240: Chapter 240 Su Family Village will become Earth's number one interstellar village!
Xishan Military Airport.
Cold wind blew the coats of everyone on the tarmac backward.
General Shen Wangchuan walked over with long strides and stopped five meters from the shuttle's hatch.
His gaze landed on Su Che's face for two seconds, then drifted to the blue figure behind Su Che, lingering for a long time without moving.
Su Che signaled with his eyes.
"General Shen, there are many people here. Let's discuss the specifics back at the command center."
General Shen Wangchuan pulled his gaze back, nodded, and then turned around.
The official car was parked at the edge of the tarmac, door open.
Su Che turned sideways to let Kaila go first; she stepped steadily into the car.
General Shen Wangchuan followed, sitting in the passenger seat, though he occasionally scanned the quiet blue silhouette in the back seat through the rearview mirror.
The car started.
It took less than ten minutes from the airport to the Xishan Command Center.
In those ten minutes, no one spoke in the car.
...
Entering the command center, Su Che introduced Kaila to General Shen Wangchuan first.
"A scientific researcher dispatched by the Kairos Civilization, my personal assistant, Kaila."
Kaila bowed to General Shen Wangchuan, "Greetings, General!"
Her voice was clear, and every syllable of Chinese was pronounced with standard articulation.
General Shen Wangchuan was stunned, "You can not only understand but also speak our language?"
"I have an interstellar translation chip implanted in my brain," Kaila explained.
"All mainstream languages you speak are transmitted to my ears and converted into Kairos in real-time. When I speak, it is automatically converted into the corresponding language."
"Communication between interstellar races basically relies on this mechanism," she emphasized at the end.
General Shen Wangchuan's expression flickered, but he didn't ask further.
Su Che glanced at him and then said to Kaila, "Kaila, go wait outside."
"Yes!" Kaila turned and walked out, closing the door.
The meeting room in the command center was small. The star map on the wall was still hanging, and the red dot at L2 was still glaring.
The two sat down, and Su Che spoke first.
"Kairos Civilization, late Level 3 Civilization. Their home planet is in the Perseus Arm, 15,000 light-years from Earth."
He got straight to the point, "They are now fully assisting Earth, aiming to help us reach the Level 3 Civilization level as quickly as possible."
General Shen Wangchuan rested his hands on the table and tapped the edge a few times.
"They sent a hundred scientists and engineers, and gave us a large batch of rare interstellar materials. I took a title over there, Chief Consultant, to facilitate subsequent coordination."
"There is one more thing. They gave me a ship called Genesis, over ten kilometers long, currently parked on the far side of the moon."
He paused, "Only basic functions are unlocked for now. I need to unlock the remaining ninety-nine locks myself. It will only be fully in my possession once they are all unlocked."
General Shen Wangchuan sat opposite him, not saying a word.
Su Che looked at his expression and roughly guessed what was running through his mind.
In the past, saying such things would get one sent to the psychiatric ward.
"Regarding the L2 issue, I have drafted four plans."
Su Che held up one finger.
"The optimal solution is to unlock the power and weapon systems of Genesis as quickly as possible. Once those two are out, we can directly crush the Tayake Civilization's first sentry fleet, and we won't need to worry about the L2 anchor point."
He raised a second finger.
"The second plan: if the power and weapons are not ready in time, we have Genesis drop its stealth. The Tayake Civilization's radar can detect that volume on the far side of the moon. We won't need to fight; they will have to weigh their options themselves."
He raised the third and fourth fingers simultaneously and finished in one breath.
"If deterrence doesn't work and they really come to attack, they will prioritize Genesis. The basic defenses can hold for a few hours, enough for the Kairos support fleet to arrive."
"Finally, as a fallback, let Kairos directly contact the Tayake Civilization's fleet for deterrence. However, the Kairos Civilization generally does not proactively threaten lower-level civilizations, so this plan is only a last resort; we generally won't reach this step."
After listening, General Shen Wangchuan leaned back in his chair and slowly exhaled.
"You..." He paused for two seconds, his wording seemingly organized several times, "When did you contact them?"
"That is not important," Su Che didn't take the bait, "What is important is that Earth now has a way out."
General Shen Wangchuan didn't press the matter.
He rested one hand on his forehead, rubbed it, and then lifted it again.
"Before I report to the superiors, I need to know, what are the odds of your plan succeeding?"
"Over ninety percent," Su Che said blandly, "The remaining ten percent is because my understanding of the Tayake Civilization is not comprehensive enough, but logically, there are no loopholes."
General Shen Wangchuan took out his fountain pen, picked up the notebook on the table, and signaled for him to continue.
Su Che turned the conversation to the next matter.
"What is the current status of the informed high-level officials from countries around the world?"
General Shen Wangchuan put down his pen.
"It's chaotic. If we weren't holding them down, some would have already activated the Doomsday Plan to run away."
"Run where?" Su Che shook his head, "The moon, Mars, or further? There are no safe points in the Solar System. The entire Orion Arm is the Tayake Civilization's territory. With humanity's current legs, we can't run out."
General Shen Wangchuan's jaw tightened.
Su Che continued, "Tell them not to move and just wait on Earth for the results. Instead of wasting resources on running away, they should give those resources to me."
"Let them follow the Dragon Kingdom; that is enough. For those who are not aligned, I will certainly not take them along."
