70: Earth Council

Faced with the shared fear of extinction, narrow nationalist sentiments and short-sighted national interest games became pale and powerless.

Just three days after the "Faleim Declaration" was released.

At the United Nations headquarters in New York, an institution with unprecedented authority and executive power—the Earth Council—was officially proclaimed.

The composition of this council was simple and efficient.

Its core was composed of the decision-making echelons of the UN Security Council permanent members.

It also incorporated a group of countries with significant regional influence, such as Germany, Japan, India, and Brazil, as non-permanent members to participate in deliberations.

Looks similar to the United Nations?

But the Council possessed a supreme power—in the face of a common extraterrestrial threat, it had the right to unify, mobilize, and command all armed forces, scientific research capabilities, and industrial resources globally.

From this day on, all the armies on this planet, whether it was the American carrier strike groups, the Chinese Rocket Force, or the Russian strategic nuclear submarines, had a common name—the Earth Defense Force.

All scientists and soldiers on this planet also had a common mission—to fight for the defense of civilization under the unified coordination of the Council.

To ensure the efficiency of decision-making, the Council established a rotating chairperson system.

Generally, the decision-making core of the presiding member state would automatically become the rotating chairperson of the Earth Council for that year, holding supreme command over the Earth Defense Force.

However, when discussing the United States, a special situation arose.

"Regarding the issue of command authority during the United States' term as the presiding member state," President Flagg initiated this sensitive topic during a closed-door video conference attended by the heads of the five nations, "We all know that although Mr. Elon is currently the legitimate president of the American Union, he spends most of his time on Mars... I mean, exploring and conducting scientific research, while your country's current daily administrative affairs seem to be handled by an artificial intelligence?"

Although his words were tactful, everyone present understood what he meant.

Letting an AI serve as the Commander-in-Chief of the Earth Defense Force? This sounded like an absurd joke.

"We believe this is not a problem, but rather an advantage," the Chinese representative said.

"What?" The other four were somewhat stunned.

"Everyone present here is an experienced politician; you know better than I do the limitations of human decision-making—emotions, biases, short-term political interests... These factors might be tolerated in times of peace, but in times of war concerning the survival of civilization, any minor mistake could be fatal."

"And Paradox Technology's 'knowledge manager' is an absolutely rational super-intelligence with the sole goal of maximizing efficiency and long-term interests."

"Every one of its decisions is based on precise calculations of massive amounts of data and wargaming simulations of billions of possibilities."

"Under its command, we will no longer see unnecessary sacrifices caused by the impulsiveness of a certain commander, nor will we see strategic delays caused by the selfish interests of a certain country."

"It will command the interstellar war, for which none of us have experience, in the coldest and most efficient way possible."

These words left all the leaders present deep in thought.

They had to admit that the Chinese representative made sense.

More importantly, they knew that the truly decisive factor behind this was Lei Wen, the will of Paradox Technology.

And now, no one was willing to defy it.

Finally, after some symbolic discussion, an unprecedented clause was written into the "Earth Council Charter."

[During the period when the American Union serves as the presiding member state, the supreme command authority of the Earth Defense Force will be automatically taken over by its highest administrative AI, the 'knowledge manager.' At the same time, during this period, affairs such as global resource allocation, mediation of regional conflicts, and macroeconomic regulation will also be uniformly coordinated and handled by this AI.]

This meant that at some point in the future, the fate of the entire Human Civilization would be briefly handed over to an artificial intelligence created by Paradox Technology.

This was a decision full of unknowns and risks.

But it was also the only choice they could make when facing an even greater unknown.

...

Meanwhile, back in the United States, this AI-led "regency" was reshaping the face of the country at a speed beyond everyone's imagination.

Under the precise and efficient governance of the 'knowledge manager,' this country, which had just crawled out of the ruins of civil war, did not fall into long-term recession and chaos; instead, it erupted with astonishing vitality for reconstruction.

Economically, the 'knowledge manager' completely abandoned the past model of free-market capitalism held hostage by financial oligarchs.

It utilized its omnipotent computing power to completely replan the industrial structure of the entire country.

All inefficient, highly polluting industries that were not conducive to long-term development were ruthlessly eliminated, even if this would cause massive unemployment.

And those industries representing the future—new energy, new materials, artificial intelligence, and biotechnology—received unprecedented policy and financial support.

The entire country seemed to have turned into a planned economy macro-regulated by an AI.

Yet, it also retained the competitive mechanisms of a market economy.

In a sense, the current United States, in terms of its development model, was more like a "digital socialist" country with powerful capital and technological strength.

What was quite surprising was that this iron-fisted administration by the 'knowledge manager' did not encounter much resistance.

Those forces that would have been most likely to stand up in opposition—such as traditional capital tycoons and financial oligarchs—had long been mostly purged in that brutal and efficient civil war.

Their assets were confiscated, and their political influence was uprooted.

As for the newly risen tech upstarts, such as General Electric and the Nikola Group, they were the biggest beneficiaries of this change themselves, so naturally, they would not stand up to oppose it.

As for the ordinary public, when they saw that their lives were getting better day by day, most were happy to accept this change.

But nothing is absolute.

When this newly born American Union was established, in order to win support from more states, its political system was designed to grant greater autonomy to each state compared to the old federal system.

This decentralization of power also planted a seed of potential instability for the future.

If it weren't for the powerful Paradox Technology behind the 'knowledge manager' holding absolute advantages in information, economy, and military force, a few dissatisfied and fierce states would likely have jumped out to cause trouble long ago.

