Age of Cosmic Exploration

Chapter 273: Project Face-Slap

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Before the Hope left Earth, according to the discussion between Yao Yuan and his men, half of the population they rescued would be from Country Z and the other half from the rest of the world.

This decision had already created a great psychological pressure on many westerners. For example, many European scientists were worried Yao Yuan would use Country Z’s administrative pattern to govern them after they got on the Hope. However, since the Hope was their last saving straw, they had to submit to such a treatment even if Yao Yuan did decide to do so.

To their pleasant surprise, even though the Hope’s political and military powers were concentrated in Yao Yuan’s hands, he wasn’t a dictator as they feared. There were neither harsh policies nor propaganda-style governing. Other than the centralization of power, Yao Yuan was fair and accountable. At least among the Hope’s citizens, they didn’t mind Yao Yuan having most of the power, because that had allowed him to help the Hope survive many ordeals.

It had been eleven years since the Hope left Earth. It was not a short period of time. How many ten year periods would a man have in his life time, well, before the genetic mesomeric technology, anyway? In these eleven years, Yao Yuan’s name had pervaded into the hearts of almost everyone on the Hope. There was a belief that as long as Yao Yuan was alive, the Hope’s government would not go corrupt. It would continue to be a responsible and transparent government. Of course, because of this, the Hope until now had one-third or even more people still feeling guarded against Guang Zhen. They were extremely afraid Yao Yuan would suddenly pass away and the Hope would enter anarchy under Guang Zhen’s hands.

At the same time, since Country Z’s politicians were infamous for their bribery and more than half of the Hope's population was from Country Z, they were extremely afraid that oppressive aristocrats would appear once more on the Hope. Therefore, when the Hope’s government came into being, none of the Country Z’s government workers were allowed to hold the highest office posts. Of course, they could join politics, but they had to start from the bottom. However, due to the difference in political systems between Country Z and the rest of the world, when the House of Representatives opened its doors, not many Country Z politicians threw their names into the hat. Of course, there was also another reason, which was even Country Z people didn’t trust their own politicians.

Therefore, until now, while the Hope had many ex-Country Z citizens working at the middle to low level of the governmental structure, there were none occupying the top. The only exceptions were Yao Yuan and Guang Zhen. The rest were all military soldiers.

So far, this arrangement had kept peace on the Hope for as long as eleven years. When the Hope’s government was formed, Yao Yuan made sure to involve as many westerner politicians as he could, to let them realize that he was not there to lord over them. They too saw that Yao Yuan’s name, power, and loyalty in the people were true and unmovable, so they had given up on the idea of sabotaging Yao Yuan from within. Instead, they cooperated fully with Yao Yuan to bring about prosperity to the Hope. That was completely different from the small time representatives that tried to smear Yao Yuan’s name at every turn.

The main ploy of this group of people was to poison the minds of the general public, praising the qualities of a democratic society and slipping in the fact that since the westerners were the ones to champion this sort of governing pattern, it would be more effective if the government could also be changed accordingly. Furthermore, this was a contingency plan just in case Yao Yuan suddenly dropped dead. It would be better for them to govern than allow the Hope to fall into complete anarchy.

In these eleven years of peace, this sort of talk had surprisingly found a foothold within the general public. Their most impressive feat was influencing even the Country Z people. After years of repetition, history lent weight to their words…

These people failed to see that it was precisely because Yao Yuan was the leader that they were allowed to spread these incendiary rumors. If not, would things be as easy for them?

Yao Yuan had noticed this development a long time ago, but he didn’t intervene, he didn’t even say a word. Politics were not war. With his great reputation, he could have hinted at the House of Representatives his displeasure and such opinions would disappear, but it would have been sown into people’s hearts and eventually it might grow into something insidious. Yao Yuan needed to dissolve such thoughts within people’s minds and hearts as well, which was why he came up with Project Face-Slap that was ten years in planning!

James pressed on the door bell and a middle-aged American woman opened the door from within. Her face lit up when she saw James. "Mr. James, we’ve been waiting for you. Quick, come in, you’re late."

James chuckled and didn’t explain himself. Instead, he sniffed the air. "This is a good quality Cuban cigar. There shouldn’t be many in stock anymore, I’m surprise John could still get his hands on some. But it looks like the party has started without me."

James followed the middle-aged woman into the living room. The Hope’s residences weren’t big; most had one living room, one bedroom, one kitchen, and one bathroom. There were a few larger residences with more bedrooms reserved for larger families of course.

Since the Hope was first built, Earth’s government officials couldn’t have thought it would become the home for the largest group of human survivors. Therefore, the setup was not particularly suitable for family living. Instead, there were quite a few luxury condos, probably reserved for high ranking officials like presidents. However, after Yao Yuan gained the Hope, these places had all been redesigned to fit other purposes. Yao Yuan didn’t plan to take these luxuries for himself or anyone else, because they would serve a better purpose if redesigned into different spaces.

In the end, the Hope had only a few of these luxury condos left. They were left behind to be reserved for families with over 9 members, and the residence James had arrived at was one of those.

James was a member of the House of Representatives, and the residence belonged to the vice department manager of the Ministry of Civil Affairs. Also in attendance were three or four representatives or government officials who knew each other.

It was a common occurrence for colleagues to get together for a gentleman’s day off at the end of the day. This was something the westerners like to do, to discuss issues over drinks and cigars. It was something similar to how Country Z’s officials would discuss issues over meals.

When James walked into the living room, four men were already sitting on the sofa. Their wives were in the next room talking amongst themselves. When James joined them, they greeted him before enquiring the reason for his tardiness.

"What else? Got stuck at work. The speaker wants me to collate all of the civil disagreements over the last half a year and send them to him. Speaking of which, the year 12 is almost here, perhaps it’s time for a year-end review. This means that the Hope’s bureaucratic ordeal will be increased. I have to say, our captain sure is a workaholic, because he seems to be quite uncomfortable when he has nothing to do."

This made the room laugh. Then they continued to talk about something else. Someone roughly brought up the reelection that would be coming during the year 12…

The atmosphere was light and fun. It was almost dinner time when someone knocked on their door. This shocked the room because who would be disturbing them during dinner time?

The hostess went to get the door, and standing outside of it were a few soldiers and a captain. The men saluted when the door was opened. "I’m sorry, but are Mr. John, Aron, James, and Albert here?"

The hostess was shocked when she laid her eyes on the group of men in military fatigues. She only managed to nod dumbly when the soldiers read the men’s names.

"We are from the Discipline and Inspection Office. We hope the four gentlemen will follow us to our office, because we have some questions for them." The captain nodded politely at the hostess before barging into the room, ignoring the fact that she was standing fully in the way. Her face was pale.

The four in the living had heard what the men said. None of their expressions were pretty. It was not at the stage of despair, but there was definitely shock and disappointment. The host's, John’s, face was the most pale.

However, the four didn’t put up any resistance. They followed the soldiers obediently.

This situation repeated itself all over the Hope. 80 percent of the people arrested were westerners and were in some ways related to the most powerful representatives or government officials…

A tornado fighting the supposed "democracy," "freedom," and "modernization" of the west was sweeping through the Hope…