Deep Space Wandering Fleet-Chapter 228 - Interstellar Diplomat (Two in One)

Chapter 228: Chapter 228: Interstellar Diplomat! (Two in One)

Chapter 228: Chapter 228: Interstellar Diplomat! (Two in One)

Within this tense atmosphere, another six months had passed…

The entire society had remained in a state of high tension, with remote negotiations, war mobilization, and weapons production. Everything had evolved from the initial chaos to a well-organized operation, with five hundred thousand people bursting forth with the greatest productivity in history!

The main theme of war had never changed, with work atmospheres inside the Earth Era Spaceship and on the ground industrial bases remaining oppressive, as if war could break out at any moment.

However, what common people didn’t know was that remote negotiations with Alien Civilizations had been ongoing…

For Wang Junpeng, it had been a particularly grueling half-year. The quality of life for everyone had started to decline sharply, almost reverting to the state during hibernation. Many production lines had been shifted to weapon development, forcing people into poverty once again…

Producing nuclear bombs by tightening one’s belt was not just lip service; it required physical effort and determination to persist despite the difficulty!

Wang Junpeng was even worse off. At least others had bought War Bonds, which was akin to having a future deposit with a bit of interest. Life now might be miserable, but there was still something to look forward to.

He was flat broke!

His speculative ventures had completely failed. He’d become penniless, his previous savings long spent, and he even owed money, although the amount wasn’t too large…

Especially under the surge of public sentiment, a few who had brazenly engaged in black market activities had been made examples of and had inexplicably been beaten up!

The government’s punishment for the assaulters was barely a slap on the wrist, a fine, and detention for ten days before release, which garnered applause from the public.

Online, there was even a “Heroic Beater” campaign launched, urging people to donate money to bail out those who had committed the assaults.

If the government could achieve a position of sufficient strength externally, then internal noise seemed insignificant.

The continuous development of new weapons equipment and daily news reports stimulated the hearts of people, enough to suppress the anti-war sentiment due to the reduced quality of life.

Now that they couldn’t defeat the enemy head-on, people needed a vent for their frustrations, naturally directing their anger at the profiteering merchants. Some believed that it was these hoarding merchants who had caused the current dire state of living standards…

At most, only a few experts symbolically stepped out to call for “proper legislative work” and “the prevention of violence with violence,” but that was merely lip service…

What comforted Wang Junpeng’s heart was that he had donated all the hoarded supplies ahead of time. He was not only spared from being beaten but also received praise, becoming a person of high morals.

At least he had whitewashed himself, which was the only piece of good news worthy of celebration.

He had regained lost friendships and even gained the admiration of a beautiful girl…

Thinking back on the process of finding a girlfriend, he experienced a very strange feeling. His girlfriend was in charge of infant education, but with the entire infant care program being delayed, she had been reassigned as a community worker. Wang Junpeng had met her precisely when he was making his donations…

“I’ve actually become a generous person, how… strange.”

But deep down, Wang Junpeng knew that the image he presented to others was completely fabricated, and the very thought of his girlfriend finding out he had once wanted to be a speculating merchant sent shivers down his spine.

High morals, my ass!

If it weren’t out of sheer necessity, who would be willing to donate everything they had!

He slapped his own head as he realized… when had he suddenly become such a fool?

“…Ah, that’s fantastic!”

“The first atomic bomb is already in production! In another month, we can detonate it, this is great news!”

“That’s wonderful!”

Xu Jie was still the same old carefree guy, shouting and yelling about the news he was watching.

Wang Junpeng sighed; this simple-minded old friend of his hadn’t shunned him and probably wouldn’t betray him. But as for the others in the know, who could say? They might well be grumbling behind his back…

After much thought, he realized he couldn’t control everything and his mind wandered back to the prospect of making money. Now that his speculation had failed, and he was penniless, combined with the poor business at the mobile phone shop, he felt too embarrassed to continue working there. He had no choice but to take on odd jobs in the community, such as supervising waste sorting, maintaining public order, and resolving neighborhood disputes, and so on.

Such simple work inevitably paid very little.

Even buying his girlfriend a cup of milk tea required prolonged contemplation — how was he supposed to live like this?

It wasn’t that he was materialistic; without material things, there could be no good life!

He was truly poor now!

“Hey, Old Peng,” Xu Jie saw him lost in thought again and advised him, “you’re so clever, quit using your brain for shady schemes! The world is full of people smarter than you, doing honest work. Just be sincere for once… Our civilization isn’t Earth, where loopholes abound to be exploited. With our small population, a good reputation really means something! Just do honest work; no one’s exploiting us here. What you do is what you get, nothing’s unfair…”

With the mobile phone repair business doing worse and worse, Xu Jie had already enrolled in training for the ground production team. Although the number of ground staff maintained at about 60,000, they still rotated through.

