Chapter 636 - 607: The First Somalia Conflict Negotiation

[Fiona: I arranged for Matt to participate in the online match of the Virtual City Youth Soccer League, and he will use the equipment in the lab during the event.]

[Fiona: The Virtual City Youth Soccer League is relatively less popular, but the equipment requirement is high, so many scouts will be watching it to discover promising young athletes like the ones we train at our professional Sports Academy.]

[Fiona: I will have him register under the academy’s team for the competition.]

[Fiona: You’ve seen our equipment, the cutting-edge neural capture and signal transmission devices that can achieve 95% realism...]

[Lille: Do you think any team will take an interest in him?]

[Fiona: Certainly! I’ve never seen such a robust, stable body!]

A powerful body requires powerful prosthetics, and complex or synthetic hormones to maintain organism vitality.

However, powerful prosthetics mean high-spec circuits, and a complex hormonal internal environment signifies a higher likelihood of mental and physical abnormalities. Essentially, any advancement in human physicality comes at a cost, and the stronger the bodily modifications, the more prone they are to issues.

But Matt’s prosthetics were incredibly stable!

She even wondered if these could even be called prosthetics, for under a microscope, these prosthetics even had living cells and looked more like living tissue than conventional synthetic muscles.

As for Matt’s mind... it was just like that of a normal human, even the preferable kind!

[Fiona: I know this is the new product you mentioned, this thing will definitely be a hit once released, I now understand what you meant, it will definitely outsell Wild Man King.]

[Fiona: I’m delighted to join you, and I’ll arrange the competition just as you wanted.]

[Fiona: However, regarding Europe... the sports community there might not cooperate with us, I can try the markets in Asia, Africa, and Mexico...]

[Lille: Proceed as I mentioned earlier, see what opportunities we can find in Mexico.]

[Fiona: Understood.]

Lille felt a bit strange, as he managed a sports academy event in a world rife with war while preparing for war in a comparably peaceful world.

He sat in his wheelchair, his legs and arms had been removed and replaced with new limbs equipped with bionic nerves—

After the human trials conducted by Michael, this baseline civilian model of Atlas prosthetics had matured significantly.

The limbs had all the feedback a human limb should have, and after being replaced, they felt almost like his original limbs.

After completely giving up his four limbs, the demand for cellular regeneration drastically reduced.

As for why Lille did not opt for a full replacement, it was of course because the current technology at Atlas could not yet meet the highest standards of military technology; he still needed that prosthetic to serve as his last line of defense in the network.

For him, the limbs were the least useful parts, and realistically, even if he replaced his prosthetics, he was unlikely to take this body into combat; a wheelchair was more practical—now he was using a wheelchair in both worlds.

After a brief response to Fiona, Lille returned to the local meeting:

After the recent conflict in the Somali Sea, Somalia had completely split into two countries, the northern region being occupied by the former Somali transitional government, recognized by the United Nations, while the south was supported by the African Union and established the new Somali Government.

The conflicts that had already occurred had directly involved the sinking of an aircraft carrier, and the world watched in awe as the African Union’s new electromagnetic guns were deployed at sea, using low-level information warfare devices to achieve wolf-pack style blitz attacks, also becoming a turning point in global politics.

With both regions distinctly occupied, people began to take sides.

Thus, after the presidential election, the developments here were to become a benchmark, signaling which direction the world might head.

The meeting took place online, with United Nations Security Council member Alexander Pearson and African Union chairman T’Chaka acting as elder statesmen, and the leaders of the Somali transitional government and the new Somali Government representative Abdi as the representatives of the conflicting parties.

Abdi was young, skinny, and short in stature, but as a leader at the frontier of governance, he spoke with firm determination and clear articulation.

"...Somalia should be controlled by Somalis. We do not need combat robots that indiscriminately attack civilians; that is an act of aggression.

We only support one condition: you withdraw from Somalia, then we will cease fire."

His English was very clear, without any accent, and this scenario was one he had experienced numerous times in virtual reality.

Correct, he had undergone a brain-machine interface modification.

