Chapter 164: Apocalypse Charge
“Agreed.”
“Agreed.”
Sun Changhe’s proposal quickly received the approval of numerous attendees. Thus, the second agenda item of the meeting began.
Regarding the question of “how to let Jiang Yang bring more valuable information to the next life,” Jiang Yang’s resettlement actually did not require much discussion, because there was only one choice left for people.
As early as two months ago, this plan had already been finalized.
When the apocalypse arrives, since Earth is unsafe, and no matter which part of Earth one is located in, they will die quickly when the apocalypse arrives, making it impossible to complete information transmission and memory, the only option is to send Jiang Yang to space.
What truly needed discussion was the matter of “valuable information.”
Due to the limitation of Jiang Yang’s memory capacity, making it impossible to carry too much information, several very important questions arose.
Exactly which pieces of information were valuable?
How do we collect this information? In what way do we present it to Jiang Yang?
After a period of discussion, the Commander of the Decision-Making Group looked at Jiang Yang: “Comrade Jiang Yang, we hope you can go to space.
At the current stage, there are a total of 26 space stations around Earth, among which Space Station No. 6 is the largest in scale, has the most astronauts, and the most complete equipment.
We have already completed its modification in advance, and at this moment, there is a device there connected to the Earth No. 1 Supercomputer.
When the apocalypse arrives, the data obtained by the Earth monitoring network will be transmitted in real time to the Earth No. 1 Supercomputer for processing. This data will be fused with important data obtained through actual verification and research institute in this life, such as project manufacturing, key core technology of ion drilling equipment, mantle structure data under conventional conditions, and so on, and through a series of compression algorithms, ultimately generate a single image.
Yes, consistent with the form of information you carried during the first apocalypse.
Comrade Jiang Yang, this is not an order, but a request.
All members of the World Government Decision-Making Group and Deliberation Council, representing every person in this world, make this request to you: we hope you can bring this data to the next life, to provide assistance for us in the next life to defeat the apocalypse.”
Facing these words full of solemnity and gravity, Jiang Yang slowly stood up, meeting over a thousand gazes, and slowly raised his arm.
“Guarantee mission completion!”
The Commander of the Decision-Making Group said solemnly: “Please sit.”
Jiang Yang sat down.
“Now, the meeting is temporarily adjourned for one hour, after which we will discuss how to explain the situation to the public.”
A series of complex decision-making tasks had consumed too much energy from every attendee. Even though those who could sit in these positions were all vigorous, at this moment they still had to take a temporary rest.
Jiang Yang stood up and walked side by side with Zhou Yu to his exclusive restroom.
“I won’t attend the following meeting.”
Zhou Yu did not ask why, just nodded.
One hour passed quickly. Zhou Yu stood up and left the restroom. Jiang Yang lay on the bed, staring blankly at the ceiling.
He knew that this meeting actually held no meaning for him.
After all, no matter what decision the World Government made, whether it was to announce the truth of the failure to save the world to the public, or to make a decision to conceal it for the sake of stability, it made no difference to him.
All the same. None of it would affect the next reincarnation in the slightest.
The next life would still be a “new” world.
But for the people of this life, this was very important, extremely important.
Because no matter how many times it had already cycled, for everyone except himself, this was the only one in their life.
No matter if the future could be repeated, the death in this life was truly real.
And, from the standpoint of the entire human civilization, from the standpoint of a member of human civilization, no one hoped that human civilization, at the moment of ultimate annihilation, would lose all dignity and become like beasts.
This seemed to mean that people would ultimately choose to conceal the truth, for example, announcing that the cause of the apocalypse had been found, and then in the final few days, staging a self-directed “apocalypse charge” operation to attract people’s attention and focus, letting people welcome the apocalypse in ignorance.
Although by then the lie would certainly be exposed, and people would certainly discover they had been deceived, the apocalypse would already have arrived, so it wouldn’t matter.
But the key problem was that, facing a situation that would not affect the next life, still letting people welcome the apocalypse amid lies in this life remained a psychological challenge for the attendees.
Every choice would come with corresponding risks and regrets.
A true dilemma.
“What will your final choice be?”
In prolonged contemplation, he didn’t know how much time had passed when the door opened and Zhou Yu walked in.
“After comprehensive consideration and discussion, the World Government has ultimately decided to conceal the truth.”
Zhou Yu directly stated the final result: “The World Government will claim that a solution to the apocalypse has been found, fabricate a fake target, launch an apocalypse charge operation, and let this fully drawn arrow be released.”
Jiang Yang let out a soft sigh.
No matter what the final result was, he wouldn’t be surprised. He was just somewhat curious about the reason for this decision: “Why?”
“People do not want to see moral collapse, values collapse, and the malice hidden deepest in human hearts fully erupt.
This is not only a disaster for morality and values, but also a disaster for those people who can uphold morality and values until the very last moment.”
“Oh? Does the World Government believe that, even after so many years of unity education, people still cannot withstand the final test?”
“Yes, but so what?
The meaning of the World Government’s existence, human civilization’s continuous development of technology, continuous improvement of every individual’s material conditions, vigorous enhancement of public security levels, and so on—none of it is to teach every person to uphold morality even when facing tests, but to avoid people having to face such tests.
Only when granaries are full can one know etiquette; only when clothed and fed can one know honor and shame. What the World Government should do is not to forcibly demand that people know etiquette and honor, but to fill people’s granaries with grain so they naturally know etiquette, to ensure people are well-clothed and well-fed so they naturally know honor and shame.”
“Even if through lies?”
“Yes, even through lies.”
Zhou Yu’s expression was full of determination: “Just like how, to let the elderly pass their final moments in life without regrets, we also use some lies to deceive them.”
Jiang Yang sighed again: “In any case, having made the decision is good.”
Zhou Yu gently sat beside Jiang Yang, nestling into his arms: “Are you leaving soon?”
“Probably very soon.”
Zhou Yu fell silent. After a long while, she stood up and slowly but firmly pushed Jiang Yang down onto the bed.
“I’m very scared…”
At this moment, Jiang Yang knew exactly what he should do.
