After rescuing Reid, Ange took a detour to send him back to the Gran Chaos instead of directly rejoining the fleet in geosynchronous orbit.
The Gran Chaos waited for the Balkis to return to its position before heading back to Earth and landing in the New Misurugi Kingdom.
In the week following the colony debris fall incident, the entire Earth Sphere was plunged into chaos.
The New Misurugi Kingdom had managed to minimize the impact of the seven falling colony fragments, but a large amount of debris still broke through the defense line and entered Earth's atmosphere.
Nations fired their anti-air defenses at full capacity. When missiles couldn't lock on, they resorted to saturation bombing, but they still couldn't stop stray fragments from turning into meteors and crashing into cities.
This was especially true for weaker nations, whose domestic anti-air infrastructure was incomplete. They could only rely on the junk Mobile Suits dumped on them in large quantities by the Earth Alliance and PLANT for air defense.
Using a GINN's 76mm Heavy Assault Machine Gun or a Strike Dagger's 57mm Beam Rifle to shoot at rapidly descending meteorites made of pure metal? That was truly asking too much of those weapons, and far too much of the pilots' marksmanship.
Therefore, countries with comprehensive anti-air defenses, like the three major Earth Alliance nations, the New Misurugi Kingdom, and Orb, were spared from large debris directly crashing into their cities.
Although it was inevitable that small fragments would slip through the anti-air net and damage a building or two, the cities were largely saved.
If one had to point out the greatest impact on these nations, it would be the tsunamis triggered by larger fragments falling into the sea. Coastal cities were more or less affected by the tsunami disaster.
As for the countries without adequate anti-air defenses, they could only rely on luck. The casualties were innumerable.
However, even though their cities were saved, the personnel losses for the Eurasian Federation and the Atlantic Federation were not small.
Fearing that their citizens would riot, thinking it was the end of the world, they only began evacuating the general populace after the colony debris had already started falling to Earth.
The number of people who died in traffic accidents and stampedes during this period was definitely far greater than those killed by small debris smashing into buildings.
Moreover, these two nations subsequently fell into a state of chaos that lasted for nearly a week.
As if by prior agreement, a large number of anti-government armed groups began to carry out terrorist attacks wantonly in the cities under the banner of the hardline Zala Faction.
This threw the already chaotic civilian population into even greater disarray, compounded by the high rate of private gun ownership in these two countries. It reached a point where the military forces entering the cities to maintain order couldn't tell who was a terrorist and who was a civilian.
Even civilians couldn't distinguish whether the heavily armed people on the streets were national troops or terrorists. The three-way struggle resembled a small-scale civil war.
On PLANT's side, the Minerva, which had recorded the Ice Phoenix Gundam's "One-Sword Star Cut" and the Hermes Zero single-handedly pushing a star, returned directly to its home country.
For reasons unknown, Durandal directly released the recordings of this operation to the public, giving close-up shots of the Ice Phoenix Gundam and the Hermes Zero.
Subsequently, everyone in PLANT, from government leaders and various scientists down to middle school students still learning basic physics, began discussing what kind of technology the New Misurugi Kingdom had used in these two Mobile Suits.
To be honest, for the Ice Phoenix Gundam's "One-Sword Star Cut," PLANT's scientists could still cobble together various conjectures from the field of high-energy particles, citing technical proofs that ordinary people couldn't understand, to show that such a function was theoretically achievable.
But the Hermes Zero single-handedly pushing away a pure metal fragment with half the mass of Junius 7...
Let's put it this way: it was equivalent to a fifth-generation fighter jet, in broad daylight, using an ordinary cotton thread to lift a 100,000-ton aircraft carrier tens of thousands of meters into the air and then pulling it along at supersonic speeds.
Here, the fifth-generation fighter jet represents the engine and thrusters of the Hermes Zero, and the cotton thread represents the Mobile Suit itself.
Because the strength of the Mobile Suit itself, when pitted against the impact force of such a massive piece of metal falling to Earth, was like an aircraft carrier to a cotton thread.
Some details about the materials of the Hermes Zero had already been disclosed after the signing of the Earth Sphere Peace Accord. It was a high-strength alloy material that only the New Misurugi Kingdom had mastered.
This material was stronger than all current armors and was also ridiculously light, which was why the New Misurugi Kingdom's various custom Mobile Suits had such monstrous performance.
But while the synthesis method of this material was unknown, it was still within the realm of what could be understood by current scientific theory.
However, for the Mobile Suit to withstand the impact force of half the mass of Junius 7 crashing towards Earth with its own structural strength... this material's strength exceeded the imagination of all of PLANT's scientists.
