212: Chapter 212 Dragon Emblem and Flame

"Jiang Chen, you're quite fast, kid! You're actually the first to arrive at Area 51!"

The first to enter Jiang Chen's field of vision was none other than the President of the Longke Academy, Xia Zhongxun.

He looked like he was in a frantic rush, hurrying over as if afraid of falling behind.

Jiang Chen smiled and stepped forward, saying, "President, why are you here too? I thought you went to attend the Antarctic Conference."

The Antarctic Conference was, after all, a major meeting that would be recorded in the annals of human history, as it was to determine the global order and rules.

As the head of the Longke Academy, if Xia Zhongxun attended this meeting, he would at least have some say and might even be able to secure more rights and interests for the academy.

However...

Xia Zhongxun shook his head and said, "I'm not very interested in that meeting. I let the Vice President attend in my place. I'm more interested in this alien base in Area 51, to see to what extent these aliens have developed."

"Yeah, that's where my interest lies as well. I originally wanted to find an alien to arm-wrestle with, but I didn't expect to not see a single one."

Behind him, the second person to appear was none other than Commander Long Kui of the Dragon Group. He had a tall, burly, and imposing figure, his face full of martial vigor.

As the founding father of the Gene Warriors' training, he naturally wanted to find a few aliens to use as punching bags.

"You people, always wanting to fight and kill aliens at every turn. Can't you sit down calmly, apply a coating to the aliens, and then do some peaceful slicing experiments?"

Professor Shen Wanyu's voice also came through; he was still holding a glass bottle in his hand.

Inside the glass bottle was a blob of slime mold.

He said to the slime mold, "Isn't that right, Old Fungus Lao?"

The slime mold immediately formed two shapes on the glass bottle: an 'S' and a 'B'.

"Hahaha, Old Shen, your slime mold has really become sentient. Is it insulting you?" Xia Zhongxun couldn't help but laugh.

Professor Shen Wanyu waved his hand and said, "Don't misunderstand; it's saying 'Is that so?'. It's not insulting anyone."

"Only you would deceive yourself like that."

Commander Long Kui shook his head.

As the three of them laughed and talked, high-level officials from various departments arrived one after another.

To Jiang Chen's surprise, many of them were the heads of core departments.

"Strange, why aren't you going to the Antarctic Conference? Why have you all run here to study aliens?"

Jiang Chen was somewhat puzzled.

He wasn't good at management, so he didn't attend the Antarctic Conference and sent Xue Yao instead.

But these high-level officials from core departments were all master leaders; why didn't any of them go?

"Establishing a unified global order is something with both pros and cons. Those who feel the pros outweigh the cons naturally went to participate. This group is called the Xinhuo Faction, and they advocate that a single spark can start a prairie fire."

Xia Zhongxun gave a slight, bitter smile.

"As for our group, they call us the Antique Faction, the Conservative Faction... of course, we call ourselves the Dragon Emblem Faction."

"Our position is that global unification has benefits in the short to medium term, but in the long run, there will be many troubles, so we choose not to participate in this meeting."

After listening to Xia Zhongxun's words, Jiang Chen roughly understood.

In fact, this was the same kind of dispute that occurred after the Lighthouse became the global hegemon.

The Lighthouse was originally just a North American power, but after becoming the global hegemon, it split into two major factions.

One faction, centered on real estate, oil, energy, and rednecks, was known as the Conservative Faction; their Organization was called the Republican Party.

The other faction, centered on finance, globalization, and the internet, was known as the Expansionist Faction or the Unificationist Faction; their Organization was called the Democratic Party.

Now that the Lighthouse has been extinguished, the Organization has been lit.

Long Country naturally split into two major factions immediately.

One faction, with Long Country as the main body, Tributary States as supplements, and other countries linked by interests, aimed to head toward the sea of stars; this was the origin of the Dragon Emblem Faction.

The other faction, linked by the Scientific Research Station system in Antarctica, advocated for Global Integration and heading toward the sea of stars... this was the origin of the Xinhuo Faction.

"So that means Commander Tang Ze and the various aircraft carrier commanders are all part of the Xinhuo Faction?"

Jiang Chen scanned the area and noticed that not a single person from the Naval Department Base was present.

Xia Zhongxun nodded. "Among the major departments, only the people from the Naval Department Base are the most persistent and thorough about the Organization... but that's understandable. They are the biggest beneficiaries of global ocean patrols, so they naturally want to promote Global Integration."

"That old fellow Zhan Tianhao from the Flight Base is the same. For the sake of his Aerospace Carrier, he also strongly supports Global Integration. He's not even worried that his whole family might change colors in the future."

