After the negotiations ended, Tong Wenshi and Zhang Tianyuan did not immediately return to Legend World.
After all, "2012" also needed time to prepare the supplies.
Zhang Tianyuan looked over the cooperation agreements submitted by the two countries.
"2012" would provide Legend World with vast quantities of supplies, from medical equipment to industrial raw materials, from gasoline to aviation kerosene, from tanks to helicopters, from food to toilet paper...
The supplies covered numerous fields, including daily necessities, industry, military affairs, transportation, communications, and energy.
Large numbers of personnel from different professions would also be dispatched, including doctors, government administrators, helicopter pilots, water and electrical engineers, and maintenance engineers for various production lines.
Besides these finalized aid projects, there were also many provisions yet to be settled.
In other words, both sides had already agreed that "2012" would provide certain items, but the exact quantities remained unspecified. They would have to wait until Tong Wenshi's side requested specific quantities before fulfilling them.
During this time, Zhang Tianyuan and the others also left the recuperation area, preparing to move into the ten-thousand-person base.
Once the aid supplies arrived, they could pass through the Spacetime Tunnel again.
Before Zhang Tianyuan arrived, everyone had notified their families in advance by letter that they needed to carry out a mission, reception would be poor, and they would be out of contact for a while.
The entire base then entered a complete lockdown ahead of time, and no information could be passed outside without authorization.
The atmosphere inside the base grew tense at a visibly rapid pace.
As a former power plant engineer, Qian Xiu often discussed the situation at the base with people he knew.
"What exactly is our mission? We still don't even know the project's code name. This is obviously a top-secret mission, and there are so many people involved..."
"Could they be having us dig some top-secret underground facility?"
"How would I know? I'm just a power plant engineer. I heard there was a classified project with good benefits, so I signed up..."
Similar conversations took place every few days, and none ever reached a conclusion.
It was not that Qian Xiu was engaging in any espionage.
It was simply that, faced with the stern-faced guards who maintained tight security and refused to reveal the slightest information, everyone felt rather uneasy.
Most of them had never served in the military. When had they ever seen anything like this?
That atmosphere only began to change with the arrival of Zhang Tianyuan and the others.
Because accompanying Zhang Tianyuan and the others were senior leaders from the world of "2012."
The people at the base all recognized them. Even those who did not recognized them after hearing
the titles that followed.
Everyone was gathered indoors for a meeting. Ten thousand people sat quietly in their seats, and the room was almost silent enough to hear a pin drop.
But that did not mean their hearts were calm.
The glances they kept exchanging below the stage made their astonishment abundantly clear.
Qian Xiu's heart nearly leaped out of his chest, from both excitement and fright.
He had never expected this, and neither had anyone else.
Their mission had actually brought people of such high rank here to speak in person, and all of them had come at once.
A mission like this was almost certainly connected to nuclear "peace," right?
Just as Qian Xiu was exchanging thoughts with his acquaintances through their eyes,
a senior leader standing on the stage spoke.
"You have all been training here for three months. Although you haven't been told the specifics of your mission, I imagine you have already guessed that it is no ordinary assignment."
"It is not merely a top-secret mission, but one that concerns the life and death of our country and our world."
"We have come here today to explain the full story behind this mission, as well as the heavy responsibility resting on your shoulders."
Before the speaker had finished, Qian Xiu felt a thunderclap explode in his heart.
He could not help looking himself over, with only one thought in his mind.
People like us can save the country and the world?
He did not believe it himself.
This world isn't a comic. High school students saving the world and all that is simply impossible, okay?
Even if I'm not a high school student anymore...
Qian Xiu glanced around out of the corners of his eyes. Clearly, the others were thinking the same thing. Everyone's eyes darted about like rabbits.
"Please don't belittle yourselves. Everything we tell you today is supported by evidence."
The senior leader on the stage had also seen what was on everyone's minds. After a brief reassurance, he revealed the truth:
"A few months ago, we received an incredible piece of news-
"Our world will come to an end in 2012. Terrifying natural disasters will sweep across the globe, and even if we do everything we can to save ourselves, no more than a million people will survive."
The audience grew even more doubtful and alarmed. Something like this...
Wasn't this obviously a scam?
Yet the speaker's gaze grew distant, as though he had returned to the moment he first received that information.
"Like you, I did not believe this intelligence at the time, either. But
"for certain special reasons, we still established a task force and spent a month investigating it."
"In the end, we made contact with an organization whose existence we had never imagined. That organization is called the Parallel Spacetime Mutual Aid Society."
Parallel spacetime!
Mutual Aid Society?
Qian Xiu's heart skipped a beat.
The name was very straightforward, spelling out the nature of the society directly.
Some electricians liked writing science fiction, while Qian Xiu liked reading it.
Of course he knew the concept of parallel spacetimes.
He knew even better that, at a meeting like this, unless the person up there was a fake leader, there was no way he would say anything irrelevant.
So what comes next should be-
That organization, the "Parallel Spacetime Mutual Aid Society," really exists?
As Qian Xiu foresaw this possibility, he suddenly felt as though all the blood in his body was rushing into his brain, and he could not help trembling with excitement.
The friend beside him thought he had suddenly fallen ill and was about to raise a hand to call for help.
The speaker on the stage spoke again. This senior leader from the world of "2012" laid out all the information Zhang Tianyuan had told him, along with what he had deduced himself:
"We ultimately confirmed that this organization is real. They can foresee impending disasters in different spacetimes and randomly travel to a point in time within those spacetimes."
"It was the Mutual Aid Society that warned us earlier."
"They foresaw the disaster we would suffer in 2012 and came to the year 2008 in our spacetime to inform us."
"In 2012, we will face the end of the world, the end of humanity's old history!"
"Nearly seven billion people across the world will perish in the disasters!"
The friend beside Qian Xiu froze. His hand rested on Qian Xiu's shoulder, but his head was turned toward the stage, his mouth hanging wide open.
He was not the only one present. The others, and even the guards outside, were hearing this news for the first time.
This information dropped a ten-thousand-ton bomb into everyone's hearts.
"Is... is that true?"
Someone could not help breaking the silence, standing up and shouting, seeking only an answer.
With hope in their eyes, everyone looked toward the figure on the stage, longing for him to shake his head.
Instead, the man on the stage nodded emphatically and drew a deep breath.
"I guarantee to you, on my entire personal reputation..."
"It is true."