of the world."

"Hundreds of kilometers long... I have the concept in my head, but my heart can't take it!"

"Does anyone still remember that fountain in Times Square?"

"I remember. It said the Blue Planet was about to be liberated. Everyone said it was special effects back then, but what about now?"

"I only want to know one thing now: will I still be alive in three months?"

"Yes. But what kind of life you'll be living, no one knows."

"Has anyone considered: if they really are here to liberate us, should we resist?"

"What are you saying? They're aliens! They want to occupy our planet. You actually believe that 'liberation' nonsense?"

"What's the difference between occupation and liberation? Is our current government, our system, truly free?"

"Doomsdayers, please go have your fits elsewhere. Now is not the time to discuss philosophy."

"Now is exactly the time to discuss philosophy. Because we can't beat them when it comes to physics."

"I'm crying. People all over the world are finally facing the same problem, but this problem wants us dead."

"Coordinates: New York. It's all sirens outside. I've never heard so many sirens blaring at once in my life."

"Coordinates: Los Angeles. The highway is backed up for twenty kilometers. Everyone is running inland, as if the inland would be of any use."

"Coordinates: London. Dawn is breaking. Tonight, no one sleeps!"

"Coordinates: Paris. People are praying under the Arc de Triomphe. So many people—I've never seen so many people praying at once."

"Coordinates: Rome. St. Peter's Square is full of people. It looks like the Pope is coming out to speak."

"Coordinates: Jerusalem. There are more people in front of the Wailing Wall than ever. Jews, Muslims, Christians—they've all come."

"Coordinates: Mecca. It's the middle of the night here, but the area around the Kaaba is packed. The most devout people in the world are all asking the same question."

"God will not answer; He never has."

"But the aliens will answer. They are answering with a ship hundreds of kilometers long."

"Three months... I still have so many things left to do."

"Me too. I haven't said sorry to my dad yet."

"I haven't proposed to her yet."

"I haven't seen the ocean yet."

"Go see it, go do it, go now! There's still time for everything. Don't leave any regrets!"

——————

In the interrogation room, even with his micro-expression management skills, Chen Mu could hardly hide the upward curl of his lips.

His fear value had now begun to soar like a rocket.

One hundred thousand, one million, ten million... it was about to break one hundred million!

At that moment, Maya pushed the door open and entered, bringing a gust of wind with her.

She leaned against the door panel, her chest still heaving, and there was a trace of moisture in the corners of her eyes that hadn't completely dried.

"What did the chief say?" Thompson asked.

Maya took a deep breath. "Watch him and wait for orders from above."

Thompson nodded and didn't ask anything else.