Published at 28th of March 2020 4:51 am

Chapter 437: Lockdown

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The conflict had thus come to a close, having resulted in 100 deaths and injuries for the humans and zero for the Protoss.

Without a doubt, the Protoss took quite the advantage of the Terrans in this first clash. But, in taking that tiny inch, they had also exposed their fatal weakness: the insufficient concentration of natural spiritual energy.

Even though celestial powers had been recovering for nearly a decade, the natural spiritual energy concentration on Earth was still only a few hundredths or even thousandths of that in the Heavenly Realm, and was incapable of supporting continuous consumption by cultivators of orders above the Jiedan.

It would be difficult for those in the Jiedan Order and above to replenish the spiritual energy “reserve” in their bodies when their exertion was larger and the reserve was in decline. Even the super-powerful cultivators of the Shenguang Order could only handle a single battle, as they could not continuously replenish their natural spiritual energy in large amounts.

Unless they were to bring along spiritual stones, even ‘Sages’ would only be capable of a single combat. Spiritual stones were classified as a scarce resource; no one could possess them for merely a few hundred or a couple grand. Moreover, due to the excessive development in the Heavenly Realm, the ubiquitous pollutants in the primal chaos had lessened the quantity of spiritual stones—to, at long last, the point of exhaustion.

Hence, no matter how high an Order they were in, almost all of the Protoss who had arrived on Earth would only be able to participate in a single battle.

And as for the humans?

Their guns, cannons, planes, tanks, and mechs could be produced in large quantities as long as there were enough factories and raw materials. In addition, they also had robots, consumables that could replace human soldiers. If a large number of them were sent into battle, using their mob strategy, even the most powerful Protoss would be swarmed to their death.

…

On the day when the incident of the Protoss attacking the federal parliament broke out, it swiftly spread on the internet, causing an uproar.

Many netizens were infuriated:

“They are returning kindness with ingratitude! We have raised a white-eyed wolf.”

“We shouldn’t have taken them in the first place.”

“The so-called Protoss are, in the end, only terrorists who have no concept of civilization in their heads. They think they can conquer the entire world with force and violence. How naïve! We humans will never submit to the slave society of which they have conceived.”

“War? Who’s afraid of who?! It is they who attacked first; we can only fight back!”

“Fight them! We will never be cowards.”

“Respect those who respect us, and kill off those who violate us!”

“Where are our nukes? Why aren’t we bringing out our nuclear weapons to suppress the Protoss’ arrogance?”

“Are you crazy? The destructive power of nuclear weapons is too big. Not only will it destroy the Protoss, but our homeland will also get razed to the ground. We must not use it rashly—not until the very last minute!”

“The seeds of hatred have already been planted. A horrific war? So be it!”

Most of the netizens were in a murderous mood. They couldn’t let it go, and were all calling for a retaliation. There were also netizens that launched a war donation initiative. With this person donating half a month’s salary and that person donating a full month’s, a lot of money was raised in just a short time, and the level of enthusiasm was high indeed.

However, even though public opinion was bubbling over, with many crying out for war, it was still a huge undertaking, and could not be declared easily. It was a last resort.

The top officials of the Federal Government were therefore moved to a mysterious underground command center. The leaders of Earth, once again, held another meeting.

It was a meeting that would decide between war and peace.

In the underground meeting room.

At a big elliptical table in the shape of a football field, the president and vice president of the federation and the leaders of the Z, M, Maoxiong nation, and other countries gathered together, conversing seriously.

President Fang Xiuping had a white bandage hanging off of his left hand, as he had broken his arm after being hit by a falling brick. He said in a solemn tone, “The Protoss’ way of thinking and their views have never aligned with ours over the years. Ultimately, our beliefs have failed to influence them. It is essentially impossible for them to accept our ways of conducting things.”

The idea of a fusion of the two races was not realistic.

“If they were just reluctant to accept our ways, then I would say, so be it. But they are making every attempt to destroy us and to force us to yield. After the intelligence of our nuclear weapons becoming ineffective was leaked, the balance was broken, and they acted immediately almost without hesitation. It appears that they had been suppressing themselves for a long time.”

Bam!

The leader of the Maoxiong Nation smashed his fist on the table. He said furiously, “It seems that the kindness we have shown them and the help we have given them were totally useless and ridiculous—just like when Native Americans helped the European colonists. The most sensible action would have been to destroy them near the space door in the beginning, instead of accepting the Protoss immigrants in wave, after wave, after wave!”

