Homo Sapiens

Inside the United Nations General Assembly Hall.

Wu Wei glanced at the time, then exchanged a look with Carmen Lopez of Luzon, Lin Nanfeng of Siam, and Lude Solomon of Ceylon.

He stood up, ignoring the surprised looks from the others, as well as the incessant debate that had been raging for over an hour.

”Everyone, we would like to invite you to enjoy the sunrise over the Kela Isthmus.”

The moment he finished speaking, Lin Nanfeng of Siam opened his laptop and requested that its display be projected onto the main screen.

Faced with this request, the moderator, who had been keeping a low profile the entire time, glanced at Steve.

Steve sneered. ”Mr. Wu Wei, there’s no need to change the subject. We are discussing your blockade of the Malacca Strait.”

”Ten minutes won’t make a difference. Moderator, play it.” Wu Wei’s gaze was so calm it sent a chill down the moderator’s spine.

Lucia’s representative, Andre Mendeleev, considered for a moment before giving a dismissive wave. ”Go ahead and play it.”

Greatly relieved, the moderator quickly arranged to patch in the video feed.

A moment later, Lin Nanfeng’s laptop display appeared on the main screen. A nine-panel grid showed the Kela Isthmus from nine different camera angles.

On the screen, there was also a ticking countdown timer.

9:13...

8:52...

7:44...

Amid the pitch-black scene on the screen, a faint white glow began to emerge on the horizon—the first sign of sunrise.

Wu Wei glanced at the time again. He then stood up and said with a smile, ”Ladies and gentlemen, in five minutes, we will be launching a ’Little Cutie’ from the Western Pacific Ocean. This ’Little Cutie’ will land in the Kela Isthmus. We ask that you please refrain from overreacting.”

”Heh... Mr. Wu Wei, is this your way of trying to demonstrate your power to me?” Steve asked, laughing in fury.

Wu Wei stared back at Steve, completely undaunted. ”I’m simply inviting everyone to enjoy the sunrise.”

”Good! Excellent! You will all pay the price for your arrogance!” Steve raged, pointing a finger at Wu Wei and the other three.

The representatives from the other major powers all wore mixed expressions.

The representative from Tianzhu, who knew a part of the story, stared at Wu Wei and his allies in utter disbelief. He couldn’t understand how these people could be so brazenly confident.

In the press gallery.

The world’s major news organizations were all live-streaming the event. Their reporters were furiously wracking their brains, trying to figure out what kind of story they were going to write.

Robert of the BBC whispered with a smirk, ”Are these guys trying to play the victim card?”

”America’s mind is made up. They’re just flailing in their death throes,” Catherine said. She had already discerned North America’s stance from their representative’s earlier words.

What they didn’t know was that a naval battle had already erupted in the Ceylon Ocean. If they had, they wouldn’t be so composed.

For a moment, the assembly hall fell silent.

Meanwhile, the various global powers, having received Wu Wei’s ”warning,” quickly trained their satellites and radar systems on the Western Pacific and the Kela Isthmus.

Sunrise in the Western Pacific occurs several hours earlier than at the Kela Isthmus.

Thus, when the colossal Pacific Battleship breached the surface, the sky above it was already bright and clear. The satellites of the major powers spotted the behemoth instantly.

This naturally included the Pentagon’s Space Equipment Office.

Instantly, shrill alarms blared throughout the satellite monitoring office.

”Oh my god...”

”This thing is actually a submarine?”

”This is...”

In less than two minutes, the main cannons of the Pacific Battleship had adjusted to a rough firing position. The metallic hydrogen propellant, already loaded, was ignited a second later.

BOOM!

BOOM!

With a terrifying sonic boom, the shell from the giant cannon soared into the sky.

”Is that... one of those giant cannons, the kind they placed on Longlang Mountain?” a satellite monitoring operator exclaimed.

”The shell has broken the Kármán line...”

”Continue monitoring!”

”Trajectory is stable. The shell is heading for the Kela Isthmus at Mach 7.3...”

”Beginning atmospheric reentry. Speed Mach 9... Mach 12.4...”

”Warhead separation detected... thirteen individual targets identified...”

...

The silent Kela Isthmus.

