Chapter 182: Death if not in Megacity!
After the plague swarm crisis, the United States began to seriously discuss integration.
President Bernstein’s plan was to completely separate the three western states.
Hawaii and Guam agreed and joined the separation committee, which started to operate actively.
The Americans, as always, opposed first and then saw, but there was also a considerable opinion that they should split up this time.
They said they would rather live apart than admit to maintaining the federation.
But when New York and Virginia expressed their support, public opinion caught fire.
The remnants of the United States insisted that New York and Virginia should never be allowed, regardless of other places.
—New York is not in the west, but in the east, and it didn’t suffer much damage in this crisis. Why do they want to join the United Human Federation?
—They must have been shocked by the Manhattan incident. And a significant number of New Yorkers have a positive perspective on the United Human Federation.
Not all of them, but most of the intellectuals tended to have a favorable reaction to the United Human Federation.
Of course, this excluded those who could not compromise on freedom and human rights.
The Americans insisted that New York was fine, but Virginia was absolutely unacceptable, but in the referendum, 65% of the votes were in favor.
—Usually only people who are interested do such a vote. This is invalid.
—Do you think they care if you say that from outside? This is Virginia’s problem.
—The United States is a federation and cannot give up even a little! What is the president doing? Suppress it quickly like in 1957.
In 1957, the federal government used force to protect the rights of blacks.
It was not a suitable case for the current United States, and the military was ineffective and had no troops.
Despite various controversies, President Bernstein pushed for separation.
He announced at the White House that there was no other way than joining the United Human Federation, facing reporters who attacked him mercilessly.
“Today, the plague has threatened our survival. The world’s economy is at a standstill, and countries are in a situation where they have to invest astronomical finances to rebuild cities. There are even places where the whole country is collapsing…”
“In contrast, Megacity was relatively peaceful. The supplies were delivered without fail and there was no rumor. Megacity was the only one that did not suffer any damage.”
“As a result, I hope that the United States will join the ranks of integration. California, Washington and Oregon have already expressed their willingness to participate. If Megacity America is established here, serious integration will begin.”
The world was shocked by this statement from none other than the President of the United States.
Some people cursed him as a madman and some nodded and admitted that there was no other way.
The sure thing was that the world was divided in half.
The United Human Federation including Megacity and others.
Russia already had a riot of people wanting to integrate quickly and even Germany had politicians and bureaucrats appearing on TV programs analyzing the benefits of integration.
Some said it was more fun than Germany’s comedy program.
—The United Human Federation has a federal character, but artificial intelligence management inevitably limits freedom.
—But in a global disaster situation, it is natural to limit freedom and human rights. Are apocalypse movies peaceful?
—Yu Ji-ha also tries to delegate power by supporting the Supreme Council. Then we should join quickly and have our own voice.
Indeed, Germans are rational people.
It didn’t take long for a vote to start after a heated discussion on whether to withdraw from EU officially and join the United Human Federation.
The result was an overwhelming 78% in favor.
Germany probably felt the misery of Eastern and Southern Europe directly because it was in the middle of Europe.
As integration issues stirred up America and Europe, Japan also began to think seriously.
—Should we join too?
—I oppose. Japan did not suffer much damage in this crisis. It’s opportunism.
Many Japanese did not know that they were lucky geographically because they were next to Terra Island.
Earth Fleet protected Terra Island while taking care of Japan as well.
It wasn’t intentional, but it was close to protecting Japan because the operational radius was so wide.
The Japanese media acknowledged that the United Human Federation was strong and Megacity was great, but claimed that it did not suit Japanese people.
“Salmon belly meat is not produced in smart farms. This is a serious problem.”
“I can’t give up on fatty tuna.”
“And the residential form is… too Korean. It’s not what Japanese people prefer.”
They pointed out that Megacity’s residential area was too close together and lacked personal space.
However, most of the people who watched these programs were middle-aged or older.
They acknowledged the United Human Federation but their position was that it was not enough to convince them.
—The United Human Federation should use excellent Japanese talent more if they want to do so.
—Shouldn’t they pay more attention to residential facilities? At least it should be a two-story house.
While they were deluded, Japan’s young generation continued to leak out.
The Statistics Bureau detected the population outflow of the young generation and became contemplative.
—In one month, as many as 170,000 people immigrated to the United Human Federation. This is a serious situation.
-Most of these 170,000 people are very young in their 20s and 30s. Japan’s aging is accelerating.
Japan’s aging was already a serious problem, but the United Human Federation sucked up the population and faced a crisis that would be a big deal if they did not take action immediately.
But the Japanese government was indecisive and could not make a decision.
There was too much public opinion against joining the United Human Federation.
The best thing that Japanese people could allow was to bring in Megacity, but Yu Ji-ha refused it.
“Megacity is the property of the United Human Federation. Therefore, the management authority and the supervising entity are also in the United Human Federation. If you can’t accept that, there is no Megacity either.”
It would be uncomfortable for any Japanese to have the United Human Federation settle on Japanese territory.
