Chapter 7: Tip Of The Iceberg
Jiang Yang, who was immersed in fierce battle in the game, was startled awake by the sound of a door being pushed open.
He raised his head and saw Gu Changshan sitting across from him, his heart instinctively becoming a bit more solemn: “Commander Gu?”
“I’m here to inform you of some matters. After discussion, our decision is as follows…”
He methodically explained the subsequent decisions, while Jiang Yang widened his eyes in some disbelief.
“Taking the assumption that the apocalypse is real as the highest guiding principle…”
His apocalypse prophecy had not truly gained trust, which left him somewhat dissatisfied. But upon careful thought, this was actually quite reasonable.
National decisions require absolute rationality, eliminating any influence from emotion. Having this guiding principle was already sufficient.
He murmured: “Alright, that’s good, but just gathering intelligence and passing it to the next cycle? What about the rest? Are we doing nothing else?”
“Of course we are.”
Gu Changshan’s words remained steady: “The various scientific teams under the physical verification team have been fully mobilized, using all means at humanity’s disposal to investigate every possible factor that could cause the apocalypse.
Near-Earth asteroids, plate movement, supervolcanoes, gamma-ray bursts, candidate supernovas, solar activity, rogue black holes, and so on.”
“But the apocalypse I experienced doesn’t seem to be caused by any of the above factors.”
“That’s precisely the reason. Because the type of apocalypse you described is too bizarre, leaving us with no specific direction, we can only verify all known factors that could lead to the apocalypse.”
Jiang Yang fell silent, his heart growing heavy: “I thought that with the nation taking action, it would be invincible.”
A smile appeared at the corner of Gu Changshan’s mouth: “The nation is also composed of specific individuals. We are all human, not gods.
This is already the seventh day of the cycle you mentioned, and with just over three days left until the apocalypse arrives, we still know nothing about it at this moment, wanting to resolve the apocalypse…”
He shook his head with a smile: “Impossible.
But… with so many people, including you, including me, all of us organized together, we can unleash power surpassing that of gods.”
He patted Jiang Yang’s shoulder: “Still, we must first thank you for your trust in the nation, for thinking of ways to contact us at the first moment after the incident. Otherwise, even if the apocalypse comes, we might remain oblivious.”
Jiang Yang felt bitter in his heart and merely shook his head slightly.
“I didn’t attend this meeting, so I don’t know the meeting process, but I want to ask: directly giving up this time, accepting the fate of annihilation, and instead focusing all efforts on gathering intelligence to support the next cycle—is this decision really made just like that?”
He murmured: “That’s the survival of civilization, involving every person’s life, including yours, his, his, and his…
Everyone except me, including all of you.”
A smile still hung on Gu Changshan’s stern face: “Rationality is an essential quality for major decisions.
Get ready, we’re transferring to Apocalypse Base No. 7 right away. It’s larger there, with more and better facilities, allowing work to be carried out more effectively.”
Jiang Yang raised his head: “One more question… from what I know, my prophecy post has stirred up a lot of public opinion. Don’t we need to handle it?”
Gu Changshan said calmly: “Standard response: delete the post, suppress the heat, control the scope of influence.”
“That probably won’t be of much use, right?”
“So what?”
Gu Changshan looked at Jiang Yang: “If the apocalypse is real, everyone will die by then, no need to worry.
If the apocalypse is fake, people will naturally know it’s a rumor by then, same thing, no need to worry.
So why bother?”
Gu Changshan’s words made Jiang Yang vaguely feel something was off, yet he couldn’t refute.
“Well, we should at least take some measures…”
Jiang Yang murmured: “Even if not responding to public opinion, uh, you’ve assessed it, the apocalypse does have some possibility, so opening some shelters, letting people stockpile some resources, taking some precautionary measures—maybe it could help a bit…”
Gu Changshan shook his head calmly once more: “As I said, the more major the decision, the more rationality it requires.
Now, with only days left until the possible apocalypse, if the nation steps in to prepare a response… do you want to make the world more chaotic, order completely collapse, and more people die?”
Jiang Yang was stunned, then fell silent.
……
The helicopter roared over the towering mountains.
Looking at the five fully vigilant armed helicopters surrounding his own helicopter, Jiang Yang said: “No need for such a big display, right?”
Gu Changshan shook his head slightly: “To ensure your safety, no display is too big.”
Jiang Yang sighed softly and looked down at the mountains and rivers hundreds of meters below, at the winding mountain highway like a long dragon, where countless large trucks fully loaded were lined up, struggling to crawl along the mountain road.
Only at the end of the long dragon did Jiang Yang see a tall building built against the mountain, dozens of meters high and covering over 10,000 square meters.
Though this building was huge, it was clearly disproportionate to the many trucks winding toward it.
“This is just the entrance to Apocalypse Base No. 7; the main structure is underground.”
Jiang Yang nodded silently.
The helicopter roared as it landed on the heliport, and Jiang Yang saw at least four other helicopters landing on the same heliport at the same time.
Some helicopters disembarked personnel, others large amounts of cargo. After unloading personnel or cargo, the helicopters took off quickly, and immediately others flew in to land, not wasting a moment.
There were at least a hundred helicopters circling in the sky. Planes kept flying away, and helicopters kept arriving from afar to join the circling queue waiting to land.
Entering the building, Jiang Yang saw at least hundreds of people coming and going, a scene of bustling activity.
Dedicated cargo elevators sped back and forth between underground and ground level, like a monster that could never eat enough, swallowing every bit of cargo sent down.
Every time the passenger elevators came up, they were fully loaded; the people inside would hurry off. After a momentary emptiness, they would be filled again, loaded full once more, and head underground.
Jiang Yang knew that at this moment, because of his words, this massive nation had begun to operate. And what he was seeing now was merely the tip of the iceberg of this nation’s unimaginably vast power.
“Apocalypse Base No. 7 is out in the open, built to respond to extreme weather, asteroid impacts, volcanic eruptions, and other potential apocalyptic factors; it’s not for war, so no need to worry too much about secrecy.”
Entering the dedicated elevator, Gu Changshan casually explained to Jiang Yang, then continued: “It’s entirely located 700 meters underground in Luoyun Mountain, with seven levels total, about 2 million square meters in area. It has complete self-sustaining facilities: electricity, air, water source, energy—all can operate independently, and can completely cut off contact with the outside world if necessary.
Nuclear explosions, radiation, air pollution, etc., all can be defended against.
For the next few days, to ensure your absolute safety, please don’t leave the base unless necessary.”
The elevator descended rapidly and finally stopped after a few minutes.