The heating in the meeting room hummed quietly.
After a few seconds of silence, Su Che changed his sitting posture, "How were Dean Liu's funeral arrangements handled?"
"Highest honors. Two days ago, the family was settled. You weren't there, so Academician Zhang Weide went on behalf of the research team," General Shen Wangchuan said in a deep voice.
Su Che suppressed the image of that figure who was always walking around clutching a notebook in his heart.
"What about the twenty-four White Emperor pilots?"
"All posthumously honored, pensions provided at the highest standard, and there are dedicated personnel coordinating with their families."
"How are the injured doing?"
"General Peng's injuries are serious, he is still in intensive care. The others are basically stable and have been moved out of the ICU."
Su Che responded, didn't pursue this matter further, and pushed the focus forward.
"Next, I want to deploy three things. Listen and see which ones need national-level coordination."
He explained the plan for Su Family Village.
The location is remote, naturally secret, and already has the foundation for modern infrastructure, so adding to it will be fast.
The original villagers will sign confidentiality agreements, top national infrastructure forces will move in, and a zone will be designated to build an Interstellar Development Zone.
Scientific research living areas, the Long production base, the Sub-nanometer chip production base, as well as various laboratories, R&D facilities, and testing and training bases will all be placed there.
"Except for Kaila, all other scientific researchers sent by Kairos will be stationed in Su Family Village."
He paused, "Rare materials will be stored on Genesis first. Once the storage facilities in Su Family Village are built and the major overhaul of the luan bird is completed, they will be transferred in one go."
"All fifty-six academicians who previously participated in the Nantianmen Project will be transferred there to work with the Kairos people, learning while developing."
General Shen Wangchuan frowned, "Fifty-seven."
"Dean Liu is gone," Su Che's tone remained unchanged, "Fifty-six. The injured will report for duty after they recover."
General Shen Wangchuan didn't correct him again and nodded.
"After General Peng recovers, let him be responsible for Su Family Village. He will keep his position at the Military Science Commission and concurrently serve as the general commander of the Interstellar Village development. Have the relevant personnel draft the specific plans; I will not participate in the details. I want to see phased results within half a year."
General Shen Wangchuan recorded these in his notebook and looked up.
"Su Family Village, that works. The state will push it."
Su Che continued with the second matter.
"The original space Dry Dock is not up to spec. We need to build a new dedicated Dry Dock at the lunar base for the interstellar version of the luan bird. I will have the design plan for the interstellar version of the Nantianmen Fleet within a week."
"The interstellar versions of the Xuan Nv, White Emperor, Mingdi Interceptor, and Mecha will all be produced in Su Family Village; the two lines will not block each other."
Su Che leaned back in his chair.
"Third matter: recruit one hundred top scientists from all fields globally, with the Dragon Kingdom taking half. Everyone must sign the highest-level confidentiality agreement."
"Gather at Xishan Airport in three days, and send them to Genesis in five batches. This group will work on the mothership long-term."
General Shen Wangchuan closed the notebook, "Three days."
"Currently, the whole world is following the Dragon Kingdom's rhythm. You should push this; it shouldn't be difficult."
General Shen Wangchuan thought about it and didn't refute, "It can be done."
The two went over the details, and there were no major discrepancies.
General Shen Wangchuan stood up to see him off and stopped at the door.
"Chief Engineer Su." He called out.
Su Che looked back.
"This time... thank you for your hard work."
Su Che didn't take that tone, only saying one thing, "Let everyone rest for a few days."
Pushing the door open, Kaila was standing against the wall in the hallway. Seeing him come out, she followed.
The two left the command center and returned to the tarmac.
The shuttle lifted silently, cut into the upper edge of the atmosphere, and headed toward the moon.
Kaila piloted the ship, and Su Che leaned against the cabin wall with his eyes closed.
He thought about Kaila's role in his mind. The Kairos people are too close, and there are ninety-nine others on Genesis.
If they ever face off, his previous rhetoric wouldn't withstand scrutiny.
He had to find a way to completely bring Kaila over to his side.
How to do it, he hadn't thought of yet, but there was no rush; take it slow.
The shuttle entered orbit, and the massive silhouette of Genesis reappeared in the porthole.
Su Che sat in the main control hall for a while, the day's events turning in his mind. The more he thought, the heavier it felt, but sleepiness rose instead.
He went to the rest cabin. Before closing his eyes, he asked in the dimensional space, "Approximately when will the Tayake Civilization's first sentry fleet arrive?"
[The warp technology of a peak Level 2 Civilization is not yet mature.] The system's words floated up.
[The warp path will be interfered with by gravitational wells along the way. Jump point offsets and speed losses are all variables. The specific arrival time is uncertain.]
[But based on the time node of the signal returned by the sentry ship, it won't be too long.]
Su Che stared at those words for a while and closed his eyes.
It won't be too long.
He circled the words "too long" and sank into sleep.
...
Early the next morning.
Hurried footsteps came from outside the cabin and stopped at the door.
"Chief." It was Kaila's voice, suppressed but impossible to hide.
Su Che opened his eyes and sat up, "What is it?"
"Radar alert in the main control hall, there is a warp signal at the L2 point..."
Kaila paused outside the door for a beat, "The Tayake Civilization's first sentry fleet has arrived."
"A total of eleven ships, one of which is a flagship with a volume far exceeding the observer."