Chapter 275

Human Deep Space Defense Council's first full emergency meeting was convened at the Vast Cold Palace Moon Base.

Representatives from the 106 member states crowded into the Dome Hall, some still wearing spacesuits with condensation on their visors.

In zero gravity, everyone floated about like a room full of uneasy balloons.

Feng Yan floated at the presidium, behind him a huge hologram of the solar system showing the projected route of the Harvesters' main fleet.

That glaring red line extended from the Hunter's spiral arm straight into the heart of the Sun.

"Everyone has seen the data." Feng Yan got straight to the point.

"Human civilization's current overall energy utilization efficiency threshold is 0.48. The Harvesters' passing line is 0.5. We're short by 0.02."

He brought up a comparison chart: on the left, humanity's dense but inefficient energy grid; on the right, the purple-pattern material parsed from detector wreckage, efficient and simple like an artwork.

"What's more troublesome is that the Harvesters judge efficiency not by peak values but by averages." Chen Guang added, floating in front of the data terminal.

"For example, we have the Mysterious Dark Fusion Battery as black tech, but a village in Africa still burns firewood, dragging down this average."

"Then all we need to do is raise the energy level of the backward regions," said Nakamura, the representative of Cherry Blossom Province, raising his hand.

"That's theoretically correct." Chen You presented the calculations, "but if we follow conventional development speed, raising global energy efficiency to 0.5 would take at least thirty years."

"We only have one year and eleven months."

A chorus of gasps filled the hall.

"So conventional methods won't work." Feng Yan took over the conversation.

He revealed the full outline of the Loophole Plan:

First stage: shift 85% of global industrial capacity to two tasks.

Producing that purple-pattern material, and accelerating construction of the Heaven's Punishment Defense Net.

Civilian production would be drastically cut, retaining only basic livelihood guarantees.

Second stage: cover the world's major industrial zones, energy bases, and densely populated areas with the purple-pattern material to fabricate the "surface data" of an efficient civilization.

Third stage: if the first two steps still aren't enough, launch a more radical plan.

"What exactly is it?" Feng Yan didn't say, but everyone could guess it probably wasn't a gentle measure.

"This will cause an economic collapse!" one delegate exclaimed, "Global GDP will plummet, unemployment will spike, social order—"

"Social order won't collapse, because we'll enter wartime controls." Feng Yan calmly interrupted.

"Food, water, energy, and medical care will be allocated as needed. Monetary transactions will be replaced by a contribution points system: whoever contributes more to the Loophole Plan lives better."

"This is—"

"This is survival." President Putin interjected.

"I know it's hard, but consider the alternative: in one year and eleven months, we'll all become a single line in a database marked 'erased.' What use would GDP be then?"

Everyone in the hall fell silent.

"Then... what should ordinary people do?" Xin Ge, the representative of White Elephant Province, asked softly.

Feng Yan held up three fingers: "First, learn new skills. If your old job is gone, go learn how to produce the purple-pattern material, how to assemble the Heaven's Punishment Platform, and how to grow vegetables on the Moon Base."

"Second, conserve energy. Third—"

He paused, looking at everyone:

"Believe in us."

The meeting lasted six hours.

There were arguments, compromises, calculations, and table‑slamming—in zero gravity slamming a table pushes you backward, so one representative who slammed the table ended up spinning three times in midair before being pulled back.

But in the end, the vote results came out.

In favor: 103 votes.

Against: 2 votes (two representatives of small states worried their national economies would collapse completely).

Abstentions: 1 vote.

The decision was passed.

When the news was transmitted back to Earth, it happened to be evening.

At Lao Wu's barbecue stall in Cloud River City, the television was live-streaming Feng Yan's global speech.

The stall was packed with people, but no one spoke; everyone stared at the screen.

"Starting at midnight tomorrow, the world will enter an era of efficiency revolution." Feng Yan's face appeared on the screen, with the starry dome of the Moon Base as the background.

"All non-essential industries will be suspended."

"All adults, regardless of nationality, age, or education, will receive notices for skill retraining."

"All resources will be prioritized to ensure the construction of the defense network and the loophole plan."

He paused, then his tone softened slightly:

"I know this is hard. Many people will lose their jobs, many businesses will close, and many plans will be disrupted."

"But please remember, this is not for any one person or any one country, but for the continued existence of all human civilization."

"In one year and eleven months, if we succeed, today's sacrifice will be recorded by history as a great turning point. If we fail..."

He did not continue.

But everyone understood.

The television was turned off.

At the barbecue stall, the young man with glasses muttered, "So... do I not have to go to work tomorrow?"

"You still have to go, but to attend training." Lao Wu turned the meat skewers with his mechanical arm.

"I just received a notice telling me, the barbecue stall owner, to learn special welding, saying that purple-colored material requires nanometer-level precision welding, and there aren't enough hands."

"What about the barbecue stall?"

"It's closed." Lao Wu pointed to the notice beside him.

Starting tomorrow, the city will keep only a hundred central canteens, distributing nutritious meals by headcount. Barbecue? We'll talk about it after the war.

The middle-aged uncle took a sullen swig of beer—this might be the last bottle of beer, as alcohol production is classified as a "non-essential industry": "But I still have twenty years left on my mortgage…"

"Under wartime controls, all debts are frozen." The young man scrolled through the announcement on his phone.

"Let's talk after the crisis passes. But if we can't get through it……"

He didn't continue.

The meat skewers sizzled on the grill, aroma filling the air.

This might be the last barbecue; Lao Wu brought out all his stock and treated everyone for free.

"Eat." He added a skewer to each table, "Eat your fill—tomorrow we start… fighting."

Moon Base, Zhao Kaiyuan's lab had already expanded to half a factory area.

"The simplified synthesis method succeeded!" He shouted into the communicator, his hair messy and dark circles under his eyes.

"Lunar regolith-7 isotope plus Jovian hydrogen and helium, reacting at three thousand degrees under high pressure, can produce basic purple material! Its efficiency is 40% lower than the original version used by detectors, but it's enough!"

On the holographic screen, a palm-sized purple plate was undergoing testing.

When the laser beam hit it, 90% of the energy was absorbed and converted, with only 10% reflected, whereas ordinary metal reflects over 80%.

"Energy absorption rate 90%…" Chen Guang calculated in the Dragon Chant control room.

"If we cover all industrial zones, from the Harvesters' perspective our energy waste rate would drop from 52% to under 10%. The efficiency threshold could jump from 0.48 to… about 0.65."

"Is that good enough to pass?"

"It's more than enough." Chen Guang rarely showed a hint of a smile.

"But they might suspect how we suddenly improved so fast."

"So we need a supporting plan." Feng Yan's voice came in, "We can't just do window dressing; we also need to truly improve. Kaiyuan, besides absorbing energy, what else can this material do?"

"Plenty!" Zhao Kaiyuan excitedly pulled up the data.

"Used in batteries, energy density increases fivefold; in armor, laser resistance triples; in crystal cores, computing speed increases tenfold."

"Most importantly, it can self-repair—damaged spots absorb energy and grow back; it's practically a living material!"

Li Yang, listening in the mech repair workshop, suddenly interjected: "What if we use it to build mechs…"

"Your next mech will at least double its performance." Zhao Kaiyuan guaranteed, "But production is limited now; we must prioritize covering industrial zones. Mechs… line up."