Certain promises he had made back then were rely expedient moves to secure votes. After all, the Riken were not an autocratic species. His authority as President wasn’t as substantial as one might imagine. Passing proposals that were contentious was far from simple.
Take, for example, the Trinbrian District. This area was the most chaotic region on the entire Riken planet. Though it spanned only 300 square miles, it was teeming with violent elents.
Gangs, drug dealers, rcenaries, and other dark professions thrived here. Petty thieves were practically upstanding citizens by comparison. The owner of a corner store might very well be a retired gangster kingpin. Ordinary people had no way of surviving in this place.
In his bid to defeat his competitor, he had recklessly promised certain conditions to the Trinbrian people. For instance, he had vowed to push for drug legalization reforms, reduce criminal penalties, and exempt low-value robberies from being considered cris once he beca President.
This not only secured him votes from the Trinbrian District but also garnered support from professionals in related fields, enabling him to ascend to his current position.
Now, despite his desire to fulfill those promises, the proposals, no matter how he dressed them up, were too blatant for the average Riken citizen to overlook.
If he were to insist on pushing these agendas through, whether they succeeded or not was uncertain, but in four years, his role in the election would likely be that of a re spectator.
A single-term President would surely beco a laughingstock in Riken history, and that was not a legacy he wanted.
However, the Trinbrian people were no pushovers. They weren’t ordinary civilians but the kind who slept with a loaded gun under their pillow. Breaking promises to such individuals was no small matter. He had delayed for six years and had received countless death threats from unidentified sources.
Just a few days ago, a military-grade bomb was discovered near his residence. Its origins were unknown, and although the bomb squad had been involved, the case ultimately went unresolved.
The perpetrators had made their stance clear—it was the work of the Trinbrian District. But that area was a fortress of vice, so well-defended that even the regular army hesitated to intervene.
If sothing were to happen to him, the culprits could easily slip back into the Trinbrian District, where no one would risk investigating for the sake of a dead man.
Caught between his own life and career prospects, President Derlin was torn. Even his so-called team of elite advisors couldn’t offer a viable solution.
Just as his recurring migraines began to surface again, the door to his office was pushed open.
A robust middle-aged Riken man with a stern face strode in. His upright posture and vigorous stride revealed him to be a military man.
“President Derlin, pardon my intrusion.”
“General Monroe, what urgent matter brings you here today?” President Derlin thought to himself that soone who claid to understand etiquette would have made an appointnt. But with soone like General Monroe, there was no need for excessive pleasantries. Getting straight to the point was more effective, which suited Monroe’s personality perfectly.
True to form, General Monroe nodded. A slight smile appeared on his chiseled blue face, as he too disliked idle chit-chat. President Derlin’s straightforwardness earned his approval.
General Monroe glanced at the secretary, Ram, who had followed him into the room.
“President, General, I’ll go prepare so refreshnts for you,” Ram offered tactfully, using the excuse to leave the room and close the door behind him.
“President Derlin, here’s a file for you to review,” General Monroe said, placing a folder on the President’s desk.
President Derlin picked up the docunt and glanced at it. “The ‘Cat’s Ear Plan’?”
Flipping through it casually, he realized it was a plan from nearly a century ago. His mories began to stir—he had been young then and vaguely recalled such a project.
At the ti, leveraging the Riken’s cutting-edge technology, a spaceship had been launched toward a neighboring star system. Its exact mission had not been disclosed to the public, only that it was searching for potentially habitable planets.
The crew aboard had been lauded as heroes by the dia, celebrated as the first colonial pioneers to leave their ho star system. Everyone dread of discovering a new habitable planet to expand the Riken territory.
But as years passed, public interest waned. With the project managed by the military, no updates ever surfaced, and eventually, people forgot about it.
Even he, the President, had not recalled it until seeing this file.
“Energy bursts of non-natural origin detected?” As he continued reading, his expression grew increasingly grave.
“Communication logs? Discovery of mysterious lifeforms capable of conducting nuclear fusion reactions within their bodies? Creatures that could unleash energy blasts to trigger nuclear explosions?” Each question from him was more incredulous than the last. Finally, he looked up sharply. “General Monroe, are you trying to pitch a movie script? Parliant doesn’t handle that. You should go to a film studio. They’d love this—it’s a great story. I was completely engrossed.”
General Monroe shook his head, his voice calm. “This is the complete record of the Cat’s Ear Plan from the past ninety years. Every word is genuine.”
“You’re not joking?” President Derlin remained skeptical. The claims in the file were utterly astonishing, and anyone would struggle to accept them at face value.
“I wouldn’t co all this way to waste your ti. I’m busy too.” General Monroe’s tone was unwavering.
President Derlin stared into General Monroe’s eyes, and Monroe returned the gaze without flinching. After several seconds, the President finally looked down again to review the file.
He saw the seriousness in General Monroe’s deanor. This was no joke.
“If this is true, it’s a monuntal discovery. But can we trust the data from the ship? It’s just fragnts of a report.”
General Monroe nodded, then produced a miniature storage device from his pocket and handed it over. “View this. It self-deletes after one viewing.”
President Derlin chuckled and shook his head. “Is that necessary? This office has the highest level of security.”
Seeing Monroe’s silence, he sighed and plugged the device into his computer. Monts later, the device initiated playback.
The footage showed Godzilla erging from the water, with Riken forces intercepting it. Conventional weapons were ineffective. A nuclear missile was launched, but Godzilla retaliated amidst the smoke and debris, unleashing energy blasts that obliterated the artillery before retreating into the sea.
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