Vol 20 Chapter 7-1
While team Pacific was planning for their attack, team China was too preparing for a counterattack with confidence. If any problems were to arise, there were people in the team to deal with them. The team's hopes would never come to an end as long as Xuan was still alive. The team would never fear a frontal clash as long as Zheng was still alive. These were of course not what was troubling the team. They were scratching their heads to come up with a plausible story to tell the American politicians.
The problem was solved by WangXia in the end. As a soldier who read all kinds of fantasy novels, he managed to come up with a story in a short amount of time. It was that everyone here was captured by the aliens and turned into experimental subjects. They were released by the aliens but some people turned into the aliens’ underlings, who they would call traitors of mankind.
The story sounded implausible but so was the world itself. The politicians felt enlightened upon learning of it. It was reasonable that the aliens investigated humans before performing such a big attack. And the story also gave an explanation to the strength Zheng possessed and his ability to deflect bullets.
The American president that appeared in the movie expressed his wish for team China to help defend against the alien invasion. He also hoped team China could provide the weakness to extraterrestrial technology, which coincidentally they knew from the movie plot. It was quite funny that computer viruses from the Earth were the counter to the impenetrable extraterrestrial technology.
However, no one here could make use of this weakness at this time even if team China were to expose it due to plot. Mankind could not implant the alien vessels with the virus until they obtained the Attacker from Area 51. So, team China decided it was better to hold out on the information until the plot reached that point.
After WangXia finished telling the story, Zheng agreed to the politicians’ requests. They planned to escape the city along with the politicians beforehand but having the politicians bring up this request was significant in its own way. It reduced the suspicion team China gave off.
The president was going to speak when a Caucasian woman suddenly walked up to him and spoke by his ears. He paused for a moment, showing a strange expression the nodded. He then apologized to Zheng for taking his leave.
Zheng immediately said to the president. “Remember we have to leave the White House as soon as possible. The Destroyer, the sky fortress, is going to fire soon. We will die here if we delay any longer.”
The president thought for a moment then said to a military officer next to him, who was around forty years old. “Order the evacuation. Evacuate the people in the White House and all civilians. Relay the order to any city with an alien spaceship floating above. Be quick.”
The officer gave team China a look of suspicion then said to the president. “Do we recall the two helicopters that are sent out as our reception?”
The president hesitated for a second. He also expressed a hint of doubt but in the end, he shook his head. “Let them continue. We have to take a look for ourselves no matter what happens.” He followed the woman out the meeting hall.
After everyone left, Zheng said to the team with a smile. “Ha, the Americans really don’t trust us and have to run head into the wall. Speaking of which, our main character should be here soon.”
In this movie of the war between humans and aliens, humans were on the edge of extinction when faced with the unstoppable force of extraterrestrial technology. The main character David Levinson came forth unexpectedly. He was an uninspiring technician but intelligent and an environmentalist. He dreamed of becoming a savior to the world, ridding the Earth of pollution. He was the person who discovered the alien’s weakness at the crucial time of the war, and it was also he who warned the president to escape from Washington before the Destroyer fired. The war would head down a completely different path without him.
“And then? Do we wait until the plane bring us to Area 51?” Juntian suddenly asked. Everyone aside from Xuan looked at him with confusion.
“Yeah. We have to leave Washington on the plane or we would die here when the laser comes down. Don’t worry. I think we have changed the plot and pushed the evacuation to happen much earlier than it is in the movie. This shouldn’t be a narrow escape from the explosions like in the movie.” Zheng consoled him.
Juntian opened his lips and hesitated. In the end, he made up his mind. “We will be fine but what about them? The citizens. Are they going to die like they do in the movie?”
The veterans looked at each other and shook their heads. Most of them didn’t say anything. Zheng sighed and said. “It can’t be helped. We can’t save them. Always keep in mind that we are survivors struggling for our lives. We can’t interfere nor do we have the power to interfere with things that are beyond the scope of our power. You may think we are cruel or hypocritical, but you can only endure prior to attaining that power, just like us.”
The meeting hall sunk into a silence after Zheng spoke. Everyone seemed as though they had fallen deep into their own thoughts. For a moment, there were only the unrhythmic typing sounds from Xuan.
(Yes. Power isn’t omnipotent. Power alone is not enough… However, when you don’t even have the power to protect your dream, only disappointment and regret will await at the end of the path. Is my power strong enough to protect my dream?) Thoughts ran through Zheng’s mind. He gripped his fists then looked out the window from the meeting hall. There, numerous staffs were running up and down, going through the important documents in their possession. The confidential data stored in the White House were more important in their minds before they witnessed the destruction the Destroyer would bring.
(At least, we aren’t without the power to counterattack. Our power is still weak but the Magic Cannon should be able to strike down one or two Destroyers. Haven’t seen the Mothership yet. It gets crushed by a single nuclear bomb in the movie so if we were to fire at it with the Magic Cannon… It’s unfortunate the Bell of the East Emperor and the Dish of Fortune are unusable. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have to worry in this situation.)
As Zheng looked out, darkness slowly overtook the sky. The time until the Destroy attacked was closing in. He pondered the next steps the team should take in this movie and looked over to Xuan. For some reason, the brain of this team hadn’t done anything in the movie up to this point. Either the dude was scheming a plan that couldn’t be told or something was wrong with him… Was he in the process of unlocking the fourth stage?
Ten minutes passed. Several staffs knocked on the door of the meeting room and informed team China to take the plane heading out of Washington with the president. Helicopters had landed at the helipad and would fly the president and the team to an airport where they would transfer to the Air Force One.
Team China followed the politicians through the hallways. They saw the president holding his daughter. Next to him were a woman, an old man and a younger man. Further away were several important political figures. Everyone was walking briskly toward the helipad. Zheng bypassed the president and asked the younger man. “How much time do we have left?”
The people ahead were surprised. The man showed a confused face but he didn’t waste time to hesitate as everyone was in a hurry. He flipped open his laptop and glanced over it. “Three minutes and fifty-seven seconds.”
“How long will it take to get to Air Force One?” Zheng asked the president in a rush.
The president obviously didn’t know the details of time. He looked to a military officer who replied after a moment of thought. “Approximately two to three minutes.”
“Then we have to hurry! We have to get out of Washington before the laser comes down… or we would all die here!” He raised his hand. The restriction on the watch was gone.
Independence Day had fully started.