But at least for now, this giant ship that had just undergone a major overhaul was sailing back onto the right course under the guidance of the most rational helmsman.

...

"So, are you confident you can handle them?"

In the underground command room of Tianqiong City, Lei Wen looked at the silver-haired girl beside him who was sipping from a cola straw while playing an antique game on an old-fashioned console, and he couldn't help but ask the biggest question in his heart.

Although Grey Wind had shown strong confidence last time, a heavy stone remained hanging in Lei Wen's heart. After all, he was not facing just anyone, but the Faleim Scientific Conglomerate, which also belonged to the endgame crisis level in the game.

"Relax, relax! Why are you asking this again!" Grey Wind didn't even turn her head; her fingers tapped rapidly on the buttons, leaving behind a series of brilliant light and shadows.

In the game screen, a character she had modded into a silver-haired cat-eared girl, wielding an antimatter sniper rifle, was standing on the roof of the tallest building in a city, picking off the enemies below one by one.

"I've told you eight hundred times! Those ten little broken ships! They aren't enough for me to fight! Let me tell you, I was so bored when I was alone in the L-Cluster back then. Every day, I did nothing but count stars or gnaw on the terrain. Then one day, a hole suddenly tore open in space, and out crawled a super-large octopus monster! It looked so ugly, covered in eyes, and it could spit black sludge. The civilization that created me called that thing what... Oh right, a massive Planar Nightmare! That guy could swallow a planet in one bite! Sounds pretty impressive, right? And the result? It still got entangled by my nanite cloud and ground down into cosmic dust bit by bit! It was like sanding a rusty piece of iron, just a bit time-consuming..."

While she excitedly recounted her past "glorious achievements," she didn't forget to perform a cool dodge in the game; the game character on the screen dodged the boss's attack while simultaneously brushing her hair.

"But," Lei Wen was still a bit uneasy, and he had to interrupt her, "They are the fleet of the Faleim Scientific Conglomerate, their technology..."

"Oh, I know, I know. Faleim People, right? Long ears, pretty smart, just a bit rigid, no sense of humor at all." Grey Wind put on an "I get it, I get it" expression.

Lei Wen felt his temples start to throb again.

"I mean," he emphasized his tone, "If it's not that vanguard fleet that comes, but their main fleet... I remember their strongest fleet has a combat power of over 500M."

"500M?"

Hearing this number, Grey Wind's fingers, which were tapping the keys, finally stopped.

She paused the game and turned that face, which was too beautiful to be real; for the first time, a hint of gravity appeared in those azure blue eyes.

She extended her slender fingers and gestured in the air, seemingly performing some kind of complex calculation, while muttering to herself.

"500M... converting to my standards, then considering the counter-relationship between energy shields and armor... hmm... plus their weapon types... hiss..."

A moment later, she pursed her lips in frustration, her confident demeanor instantly deflated.

"Uh... alright, if it's a fleet of that scale, then I really can't beat them." She admitted frankly, her tone like an elementary school student who didn't do well on a test.

"500M combat power, that's at least equivalent to fifty full-strength Fallen Empire fleets! Do you know what that concept is? It's like fifty groups of cheating old grandpas flying their incomprehensible ships to beat you up! And the Faleim People's tech tree is quite crooked, you know? Ordinary energy weapons and kinetic weapons don't do much damage to my nanite synthetic structure, but they have a type of disintegrator beam specifically for breaking down matter—the kind that goes 'zzzzz' and everything turns into a pile of quantum powder. That thing counters me quite well, just like insecticide spraying a cockroach; the range is huge and gross, and if you get hit, even if you don't die, you'll lose a layer of skin."

"So," she looked at Lei Wen, helplessly spreading her hands in conclusion, "If I really run into their main fleet of that scale in space, then my only choice is to immediately! Instantly! Without hesitation, disintegrate into a pile of invisible nanite clouds and run as far as I can."

"Only the option to run for my life?" This cruel answer poured a bucket of cold water on the flicker of hope Lei Wen had just ignited.

"Yeah!" Grey Wind nodded matter-of-factly, as if stating something entirely natural, "I'm not an idiot! Fighting when you can't win isn't bravery; that's just feeding! Do you know what 'feeding' means? It's handing over your head! As long as the green hills remain, there's no need to worry about firewood! Or, I can just wait, find a place to secretly develop for a few thousand years, devour a few hundred galaxies, and then go back to pick a fight with them later! By then, I'll bring back a fleet even larger than theirs, and I can handle them however I want, can't I?"

Her words were full of pragmatic cunning and a kind of optimism that left one not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

But this answer made Lei Wen clench his fists.

The Faleim People didn't just have those ten small warships; they still had two main expeditionary fleets and a capital system garrison fleet of significant size in their home system, it was just that the warships of these fleets could not perform faster-than-light travel.

The distance between Faleimland and the Solar System was only 13 light-years, which meant that even if the Faleim People's main fleet didn't use faster-than-light engines, solely relying on those dark matter thrusters capable of accelerating warships to 99% the speed of light, they could reach Earth in 13 years.

Moreover, it wasn't that they couldn't refit their main fleet with faster-than-light engines, nor was it that they couldn't build new types of warships.

For now, avoiding a direct conflict with the Faleim People was the best option.

If things really developed in the worst direction, if the visitors came with ill intent, if the other party's purpose was to conquer and enslave...

When the situation became untenable, let Grey Wind take the sparks of civilization to the more distant deep space.