24: Don't say you weren't warned.

When a society faces immense external pressure, it usually produces two diametrically opposed reactions: one is unprecedented unity, and the other is hysterical division.

Unfortunately, the United States in 2027 and the Western world deeply influenced by it, guided by those manipulative politicians, chose the latter.

Senator John McConnell, this politically astute opportunist, keenly realized that "opposing the space program" was not just an issue to gain political capital; it was more like a crowbar, sufficient to pry open the massive ideological iceberg hidden beneath the surface of Western society.

Thus, at a secret reception hosted by traditional energy giants, the military-industrial complex, and some retired military personnel dissatisfied with the status quo, an organization named the Earth Purity Faction was declared founded.

The name of this organization was highly deceptive.

It sounded like an environmental organization, but its core philosophy was an extreme, introverted, and Cold War-minded isolationism.

"Our planet is the only home for humanity!"

At the first public rally of the Earth Purity Faction, McConnell stood on the podium, shouting at the thousands of fanatical supporters below with his highly inflammatory voice.

"Those scientists hiding in ivory towers, those politicians scared out of their wits by the so-called 'alien threat,' they want us to abandon our beautiful home and throw our taxpayers' hard-earned money into that cold, dark, and irrelevant bottomless pit of space!"

"They tell us that an alien might fall from the sky, but I want to tell you that what truly threatens our lives is not some ghost 13 light-years away, but the rising prices around us, the jobs we are losing, and the veterans wandering the streets because they cannot get enough benefits!"

His speech precisely struck the softest and most selfish part of the public's heart.

After all, for an ordinary person who cannot even pay next month's rent, distant stars are indeed less important than a tangible banknote.

The philosophy of the Earth Purity Faction spread globally like an ideological plague.

They vigorously promoted their concept of "abandoning the starry sky and focusing on Earth affairs" to the masses.

They portrayed the dome accord as a conspiracy to betray national interests, slandered the China-US cooperative space program as a "new era Star Wars program," and claimed that this would empty the national treasury and eventually leave everyone with nothing.

Their spearhead was not only aimed at the government and NASA.

Soon, they found a more perfect target for attack—Paradox Technology.

This mysterious company that suddenly appeared and sold "future technology" to the whole world was a target tailor-made for them.

"This company has an unknown origin, and there is likely a conspiracy of some hostile country hidden behind it!"

"They used those so-called new materials to destroy our traditional industrial system, causing massive unemployment!"

"They are the real threat! They are the Trojan horse lurking beside us!"

At first, these attacks remained at the level of verbal criticism.

But when they discovered that public opinion warfare could not stop Paradox Technology's global commercial operations, which were as precise as a clock, some more extreme and dangerous ideas began to germinate in the shadows of the organization.

They decided to use more direct means to punish this "traitor to humanity."

...

September 2027, North Atlantic, waters near the Azores.

A giant container ship flying the German flag, named "Hamburg Glory," was sailing steadily on the azure sea.

This ship belonged to the ocean shipping fleet of the Siemens Group, the designated agent for Paradox Technology in Europe.

On board were ten thousand tons of [el-3 composite target material] just produced in the Port of Bremen, Germany, packed into standard containers.

Their destination was the Norfolk Naval Base in Virginia, USA.

These materials would be used to build the first batch of structural keels for the voyager starship.

The captain was a German named Klaus Schulz, a veteran with forty years of sailing experience.

At this moment, he was standing on the bridge leisurely drinking coffee, looking at the familiar route on the nautical chart.

To him, this was just a normal, even somewhat boring, transatlantic voyage.

He was completely unaware that beneath the sea level, three modified attack submarines had long been silently locking onto his position like three hungry sharks.

And on a private island several kilometers away, the operations director of the Earth Purity Faction, a retired Navy Colonel named Marcus, was watching all this coldly through encrypted satellite communication images.

"The target has entered the designated area," the submarine commander's voice came through the communicator.

