Chapter 296: Global Attention

Close the national gates, block the customs!

Summon all Great Xia citizens worldwide to return!

If the earlier announcement of the Soldier Dao level and the Cultivation Technique merely caused many Great Xia citizens to feel doubtful, not knowing what was happening.

The one-month border closure has left countless Great Xia people stunned!

"What era is this, still closing the borders, instantly dreaming back to feudal dynasties."

"Crazy! If the country is closed for a month, how will I do business! I still have tens of millions of business in Miguo!"

"Impossible, how could the country really be locked? It's not the old small farming era anymore; locking the country is destined to be a dead end!"

Although the Great Xia relevant department released this news, nobody believed it could be true, after all, such news is too absurd!

In today's information-developed world, which changes day by day, closing the borders is self-isolation; not to mention a month, even just a few days would bring an enormous impact.

The public strongly opposed it, but what nobody expected was that the authorities acted swiftly and decisively, and the border closure actually began!

Following this order, after one week all trains came to a complete halt, and all cargo ships were wholly refused entry at the border!

Any foreign aircraft entering Great Xia territory will be loudly warned!

Whether civil aviation or otherwise, they will be locked onto by radar, then escorted by fighter jets and sent back to their own countries.

Seeing these scenes, everyone was stunned.

"It actually happened!"

"What's going on? I was still planning to travel abroad!"

"What international joke is this, what exactly is our country preparing for?"

"Haven't the past lessons been enough? How many years have we lagged behind, how many major blows have we suffered, so much blood and tears, and now we're pulling this again."

Countless reports and complaint letters flew like snowflakes toward the official mailbox, even the phone lines were blown up.

"Everyone stay calm; although I don't know what will happen, I have a strong feeling that something big is going to happen in this world!"

"What big thing could happen, could the apocalypse be coming?"

"We should trust the authorities; don't you find this series of things strange? Earlier, Great Xia already had many phenomena that science couldn't explain."

There were also rational people who analyzed past events and combined them with the series of orders issued by the authorities, but no matter how they analyzed, they couldn't think of any heavenly-earthly catastrophe.

Meanwhile, facing Great Xia's actions this time, many foreign countries all fell into a state of dumbfoundedness.

Miguo.

A middle-aged white man sat at the desk in the innermost part of the Black Palace, handling many affairs; he is Miguo's representative, his status exactly the same as Great Xia's representative.

Opposite him sat several heads of the various autonomous states.

"Your Excellency the Chief Representative, according to the feedback below, recently many Great Xia people in our country have responded to the call and have returned to Great Xia."

An autonomous state official spoke up.

"It doesn't matter; let them go, does our great Miguo really lack these people? Do they really think Miguo would teach them our core technology? They're just a few cheap laborers."

Miguo's representative replied without even looking up.

"Compared to these laborers, what needs more attention is our trade with Great Xia."

Miguo's representative gazed at the report in his hand, his expression calm, yet a hint of faint mockery lay beneath his eyes.

"What is wrong with Great Xia, using precious natural resources to exchange for grain and fuel, truly not knowing what they are thinking."

"At first I thought Great Xia had some scheme; how laughable."

Upon hearing this, the autonomous state official below slightly furrowed his brows, and after hesitating, he spoke:

"Your Excellency the Representative, although this transaction gave Miguo a large amount of scarce resources, our fuel and grain reserves have dwindled to only about four-tenths of the original."

Miguo's representative blinked in surprise, not expecting such consumption, but he quickly regained his composure.

"It's fine; these resources are renewable, given us some time they will quickly recover; in the long run, it is destined that only our country will have the advantage, development is the true principle."

"Exchanging precious materials for grain and fuel is typical small-farmer thinking, backward and outdated; Great Xia calls itself a great nation, but essentially they have not changed, still clinging to some feudal ideas."

"But also note, keep a bottom line for yourself, don't exchange everything with Great Xia to avoid any mishap; beyond the bottom line, trade with Great Xia is permissible."

The autonomous state official, upon hearing this, gave a slight nod.

Indeed, although Miguo's domestic grain and fuel will have some supply shortages this year, these are still relatively abundant resources.

Used to exchange Great Xia's scarce non-renewable resources, in the long run this is absolutely a sure-profit deal.

"Knock knock knock!"

Just as they finished their discussion, a knocking sound came from outside the door.

"Come in."

The door opened, and Miguo's representative's secretary walked in, holding a document, his expression somewhat strange.

"Your Excellency, just now there is a document from Great Xia that needs your review."

Miguo's representative took the document and began to read; at first nothing, but as he read on, his expression turned odd.

"Border closure, lock the country?"

He lifted his head in disbelief, looking at the secretary beside him, his expression full of shock.

"Has Great Xia really blocked all foreign-related transportation?!"

