Chapter 420: Spear

"Since 1967, the Soviet Union and the United Kingdom have joined the 'Outer Space Treaty.' We once cooperated to agree to develop, explore, and use outer space for peaceful purposes. Each contracting state guarantees: not to place any entities carrying nuclear weapons or any other type of mass destruction weapons in orbit around the Earth, not to deploy such weapons on celestial bodies, and not to deploy such weapons in outer space in any other way.

Each contracting state must use the Moon and other celestial bodies absolutely for peaceful purposes. It is prohibited to establish military bases, facilities, and fortifications on celestial bodies; it is prohibited to test any type of weapon on celestial bodies and conduct military exercises."

"However, today, we regret to find that the Soviet Union and the United Kingdom have repeatedly and seriously violated the treaty. Last year, the Soviet Union released a nuclear bomb in low Earth orbit, destroying satellites of many countries, and the electromagnetic pulse affected many cities in European countries. Subsequently, the Soviet Union and the United Kingdom mounted weapons of mass destruction on orbital satellites and repeatedly carried out strike experiments in areas such as the high seas, threatening global security."

"Here, we urge the Soviet Union to immediately correct its mistakes, destroy the lethal weapons on the orbital satellites, and not launch satellites into outer space until after review. Otherwise, we will take further sanctions against the Soviet Union."

"Click." Patrick turned off the TV. "William has become very tough recently, but this is not surprising. Polls show that half of his supporters are now believers, and they are very angry about your promotion of atheism in the Soviet Union and the United Kingdom."

"What do you plan to do?" Patrick asked.

"Don't worry about it for now." Murphy said.

Anyway, sanctions have been in progress for a long time. The British and Soviet countries have basically broken with the Western camp, but with business dealings with a certain Eastern country, the two countries have not actually suffered much loss. Instead, they have taken this opportunity to vigorously develop their own manufacturing industries.

"Compared to this, another matter is more important." Murphy said. "It's time to prepare for battle."

Patrick frowned. "Is the time coming?"

Murphy nodded and glanced at Lucas beside him.

The latter handed Patrick a chart. "The previous exposure incident has caused the magic concentration to rise by another order of magnitude. According to calculations, in at most two or three months, the magic concentration level will be enough to support the existence of 'gods' like Tyr, and their magic loss and recovery ability will reach a balance. That is to say, in three months, the Earth's environment will be enough for gods to survive."

"Therefore," Murphy took over the topic, "we must be prepared for battle before then. The Countermeasure Bureau is only aimed at ordinary magic disasters and is not enough to deal with god-level disasters. We should start mobilizing the army, at least let the soldiers understand what we are dealing with and why we are dealing with them."

Patrick looked embarrassed. "The previous exposure incident made the existence of magic known to most people, so it saved the trouble of explaining from scratch. But the problem here is that if people know that what we are dealing with is 'gods,' we might become very passive."

"Those ancient gods are fine; there are no people who believe in them anymore. But what about those gods who still have vast numbers of believers? Will they return too?"

Murphy nodded. "Give up the fantasy; there is no reason to prove that 'God' will not appear."

Patrick frowned. "To be honest, I was once a believer. Although my faith was not very devout, I have seen those devout believers, and I also know how much influence His existence has on believers."

"I even suspect that as long as He really reveals His existence, most of our soldiers will immediately defect!"

Lucas frowned in confusion. "Even if that god wants to enslave them?"

Patrick sighed. "You wizards are atheists, so you may not be able to understand that kind of emotion."

"Most children who grew up under the influence of Christian, Catholic, and other religious groups have lived in a world ruled by 'God' since they were young. Even if their parents and relatives are not devout believers, usually, they will not stop their children from coming into contact with faith in such an environment."

"They—we—all grew up in God's 'love.' We can come into contact with a thought at any time: everything beautiful we have is bestowed by 'God.' He not only gave us life but also gave this life meaning."

"Before the church completely abandoned rationalism, it spent more than a thousand years perfecting its doctrine. In those thousand years, countless of the wisest brains in the world exhausted their lives to better explain and promote it. If you have studied theology, you will find that it actually contains the essence of almost all philosophical speculation from ancient times to the present."

"Perhaps it is difficult to find the truth of the world from it, but if you want to seek comfort, converting to faith is the easiest path."

"Being enslaved by others is unbearable, but being enslaved by gods, by God, is a matter-of-course glory in the hearts of believers."

Murphy's expression also became heavy. He knew Patrick was right. For most people in this world, especially the vast majority of people in the Western world, faith in God is almost a basic common sense. Although modern society rarely promotes doctrine anymore, they have been immersed in such a faith-filled environment since they were young.

This seed of faith, like the Seed of Soul, cannot be eradicated without ten or even decades of ideological transformation.

"Then we cannot wait passively." Murphy suddenly said. "Originally, I was hesitant about that plan, but now it seems that taking a risk might not be a bad idea."

"What do you want to do?"

"Preemptive strike." Murphy said.

"You mean..." Patrick understood. "But weren't you worried before that this would make the gods break free from their shackles earlier?"

"Even if we do nothing, it won't be long before the gods are completely free." Lucas explained for Murphy. "We have been continuously tracking the magic signal from the back of the Moon. We found that no matter what the thing that traps the gods is, it is losing power. Every full moon, its ability to restrain the gods drops to the lowest point. Usually, at this time, some severe magic disasters will occur on Earth."

"Almost all those magic disasters close to the god level appeared at this time."

"According to the current fluctuations, after another period of time, its ability to restrain the gods may not be enough to stop them. The three months I mentioned before also had this judgment."

"And once the gods break free, we may face a situation that blossoms everywhere," Murphy said. "Before that, we must give them a hard blow, set off a big firework for them!"

Patrick pondered for a while and said: "If the Undetectable Extension Charm is used to load nuclear bombs, a Saturn V-class rocket should have no problem loading seven or eight Tsar Bombas. The power should be enough, but the Earth-Moon distance is too far. You launch it here, and they might have already discovered it there. How to ensure it won't be shot down?"

"The kind of laser-like thing encountered by the previous lander is very troublesome. The lunar surface is close to a vacuum state. If it doesn't explode at a very close distance, the destructive power may be relatively limited."

Patrick had also seen Murphy's previous records related to the moon landing and knew what they had encountered.

"So I plan to add magic in addition to chemical propulsion. Use the Magic Stone and magic metal to make a set of Apparition devices so that it can perform ultra-distance space jumps." Murphy said.

"As for avoiding attacks, now that we have magic chips and portrait AI, we can perform some intelligent reactions."

The distance between the Earth and the Moon is still too far. Even light takes 1.28 seconds to make a trip. Therefore, even without counting the reaction time, after the spacecraft reaches the vicinity of the Moon, it takes at least 2.56 seconds for the signal to be transmitted back to Earth and then the control signal to be sent back to the spacecraft.

Such a huge delay is not enough for remote fine control, so avoiding attacks can only rely on the rocket's AI.

"Or..." Just then, Lucas spoke again, "Let me control the rocket."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 421 =====