Chapter 415: Cheng Xin's Second Choice_1
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"Originally, the Federal Government had announced a comprehensive blockade of Star Ring City, prohibiting any personnel from entering or exiting, but we knew that it was Dr. Cheng Xin who was coming." The envoy nodded to Cheng Xin:
"Therefore, we allowed and assisted you in entering Star Ring City, hoping that you would use your influence to persuade them to abandon their paranoid illegal actions and avoid further escalation of the situation."
The envoy completely ignored Cao Bin, and Cheng Xin could clearly feel the hostility towards Cao Bin from the envoy.
Then the envoy began to tell Cheng Xin about the current situation in Star Ring City, which was not much different from what Cao Bin had described.
Six years ago, the Star Ring Group suddenly announced their plan to develop a curvature drive spaceship, which caused a huge uproar within the Solar System Federation.
After repeated negotiations, the Star Ring Group promised that when the curvature engine entered the substantive testing phase, the experimental base would be moved to a location five hundred astronomical units away from the Solar System.
Alternatively, apply to the Solar System State for assistance to continue the experiments in Lisbon, to avoid the engine's wake prematurely exposing the existence of Earth's civilization.
However, the Federal Government considered the research of lightspeed spaceships to be a crude trampling on the federation's constitution and laws.
(In the 12th year of the broadcast, PDC and Fleet International had defined the research of lightspeed spaceships as illegal, and it was later escalated to charges as severe and heinous as destroying the world.)
The Solar System Federation believed that the danger brought by the appearance of lightspeed spaceships was not just the wake, but it could also cause social unrest in the recently stabilized sheltered world.
In particular, after the emergence of lightspeed spaceships, human society would once again be "roasted on the fire" by "escapeism," and humanity's comfortable life and values would once again be shaken, which was absolutely intolerable.
The Federal Government passed a resolution to completely stop the Star Ring Group from theorical research and technological development related to curvature drive, and to strictly supervise the future activities of the Star Ring Group.
Weide was not one to take things lying down and immediately declared: Star Ring City was independent from the Solar System Federation and would no longer be governed by federal laws.
Thus, the conflict between the Solar System Federal Government and the Star Ring Group escalated.
The envoy once again expressed hope in Cheng Xin, then she and Cao Bin boarded a spaceship to land at Star Ring City.
On the lawn in front of the laboratory, Cheng Xin met Weide.
Weide, having never hibernated after taking over the Star Ring Group, was now ninety-five years old. His hair and beard were still trimmed very short, and all turned white.
He walked without a cane, his steps steady, but his back somewhat hunched, and one sleeve still empty.
In the moment their eyes met, Cheng Xin understood that this man had not been defeated by time; the core of him had not been taken away by time, but instead had become even more pronounced, like rocks emerging from melting snow.
"Hello, little girl," Weide said. "I told you you would still be young at this time; I am now three times your age."
The smile he showed to Cheng Xin was still far from warm, but it no longer had an icy connotation.
Cheng Xin was full of emotions; Weide had been fighting for his ideals for more than sixty years, and now he was nearing the end of his life.
She greeted Weide, then everyone fell silent, and Weide led Cheng Xin into the laboratory, with Cao Bin following behind.
Entering a spacious hall, they saw Jiang Yu and Bi Yunfeng chatting on a long bench.
Jiang Yu had indeed awakened without anyone knowing when!
In an instant, Cheng Xin sensed a whiff of conspiracy.
Bi Yunfeng rose to greet Cheng Xin; he was supposed to be younger than Weide, but he seemed older.
Jiang Yu, on the other hand, hadn't changed much, still appearing to be in his thirties, calm and composed. When Cheng Xin saw his dark gaze, she knew she was going to face another major decision today.
Jiang Yu was like a proctor come to oversee an exam, and she was the student with poor grades.
Jiang Yu sat there without rising, nor did he show any intention to greet her.
Cheng Xin did not go to greet him but continued walking forward with Weide, but even though she couldn't see Jiang Yu, she could still feel the pressure emanating from him, making it hard for Cheng Xin to breathe.
Not until they had walked far, not until several minutes later when they arrived at Weide's presentation stage, did Cheng Xin start to feel a little better.
Cheng Xin saw a small section of her hair had moved to the other side of a line that had been drawn in advance, but she did not see the moving process.
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Weide asked, "What did you see?"
Cheng Xin replied, "You've spent over thirty years making a three-millimeter segment of hair move two centimeters."
Weide said, "It was the curvature drive that moved it."
Cheng Xin thoughtfully observed the segment of hair that had been pulled two centimeters by the tension of space, and after more than half a minute, she said:
"So, you've invented gunpowder and created firecrackers, but your ultimate goal is to make a spacecraft rocket.
"There might be a thousand years between them."
"Your analogy isn't accurate." Bi Yunfeng said, "We have the matter-energy conversion equation and have discovered the principle of radioactivity. The ultimate goal is to make an atomic bomb, and there's only a few decades between them.
"Within fifty years, we will be able to build a curvature-driven lightspeed spaceship."
Cheng Xin said, "But according to your current methods, you should end up with nothing."
"That depends on your decision," Weide said. "You must think that our power is negligible in the face of that fleet outside.
"However, that's not the case!"
Then Weide showed the City Self-Defense Force, as well as the antimatter personal combat weapons purchased from the Solar System State.
Seeing those exquisite killing tools, Cheng Xin already knew what she had to do. She wasn't too worried about the federal fleet, believing they had ways to defend against such attacks.
Now, most of her thoughts were focused on another matter, a sentence that Weide had said while introducing the City Self-Defense Force echoed repeatedly in her mind: We also have people carrying antimatter grenades, who have infiltrated other Space Cities.
Although Cheng Xin didn't know how powerful antimatter grenades were, Space Cities would be as vulnerable as eggs under such weapons.
As if to confirm Cheng Xin's worries, a City Self-Defense Force soldier spoke:
"Dr. Cheng Xin, please believe that we will fight to the end."
Another soldier pointed upwards and continued, "Do you know what they want to take from us? Not the city or the lightspeed spaceship, but the entire universe outside the Solar System!
"It's the billions of beautiful worlds in the universe!
"They won't let us go to those worlds, they have confined us and our descendants to this prison called the Solar System, with a radius of fifty astronomical units!
"We are fighting for freedom!"
Amidst the somber, icy glares, Cheng Xin felt dizzy and disoriented, as if she saw the bloody and cruel nature of humanity, plunging her into deep fear.
She asked Weide, "Is your promise still valid?"
Weide nodded, "Of course, otherwise why would I have called you here?"
"Then stop all war preparations and all resistance immediately! Hand over all the weapons to the Federal Government," Cheng Xin said. "Especially those who have infiltrated other Space Cities, do it right now."
All the soldiers' eyes focused on Cheng Xin, as if to incinerate her.
"Think it over again," Weide said.
"There's no need to think it over," Cheng Xin's voice was unusually decisive.
Weide looked up at Cheng Xin, his gaze revealing rare helplessness and pleading: "Lose humanity, lose a lot; lose the beast, lose everything."
"I choose humanity." Cheng Xin looked around at everyone: "I think you all also..."
"Tsk!" Jiang Yu, who was on the outside, couldn't listen any longer: "Fuck your humanity!"
He then announced loudly, "I hereby declare that the Solar System State is taking over Star Ring City, and I believe none of you have any objections, right?"