"Very good," Marcus ordered into the communicator, "Remember, our goal is not to sink it, but to capture it. We want the whole world to see that the 'future' of Paradox Technology is vulnerable in the face of the iron fist of our Earth Purity Faction."

"Understood."

The three submarines, like underwater ghosts, quickly surfaced to periscope depth.

Almost at the same time, three electromagnetic torpedoes wrapped in special steel cables were fired precisely at the propellers and rudder of the "Hamburg Glory" from different angles.

There was no explosion.

There were only a few dull metallic impact sounds.

On the bridge, Captain Klaus only felt the ship lurch violently, and then all power disappeared.

He looked in astonishment at the tachometer on the dashboard that had instantly returned to zero and the "rudder failure" alarm flashing frantically.

"What's going on?!" he roared.

Before the first mate could answer, the lookout's voice, filled with terror, rang out.

"Captain! Pirates! We have encountered pirates!"

I saw that on both sides and behind the cargo ship, 5 unidentified armed speedboats broke through the waves like arrows leaving the bow.

On the speedboats stood dozens of armed personnel wearing black combat uniforms, masks on their faces, and holding automatic rifles.

Their tactical movements and coordination were not comparable to ordinary pirates at all.

They were more like a well-trained special forces unit.

The armed personnel quickly boarded the deck of the "Hamburg Glory" via ropes.

They did not hurt any crew members, just pointed guns at them and drove them all into the crew cabin.

Captain Klaus and his first mate were escorted to the bridge.

A leader-like person walked up to him.

The man took off his mask, revealing a weathered face with a hideous scar.

"Captain Klaus Schulz," Marcus looked at the German old man in front of him and said coldly, "We are the Earth Purity Faction. We are not here for money; we are only here to take back what belongs to the people. Now, please cooperate with us to sail this ship to our designated port."

Captain Klaus looked at this madman and spat.

"You are making enemies with the whole world."

Marcus laughed.

"No, Captain, we are saving the world."

This textbook-level hijacking at sea ended in just half an hour.

The Hamburg Glory, along with the ten thousand tons of precious strategic materials on board, disappeared into the Atlantic shipping lanes out of thin air.

...

When the news of the hijacking of the Hamburg Glory was summarized to the command center of the dome project through various channels, the reactions of Academician Chen Haikang and Alice Thorne were extreme anger.

"This is treason! This is anti-humanity!" Alice Thorne slammed the table hard during the video conference, "That bastard John McConnell! He and his group of lunatics are destroying our only hope of saving this world!"

Academician Chen Haikang's expression was equally gloomy.

"This is a premeditated and organized military operation. They not only have sophisticated equipment but also top tactical talent. The Earth Purity Faction has evolved from a political group into a de facto terrorist organization," he said slowly, "This is no longer a simple demonstration or protest; we must strike hard!"

However, anger could not solve the problem.

Because the attack took place on the high seas and the other party acted cleanly without leaving any evidence that could directly point to McConnell.

Even though everyone knew who the mastermind was, they could not take immediate action against him at the legal and political level.

"We must find a way to get that batch of materials back!" Alice Thorne said, "That relates to the construction progress of the voyager!"

"How do we find it?" Academician Chen Haikang asked back, "In the vast Atlantic, they have likely sailed the ship to some private port we cannot find and hidden the materials separately. We cannot even use military force to conduct an open search; that would trigger an international dispute."

Just as the high-level officials of the two major powers were at their wits' end about this matter, Paradox Technology, which had always maintained a mysterious and transcendent stance, revealed its cold fangs for the first time.

"Father, the Hamburg Glory has been out of contact for over 12 hours."

In the command room of Lei Wen's underground factory, the voice of white flower sounded abruptly.

"According to the last returned signal and secret monitoring images from micro-satellites, it can be 100% confirmed that it was hijacked by the armed forces under the Earth Purity Faction."

Lei Wen looked at the last location where the cargo ship disappeared on the screen, without a ripple in his eyes.