Commander Long Kui grumbled.

"Jiang Chen, you know about Commander Qin going to the Antarctic Conference, right?"

Xia Zhongxun looked at Jiang Chen.

Jiang Chen sighed. He had thought that once the aliens and the Lighthouse were dealt with, the world would be all peace and love. He hadn't expected that internal divisions in ideologies would immediately arise within Long Country. As Old Marx said, there are contradictions at all times!

He said, "President, Commander Tang called me and asked both of us to go. I didn't know about the Dragon Emblem and Organization business, so I let Xue Yao go... How about I give her a call and tell her not to participate?"

After hearing Xia Zhongxun's explanation, Jiang Chen was also skeptical about the so-called Global Integration.

Because the results of Global Integration, in the long run, would certainly bring many troubles.

The Lighthouse was a cautionary tale.

The best way, in fact, was long-term assimilation.

Just as Long Country had assimilated and expanded from the Central Plains all the way to its current state, only then would there be a sense of national identity.

Premature artificial integration would only lead to the kind of opposition seen in the Lighthouse.

However!

Currently, the benefits of Global Integration were too great, and the Xinhuo Faction was unwilling to assimilate slowly.

"Forget it, don't make things difficult for her. She is, after all, considered part of the Naval Department Base. If you call her and she suddenly stops participating, the Naval Department Base might have something to say about it."

Xia Zhongxun shook his head.

He did not force Jiang Chen to have Xue Yao refuse to participate in the Antarctic Conference.

"No matter how the factions are divided, everyone is working for the development of Long Country; it's just that our philosophies are different."

Jiang Chen acted as a peacemaker.

To be honest, in a few hundred years, when humans evolved into supernatural biological entities, it was hard to say if they would even still be human.

As for what the main body of Long Country would become in the future, he couldn't predict that either.

As a descendant of Long Country, he naturally hoped that Long Country would remain the most brilliant nation on this planet.

But global unification also had its benefits. The future sea of stars would require the mobilization of global resources, and Long Country alone had limited resources.

Perhaps this was also the development direction that Commander Tang Ze and Zhan Tianhao were considering.

"Besides, the Aerospace Carrier doesn't belong to General Zhan alone. He can use his global Organization philosophy to develop the Aerospace Carrier, but can't we, the Dragon Emblem Faction, also actively participate and fight for dominance over the Aerospace Carrier?"

"Who says the Aerospace Carrier must be led by the Xinhuo Faction?"

"If I remember correctly, Controlled Nuclear Fusion, the Xuan Nu Fighter Jet, Carbon-9 molecular materials, and so on, all came from our Longke Academy."

"If General Zhan has an issue with the Dragon Emblem Faction, we can just collect patent fees from them for the Xuan Nu Fighter Jet."

As soon as Jiang Chen said this, everyone's eyes lit up.

At this moment, the Xinhuo Faction's momentum was like a rising tide, and the Antarctic Conference was unstoppable and supported by the people. The Dragon Emblem Faction was somewhat worried and could only grumble privately.

Hearing Jiang Chen's words now, they suddenly sensed a new line of thinking.

That was to fight for control.

"Jiang Chen has a point. Whether it's the Organization or the Dragon Emblem, it's all for development and for the sea of stars. In that case, why can't our Dragon Emblem fight for dominance?"

Commander Long Kui said excitedly, "Take Commander Qin, for example. Although she's from the Naval Department Base, she's Jiang Chen's wife. She'll definitely listen to Jiang Chen. Let her act as a spy and turn the entire Naval Department Base into Dragon Emblem Faction people, hollowing them out completely."

Jiang Chen glared at him. "Group Leader Long, speak with a conscience. What do you mean 'spy'? When would my wife ever be a spy?"

Commander Long Kui rolled his eyes. "Give me a break. Your wife acted as a spy in my Dragon Group and took all my Dragon Group Gene Warriors to the Sister Li. I haven't even asked you for a kickback yet. Do you know that my Dragon Group is about to be hollowed out?"

"Can you really call that being a spy? That's called a legitimate transfer of power."

Jiang Chen laughed.

This Commander Long Kui had previously wanted to use Xue Yao to take control of the Dragon Palace. In the end, there was no sign of the Dragon Palace yet, but all the Gene Warriors of his Dragon Group had been lost under the guise of training.

"..."

Commander Long Kui felt bitter in his heart.

He had also thought about withdrawing all those Gene Warriors back to the Dragon Group.

But the Sister Li had already become a combat unit.

And its reputation was so great.

He could only pretend that those Gene Warriors were still under his control!"