Chapter 294: Universal Vote

He hadn't finished speaking.

But everyone understood, this was just a slow death by a dull knife.

"No." Li Yang suddenly spoke.

He walked up to the holographic model, pointing at the gap: "Success rate 43%, based on conventional calculations. But if..." He pulled up a set of data: "What if I use my mech squad as a guide?"

"What do you mean?"

"After Hou Yi pierces the gap, solar energy will erupt, but the direction is uncontrollable," Li Yang said.

"If I send fifty Yinglong-Ω mechs charging into the gap, using the mechs' thrusters to fine-tune the energy flow direction, I can redirect the spray toward the area where the Harvesters are most concentrated."

"You'll be vaporized," Chen Guang interrupted him.

Li Yang said: "The mechs' current materials can hold out for a while; I'll have the pilots eject their cockpits when they can barely hold on, waiting for nearby rescue. Even if the mechs are completely destroyed, it's fine, as long as we can steer the energy flow into place."

Chen Guang recalculated.

One minute later:

【After adding the guidance plan, success rate rises to: 61%】

【Blue Star's probability of being affected drops to: 32%】

【Cost: all fifty Yinglong-Ω mechs destroyed, Hou Yi Platform likely scrapped】

Feng Yan silently watched the data.

After a long while, he looked up: "Qiming, if it were up to you, what would you choose?"

Qiming's voice sounded in the control room, calm without any emotion:

【According to Gamma-7 Civilization's historical data, similar dilemmas have occurred 117 times. Civilizations that chose to hold fast were 93% eradicated; those that chose to gamble had a survival rate of 21%.】

【But all surviving civilizations share one trait: they all chose an irrational, illogical option in desperation.】

【Assessment of humanity's current state: the rational option has a low success rate but can preserve the civilization's spark. The irrational option carries high risk, yet holds a tiny chance to create a miracle.】

【Recommendation: hand the decision over to all of humanity.】

At ten in the morning, the global broadcast began.

Feng Yan appeared on all screens, with the background being the central plaza of Yun Chuan City's underground city; he had deliberately flown back to Blue Star, standing in the midst of the crowd.

Without a prepared speech, he spoke as if chatting:

"Everyone knows the situation now. Aliens are putting a blanket on the sun, trying to freeze us to death."

"We have a plan called the Hou Yi Plan. Simply put, it's to use our last big guy to poke a hole in the sun's blanket."

"But this plan carries risk. If it succeeds, we'll blast the aliens to smithereens. If it fails, we'll anger the sun and get sprayed in the face."

He pulled up the holographic data and explained Chen Guang's calculated success rate, risks, and costs in the simplest terms.

Then he said:

"This choice is too hard; I dare not make it alone."

"So today, we will vote."

"All global citizens aged sixteen and above get one vote each. Those in favor of the Hou Yi Plan vote yes; those opposed vote no."

"Voting lasts one hour."

"After one hour, we will act according to the vote count."

The crowd in the plaza fell silent for a few seconds.

Then it erupted into noisy discussion.

Lao Wu was in the workshop, watching the broadcast on his wristband. A young person beside him asked: "Uncle Wu, what are you voting for?"

"Nonsense, of course I'm in favor." Lao Wu didn't look up, "Better to fight than wait to die."

"But what if it fails..."

"If we fail, we all die together, so the road to the underworld won't be lonely." Lao Wu grinned, "If we win... who knows, I might get to grill a few more years' worth of skewers."

The voting system opened.

Five billion two hundred million people worldwide made their choice at the same time.

Data streams surged through the Mysterious Darkness Network, processing hundreds of millions of ballots per second.

At the Moon Base, Wang Hao stared at the real-time vote chart, palms sweating: "Current approval rate... 65%. Opposition 28%, abstentions 7%."

"It's still rising," Chen Guang said, "increasing by 0.3 percentage points each second."

"Do you think it can pass 90%?"

"I don't know." Chen Guang pushed up his glasses.

"But Qiming's analysis of voter psychology revealed an interesting phenomenon: the deeper people live in the underground city and the worse their living conditions, the higher their approval rate. Conversely, some high-ranking officials and scholars show a higher opposition rate."

"Why?"

"Because those with nothing to lose are more willing to gamble." Feng Yan walked into the control room, "While those who still have ties and a fallback... will hesitate."

Voting had proceeded to the 45th minute.

Approval rate: 87%.

Opposition rate: 11%.

Abstentions: 2%.

"Just a little more..." Wang Hao clenched his fist, "Come on!"

Just then, the global broadcast screens began to insert short messages.

A centenarian said to the camera: "I've lived this long, I've had enough. Let the children see tomorrow's sun." He voted yes.

In the slums, children drew suns on the ground with chalk, writing "Go sun!" beside them. Their parents all voted yes.

A single mother holding her child said: "I don't want my child to live underground their whole life, never seeing sunlight." She also voted yes.

One after another, they came from every corner of the world.

There were no grand speeches, just the simplest reasons.

At the 55th minute, the approval rate exceeded 90%.

At the 58th minute, 91%.

At the 59th minute, 92%.

In the final minute, the vote tally settled:

【Approval: 92.3%】

【Opposition: 7.4%】

【Abstention: 0.3%】

Feng Yan looked at this number, took a deep breath, then laughed.

"Alright." He said to the global cameras, "The results are out."

"Archer Project, activate."

On the far side of the Moon, the two Archer platforms began to charge.

The huge focusing mirror adjusted its angle, aiming at the predetermined gap on the sun's surface.

The purple coating on the platform's surface began to glow, absorbing cosmic background radiation to store energy for this final strike.

In the hangar of the Penglai, fifty Responding Dragon-Omega mechs were undergoing final modifications.

Li Yang personally inspected each one, fitting them with specially made guide wings.

Made from the Harvesters' wreckage material, it can briefly withstand stellar-level heat.

"Remember," he said to the remote-control pilots.

"Control the mech as it rushes in, don't panic, follow the procedure to guide the energy. Even if the mech melts, you must send back the final data."

"Captain Li," a young pilot asked over the channel, "If we don't make it back… does that count as being a hero?"

Li Yang thought: "What a load of hero nonsense. We're just a bunch of idiots who refuse to admit defeat."

Laughter rang out over the channel.

"Then being an idiot isn't so bad." the youngster said.

Meanwhile, Wang Hao was programming the missiles.

"No fancy ballistics this time." He muttered, "Just the simplest, most direct route. I'll send you guys home."

Chen Guang was at the Qiming Computing Center, running the final simulation.

"The success rate is now steady at 63%." He reported, "But there's a variable: the Harvesters might adjust their encirclement density at the last moment, and we need to calculate the optimal gap in real time."

"Can you do it?" Feng Yan asked.