Epoch of Twilight

Chapter 359: Inquiry

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Right after they got into the car, the driver immediately took off.

The streets were empty and there was not a single person around. The scenery around them flashed by as the car sped through the streets They passed rows of factories along the way.

Chen Xinjie sat beside Luo Yuan, not moving a muscle. Her body was tense and she clenched her fists till her knuckles were white. Apparently, she was nervous as her veins were showing under the fair skin of her hands. The second Chief Minister was a very powerful person. It was nerve-wrecking for her to see him as she was just a lowly, unimportant government servant.

On the other hand, Luo Yuan was calm and still managed to remain cool. He kept his emotions in check so that Chen Xinjie would not freak out.

The car stopped in front of a small, shabby looking building. They would not have noticed it if they did not see the signboards and the troop of soldiers who were patrolling with the tanks.

Both of them got out of the car and followed the driver into the building. As he noticed the tense attitude and the stony expressions of the soldiers in the building, he surrendered his weapons willingly to not further alarm them.The soldiers also thoroughly checked him and Chen Xinjin for weapons. Luo Yuan submitted to their security procedures and remained calm because if the need were to arise, he could kill them even without a weapon. As he entered the building, he realized the small building was just an entrance, the real destination was hidden underground.

They took the elevator down and then entered a maze of corridors that made many turns within the building. Fortunately, Luo Yuan had a very good memory, otherwise, he might not be able to find his way out. After about 10 minutes, they arrived at the doorstep of a meeting room.

One of the soldiers held the door open for them. However, he only allowed Luo Yuan into the meeting room and stopped Chen Xinjie, informing them that she had to remain outside. A look of relief spread across her face as she felt the fear of being interrogated by her superiors vanish off her shoulders.

There were many people waiting in the meeting room. Everyone stared at Luo Yuan as he entered the room. Mixed emotions greeted him as he sensed fear, anger, and anxiousness in all the eyes that looked at him. The atmosphere was very serious and stressed. Luo Yuan avoided eye contact and walked into the meeting room.

"Thank you for coming, Captain Luo. We had to meet you in person as the information you provided is top secret. We had to handle it very carefully. I hope you can answer our questions as best you can." The second Chief Minister said with what looked like a weary, exhausted expression.

Luo Yuan nodded in response, maintaining a stony expression.

"Please proceed to the rostrum begin. May I remind you, this meeting is listed as a highly classified file, I hope you are aware of the policies like to keep it confidential." Luo Yuan got up as he spoke and then slowly walked towards the podium.

Luo Yuan stood at the rostrum, took a deep breath and said, "I never imagined I’d have the opportunity to address all of you here today. As a member of the human race, it is my responsibility to inform you of the dangers that I have witnessed"

"The incident happened a few days ago. I was in the midst of executing a mission. At that time, I was taking a short break around 600 km away from the reconstruction area after part of the long journey I on. The location was (X:**; Y**)."

I was resting in a cave nearby when I saw a beam of blue light flashed outside around 1 a.m. I decided to take a look. Hence, I followed…"

The meeting room immediately became chaotic right after Luo Yuan finished narrating the incident.

"Captain Luo, are you sure it wasn’t a human controlling the robot? It could have been an Arab militant, by the sound of your description?" A scientist with a full head of white hair spoke while pointing his finger at him.

"No." Luo Yuan said and shook his head.

"But you mentioned that you were three to four kilometers away, do you think there is a chance you could have been mistaken?" He continued to ask.

"I have excellent eyesight." Luo Yuan said calmly.

Before the scientist could continue, another old man in the crowd interrupted him, "We have been interacting with many other labs from different human parties, and even they agree that it is impossible for them to achieve this kind of technology at this time. Can you estimate the temperature of the flame produced by the mutated beast."

"I can’t identify it but there is something you can consider as a reference to answer your question. After the mutated beast shot out its flame, all the trees within 10 meters were set on fire." Luo Yuan said.

"I have calculated it. The temperature was around 10,000-20,000 degree Celsius. It was such a high temperature but the color of the metal on the robot did not even change! There is no such material in the reconstruction area, or any other human civilization for that matter," another scientist said right after Luo Yuan finished talking.

Luo Yuan looked at the scientist with a surprised look on his face. The guy looked like he was not more than 20 years old. He looked like that brightest amongst the older scientists with their white hair and bald heads. Besides that, he was very good at mental arithmetics. He must have been some kind of a rare evolved human with super intelligence as his core evolved elements.

The young man continued to ask, "Captain Luo, can I ask you a question related to kinetic energy? Based on your description, the robot could have had an antigravity engine. When it left the earth, the turbo would have been moving. Could you recall what color the flame was?"

Luo Yuan remained silent for a moment as he recalled the scene. The robot was flying too fast at the time, and he could not see the flame clearly. However, his had a very good memory and he was able to reassemble the scene and replay it over and over in his head for clarity. He pondered it and said, "I think it was red, but a very light red."

"Helium plasma is possibly that color! That should be nuclear fusion kinetic energy. However, such a mini nuclear fusion is mindblowing! That would mean….the extraterrestrial civilization is way beyond our reach and sits at a technological gap of approximately 100-150 years ahead of us," the young scientist quipped as his admiration quickly turned to horror in just a few seconds.

Right after he finished his speculation, the second Chief Minister and the think tank felt relieved and asked, "With knowledge of their technology, does that mean it is possible for us to plan counterattack measures against them?"

"We can't say. Since the industrial revolution, the development of technology has improved drastically. 10 years ago, knowledge matured as fast as one major breakthrough every 20 years. Five years ago, it increased to one thought every 10 years. As recent as within two years of the Apocalypse, the speed of knowledge's growth had become faster than that too."

"During the First World War a century ago, a missile hunter could attack ships from 1000 km away, as long as it had sufficient firepower. In the process of developing the technology, the 100 years of that followed brought forward a major difference compared to the century before that. With that said, we are not able to prepare any counter attack measures against a force like that in the time we have. All we can do is pray that the aliens don't intend to attack us," an old scientist explained with grief in his tone.

The atmosphere looked exceedingly depressed. The meeting room was filled with a sense of hopeless. Any effort would be a waste of time and resources when the gap of ability differed so drastically.

...

The meeting was dismissed after three hours. Some of the people left while a few others remained seated. The discovery of the extraterrestrial civilization was too critical, and the meeting earlier had only been about the inquiries. There was no solution proposed and many more meetings to come later on. However, Luo Yuan had done his part. He walked out the meeting room and exhaled with relief.

The atmosphere was too tense in the meeting room, even Luo Yuan could not stand it anymore.

"The meeting ended?" Chen Xinjie asked immediately as she saw Luo Yuan come out of the meeting room

When Luo Yuan was about to answer her, one of the assistants who worked for the second Chief Minister rushed out after hin and said, "I'm sorry, Captain Luo. You're not allowed to leave New Capital City in the next two days as the upper management might need your help with whatever questions they might have. I've reserved accommodation for the both of you. Let me show you to your rooms."