Chapter 671: Coercion
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
A few minutes later, under the guidance of the officer, Zhang Lisheng walked through the administrative command building of the New York military base and took the elevator down the long corridor to the B10 floor. Soon, he arrived at an ordinary-looking office part of the enormous underground station.
As soon as he entered the door, a burly senior officer stood up from his office chair and offered to extend his hand. “Hello Dr. Zhang, I’m Nort Figg, the commander of the federal Noah Military Base. it’s my honor meeting you.”
“Hello, Commander Nort, it’s also my honor to meet you,” The young man put on a ‘finally’ relaxed expression and quickly stepped forward to hold the commander’s hand. Smiling, he asked, “The last time I visited Noah Military Base, I remember it was still General Joss who served as the supreme commander. I didn’t think that i’d not be able to see him today already. Has General Joss retired?”
“Yes General Joss has retired earlier this year. Are you familiar with him?”
“Oh, not familiar but impressed. General Joss is a charming old man and a respectable federal soldier. Unfortunately, with the bad situation we have right now, it’s difficult for him to realize his dream of returning to his hometown of Kebo Town in Minnesota after retirement,” Zhang Lisheng answered with a smile.
“Oh, you’re wrong, doctor. After retiring, General Joss gave up the opportunity to retire in Noah World and has returned to the old federal state of Minnesota.” Nort said with a smile.
“He still insisted on completing his ‘retirement plan’ in such a chaotic situation? What an unexpected choice. Looks like I missed out one evaluation on General Joss—he’s a brave fighter too!” Zhang Lisheng was stunned before saying with a shrug.
“He’s indeed a warrior,” The base commander nodded in agreement. The casual talk made the two strangers in the room who had two different identities to become more harmonious.
However, Nort soon stared at the young man’s face and said in a low voice, causing the atmosphere in the room to become heavy again, “You’re right, doctor, but now it seems that General Joss’s choice is no longer relevant, isn’t it? Noah and Minnesota are no longer fundamentally different.”
Zhang Lisheng’s expression changed, and he remained silent for a few seconds. Looking back at Nort, he sighed and said, “Has my most terrible speculation really happened? All the spatial doors on Earth have collapsed, haven’t they, General?”
“Yes, doctor. I’ve just received a notice from the federal government that apart from the inexplicable disappearance of the Shrimp World No. 1’s spatial door and the re-isolation of the Shrimp World No. 1 with Earth, all of the spatial doors of the other worlds have collapsed. In other words, more than 900 foreign worlds have now entirely bordered the Earth. Fortunately, after the highly breakthrough of the atmosphere, those foreign worlds will all disappear. The Earth will still be an oval sphere, so the connection between the old federal state and the central government has not been cut off. ”
“Even though I’ve had a premonition about this before, I still can’t accept that all of this is really happening and Earth has really returned to the era of the Colossal World,” After listening to the brief introduction of the base commander, the young man pretended to heave a long sigh and blurted.
“Colossal World, what a weird term,” Nort had a curious expression on, “What does it mean to return to the era of the Colossal World? Also, the reason for the disappearance of the Shrimp World No. 1’s spatial gate… weren’t you at Wizard Li Island that time…”
“I’m sorry, General Nort. I can’t tell you more about the Colossal World and the same goes to the question of the disappearance of the Shrimp World No. 1’s spatial door. That’s all I can tell you. Please help me to arrange a suborbital spacecraft as soon as possible, I wish to rush back to the White House immediately.”
“Looks like you know a lot of secrets that I don’t know, doctor,” Nort frowned unhappily and fell into a few seconds of silence before saying meaningfully, “Alright, I’ll prepare a spaceship for you right away and send you back to Noah’s World. Every action will be very secretive and will be performed per daily transportation tasks.”
Picking up the phone on his desk, he personally sent Zhang Lisheng to board an armed freight spacecraft that could fly in suborbital.
A few seconds later, the spacecraft slowly lifted into the air. Looking at the federal General’s tall and outstanding figure that was getting smaller from the cabin window, Zhang Lisheng, who carried out everything smoothly according to the planned ‘script,’ started to have an ominous premonition. He could not help but begin to ponder about the unexpected situations that could occur.
“Doctor, we’ll reach the old federal state of Mexico in 30 minutes at most flying in the suborbital. Then, we’ll descend into the atmosphere and fly for about fifteen minutes to reach Noah World’s new Washington military base.” An accompanying officer saw the young man’s face that had turned nervous, so he kindly consoled him.
Zhang Lisheng, on the other hand, remained silent for a long time as he stared at the constantly changing scenery of pale white clouds to the view of the starry sky without turning his head. It was only until the spacecraft he was riding in had entered the space orbit of the Earth and started to sail in parallel to the ground that he finally murmured, “Mr. First Lieutenant, I’m afraid our voyage is not as simple as you think.”
