July 15th.
One and a half months after the earthquake ended, representatives and committee mbers from the Human Consortium of various countries around the world arrived in Pinglu one after another to hold the first offline eting of the Human Consortium.
Since the seismic source in the ocean had damaged the deep-sea fiber optic network pipelines, cross-ocean national networks were currently unable to communicate with each other. Based on the current situation, repair in the short term was impossible.
However, every country needed to understand the world's situation, so the Human Consortium eting had to be held. After several rounds of discussion, the first offline eting was scheduled for Beixing's Pinglu.
In the vast conference room, only a dozen or so people sat scattered around the wide and long conference table, forming a stark contrast with the room's size.
Committee mber Mary from Suroma looked around and said, "It seems Beixing thought there were still many countries in existence and prepared such a large conference room."
"..."
A wave of silence fell over the group.
At the last eting before the magnitude 10 super earthquake, there had been twenty-eight committee mbers in attendance.
But today, only eleven people were seated. This ant that the countries represented by those seventeen missing committee mbers had all disintegrated during this earthquake disaster.
"There were once over three hundred countries on this planet. In just over a year, only eleven remain," sighed the committee mber from the Black Flag Country. "The changes have been truly rapid."
The bald committee mber from the Kingdom of Xisiya snorted coldly. "Survival of the fittest. Countries with poor survival capabilities deserved this outco."
"That's not right to say. From what I know, the casualties in the Kingdom of Xisiya this ti were also very high. Could it be that those who died deserved it too?" The one who spoke up to refute was the representative committee mber from the Sakura Prayer Country.
The Xisiya committee mber glared over angrily, but then seed to think of sothing and forced a concerned smile. "Your Sakura Prayer Country was lucky enough, managing to evacuate many people. It's a sha your ancestral holand wasn't so fortunate."
"You! That is utterly rude!"
The sinking of the Sakura Prayer Country's ho island was the greatest pain point in the hearts of its entire people. To have it used as an attack against them now was naturally difficult for the committee mber to accept.
Knock knock.
Beixing representative Gao Liangwei rapped the table heavily with his knuckles. "Everyone, did you co all this way just to argue?"
"..."
"The purpose of this eting is clear. The eleven remaining countries need to help each other. The world's population is already small. If we don't pool our wisdom and efforts, humanity truly will perish."
A committee mber from a small country agreed. "Yes! Our country's population is now only just over two million. If we encounter any more disasters, we really won't be able to hold on!"
"We're slightly better off, but not by much."
"Our leader hopes to transfer the main population to major powers like Beixing and Suroma, leaving only a small portion in our holand. That would be safer. We hope both countries can agree."
"We have the sa idea."
Among the eleven remaining countries, only Beixing and Suroma could still be considered major powers. The Kingdom of Xisiya barely qualified, but having suffered severe damage this ti, it certainly lacked the capacity to accept populations from other countries.
"Coming to Suroma is possible. Our king welcos it," Mary said with a hint of pride. "In our technologically advanced country, security and safety standards are very high."
During this disaster, the Suroma Empire, relying on various robotic technologies, replaced a large amount of human labor for disaster relief and aid work, achieving quite good results.
Gao Liangwei also said, "Our Beixing welcos it as well."
In this era where population is everything, a country wanting to continue its existence must have people.
But the problem was that now there was only stock, no growth.
In this era, almost no one chose to have children. The living were dying in batches. This situation of only decreasing, never increasing, was utterly despairing. Therefore, if other countries felt unable to protect their own people and hoped their citizens could go to safer places, the target countries would all agree to accept them.
"Speaking of which," a committee mber asked curiously, "did the representative from the Republic of Fahe not co this ti?"
It was truly surprising that the Republic of Fahe, one of the major powers, had not sent a committee mber to attend the eting.
Due to the network isolation and the inability to connect via satellite communication, even the eting's host, Beixing, didn't know what was happening.
Gao Liangwei looked at Mary. "Does your country know what happened to the Republic of Fahe?"
The Suroma Empire and the Republic of Fahe were on the sa continent, connected by land routes, and were forr allies. If anyone present would know about Fahe's situation, it would be Mary.
Sure enough, Mary nodded, her expression sowhat odd. "According to reports, Fahe suffered severe damage this ti, with all its major cities destroyed. Combined with the drastic changes before the earthquake, official departnts failed to organize rescue efforts, so casualties were also extrely severe."
"And a few days ago, Fahe notified us that they had elected a new king, King Joel I, who claims to be the 'Spokesperson of God.' The remaining people of Fahe will lead a new life under this person's guidance."
Everyone present looked at each other, understanding why Mary wore that expression.
The Republic of Fahe had long been without a king. The last king was over two hundred years ago. After that, the country transford into an electoral system. So how could they have reversed course now? And who was this "Joel I"?
Mary continued, "Our analysis suggests that Fahe's decision-making group may have been completely wiped out during the previous chaos and this disaster. A new force has erged and taken control of the country."
"'Spokesperson of God'... sounds related to the cultist incidents that Fahe never fully cleaned up," Gao Liangwei said seriously. "If this 'Joel I' is the mastermind behind the Fire Thief worship cult, then his self-proclamation as king now ans he wants to step from the shadows into the spotlight. This is absolutely unacceptable behavior!"
Committee mbers from the other countries also nodded in agreent.
Look at how the warlords within the Tulip Federation fought among themselves—other countries didn't have much mind to interfere. But if a religious force worshiping the Fire Thief ca to power, that was absolutely unacceptable.
Otherwise, with the first one, there would be a second. Once the number of "infected" exceeded a critical point, humanity would be completely finished.
"We are still investigating this matter," Mary said, also aware of the severity. "If it's confird to be cultists, we will notify everyone and carry out a joint strike together."
"Good."
"That's how it should be."
"Next, let's discuss the disaster situations in each country and how we should assist each other. Also, the various secondary disasters caused by the earthquake need proper handling. For example, the volcanic ash accumulating in the extre southern regions—if not dealt with, it will drift to the populated areas of various countries sooner or later."
"And there's the matter of Terra immigration," Mary reminded. "Our Suroma plans to immigrate a portion of our population to Terra within the year to adapt in advance and prepare for the future. I imagine Beixing has a similar plan?"
Gao Liangwei nodded. "Yes. Beixing also plans to conduct interstellar immigration tests within the year, adding another layer of insurance for humanity."
Reviews
All reviews (0)