208: Chapter 208 Because We Were Here

[Xu Xin, 29 years old, daughter of a high-ranking official in a state-owned enterprise of China, currently an international student from China at Stanford University. She has always prided herself on disparaging China and has some influence in anti-China circles, but it is limited to keyboard activism; no substantive actions have been found...]

In just a brief encounter, the mech-human had already retrieved Xu Xin's relevant information.

Then, it handed it to Commander Yan Luo.

Seeing this, Xu Xin took a megaphone and shouted, "Go ahead and investigate all you want. A clear conscience needs no fear. Even if you arrest me, I will still shout it out: You, Commander Yan Luo, are nothing but a wicked invader!"

"Do you think that just because you are powerful, you can extinguish the light of the Lighthouse?"

"But have you ever thought about how human civilization will proceed in the future?"

"Without the Lighthouse!"

"This is destined to be a dark planet!"

"You are a sinner in history!"

Xu Xin excitedly recounted Commander Yan Luo's crimes.

So much so that the BBC reporter not far away couldn't help but laugh.

Xu Xin glared fiercely at the BBC reporter.

The BBC reporter coughed dryly and said, "Apologies, I am a professional. Under normal circumstances, I wouldn't laugh."

Commander Yan Luo smiled indifferently, took a megaphone himself, and responded.

"Miss Xu Xin, are you suggesting that when the Lighthouse struck the Tiangong, it wasn't an invasion, but when we counterattacked the Black Palace and accepted the surrender here after our victory, it is?"

Xu Xin held the megaphone and shouted, "One thing is one thing, another is another. One Tiangong is absolutely not worth the entire Lighthouse! The Lighthouse is priceless. You cannot extinguish the Lighthouse just because it accidentally stepped on a dog from your house."

Commander Yan Luo looked at her seriously: "To a believer of the Lighthouse like you, Tiangong might be a dog, but let me tell you, in the face of absolute power, your Lighthouse is nothing more than a stray dog! You can be angry, you can despair, and your faith can collapse, but please recognize the reality: your Lighthouse no longer has the strength to contend with China."

"As for so-called human civilization... what a joke. Human civilization has never been something that any single country can decide; it can only be guided."

"It was once guided by England, then later by the Lighthouse. In the future, why shouldn't it be guided by China?"

"Miss Xu, do not take your faith too seriously."

"In the face of the rolling grand trends of history, your faith is worthless."

At this point, Xu Xin became even more furious. She screamed,

"No, you are just defending your crimes."

Seeing that she had lost her reason, Commander Yan Luo stopped defending himself and said calmly,

"Miss Xu, your parents are high-ranking officials in state-owned enterprises back home. The abundant resources you received growing up were the labor value gathered from countless Chinese citizens, including the expenses for your publicly funded studies abroad. What you possess now is something many ordinary people cannot reach. The country did not force you to return to serve, but there is no need to brainwash yourself and disparage your motherland as worthless."

"Whether I am an invader or not, history will judge for itself."

"You think you are justice, however, I am also justice in the hearts of countless people."

"If you don't believe me, you can ask the Chinese people, or you can ask... the Indigenous Peoples."

Commander Yan Luo waved his hand. After having someone clear away this crazed woman, he looked around at the remaining international students.

Their expressions were no longer firm; instead, there was hesitation.

Commander Yan Luo continued,

"After we leave, they will raise the Chinese flag here. They will take down the 'Sick Man of East Asia' plaque in their hearts. They will put away their discrimination against Chinese people. They will give the Indigenous Peoples a larger place to live. They will begin to re-examine themselves..."

"All of this is not because the Anglo-Saxons have found their conscience, nor because of keyboard warriors like you, but because..."

"We were here!"

After finishing, Commander Yan Luo dropped the megaphone and led his party away from the entrance of the Los Angeles City Hall.

...

The Los Angeles Twenty-One Demands Treaty was finally made public to global media, sparking a discussion with a million comments per second.

[Compensation worth four trillion US dollars in gold? Holy crap, this is going to be debt repayment until death!]

[This is going to drain their entire treasury.]

[One hundred years, one hundred years... This United States is effectively becoming a permanent employee for China.]

[Ceding Alaska—that's brutal. Alaska was the gambling hub of the United States, and now it belongs to China.]

[What China has its eyes on probably isn't the gambling hub, but the land near the Arctic Circle.]

[This damned United States actually collaborated with aliens. This is treason against the planet, absolute treason! A betrayal of humanity.]

[They deserve to be beaten by China. Collaborating with aliens makes them the enemy of all mankind.]

[China is righteous. They even allowed the Indigenous Peoples to regain one-third of their land. This is so humane!]

[China, the new Lighthouse of humanity.]

[What kind of BS Lighthouse? We in China absolutely disdain being the successor to the United States. What we want to be is the Organization—a single spark that starts a prairie fire, spreading across the galaxy.]

[From beginning to end, China has never sought hegemony. We will absolutely not be a 'Lighthouse,' but the Organization—the kind of 'Organization' where everyone adds wood to make the fire burn higher!]

While everyone was discussing this friendship treaty, another video of the confrontation between Commander Yan Luo and Xu Xin was also released. As soon as this video came out, the discussion became even more intense.

[The Lighthouse struck Tiangong, and China countered by destroying the Black Palace. This should be considered military equivalence, not an invasion.]

[If you really want to talk about invasion, the Lighthouse invaded first. Since Tiangong is China's space territory, the Lighthouse's action was equivalent to a declaration of war.]

[Even if it were an invasion, so what? Since its founding, has the United States committed few illegal invasions? This is just a case of walking by the river often and finally having your eyes pecked out by a stronger eagle.]

[That makes sense. What invasion? This is a world where the weak are prey to the strong. Before accusing others of invasion, look at your own previous behavior. How do you have the face to say that?]

[Good for the invasion! They should have been dismantled directly, not just ceding an Alaska.]

Amidst the heated discussion, some people also began to think about the future of human civilization.

[This Xu Xin, although a bit naively foolish, did raise a question: where is the future of humanity headed? The Lighthouse has been extinguished, will China act as the Organization?]

[Why not? China is already leading in every aspect, including energy, materials, aircraft carriers, intelligent mechs, and genetic research...]

[Moreover, China is a nation of benevolence. Judging by their history, they are good at assimilation, not barbaric conquest. Barbaric conquest is merely a method of uncivilized nations; it can only be called the worst possible strategy.]

[In the absence of the Organization, the Lighthouse was merely made to shine! Now, this 'Organization' of China has lit up!]

While the whole world was hotly debating this treaty and the video, a small fishing boat quietly left the sky over Los Angeles.

This fishing boat had been hovering over the United States, searching for the appearance of Super S-sequence biological entities, but until the ceremony ended, no super-powerful creatures were seen.

"Did they all follow the Lighthouse?" Jiang Chen muttered to himself.

He planned to make a trip to the Arctic Circle. That was exactly the place where the United States and the aliens collaborated to build the Lighthouse. According to the documents sent by Commander Yan Luo, there seemed to be an alien base there called Area 51.