───「 Human POV 」───
"Ah, I shouldn't have come."
As Daisuke Senzaki walked out of city hall at noon, he was already exhausted.
"And you, Dr. Huang, you betrayed me by notifying that guy in advance."
"Today I won't let you off the hook unless you treat me to lunch."
Making zombie-like groaning sounds, Senzaki left the square with the middle-aged man as they called two cars to take them back.
They were ready to head home.
"Betrayal? Really? That's your brother! How can taking you to meet your own brother be considered betrayal? Besides, Dr. Senzaki seems to care about you, doesn't he? It's not as bad as you made it out to be."
Sprawled across the back seat, the middle-aged Dr. Huang still seemed somewhat dissatisfied.
He had just met several prominent figures he'd only read about in publications before, so he was in excellent spirits.
"But forget it, considering how pitiful you look. Alright, what do you want to eat? I'll treat you to lunch. Where do you want to go?"
In his good mood, he made a generous offer—money wasn't an issue. What would Senzaki like for lunch? He would pay! After all, they were tired of the university cafeteria.
"Xiao Dong."
Wow, starting with something expensive right away.
"Let's have Peking duck for lunch. Are you up for it?"
Dr. Huang, with his virtually non-existent neck, cursed under his breath and then provided the restaurant name, instructing the driver to take them to the nearest Xiao Dong location.
"Sorry, the restaurant you requested is temporarily closed."
"Well, none of the thirteen locations are open. Let's try another place."
When the navigation system couldn't find any open locations, it meant all the restaurants in town were closed. Typical—the wealthy always evacuate quickly.
"Xiao Dong is closed too... How about Angui Alley?"
Another Peking duck restaurant, though a step down in quality. They used uniformly cultured duck meat.
The previous restaurant used tank-cultured meat, but at least it had varying textures—firm and juicy areas that made each bite different.
But Angui Alley was different; their uniformly cultured meat tasted the same throughout, lacking any textural variation. People rarely went there specifically for Peking duck.
"Hey, do you have some vendetta against Peking duck today? Come on, let's go to Angui Alley."
"Sorry, the restaurant you requested is..."
Great, this one was closed too. After the evacuation, at least Beijing's housing shortage had been resolved.
"We can't have Peking duck. Let's eat something else."
Dr. Huang looked at his phone, and upon hearing there was no Peking duck available, Senzaki leaned back, staring at the car's ceiling as he muttered:
"Alright... I've lost my appetite. Dr. Huang, do you really think it can be used?"
Without Peking duck, he'd lost his appetite—quite peculiar. He didn't usually eat Peking duck, so why the sudden craving today?
Contemplating what might be in Senzaki's stomach, Dr. Huang responded with confusion.
"Used for what?"
Classic—answering a question with another question. But Senzaki hadn't explained himself clearly, so this response was reasonable.
"What else could I be talking about? The Oxygen Destroyer. You saw it too, right? The power of that thing."
Its ability to easily disassemble the structure of Godzilla cells in simulation was beyond their imagination.
Senzaki covered his eyes with his arm. When he was inside the building earlier, he understood what everyone was there for.
The Oxygen Destroyer, developed by his brother, was a weapon capable of killing Godzilla.
When he first learned about it, he was truly taken aback.
At a time when the world had not yet fully analyzed Godzilla's cells, his brother had already developed a weapon capable of killing the creature.
It was something to be proud of... right?
Dr. Huang didn't answer, and Senzaki continued unprompted:
"Can that thing really be used without consequences? It's far worse than a nuclear bomb."
Even if humans converted all the nuclear fuel on Earth into bombs and detonated them simultaneously, some extreme microorganisms would survive.
As long as these microorganisms existed, there remained a possibility of re-establishing the ecosystem.
But the Oxygen Destroyer was different. It could truly kill all microorganisms within its range.
There would be no opportunity for evolution or adaptation. No survivors.
"For life itself, this is a much more dangerous weapon than a nuclear bomb."
The atmosphere suddenly grew heavy with silence.
"It shouldn't... right?"
Dr. Huang was uncertain; he had initially wanted to deny it. But then he remembered their struggles to analyze Godzilla's cells and the devastation when Godzilla appeared in the Far East...
He felt doubt creep in.
Trading the planet's ecological future for humanity's survival.
For humans, this seemed like a worthwhile deal.
"Boom, boom, boom, boom..."
In the sky, another fleet of unmanned transport drones flew overhead. This time, Senzaki didn't look up, but Dr. Huang leaned closer to the window to watch.
He observed a cluster of transport drones carrying what looked like capsules, heading in a specific direction.
If he remembered correctly, that direction should lead toward the Bohai Sea.
Dr. Huang froze, then immediately reacted. He pressed his face against the window, straining to see more.
His eyes, pressed against the glass, widened to their limit as he tried to see more clearly.
But unfortunately, in his moment of shock, the unmanned transport drones had already flown beyond his range of vision.
...
April 21, 2208.
The construction of the three major coastal defense lines in East Asia, North America, and Australia has been completed.
Meanwhile, the European Space Agency's mission to clear near-Earth orbit of space debris is also nearing completion.
It is expected that construction of the framework for the space-based strike network will begin before May arrives.
In naval developments, the first batch of warships equipped with mobile electromagnetic guns have conducted their maiden voyages and sea-based target tests.
The manufacture of nuclear weapons is also proceeding smoothly, with temporary nuclear materials in adequate supply thanks to deep crust development. Everything is on schedule.
What few people noticed was that a certain paper that had been promoted for publication in Nature was quietly retracted.
At the same time, the three major regions of East Asia, North America, and Australia began installing electromagnetic cannons at their coastal locations.
A total of 1,800,000 cannons are planned, covering all coastlines.
The installation of 1,082 electromagnetic guns forms the most basic defense line.
These electromagnetic cannons will serve as the last resort to repel Godzilla should the situation deteriorate in the three major regions.
At this time, 15 days remain until Godzilla awakens.
31 days remain until the arrival of Ghidorah's Wings.
??? days remain until the arrival of ???.
??? days remain until the arrival of ???.
And the final countdown to the apocalypse—
"The End"