They gave up many islands including Okinawa and Tsushima, but the mainland was too much for most people.
—If it’s not Megacity, it’s death!
—Megacity should be built and managed by Japan’s money. No other way is acceptable.
—Japan did not suffer much damage in this crisis. Japan is a country protected by God!
They seemed to not even think that they were protected by Earth Fleet, which was next to them.
But the young generation thought differently.
They said this in an interview with a broadcaster.
“Narrow? We live in a room of two square meters in Tokyo.”
“There are no jobs in Japan anyway. Even if they mock us for getting minimum wage, the prices there are very cheap.”
When the reporter asked if they didn’t miss the mainland without the beautiful four seasons, they all laughed.
“There are four seasons in Korea too. You can surf in the southern sea and camp in Siberia in an hour. What’s so great about Japan?”
“As long as you maintain your CP, all of that is free. If you want to travel abroad in Japan, money is one thing, but time…”
“Lucia-chan! I’m coming now!”
They smiled and headed to the docking station to board the super-commuter train.
Not only them, but also the manga and animation industry was preparing to move to Megacity.
The Japanese government continued to worry, but there was no solution.
As always, they tried to cover it up quietly.
Anyway, the integration issue with the United Human Federation was no longer a joke, but a reality.
There was no place where integration was not mentioned as the foundation of the country was maintained.
Some countries in Eastern Europe protested that they would not have had this problem if they had integrated with Russia earlier, but were violently suppressed by government forces.
It was better there.
At least they had some foundation because they were on the path of assault armor.
The real problem erupted in the Middle East.
Mohammad, the new king of Saudi Arabia, called Yu Ji-ha with a serious tone.
“My friend. Please let me and my family of 20 people, and a thousand royal family members into Megacity Pacific without any conditions. I will give you 30 billion dollars.”
It was an amount that even Yu Ji-ha would be surprised by.
And that too in dollars.
But it was difficult to accept this offer.
“I’m sorry, Your Majesty. Everyone has to go through an exam to get into Megacity.”
“President Bernstein didn’t take the exam, did he?”
He said everything he wanted to say.
Yu Ji-ha smiled bitterly and said.
“I will give you Megacity residency if you want it, Your Majesty. You meet most of the conditions anyway. But not anyone else. President Bernstein’s family also took the exam.”
They were upper-class families and had no major problems.
But the Saudi royal family had a lot of problems.
There were more than a few who just put their names on the royal list and were addicted to alcohol and drugs, and many were involved in crimes.
More than anything, they had too much pride and were not people who fit in Megacity.
The debauchery that the Saudi royals committed when they went to Bahrain was enough to make one’s mouth sore.
Mohammad begged again, but Yu Ji-ha’s answer did not change.
After the call ended, Yu Ji-ha glanced at the Middle East and licked his tongue.
“It’s a complete mess here.”
Most of them did not believe Yu Ji-ha’s information and were out of the path of assault armor.
As a result, many cities were destroyed by wire disease and their foundations were completely collapsed.
It was a bonus that many genes were broken and forced to reduce production.
There was an intrusion attempt at Megacity Afghanistan, according to Arma’s report.
The video showed terrorists attacking a wall that was tens of meters high.
Tatatata!
Boom!
No matter how much they attacked with rifles and RPGs, the black metal wall did not budge at all.
Dozens of terrorists cursed at the wall and were annihilated by a defensive battery that appeared out of nowhere.
“The corpses have been cleared by walkers now. But terrorism is expected to continue.”
It was natural since their situation was so bad.
The king of Saudi Arabia wanted to evacuate his royal family so much that he could tell how bad the public sentiment was.
In a situation where survival was threatened, how important was religion?
Looting under the pretext of protests broke out everywhere and even mosques were no exception.
Yu Ji-ha watched a scene where a mosque in Syria burned down in a fire and took his eyes off the monitor.
He felt sorry, but he was not God and could not accommodate everyone.
It was also difficult to make another Megacity.
“It’s easy to get into Megacity, but they’ll make trouble inside. So ignore all requests from there and tell the secretariat.”
It was foolish to try to persuade them when he knew they would cause trouble.
“Okay, I got it.”
***
By 2035, the situation caused by wire disease was settled.
But humanity was still not free from the threat of plague.
There were two more attacks, and dozens of plague Goliaths appeared on Earth.
This Goliath entity was larger than a Knight-class and had heavy armor that made it immune to megaton-class nuclear weapons.
As a result, Britain and the Middle East were devastated and countless refugees were created.
This was after the United Human Federation had deployed most of its forces to deal with it.
People realized it.
The war with the Plague was imminent.
And there was no way to escape the Plague’s attack except for the Mega Cities.
The politicians who had been taking a hard stance against the Mega Cities began to shut their mouths.
The citizens who had lost their families and friends were furious and protested day after day.
—How can they still talk about ownership rights after this mess? How many people have to die before they introduce the Mega Cities?
—The politicians are the problem! They are trying to evade all responsibility!
