Chapter 69

"Let me ask you, what if your Earth military and government agree to negotiate?"

In the conference room, Fu Luo left Yang Ning's seat empty and continued sitting in her own seat. After the original Fortress collapsed, she spent over a year drifting in space and had to fend for herself during those unlucky days. The uniform tailored for her had obviously become loose, needing to tighten the belt by an extra notch.

At this moment, all the members of the General Staff, Ye Wenlin, and Yesi were present in the conference room next to the command center. While others would still give her face, Yesi bluntly questioned her on the spot.

"I'm not familiar with the situation in other countries, so I dare not speak carelessly. But as far as our country is concerned, the ideological consensus among the upper military and political levels is relatively unified in this regard," Fu Luo said.

Her words were a bit too official, to the point that Yesi, who had spent less than two months on Earth in his entire life, didn't quite understand. Seeing him frowning, Fu Luo had no choice but to rephrase it in a less formal way, explaining specifically for him.

"In other words, at this critical juncture, whoever tries to sabotage will be slaughtered by everyone else."

This was much easier to understand. Yesi had a sudden realization.

However, he immediately raised a new question: "Maybe you're right, at this time, as long as there is one clear-minded person among those in power in a country, they won't allow the other side to dominate the negotiations. But what about the people?"

Fu Luo hesitated for a moment before saying cautiously, "I believe in the general level of education among the Earth's population. When it comes to major issues of right and wrong, they should have a certain sense of honor and disgrace."

"I know you Earthlings are all very thoughtful, but you should know, grassroots forces, even if they start out with conviction, can a person survive on conviction alone? Believe it or not, those who are most determined at the beginning, as time goes by and difficulties intensify, once they turn, they will turn more thoroughly, because they must prove to themselves that they are right. You have that... that stupid United Nations human rights charter. By then, they can use it as a basis to defect at will. How will you control that?"

Fu Luo raised her head, looked at Yesi, and said word by word, "The United Nations Charter is not stupid."

Yesi, who was used to being a space pirate, had low ideological awareness and questionable moral standards. Hearing Fu Luo's words, he was very dismissive and shrugged his shoulders indifferently.

"Okay, even if it's not stupid - Fu Luo, let me ask you, Maslow's hierarchy of needs is a classic theory from you humans, right? From low to high, when a person's basic survival needs cannot be met, can they pursue 'dignity' or 'self-actualization'? Isn't that sick?"

Fu Luo opened her mouth, wanting to refute.

Yesi raised his hand and pressed down, stopping her from speaking, "You can also say that this classic theory has limitations, and the hierarchy of needs can be rearranged in some cases, but those are always exceptions. You have to admit that, right? One-tenth, I believe this ratio is already very high. Let's assume nine-tenths of the population are ordinary people and one-tenth are exceptional. Then tell me, can one-tenth of the exceptional people fight against nine-tenths of the ordinary people? Can they change the overall trend?"

Fu Luo had no way to refute and was speechless. She had never been like this before, wholeheartedly wanting to draw her gun and blow Yesi's head into a rotten watermelon on the conference table.

"This is simply an unbalanced lever, and your side is constantly collapsing." Yesi said sharply, "Kid... little girl, don't talk big about things on the ground while you're up in space."

Ye Wenlin instinctively wanted to respond to Yesi's words, but suddenly remembered something and stopped.

He looked around the entire conference room, realizing that this was not the Special Forces, but the General Staff Office of the Second Department. For more than a year, Fu Luo had practically become a professional space pirate killer. The space pirates she had taken down single-handedly could match the achievement of a giant warship and its escort fleet. Therefore, she was promoted exceptionally, and no one had any objections.

However, correspondingly, she spent most of her time patrolling outside or fighting pirates, and her presence in the command center was not high. Even when she returned, she was mostly silent and did not have much prestige in terms of leadership.

Ye Wenlin knew that if he stood up for her at this time, the youngest colonel in history would completely lose her control over the Second Department.

That would be a disaster.

Ye Wenlin remained silent with concern, sitting on the side with an expressionless face, but thinking in his heart: Junior Sister, you can't drop the ball.

Yesi, feeling he had the upper hand and also thinking he was bullying the weak, felt there was no reason to hit someone when they were down, especially a familiar person. So he slightly softened his expression, "After saying so much, what I want to tell you is that your previous order was a childish way of playing house. It was unwise. What you should do now is to completely seal off the Saturn Fortress and preserve your strength to the greatest extent possible when the situation is unclear, instead of rashly rushing out and muddying the waters even more."

Fu Luo lowered her head and eyes, remaining silent, her face expressionless. Everyone was looking at her.

She was at a loss for words. Even though there were obvious loopholes in Yesi's words, Fu Luo couldn't grasp them. She was neither a sociologist nor a politician, let alone having a background of dealing with national economy, people's livelihood, or power struggles since childhood.

Even a few minutes ago, she didn't know if her decision was right or wrong.

"Colonel Fu," someone from the General Staff spoke up, "Although it's not good to change orders overnight, it's still quite common in emergencies. As Mr. Yesi said, should we seal off the Saturn Fortress?"

"I agree."

"I also agree..."

"Temporary caution does not mean we will do nothing."

"Then I also..."

The other two A-level soldiers didn't speak up for a moment. If they expressed their opinions, the matter would be settled. Therefore, they had to be more cautious. But they both looked at Fu Luo, their expressions slightly wavering, obviously unable to hold their positions.

Yesi seemed to have determined that Fu Luo was already a helpless child. He lost patience and turned to Ye Wenlin, "You are Zhao Youxuan's direct subordinate. What's your opinion?"

