Chapter 268

"This Longguo-made Tiangong laptop, equipped with the Xuanwu-7 chip, can last for one hundred hours, original price 9,999 Long coins, today's special price 7,999!" The salesperson introduces enthusiastically, "You are a new ID card user, and you can get another 10% off!"

Sato calculates: 7,199 Long coins, equivalent to the original 710,000 yen.

And his salary last month was 3,000 Long coins (300,000 yen), it would take him more than two months to save up for this computer, but before, it would have taken him half a year to buy a computer of the same performance from a local brand.

"Bought!" He pays by card.

"Great! Also, you get a three-month Deep Space Defense Network Builder membership, you can watch the Heaven's Punishment platform live broadcast online, and you have a chance to win a spot to visit the lunar base!"

"Lunar base?" Sato's eyes widen, "Can ordinary people go too?"

"Not now, but when the defense network is built, tourism might be opened." The salesperson winks, "So buy it quickly, buy early and win the lottery!"

Sato walks out of the mall holding the new computer and looks up at the sky.

Of course, you can't see the Heaven's Punishment platform during the day, but his phone received a push notification, an announcement just released by the Human Deep Space Defense Council:

"Potential interstellar threat detected, defense network construction accelerated. All human citizens, please maintain normal living order, trust the Council, and believe in the power of technology."

The comment section below is very calm:

"So the aliens are really coming?"

"If they come, we fight, we have Heaven's Punishment."

"To the one above, Heaven's Punishment is a defense system, not an offensive weapon."

"Then what about Houyi? Can't Houyi shoot stars?"

"That's the ultimate deterrent, it can't be used unless it's a last resort."

"Anyway, go to work when you should, eat when you should."

"Exactly! I haven't finished paying off my mortgage yet, I have to pay it even if the aliens come!"

Sato looks at the comments and suddenly laughs out loud.

Yes, you have to live your life.

10:00 AM, White Elephant Special Administrative Region, Mumbai.

The original slums are being demolished and replaced by neat prefabricated buildings.

Raj, a former street vendor, is now wearing work clothes with the words "Deep Space Construction Volunteer Group" and is learning to operate a simple engineering mech.

"Left joystick controls the mechanical arm up and down, right joystick controls forward and backward..." The Longguo coach teaches in stiff local language, "Yes, take it slow, lift that cement slab..."

Raj operates cautiously, the mechanical arm steadily clamps a one-ton cement slab and places it precisely on the foundation.

"Very good!" The coach pats him on the shoulder, "You have talent. After learning this, you can apply to go to the lunar base infrastructure team next month, the salary there is three times higher than here."

"Really?" Raj's eyes light up, "I... can I go?"

"As long as you pass the assessment, anyone can go." The coach smiles, "Humanity now lacks builders, not politicians."

During the lunch break, Raj and his coworkers gather to watch the news on their phones.

"Wow, the alien probe has reached the Kuiper Belt!"

"What are you afraid of, we have Heaven's Punishment!"

"But I heard that the probe's speed is 0.2 times the speed of light... can Heaven's Punishment hit it?"

"If it can't hit, there's still Houyi!"

"What is Houyi?"

"It's..." Raj thinks for a moment, "It's a more powerful Heaven's Punishment."

The coworkers nod as if they understand, and then continue eating.

To them, aliens are very far away, but the daily salary of 800 Long coins, the three meals provided, and the chance to go to the moon next month are real.

3:00 PM, Washington Special Administrative Region, former White House.

The sign hanging here now is "Office of the Longguo Steering Committee in Washington".

Carlson's current title is "Interim Chief Executive of Washington DC", and he is in a meeting with the steering committee sent by Longguo.

The topic is: how to quickly shift the former Eagle Country's military industrial capacity to Heaven's Punishment component production.

"Boeing's production line retrofit will take two months, Lockheed is faster, but it will also take 45 days." Carlson reports, "In addition, workers need training, and existing quality standards need to be aligned with Longguo's..."

"Too slow." The steering committee member frowns, "Sakura Province's factories completed the conversion in seven days. White Elephant Special Administrative Region took about fifteen days."

Carlson smiles bitterly: "Our industrial system... is relatively rigid."

"Then break the rigidity." The committee member pulls up the plan, "Starting tomorrow, all factories will implement 'three shifts', and Longguo engineers will be stationed to guide. Workers' wages will be paid at 1.5 times the Longguo standard, and the money will be deducted from your war reparations."

"This..."

"Any other questions?"

Carlson looks at the committee member's cold eyes, remembers Takeda's fate, and swallows his saliva: "No, no problem."

After the meeting, he walks back to his office and looks at the street scene of Washington outside the window.

The street is very calm, even calmer than before, because there are police mechs patrolling 24 hours a day, and the crime rate has almost dropped to zero.

But in that calmness, there is an indescribable oppression.

"Sir." The secretary whispers, "On social media, some people are saying... that the aliens are coming soon, and Longguo can't hold them off."

"Bullshit." Carlson snorts coldly, "If Longguo couldn't hold them off, we would have been gone long ago."

He pauses and says softly:

"Now... we can only trust them."

11:00 PM, Longyin Control Center.

Chen Guang stares at the latest data: "The probe's orbit has been fine-tuned again... it bypassed a Kuiper Belt small celestial body, saving 0.3% of energy. This shows it has an intelligent navigation system."

"Can we reverse-engineer its destination?" Feng Yan asks.

"The target is still Europa, but..." Chen Guang marks the predicted trajectory, "It chose the most energy-efficient route, not the shortest route. This means its energy might be running low."

"Good opportunity." Li Yang's holographic projection says, "If it stays on Europa to replenish energy, we have a window to capture it."

"What about the capture plan?"

"Penglai has finished retrofitting and will set off tomorrow." Li Yang pulls up the simulation map.

"Twelve Jingshi-3S deep space mechs, all loaded with the 'Lunar Soil-7' test armor developed by Zhao Gong. The weapon system is mainly lasers and electromagnetic binding nets, trying to avoid physical damage as much as possible. We want to keep the probe structure intact."

Wang Hao adds: "My 'Houyi' plan also has new progress, open-source has doubled the energy density of the Xuanwu-fusion fifth generation again, and now it can support a miniaturized stellar cannon. However... that thing is still in the theoretical stage."

"Speed it up." Feng Yan only said one sentence.

At this time, Zhao Gong sent a communication back from the moon: "Test armor plate test completed, anti-laser irradiation ability increased by 50%, anti-particle flow ability increased by 80%. Already loaded on the ship, will depart with Penglai tomorrow."

"Good."

Feng Yan walks to the window and looks at the night sky.

Next to the moon, the signal light of the Heaven's Punishment-01 platform is flashing, like it's blinking.

And in the deeper darkness, that 300-meter irregular polyhedron is flying toward the solar system at a speed of 60,000 kilometers per second.

"Estimated time until first contact..." Chen Guang says softly, "62 days."

Feng Yan nods and presses the all-channel communication:

"Attention all units."

"Deep space defense phase one: interception operation, launch."

"This is not a drill."

"Repeat, this is not a drill."

Communication ends.

In the control room, everyone is at their posts.

Li Yang begins the final check of the mech parameters.

Wang Hao is debugging the deep space navigation module of the missiles.

Chen Guang is monitoring every move of the probe.

Zhao Kaiyuan is optimizing the energy supply curve.

And Feng Yan...

He walks to the console and pulls up the member list of the Human Deep Space Defense Council.

106 seats, representatives of 106 civilizations.

Now, these seats are all lit with green lights, indicating "ready, waiting for instructions."