The Last 299 Days of Humanity

However, the people of Yadu are not stupid. They know better than anyone that once a scandal of this scale, such as conducting dark matter experiments at the foot of Wengshan Mountain, is exposed, it will be far more than just public condemnation.

They seemed to have caught some unsettling whispers through certain clandestine channels, vaguely sensing that the Azure City, which stood above all other powers, might have harbored extreme resentment towards them, and even... harbored murderous intent.

This vague understanding was enough to send chills down the spines of Asia Metropolis's top management, and panic spread silently within their inner circle.

They must find a way to save themselves, and the first step in doing so is to do everything in their power to completely sever all ties with the matter, even if the "blame" they need to get rid of is as big and serious as the moon.

Thus, a meticulously planned "scapegoating" operation was quickly launched.

They first made a "high-profile" gesture by sending a "joint investigation team" composed of more than a dozen senior technical experts and diplomats to Wengshan, claiming that they would thoroughly investigate the dark matter laboratory incident.

The leader of the investigation team, a middle-aged official with meticulously combed hair and earnest words, appeared heartbroken in front of Yu Qing.

"Mr. Yu Qing, we at Yadu express our deepest shock and sincerest apologies for this incident!" He shook Yu Qing's hand, his tone heavy.

"This is a small group of bad apples who, for their own ulterior motives, exploited our trust and cooperation mechanisms to commit such heinous crimes that endanger the security of the entire region!"

To prove that this matter had absolutely nothing to do with the Yadu government and to demonstrate their image as a "responsible nation," they immediately offered a very attractive compensation plan:
First, we promise to provide full and unconditional compensation for all losses suffered by Wengshan in this collapse incident, with no upper limit on the amount.

Second, we will provide Wengshan with a brand-new defense system that is a generation more advanced, more robust, and more comprehensive than the existing version, free of charge, and will disclose the core technical parameters to demonstrate transparency.

Third, we pledge to use all available resources to bring those criminals who "smuggled in their own agendas" and "abused their power" to justice as soon as possible, giving Wengshan and the world an explanation.

To increase their persuasiveness, they even brought up past incidents: "Mr. Yu Qing, please recall, not long ago, didn't someone like Yu Guiyi use our Yadu satellite system to attack your aircraft?"
That too was not an official action by us, but rather an internal oversight loophole exploited by a few ambitious individuals. This incident is similar in nature; it was also manipulated behind the scenes by malicious individuals who exploited certain procedural loopholes in our equipment transportation and installation processes.

Yu Qing watched the other party's performance with a cold eye, his mind clear as day. He could naturally see that this was nothing more than a strategy of sacrificing a pawn to save the king, a lizard shedding its tail, with the aim of reducing a heinous crime to "poor internal management" and "individual criminal behavior".

They wanted to escape the devastating punishment from Tianqing City. Those so-called "malicious individuals" or "mad scientists" were merely scapegoats they were preparing.

However, he couldn't expose it. If he openly questioned it now, or even presented evidence pointing to the close connection between the laboratory and the higher-ups at Yadu, it would completely block Yadu's path to "admitting their mistakes and apologizing," and the "zeroing out" order that Tianqing City had been waiting for could very well be issued in the next second.

To temporarily stabilize the situation and prevent hundreds of thousands of people from being wiped out instantly, he could only forcibly suppress his disgust and force an expression of deep agreement, strongly supporting this view:

"I believe in your sincerity and understand that any large organization is bound to have corrupt elements. I hope you can find out the truth as soon as possible, severely punish the criminals, and restore peace and stability here."

The group of experts spent a day in Wengshan, conducting a cursory "investigation," collecting some insignificant "evidence," and then hurriedly returned to Asia.

Less than three days later, the official Asia Metropolitan Government held a grand press conference to announce their "investigation results" to the world.

However, what Yu Qing never dreamed of, and even felt a chill run from the soles of his feet to the top of his head, was that the person they chose to shift the blame onto, the "culprit" who was pushed out to bear all the blame, was actually Xiao Qin!
At the press conference, a spokesperson for Yadu declared righteously: It has been found that Xiaoqin, the goods inspector originally entrusted by Wengshan, took advantage of her position and familiarity with internal procedures to secretly collude with three mentally unstable "mad scientists" who had been expelled from the scientific community in order to obtain astronomical bribes.

