Chapter 126: Foreign Residents’ Protest

Chapter 126 Protests by Foreign Residents

"Something terrible has happened!" Owen rushed from the Luo City Base to the Jing City Base, his expression grim.

"Owen, what exactly happened? Explain in detail," Wan Xueying stepped forward, her face equally grave.

"Just now, I suddenly received classified intelligence—M Base plans to use nuclear weapons against Jing City Base." Owen had immediately piloted his mech here upon receiving the news.

After two years of rapid technological advancement, though mechs weren't yet standard issue for every citizen in China, all base leadership in each base now possessed one and were fully combat-certified, even engaging in solo combat.

As the current Commander-in-Chief of Luo City Base, Owen naturally had a mech, which allowed him to arrive so quickly.

While they were talking, another mech from Luo City Base landed. Arriving was Jiang Fuzhong, Deputy Commander-in-Chief of Luo City Base.

After quick formalities with everyone, Jiang Fuzhong stood behind Owen, just as he had always silently stood behind Du Ruanlan when she was still present.

"Do we have assets embedded near Charles in M Base?" Ji An asked.

Owen nodded. "There are many of our people in M Base, but none have managed to get close to Charles. That man is too unstable. Even if someone miraculously gets near him, they'd be executed within hours for trivial reasons like the coffee being too sweet or the chair not being positioned correctly."

The superpowered individuals serving as spies in M Base were all elites from Luo City Base—hand-picked operatives in both superpower levels and mental agility. Casualties among these operatives were unacceptable to Luo City Base.

After realizing how deranged Charles was, Owen no longer allowed Luo City Base operatives to approach him.

This meant Luo City Base could no longer track Charles in real-time.

"Owen, can you contact the person who relayed this message?" Ji An asked.

"No," Owen shook his head. "Just now, I was still trying to confirm who sent the message, but after contacting several deep-cover assets in M Base, none of them were the source."

"Could it be a trap?" Gu Jinsheng asked.

"Unlikely," Owen said with conviction. "This message isn’t ordinary—it’s in Luo City Base’s coded language. And this code isn’t known to all deep-cover assets; only top-cleared operatives are privy to it."

"Since the intel is reliable, I'm alerting R&D immediately to prepare for interception. We must ensure the missile is stopped outside China’s borders," Ji An briefly updated the group before hurrying off to mobilize personnel.

The researchers were both surprised and unsurprised by the news. Charles had gone mad, so any action from him was expected. Though busy, they remained orderly, dividing tasks efficiently.

Meanwhile, Gu Jinsheng held an emergency press conference and broadcast the alert across all channels, ensuring everyone received the information as soon as possible.

"My God, Charles is actually launching a nuclear war? Has he lost his mind?"

"Hasn’t Charles always been insane?"

"Why did Commander-in-Chief Gu release this news globally? Isn’t this just undermining public morale?"

"What rock have you been under, commenter above? Commander-in-Chief Gu is doing this for our sake—to ensure ordinary citizens receive the news in time to protect themselves. Or would you prefer getting vaporized without knowing why?"

"I still think the public shouldn’t have been told in advance. What can we even do? This only spreads panic."

Some superpowered individuals in China were panicking due to the online discourse.

They gathered outside command centers, demanding that bases arrange evac transports to evacuate them from China immediately.

Similar scenes unfolded across all bases in China. Outside Jing City Base, a crowd of superpowered individuals had assembled—not a huge crowd, but still a solid thousand strong.

"Bring Gu Jinsheng out! We demand answers!"

"No matter what, nuclear war must be prevented at all costs!"

"The apocalypse is chaotic enough—must we make it worse?"

Faced with the citizens demonstrating at the entrance of the Commander-in-Chief's headquarters, staff could only try to talk them down politely.

Especially since these citizens were holding various live-streaming devices—any slip-up from the staff could go viral and become a weapon for those with ulterior motives to attack China and Commander Gu.

"Apologies, everyone. At this moment, Commander Gu is busy with scheduling and personnel arrangements and truly cannot spare the time to come here. But please trust in Commander Gu—he will not let you down."