“What are you talking about…” The officer asked the young man in surprise. Before his words could finish, he saw a diamond-shaped brilliance suddenly appear in the dark space that was filled with substantial shining stars outside the cabin window.
No longer asking anything more, the young federal lieutenant burst out right away, “Light warships! Hundreds of light warships! That’s the Atlanteans fleet! They seem to be surrounding our ship…”
“Not ‘seem,’ but they have already surrounded us. This time, no matter what these red-haired guys want to do, they are doomed to be disappointed,” As the spacecraft came to an abrupt halt, Zhang Lisheng stood up expressionlessly with hints of ferocious glow flashing in his eyes faintly as he rubbed the leather belt on his waist.
At the same time, in the cockpit of the spacecraft, in front of a screen of which its lower half was flashing with hundreds of light spots and its upper half showing real-world monitoring outside the ship, a thick-lipped, dark-skinned, tall, middle-aged man wearing a straight military uniform with a sharp hawk with its wings spread out on his shoulder howled in exasperation. “They actually surrounded a spaceship performing military missions for the federal government? Has the commander of this Atlantean fleet gone crazy?! This is a war declaration in the United States! A war declaration…”
When he reached here, he suddenly choked on his words. After a few moments of bewilderment with his horror dawned on his face, he muttered, “A war declaration? Don’t tell me that those aliens are really declaring war on Earth?”
“Captain Francisco, even if the Atlanteans really declared war on Earth, their first target would not be hitting a space target like us. This must be a mistake!” The adjutant next to the black captain saw the incompetent speculation of his boss and said hurriedly, “Or there’s a special situation. We should immediately contact the commander of the alien fleet that surrounds us and eliminate the misunderstanding as soon as possible. We must not let the situation continue to worsen.”
“You’re right, Hartbe, you’re right!” The black captain took a deep breath, and calmed down quickly. He immediately ordered the spaceship communications officer, “Clad, directly get in touch with the alien fleet and say that Air Force Colonel Francisco Wade from the United States New York military base wants to talk to their commander. ”
“Yes, Colonel!” The communications officer replied in an urgent high-pitched voice. His fingers moved across the operation screen in front of him. When he was about to click on the shared communication channel between the federal army and the Atlantis, he suddenly saw a request call on the screen, so he quickly reported, “Colonel, the Atlantis fleet has taken the initiative to talk to us.”
“Allow contact,” When the black captain heard that the aliens had taken the initiative to contact them first, anxiety rose in his heart. Then, he saw the screen in front of him changed, as a familiar delicate face appeared. surprised, he said, “Captain Alonsol, it’s you…”
“Good afternoon, Colonel Francisco,” The Atlantis’ commander on the screen showed a smile and nodded, “I’m sorry to meet with you in such a situation as a fleet commander.”
“Let’s not talk about apologies, captain,” Francisco asked in a surprised expression that could not dissipate away, “Why did you surround us suddenly? The fleet that you’re commanding shouldn’t be composed of Atlantis battleships stationed at the New York military base. Why?”
“It’s simple, Colonel Francisco. This morning, Atlantis’ Fleet Command at New York military base has lost an important document, so I’ve asked the other fleets to carry out an all-round blockade from the space to the underground passage of the entire New York area. The commander is none other than me. I didn’t expect to run into you,” Alonsol explained briefly.
“You’ve joint forces with the other fleets to carry out an all-round blockade in New York? Captain Alansol, who allowed you to do so without the government’s authorization?” Francisco snarled.
“No one allowed it, but the situation was urgent, so I had no choice but to do so,” The Atlantean captain seemed to have run out of patience after throwing out a barely acceptable reason and said in a stern expression. “All in all, I want to check all transportations leaving the New York area, be it car, ship, train, or spaceship.”
“I’m on a military mission, and if you insist on doing this, you have to bear all the serious consequences that come from it,” Upon hearing the implication in Alansol’ words, Francisco froze for a moment, before speaking in a grave expression.
“You don’t have to remind me, Colonel Francisco. I was already prepared to take on all the consequences before blocking New York,” The tone of the person in the ship’s control screen became cold. “I’ll immediately open the fleet’s flagship ‘receiving channel.’ Please fly the spacecraft into the cabin for inspection. By the way, let me give you a small warning. I know that the Neptune Crab is not only an ordinary transport aircraft. It also has a certain amount of offensive and defensive capabilities, but this level of armed forces is nothing but a trivial joke in front of a stellar-ranked Atlantean fleet. Please don’t take any risk. You’ll be released if there’s no abnormality.”