After receiving a call from Smith, Stark announced a half-hour adjournment on the grounds of a lunch break.

Although he was very dissatisfied with the compromise made by Smith in the negotiation, Stark did not blame him, and it may not be better for someone else to negotiate with Zhang Xiaogang. In addition, if China cannot be stabilized, the desert island Long Zhijian's escape will lead to an even greater disaster.

At the morning session, Sergeyev had already raised the possibility of Russia's withdrawal from the Planetary Defense Council.

Although Stark tried his best to appease and stabilize the other eight chiefs of the general staff, the attitudes of Renault, Primakov and Mancini were very ambiguous. Stark knows very well that as long as China and Russia withdraw from the alliance, Germany, France and Italy, even if they stay, will deal with the United States in a negative way.

Don't forget, the desert island dragon health matter has a direct relationship with Italy.

According to the previous resolution, the desert island dragon will be replaced by the special forces assigned by Italy as a member of the Doomsday Force, and Mancini has already arranged the personnel, and Major Costa of the Italian Defense Forces will report to Diego Garcia in three days. After this incident, because China and Russia insisted on finding out the truth of the incident, even if Costa arrived on time, it would not be possible to join the Doomsday Force in time.

Italy's entry means that the Continental European Group has won three seats in the Doomsday Force, second only to the United States, Britain, Canada and Australia.

The demands of China and Russia are reasonable, and Germany, France, and Italy naturally aim the spearhead at the United States.

The problem is that Zhang Xiaogang's request is too much for Stark to accept. Not to mention sharing the original code of the Doomsday Warrior system with China, even if Luo Jinyong replaces Burke as the head of the scientific advisory board, Stark feels that it will seriously damage the interests of the United States.

Just because Stark finds it unacceptable doesn't mean it can't be accepted.

Zhang Xiaogang's meaning is actually Yang Fanglie's meaning. Without Yang Fanglie's instructions, Zhang Xiaogang would definitely not have issued an ultimatum to Smith.

The immediate result of the refusal will be China's withdrawal from the Planetary Defense Council, and then Russia.

If France and Germany were to attack at this time, the Planetary Defense Council would fall apart. Without China and Russia, the Planetary Defense Council is dead in name.

This result is also not beneficial to the United States.

Stark must choose between the two, the lesser of two evils.

How to choose, Stark knows in his heart. In the lead-up to Judgment Day, the top priority is to maintain the unity and stability of the Planetary Defense Council. Without the Planetary Defense Council, Operation Courage would not have been able to go smoothly, and the hope of intercepting asteroid ejected objects would have become even more slim.

If you can't even get through the first hurdle, how can the interests of intrigue be realized?

At the end of the adjournment, Stark spoke first.

"I have just received the latest findings from General Howard, and Professor Burke has an unshirkable responsibility in this case." Stark tried to keep his tone as calm as he could. "Although Burke is our country's chief scientific advisor, he works for the Planetary Defense Council, and his every move is related to the future of human civilization and has an impact that cannot be ignored. In view of the serious mistakes he made during this time, I recommend that Professor Burke be removed from his position on the Scientific Advisory Board and that a new person be elected. ”

At this moment, everyone turned their attention to Yang Fanglie.

If Burke, who was not America's chief scientific adviser, had been fired more than a year ago, the most qualified person to replace him would be China's chief scientific adviser, Luo Jinyong.

Yang Fanglie didn't speak, since Stark had compromised, he should finish the matter.

"I propose that Luo Jinyong replace Burke," Stark sighed secretly, and the words were already out, even if Yang Fanglie was in a difficult situation, he had no choice, "As the head of the scientific advisory board." Before he arrived at Diego Garcia, Burke took temporary duty. General Yang, what do you think? ”

"Although Professor Luo Jinyong is talented, he is too young." Yang Fanglie was polite.

"General Yang, it's too irresponsible for you to say that." Sergeyev guessed what was going on and didn't give Stark a chance to take it back. "Age is not a measure of a scientist's talent, and great scientists in history have achieved remarkable achievements at a young age, such as Albert Einstein who published his first paper on special relativity at the age of 26. Professor Luo Jinyong is young, but his talent is proven in Operation Courage and Doomsday Force, and his 'soft landing' doctrine is the basis for our defense projects, and he also made key predictions after the asteroid accelerates. If he is not qualified to lead the Scientific Advisory Board, then I believe that none of the other scientific advisors, including our country's Chief Scientific Adviser, are qualified to do so. General Yang, now is not the time to be modest. For the sake of the future of humanity, I support General Stark's proposal. ”

Yang Fanglie didn't say anything more, Sergeyev said everything that should be said.

"According to the rules, let's vote."

There was no suspense about the outcome of the vote, the United States, China and Russia all voted in favor, and France, Germany and Italy also voted in favor in order to end the farce as soon as possible and secure Italy's seat in the Doomsday Army. With the big picture decided, the other four chiefs of the General Staff voted in favor.