With the assistance of advanced AI technology and a think tank, he had envisioned this scenario countless times: he had to be calm and yet assertive in stating that Somalia would never back down.

Such fluency in English was indeed surprising: after all, considering Somalia’s notorious reputation, even pirates there might have to catch a translator.

Like the leader of the Somali transitional government opposite him, who needed a translator.

The message conveyed by the translator on the other side was also straightforward:

"...Have you got it wrong? We are the legitimate Government of Somalia, you are the terrorists, not simply by raising a flag does it become a government or a country!"

Abdi immediately responded, "It was the Somali people who established the Somali Government, not a group from Mei Country, and definitely not a group of combat robots capable of slaughtering civilians!

You plunged the citizens into poverty, unable to feed or clothe themselves. If every Somalian were given a ballot box to vote, you would have been ousted long ago!"

"Cough, cough."

Alexander Pearson from the United Nations Security Council, an aging middle-aged politician who had once won the Nobel Peace Prize, coughed timely:

"Such discussions are endless, but I must support the claims of the Somali transitional government; they were here first..."

"Mr. Pearson," T’Chaka interrupted, "I need to correct, Somalia had Somalians first."

Alexander paused, glanced at T’Chaka, and smiled, "You’re right, King T’Chaka. In that case, why don’t we adopt a more democratic approach? Hold a referendum in Somalia..."

Abdi sneered loudly, cutting off Alexander immediately.

The Mei Army’s combat robots had a much higher population in the occupied zones, far exceeding the population in the areas held by Abdi.

A referendum is a farce: a bunch of death machines holding guns to you, telling you they are here to check satisfaction...

What could be more absurd than an occupying army asking the local people if they are satisfied with their services?

If the first round of negotiations were like this, there could never be a result.

Luckily, T’Chaka and Abdi had already planned what they could strive for.

Abdi pounded on the table, "A referendum, impossible; if you want war, then carry on.

But we demand that the refugee passages be opened; you must evacuate the people from the occupied areas. I do not trust your refugee protection—

You have already caused tens of thousands of civilian casualties!"

"Sorry." Alexander smiled feignly, "But forced migration is illegal, all I can say is, if someone wants to leave, he can leave, but..."

"There are no buts!" Abdi, very agitated, pointed at the nose of the leader of the transitional government on the opposite side, "They are just civilians! Look at the good deeds the Mei Army is doing, look at what you are doing!

You caused tens of thousands of civilian casualties in just one military operation, they are truly dying in confusion, let them go!

They haven’t done anything wrong, they just have the damn bad luck of being born in that piece of land!

I don’t want to talk about the legitimacy of the regime, I just want to say, if you are still a Somalian, look around you—

You want to get rich, you want to become the head of GJ, whatever you want to do, it doesn’t matter, but they are people just like you, they know nothing, let them go!"

Alexander was very calm, showing absolutely no reaction.

Honestly, this request was somewhat beyond his medical and advisory team’s expectations—it was the least threatening request.

After all, what they wanted was territory, using it as a buffer zone to establish front lines, pressurizing the African Union, breaking down Atlas and these black devils, assisting their financial backers to amass wealth, aiding Hydra to control the world.

Now that they had made this request, he himself could consider agreeing, it was just a matter of what benefit to exchange for it.

Thus, he planned to end the meeting immediately and speak with the Somalian transitional government representatives.

However, an unexpected event occurred.

The leader of the transitional government, his already dark face visibly turned darker, as if holding back anger, "Fine! But who will evacuate? Where will the people be taken? I can’t possibly let you terrorists come in!"

The unexpected part was, this black devil from the Somalian transitional government had agreed abruptly.

Before Alexander had time to react, Abdi, who had already preempted these scenarios in his mind, immediately switched to the next topic—

"There will always be a place willing to accept them."

New Somalia didn’t trust Mei Country and the United Nations, it was definite that the Somalian Transitional Government wouldn’t extradite people to the African Union.

They had to find an unlikely intermediary—

Like the European Union.

Transport the people to Europe.