Vice-President Lawrence Ford sighed. “We have tried. Over the past ten years, for the sake of peace, we have done our utmost and have acted in the greatest of sincerity. Even when we were heavily criticized by the Federal citizens, we still persisted. So, in the end, is war the only way to protect peace?”

“If it is either war or slavery, I choose war!”

“Yes, indeed! Our only option is to take the fight to them!”

“But…” A prominent parliamentarian said with hesitation, “Are we truly ready? Do we have confidence that we will win? The enemies we are talking about here are a horde of extraordinary individuals.”

“Mr. Walsh, allow me to answer your questions about war.”

A middle-ranked general with a burly physique and thick eyebrows stood up. He was a three-star general by the name of Moreden Peters. While setting up the projection screen, he said with his sonorous voice, “In fact, for over a decade, we have been preparing our military all along. No matter how much public opinion has leaned toward peace, we have been seriously preparing for war.

“For more than ten years, the equipment developed by our military units has been entirely focused on countering the extraordinary abilities of the Protoss.

“Most of the military exercises conducted in the military over those years have been carried out with the Protoss as our imagined enemies. Our soldiers have all been sternly trained.

“I can responsibly say that, even if faced with the immensely powerful Protoss, our soldiers will not panic or lose their morale. Instead, they will fight bravely and fearlessly.

“In addition, thanks to our virtual game technology with extremely accurate simulations, the most elite squadron that we have trained has a 30% chance of taking out the cultivators in the Shenguang Order in scenarios where nuclear weapons are inappropriate.

“Of course, our biggest difficulty is that military funding has shrunk in recent years. With more than 30% of our soldiers off-duty and insufficient money for training and purchasing equipment, we have only managed to train 11 elite squadrons—a severely inadequate number.”

At that moment, the M.P.s and the world leaders clearly heard the grievances in Moreden’s words.

However, whether or not he was complaining, Moreden still composed himself very well, and continued: “We will need at least one hundred elite squadrons to hold back the mighty Protoss. Hence, from now on, military funds must be increased to ten times what they were before! Only then we will be able to complete the necessary training in a short period of time.

“Besides, according to our military experts, the Protoss do, in fact, have certain weaknesses. When they attacked the primary headquarters of the Federation, they should have been able to organize themselves well enough to eliminate the AST Mech Squadron, mount a heavy blow on the Third Armor Division which the M nation deployed for backup support, and even split up to chase down the fleeing Federal M.P.s—either killing everyone or seizing control.

“But they didn’t. They only hindered the AST Mech Squadron and then hurried away, unwilling to become overly entangled.

“According to an analysis by our elite military experts, the reason that the Protoss halted their operation was not soft-heartedness or any special warnings they received. It was purely because they expended too much spiritual energy, and that prevented them from sustaining combat.

“The natural spiritual energy here on Earth is too thin. The speed at which they consume it is far greater than that at which it is replenished. Even a God with top-notch combat power, who could crush hundreds of mechs in a blow, will, while in combat, consume far more spiritual energy than they recover.

“Perhaps, because it was the first time that the Protoss fought on Earth, they forgot that this is not the Heavenly Realm. In their contempt, they have exposed one of their fatal flaws.

“It is this flaw that now allows us to see a possibility of defeating the Protoss!

“No matter how high level their cultivation levels are, as long as we launch a series of drawn-out wars, the day will come when they are depleted.

“Moreover, we must capitalize on the current thinness of the natural spiritual energy. The sooner we initiate the war, the greater our advantage will be. If we continue to drag talks out until the concentration of the so-called ‘celestial particles’ has reached a very high level, I’m afraid that the scales of victory will tilt back to the side of the Protoss.

“So, we should take the fight to them as soon as possible! Attacking them early is better than doing it late! The more time passes, the worse it will be for us!”

Moredon issued a proposal for war.

The P.M.s and leaders all nodded their heads.

After coming to understand the individual strengths of the Protoss over so many years, they all made a brief internal calculation. These people’s existence was absolutely comparable to humanoid bombs, tanks, and nuclear bombs. In addition, they were highly mobile, flexible, and very intelligent. Every single one of them would be difficult to deal with, a being that could not be easily killed. Adding to this their ‘fast recovery,’ which would allow them to sustain combat over a long period, and the premise of the failure of large-power nuclear weapons… Humanity’s fate of becoming the Protoss’ slaves was probably inevitable.

Fortunately, in the current state of affairs, the Protoss still had a rather lethal weakness.

If they do not grab this opportunity…

“War it is then! There’s a big chance that we will win!” an M.P. said.

