The giant corporations that started from Night City

Chapter 495: The battle for a foothold! The damned ghost who refused to persuade with kind words! Killing the chicken to scare the monkey!
In Paul's story, a silicon-based AI life form named the Red Queen suffered an extinction attack from a hostile civilization, leaving only a wreckage that drifted to the edge of the solar system.

They happened to be encountered by these humans who were also in desperate situation, so the two sides started close cooperation at the moment of life and death, overcame the difficulties and regained vitality.

Paul's self-consistent explanation sounds quite forced. It is correct in every aspect but also irrational in many ways.

Although there are still many people who express doubts, they don't want to care about the flaws anymore. They just want to know what kind of resources and changes the global giant can bring to them.

No matter how much you say, it is better to give more.

As long as it can bring benefits to mankind, let alone merging with AI silicon-based life to have children, even if Paul is the Monkey King who jumped out of a stone, they will praise him as the material for becoming the Monkey King.

"I want to see what AI silicon-based life looks like. Can you show it to us?" the representative of the European fleet inquired.

Hearing is not as good as seeing. After listening to Paul's nonsense for so long, they wanted to see whether the AI ​​Red Queen's life that he mentioned really existed.

However, unexpectedly, Paul immediately agreed to the other party's request and asked Jonathan to bring in the transforming spaceship outside.

Fortunately, the size of the transformable spacecraft can be compressed to the size of an adult, so it is not difficult to get to this meeting room through the corridor.

When the congressmen present saw that the transforming spacecraft could twist and transform itself into cars, airplanes and other means of transportation, they were somewhat skeptical.

After all, this fancy technology cannot prove that this is some kind of AI silicon-based life form, until Paul showed that the transforming spacecraft formed a fully armed steel mechanical warrior and spoke human language.

These arrogant congressmen were so frightened that their faces changed and they stepped back involuntarily.

Paul's transforming spaceship has built-in shipboard AI and transforming metal. Theoretically, it can also be considered a Transformer. It is not wrong to say that it is an AI silicon-based life form.

At least it's more than enough to fool these ignorant humans.

Paul's transforming spaceship is a Decepticon-type mechanical device, so it looks quite scary. This caused many congressmen on the scene to subconsciously draw their pistols and aim at the transforming spaceship, completely forgetting that they were in a remote meeting.

Obviously, faced with everything presented by the transforming spacecraft, they had to believe that what Paul said was true, at least temporarily.

Paul briefly introduced the transformable spaceship to everyone, and then turned the topic to the negotiations between the two parties.

The congressmen present no longer questioned the existence of the global giant, but they could not figure out the other party's true intentions for a while.

The other party said that he came to help, but how exactly he helped was probably a lot of tricks.

When the British Empire went to India to burn, kill and loot, didn't it also shamelessly say that it brought modern civilization to this backward place?

Who knows whether the world's giant companies think the same way.

The representatives of the European fleet were afraid that the global giant would follow their example, so they decided to temporarily disconnect and discuss privately with representatives of other fleets.

"Sorry, we need to pause this conversation."

After saying this, representatives from all parties of Fleet International hung up the remote communication at the same time and discussed the next steps to take.

Jonathan politely took Paul to the lounge nearby and sat down temporarily. After all, this negotiation involved too many areas and it took some time to sort out his thoughts.

Paul was not in a hurry and waited patiently for the other party to think it through. Anyway, the Trisolaran water droplets were heading towards the solar system, and it would be Fleet International, not the Universal Corporation, that would be in big trouble.

At this moment, at the Jupiter orbital base, representatives of the three major fleets held an internal meeting again. The heads of each fleet gathered together and had heated discussions about the arrival of the giant enterprise.

"How are you going to handle this?"

The representative of the Asian Fleet asked first. In fact, he had some trust in Universal Corporation. After all, they looked like humans and knew all about human history.

Now that he has come back from far away to help me, how can I not be grateful?

But unlike the representatives of the Asian fleet, the representatives of the North American and European fleets believed that Paul's trip had ulterior motives and the purpose behind it was definitely not that simple.

"Perhaps what he said is true, but the Trisolaran probe is about to arrive in the solar system. At this juncture, we must send troops to keep an eye on that battleship."

