Chapter 9: Testing the Waters

She was so overwhelmed that she felt a bit dizzy.

An interstellar civilization! Even if her boss claimed to have made contact with only one, it was still an interstellar civilization! The implications of this were self-evident. Even the most trivial piece of technology could bring immeasurable benefits to human civilization in its current state. Not to mention the looming threat from outer space—even without it, such an opportunity would bring earth-shattering changes to her boss and indeed the entire civilization.

With three questions asked and nearly ideal results obtained, Ji Mingshu felt as though she were holding a hand of trump cards, yet she was unsure how to play them. Looking at her boss, she couldn't decide whether to marvel at his extraordinary nature or her own good fortune. Perhaps it was the latter. Meeting her boss was truly the greatest stroke of luck in her life.

"Boss, your idea to contact the Meteorite Crisis Management Department is absolutely correct," Ji Mingshu said, struggling to compose herself. Her sharp mind was racing, yet she fully agreed with Shen Yu’s line of thinking. "We have enough leverage now to provide massive, irreplaceable benefits. We can certainly adopt a strategy that maximizes our interests."

Great benefits sometimes bring great danger, but they can also provide great security—especially when they are irreplaceable. Shen Yu held the same view; the mobility and versatility provided by the Grey Mist Space also served as a layer of security.

"Under the current circumstances, it won't be easy to get in direct contact with the Meteorite Crisis Management Department," Ji Mingshu continued. "Even using a donation as a pretext would be difficult. If I’m not mistaken, they are currently flooded with countless offers of donations, aid, and support."

Shen Yu nodded. He had already considered this. One should never underestimate the intelligence of those who control resources. Even if they were foolish, their subordinates certainly were not. Anyone with a discerning eye could see that in the face of this disaster caused by monsters, the capital controlled by the state far outweighed any other power. Even if social order hadn't collapsed, the protection of the military remained the ultimate security guarantee. Everyone would be scrambling to curry favor.

The current scale of the Shen Group, even if donated in its entirety, would barely make a ripple. At most, they would be met by a mid-level director or a clerk who would offer a polite word of thanks.

"Then we shall cast a stone to find the way," Shen Yu said. "Tell me exactly who is in charge, and I will handle it myself."

"Yes," Ji Mingshu nodded softly, asking no further questions. Although this elite secretary had played an indispensable role in the growth of the Shen Group, the hierarchy had never been blurred. Shen Yu remained the decision-maker; Ji Mingshu was merely an advisor and executor.

"Let’s go. We need to head to the company; the employees certainly need some reassurance," Shen Yu said, turning to leave.

Over the past few hours, he had exchanged gifts with the other two versions of himself. The martial artist Shen Yu had given him a copy of his own cultivation technique, which he planned to test that evening. As for the interstellar Shen Yu—he had provided a personal terminal, pre-loaded with specific data! It was currently worn on Shen Yu’s wrist, a seamless bracer so light it was almost imperceptible. Yet, this piece of technology from the interstellar era was clearly extraordinary. Its quantum chip possessed computing power that crushed all the supercomputers of this era, and its software was incredibly advanced. As an external terminal, it could rival the internal ones used by others, and it even possessed some "unofficial" tricks specifically installed by the interstellar Shen Yu. In short, bringing such a gadget into this era was nothing short of a myth.

...

While Shen Yu was tinkering with his new gift in the car, a group of people at a location in Linhai City had just concluded a meeting. If anyone had seen the participants of this meeting, they would have been astonished. They were the heads of every industry and department in the city. Under normal circumstances, a gathering of such high status would have been headline news for three days straight. But now, it proceeded in silence, without journalists or cameras, and most of the attendees wore grim expressions, moving with hurried steps.

Huang Jingrong was the initiator of this meeting. As the head of the Linhai City Meteorite Crisis Department, he was forty-six years old—in the prime of his career. Yet, this meeting had left him physically and mentally exhausted. To others, he appeared to be in a position of immense glory, but as someone who understood the grim reality, he found it difficult to feel any joy.

Of the three currently known crises, not a single one had been resolved.

The crisis that erupted in the Western Union today went without saying, but the grey-white annelid-like organisms first discovered in the Northern Alliance had yet to be fully eradicated. Even after deploying small-scale non-conventional weapons, they remained unaffected. The largest one had already grown to over five kilometers in length, burrowing continuously underground and still expanding; no effective solution had been found.

The micro-eyeballs that appeared in the neighboring country were not only small and stealthy, but more importantly, for every person they drove to suicide, the monsters would reproduce within the victim's eye, creating two new ones. This terrifying rate of reproduction in such a densely populated environment had resulted in a death toll far higher than what was being reported. Some of the scenes were too gruesome to describe, and the infestation had already crossed into their own borders.

Furthermore, analysis of all meteorites detected during this period suggested that at least two others, which had landed in remote areas, were suspected to have originated from Planet Zero. This was completely unknown territory, filling everyone with dread.

"Xiao Xu, this is the first time I've realized that this city is far more beautiful than I ever thought," he said, looking out at the nightscape of Linhai City, watching the bright lights as if in deep reflection.

The secretary, known as Xiao Xu, also looked out the window. His gaze was equally lost. How much longer could these city lights—the symbols of civilization and prosperity he had taken for granted—last? The thought of this city reduced to ruins, littered with corpses, made his mind numb and a suffocating sensation washed over him.

"That is why we must strive—no, we must exert every ounce of our strength!" Huang Jingrong turned, reaching out to pat his secretary on the shoulder. "This time, we are not fighting for profit, status, or any other worldly possession. We are fighting for survival! My life is already half over, but you are still young, and my children are even younger than you."