In the pre-dawn sky, a single streak of white illuminated the darkness.

Suddenly, a dozen streaks of light tore through the pre-dawn darkness, slamming into a stretch of mountains.

In that instant.

The sky became blindingly bright—thousands of times brighter than day.

One by one, huge fireballs slowly rose into the air.

The brilliant glow was so intense that for dozens of kilometers around the Kela Isthmus, people could see what looked like a dozen suns slowly rising into the air.

Thermal radiation blazed in all directions, proclaiming the suns’ terrible majesty.

Then, an electromagnetic pulse, like the roar of a great beast, swept across the globe.

The shockwave tore the earth asunder. A blast of superheated air swept through the surrounding hundreds of thousands of acres of rubber plantations, igniting them in a furious blaze.

Sixty-three seconds later.

The chain of mushroom clouds dissipated.

Across a seven-kilometer stretch of the mountains, twelve enormous craters remained, each over 800 meters in diameter with a depth of 170 meters at its center.

The craters were all interconnected, blasting open a channel that linked the waterways on either side of the isthmus. River water immediately began to flood into the massive pits, carving out the beginnings of the Kra Canal.

...

「Back at the General Assembly Hall.」

The scene was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

The atmosphere was crushingly oppressive. It felt as if a giant stone was pressing down on everyone’s chest, making it difficult to breathe.

On the main screen, the chain of slowly rising fireballs, followed by the towering mushroom clouds, had silenced everyone in the room.

Only when the mushroom clouds finally dissipated did the immense pressure on their chests seem to lessen slightly.

In the press gallery.

Robert swallowed hard. ”GULP... You’ve got to be kidding me. Is today April Fool’s Day?”

CLICK! CLICK! CLICK! The other reporters around him had no time for shock. They frantically snapped photos of the representatives’ faces, especially the delegates from the five great powers and Wu Wei’s group, capturing them in numerous close-ups.

Steve, still reeling from the shock, was snapped out of it by the flurry of camera flashes. He quickly took a deep breath and feigned composure.

”Ahem. Order in the hall. Quiet, please...”

Although everyone was stunned, they still showed deference to America. The chaotic hall immediately fell silent again.

But now, everyone’s minds were elsewhere.

The reporters were busy typing or contacting their headquarters.

The various representatives were also making discreet movements, notifying their superiors back home.

Steve’s expression was grim.

Wu Wei smiled and spread his hands. ”So, how did you like the sunrise? The sunrise over the Kela Isthmus is quite breathtaking, isn’t it? Such a rare and beautiful sight!”

”You...” Steve clenched his fists. Suddenly, an aide tugged his sleeve and handed him a phone.

Steve glanced at the phone, and his expression became a sight to behold. He put the phone down, picked up the microphone, and announced, ”Ladies and gentlemen, for the remainder of this meeting, my deputy, Ms. Marianne, will be speaking on my behalf. I’m feeling a bit unwell.”

With that, Steve left the hall under the escort of several aides, looking for all the world as if he were fleeing a disaster.

Marianne, who had just entered from the back of the hall, greeted everyone with a strained smile.

”Steve is experiencing some... health issues. Some of the statements he made earlier were possibly due to a flare-up of his depression. Let’s restart the discussion for this emergency session.”

CLAP, CLAP, CLAP! Wu Wei applauded, a smile on his face.

”See? I knew it. How could America be so unreasonable? It turns out Mr. Steve was just ill. Honestly, you Americans... sending a sick man to be your spokesperson.”

”Hahaha... So it was all a misunderstanding,” Carmen Lopez roared with laughter.

Marianne replied with a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. ”Heh... Yes, all a misunderstanding...”

Wu Wei, who had been laughing moments before, suddenly turned serious. ”Is that so? But the fact that Hongsawaddy is developing weapons of mass destruction... that part’s true!”

’These damn people! What more do they want?’ Marianne cursed Wu Wei internally for his insolence. ’Wouldn’t it be better for everyone to just take a step back?’ Her expression immediately turned cold.

”On that matter, we will need to conduct a new review and further discussion...”

However, the corners of Wu Wei’s mouth curved upward. He turned his head toward the press gallery and, with a smile, spoke a single sentence...