Chapter 132: The Return Voyage (Third Bonus Chapter for the Alliance Leader)

The clock turned back to that first day when Mio Ito’s tide of blood began to spread outward from Tokyo.

Yokota Air Base.

Aircraft after aircraft departed the runway in a desperate rush—from private transport planes to fighter squadrons and helicopter groups, they surged into the sky one after another, packed tight like scales on a fish.

Once the crews had finished boarding all personnel, the air base below erupted into a sea of flames—a final act set by the American soldiers themselves before the evacuation.

This order had been issued by General Robert, the four-star Commander of U.S. Forces Japan and the Yokota Air Base.

This act signaled America’s total abandonment of Japan, a vital stronghold in East Asia, and the collapse of its Asia-Pacific strategy. With the fires rising at Yokota, America’s grip on the global situation would henceforth loosen even further.

Sitting on the transport plane, Robert rubbed his weary eyes and looked down at the raging inferno below. A sense of profound sorrow filled his heart.

"Transcendents"—a new humanity that had only existed for half a year—had stirred up a world-level storm in such a short time. It made one fear that in the days to come, she might further roil the global order or even trigger a war that could destroy mankind.

The mere thought of such an existence left Robert feeling desperate.

He sighed, pulled a lens cloth from his chest pocket, and wiped his bifocals.

Now in his sixties, Robert did not share the arrogance of elites like John, who had grown up at the turn of the millennium and viewed American hegemony as an immutable right.

In his youth, he had come of age in the cold, grim atmosphere of the confrontation between the United States and the Northern Power.

Back then, America was mired in the quagmire of Southeast Asia, filled with anti-war sentiments and isolationism. The Beatles' "Hey Jude" and "Hotel California" echoed through the streets. Although that Northern Power had already proven its economic inferiority through years of struggle, it was precisely for that reason that one feared the powerful war potential of a populace that seemed like featureless silhouettes behind the Iron Curtain—a people possessed of a terrifying, resilient endurance.

Though history would later view Brezhnev’s reign as one of grandiosity that led the Northern Power down an irreversible path of failure, at the time, his aggressive offensives were remarkably effective. His global strategy forced the United States to retreat step by step, and coupled with the swamp of the Vietnam War, the national mood grew increasingly pessimistic.

Having grown up in that era, Robert never viewed the glory of the empire as a birthright. In his eyes, it was the result of generations of painstaking labor.

This succulent fruit required constant maintenance, cultivation, careful weeding, and the timely clearing of pests.

Therefore, during his tenure as Commander of U.S. Forces Japan, Robert had always kept a careful eye on the big picture, hoping to keep Japan—a fat sheep that had long been dormant but was growing ever more corpulent—firmly locked within the empire's fence to counterbalance the rise of that Eastern Power.

Even so, as a student of history, he understood well that there were no eternal empires. From Alexander to Genghis Khan, from the British Empire to the United States, no matter how glorious, every empire eventually faces its sunset.

However, Robert had previously only speculated that America’s glory might one day falter before the rising Red Flag of the East. Yet, as the highest authority of the United States in East Asia, he had remained confident that with America’s current military superiority and accumulated foundations, the light of the beacon would not fall in East Asia—at least not during his term.

He had even mentally prepared for the day that Eastern Power might once again become the center of the historical radiation zone.

But… he never imagined this.

What forced the American flag to be lowered from Japanese soil was not the rise of that Eastern Power, but a single person.

The deafening roar of turbines and wind tunnels seemed to permeate the aircraft. Robert took one last look at Japan, which was receding beneath the porthole. The military base had become a distant dot, and between the further mountains, a blood-red tide was surging forward.

He sighed, pulled down the window shade, and closed his eyes, letting the plane carry him to an American airfield, marking the final declaration of the empire’s failure in its East Asian strategy.

...

The flight formation landed at a military airfield in Arizona.

Upon disembarking, an exhausted Robert saw President Menken, other cabinet members, and the assembly of America's four-star generals.

"General Robert, congratulations on your successful return from that cursed land."

Menken took the initiative to reach out. Robert reflexively shook his hand.

"Mr. President—"

The term "cursed land" revealed the attitude of the current high-level government toward the Japanese mainland. Robert thought it was a wise decision, but during his rest on the plane, he had pondered much and wished to discuss matters with the President—a man who had been elected only last year and would govern America for at least another three to seven years, depending on the situation.

But before he could speak, the President gently interrupted him:

"General Robert, you have just evacuated the air base. You should rest first."

Saying this, the lawyer-president, known for his improvisational speaking skills, walked behind him and clapped his hands toward the increasingly dejected American soldiers filing out of the aircraft:

"All right, soldiers of America, our dearest children, congratulations on your successful return!

"...Do not be so disheartened, children—this is not your failure, nor is it America’s. Monsters may hold sway for a time, but a nation armed with advanced technology and superior institutions will have the final word. Our path has merely encountered a small setback today!

"—However, having left Japan, your courage and strength will be demonstrated on other battlefields... The brilliance of America will not fall!"

...

Robert rode in a private Cadillac away from the military airfield. The destination for this bulletproof car was an international hotel in Arizona, as Robert and the other officers returning from Japan were to stay there for several days. This was the shared will of the President and the Pentagon, which Robert could not defy—even though he would have preferred to board a passenger plane to Washington immediately, to soothe his frayed nerves in his five-thousand-square-foot house in Kalorama with hot water and familiar surroundings.

However, since it was an order, he had to comply.

Sitting in the bulletproof car, the neon lights outside flickered in the night. This was the American nightscape, but Robert sat in the back, lost in thought, with no time for anything else.

Recalling the words he heard from the President at the airfield, he could not help but show a grave expression.

"'A small setback'..."

"Is it really... nothing more than that?"