The representative of the European fleet said in a deep voice that according to their original plan, Fleet International would dispatch all of its star-class warships to intercept the Trisolarian probe.

This battle was mainly to get off to a good start and increase the reputation of Fleet International within human civilization.

In fact, Fleet International is currently facing considerable doubts and pressure. Its two-hundred-year construction plan has yet to see any use.

If we don't let these people see the necessity of huge ships and cannons, I'm afraid they will not continue to willingly devote all their resources to building ships and providing services for them.

Therefore, a necessary battle to gain a foothold is extremely urgent for the current fleet internationally.

However, the arrival of the Infinity-class aircraft carrier disrupted their plans. How could they continue the battle with such a warship of unknown origin behind them?

Therefore, Fleet International had to leave a part of its armed forces to garrison in the rear to avoid any unexpected accidents.

So the question is, who should stay behind to guard against the warships of the Universal Corporation?

……

While Paul was waiting in the lounge, a news media report appeared on the holographic projection:
[Four hours ago, the Ringer-Fitzroy telescope had observed the Trisolaran fleet passing through an interstellar dust cloud again.]

[This is the seventh time in the two centuries since they set sail that they have appeared due to passing through the dust cloud. The Trisolarian fleet has lost its strict formation. Compared with the first time they passed through the dust cloud, their formation has long been completely different.]

【…】

During the long voyage to the solar system, the Trisolaran fleet suffered a lot.

After completing the acceleration and cruising period, the Three-Body Fleet has begun to slow down gradually. Ten years ago, most of the Three-Body Fleet entered a deceleration state.

Only one warship did not slow down, but accelerated all the way towards the solar system.

At its current speed, it will reach the solar system a century and a half ahead of the large group behind it.

The main army slowed down, while the individual rider sped up. It didn't look like they were coming to fight, but more like they were coming to negotiate with human civilization.

Through two centuries of observation, humans can basically determine the maximum acceleration force of each spacecraft in the Three-Body Fleet. According to the data, the Three-Body spacecraft moving alone lacks sufficient deceleration force.

This would cause the spacecraft to pass through the solar system and deviate from its direction.

This leaves only two possibilities. The first is that the Trisolarans want humans to help slow down the speed in order to facilitate the subsequent peace talks.

The second possibility is that the Trisolarans will release an airship when they arrive at the edge of the solar system, carrying a delegation from the Trisolaran civilization to talk with humans.

[The above is a report on the latest developments of the Trisolaran Fleet. Next, let us turn our attention to the mysterious warship that suddenly appeared in the sky above the Earth...]

Obviously, from the international senior leaders of the fleet to the propaganda in the news media, elites from all walks of life are full of optimism about this civilization-level battle.

Some people have even begun to fantasize that the Trisolarans have traveled from afar to the edge of the solar system just to surrender to humans.

Seeing this, Paul shook his head helplessly and sighed, "If the Trisolarans really had the intention to negotiate, they would have told you through Sophon long ago."

"This is actually easy to understand. Because of the transparent thinking of the Trisolarans, they think that what they have thought of, humans must have thought of as well. That's why they didn't tell us through Sophon to negotiate."

Jonathan on the side explained with a smile.

But such a weak excuse was not convincing at all. Faced with the self-deception of the humans here, Paul just smiled.

Human beings are always good at deceiving themselves. The extreme fear and inferiority complex that occurred during the great low period have nurtured the infinitely expanding arrogance and ignorance of today.

The self-righteous humans thought they had the strength to crush the Trisolarans, but they didn't know that they were walking step by step towards the edge of a cliff and could fall to pieces at any time.

"Are you sure you don't want to talk to us first about how to deal with the three-body detector outside? Maybe we have a better way to deal with this matter."

"Please convey my words to the top leaders of Fleet International. This is my reminder. I hope they will think twice before acting."

Paul knew that the humans here did not trust him. He could just sit back and wait for Fleet International to suffer a great loss at the hands of the water droplets before stepping in and easily turning the tide to gain the trust of these people.

But doing so would also result in the destruction of more than 2,000 star-class battleships and the deaths of millions of people at the hands of the water droplets.

