"Our next meeting will determine the future of human history."
"Perhaps you don't understand now, but after the talks, everyone will understand our intentions..."
Carl finished speaking his last sentence.
Utter silence!
The people in the office who were in charge of operating the equipment stared at him blankly, without making any move.
In the squares, the people who were just moments before extremely excited and eager to join the army were now like ducks with their necks pinched, unable to quack anymore.
Families fell into a long silence in front of their televisions.
"This..."
"Can anyone tell me what happened?"
"Aren't we going to war with them?"
A full minute passed, and people gradually came to their senses, but they were completely unable to accept Carl's speech.
Their emotions had been stirred up for almost a month, and just when they were about to explode, their leader suddenly announced that they were "surrendering"?
Although that's not what Carl said, that's how they understood it.
A meeting initiated by the speaker—isn't that just peace talks?
"Oppose! Oppose!"
"Refuse to negotiate!"
The crowd that had gathered outside began to protest on the spot, and the police who were maintaining order in the surrounding area had a hard time keeping them in check.
In other Ark Alliance countries, Carl's speech was immediately relayed to every office.
When Takemura heard his secretary's report, he was completely stunned.
He had considered meeting with the elderly Zhou Jianhai, but he thought it should be the other party who would take the initiative to invite them.
He never intended to go there voluntarily.
" Carl has openly invited us to meet with Zhou? And he wants to bring Thomas back?"
"That's impossible! We haven't achieved our goal yet; this is just capitulationist behavior!"
Takemura shook his head abruptly, directly rejecting Carl's invitation. Just as he was about to have his secretary announce it, the office door was suddenly kicked open with a bang.
A group of soldiers rushed in from outside, followed by a general.
Takemura jumped to his feet, looking fierce but actually weak at the person who had barged in:
"General Furuta, what are you trying to do!"
Furuta was a head taller than Takemura, was dressed in military uniform and slowly walked over from behind the soldiers.
"We simply believe that you, sir, should depart for the talks."
"You... you actually..."
However, he voluntarily surrendered to the enemy!
Takemura never expected that the biggest traitor would be found within his own army.
He pointed at Furuta, hoping the other party would come to their senses. " The Mutual Aid Society is demanding the disbandment of its armed forces; you are the biggest victims!"
What exactly are these people after?
However, Furuta shook his head and simply said, "The ship of the new era can't hold too many people; eliminating some is just right."
Takemura understood.
After migrating to a parallel universe, the number of spaces on the ship will definitely decrease, the bloated organization will have to be streamlined, and power will definitely be centralized.
Everyone who gets eliminated now is a future competitor...
General Furuta is a general now, but he doesn't intend to be a general forever.
They wanted to fight for greater freedom and make the pie bigger, while Furuta and his group only wanted to take the biggest slice from that small pie.
"I understand," Takemura said, bowing his head and slumping down. "I will attend the peace talks."
He stopped struggling.
It's been so long, and everything outside is still calm, which means these "surrenderists" have already settled everything.
They have no hope of turning the tide.
Similar incidents have occurred in other Ark Alliance homes.
While the people of Carl's country were still arguing fiercely over Carl's speech, with wave after wave of opposition,
The various Ark Alliance have already issued official statements expressing their support and agreement with Carl's speech, and then they sat down together to discuss the date of the talks...
To the uninformed public, the whole thing seemed incredibly bizarre from beginning to end.
It was Carl and his group who started stirring up emotions in the first place, but when they reached the peak of their anger, these people poured cold water on them, telling them directly, "We're not fighting anymore; instead, we've decided to hold talks..."
Although some opposition figures were still stirring up trouble in the shadows, the date for the talks was quickly set with the support of Carl and others.
Without further ado, let's do it on March 3rd.
After Carl finished speaking, the other Ark Alliance, having dealt with their internal affairs, were immediately scheduled to hold talks.
Meanwhile, in China...
It wasn't until the news broadcast on television showed that Carl, Takemura, and others landed at the international airport on the same day that the nation's people began to understand.
Awake.
What's going on?
People from all over the world sat under the bewildered tree, still unable to understand what had happened.
"It seems we've thwarted a conspiracy by another country?"
"And he also protected that... that Thomas, I think someone in his country wanted to harm him?"
People can only glean a little information from Carl's public speeches.
But this little bit of information, while inspiring and making people in China feel quite uncomfortable.
When did they become so capable?
Especially now that so many important figures are actively gathering in China for meetings...
This made the Chinese people, who had always been on the periphery of the world, feel even more out of place, as if they were in a dream.
How did it suddenly develop into a situation where people from all over the world pay tribute?
Did they miss something in the plot?
At this time.
Carl, who had just gotten off the plane, led his team straight to the sanatorium where Zhang Tianyuan was staying.
This place has become a venue for important figures to hold meetings.
Thomas lives in this sanatorium area.
Upon hearing the news of Carl's arrival, she excitedly ran out and gave Carl a big hug from afar.
The two encouraged each other before heading to the venue together.
When they arrived, the other Ark Alliance had already arrived.
Currently, only people from nine countries—including those within China and the Ark Alliance— are aware of the existence of the apocalypse.
Thomas looked at these familiar faces, yet felt a sense of estrangement.
Faced with the same choice, they ended up on different paths.
Thomas nodded to everyone before sitting down in his seat, and Carl sat down next to him without complaint.
Everyone was seated.
Zhang Tianyuan appeared before everyone, with Elder Zhou by his side.
He didn't speak, he just waved his hand.
The staff then began distributing the documents.
Thomas looked at the three documents that had been handed to him.
Two copies are in Chinese, and one is a translated English version.
They only need to sign the Chinese version.
Application Form for Member States of the Parallel Spacetime Mutual Aid Society
Gently stroke these large, ink-printed characters.
Thomas opened the translated version of the membership application and began to read the terms carefully.
People from other countries also opened the application form and began reading...