In any case, after PLANT's scientists ignored the issue of thrust, assuming that thrust and impact force could cancel each other out, and then forcibly calculated the material strength required for a Mobile Suit's structure to withstand both forces, they just smiled wryly and threw the data into the trash.
Because if the New Misurugi Kingdom could really build Mobile Suits with materials of this strength, then they might as well just wait for the New Misurugi Kingdom to unify the Earth Sphere. There was no point in resisting; it would be a losing battle no matter how they fought.
If they used this material to build a slightly larger Shield, it could probably withstand a direct hit from Genesis's Gamma Ray Burst.
Then, these scientists also took the trouble to calculate the thrust needed to counteract the fall of half the mass of Junius 7 (not counting the added metal filler, but using the originally recorded data).
After finishing their calculations, the scientists pushed back their chairs and went to the rooftop to cool down. According to them, for a Mobile Suit less than twenty meters tall to have such powerful thrust... Heh, why don't we discuss what posture to use when we surrender later?
Finally, when PLANT located the other half of the Junius 7 debris 600,000 kilometers from Earth, they found that its overall shape was not much different from when it was falling. They couldn't even find any handprint-like dents where the Hermes Zero had pushed the wreckage.
Well, now the scientists directly felt that physics no longer existed. The worldviews of many physics-related scientists in PLANT shattered, and they all expressed that they needed to retake physics, or perhaps just change their major.
Finally, let's talk about the New Misurugi Kingdom.
The New Misurugi Kingdom suffered relatively little damage in this disaster, and there were no anti-government armed groups in the country. Anyone who tried to stir up trouble was immediately pinned to the ground by ordinary citizens nearby.
Because after this incident, the public's trust in the New Misurugi Kingdom's government soared to unprecedented heights.
In particular, the footage of the Hermes Zero pushing away the Junius 7 debris was initially broadcast live nationwide.
It was difficult for ordinary people to understand any scientific theories, and even those who did couldn't explain it. In the end, combined with the government's guidance to pray at the time, they regarded it as a miracle.
Although the government subsequently went to great lengths to publicize that pushing away the Junius 7 debris could actually be explained by science, but that it was a top national secret that could not be made public, and demanded that the public not believe in rumors. It was CE 73, how could there still be things like gods? Gods were all lies, all superstition!
But the more the New Misurugi Kingdom's government said this, the more the public felt that the government was hiding something.
Then, the people of the New Misurugi Kingdom began to let their imaginations run wild. Under the guidance of certain interested parties, people came to believe that the government was hiding the truth because other countries, and even corrupt officials within their own country, would insatiably demand God's blessings after learning of His power, causing God to no longer favor humanity.
These interested parties were, naturally, the remnants of various religions from all countries that had not yet died out. After seeing the miracle of the Hermes Zero pushing away the Junius 7 debris, this group immediately realized that this was the best opportunity for religion to be accepted by the people again.
These people intentionally tried to shape Reid into a new-age Jesus, an agent of God's will, a Saint.
So, on the surface, the New Misurugi Kingdom was still thriving, but internally, it was also in turmoil. These religious elements were very cunning; on the surface, they only used various words and phrases to praise Reid.
Even if the government arrested these people, they couldn't convict them. They could only fine them a small amount for holding illegal gatherings and give them a few words of criticism before letting the matter go.
As for the three major Earth Alliance nations, they were actually already holding a secret meeting.
There was only one topic on the agenda for this meeting: was Reid still human, and could he have been possessed by an alien?
To be honest, if any fourth party were to learn of this topic, they would probably dismiss it as a rumor. Had the leaders of the three Earth Alliance nations been drinking? Were they holding a private science fiction story seminar?
However, the reality was that the leaders of the three Earth Alliance nations were indeed holding a science fiction story seminar. This was because their own scientists had done the same thing as the PLANT scientists, and then hypothesized what the Hermes Zero could do if it really had such capabilities.
The result was that after discussion, the three leaders concluded that the Hermes Zero was a super Mobile Suit that could trigger a magnitude-8 earthquake and crack open cities with a single stomp, shatter the doors of any nuclear-proof bunker with a single punch, and whose main body couldn't be destroyed even by one or two direct nuclear hits.
Of course, if the three leaders truly believed that such a Mobile Suit existed, they could pretty much go back and prepare to turtle up. From now on, they would do whatever the New Misurugi Kingdom said; they still wanted to live a few more years.
