Chapter 723 - 698: I Am Willing to Die, You Choose to Hide

Before Sullivan had time to process what had happened, Xu Rang, who had been present for less than a minute, strode away.

The translators and assistants present were completely at a loss; this Chinese man had come in, said something totally nonsensical, and left – if this had been a public encounter, the media would have been screaming headlines.

One was the United Nations Ambassador, the other was the Secretary of State; their meeting should never be so hasty and simplistic.

They were looking to Sullivan for answers, but he was already spaced out, sitting motionless on the couch.

Several minutes passed before Sullivan started to move; then, to everyone’s surprise:

He directly called the president’s security detail, had everyone present who had heard that phrase taken into custody, and personally emphasized to the detail’s captain the gravity of their task, not allowing anyone to disseminate any information.

Only then did he board the helicopter and arrived here at top speed.

After he repeated Xu Rang’s exact words, he fell silent, because everyone there understood them:

— The Chinese know about an alien civilization and also about NACA’s escape plan!

Just as the people who had been shaken by the recent events were overwhelmed by a tidal wave of emotions, this time they were both shocked and scared.

Especially McMaster; the Chinese had no probes on Mars at all, so could it be a severe intelligence incident?

The M event and Office Thirteen were America’s top-most secrets, not known to more than 100 people outside the office researchers, each of whom he remembered clearly.

Any information related was never exchanged through electronic communication devices; it was always couriers with paper documents, to be read and then reclaimed, the secret of secrets.

If there was a leak... to the enemy, it would be the most serious espionage incident since the end of the Cold War, and it would destabilize the entire upper echelon.

Meanwhile, others also realized this and immediately began looking at each other with a touch of vigilance and suspicion in their eyes.

"Bang!"

John slapped the table firmly but not too harshly, speaking somewhat angrily,

"I know what you idiots are all thinking, but I refuse to believe in such a thing, Robert, Claire, tell me, is there any way the Chinese could have discovered an alien signal?"

"Perhaps... Let me think."

Claire signaled to Robert with her eyes, who immediately took out his phone to check.

No Mars probes indeed, but there were several en route, like ’Departing Fire’, ’Typhoon’, and ’Tianwen’; Robert checked his notes, then after a while, he exclaimed, "Oh."

"Although they don’t have a probe on Mars yet, there was one that passed by Mars.

It’s the ’Changsi’, the Changsi probe, the one that went to Lingxi Star, launched on July 5 last year, estimated to arrive at its destination in 40 months, and if timing was right, it could’ve passed by Mars about five to six months ago."

The Changsi’s target was the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, so it didn’t need to slow down like regular Mars probes as it approached the planet.

Thus, even if it wasn’t launched during a Mars transfer window, it wouldn’t take much time to reach the Martian orbit.

Robert instantly realized something, took out his phone, and called a spaceflight expert at NACA to calculate the shortest distance the Changsi probe would have been from Mars as it passed.

This was just a simple math problem, and shortly, the person on the other end of the phone told him the closest they would have been recently was around 1.5 million kilometers.

It was far, yet close.

And it just so happened to be within December, which means that if "Changsi" was lucky enough, there was also a chance to detect the alien signal.

This conclusion made everyone breathe a sigh of relief. Regardless of whether or not it was the truth, it was much better than having a super traitor within their ranks.

"It’s possible that they too had detected the alien signal and the timing was not too different from ours. After that, looking at our deep space project, it would be easy to guess our... Kuiper Belt refuge plans."

Claire did not say the word "escape," although that was the fact; internally, they referred to it as a refuge.

"Only in December?"

"Very likely, there’s only an overlap during that time. It was impossible for them to receive last month’s signal."

Claire patiently explained to John that the M signal was not an omnidirectional broadcast but had a vague direction—it could only be potentially detected near Mars, which naturally ruled out Earth’s possibility of noticing it.

The number of probes was finite. Based on calculations, "Departing Fire" was still millions of kilometers away. The most probable was still the "Changsi."

The faces of others immediately showed change, which also meant that the Chinese People had almost discovered the issue at the same time, but like them, they were just biding their time.

So, did the Chinese People also have a major deep space project for the same reason? Even at the expense of using an expensive nuclear-powered spacecraft for a mission fraught with danger.

When Typhoon was launched, NACA had made comparisons with Endeavour, discovering that such long-distance travel would be too demanding for the spacecraft. If it were lost, it would definitely be a major setback.

But if it was also due to an extraterrestrial civilization, then it made sense. In the face of this huge crisis, the cost of a nuclear-powered spacecraft seemed acceptable.

And the directors of both space agencies had thought even more carefully. As soon as one takes steps into the Solar System, planets like Jupiter and Saturn would definitely become important strategic support points. If America also had this capability, they would make the same choice.

Perhaps already somewhat desensitized, John felt somewhat relieved upon learning that the Chinese People had also discovered the extraterrestrial civilization. Apart from feeling predictably late to the game, he felt a certain amount of relaxation.

After all, even for the number one superpower, such pressure was rather overwhelming.

Having another party in the know meant less pressure in making decisions, and the power of a super industrial nation could not be ignored.

His mood had actually improved a bit, speaking with a tone that was jarringly calm:

"Why did the Chinese People suddenly decide to do this? Why did they feel the need to scare us first? And why tell us now?"

Xu Rang swiftly ended the anti-missile exercise briefing and naturally explained the connection between the two events, though John still couldn’t fathom the purpose behind their actions.

"The answer has already been told to us: no escape from the Solar System means a certain death for all."

Dawei Usno repeated Xu Rang’s words, then explained:

"The Chinese People’s choice is different from ours. They might plan to escape to another star system, but it’s more likely they intend to retaliate."

"Retaliate?"

McMaster looked incredulous—that was an alien civilization, after all.

"Yes, retaliate. But just like the refuge plan, they would need to construct space bases beyond the asteroid belt, possibly even in the Kuiper Belt, and of course, the most important thing is weapons.

Maybe in the past, they developed laser weapons purely for profit, with room for negotiation; but now it becomes vital to develop them extensively. Lasers are the most powerful space weapon that humans can wield at the moment. It’s impossible to stop researching them.

Last month’s events made them think that we might interfere with the development of space weapons, so today’s exercise was their way of telling us—"

"Escaper, don’t block my path to death."