With a plate of food, Xia Shiyu, who had already changed into her professional attire, smiled at Jiang Chen, sat down beside him, and placed several newspapers on the table.

When Jiang Chen glanced at the cover of the newspapers, he laughed. It was a face he is too familiar with.

After all, he saw it every day in the mirror.

“I made headlines again?”

Jiang Chen put down the fork and lazily reached to grab a newspaper.

His eyes swept the title. It seemed to catch him by surprise as he almost spat out the oatmeal in his mouth.

Just then, softness engulfed the back of his head and the luscious hair that smelled great swept across the tip of his nose.

Natasha hugged Jiang Chen’s neck from the back and moved her face closer to the newspaper. Then she read out the content in the newspaper with great interest.

“‘…Celestial Trade’s Spaceship mobilized during an emergency, the target is Mars!’… Hey? Are you making a movie?”

“…”

“Move, don’t you see Jiang Chen is troubled?” Ayesha, who just came out of the kitchen, looked at Natasha who was stuck to Jiang Chen’s back, and let out a sigh. She rubbed one of her eyes that were surrounded in dark circles while she used the other hand to put the plate filled with salad and sliced toast on the table.

Obviously, she didn’t rest well last night.

As for what happened, well…there was no need to elaborate.

Perhaps it was because Ayesha always schooled Natasha in combat, Natasha listened to Ayesha most of the time. She pouted and reluctantly let Jiang Chen go. Then she grabbed a newspaper and sat down. She began drinking some coffee as she continued to read.

“Alien vs. Soldiers? Or the prelude to Star Wars? The Mars scientific expedition team was attacked by giant aliens while searching for water resources, and a Celestial Trade Marine Corps soldier was seriously injured… This is the New York Times, next is Reuters.”

“Reuters’ reporters applied to follow Celestial Trade Marine Corps but they were rejected. The situation on Mars is likely to be more serious than expected. Tiangong City Plan may go bankrupt? It is recommended that British investors carefully consider the investment environment on Mars … Oh, this is also not a simple issue.”

Natasha put down the newspaper, then glanced at Jiang Chen with a sly face.

“It’s okay,” Jiang Chen said as he stuffed the toast into his mouth. “These are common tricks used by reporters. Exaggerate things to make things bigger than they seem, gain enough people’s attention and then use ‘follow-up reports’ to restore the truth.”

Tiangong City Plan to go bankrupt?

What kind of international joke is this?

The supplies and equipment needed for the next colony expansion left almost at the same as the thousand soldiers in hibernation. In addition, a hundred ground explosive bombs were also on board to target the Devil Worms’ nests.

After two generations of upgrades to the engine of the Seagull-class Transport Ship, the new TS Seagull was already capable of traveling between the Mars orbit and Celestial City. The journey to Mars was no longer a one-way ticket. It was also the reason why Jiang Chen had the courage to make the decision to send a thousand soldiers to Mars.

One thousand Marines, on the one hand, was to kill the Devil Worms, while on the other hand, it was to cover up the excavation works of the Gaia civilization.

“I’m full.” Natasha put down the coffee and stood up with her plate. Then she looked at Jiang Chen who was still masticating slowly, “I’m heading to the Russian Embassy. Are there any words I need to bring for you?”

“No, the call will probably come soon anyway.”

Almost as soon as he finished the sentence, Jiang Chen’s watch began to ring.

Jiang Chen looked up to Natasha, who also looked amazed.

What a coincidence?

…

The call was indeed from the allies of the Earth Defense Alliance. However, it was not from Moscow but from Shangjing.

“…I read the newspaper this morning.”

“I also read it. Is something wrong?” Jiang Chen said nonchalantly.

“Nothing.” Wu Changfeng forced an awkward laugh and paused for a moment before he continued. “I heard that there is a problem with your Mine 071?”

“Yes, our people were originally drilling for groundwater there, but a bug crawled out instead.” Jiang Chen sighed and said in a heavy and serious tone, “We have sent reinforcements to the colony. A thousand soldiers should reach the synchronous orbit within two weeks,.”

Two weeks!

Wu Changfeng’s eyebrows twitched.

If he rememberes correctly, the number was still more than a month half a year ago! And Mars was much closer to Earth than it is now.

Celestial Trade’s advancement in aerospace technology is simply astounding.

Jiang Chen noticed that there was no sound from the other side, so he asked.

“What’s the matter?”

Wu Changfeng hid the astonishment in his head as he coughed and asked.

“Nothing. I just want to ask on behalf of Hua if you need reinforcements. After all, when we signed the Earth Defense Alliance Treaty and swore to be on the same frontline when dealing with the threat of extraterrestrial civilization. If you need it, Hua is willing to send infantry to assist your Marines.”

When Jiang Chen listened to Wu Changfeng’s proposal, he smiled and rejected with gratitude, “No, we can solve this little problem by ourselves. And it’s still unclear whether Devil Worms can be called extraterrestrial civilization. After all, it seems to us that they are just a group of dangerous beasts.”

“Then…

“I know what you are worried about,” Jiang Chen said in a calm tone and interrupted Wu Changfeng’s words,”Don’t worry, at the end of this month, the specimen of Devil Worm will be sent back to Celestial City. We will host a summit which will fully disclose the research progress of Mars species to the international community.”

Jiang Chen smiled and said the words that Wu Changfeng had been waiting for.

“At that time, we would like to welcome your scientists to Celestial Trade to participate in the summit and collaborate in the research!”

Wu Changfeng was overjoyed and he laughed.

“Thank you, Mr. Jiang!”

In fact, his seemingly informal phone call was also instructed by the people at the top the night before.

After all, he was just a major general of the army. He could not just send reinforcements based on his will.

The reason why he proposed to send reinforcements was not to actually send soldiers to the battlefield tens of millions of kilometers away, but to subtly hint at Jiang Chen the covenant they established together for the Earth Defense Alliance.

All relevant information on extraterrestrial civilization should be shared without reservation between major member states. It was one of the reasons why Hua and Russia were willing to make some concessions to their own interests in international affairs and firmly stand on the same front as Xin.

Wu Changfeng was most worried that Celestial Trade may stay in the grey area on the definition of an extraterrestrial civilization. After all, only Celestial Trade could send people to Mars in this world. The entire route was monopolized, and even if they were dissatisfied, they did not have any other options.

Jiang Chen’s words undoubtedly dismissed his concerns, which would allow him to respond to his boss.

What Wu Changfeng didn’t know was that the specimen of the Devil Worm was nothing but a bait to switch the attention of the international community.

As for the memory of the Gaia civilization, and the ruins hidden under Mine 071… Jiang Chen would never leak a word before Celestial Trade completely uncovered its real treasure.