—Let’s kill them!
The lives of the politicians who had opposed the introduction of the Mega Cities for various reasons were in danger.
The police forces were mobilized, but they could not completely ignore the burning public opinion.
Thus, the discussion on the introduction of the Mega Cities gained momentum, but the United Human Federation itself took a lukewarm attitude.
“Management by artificial intelligence and ownership by the United Human Federation. These two issues must be resolved before the Mega Cities can be built.”
The ownership issue was resolved.
There were not many politicians who could withstand the pressure from the people of each country who demanded a quick introduction and even threatened to kill them.
But the management by artificial intelligence was a problem.
The current Mega Cities had a system that monitored by drones, had artificial intelligence act as judges, and sent criminals to space prisons.
Some people questioned whether it was right to entrust their nationals to a foreign system.
Some people even urged them to smash everything.
“Do you want to surrender after so many people die? You think it’s just about introducing the Mega Cities, but you can’t because it’s a dictatorship? Do you think you can transplant democracy into the Mega Cities?”
“They already have a place in the Mega City Deutsch for themselves. That’s why they are so relaxed.”
“We can’t trust those bastards with politics anymore!”
A massive protest broke out in France.
They had elected a pro-Yu Ji-ha regime, but they saw that it was hesitating to introduce the Mega Cities and rose up.
It was almost on par with the 68 Revolution and spread to other European countries.
The politicians came out in official statues and made excuses that they were negotiating with the United Human Federation, but the people did not wait any longer.
“Don’t make excuses! Don’t bring any consent forms! I only want to see the status board in Yu Ji-ha’s office!”
The only thing that people recognized as the introduction of the Mega Cities was the status board on the Blue House website.
This status board actually existed in Yu Ji-ha’s office and covered everything from Mega City Pacific to Deutsch.
But there weren’t that many Mega Cities left in the margin.
“There are only three spaces left?”
“What happens when all three places are confirmed?”
“It’s over. We have to kill the politicians first. It’s either death or Mega City!”
Meanwhile, such commotion was also happening in Korea.
Seoul, which once boasted a population of 10 million, had shrunk to 5 million.
People were bewildered by the desolate street atmosphere.
“Our apartment is totally ruined. I bought it for 100 million won per pyeong, but now it’s not even half of half. The real estate agents won’t even take it.”
“There are only old people on the street. Isn’t this country going down?”
In their eyes, Seoul was still the center of the United Human Federation.
It wasn’t wrong since President Yu Ji-ha worked at the Blue House.
But the important facilities of the United Human Federation were being moved to the Mega Cities.
Most of the museums had already moved, and even the historic sites were torn out by ether fields and displayed in Mega City South.
The sight of Haeinsa Temple in a place full of gray buildings raised many questions.
“Isn’t that Haeinsa Temple? How did they bring it whole?”
“They must have used ether fields.”
“Hey, the next target is Seokguram Grotto.”
“They are crazy.”
In fact, moving historic sites was something that the United States had already succeeded in.
The example was the Abu Simbel temples in Egypt, which were divided into more than 10,000 pieces and moved to a safe highland.
But that was a feat that took four years and a huge budget.
The United Human Federation did it in a few days.
In this atmosphere, the people of Korea began to abandon their old cities and move into the Mega Cities.
Actually, the old Koreans had relatively easy access to residency rights.
They had achieved most of the conditions by being monitored by drones.
The only barrier was English, but there was no problem in moving in itself.
Their lives were also comfortable with the real-time translation system activated, and many people did not feel any inconvenience.
But if they wanted to participate in politics seriously, they needed English.
“No, it’s hard for older people to learn a new language. Why did they put such a restriction? He was also Korean.”
This mystery would probably never be solved.
While Korea was quietly passing by, the United States had to suffer from all kinds of measles.
There were so many guns in the country that there were also many reckless people, and the branch office in California was lined with people who were kicked out every day.
For example, like this.
“Explain to me why I can’t get in.”
A muscular man who parked his pickup truck outside growled at Lucia, the counselor.
She smiled brightly and explained the details.
“Um… You participated in 72 anti-Yu Ji-ha protests. You are a member of a group that supports the flat earth theory…”
“So what? I’m human too. Don’t they have to let me in if I’m human?”
“You scored 8 points and failed the final admission test. There is no reversal, so you don’t have to come all the way from Texas.”
“Isn’t 8 points out of 10 good?”
“It’s out of 100. And your English is 5 points.”
The actual score he got was 3 points.
The man laughed incredulously and suddenly threw a punch.
But Lucia was stronger than him.
In an instant, his fist was caught and a vein popped on his forehead.
“You, don’t you have the three laws of robotics?”
“No, so please go away.”
The man, who was very angry, tried to cause trouble with his pickup truck in the parking lot.
But he was caught by a drone that suddenly flew in and flew away with his vehicle.
Lucia smiled at a man who started to tremble after seeing that scene.
“Next customer~”
This content is taken from (f)reewe(b)novel.𝗰𝗼𝐦