Chapter 1550 - Foreshadowing (1/2)

In the information age, it was impossible to censor one thing.

Especially in the scenario where people were instructed to spread the news. The information was just like the red cloth that covered the bride’s head, which was meant to be removed. Almost at the same time as the Earth Defense Alliance announced a general meeting, news spread about the purpose of this meeting on the Internet.

Based on memory, the previous two general meetings held for the Earth Defense Alliance were because of the threat of the Gliese Galaxy and because of the incident in Finland. Since it was still undetermined whether the starship found under Europa’s ice cap was a blessing or a curse, many people started to feel nervous.

“I don’t know what those aliens look like. Are they four-legged or two-legged this time?”

“Maybe without legs!”

“It’s reasonable. Since the alien ship went into Europa’s ice cap, it doesn’t make sense it can’t get out. It must be a conspiracy by those aliens. They deliberately wait for us to save them, and then will use this opportunity to conspire with us!”

“You’re eating gutter oil, yet you’re worrying as if you’re the Secretary of the United Nations. Even if the sky collapses, there are still the tall ones holding it up, why do you care so much?”

“…”

It was a rare occurrence where Celestial Trade did not refute any of the rumors, it was as if they had not noticed them at all, and they did not make any public statements. However, it was precisely because of Celestial Trade’s attitude that allowed the event to continue to escalate and the debates began to heat up.

All kinds of discussions were happening around this mysterious starship. There were rational analyses, groundless speculations, and even pure rumors. However, Celestial Trade and the governments did not seem to mind at all, until a protest happened in Los Santos.

20,000 people took to the streets and protested as they walked towards the Los Santos International Airport. They wore blue headscarves and waved flags. The flags were painted with an azure earth surrounded by olive branches, and they shouted slogans such as “Cancel Borders”, “Universal Love”, and “Towards the Future”.

The reason was that a paper published by a professor at Coro University analyzed the situation from the perspective of civilization. It discussed why the first few contacts between Earth civilization and alien civilization ended in failure, and it subtly hinted at the hidden obstacles of Earth’s development.

In terms of reputation alone, the professor who published this paper was not well-known, but Hawking’s name appeared as one of the authors, which immediately made this paper that should have not been taken seriously more legitimate, and its importance was immediately pushed up.

“When we are in contact with alien civilizations, we are not collectively human beings, but as countries or even enterprises. In the eyes of extraterrestrial civilizations, we are in a state of chaos and disorder, and they cannot even interpret our language, because even we ourselves are unable to have a unified language. In this state, we cannot start a dialogue with extraterrestrial civilizations, and we cannot expect them to understand our ‘chaos’ as ‘political and cultural pluralism’, and not backwardness and weakness.”

“In fact, we are indeed weak enough. In the Mother Nest incident in northern Finland, the Finnish Army and the British Navy launched two rounds of offensives against the nest, but the final result ended tragically. If from the very beginning, we had dealt with threats from extraterrestrial civilization collectively, then the result may be much better than it is now.”

“As time goes by, it is less and less likely we are able to reach a reconciliation, and even in the not-too-distant future, we will split into two or more distinct civilizations due to differences. If a unified political organization cannot be formed, the second level in the Kardashev hierarchy is the ceiling of the civilization on Earth…”

Maybe even this professor didn’t expect that his paper would be reprinted by major media, and it would become the fuse that ignited the voice of globalists.

The parade was carried out in a peaceful atmosphere from the beginning to the end. The Los Santos City Police dispatched helicopters and police cars to accompany them but did not disperse the crowd. Those who were keen recognized that the Rainbow Mansion was surprisingly calm towards this protest.

Two police officers sat in the police car on the outskirt of the protest. They bit into their sandwiches as they watched the protesters closely.

“Globalists? I’ve seen blacks, Indians, and women go to the streets to make trouble, but it’s the first time I have seen these people.”