If the New Misurugi Kingdom wanted to unify the globe, then they would fight for some benefits and let them unify. Life is like rape; if you really can't resist, you might as well lie back and enjoy it.
So, the three leaders talked for a whole day, but in the end, they didn't come to any conclusion. The person who tied the bell must be the one to untie it. Many things required Reid Isaac to come out and explain them himself.
However, the Atlantic Federation then changed the subject, turning the conversation to who the mastermind behind the colony debris fall incident was and what should be done about it.
The three Earth Alliance nations were not fools. The New Misurugi Kingdom had risked so much, successively revealing two weapons that could decide the outcome of a major war to stop the colony from falling. The possibility of them staging the whole thing was very low, as doing so would not benefit the New Misurugi Kingdom in the slightest.
Therefore, from a perspective of interests, the Atlantic Federation quickly concluded that the mastermind was PLANT.
Of course, the East Asian Republic and the Eurasian Federation both knew that the Atlantic Federation had its own selfish motives, but they had to admit that this conclusion was very reasonable.
There were only a few organizations that could help terrorists push down colony debris.
The four Earth nations could basically be ruled out directly. Who would want to destroy their own country just to stage this drama with you to start a war?
It was like stabbing yourself, a police officer, and a judge each in the heart just to frame an enemy for murder.
Once you've killed everyone who can uphold justice, who would care if the murder suspect actually committed the crime?
Then, the East Asian Republic proposed that in this colony fall incident, the Junk Guild must have participated in the act of filling the fortress debris with metal, so they must also be held accountable.
On this matter, the Atlantic Federation, in order to gain the East Asian Republic's support in the subsequent war, decisively agreed. The three nations agreed to jointly investigate the Junk Guild's problem.
Here, the main reason the East Asian Republic decided to help the Atlantic Federation restart the war with PLANT was lingering fear.
In the original story, the East Asian Republic barely participated in the second war because the country was truly in ruins and had no strength left.
If they had the strength, and since the colony debris was pushed down by the Zala Faction, for which PLANT was undeniably responsible, they would have sent troops to fight PLANT from the very beginning.
As for helping PLANT clean up the Atlantic Federation's LOGOS later, firstly, the country had recovered some of its strength and needed to act like a major power. Secondly, by that time, PLANT had basically crippled the Eurasian Federation and the Atlantic Federation. It would have been unwise for them to jump out and fight PLANT in their own battered state.
So, the current East Asian Republic was like a slightly injured but thoroughly enraged Dragon, needing to find the culprit to vent its anger on.
While the whole world was in chaos, with various conspiracies intertwined, what was Reid doing?
Reid was naturally playing dead in a hospital in Star Palace City.
This time, Reid really had to act like he was playing dead, staying in the hospital 24/7, needing someone to push him in a wheelchair to get around, as if his kidneys had been harvested and his vitality was greatly damaged.
For Reid, this was no different from being in prison, but he had to put on this act.
According to Une, Reid had caused too big of a stir this time; all the leaders in the entire Earth Sphere must be scared to death.
If Reid was later seen bouncing around outside, hale and hearty, then none of the national leaders would probably be able to sleep well.
Therefore, Reid had to act out a state of extreme weakness from using a forbidden power. To deceive the other leaders, Une even had Reid take sleeping pills, falsified medical equipment parameters, and then arranged for non-native government staff to come and observe him outside the ICU as if he were a monkey on display.
Subsequently, Une went to find Nanai Miguel to discuss the issue of publicly revealing Newtypes.
The New Misurugi Kingdom had to give everyone an explanation for this miracle, otherwise, despite the current high level of trust in the government within the New Misurugi Kingdom, it wouldn't last.
Once other countries launched a public opinion offensive and branded Reid as non-human, there would always be uninformed citizens who would believe it.
Moreover, those religious remnants were also a big problem. A living person becoming a Saint was not a good thing. After a while, all the jealous people would come to test if this Saint could bleed.
This wasn't like Reid's previous title as the greatest scientific genius of the century, where others wouldn't even know where to begin to feel jealous.
For such a hollow claim as being "favored by God," countless people would want to take his place.
Therefore, Reid absolutely could not be associated with religion.
Reid also agreed on this point.
After all, Reid didn't have a good impression of those Western religions in his past life, and he was reincarnated into the CE Universe with his memories before he even reached an age where he needed spiritual sustenance.
Now, knowing of the existence of the Super G Universe Management System, it was even more impossible for Reid to believe in any gods or buddhas.
As for others believing in him, that was something to consider after he became a system administrator. For now, he really couldn't bear it.
(End of Chapter)