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Chapter 292 Global Silence, Despair Spreads

"We've slammed the sky down..."

The four-star general's words, like a cold verdict, echoed in the Oval Office and in the hearts of every high-ranking American official.

Their original plan was to ignite a fire, attract the world's attention, and then use the pressure of public opinion to force China and that mysterious entity to make concessions.

But now, the fire has been lit, but what it has attracted is not a crowd of onlookers, but an ancient dragon powerful enough to burn the entire world.

The dragon merely dozed off, rolled over, and revealed a patch of its scales, plunging the entire world into silence and trembling.

Washington time, 3 p.m.

An hour has passed since the president's half-hearted "global emergency address".

But for leaders around the world, that one hour feels longer than a century.

10 Downing Street, England.

Smoke filled the underground bunker conference room of the Prime Minister's official residence.

The Prime Minister, the Foreign Secretary, the head of MI6, and all the core of British power were gathered here, their faces etched with solemnity and lingering fear.

"So, this is what Americans call 'gods'?" The Foreign Minister's voice trembled slightly as he watched the video repeatedly played on the screen, feeling his worldview being repeatedly shattered. "My God, this is a million times crazier than anything we've ever seen in a science fiction movie!"

"That's not the point." The head of MI6, an elderly man with a sinister look in his eyes, tapped the table and said in a deep voice, "The point is, this video is real. Just two weeks ago, Area 51 did indeed disappear from the Nevada desert. Our latest satellite photos show that there is now a glass-like crater with a diameter of more than five kilometers. This is highly consistent with the attack effect emitted by the golden figure at the end of the video."

A collective gasp filled the conference room.

"So... the Americans aren't lying?" The Prime Minister's face turned grim. "China, really, has boarded... the chariot of this kind of entity?"

"I'm afraid so." The head of MI6 nodded. "Moreover, we all made a fatal mistake. We were all jealous of China, thinking they had monopolized this 'gift.' But now it seems, this isn't a gift at all; it's clearly a curse! A sweet curse!"

He paused, then continued in a cold tone, "Look at those monsters in the video. Their scale and fighting power are absolutely not something that should exist on Earth. What does this mean? It means that our civilization has long been targeted by one or more more advanced, malicious civilizations!"

"And China, or rather, the entity behind China, has been protecting us from these enemies that we don't even know about."

"We are like a group of goldfish living in a glass fishbowl, thinking ourselves safe, still fighting endlessly for a little food. Little do we know that outside the fishbowl, there is already a pack of hungry wolves, watching us intently. And that 'god' is the only guardian standing between the fishbowl and the hungry wolves."

"We...we just now actually accused that guardian of favoritism? Demanded that he distribute weapons to us, fish who don't even know where the enemy is?"

These words sent a chill down the spines of everyone present.

A huge sense of absurdity and shame welled up inside me.

"The Americans, this time, have truly screwed us all over!" The Foreign Secretary slammed his fist on the table in anger. "For their own hegemony, they almost pushed all of human civilization into the abyss!"

Moscow, the Kremlin.

The Russian president, known for his iron fist, also watched the screen without saying a word.

Standing beside him were the Secretary of Defense and the Director of the Federal Security Service.

"Can we do it?" After a long silence, he finally spoke, asking the Minister of Defense beside him.

The Defense Minister gave a wry smile and shook his head: "Mr. President, let alone us, even if we bundled all the world's nuclear weapons together, whether we could achieve the effect shown in the video of completely disintegrating a biological warship the size of a mountain at the atomic level is still an unknown."

"In other words, our strongest military force might just be a slightly larger firecracker in their eyes?"

"Yes, Mr. President. It's unfortunate, but it's true."

The Russian president remained silent.

He leaned back in his chair, rubbed his temples, and for the first time, a hint of fatigue appeared on his face.

"I used to think our biggest rivals were those guys across the ocean," he muttered to himself. "Now it seems we're all just pieces bouncing around on the chessboard."

"So what do we do now?" the director of the Federal Security Service asked. "As for China, what are we..."

"Let's wait and see." The Russian president opened his eyes, his gaze regaining its sharpness and composure. "The Americans have made such a huge mess; they're more anxious than any of us now. Let's see what they do next."

"However..." he changed the subject, "notify our space agency to immediately adjust the orbits of all Earth observation satellites, shifting the entire monitoring focus to the entire territory of China. I need to know what their so-called 'nationwide cultivation' is all about. Since the gods are on their side, then the path to the divine realm must also be hidden in China!"

……

Leaders around the world are urgently convening meetings.

Panic, shock, lingering fear, relief... a complex mix of emotions intertwined and fermented in the highest power centers of various countries.

And the one who started all of this is the United States.

The atmosphere in the Oval Office of the White House had become incredibly tense.

After the initial shock and loss of composure, the four-star general was the first to calm down.

He was, after all, a seasoned professional soldier, whose mental fortitude far surpassed that of politicians.

He forced himself to analyze the video and the question from the "god" over and over again.

"Mr. President, gentlemen," he began, his voice still a little hoarse, but already calm and composed.

All eyes were on him.

"I think...we might not have completely destroyed the sky."

"What do you mean?" the president asked, looking at him with a puzzled expression.

"Think about it, if that being really wanted to destroy us, would he need to make things this complicated?" The general's thoughts became clearer. "With the power he has demonstrated, a single thought could wipe the entire North American continent off the map. He simply didn't need to first play a video to warn us, and then leave behind that question."

What does this mean?

"This shows that he doesn't want to destroy us. At least not now."

"He played that video for two purposes. First, it was a warning. A warning to us not to use our mortal, petty cleverness to test the majesty of the gods. Second, it was a demonstration. He showed us the real threat to this universe: those insect-like monsters."

"And that question, 'Are you looking for me?' is more like... the beginning of an equal, dialogue-based conversation."

"Dialogue?" The Secretary of State found the term absurd. "You call that dialogue? That's clearly an ultimatum before trial!"

"No." The general shook his head. "If it were a trial, he wouldn't ask questions; he would simply pronounce the verdict."

"The fact that he asked means that he gave us a chance to answer."

"We messed everything up. But, by a twist of fate, we did manage to 'bring' him out from behind the scenes. Although the method was crude and foolish, we achieved our goal."

"Now, the whole world knows of his existence. And they know that he is our common enemy."

"We have no way out."

"We can no longer treat him as an enemy, or as an ally of China. We must treat him as the sole savior of all human civilization!"

"We can no longer think about 'sharing' his power. Instead, we should consider how to earn the right to 'serve' him!"

The general's words stunned everyone present.

From confrontation to sharing, and then to...efficiency?

The transformation of this character was just too fast.

"You mean…" the president seemed to grasp something, "we… are going to surrender to him?"

"No, Mr. President." A complex light flashed in the general's eyes. "It's not surrender."

"Yes, pilgrimage."

He took a deep breath and spoke in an unprecedentedly solemn tone.

"Immediately, prepare a top-level diplomatic mission."

"We're going to Beijing."

"We're going to that being to offer our... 'pledge of allegiance'!"