Paul hopes to avoid this tragedy.

However, Jonathan just smiled disapprovingly. He regarded Paul's idea as the result of the global giant corporation trying to steal Fleet International's credit.

Fleet International has been waiting for this battle for too long and will not allow anyone to interfere, otherwise public opinion will believe that it was the giant enterprise that helped them defeat the Trisolarans.

"Please wait a moment. I will present this matter to them."

Jonathan nodded and immediately reported Paul's reminder to the people from Fleet International. Sure enough, as he expected, they completely ignored Paul's warning.

The high-spirited Fleet International didn't think they would lose at all. They were still busy thinking about who to send to Earth to keep an eye on the Infinity-class aircraft carrier.

Seeing that the leaders of the three fleets were still doing their own thing, Paul shook his head in anger and amusement. He looked at the news screen in the holographic projection and muttered to himself:

"Is it possible that the probe flying into the solar system is not a reconnaissance device like the Sophon, but an indestructible weapon?"

"Maybe... their method of attack is the most primitive collision."

At this point, Paul can only sit back and wait for tragedy to happen, rather than trying to persuade the damned ghost with kind words.

If Fleet International persists in its delusion, then he wouldn't mind seeing the end of the world.

It is still not too late for the Universal Corporation to lend a helping hand, but there is no need to do so, because humans will not thank the Universal Corporation afterwards, just as they will not thank Luo Ji, the sword-bearer who protects humanity.

……

At this moment, Fleet International has officially issued the order to advance. The joint force composed of the Asian Fleet, the European Fleet, and the North American Fleet, totaling 2,015 star-class battleships, will intercept the Trisolaran probe that has crossed the orbit of Neptune.

When the people on Earth heard the news, they were already in a wave of carnival, and they were all talking about how wonderful the new world would be after the war.

No one thought this battle would be lost.

The Earth's top leaders toasted champagne to each other and waited for the war to end with smiles on their faces.

The three fleets that are ready to go are also thinking about how to make themselves as prominent as possible in this battle.

This is the best stage to showcase your own fleet. Whoever can stand out will have the opportunity to get more resource support!
The war had not yet ended, or even begun, but scholars among the public were already discussing how to accommodate the Three-Body Civilization that had arrived in the solar system.

Perhaps we can set up some Trisolaran reservations on Mars to accept some Trisolarans as one of the milestones embodying the spirit of humanitarianism.

However, this idea was quickly refuted by the angry general public.

In the past two centuries, the emergence of the Three-Body Civilization has brought too much suffering to mankind, and now of course they want to take revenge.

It would be best to treat the Trisolarans like slaves and ride on them.

As news continued to spread, the fleet council was a little cautious at first, but the strong public opinion made them a little confused.

On one hand, they were reminded by the global giants, asking them to suspend their advance and further discuss countermeasures with the giants; on the other hand, they were urged by the war factions within the country.

The various complicated negotiation procedures and clauses have caused chaos within Fleet International. Now they need to withdraw a force to stay on Earth, but none of the three major fleets wants to miss this famous battle.

For this reason, the leaders of the three fleets argued fiercely, and no one was willing to give up this opportunity.

Five minutes had passed since the troops were officially set out, but the fleet in front had not yet received the order to advance from headquarters.

Fleet International’s top brass was hesitant.

They don't know whether the giant corporations that stay on Earth are really here to help them or to stab them in the back.

They didn't want the Infinity-class aircraft carrier to join the battle and share their credit, but they were also afraid that the other side would suddenly stab them in the back when the war was tense.

Honestly speaking, using two thousand warships to attack a Trisolaran probe is already an overkill, and if an Infinity-class aircraft carrier is added to the mix, their international fleet would simply become a joke.

After much deliberation, the senior leaders of the fleet joint decided that it would be better to withdraw one fleet and return to Earth while the rest of the fleet advanced.

Since the Universal Corporation is here to negotiate with them, it would be a good opportunity to use the Trisolarian probe as an example to scare the monkeys and let the Trisolarian civilization and the Universal Corporation see how powerful humans are.

If they want to negotiate, then the Trisolarans and Universal Corporation should sit together and talk, but their International Fleet must be the sole backbone!

(End of this chapter)