Chapter 200: Third Kind of Contact

Just as Sun Cheng was staying inside the Severodvinsk Shipyard, secretly modifying a Russian Typhoon-class ballistic missile nuclear submarine.

Russia's southern neighbor—China—was in a state of shock throughout the Ministry of Land and Resources due to a mysteriously appearing video.

On Fuchengmen Inner Street, inside an office of the Ministry of Land and Resources, a meeting with an extremely high security classification was being held at this moment.

Minister Zhang of the Ministry of Land and Resources was personally presiding over the meeting; though he was not a heavy smoker, he held a half-burnt cigarette between his fingers, standing in front of a wall in the office that was probably...

In the not-very-large conference room, a round conference table was placed, with over a dozen people sitting around it, both men and women, all between thirty and forty years old.

They all shared one common characteristic, which was that they were all wearing uniforms.

Looking at them in turn, one could see armbands from different departments: the Ministry of State Security, the Ministry of Public Security, the Second Department of the General Staff, the Ministry of National Defense, and so on.

Noticing that all the gazes in the office were focused on him, Minister Zhang shifted his body to the side, so as not to block the massive liquid crystal display.

Subsequently, he nodded to the man who looked to be only thirty-five or thirty-six years old, sitting in the front row of the office with a thick, specially-made laptop in front of him.

The person opposite immediately understood and performed a series of actions on the laptop in front of him; very quickly, the massive liquid crystal display began to light up, and soon, the figure of a massive, ferocious-looking mechanical giant appeared.

He was seen facing the camera, slowly speaking in slightly stiff Chinese: "Greetings, Earthlings, I am called Frenzy, a Mechanical Lifeform from the planet Cybertron. Due to certain reasons, my kin and I left the planet Cybertron and descended upon Earth. Although it is regrettable, I must state a fact to you: we are temporarily unable to conduct long-distance interstellar travel, so we will be resting on Earth for a period of time..."

"... Through a period of learning, we have mastered various languages of your Earth. As the Leader of the Reformist Faction of the planet Cybertron, I, Frenzy, am very willing to make a deal with you on Earth. We need energy, we need a camp where we can rest temporarily, and we need a large amount of rare metals. If you are willing to satisfy our needs, we are very happy to pay you a reward. The reward is not limited to precious metals like gold and silver; it can also be some technologies that are very advanced for you, who have not yet entered the space age..."

"We yearn for peace and look forward to cooperation even more. If you are interested in further contact with us, please send a message directly to the email address that appears at the end of the video. You arrange the time and place..."

"Oh, right. By the way, I will also notify you of one thing: to a certain extent, Earth has already fallen into danger. A portion of the Mechanical Lifeforms from the planet Cybertron has already begun contact with a country on your Earth called the United States. I am very sorry that the relationship between our two factions is not that harmonious. So when war is forced upon us, we will choose to strike back decisively..."

The video was not very long, only a brief few minutes.

After quickly finishing the video, Minister Zhang walked back to the screen with a grim face and said again: "This video was sent over by the Oceanic Administration yesterday. It is said that someone stole the connection authorization between the 'Polar Research Office' and the North and South Pole scientific research stations, and transmitted it in reverse. We have already sent people to investigate, and the information originated from Yellow River Station..."

After finishing, he looked at the thirty-five or thirty-six-year-old man sitting at the front of the conference table who had just helped him play the video.

The man immediately stood up in understanding, and only then did Minister Zhang point to him and introduce him to everyone, "This is Comrade Chen Jiannian from the Cyber Security Department of the Ministry of Public Security. Next, he will provide further elaboration to everyone!"

Chen Jiannian nodded, and without stage fright, stood up and said, "Comrades, let me provide further explanation. Last night, we received notification from the Ministry of Land and Resources, and the higher-ups immediately arranged for several of us technical personnel from Cyber Security to come and assist in investigating this video. However, after investigation, our technical personnel, while cracking the source code of the video, unexpectedly discovered that its code was actually composed of some strange patterns that we had never seen before but were very regular. Subsequently, the higher-ups arranged for me to lead the team and brought in more technical experts, but after a night of hard work, we can confirm the authenticity of the content of this video... which is to say, it was not synthesized by post-production CG; at the very least, current technology on Earth cannot achieve this..."

As soon as his voice fell, a dozen gazes fell upon him in unison.

"Yes!"

Minister Zhang nodded, "I also didn't sleep all night, busy all night with Xiao Chen and the others. Because the matter is significant, I had to make an urgent call to the Prime Minister overnight. This video has already attracted high attention from the higher-ups, which is why you elite backbone members were urgently notified from various departments to come and investigate this matter together! For the sake of confidentiality, this Task will be named the 'Fourth Round of Land and Mineral Resources Survey', and I will temporarily serve as the team leader!"

"Everyone, do not have any burdens. I also hope that everyone can speak freely without any scruples; after all, what we are facing this time... the subject of the investigation is extraordinary!"

There was a brief silence in the office as everyone organized their thoughts.

Soon, Guo Danian from the Ministry of State Security raised his hand and spoke first: "I have some questions regarding the source of the video. Why was the video transmitted from Yellow River Station? Is there something special there? I suggest sending someone to Yellow River Station immediately to figure out the situation there..."

"Not bad, Yellow River Station does need to be investigated!"

A young woman from the Second Department of the General Staff, wearing the rank of Major, nodded, "I noticed that in the video, the Mechanical Lifeform calling himself Frenzy mentioned that other Mechanical Lifeforms are in contact with the United States government. This reminds me of some rumors I heard recently. Due to confidentiality principles, I need to report to my superiors before I can confirm whether I can elaborate further to everyone!"

Her words made Guo Danian's eyes light up; he immediately thought of a matter that the North America Division had been focusing on investigating for some time, and he couldn't help but look at her a few more times.

PS:

1. Thanks to the three readers 'Jiutian Dangmo Zushi Xintu', 'restaur', and 'Duzui Xiyangdi' for their tips.

2. It is inevitable that there will be some imprecise places in the book; after all, it is fiction, so I ask the experts who are sticklers for detail not to take it too seriously.