In any case, as long as one was genuinely willing to work, there was no lack of jobs in the entire civilization.

“Why don’t you sign up for a training program, too?”

“Yeah, I get it… The most profitable stuff is outlined in the criminal law, you think I’m dumb? Sigh, a training program… Let me think about it,” Wang Junpeng shook his head irritably.

As for whether he was the smartest person on the spaceship, he definitely wasn’t. Even if he were vain, he couldn’t possibly think so. People like Brother Yuan from the New Civilization Development Department and Brother Dong from the information sector were the real geniuses. At best, he only had a bit of street smarts.

And as for committing crimes, he dared not even consider it… especially since getting a girlfriend, he needed to maintain an upstanding image!

So Wang Junpeng walked out of his room sighing and aimlessly wandered the square in Area A, where businesses often posted job recruitments. No matter how reluctant he felt, he still needed to find work. Starting a business was simply too difficult.

Life was just like that, rarely going as planned. This civilization had no so-called favored children or second-generation wealthy; everyone started on the same line, with only “knowledge” or “skills” to give anyone an edge.

“Damn, I can’t always rely on friends’ charity or live off a woman… still need to save some face!”

Suddenly, he saw a huge crowd gathered in one area, buzzing with discussions and exchanges, the scene alive with activity. He quickly joined in.

At a glance, he had thought it was a recruitment for soldiers or something similar.

Then, Wang Junpeng was taken aback.

“…Recruiting interstellar diplomats?”

What was going on?!

“Hey man, do you know what’s up with this diplomatic recruitment?”

“Supposedly, some progress has been made in the negotiations between the two sides.”

“What kind of progress?”

A chubby fellow was speaking eloquently: “Neither of us can eliminate the other quickly, and vice versa. So… it’s quite necessary for us to exchange views.”

“Better to avoid war if we can…” A few people were discussing in low voices, and Wang Junpeng pricked up his ears, taking in their words.

“But we don’t even know what the other side looks like.”

“They say it’s a bit like a pangolin, intelligent, and fond of hiding underground. We need to train a group of interstellar diplomats to carry out the task of mutual communication.”

Just as everyone was abuzz with discussion, Zhang Yuan stepped onto the stage, cleared his throat, and solemnly announced this fact.

A few reporters stood in front of the stage broadcasting live.

“First of all, I must tell everyone that the negotiation with the Gleize Civilization is indeed ongoing, and currently, we need some diplomats to deeply investigate this civilization. Even though they fired a nuclear bomb at us first, it is not wise to wage a war to the death without significant losses…”

Wang Junpeng hurriedly raised his hand, “Huh? Brother Yuan, are we really just going to let this go?”

“It doesn’t feel satisfying.”

Everyone around burst into laughter, and many people online called Zhang Yuan “Brother Yuan,” which could be said to be a naturally formed group of star followers. Since the Earth Era didn’t have entertainment stars, they could only follow someone like Zhang Yuan, an alternative “star.”

But while casual teasing online was no problem, calling someone “Brother Yuan” to their face in reality seemed a bit odd…after all, the person was a high-ranking official.

Wang Junpeng blushed, muttering in his heart, “Isn’t this…just nerves?”

Zhang Yuan didn’t mind the way he was addressed and replied with a smile, “Retaliating certainly feels satisfying, you hit me, and I must hit you back. But between civilizations, it’s not a fight between people; if a real war were to start… we couldn’t possibly avoid casualties, right? We would have to pay a price.”

“Our opponent is not an animal in the forest that can be killed with a single bullet; we don’t even know how strong they are.”

“And they also don’t know how strong we are, which creates a delicate balance…”

“Alright.” Wang Junpeng nodded, indicating he understood.

Zhang Yuan continued, “Back to the main point, this profession is inevitably risky and demands high personal capabilities. Those who want to apply first need to go through a written test. Those who pass will still need to face two rounds of interviews.”

“The final number of selections will be around 20.”

“Since we don’t have corresponding professionals on the spaceship, we’re not requiring educational qualifications or specializations for the time being… But the most basic requirement is: good oratory skills, the ability to improvise, and knowledge of a wide range of etiquette…”

Interstellar Diplomats!

Instantly, the whole square was boiling over!

Even those watching the live broadcast online rushed to the square to sign up.

When the Earth Era Spaceship first launched, it was impossible to prepare for this profession.

After all, Earth people had never encountered an Alien Civilization, so who would have considered these things?

Moreover, it wasn’t feasible to employ such idle positions on the spaceship. Even the New Civilization Development Department was a nominal position with no one actually appointed before the entire incident!

