The video ended, and the screen went dark.
The meeting room was so silent that one could hear a pin drop.
Ellis remained silent, his hands unconsciously clenching into fists.
He felt his eyes heating up, and his vision became somewhat blurred.
He raised his hand to lightly brush the corners of his eyes, and the wet sensation on his fingertips shocked even himself.
As a politician, being moved was the cheapest and most useless emotion; he had long since stopped believing in genuine feelings.
However, when he heard that man—the savior of all mankind—say without reservation, "Support him with everything you have," and "He will become a true hero," before facing an expedition with an uncertain fate...
His inner heart told him:
He, Matthew Ellis, was the leader of Earth personally designated by Homelander! If he backed down now, how could he face that heavy trust!
"He entrusted the future of humanity to me..." Ellis looked up resolutely, with only one thought in his mind.
He could not fail Homelander's trust! Never!
"Draft an executive order immediately!" Ellis instructed the chief of staff beside him.
"A joint operation between the Treasury, Homeland Security, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation!" His eyes scanned every official present like torches.
"Anyone who dares to transfer funds will be arrested on the spot for treason! No warrant required!"
The Secretary of the Treasury opened his mouth, wanting to say something: "But Mr. President, over at Congress..."
"To hell with Congress!" Ellis interrupted him rudely, showing an iron fist he had never displayed before.
"From this second on, whoever dares to oppose this new policy can hand in their resignation to my desk themselves! If they don't know how to write it, the FBI will go to their homes and help them write it!"
"Execute the order! There is no room for negotiation!"
Looking at Ellis, who seemed reborn and was showing the potential of a tyrant, Homelander felt a sense of approval in his heart.
Feeling the President's determination, just as everyone was preparing to accept this crazy reality, the Secretary of Commerce raised his hand with a furrowed brow and raised a more realistic problem.
"Mr. President, I do not oppose this iron-blooded plan. But..."
"This grand project involving millions of high-end robots and even the construction of an interstellar fleet... even if we concentrate all our resources..."
"But such a massive allocation of resources—hundreds of millions of tons of special steel, rare metals, aero-engine components—from logistics and transportation to the final precision assembly."
The Secretary of Commerce spread his hands helplessly.
"This isn't a problem that can be solved just with money! Even if all the factories in the world were running at full capacity, the timeframe would be measured in decades!"
"Now, those damn aliens have already started moving... can we... really wait until the day it's finished?"
As soon as these words were spoken, they instantly sobered the crowd who had begun to be swept away by fanatical emotions.
True.
Money can be seized, factories can be seized. But what about time? Where can you seize time from?
The aliens might not even leave humanity ten months, let alone ten years!
The fire of hope that had just been lit was extinguished in the blink of an eye by a bucket of ice water.
All eyes, including those of the leaders of the ancient Eastern nation on the other side of the screen, focused squarely on Daniel.
They wanted to know what else this Chief Strategic Officer of Vought had to say.
Facing everyone's doubts, Homelander remained calm and elegant.
He gave a confident laugh.
"Mr. Secretary, you are quite right, and you've put it well."
"But please remember one thing: Vought can always create miracles!"
Saying this, Homelander took a metal device that looked like a capsule out of his pocket.
It was only the size of an adult's knuckle.
Homelander held the capsule in mid-air for everyone to see.
"Everyone, watch closely."
He pressed lightly on the top of the capsule with his thumb and tossed it casually onto a wide, empty space on the meeting room floor.
"Bang!"
A slight air burst sounded.
In the next second, under everyone's horrified gazes.
A massive bronze statue of Homelander, over ten meters tall, rose from the ground without warning!
The statue's head almost brushed the high domed ceiling of the hall. Its massive shadow, cast by the lights, shrouded half the room.
If the ceiling height had been even half a meter lower, it definitely would have pierced through.
"Mr... Mr. Daniel..." Ellis, shrouded in the shadow, asked somewhat stutteringly, "What... what magic is this? Please explain."
This was exactly the applied technology Homelander had Skynet create using the theoretical basis of the Shrink technology.
"It's not magic, Mr. President. It's science."
"This is the latest Micro-Space Technology developed by Vought Applied Technology."
Homelander explained to this group of politicians who were so shocked they had temporarily lost the ability to think.
"This technology can Shrink an object to one ten-millionth of its original volume and then encapsulate it into the special capsule I just threw."
"A mass restoration device is implanted inside the capsule. As soon as the activation button is pressed, the object breaks through the capsule's constraints and instantly restores to its original size and mass."
"Of course, frankly speaking, this technology is currently in the version 1.0 stage. Objects in the micro-state can only be maintained for a maximum of twenty-four hours."
Homelander spread his hands and continued.
"Once the twenty-four hours are up, even if the restoration device isn't manually triggered, the object will forcibly and automatically restore and expand."
"However," Homelander smiled confidently, "we will soon break through this small technical barrier."
"In the future, we will establish a dedicated Vought Capsule Technology Company. When the civilian version is developed, this issue will be completely resolved, making it a permanent stable state."
When Homelander reached this point, the meeting room was still in a dead silence.
But unlike the atmosphere just now, burning sparks began to burst from everyone's eyes.
"Even if it's just the current 24-hour limited version..." Homelander tapped the table, pulling their thoughts back.
"...it is enough to solve all the problems you are worried about!"
The Secretary of Commerce was stunned on the spot, his brain working frantically. As an expert in logistics and commerce, he knew better than anyone the terrifying significance this technology represented.
Homelander continued to state this industrial blueprint, which was like a dimensional reduction strike.
"Imagine, gentlemen. A cargo ship of hundreds of thousands of tons, a heavy-duty train full of steel. Now, it only takes a suitcase to hold it."
"We don't need ports, we don't need sea transport, we don't need railway scheduling. Within a few hours, we can send tens of millions of tons of special alloys, engine parts, and high-precision machine tools from any corner of the Earth to Vought's assembly Base."