Chapter 156: Chapter 156: Moral Blackmail
Fortunately, as the apocalypse’s top producer, Duan Qianyu’s efficiency was also astonishing.
After she communicated with the Chinese Academy of Sciences about the equipment both sides needed, progress in the apocalyptic world advanced at a frightening pace.
In fact, Li Xingye’s most important task during this time became protecting his base from the influence of the Dawn organization.
That’s right. After Chi Wan finally established contact with the nation, Dawn Base had begun to develop at a soaring pace.
And when the rival Dawn Base realized this, their first reaction was to try and capture Li Xingye and even Chi Wan for research, going so far as to launch several zombie hordes to achieve their goal.
But how could the present-day Li Xingye possibly let them get their way?
As a result, he had to purge a batch of spies with ulterior motives every day, then happily accept the Crystal Cores they practically delivered to his doorstep.
Meanwhile, after observing Dawn Base’s development trajectory, Baiyi Base also made a decisive move and proactively extended an offer of cooperation.
Within a very short period, Dawn Base had already expanded its network of signal towers and base stations by nearly a thousand kilometers. It probably wouldn’t be long before they could communicate directly with survivors all across the country without any barriers.
This also attracted more people to come and join them.
Anyone who had survived in the apocalypse until now possessed some real skills, so Dawn Base’s construction speed multiplied several times over.
Whenever Chi Wan had time to visit the apocalyptic world, she was shocked by the speed of the base’s transformation.
The giant vine wall that Li Xingye had first erected had already been moved outward several times, and the entire base was bustling with activity.
According to Qianqian and the others, more and more people had become pregnant recently. But unlike the fear and anxiety of before, most of them were choosing to have their babies.
New life gives birth to new hope.
And everyone firmly believed that if anyone could end the apocalypse, it would be their leader.
But what Li Xingye cared about most was that during her exchanges with the scientists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Duan Qianyu was also investigating the secret of the connected spatial passages.
Funnily enough, Chi Wan had previously discovered that she could bring people from the apocalyptic world into her personal space. It turned out that this space and the modern world she was in could be connected through the internet.
So, on a whim, she brought an internet-connected computer into her space.
From then on, she no longer needed to painstakingly memorize professional jargon and relay reports back and forth.
The first time she saw Duan Qianyu, Lin Wei, and the others communicating directly with the research institute’s professors via computer, Chi Wan finally breathed a sigh of relief. ’Looks like I can go home soon.’
With the creation of the first batch of finished products, the fact that Hua Country had discovered a new form of energy could no longer be kept secret.
Of course, they had no intention of hiding it anyway.
This was because this energy was fundamentally different from oil. Even if other countries wanted to crack the secret, they couldn’t master its use even if they obtained the Crystal Stones. Not without the help of Duan Qianyu and the others’ superpowers to convert them.
For a time, netizens both at home and abroad were engaged in fervent discussions, all very optimistic about the prospects of the new energy source.
Hua Country rode this wave of hype to directly launch a variety of next-generation products, even holding a military exhibition.
This move immediately made its old neighbors of many years restless.
After all, given Hua Country’s usual MO, if they were revealing a first-generation product, it probably meant the third generation was already close to completion. How could they not panic?
Those spying in the shadows nearly ground their teeth to dust, especially when they saw that the energy upgrade allowed for a greater focus on improving performance in other areas.
And so, at the following day’s diplomatic press conference, a few countries led by the United States began to covertly stir up trouble.
A reporter asked with an air of self-righteousness, "We’ve heard that Hua Country has obtained a new form of clean energy, which will be a tremendous help in tackling global environmental issues. Therefore, we request that Hua Country, for the sake of better protecting the global environment, publicly release the relevant data on this new energy so that everyone can contribute to environmental protection."
This typical act of standing on a moral high ground while wanting to have their cake and eat it too made Hua Country’s netizens who followed foreign affairs burst out in curses.
"If the Great Wall had been built with these reporters’ faces, the tears of a hundred Meng Jiangnus couldn’t have knocked down a single brick!"
"How can they be so shameless as to say something so outrageous? You want the new energy? Fine, trade your chip technology for it. We’ll even take the loss and consider it our good deed for the day."
...
Of course, there were also some who tried to stir the pot: "I don’t see a problem with it. The energy issue has always been a top priority. Popularizing clean energy is a great thing for protecting Blue Star. We can’t be so selfish."
"Exactly. Blue Star is our shared home. The reporters from the United States are just trying to protect Blue Star, right?"
Unfortunately, not only did these comments fail to gain any support, but they were also thoroughly flamed by a horde of netizens, who even suspected the posters of being foreign agents. A group of people went to report them to the internet police, scaring them into silence.
The spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, however, responded to the reporter’s question with a smile. "Data shows that the United States, with less than 5% of the world’s population, accounts for 25% of the world’s oil consumption. The issues of resource waste and carbon emissions are self-evident.
"I think that before you try to embrace new things, perhaps you should focus on doing better in existing and familiar fields. As for the new energy, we will, of course, gradually open it up for trade. However, due to special circumstances, the development and use of this new energy require more specialized guidance, and the new technical terms are truly difficult to translate into other languages.
"Therefore, we may have to start by trading within a smaller market, with those who can understand the Hua language."
The reporter’s face turned a shade of green.
The spokespeople from other countries knew perfectly well what this meant. ’Understanding the Hua language’? To put it bluntly, didn’t that just mean they wanted transactions to be conducted in Hua Country’s currency?
If that happened, a huge crack would be pried open in global trade by Hua Country’s currency, potentially destroying the monetary hegemony the United States had enjoyed for so many years in one fell swoop.
But ultimately, the situation was out of their hands.
Hadn’t the United States been able to hold the dominant position in the currency market for so many years precisely because it controlled the market for the biggest hard currency?
And now, the few scraps of information that had been revealed about Hua Country’s new energy source were enough for anyone to glimpse its enormous potential.
If they didn’t buy it, but other countries did, wouldn’t the global landscape shift once again?
Regardless of the turmoil stirring outside, Hua Country maintained the air of a great power, calmly and nonchalantly keeping the initiative in trade firmly in its grasp.
For a while, the flow of people entering and exiting Hua Country increased, and countless pairs of eyes were fixed on all of its sensitive locations, desperate to get firsthand information about the new energy.
But soon, something else happened that shocked everyone.
After a negotiation involving fruitless threats and enticements, a related official was on his way home when his car suddenly exploded in the middle of the street!
But to the astonishment of all onlookers, the occupants of the car, who should have died in the explosion, were instead sitting inside a giant sphere of water that had enveloped them, completely unharmed and looking utterly baffled!
Everyone who witnessed this scene was asking: What in the world is that?!