It was Xiaoqin who meticulously planned and took advantage of Mr. Yuqing's purchase of the defense system to cleverly disguise the core component of the illegal dark matter extraction device as an ordinary device, smuggling it into legitimate goods and secretly transporting it to Wengshan.

Subsequently, under the guidance and assistance of her long-time secret lover—the person in charge of the on-site installation of the Wengshan defense system—this extremely dangerous device was quietly installed and hidden in an abandoned geothermal well structure in the west of the city.

The spokesperson stated that Xiaoqin's actions were a "fatal betrayal of Yadu's reputation" and a "shameless trampling on the safety of all humanity," and that her motives were "purely driven by greed and a distorted desire for vanity."

This narrative is seemingly flawless and logically closed, effortlessly reducing a massive, state-level secret experiment requiring enormous resources to the individual actions of a nobody and a few madmen.

When Yu Qing heard the news, he froze. He had unwittingly harmed a sincere and innocent girl named Xiao Qin. If he had known this would happen, he shouldn't have cooperated with those shameless scoundrels, or he should have simply stayed out of their way and let the people of Tianqing City wipe them out...

Indeed, Xiaoqin was the perfect scapegoat—she had no power, no opportunity to defend herself through any channel, and Yu Qing had indeed put her in charge of inspecting the equipment transported from Yadu to Wengshan.

She is curious and lively, and often gets into noisy conversations with the people she comes into contact with, which can be described as "adventurous" and "interested in dangerous technologies"; even the fact that she had a previous employment relationship with Yu Qing is a natural advantage for her to be bought off by external forces.

He felt immense anger and a profound sense of powerlessness. He wanted to roar, to expose this shameless lie, to tell everyone that Xiaoqin was completely innocent! But he didn't have time to make any effective response; in fact, he was powerless to make any response that could change the situation.

Because, almost simultaneously with the press conference, the next piece of news came that after learning that her "crimes" had been fully exposed and that she was about to be arrested and tried, Xiaoqin "could not bear the enormous psychological pressure and mental breakdown" and "committed suicide" in her apartment.

Moreover, a "suicide note," or more accurately a "confession," was reportedly left at the scene, in which the defendants admitted to all the charges.

Everything happened too fast, too "perfectly." Witnesses (though dead), physical evidence (forged), motive (greed), means (abuse of power), even a "confession" (suicide note)—everything was there.

Yadu successfully portrayed himself as both a victim and an enforcer of justice, decisively "cleaning house."

Yu Qing sat alone in the dimly lit room, watching the news footage of the Asia Metropolitan Government spokesperson's grief-stricken yet resolute expression, and Xiao Qin's photo, which had been rendered obscene in the official report. He felt a wave of nausea and dizziness. The truth? What is the truth?

In his cold heart at this moment, only one cruel answer remained: the truth is never the facts themselves, but rather what the strong want it to be.

To protect himself, Yadu was willing to sacrifice an innocent resident without hesitation and nail her to the pillar of historical shame. As for himself, he knew part of the inside story, but for a greater, or rather, more helpless, consideration, he could only watch helplessly as it all happened, and even before that, he had to cooperate in staging a play.

Xiaoqin's death was like a cold needle, piercing through all his plans and wishful thinking, making him deeply realize how insignificant the weight of an individual life is on this chessboard where various powerful forces compete.

However, this sense of powerlessness did not last long before it was replaced by a stronger flame, a mixture of anger, guilt, and a feeling of being fooled.

Not only did Yadu escape the punishment he deserved, but he also defiled a life he had tried to save in such a despicable way, making him feel that his previous forbearance and compromise had become a joke.

Since they're so unscrupulous, then he won't hesitate to take advantage of their misfortune and kick them while they're down! A ruthless glint flashed in Yu Qing's eyes. He would make Yadu pay a real, painful price for their shameless actions!
He immediately established a direct, secure communication line with the authorities in the capital. When the image of the meticulously groomed team leader (now promoted to plenipotentiary representative) appeared, his face still carried a hint of relief after the incident had been "successfully resolved."

"Mr. Yu Qing, we'll discuss the specific details regarding compensation and the construction of the new defense system later. We have some other tasks that need to be prioritized right now..."

