……

"The world is getting more and more dangerous, where do we go from here?" —The New York Times

"The end of the world is coming, or is it a revolution?" - The Times

"Mutants are a bunch of freaks, and the existence of mutants endangers the safety of the earth and threatens the lives of all mankind!" - An unknown tabloid.

……

For people around the world, what happened this year is the epitome of what has happened in the past few decades. The changes are so fast, so fast that people are stunned and don't have time to react.

How long did World War II disappear? How many years did the Vietnam War end?

The entire human society is changing every day, and it will change dramatically every other year. Moreover, it happened quietly and imperceptibly.

Now, the changes that have taken place in the whole world, the whole earth, and the whole human society have made the people of the world feel confused.

Since 1973, when mutants were first known to the general public, the number of these freaks in the eyes of countless people has increased exponentially. All kinds of strange mutants and all kinds of strange abilities continue to appear.

Some of them are like ordinary people, and their appearance has not changed much.

Some of them have long been different from ordinary people, as if overnight, the entire earth has returned to the magical era. Although, this change does not have much impact on ordinary people.

But for governments around the world, such a situation is tantamount to subverting the foundations of their rule.

In particular, that battle in the Mediterranean.

Completely, let these small groups of people with golden spoons in their mouths, at the top of the social pyramid, feel fear. For the first time, they found that the army, as well as weapons, supplies and capital, also had things that could not be done.

In that Armageddon, which can almost be called devastating, the weapons born under the scientific and technological system that mankind is proud of seem so small and not worth mentioning.

At this stage, there is no way to easily sink a small piece of land into the sea.

Nuclear weapons can be done, but the question is, how many nuclear weapons do you need to deploy to do this? What happens when you do that? Humanity will be enveloped in a 'nuclear winter'.

If such a situation occurs, then there will only be one outcome.

That is, there are no winners, everyone is a loser.

No, maybe one of them will be the winner.

……

Mediterranean, Tuthelm, Tiandu Western Suburbs Science and Technology Industrial Park.

Here, all the scientific research strength of the whole country is condensed, whether it is materials, money, personnel, equipment, facilities, weapons, etc., everything that can be thought of by the human brain here is all available.

In addition, underground, there is a super-large spaceship design and manufacturing center. A variety of cutting-edge armament manufacturing design centers, biochemical research centers, and so on.

Every day, every hour, every minute, every second.

The amount of money and materials spent here is an astronomical amount, and once the various materials consumed are collected and reclaimed from the sea, it is enough to create a land that can accommodate tens of millions of people.

Not only that, but both the elemental substances in the periodic table of the earth can be found here, as well as more rare substances or resources that are not available on the earth.

While other countries are cutting back on food and clothing to avoid waste, Tuthelm has long surpassed everyone else.

They waste enough supplies every day to feed most of Africa.

But no one cares, and everyone cares, and everyone cares how many more people in the world will starve to death...... In fact, with the exception of black Africa, the vast majority of the planet seems to have only seen the concept of starvation in textbooks.

Fuck, what an incredible thing!

Starve!

……

Underground, there are several oversized caves hidden, which are special bases. It is divided into 18 floors and goes underground, but despite this, it has all the facilities inside, including houses, shops, shopping malls, entertainment facilities, research centers, schools, etc...... Everything has been taken into account. The real core equipment, as well as the research, is all underground.

What is placed on the ground is nothing more than something unimportant, and for Tuthelm today, this is what it means. For other countries, these studies are more than 50 years ahead of them. And those real core technologies are all far ahead of their time of more than 150 years, and individual technologies have already been ahead of them by more than 200 years......

However, no one is interested in this tiny planet under their feet, nor is anyone interested in this huge human race. It was only then that these leaders realized why the ancient ancestors did not bother to conquer the vast land around them, but were willing to live on small islands. Now, they finally get it.

When your productivity, your civilization, your science and technology have long since surpassed others, will you be happy to rule over these people? The answer is, no. To rule these people means to share your resources, resources in all aspects, weakening your strength. The whole country pursues an elitist education policy, and expects all citizens to grow into the elite of the elite. Naturally, they exclude everyone from the outside world, while at the same time actively maintaining contact with the outside world.

The current Tuthelm ruling class is now thinking of this kind.

Especially when they know how strong their country's scientific and technological strength is, this arrogant attitude is even stronger. And when he witnessed the glory and strength of his ancestors, this attitude of arrogance became even stronger.

Everyone is proud to be part of this country.

If someone proposes to rule over all mankind, they will definitely be sprayed until they die. Our strength is the best on the earth, why should we rule these people, why should we rule them? Sharing the fruits of our hard work, sharing our few resources? No one wants to, no one likes to have nothing, to immigrate to their own country, to enjoy all kinds of policy subsidies.

……

Underground, a scientific research institute.

"Your Majesty, the experts of our Academy of Sciences have studied the 'Rune Technology' project you proposed for a long time, but they have not come up with a feasible operational plan and goal." Dr. John War, with his hair full of flowers, wiped the beads of sweat from his forehead and said to a young man in a black robe.

"Why?" Jiang Ning asked him.

Dr. John replied, "We still don't understand how these magical runes 'work'. If the results can be analyzed from a scientific point of view, then there is a slight possibility that a new technology combining runes and technology can be studied. But at the moment, we have nothing to gain and we don't know where to start. So I have let you down, my majesty! ”

"Hmm!"

Jiang Ning groaned slightly, and then said, "This question is indeed something I have not considered, doctor. ”

Dr. John was genuinely afraid: "Don't say that, my majesty! ”

"It's a bit unrealistic to study rune technology right now. At present, the empire does not have this background and talent accumulation. It seems that without solving this problem, rune technology will never come to fruition. It's me who was sloppy, this project is temporarily mothballed, and when the empire popularizes this knowledge, everyone will have corresponding reserves, then...... It will be solved someday. "Although Jiang Ning knows that the time for this solution and the day when rune technology will appear will definitely be very long...... Hundreds of years are possible, and there is not much hope for this, in hundreds of years, the progress of rune technology will never be stronger than the simple technology of the same period.

After all, it is definitely not a simple matter to develop an alternative system from scratch. Moreover, it is necessary to ensure that in these hundreds of years, there will be more masters in the field like Newton and Einstein, and only by laying the foundation can we have the motivation and heritage to continue to develop.

Well, there is still a long way to go!