Chapter 263: Desperate Defamation

Two figures left the room arm in arm. Yan Liusu’s agent quickly approached them and said, “Liusu, aren’t you going to remove your makeup?”

Yan Liusu nodded, “I’m tired. I’ll deal with it when I get home.”

“There are still a lot of reporters waiting outside. Shall we leave first and then you can visit Director Yu afterwards?” suggested the agent.

Yan Liusu glanced at Yu Donghua, and said somewhat impatiently, “Alright, Donghua, I’ll leave first.”

“Okay, I’ll wait for you,” Yu Donghua quickly responded, inwardly praising the agent’s suggestion.

Watching the group make their way out, Yu Donghua’s heart finally settled. The moment Yan Liusu had wiped the sweat from his brow had truly startled him; he had been worried she might have discovered something. Fortunately, he had managed to cover up the matter of the phone call with steady nerves.

Yu Donghua turned to his assistant Sun Jing, “Where are my bodyguards?”

Sun Jing responded in surprise, “Didn’t you have them wait in the parking lot because they were following too closely?”

“Call them and have them come over immediately.”

Yu Donghua wiped the sweat from his forehead, swearing to himself that he would never let his bodyguards out of his sight again. These Iron Guard bodyguards, assigned to him by Du Qiu, were absolutely his life-savers in critical moments.

Only when the Iron Guard arrived did Yu Donghua, surrounded by them, confidently head towards the back door. As he approached, he saw several individuals crowding around Yan Liusu.

Her agent and assistant were kept at a distance, and Yan Liusu was being pushed towards a car.

At that moment, she suddenly turned her head, her eyes meeting Yu Donghua’s before she gave him a smile. Then she was pushed into the car.

As the car drove away, Yu Donghua couldn’t help feeling an indescribable sense of loss.

++++++++

In the following days, the United States did indeed conduct a nuclear explosion in Mexico, claiming to have halted the progression of the fault line and saving Central America.

“The United States saves the world!” headlines proclaimed.

For a time, global public opinion praised the decisive action of the United States for preventing the tragedy of land sinking in Central America.

Amidst the wave of accolades, a sudden counter-narrative emerged and spread rapidly across the world.

“California’s disaster was brought on by a terrorist attack from Dream Technology. They must be held accountable!” — Washington Post

“Dream Technology speaks for aliens. Earth is being invaded!” — The Wall Street Journal

“Dream Technology, the real thieves shouting ‘stop thief’! They caused the great earthquake!” — The Times

…

Aside from the mainstream Western media, social media platforms like Twitter were overwhelmingly filled with abuse directed at Dream Technology.

“Dream Technology is a terrorist organization. They attacked the US homeland with space-based kinetic energy weapons, triggering the great earthquake in California!”

“A corporation with such advanced weapons must have gotten them from extraterrestrials. They’re the allies of aliens. We must boycott their products.”

“I heard that Dream Technology is controlled by alien AIs. That’s why they’ve made so many robots. They’re enacting the conspiracy from the movie ‘Terminator’!”

“I always knew it. How could Dream Technology have such advanced technology without the help of aliens?”

“The US refrained from declaring war because of the threat posed to civilians by Dream Technology’s space-based kinetic energy weapons.”

…

With the smear campaign fermenting online, a spokesperson for the United States Government stepped forward just in time to answer journalists’ questions.

“Did Dream Technology really launch an attack on the US mainland with space-based kinetic energy weapons? Where did this happen?”

The spokesperson’s voice was heavy with sorrow, “Yes, they destroyed our Area 51.”

Although after this statement, the spokesperson did not address any further questions directly, this piece of evidence persuaded many people of the previously spread defamation.

Especially among Americans, a petition movement spread quickly across the nation, with people carrying signs reading “Give us back our families!”, “Terrorists!” and “Declare war!”.

Throughout dozens of American cities, people petitioned, demanding the government mount a punitive military operation against Dream Technology.

Watching the crowd outside the Presidential residence, President Radack turned to Curtis and said, “How about it, are you still worried about being held responsible for starting a war with Dream Technology?

Right now, all Americans want to go to war with Dream Technology.”

Curtis, somewhat perplexed, asked, “Mr. President, I don’t understand why now is the time to incite this level of hatred in the people?

As you know, we don’t have any certainty of winning against Dream Technology. With such strong public pressure, how is the military supposed to respond?”

They were in the Presidential office, holding an emergency meeting surrounded by electronic jammers and detectors to ensure they were not monitored by electronic devices.

Radack looked towards the Speaker, Lancer, “Speaker, isn’t there a bill you need to discuss?”

Lancer nodded, “Yes, we’ll discuss and approve the bill to increase military spending again as soon as possible, boosting the procurement of new weapons.”

Hearing this, Radack nodded slightly and said, “General Curtis, you can have a general from one of the commands make a statement to the journalists.

Express the military’s resolve to defend the homeland, and mention the military’s concern for the lives of the people – as long as we’re unsure of how to defend against Dream Technology’s space-based kinetic energy weapons, we have no choice but to bear the humiliation and the load.”

Now, Curtis understood. If they didn’t hype up the threat from Dream Technology, Congress wouldn’t approve the new military spending bill worth trillions of dollars.

Given the current financial constraints faced by the government, this huge military budget, which even surpasses the military’s annual budget, would likely go unapproved without a substantial threat.

And those weapons made from the cream of American technology were very expensive. Without trillions in military funds, how could they possibly deploy enough military might?

When the emergency meeting concluded and the presidential staff began to leave, Radack asked GIA Director Caesar to stay behind.

“I’ve noticed you looked troubled during the meeting and you didn’t say much. Is something wrong?”

Caesar nodded, “I’ve just received news that our important intelligence network in Shanghai, China, has gone dark.”

Radack frowned, “China? Our current number one enemy is Dream Technology. We don’t stand a chance of controlling other countries if we can’t eliminate Dream Technology.

According to military reports, Babylon’s forces have just hit our supported government forces with weapons of unknown origin, and six of our armed robots have been destroyed!

I suspect that Dream Technology is colluding with Babylon. Your people need to investigate this thoroughly.”

Caesar shook his head, “Mr. President, both Chinese companies have close ties to Du Qiu. Our intelligence network was originally obtaining the silicon carbide chip technology from there.

Now that China has eliminated our network, we have lost our access to their technology.”

Radack suddenly remembered that Dream Technology in China was the first company established by Du Qiu, who obviously played an important role in Dream Technology.

The GIA had previously collaborated with the military in launching an airstrike in South Sudan, believing to have killed Du Qiu, but later received information that Du Qiu was not dead, clearly a mistaken judgment.

“If the intelligence network is gone, we can only spend more effort to rebuild it. I don’t think this is why you are so troubled,” Radack said.

Caesar looked at Radack seriously, “Sir, when old Morgan agreed to support our plan, he had one condition; to let his space exploration company execute the Ark project. You haven’t forgotten, have you?”

Radack replied with confusion, “Of course not. Has there been an issue with the project?”

Caesar explained, “Well, I’ve just received news that Musk has successfully developed an artificial intelligence!”

“Artificial intelligence? Did he actually develop it himself? That’s good news, isn’t it?”

Caesar reminded him, “Mr. President have you forgotten about the Almighty Host?”

Radack’s face went pale, staring at Caesar, “Are you saying this AI is the Almighty Host?”

“No, I can’t be sure yet. But I’ve instructed Musk to absolutely not allow this supercomputer carrying the AI to connect to the Internet.”