"Until we elect a new Chief Scientific Advisor, Burke remains our nation's Chief Scientific Advisor, working for the Planetary Defense Council." Stark paused slightly, and when no one objected, he said, "I will inform you of the follow-up handling of this incident in a timely manner and negotiate with you." In order to restore the Planetary Defense Council to normal as soon as possible, it is hoped that General Yang can send personnel to Diego Garcia as soon as possible to participate in the work of the Planetary Defense Council and prepare for the upcoming Judgment Day. ”

"No problem. As soon as arrangements are in place, key personnel from our country will travel to Diego Garcia. Yang Fanglie was reminding Stark, don't forget another thing.

"The aftermath is in full swing and can be arranged within a few hours."

Yang Fanglie nodded, indicating that he understood what Stark meant.

"If nothing else, this concludes today's meeting."

"One more thing." Apparently, Mancini has not yet grown tired of the cumbersome and lengthy meetings of the Chiefs of the General Staff. "The personnel sent by our country are suitable to join the Doomsday Force?"

Stark sighed and said, "Within three days, our country will provide the subsystem responsible for production. ”

"When the incident has a result, our correspondent will go to Diego Garcia with the nerve center control unit to ensure that the Italian personnel will join the Doomsday Force in time." Yang Fanglie also made his position clear.

Obviously, Sergeyev and other chiefs of the General Staff were not going to offend Mancini in this matter.

The meeting of the Chiefs of General Staff was concluded after it was determined that Major Costa would arrive at Diego Garcia three days later to concoct the Doomsday Warrior system.

An hour later, Yang Fanglie received a call from Yuan Dezhi and received the original code provided by the US intelligence agency.

It's just that Yang Fanglie didn't immediately ask Zhang Xiaogang to take Luo Jinyong and Chu Tianjiang to Diego Garcia, but asked Luo Jinyong to confirm the authenticity of the original code.

For this, Luo Jinyong spent several hours.

Because the original code of each set of subsystem control programs has hundreds of millions of lines of code, Luo Jinyong cannot be thoroughly screened, and can only conduct spot checks. The comprehensive screening had to be carried out by Ding Mingcong and the software engineers, and it took enough time to ensure that nothing was missed.

It is important to know that in the key code, the difference between a plus and minus sign can change the meaning of the entire original code.

In the evening, Zhang Xiaogang took Luo Jinyong and Chu Tianjiang to board the transport plane to Diego Garcia, and this time Zhan Pengfei and Wang Kaiyuan piloted the transport plane.

The U.S. military will send four F-22As to provide escort cover over the Arabian Sea.

Even if Smith and Stark hated Zhang Xiaogang to the core, they didn't dare to deal with Zhang Xiaogang rashly after Yang Fanglie revealed that Zhang Xiaogang would carry the central control unit to Diego Garcia, and the escape from the desert island Dragon Zhijian caused such a serious incident.

If another accident happens, the Planetary Defense Council will surely fall apart.

In Zhang's words, Stark and Smith would burn incense and pray that they would arrive at Diego Garcia safely and that nothing would happen to them.

Four hours later, the Y-20A landed smoothly on the US military airfield in Diego Garcia.

Accompanied by the guards arranged by Zhang Xiaogang, Luo Jinyong immediately rushed to the scientific research center and took over the responsibility of the head of the scientific advisory committee from Burke.

The handover went smoothly, but Zhang Xiaogang guessed correctly again.

When Luo Jinyong asked for the archived records of all scientific research projects and defense projects, Burke claimed that the archives of all the dismounted projects had been destroyed, and only the research results were retained, and the archives were complete only for the ongoing projects, including Operation Courage and the Doomsday Force.

Burke gave this set of arguments, and Luo Jinyong couldn't ask.

"Professor Luo, I always believe that you are the best scientist, and this position should have belonged to you a long time ago."

"Professor Burke, without your persistence and hard work, the Scientific Advisory Board would not be where it is now." Although Luo Jinyong was not very impressed by Burke's compliments, he did not deny Burke's contributions. "Two years ago, if it weren't for your active push, Operation Courage wouldn't have been approved at all. Last year, it was your full support that led to the approval of the Joint Chiefs of General Staff for the Doomsday Force. ”

"These are all things that are within my responsibility."

"If everyone can do their part like you and do their part, I'm afraid there won't be so much trouble."

Burke smiled reluctantly, not knowing whether Luo Jinyong was complimenting him or sarcastically mocking him.

"Anyway, it'll be over soon." Luo Jinyong also smiled and said, "If the courage action fails, all our efforts will be in vain." In 19 days, we will know whether the effort and price paid in the past two years are worthwhile. ”

Burke hesitated for a moment before he said, "As long as I am the chief scientific advisor of the United States, I will fully assist you in completing your mission." ”

"So, we're going to be working together for a long time? It is an honor for me to work with the best astronomers in the world to save human civilization. ”

"It's also an honor to work with some of the best scientists in the world."

After greetings, Burke took the initiative to say goodbye to Luo Jinyong on the grounds that he had to report on his work before.