fictionpage Chapter 288 America's Despair and High-Stakes Gamble
Chapter 288 America's Despair and High-Stakes Gamble
The White House, the Oval Office.
The atmosphere was so heavy, it seemed, that it could drip water.
The President of the United States, a nearly seventy-year-old, gray-haired politician, sat wearily behind the resolute desk that symbolized the highest power in the world.
Standing before him were all his core advisors.
The Secretary of Defense, the CIA Director, the Secretary of State, and that four-star general who just rushed over from the Pentagon.
"So, you mean..." the president said, looking at the four-star general in a hoarse, almost inaudible voice, "we not only lost Area 51, but also our top-of-the-line Super Soldier program."
"Moreover, all of this was caused by two beings who were suspected to be 'gods'."
"And these two 'deities' are inextricably linked to China."
"Now, you're suggesting I make all of this public?"
"Yes, Mr. President." The four-star general straightened his back, his eyes resolute. "This is our only chance."
"The only chance?" The president chuckled self-deprecatingly. "You call this a chance?"
"That's called suicide!"
"Do you know what kind of consequences it will cause if we reveal all of this?"
"Global financial markets will collapse instantly! Social order will be completely destroyed! People will be plunged into unprecedented panic and chaos!"
"At that point, we won't be fighting against those two 'gods' anymore. We'll be fighting against the entire world!"
"I understand, Mr. President," the four-star general said in a deep voice, "but we have no other choice."
"China has already surpassed us. They have the support of the gods. They have ushered in the so-called 'era of universal cultivation.' Their national strength is rapidly increasing at a speed we cannot even imagine."
"And what about us?"
"Our strongest military trump card was easily wiped out. Our proud technology is nothing but a joke in the face of divine power."
"With this ebb and flow, in less than ten years, or even less than five years, China will completely replace us and become the only superpower on this planet."
"At that point, we won't even have the right to stand at the negotiating table and bargain with them!"
The words of the four-star general were like heavy hammer blows, striking the hearts of everyone present.
A long, drawn-out silence fell over the office.
Everyone knew that what the general said was true.
That sense of powerlessness and fear, of being completely abandoned by the times, is like a large net, tightly enveloping them.
After a long while, the president slowly raised his head.
In his eyes, the shrewdness and scheming that originally belonged to politicians had disappeared.
Instead, there was a desperate, mad, and resolute determination.
"If...we reveal the truth."
"How confident are you that you can force those 'beings' to step into the limelight?"
"And, how can we get them to be willing to 'cooperate' with us?"
"I'm not confident," the four-star general said frankly, shaking his head.
"However, I know that no intelligent life, not even a god, can completely ignore the collective will of seven billion people."
"What we need to do is to bind the entire world to our war chariot!"
"We want to tell everyone that God has descended. But God has chosen China."
"This is unfair to other countries."
"We must incite their envy, their greed, their fear!"
"We want to launch a movement of 'sharing God's grace' throughout the world!"
"At that time, those two 'gods,' and the China behind them, will not be facing just our country, but the entire world!"
"Under such immense pressure, they only had two choices."
"Either we make enemies of the whole world, treat all non-Chinese humans as ants, and carry out a ruthless purge."
"Either we have to compromise and share their 'gift' with the whole world!"
"And no matter which one they choose, it's not the worst outcome for us."
"Because the worst outcome is that, like now, we do nothing and watch helplessly as China gradually ascends to the altar, while we slide into the abyss."
The four-star general finished recounting his crazy and audacious plan in one breath.
The entire office was completely silent.
Everyone was shocked by his high-stakes gamble, which was almost like "kidnapping" the whole world.
This is no longer politics.
This is playing with fire!
It is gambling with the future of all human civilization!
Mr. President, you closed your eyes.
His brain was working at lightning speed, weighing the pros and cons.
for a long time.
He opened his eyes.
"Give me, connect me to all the mainstream media lines."
He spoke to his press secretary in an unprecedentedly calm tone.
"In one hour, I will be in the Oval Office, delivering an emergency address to the world."
"Prepare a speech."
"The title will be..."
He paused for a moment, then said, word by word:
"A New Era, and Humanity's Choice."
……
An hour later.
All over the world, on every screen that is currently playing television programs or online videos.
Without any warning, the same breaking news was interrupted.
The President of the United States of America will deliver a global emergency address in a few minutes.
In an instant, the whole world took notice.
Countless people put down their work, stopped watching movies and TV series, and focused their attention on the screen.
They all wanted to know what earth-shattering event had occurred that would make the most powerful man in the world attract the world's attention in such an unprecedented way.
China, Beijing, Command Center No. 1.
Li Zhenguo, too, stared solemnly at the large screen in front of him.
On the screen, the background of the Oval Office in the White House has been set up.
A countdown is running in the bottom right corner of the screen.
"What exactly are they trying to do?"
Li Zhenguo muttered to himself.
He had a bad feeling.
The Americans' sudden move is definitely ill-intentioned.
They suffered such a huge loss in Area 51, and now, suddenly, they're pulling this stunt. They must be plotting something wicked.
"Minister!" His secretary rushed in. "We just intercepted a top-level, encrypted intelligence report from within the CIA!"
"Although the intelligence was encrypted through multiple layers, we only cracked a small portion of the keywords."
"But all these keywords point to one extremely, insane plan!"
"What plan?" Li Zheng-guo immediately pressed for an answer.
The secretary took a deep breath, his voice trembling, and uttered those few words that sent chills down his spine.
"Revealing the truth..."
"'Global Kidnapping'..."
"as well as……"
"The god of 'force' has appeared!"