Yu Qing coldly interrupted him, his voice devoid of warmth, his eyes sharp as knives, piercing the other man: "Do you think that by putting forward a scapegoat, saying a few nice words, and paying some compensation, this matter will be over?"

The representative from Yadu was taken aback, clearly not expecting Yu Qing to have seen through everything so clearly. He tried to maintain a smile: "Mr. Yu Qing, what do you mean? We have already shown our utmost sincerity... there will still be compensation..."

“Sincerity?” Yu Qing scoffed, leaning forward slightly, giving the representative on the other side of the screen an invisible sense of pressure. “Then let me tell you what true ‘sincerity’ really is.”

I demand that you immediately install a top-of-the-line, all-around active defense system for Wengshan, exactly the same as the one in your main city of Yadu. This isn't some empty promise of being 'a generation more advanced'; it's exactly the same!

Furthermore, you must unconditionally hand over all technical parameters, backend control permissions, and the highest-level maintenance keys. From this day forward, the defense of Wengshan will be entirely under our control, and will have no further connection with your Yadu!

The representative from Yadu's face instantly changed, and his voice rose eight octaves: "This is impossible! Mr. Yu Qing, do you know what you're asking for? That's Yadu's core defense secret! It's the foundation of our nation! This isn't about money at all..."

"The foundation of a nation?" Yu Qing suddenly raised his voice, his anger erupting like a tangible force. He no longer concealed his anger and dropped the bombshell, "Do you know that just a few days ago, your 'nation' of Asia almost disappeared!"

It's...completely...gone! Erased from the map, back to the Stone Age!

He stared at the other person's face, which had turned deathly pale, and said, word by word, "Tianqing City! Because of your damned dark matter experiment, it has been decided to 'zero out' you!"
It was me! It was me, Yu Qing, who, at the last moment, used an excuse to temporarily delay their actions, giving you the opportunity to put on a show and find a scapegoat!

Otherwise, would you still have the chance to stand here and bargain with me? You would have long since turned to dust along with your laughable 'foundation'!

These words struck like a bolt from the blue, completely stunning the Asia representative. His lips trembled, and his eyes were filled with disbelief and lingering fear.

Tianqing City! That terrifying existence! Zeroed out! Although it was just a rumor, the fact that Yu Qing said it so definitively, combined with the terrifying rumors he had previously caught, left him no choice but to believe it.

Seeing the other party's distraught appearance, Yu Qing felt a surge of vengeful pleasure. His tone was cold and firm, leaving no room for argument:
"Now, do you still think my demands are excessive? I saved hundreds of thousands of your lives and your so-called civilization with a lie! Now, all I want in return is a defense system and technology from you. That's fair."

"We don't need to be polite to you shameless scoundrels who only know how to shift blame! Agree, and Wengshan's defenses will be upgraded, allowing you to barely survive. Disagree…"

He paused deliberately, leaving a chilling silence. "Then let the people from Tianqing City come and 'talk' to you again. I don't think they'll be as easy to talk to as I am."

A fine layer of cold sweat beaded on Representative Yadu's forehead. He swallowed hard, exchanging quick glances with several colleagues around him who were also ashen-faced.

The threat from Tianqing City was a real sword hanging over their heads, and Yu Qing had become the only "middleman" they could grasp who might influence Tianqing City's decision.

The choice to exchange a defense system and core technology for the survival of the entire city-state is not difficult.

"...We need to...discuss this internally." The representative's tone softened, tinged with a hint of pleading.

"I'll give you two hours to answer me. I'll have a call with the people from Tianqing City in two hours." Yu Qing cut off the communication without any hesitation or room for negotiation.

He leaned back in his chair and exhaled a long breath. The anger in his heart had not completely subsided, but a cold feeling of taking control slightly lessened the heaviness brought by Xiaoqin's death.

He couldn't save the innocent girl, but he wanted to take a huge chunk of flesh from those who killed her. In this dog-eat-dog world, sometimes, only by being more ruthless than the other side can one survive and protect what one wants to protect.

Even if this method of protection itself carries a cruel tinge, Yadu's "sincere" compensation, in his eyes at this moment, is nothing more than a combination of spoils of war and a pillar of shame. (End of Chapter)