"We have always trusted him. It was precisely because of that trust that we abandoned our own homelands and became Chinese citizens. And now, this is how Gu Jinsheng repays us foreign residents for our trust?"

The speaker was a man with a Fu Manchu mustache. His appearance suggested he was Asian, but it was impossible to tell which Asian country he came from.

"Gu Jinsheng has betrayed our trust. We trusted him so much, yet he has put us at risk of H-weapon strikes at any moment. All we ask now is for him to come out and meet us, to explain the truth of the situation. Is that really too much to ask?"

Despite the man’s seemingly polite demeanor and refined appearance, as if he were a cultured intellectual, the staff member cursed inwardly. Having worked in reception for so long, he knew these types were the hardest to deal with.

"I’m sorry, Commander Gu is truly very busy. There are too many matters requiring his attention right now—he’s swamped right now..."

"Then have Ji An come out to meet us instead," the man demanded again.

"Yes, call Ji An out!"

"Whether it’s Gu Jinsheng or Ji An, we must see one of them today!"

The staff were baffled by these demands. "Director Ji is a researcher—he doesn’t handle these matters. What’s the point of seeing him?"

"Who in the entire world doesn’t know about the relationship between Ji An and Gu Jinsheng? You expect me to believe Ji An knows nothing about the nuke threat from M Base? In fact, I suspect Ji An is the mastermind behind all this."

The staffer had kept his cool until now—it was his job to placate troublemakers with patience. But when these people began insulting Ji An, he couldn’t hold back any longer.

"Watch your mouth! I understand your anxiety, but that is no excuse to disrespect Director Ji!"

The staff member raised his voice angrily, "The only reason you’re standing here safe right now, without fearing starvation or zombies like people in other countries, is because of Director Ji. Apologize now for insulting him!"

"What did I say that was wrong? If Ji An hadn’t created that artificial planet, would this war have been provoked? Nukes! Do you have any idea what that means? It means countless deaths and radiation. Survivors won’t even get to live in peace—they’ll suffer from radiation every day!"

"So Director Ji screwed up by giving humanity a livable artificial planet?!"

"Ji An is absolutely at fault—his fault lies in being too selfish."

The staffer snapped. He grabbed the man by the collar and socked him in the face.

The man shouted, "HQ staff are assaulting us! Everyone, defend yourselves!"

The man’s eyes gleamed as he deliberately incited panic while lashing out with his superpower at the staff.

The staff member was sent flying by a massive earth-based superpower. Other staff quickly intervened, using their own superpowers to restrain the man.

Just like that, all hell broke loose between the protesting citizens and the staff, with both sides fighting at the entrance of the headquarters.

"Commander Gu, it’s bad—our guys are brawling with the superpowered protesters!" Faced with such a serious conflict, the staff had no choice but to report to Gu Jinsheng.

"What happened?" Gu Jinsheng knew his staff would never lightly engage in a brawl with ordinary citizens and pressed for details.

"It seems one of the protesters spoke disrespectfully about Director Ji, and the staff member lost his temper and started fighting with him."

Gu Jinsheng put down his papers, his face going ice-cold.

Wan Xueying was baffled. "These people have truly lost their minds. Without Ji An, they’d be too dead to stand here yapping."

"Boss, I'll go check it out."

"No. I’ll handle this personally." Gu Jinsheng turned and strode out of the command room.

Gu Jinsheng summoned Thunder Dragon, who crackled with sparks and lightning as he charged forward, angrily screeching, "Let this great dragon see who’s dumb enough to mess with An’an! I’ll paint the town red with their blood!"

Thunder Dragon didn’t hold back his electric power, speeding through and burning many things along the way.

A staffer groaned, exasperated, "Who the hell pissed off Thunder Dragon now?"

Normally, Thunder Dragon could restrain his electric energy and rarely unleashed it carelessly. Only when provoked would he release his full power to intimidate.

Thunder Dragon barreled out of the command center and arrived at the square, where the two sides were going at each other’s throats.

"Who insulted An'an?" Thunder Dragon roared, his voice boomed like thunder.

