July 15.
A month and a half after the earthquake ended, UHC representative committee members from countries around the world arrived in Pinglu to hold the UHC's first in-person meeting.
Because the earthquake's oceanic epicenter had damaged the fiber-optic network cables buried deep beneath the seafloor, countries separated by oceans could no longer connect to one another's networks. Based on the current situation, repairs would not be possible in the short term.
Yet every country needed to understand the state of the world, so the UHC meeting had to be held. After several rounds of discussion, the first in-person meeting was set for Pinglu, North Star.
Inside the enormous conference room, only a scattered dozen or so people sat around the wide, long table, forming a stark contrast with the size of the room.
Mary, a committee member from Suoloma, looked around and said, "It seems North Star believes there are still many surviving countries, judging by the size of this conference room."
"..."
Everyone fell silent.
At the final meeting before the magnitude-ten super earthquake, there had still been twenty-eight committee members in attendance.
Today, however, only eleven sat here. That meant the countries represented by the other seventeen members had all disintegrated in this earthquake disaster.
"There were once more than three hundred countries on this planet. A little over a year later, only eleven remain." The Black Flag Nation committee member sighed. "Things have changed far too quickly."
The bald committee member from Xisiya Nation snorted. "Survival of the fittest. Countries with poor survival capabilities deserve this outcome."
"That's not right, is it? As far as I know, Xisiya Nation also suffered enormous casualties this time. Did those people who died deserve it too?" The Yingqi Nation representative committee member spoke up in rebuttal.
The Xisiya committee