I ask you to build tractors, but you build rockets?

As for Sullivan's verbal hints, they were almost completely on point for him, and he could hear the true meaning behind each sentence.

In other words, Sullivan was waiting for him to take a stand.

How to deal with the crisis caused by NX17 has caused widespread controversy among the staff and think tanks. The main reason is that the opponent's purpose is still unclear.

The former alliance's launch of 'Stage-DM' was basically semi-public and could not be concealed, but NX17 has been running secretly for a year, must have done countless experiments, and achieved an overwhelming advantage over Ami in this field.

The reason why we are still hiding it now is because there are only two possibilities: the laser satellite route is wrong, or we are preparing to do something big.

In this case, if you take the initiative to express that you are aware of it, it will be a huge irritation, which may cause unpredictable consequences, but it is not a problem to ignore it.

The think tank believes that the best way is to hint at the other party without alerting others, and then quietly negotiate to ask the other party to slow down the construction of the laser satellite defense network.

After learning about NX17, the Arab and American experts gathered together marveled at the rapid development of China's laser technology and firmly stated that the interception capabilities of a small number of laser satellites are limited. To really destroy the deterrence balance, a large number of networks are needed.

What is certain is that the cost of doing so is extremely high. Even Aramco found it unbearable after estimation. However, considering the huge benefits after completion, there are enough reasons to invest.

Therefore, the purpose of the negotiation is to take advantage of this and make some concessions to relax the other party's determination to continue to develop laser satellites, thereby buying time for Aramco to urgently develop similar products and minimizing the gap before the other party's patience runs out.

The scope of "concession" is set very wide by think tanks and staff groups. After all, it is impossible to achieve the goal with just a small profit, and it must be truly cut.

However, Sullivan still tried his best to avoid excessive losses.

He had been observing Xu Rang for several days, and today he finally saw some inexplicable expressions on his face. He finally didn't act stupid like before, which was a good sign.

After the discussion, the five parties dispersed, but Xu Rang and Sullivan's assistant quietly met and exchanged something.

A few hours later, Annapolis, Stillwater Park Villas area.

Two Cadillac SUVs drove into the villa area, and several people got off, all with their heads lowered and quickly walked into the prepared communication place.

Only Xu Rang in the entire team knew what was going to be discussed, and the rest of the entourage did not participate in the meeting.

The villa area has long been completely evacuated, making it an ideal and perfect secret meeting place.

As soon as he entered, he saw Sullivan. Different from the false etiquette during the day, this time Sullivan took the initiative to stand up and shake hands with him.

Sullivan is nearly 1.9 meters tall and has to bend slightly in order to shake hands with Xu Rang, who is a little over 1.7 meters tall. This seems to be a hint to the latter.

There were only Sullivan and the translator in the living room. Xu Rang sat naturally on the single sofa and took the tea from the translator with a smile.

Sullivan stared at his tea tasting behavior, and when Xu Rang praised the taste of the tea, he spoke directly:

"Mr. Xu, we are shocked by your attempt to spread the war into space."

"I don't know what you're talking about, and I don't know who is going to arm space, but the X37B has been circling for years."

Xu Rang naturally didn't know about the slight errors in the intelligence from both sides, but he simply used the second consecutive denial.

"These are two different things!"

Sullivan was a little angry:

"We all know that this unprecedented peace comes from a fragile balance, and you are trying to break this balance. The consequences of an imbalance in the balance will be a disaster for all mankind!"

"We are not disrupting the balance and destroying peace, but precisely safeguarding peace more effectively!"

Xu Rang was not to be outdone:

"The balance built on nuclear bombs is the Sword of Damocles. It will fall one day. All we are doing is defensive measures, sheathing this sword, so that mankind can completely get out of the shadow of nuclear war!"

Xu Rang could understand English directly, but Sullivan needed to be translated again, and he frowned after listening.

It was indeed sheathing the swords, but it was only sheathing four of the five swords. Although the last sword was narrower, it could still stab everyone to death with ease.

Is it possible that after the completion of the space-based laser anti-missile system, everyone can still melt swords into plowshares? What a fool!

But under the pressing circumstances, Sullivan could only hold his nose and accept this hypocritical statement.

After taking a few deep breaths, he finally offered his first concession:

"Aramco and the United States have also been committed to world peace and the reduction of nuclear weapons. For the purpose of peaceful use of atomic energy, we plan to remove 1,500 nuclear bombs from active service by 2025 and use them for peaceful purposes."

After finishing speaking, he paused and continued to add:

"In addition to dismantling nuclear raw materials for power generation, they can also be sold to space companies at reasonable prices for the development of extraterrestrial resources."

Xu Rang gave him a lot of compliments without changing his expression, and then looked at him silently.

Nuclear disarmament is certainly a good thing, but it does not bring obvious benefits.

"Except for this..." As if he had made some huge sacrifice, Sullivan squeezed out another sentence angrily:

"To encourage the development of international aerospace, we support in principle the repeal of the Wolf Clause."

At this point, he stopped to observe Xu Rang's reaction, and a look of interest finally appeared on the latter's face.

…

Livingston, Louisiana.

Barry Bashri walked into the LIGO monitoring center here with a cane and accepted the respect of all the staff.

More than two years ago, he, Rainer Weiss and Kip Thorne won the Nobel Prize in Physics for GW150914.

They are 82, 86, and 78 years old respectively. They devoted themselves to the gravitational wave industry when they were young and led the research and construction process of LIGO.

Originally, the physicist Ronelt Drever was supposed to be brought along, but he died half a year before the discovery of gravitational waves, which is very regrettable.

Since the first discovery of gravitational waves, LIGO has continuously received various gravitational wave signals, making what Einstein said impossible possible, and also uncovering more veils about it for mankind.

However, the three Nobel Prize winners have long since faded out of front-line monitoring work. Barry is here today mainly because of some minor problems with LIGO:

Three days ago in the morning, an error report occurred at the Livingston Observatory. Neither the Hanford Observatory nor the Virgin Observatory in Italy detected GW180509 recorded by the Livingston Observatory computer.

These three observatories have been upgraded and their sensitivities are basically the same, so it can be determined that GW180509 is a false alarm.

This attracted Barry's attention. He suspected that there were some problems with the basic part. If not solved, it might cause a lot of trouble.