Eagle Country, the capital underground city of Liberty City.
It lay at the South Pole, opposite Great Xia's New Capital City at the North Pole, one in the south and the other in the north.
Since the crisis broke out, Eagle Country had also suffered devastating population losses.
All kinds of doomsday rhetoric ran rampant, and the ignorant populace had kept Eagle Country in chaos for quite some time.
With the country's policies emphasizing freedom, many people had initially refused to cooperate with the relocation to work in South and Arctic, praying aloud for God's protection while doing nothing at all.
Resistance, street demonstrations, and the conflicts that later erupted between countries had cost them half their population.
Of course, some conspiracy theorists believed this had resulted from the government and corporate interests deliberately letting things spiral out of control.
Eagle Country planned to build one underground city per state, fifty in total.
Their capacities ranged from two million to five million residents, clearly not enough, so some people were destined never to board this ark.
Rather than let them cause trouble in the future, it was better to let some of them die early.
Originally, Eagle Country had wanted to monopolize Antarctica alongside several member nations.
Unfortunately, Great Xia, Bear Country, and Country 80 had formed an alliance, supporting one another in Antarctica and resisting attempts by Eagle Country and its partners to shut them out. They had successfully gained a foothold, much to Eagle Country's frustration.
To Eagle Country, which considered itself the world's hegemon, it felt as though its rivals had occupied its own territory.
As Eagle Country's capital underground city, Liberty City had been designed for a permanent population of five million.
With major corporate interests throwing their full weight behind it, it was currently Eagle Country's fastest-progressing underground city, already halfway built.
Of course, that completed half was primarily occupied by those corporate interests.
They had even gone all out building doomsday survival bases inside the underground city. Resources were limited to begin with, and this further slowed construction as a whole.
As for the underground cities in the other states, reaching one-third completion was already considered good progress.
Unlike Great Xia's practicality-first Tiangang series of underground cities, where housing was allocated fairly by lottery, homes in Eagle Country's underground cities had to be purchased.
Well, there was no denying it-that was capitalism for you.
Inside a grand office hall.
Mars, Eagle Country's chief executive, sank into a leather sofa, a glass of cola in hand, watching a rerun of his exclusive interview with Fox News.
"...We have the most powerful military in the world, the most advanced technology, and the greatest companies!"
"The apocalypse? No, this is an opportunity! An opportunity to make Eagle Country great again!"
Watching his own radiant, animated face on the screen, Mars nodded in satisfaction.
A secretary in a sharp suit walked in and stood respectfully.
"Mr. Chief Executive, here is the latest briefing on global developments."
Mars waved for him to continue, his eyes still fixed on the screen.
"Cherry Blossom Country has requested that its underground cities be incorporated into our territory. Their reason is that they are too close to Great Xia's and Bear Country's underground cities and 'feel unsafe.'"
Mars scoffed.
"A bunch of cowards! Tell them not to worry. We're right beside them."
The secretary replied, "...Yes, sir."
He paused, a strange expression crossing his face.
"Also, Baton Country has... has lodged a diplomatic protest with the United Nations."
"Oh, damn it. Why do they protest every single day? What's it about this time?"
The secretary suppressed a laugh.
"They're protesting that Great Xia's use of 'Thirty-Six Heavenly Stems' to name its underground cities infringes on their cultural heritage. They claim the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Fiends constellation system originated in their ancient civilization."
Mars finally tore his gaze away from the television, his face full of bewilderment.
Mars: "???"
He looked at the secretary.
"Did the solar wind fry those idiots' brains too? Is this really the time to care about that?"
The secretary lowered his head.
"Perhaps... they believe this is an important step toward securing cultural dominance in the apocalyptic era."
"Ha!"
Mars laughed aloud.
"Ha! A bunch of idiots with dog shit for brains!"
"Get to the point. What's happening in Great Xia?"
"Have our media offensive and economic sanctions had any effect?"
That was what he actually cared about.
I missed her, so here's another picture to look at.
The secretary's expression grew grave.
"Sir... they've had very little effect."
"According to our latest intelligence, construction progress across all thirty-six of Great Xia's underground cities has passed fifty percent."
"Most importantly, several of their massive underground cities, including Celestial Pivot City and Jade Balance City, are designed to accommodate ten million people, and those are also more than halfway complete."
The office fell silent.
The smile vanished from Mars's face.
Even with Eagle Country's formidable cutting-edge technology, building Liberty City for five million residents had already stretched its resources thin.
An underground city for ten million people?
That was pure fantasy.
"Fake news!"
Mars abruptly sat up straight and slammed his glass of cola onto the desk.
"It's definitely fake news! They're bluffing!"
"Do you know how big an underground city for ten million people would have to be? Even God couldn't build one!"
"And they've finished fifty percent?"
"Their building standards must be horrendous. Those cities will collapse on their own before the apocalypse even arrives!"
He stood and paced around the office, his voice rising.
"This is typical dictator thinking!"
"They're willing to drag down the entire country just to preserve those useless people at the bottom!"
"They don't understand trade-offs. They don't understand costs! They'll pay for this. Believe me, nobody understands this better than I do!"
The secretary hurriedly agreed.
"You're absolutely right, sir!"
"But as you know, their talent for infrastructure has always been astonishing."
Mars snorted and stopped pacing.
"We can't let our guard down."
He tapped the desk.
"Have our senior intelligence operatives keep a closer watch. I want to know every move Great Xia's leadership makes."
"Conditions on Blue Star will only get worse. Underground cities merely delay humanity's extinction. We need another way out."
"Here's what we'll do... send Great Xia a formal diplomatic note."
Mars spoke thoughtfully.
"Say that, for the future of all humanity, we propose that Eagle Country and Great Xia take the lead in sharing space technology and jointly developing the moon. Shared technology, shared resources, working toward lunar colonization."
The secretary froze.
"Sir, are we really going to share technology with them?"
"Share?"
Mars smiled.
"Of course not! But we have to admit that some of their technology in this field is very impressive. We can 'learn from' it under the pretext of joint development."
"And it'll let us see whether they're hiding any other cards."
He leaned back into the sofa again, the corners of his mouth lifting as though everything were under his control.
"The apocalypse is a crisis, yes, but God will bless us and make us great again!"
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