But now, things seemed different, as the negotiations continued, it was necessary to train some special diplomats to deal with this civilization.

“Dealing with an Alien Civilization, this… sounds a bit interesting… seems doable.” Mulling this over, Wang Junpeng’s heart started beating faster.

For one thing, this job was indeed very appropriate for his professional needs.

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An interstellar diplomat, the mere title was prestigious enough to cover up his own blemishes, surely enough to deceive his little girlfriend.

On the other hand, the job really was interesting and fun! The salary would also likely be high.

Facing all manner of strange and peculiar Biological entities, there would definitely be some dangers, but… the excitement and the fun couldn’t be compared to any ordinary job.

Weighing the risks against the potential benefits, Wang Junpeng fell silent for a moment, contemplating for a few seconds.

Here’s how the requested text would translate into English, with attention to context, nuance, and style:

Done!

The entire written exam and the interview process went quite smoothly, testing adaptability and eloquence more than anything else.

With Wang Junpeng’s intelligence and wit, it was hardly a challenge for him, and he quickly stood out from the many candidates.

What he worried about the most was whether the stain on his record from his attempts at reselling purchased items would hinder his job search, specifically whether he could pass the political examination. Even though he had used multiple IDs at the time, if the government really wanted to investigate, they could certainly find out…

He would not underestimate the so-called big data system. Despite his cleverness, Wang Junpeng didn’t dare to claim he could conceal it from this powerful AI…

“So… the last few questions, please answer carefully. This job is inevitably dangerous, and none of us have ever encountered aliens. No one knows what customs or thoughts they might have,” said the interviewer.

“What if their custom is to eat diplomats?”

“How do you view this danger?”

Zhang Yuan, conducting the final round of interviews, was fairly satisfied with this shrewd young man.

The experts sitting nearby were holding a form, quietly discussing something. Under the scrutiny of the big data system, it’s easy to trace what a person has done.

From the very first person who “repaired old mobile phones” to later hoarding supplies with the intent to resell…

However, this blemish was not a big deal, at least in Zhang Yuan’s view. It could, at best, be chalked up to being somewhat clever.

Judging by how decisively Wang Junpeng had donated all his stockpiled goods, he seemed to have excellent timing, always one step ahead of others, and acted with conviction.

After all, there were weaknesses but also strengths. Acceptable, one might say.

Wang Junpeng, however, was unaware of these private discussions. Faced with such a tricky question, he pondered for a few seconds, then spoke confidently: “Risk and opportunity are always proportional. The role of a diplomat is akin to that of a spy in broad daylight. Although it’s risky, if one is capable enough, the intelligence gathered can be more valuable than producing several nuclear bombs!”

“Personally, I relish the challenge. Besides, I also cherish the honor that comes with this position…”

“As for what you said, if by any chance their custom is to devour diplomats… I don’t see much reason to worry.”

“Why? Because under equal circumstances, just as we consider their cultural customs, they will certainly consider ours. Our civilization believes that eating the other’s diplomat is profoundly offensive and even an act of war provocation. What would they think?”

“If they still insist on consuming our diplomats, then it suggests two possibilities. One is that their civilization is extremely arrogant and narcissistic, trying to impose their values on other civilizations, which I believe makes them extremely dangerous and unworthy of communication. The dead diplomats would die in vain.”

“The second is that their intelligence is very poor, failing to foresee the consequences of eating a diplomat.”

“I think, given the information we have, both scenarios are very unlikely. The intelligence of the Glizerians is high, so there’s no need to worry.”

Zhang Yuan nodded, then asked, “So, when negotiations break down and civilizations go to war, facing certain death, what would be your choice?”

“I…” Wang Junpeng wanted to bluff his way through with an impassioned speech but in the end, replied honestly, “First, I’d look for a way to survive, hoping that civilization could rescue me.”

“If survival is impossible, then I would choose to let more people live on… passing on the last pieces of information should be the way. I don’t have many other thoughts.”

“Very good!” Zhang Yuan nodded. “Remember your choice today. That’s all, wait for the notification…”

After witnessing Wang Junpeng leave the room, Zhang Yuan let out a sigh of relief. This guy was indeed the most satisfying type among this batch of interviewees. The others always had more flaws, being either not so articulate, easily shy and blushing, or a bit naïve…

Yes, naivety was the biggest problem. The cultural environment aboard the Earth Era Spaceship lacked many dark aspects, and since all the astronauts recruited initially were young, there were no messy unwritten rules, resulting in people being more straightforward. The smooth-talkers were, on the contrary, not so common.

The reason for urgently wanting to recruit a batch of diplomats was because…

The Gleize Civilization would soon be sending a delegation of alien diplomats to the Earth Era Spaceship!