The secretary nodded, "Exactly, utterly unbelievable; this is also what we just discovered—all passenger planes, cruise ships, and other cargo vessels heading to Great Xia have been sent back."

"Even our country's Great Xia embassy inside is now empty of people."

Naturally, one who can reach this position is no ordinary person; Great Xia frequently produces such movements, and if the past could still be explained, now everything indicates an extraordinary significance.

Miguo's representative's expression became somewhat solemn.

"What does Great Xia want to do? Have you obtained any related intelligence?"

The secretary handed over another document.

After Miguo's representative finished reading, his complexion grew increasingly strange.

What is this intelligence? The Greater Xia High Officials believe that Earth will face an unprecedented disaster, so they want to carry out an evacuation and close the borders?

Upon seeing this intelligence, the Miguo representative's expression instantly became wonderful.

Oh my God, such a thing as heavenly and earthly catastrophe is simply absurd; the Greater Xia authorities actually believe it, which is ridiculous.

This bunch of foolish Easterners, forget it, no need to pay attention to them; they're just seeking their own death.

The Miguo representative obviously didn't take this matter to heart.

……

Tsarist State.

In the huge city of steel-reinforced concrete, traffic bustled, crowds of people walked the streets, luxury goods and bag-and-clothing stores sprang up everywhere, and every inch of land was filled with an air of extravagance.

Is the information reliable? How could Greater Xia make such a basic mistake?

The present-day Tsarist State representative stared, dumbfounded, at the intelligence in hand.

He was a white-haired old man, about the same age as a senior leader of Greater Xia, pushing up his gold-rimmed glasses on the bridge of his nose.

Greater Xia has closed its borders—what on earth are they thinking?

Opposite the old man stood a burly man as big as a small hill, who spoke in a deep voice: 'All this intelligence came from the Greater Xia authorities' department.'

And after issuing the announcement, we received news from the front lines that the Greater Xia authorities' railway department, aviation department, and maritime-related departments jointly acted, cutting off contact with our country.

In the area where the Tsarist State borders the three major regions of the Northeast, those rails have all been destroyed.

The man reported respectfully, his expression also filled with incredulous surprise.

In fact, when this news first came out, anyone who heard it felt it was unbelievable, even suspecting that Greater Xia had released it as a smoke screen to confuse them.

In today's highly informatized, integrated, modular world, this undoubtedly cuts off one's connection with the outside world, with consequences that cannot be estimated and may even affect the very foundation of the state.

Know that countless industrial chains worldwide are interdependent; some chains simply do not exist domestically and only have specialized production abroad.

For example, nanocrystals, aircraft manufacturing, engine research, and so on—if any link is missing, production will fail.

Closing the borders is absolutely impossible!

Even if it were the current world's most comprehensively powerful Miguo, once it closed its borders, it would absolutely be a dead end!

But what they didn't expect was that Greater Xia actually did this—what could its motive be?

The Tsarist State representative seriously examined the intelligence: 'What exactly is Greater Xia plotting? And they still want to close the borders?'

Heavenly and earthly catastrophe is imminent; Greater Xia has closed its external channels, and facing the impending disasters, the Greater Xia authorities undoubtedly mobilized all their strength.

They not only called on citizens to return, but also formed guard units and disaster relief teams in various cities, and so on.

Upon hearing this news, not only the Tsarist State and Miguo, but countless countries worldwide were stunned.

Greater Xia actually did it!

Originally, when they saw the Greater Xia authorities announce the impending border closure, they didn't take it to heart.

Today's Earth is not what it used to be; if we cut off contact with the outside world, each day would be an unimaginable huge loss!

But what they never expected was that Greater Xia closed off all its territory, shutting down every sea, land, and air means of transport between abroad and home!

Everything was swiftly cut off! Trade and intercourse also vanished!

Practically worldwide, on the news media networks of countless countries, the focus turned to Greater Xia, and they all reported on this.

What on earth is Greater Xia going crazy about? Could it be that those feudal remnants have made a comeback?

Damn it, I still have a lot of goods stuck in Greater Xia; a day's delay will cost me thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars!

Do they even know what they're doing? It's sheer stupidity—if this continues, national ruin is inevitable; the Greater Xia people are truly pitiful, let us mourn for them, amen.

Our company still needs key components from them—who should we turn to now?!

I will complain to the World Trade Committee and the United Nations; this behavior is extremely domineering, utterly incompatible with human rights, and they must be made to pay compensation.

Hahaha, it must be our great United States making a move! Just relying on this little Greater Xia, they actually dare to contend with our great United States for the top global GDP spot—now they're scared, and finally they know how formidable our great United States is!

Don't flatter yourself—what does it have to do with you, United States? Clearly you're afraid of our Korea!

Just give it up, you lot—Greater Xia is doing this because it fears our India.