The reactions of the fighting crowd varied. The staff rallied at the sight, while civilians cowered, overwhelmed by Thunder Dragon’s imposing presence, trembling in fear.

Swooping overhead, Thunder Dragon grew impatient when no one answered him.

Zeroing in on a mustachioed superpowered—his least favorite—he dove.

The man, who had been fierce against the staff, might as well have been a ragdoll against Thunder Dragon. With a single electric blast from Thunder Dragon’s mouth, the man was sent flying, his hair fried straight up like a porcupine’s.

The man collapsed, twitching on the ground, his body charred black. Thunder Dragon continued circling above, his dark eyes scanning the crowd below for his next target.

The superpowered individuals shuddered under his gaze, too terrified to cause any more trouble, clustering like scared sheep for some semblance of courage.

Fortunately, before Thunder Dragon could fry another fool, Gu Jinsheng arrived.

Medics rushed past him to aid the electrocuted superpowered man.

Thanks to the man’s strong physique and Thunder Dragon’s restraint, one med-pill brought him around.

When the man woke, his beady eyes locked onto Thunder Dragon, terrified the dragon might strike again at any moment.

Thunder Dragon *tsk*ed, lobbing two crackling orbs at him as if taunting him.

Gu watched, silent as a judge, before recalling Thunder Dragon.

"I’m here," Gu said, not knowing who had demanded to see him, but now they could voice their demands.

The electrocuted man clutched his chest, slowly standing with the medics’ support.

"Shouldn’t Commander-in-Chief Gu give us an explanation? Like why M Base is launching a Nuclear War against us?"

The medics assisting him gaped at his ballsy move, stunned by his audacity.

After barely surviving Thunder Dragon’s attack, he still dared to question Gu under the dragon’s watch—didn’t he fear another strike? Thunder Dragon’s temper was legendary.

Thankfully, with Gu there to rein him in, Thunder Dragon restrained himself despite his eagerness.

Gu’s gaze settled on the man, emotionless. "They wanted to migrate to the artificial planet. I refused."

He said it like he was discussing the weather, leaving the man choked, almost passing out.

Clutching his chest, the man took a moment before retorting, "How can you justify such cruelty, Commander-in-Chief? With the world burning, you’re only saving your own skin? Talk about selfish!"

It was unclear what the protesters thought upon hearing this, but the staff at the command center simply found the man utterly delusional, as if he were some holier-than-thou idiot.

The artificial planet was researched and developed by the Jing City Base. Shouldn't we take care of our own before worrying about outsiders—those from the M Base and Charles?

The man continued, his tone even tinged with reproach. "Commander-in-Chief Gu, don’t you think you bear the primary responsibility for instigating this H War? If you had simply agreed to Commander-in-Chief Charles’ demands and considered the safety of residents of other nationalities, this war would never have happened. So please reflect deeply and stop compounding your mistakes."

"Are you lecturing Gu Jinsheng on how to do his job?!" Thunder Dragon fumed with barely contained rage. If not for Gu’s restraint, the man would already have been reduced to ashes.

"Dream on." Gu Jinsheng’s thin lips parted, uttering just two words, making the man turn purple with rage.

"Commander-in-Chief Gu, aren’t you afraid of becoming a historical monster, damned for all eternity and reviled by future generations?" the man pressed aggressively.

Gu Jinsheng, now impatient, frowned slightly. "Do you have anything else?"

Gu had a pile of work waiting for him. If the man’s purpose was merely to spout such nonsense, he had already heard it and was eager to return to his duties.

Seeing Gu’s complete indifference, the man resorted to veiled threats. "If Commander-in-Chief Gu refuses to reconsider, then at least restore our original nationalities. We refuse to align with someone as heartless as you, becoming sinners in the eyes of history and humanity."

The man threw his head back arrogantly, as if this somehow proved his moral superiority over Gu. He even seemed to believe it was an effective threat.

"I advise Commander-in-Chief Gu to think carefully before giving us an answer. After all, the residents of China now include more than just Chinese citizens but many of other nationalities. If you don’t want to alienate them or incite unrest among us foreign residents, you’d better think very carefully about your next move."