"Marcus, a retired US Navy Colonel, the general director of the armed operations of the Earth Purity Faction," white flower continued to report, "I have locked onto his location and the private island in the Caribbean he used to direct this operation. The owner of the island is the chairman of an energy giant. At the same time, I have also tracked the latest location of the Hamburg Glory; it is heading to an abandoned port near Cuba."

"Very good." Lei Wen nodded.

"Father, do you need me to inform the high-level officials of China and the US about this intelligence?"

"No." Lei Wen stood up slowly, "white flower, what do you think a farmer should do when facing a group of rats that keep eating his crops?"

white flower was silent for a moment, then replied: "According to the human history database analysis, the optimal choice is not to ask for help from neighbors, nor to put up a scarecrow by the field, but to find the rat hole and then clear them out completely in the most efficient way."

"Exactly." The corners of Lei Wen's mouth hooked into a cold arc.

"Some people don't understand when you reason with them, and they can't see the future when you show it to them."

"To deal with such people, you only need to let them feel one thing—"

"Fear."

He turned to another screen, which showed a production line of a new type of intelligent robot being mass-produced under Paradox Technology.

It was a quadruped robot that looked like a metal cheetah. Its movements were swift and silent, and its back was equipped with various replaceable modular weapon platforms.

Its name is [Cleaner Combat Robots].

"white flower," Lei Wen gave the instruction, "Issue a public statement to the world in the name of Paradox Technology."

One hour later.

A sternly worded statement, devoid of any emotional color, appeared simultaneously on the homepages of all major media websites in the world and in the official email inboxes of all national governments.

[Paradox Technology's Public Statement Regarding the "Hamburg Glory Incident"]

[We are aware that the Hamburg Glory cargo ship, belonging to our partner Siemens Group, was illegally hijacked by unidentified armed forces on the high seas 12 hours ago.]

[We are also aware that an organization called the "Earth Purity Faction" is directly linked to this incident.]

[Hereby, Paradox Technology solemnly declares:]

[1. We officially list the "Earth Purity Faction" and all its associated personnel and funders as undesirable hostile organizations.]

[2. We demand that the organization unconditionally release all detained crew members and return all hijacked materials within 24 hours.]

[3. If our demands are not met after 24 hours, we reserve the right to take all necessary means to safeguard our legitimate rights and interests.]

[We do not actively seek conflict, but we do not fear any form of conflict.]

[For any disruptive behavior that attempts to hinder the progress of Human Civilization, we will deliver the most severe and thorough blow.]

[Do not say I did not warn you.]

This statement, like a declaration of war, instantly detonated global public opinion.

Everyone was shocked by the almost arrogant and tough stance of Paradox Technology.

A commercial company actually issued an ultimatum to a paramilitary organization with powerful armed forces in a tone comparable to a sovereign state?

What do they rely on? What is their confidence?

On the private island in the Caribbean, Colonel Marcus looked at the statement and let out a disdainful laugh.

"A bunch of nerds hiding behind the internet dare to threaten us?" he said to his subordinates, "Let them come! I want to see who they can send? A bunch of lawyers in suits?"

His subordinates also burst into laughter.

They didn't take this statement seriously at all.

And Senator John McConnell, far away in Washington, delivered a righteous condemnation to the media, claiming this was "a shameless threat to free speech by tech giants" and calling on all freedom-loving people to unite against this "techno-fascism."

The 24-hour countdown ticked away amidst the world's attention, ridicule, and questioning.

No one believed that Paradox Technology really had the ability to fulfill its threat.

Until 24 hours later.

Caribbean Sea, over the heavily guarded private island.

The night was as deep as thick ink.

Suddenly, a faint, bee-swarm-like buzzing sound came from high altitude.

The guards looked up in confusion, but could see nothing.

The next second, hundreds of tiny objects like black raindrops descended silently from the clouds ten thousand meters above.

They deployed bat-like gliders in the air, without making a single sound, landing in every corner of the island like real ghosts.

They were [Cleaner Combat Robots].

A silent, efficient, and even elegant "cleanup" began.