Emergency Meeting

108 hours after the Sky Pit appeared.

Christmas 2024 had not gone well for America, thanks not only to Great East, but also to the aliens rubbing salt in the wound.

After the Carl Vinson Carrier Strike Group was brutally beaten by a force suspected of being "aliens," America fell into a strangely silent state. Not a single media outlet reported the incident.

It was not just the American media; the entire Western media fell silent as well. Great East merely announced through its official media that shipping operations and passenger flight routes across the Pacific Ocean would be temporarily suspended. Under the pretext of exercises, all vessels passing near the Sky Pit were ordered to detour.

The northern Bear turned its gaze in that direction, only to be slapped hard by the Little Bear the moment it looked back. Enraged, the Big Bear once again started swinging rice at the Little Bear, which was exactly what the West wanted to see.

Strangely enough, no emergency meeting was convened at United Nations headquarters over the appearance of the Sky Pit. Great East had proposed an emergency meeting, but America had directly vetoed it.

Great East's representative to the United Nations could only shrug at that, though the curl of his lips proved that things were not so simple behind the scenes.

On the surface, none of the countries made a move, but there was no shortage of covert activity. Reconnaissance aircraft, surveillance ships, and disguised deep-sea fishing vessels continuously approached the area around the Sky Pit. Meanwhile, satellites in space also turned their attention toward the Western Pacific.

Even satellites that could not be seen were willing to expend precious propellant and maneuver into new orbits just to look this way.

In this world, risks and opportunities always coexisted. The Sky Pit in the middle of the ocean might be an unspeakable opportunity, as well as a challenge for humanity. The greatest question was whether anyone could seize that opportunity amid this great upheaval.

Rather than an anomaly, the Sky Pit in the sky looked more like a "door" to many countries. Since these unidentified aircraft could fly out of it, there was no reason they could not go through it as well.

There were also some "people" who were deeply interested in the Sky Pit. Their ideas differed from everyone else's, though. They hoped more to use these aliens to accomplish their own unspeakable secrets.

With a screech of tires against the ground, two Coaster business vans, escorted by Dongfeng Warriors, arrived before a heavily guarded building.

The doors opened, and several travel-worn experts stepped out with the help of men in black suits. Song Xizhu supported a white-haired old academician, helped him into a wheelchair, and pushed him toward the interior of the building.

"Teacher Zhou, we're here."

"Xiao Zhu, this gave you quite a scare, didn't it?" Academician Zhou asked softly.

"No, Teacher Zhou."

"Who would have thought that sending you to test the new carrier-based radar would lead to something like this? Aliens, huh?"

Academician Zhou shook his head. Great East had only just prepared to launch its search for extraterrestrial life. The project had barely begun; before they could even start looking, the aliens had come straight to them.

Things had gotten lively now, lively in the literal physical sense.

Two security personnel opened the doors. Academician Zhou followed the accessible passage into a massive first-floor conference room. The moment he entered, he spotted several old acquaintances—leading figures from different fields, professors, think tanks. Among them were the one selling sea cucumbers in Inner Mongolia, the War God Against the Wind, Hehehe Professor, and others.

They all had their heads lowered over the paper materials before them, occasionally writing something in the notebooks at hand.

After Song Xizhu pushed Academician Zhou to his seat, an old man beside him greeted him. "Old Zhou, your legs?"

"I'm old. Can't walk anymore."

The two elderly men began chatting. Song Xizhu walked toward the back, sat in a seat on the right side of the rear rows, lowered her head to read the documents in her hands, and waited for the person who would preside over the meeting. The rank of this meeting's host would definitely not be low.

Before long, the attendees arrived one after another. Their numbers were already nearing a hundred, and every one of them was a recognized name in their field.

Those in administrative jackets sat on the left, scientists sat in the center, and uniformed officers sat on the right. In the front rows, Song Xizhu spotted a certain little old man who had retired and then been rehired. He was whispering something to the Major General beside him, the one who had developed the integrated medium-voltage DC power system.

With a creak, the doors opened again. Several men in black suits entered carrying plastic baskets and began collecting everyone's phones. They also set up signal jammers around the room and distributed microphones, Nongfu Spring water, and small snacks.

Once everything was ready, several officials entered and took their seats on the "stage." As they sat down, the heavy doors slammed shut. Behind them, a squad of men in black suits stood in the corridor, while even more security personnel guarded the exterior.

"Ahem."

The person onstage cleared his throat twice. The faint chatter in the meeting room quickly disappeared, and everyone looked toward the stage, waiting for him to speak.

"We will now discuss the suspected contact with extraterrestrial civilization in the Western Pacific. The results of this discussion will be submitted for review."

No one present was surprised. This matter had to be treated with caution. Even now, WZ7s were flying over the Western Pacific twenty-four hours a day, monitoring the Sky Pit.

"First, let us briefly summarize this contact to help some comrades understand the situation."

Some had arrived in too much of a hurry to know the specifics. News of the Sky Pit was still under lockdown. Though there were rumors online, most people did not believe them. For ordinary people, rice, fuel, salt, and oil were what mattered. Who cared what happened thousands of miles away, so long as it did not affect their lives?

But now, it would probably affect them very soon.

Four days earlier, at 0200 hours—military time, two in the morning—the Sky Pit appeared over the Western Pacific at an altitude of 18,000. The Eastern Theater Command reacted swiftly, deploying H-6Ks carrying WZ8s to investigate it, followed by WZ7s for further reconnaissance.

As the people above spoke, those below occasionally recorded details and matters they considered important.

At present, the 815A ship had linked up with the Liaoning and was withdrawing from the dangerous waters, returning to port for resupply.

The incident had occurred too suddenly. The Liaoning had not been prepared at all, and the supplies it carried were limited. It needed to return to port for replenishment and prepare for the next military operation.

Now, let us begin with the definition of these unidentified aircraft. Are they aliens? Please speak.

"I believe they are aliens," said an academician who specialized in this field.

"First, the fact that they possess the ability to manufacture aircraft means they have their own industrial system. They also possess corresponding weapons systems and use a technological path completely different from ours. We lack samples, so we cannot determine what technology they use. But without a doubt—they are aliens!"