All the leaders looked at Zhang Tianyuan.
If the flood really was going to submerge Mount Everest, where could they go through the Spacetime Tunnel?
What sort of world lay on the other side of Zhang Tianyuan's Spacetime Tunnel?
Zhang Tianyuan coughed twice and said, "Originally, I planned to have you enter my personal territory through the Spacetime Tunnel, but that was only the initial contingency plan. Now we need to relocate at least over a billion people..."
"To be frank," Zhang Tianyuan shook his head, "my territory doesn't have enough space to support that many people."
His primitive little island, no more than a kilometer in either length or width, could hold a few tens of thousands of people at the absolute most.
So his original plan had been to find a densely populated shelter when the disaster struck, convert everyone inside into residents, and then leave.
But that would no longer work.
Although the others did not fully understand the specific meaning of "territory," they all understood Zhang Tianyuan's main point.
Someone immediately said, "In other words, once the apocalypse comes, even with the Spacetime Tunnel, we can only relocate a few tens of thousands of people because of the limited space on the other side? But didn't you say earlier that we could relocate the entire nation, Mr. Zhang?"
"Please hear me out first."
Seeing that the room was about to grow noisy, Zhang Tianyuan quickly cut them off. "There's no need to worry too much."
The leaders quieted down again and listened to him.
"Didn't I say earlier? The purpose of our Parallel Mutual Aid Association is to gather the strength of all spacetime worlds so we can weather hardships together."
"In other words, yours isn't the only parallel spacetime facing an apocalyptic disaster. Other spacetime worlds have suffered disasters too."
Zhang Tianyuan patiently explained:
"But the disasters occur at different times in different spacetime worlds, so we can take advantage of that gap."
A rugged-looking middle-aged man suddenly saw the light. "Mr. Zhang, you mean you can open a tunnel before the disaster strikes another spacetime, send us all over there, and then bring us back once the disaster here has subsided!?"
Zhang Tianyuan rubbed his chin and nodded. "You could put it that way."
"Besides your spacetime, I currently have access to another one. In other words, my Spacetime Tunnel can connect not only to your world, but also to another apocalyptic spacetime."
Zhang Tianyuan gestured with his hands.
"When the time comes, you can negotiate with the coun-
"-tries in that spacetime and have them find somewhere to accommodate the people you relocate."
"Mr. Zhang, do the people in the other spacetime speak Chinese like us?"
Zhang Tianyuan smiled. "Aren't we communicating quite smoothly right now?"
"Haha, I almost forgot. You're a visitor from a parallel spacetime too, Mr. Zhang."
Everyone laughed, and the atmosphere grew much more harmonious. Although the end of the world was still uncertain, the two spacetime worlds shared the same language and ancestry. If an apocalyptic disaster really did strike, it should still be possible for them to seek refuge there.
After the laughter died down, some could not help being curious about the situation in the other spacetime.
Zhang Tianyuan did not think it needed to be kept secret either, so he said, "The other spacetime's timeline is close to yours, somewhere between roughly 2008 and 2012."
"It's just that the accident that happened there was rather unusual."
"An accident? Not a disaster?"
"Mr. Zhang, do you mean the apocalyptic disaster in their spacetime was man-made?"
"You guessed right," Zhang Tianyuan said.
"The apocalypse in that spacetime originated from a virus with unprecedented infectiousness and lethality-the KV Virus."
The people who had just relaxed hurriedly sat up straight again, unwilling to miss a single word Zhang Tianyuan said.
It had already been decided before the meeting that, given its grave importance, no written or audiovisual records would be kept. They could only rely on themselves.
Recalling the film details that had just come back to him, Zhang Tianyuan continued, "This virus can spread through the air. Its fatality rate is as high as 90%, and there's another 9.8% chance of turning people into extremely aggressive monsters. The chance of natural immunity is only 0.2%."
"In other words, most people in that spacetime will die from this virus. Out of a population of billions, only ten-odd million may remain in the end, or even just a few million."
Everyone was shocked by what they heard.
"Does such a terrifying virus really exist?"
Zhang Tianyuan sighed. "Even a tsunami that submerges Mount Everest exists. Naturally, a virus like this is nothing outlandish. Otherwise, how could it be called the end of the world!"
The apocalypses in most other worlds were caused by irresistible forces. Only in I Am Legend had humanity forcibly played itself out of existence.
An elderly man with a crew cut beside Zhang Tianyuan asked, "When would you be able to open the Spacetime Tunnel and let us communicate with the people in that spacetime, Mr. Zhang?&r
duo;
This was a crucial question, concerning that... that.
Everyone looked at Zhang Tianyuan, anticipation lurking in their eyes.
If they really could communicate with a nation in another spacetime through the Spacetime Tunnel...
"Since you've brought that up..."
Zhang Tianyuan smiled faintly and suddenly slapped his right hand onto the table. A stack of documents appeared beneath his palm.
[Parallel Spacetime Mutual Aid Society Member Nation Application]
"It's not that I don't want to help you." Zhang Tianyuan handed out the applications himself. Only after seeing everyone willingly accept them did he say, "It's mainly a limitation of my ability. To use the Spacetime Tunnel, the first requirement is membership in our Mutual Aid Society."
Once he had finished handing them out, Zhang Tianyuan returned to his seat and looked at the leaders' faces again. He found mostly wariness and suspicion in their eyes.
After all, according to Zhang Tianyuan, only members of the Mutual Aid Society could use the Spacetime Tunnel.
Then, if the end of the world really did approach someday, and their entire nation or even the entire world needed to use the tunnel to relocate, wouldn't that mean the Mutual Aid Society would instantly become the largest organization in the world?
However many living people there were in this world, there would be just as many Mutual Aid Society members.
If they thought any deeper about that, it was simply too frightening!
Zhang Tianyuan merely smiled faintly. "Please read through this application first. If you can't finish it here, you can take it with you to discuss."
"Please don't misunderstand me, either. I can state in advance that, as the leader of the Mutual Aid Society, I have no intention of interfering in your internal affairs. I have always advocated leaving each world's affairs to its own people."
"It's just that something like the end of the world is far beyond your limits. That's why I wanted to contribute what little strength I have and save as many of your lives as possible. Though we come from different worlds, our cultures are similar, after all."
Before these leaders, Zhang Tianyuan spoke much more simply than he had with Bai Xu and the others, but went much deeper.
Most crucially, he had promised not to use the Mutual Aid Society to interfere in the internal affairs of the nations in the various worlds.
This reflected both his own thinking and the constraints of reality.
First, he had no interest in being any sort of national leader, because he simply was not cut out for it.
Second, could he interfere just because he wanted to?
He did not even have a core team. Interfere, his ass!
Who would listen to him?
Zhang Tianyuan was not so chuunibyou that he thought his Spacetime Tunnel ability alone could make him the supreme commander of countless worlds.
He did not need to rule these worlds, and these worlds could not possibly obey him.
He only needed to cooperate with the various worlds so they could win that Lord Game outside together.