This news, like a deep-water bomb, undoubtedly stirred up unimaginable huge waves across the world!

The peoples of countless countries were all shocked by this news, stunned!

Such a thing, placed on the whole Earth, is also an extremely explosive existence.

They went crazy online, spewing all kinds of speculation, there were curses, there were those watching for entertainment, there were those smearing.

Finally, they all pinged their own officials, wanting to find out the reason for Greater Xia's border closure.

But the senior officials of many countries were also completely bewildered, unable to make heads or tails of it.

Who knows what medicine Greater Xia is selling in its gourd? Here they have sent out spies or agents to gather intelligence.

These spies and agents, because of Greater Xia's border closure, cannot leave, but the information can still be transmitted outward, after all Greater Xia has not cut off its network satellites.

After undergoing a series of complex investigations, to the surprise of many countries, it wasn't all that difficult for them, and they obtained the result.

However, when they saw the intelligence and wanted to know what all this was about, their faces turned somewhat subtle.

Because what was recorded there was precisely intelligence about the heavenly and earthly catastrophe!

In fact, regarding the heavenly and earthly catastrophe, the news of global calamity, Greater Xia did not intend to conceal it much.

First, as Greater Xia has already prepared quite thoroughly, there is only a month left until the heavenly and earthly catastrophe; if there really is any turmoil domestically, they could still handle it in time.

Even if those foreign countries believed it and began preparations, they still couldn't outpace Greater Xia, which has a huge lead.

Furthermore, when the global disaster breaks out, all living beings on Earth cannot escape; the Greater Xia High Officials are ultimately members of humanity, and if they truly concealed the news, they could not be so cold-blooded as to disregard life.

If they didn't know, that would be fine, but now that they know and still act as if they didn't see it, that is hard to justify.

And finally, the last problem: in order to resist the heavenly and earthly catastrophe, as time passes, too many people inside Greater Xia have come to know all of this.

Even if they defended as strictly as possible, the breaches are too many; they simply cannot hold them, for there is no impermeable wall under heaven.

Simply put, the Greater Xia authorities couldn't be bothered to guard against these foreign personnel, and informing them of this is, in the words of the ancestors, also a matter of accumulating hidden virtue.

The Greater Xia High Officials thought this way, but other countries did not think so.

The high officials of countless countries worldwide, upon seeing everything recorded in that intelligence, could not help but twitch at the corners of their mouths.

Heaven and earth catastrophe has arrived—what the hell is this?

The high officials of those countries did not believe this intelligence, and some even thought it was a plot by Greater Xia; the reason they closed the borders was actually to secretly carry out an even larger scheme.

In order to find out what exactly was going on, they continued to send people to constantly gather information.

However, the information they received was no different from before—it was either a heaven and earth catastrophe or a global catastrophe, and occasionally there were even some vague, equivocal rumors about monsters and such.

A single action by Greater Xia stirred up huge waves in the hearts of the top officials of all countries.

Their feelings went from initial shock and ridicule to later disbelief and suspicion; to clarify this fact, Miguo took the lead and initiated a secret meeting targeting Greater Xia's action.

Besides Greater Xia, many countries also participated, such as Tsar Country, God-Illumination Country, Stick Country, and so on, exchanging the intelligence they had gathered.

However, once they learned the content of each other's intelligence, they were all stunned.

Because everyone received the same intelligence.

If one intelligence officer's information were false, but the information of so many intelligence officers is all like this, it would seem problematic.

No matter how long the countries spent investigating and how strictly they screened, the final conclusion they reached was only one!

Greater Xia felt that a heaven and earth catastrophe was imminent, so to be safe, they closed the country's gates.

After a brief shock, the faces of many countries began to show varied and colorful expressions.

"God, this is actually true."

"How exactly did Greater Xia see that heaven and earth would face catastrophe? If there really were a disaster, there would definitely be some signs."

"Why are they so firmly convinced of this?"

There had also been rumors before about the Mayan apocalypse, which at the time caused a small uproar, but that was all it was.

Not long after, things calmed down, and no country's high officials were heard to have taken this matter seriously; furthermore, they issued a series of policies and measures to deal with it.

Now, the heaven and earth catastrophe that Greater Xia speaks of bears a striking resemblance to the earlier apocalypse prophecy, and Greater Xia's action is even more beyond comprehension.

If only one person, or a few people, inside Greater Xia believed all this, that would be forgivable; but the crucial point is that, after many countries held a secret meeting, they made a shocked discovery.

Almost all of Greater Xia's high officials completely believed in the heaven and earth catastrophe.

Miguo's intelligence department also uncovered important information, reportedly that Greater Xia's high officials felt the heaven and earth catastrophe was imminent and that the whole world would fall into danger.

At that time, all living beings on Earth would face a catastrophe that could overturn the heavens.

(End of Chapter)