Naming the "Precursors"

Tonight was destined to be sleepless.

When Xie Yushan saw Colonel Lin Huixin passed out drunk before the gravestone, her expression grew complicated. After hesitating for a moment, she stepped forward to help him up.

Xiao Shou naturally would not just stand by and watch. He stepped forward to help as well, though he could not quite understand the strange relationship between this odd father and daughter.

On White Eagle's side, the death of Wanderer pilot Dyson, a Black man, and Jacob's severe injuries inevitably brought Chuanpu some public condemnation.

After all, the pilot could be said to have died at the hands of his own people.

When facing choices in major matters, no option could satisfy everyone.

If they chose Wanderer, then the city of San Francisco would be destroyed.

If they chose to save the city, Wanderer and its two pilots would suffer the consequences.

Of course, Chuanpu had indeed been a little too impatient. If he had waited for Mount Tai and Cherno Alpha to arrive as reinforcements, perhaps the situation would not have become so terrible.

Everyone had their own considerations. He only wanted to keep the seat he was sitting in.

Therefore, he was bound to bear the consequences.

Of course, he would not bear them himself. The greatest art upper-class figures had to master was the peerless skill of passing the buck.

That was to shift all responsibility onto the third-ranking "opposition" figure, Pei Luoxi, Speaker of the Grand Assembly Hall.

She had joined forces with all the legislators to impeach Chuanpu and jointly pass the nuclear weapons deployment bill.

Mm, perfectly reasonable.

Furthermore, Pei Luoxi's husband and son were suspected of economic corruption.

Pei Luoxi had abused her position to line her pockets on a massive scale.

Even the dog she kept, Bling Bling, which only knew how to gnaw bones, had been raised fat and plump. (You know what that means.)

As long as enough dirt was dug up on someone, even if the world ended because of her, no one would question it, and no one would pity her.

And so, the scapegoating plan succeeded.

At Chuanpu's instruction, Foboler stormed into Pei Luoxi's mansion in the middle of the night to arrest her.

At the time, Pei Luoxi was "having dinner" with her strong, eighteen-year-old boyfriend. The sight was too awful to behold.

For someone her age, she sure knew how to have fun.

Pei Luoxi was arrested on the spot.

"Oh, shit! Open your dog eyes and look carefully! Do you know who I am? I'm the Speaker of the Grand Assembly Hall, third in the line of succession, an elite of high society! Who gave you the right to arrest me?!"

"Elite? You're exactly the kind of elite I arrest. You're suspected of murder, corruption, and abusing your authority for personal gain. Third in line, my ass. Even if you were God's piss boy, no one could save you."

Pei Luoxi was not taken away peacefully. Even Bling, the bone-gnawing dog from her household, got kicked twice.

Without its owner's support, it would soon become a stray dog.

Today, representatives from every country and region gathered together.

Naturally, through holographic projections.

Times had changed, sir. Who still slogged all that way to attend meetings in person?

The main reason was that the increasingly frequent monster attacks had begun to overwhelm the PPDC.

They identified the true enemy coveting Earth—the mastermind behind those monsters, namely "them."

They named them the "Precursors."

Then they increased support for the PPDC, support in many aspects and on every front.

On every front meant that every country and region had to participate.

The Pan-Pacific Defense Line was not merely the responsibility of countries along the Pacific Rim.

Even inland countries could not stay out of it.

Support in many aspects included funding, manpower, and technological assistance.

Put simply, either give money or give people.

Funding could not be set at a uniform amount; it had to depend on each nation's circumstances.

For instance, setting Eagle Country's contribution at one hundred billion dollars and asking Zimbabwe for the same amount would be excessive...

Generally speaking, they would levy around five percent of each country's GDP.

It was quite reasonable, all within what each country could tolerate.

Don't worry, it was not some Heavenly Tribute. It was not that excessive...

Alternatively, they could provide manpower and technological support.

That was easy to understand. Not every country and region along the Pacific Rim had sufficient personnel.

Some small countries and regions simply lacked the ability to build mechs.

Funding was one problem, and they also lacked enough manpower to mobilize.

Take a certain Iceland, for example. During football tournaments, it struggled just to gather enough people for a ten-man team.

There were students and office workers—basically anyone except professional football players.

Yet their results were quite impressive. Though they lost, at least they were not beaten scoreless.

Fairly speaking, they performed far better than the men's national football team.

One of the world's three greatest futile endeavors was the men's national football team: after countless reorganizations and players earning annual salaries in the tens of millions, they still could not even make it past the group stage.

What a bunch of useless bastards.

Oh, there was another option: donate mechs.

Inland countries and regions could also build mechs. The mech pilots could be selected from their own countries, but they had to obey the PPDC headquarters' deployment orders.

That was also a good choice. Compared to directly throwing money away, at least this way they could see some returns.

In short, it was no longer possible to remain indifferent and watch the fire from across the river as before.

This time, every country truly twisted itself into one rope.

Because of the threat of the "Precursors."

"You've done well lately. I'm giving you one day off, though naturally, you can't leave the city."

Mao Shucheng sat behind his desk and spoke to Xiao Shou and Xie Yushan.

Xiao Shou was quite tempted upon hearing that. Time really flew; without realizing it, he had already been here for over a month.

He truly should go back and visit the Orphanage. The elderly people there would surely be worried after he had been gone for so long.

Thinking back on it was rather sigh-inducing. More than a month ago, he had only been a restaurant waiter.

Now, he had become a mech pilot, a qualified warrior—well, just barely qualified.

After all, he had gone through two major battles. Whether in mentality or combat experience, he was no longer comparable to who he had been back then.

He had not quite become a completely different person, but he had indeed improved.

Mm, his rank had risen too.

Xie Yushan had previously been a second lieutenant. She had now been promoted to captain.

Xiao Shou had previously been a private, and he had now been promoted to corporal.

That was progress too. A non-commissioned officer was still an officer—don't look down on a small achievement...

Xie Yushan, on the other hand, showed no change. To her, having leave or not made no difference, and she could not be bothered to go out.

She was not a homebody. In Xiao Shou's eyes, she was more like a fierce woman. All she did was train, train, and train.

She had more muscle than Xiao Shou.

Hiss, terrifying.

Thankfully, she had not reached the level of a muscle-bound Barbie yet...