“We have been at peace for almost 200 years. In the end, blood and fire are still unavoidable!”

“Fight them! It can only be war!”

Aside from the few that kept silent, the opinion of everyone in the big conference room was basically the same.

The inception of a full-out war only needed a single official announcement, and a plan for all aspects of the effort: public opinion control, achieving combat readiness, initializing various types of war machines, carrying out comprehensive mobilization, and so on.

However, only two days later, and just when everyone was on tenterhooks, news arrived from the Protoss, who were asking for negotiation.

The leader of the Protoss, Bakedu, personally video called and contacted the president of the Federation, Fang Xiuping. The two had a remote chat.

“President Fang, stop committing to unnecessary preparations and sacrifices. Look at the situation now. Just bring along all the humans under your care and surrender to the Protoss.”

Bakedu said earnestly, “This time, I’ll show you some extra kindness. I will not treat you humans as slaves. Instead, I’ll grant your species some small status. What about becoming our subjects?

“We will not enslave you, nor kill you at will, as long as you follow the rules set by the Protoss and serve us sincerely. How’s that? As long as you perform well, it will all be possible: inexhaustible wealth, rich land, great power, and even becoming one of the Protoss—taking on our identity. You only have to bend over slightly and respectfully hail us as your ‘Lords.’

“How does that sound? Is your heart moved? Do you want to be the first who submits? If you take the lead and be an exemplar, you will, hereafter. be given an important position. Your future will be without boundaries.”

At that final point, the corner of Bakedu’s mouth turned up a degree, and his face was full of smugness.

Little did he notice, however, that Fang Xiuping was looking at him as if at an idiot.

Fang Xiuping saw through his pretense at first glance. “Have you also realized, then, that this isn’t the best time for you to start a war with us? And so, you have softened up and made a slightly lighter demand?”

Fang Xiuping looked disdainful. “But—my apologies. I have not even the tiniest bit of interest in the benefits that you have offered. Besides, we humans are already prepared for conflict. We are ready to enter a state of total war at any time.

“We have simulated it with our supercomputers. As long as we are willing to suffer about 200 million casualties, we can destroy all Protoss on the Earth within three years or so and achieve the ultimate victory.

“But, we still want to give peace a chance. We do not wish for our cities to become ruins, for hatred to go unchecked, and to subject living souls to misery and suffering.

“Hence, make a solemn apology for the attack on our primary headquarters that happened a few days ago, and provide a generous compensation to the families of the dead and wounded soldiers. Even if your apologetical statement is lacking sincerity, you will be able to recover peace and prevent the brutal war that is going to happen. Everything will then return to its previous, peaceful state.

“How’s that? Can you say the word ‘Sorry’?”

“Preposterous!”

Bakedu’s expression became awful. “How can high-up Protoss apologize to ants? What sort of dream is this?”

“Still holding on to your pride?” Fang Xiuping snorted. “Well then, be prepared to pay for your arrogance.”

Upon finishing, he hung up the video call.

Negotiations thus broke down.

However, after two days, many Protoss noticed that the humans had entered a state of full mobilization and readiness. They halted the water and electricity supply to the Protoss residential areas, ceased the delivery of various supplies, severed trade, interrupted the route to the space door connected by Jupiter, and imposed a comprehensive lockdown. In just a day or two, many Protoss living areas regressed thousands of years in their level of civilization and crumbled into a semi-fallen state.

The sanction war that came before the actual warfare had, already, exasperated more than a billion Protoss immigrants. Complaints were everywhere. As for the reason why the lockdown had been imposed, most of the Protoss knew about it through television media and radio broadcasts: they could only blame their own leaders, who had provoked the incident groundlessly, attacked the M.P.s for no reason, killed and injured hundreds of Terran soldiers, and caused major bloodshed.

“We have no intention of putting you in a difficult position. If you wish to lift the sanctions, it is very simple. Apologize—publicly apologize—and compensate us! As soon as you apologize, the lockdown will immediately be lifted, and our previous misunderstandings will be resolved.”

Listening to Fang Xiuping’s righteous remarks through the television or radio, and looking at the actual footage of the assault, many of the Protoss immigrants were plunged into silence.

Only a small number of them clamored, “Apologize? Who do you think you are?”

Generally speaking, in the face of such sanctions, anyone, whether Protoss or any other race, could only persist for about three days.

Once this three-day endurance limit was over, they either had to compromise or let both sides sink together. There was no other choice.

For that reason, the ball was back in the court of the Protoss’ leadership.

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