Ye Wenlin did not answer.

He suddenly took the empty cup in front of Fu Luo - this was automatically placed by the conference table - and then stood up and walked to the side, filling a cup of water at a suitable temperature from the water dispenser.

Ye Wenlin placed the glass of water in front of Fu Luo, and then, as if by magic, took out a piece of "rock candy" from his pocket.

Since the Second Department embarked on the path of no return through robbery, their daily supplies started to include all kinds of strange things.

For example, this rock candy, which is fake candy made from a special material. When held in the mouth, it can stimulate the taste buds, allowing one to taste a lingering sweetness, but it doesn't dissolve and doesn't contain real sugar, satisfying cravings while protecting the teeth.

Ye Wenlin tore open the packaging and tossed the fake candy into Fu Luo's water cup, where it sank to the bottom like a crystal-clear stone.

And the clear water will always be that cup of clear water, not carrying a hint of sweetness because of it.

Your heart should be like a stone.

Fu Luo lifted her head in shock, meeting Ye Wenlin's gaze. She saw the Dagger captain wink at her, just like that day when he was single-handedly dragged out from countless enemy ships. His eyelids lightly lowered, a thousand words left unsaid, seemingly his usual carefree demeanor year after year.

"The Dagger has no objections." Ye Wenlin sat back down and said righteously, "The Dagger is the absolute vanguard of our military and obeys all organizational arrangements."

Everyone: "..."

Bullshit, right?

Everyone on Earth knows that General Zhao Youxuan, the former head of the special forces, specialized in various "insubordination on the battlefield" activities when he was alive!

Suddenly, someone else interjected: "Sorry, I want to say something further - the assumption Mr. Yesi made just now is based on the premise that the enemies from the other star system can provide shelter for Earth's residents. If the people from the other star system can allow our civilians to be free from the harassment of space pirate groups, allocate them living supplies, and ensure their survival and safety... Of course, those originally belonged to Earth, but what does it matter who they belong to for the common people?"

Zhang Liping, who had just been released from solitary confinement, asked coldly, "What do you mean?"

"I mean, when it comes down to it, what we were discussing just now is how to defend Earth's 'regime', not 'civil rights'. Is it that important who is in power? Don't countries on Earth also have general elections every few years, with the ruling and opposition parties constantly alternating? If people from the other star system take over Earth and can quell the flames of war, why do we insist on resisting instead of giving Earth some peace and quiet?"

Zhang Liping slammed the table fiercely, his face turning red as he stood up, "So you're saying we should fucking surrender?"

Fu Luo: "Sit down!"

Her voice suddenly rose, startling everyone.

"I said sit down, are you deaf? Don't make me repeat myself." In that instant, she was exactly like when she would invincibly break out from being surrounded by pirate ships countless times, the usually suppressed gunpowder smell suddenly erupting.

In the dead silence, Fu Luo turned to the person who had just spoken, "Let me tell you why. Because aliens are aliens, and we are us. We don't have a 24th pair of chromosomes in our bodies, and the people from the other star system have no reason to treat Earthlings as their equals. Living like a dog is still living, you ask why we don't give Earth some peace - starting today, are you willing to crawl under the table and eat from a dog food bowl?"

Fu Luo almost roared, "Peace, you're the only one who wants peace, is everyone else a murderous maniac who fights for fun when they're full? If peace means surrender, what fucking use is it for the country to have raised you, a space elite, to this point!"

"And you, Mr. Yesi." Fu Luo turned to Yesi with an indifferent expression, her words like knives, "I understand that as a convict, you have no obligation to contribute anything to Earth, but while you have no such obligation, we do. Which military, when threatened on their doorstep by bandits blocking the way, would 'err on the side of caution' and close the door to watch?"

Perhaps because Fu Luo was often sarcastically criticized by Yesi in various ways, at this moment, she finally became influenced and gave an above-par performance, graduating early: "Are you still waiting to get a big winning hand with the east, south, west and north winds? Let me tell you why I want to dispatch troops. I don't have any sociological or behavioral theory to support it, but this is what I should do, no reason needed - we are at Saturn now, Mr. Yesi, what the fuck does it have to do with you if Earth surrenders or not! Even if today, Earth really surrendered, in this battlefield of space, we will fight to the last person."

"Also," Fu Luo took a breath and said in an even colder tone, "I know my qualifications are insufficient and my abilities are limited. I also greatly respect formidable predecessors like you. I very much welcome you to guide me on how to fight when the time comes, but this is our military's meeting on the next strategic direction. Since when is it the turn for outsiders to point fingers?"

Yesi was first taken aback, then shocked, and finally his entire facial muscles twitched uncontrollably.

Even if his head was smashed, he couldn't figure out how a little sheep that wouldn't fight back or talk back suddenly bit him.

Yesi had a strong physique, so Fu Luo wasn't worried about angering him into myocardial infarction. After finishing, she didn't even glance at him and swept her gaze across the entire room, "I'm done talking. I'm not Colonel Yang Ning, I don't have the authority to fully decide if the fortress fights or closes. For the reasons above, those who still support closing the fortress, raise your hands."

The entire conference room was silent for three seconds, and Yesi stormed out in anger.

Fu Luo didn't even lift an eyelid and waved her hand, "No one opposes, right? Good. Preheat the warship's curvature drive. Take inventory of our ships and weapons, form the fleet, and have stealth ships enter invisibility mode. Depart immediately, and report everything back to the command center. Let's go meet these brazen other star system sons of bitches who act like they own the place - meeting adjourned!"