The media of the entire Star Alliance was dominated by the clearly visible cloud giants that day, and another major piece of news was released, causing an equally earth-shattering effect.
The Star Alliance government and the Universe Army jointly announced that if citizens of the appropriate age were unemployed for more than three months without a valid personal explanation, they could face forced conscription by the Universe Army.
Online, the cries of "drafting the strong man" began to spread everywhere, and although the Universe Army and the government provided a detailed explanation of the criteria for potential conscription, complete with over ninety pages of text outlining conditions that might exempt one from service, the majority of people only remembered the key point: Three months without a job meant you could be conscripted.
Some self-media and media outlets that were originally disinclined towards the Star Alliance government expressed their concerns with an anxious tone, noting that up to 360 million unemployed people on Earth, regardless of gender, could face being drafted. The Star Alliance was disregarding people's personal wishes, destroying freedom, and recruiting soldiers through administrative coercion, sending them to battlefields in an utterly irresponsible manner.
Living in Spain, the homebody Fabio was playing a massive virtual reality game at home, which had gradually become an inseparable part of daily entertainment and life in various countries. Fabio, somewhat overweight, joined the army of unemployed after college, having worked only a few short-term jobs.
At that time, Spain's unemployment rate was higher than 30%, and being unemployed was not a shameful matter. He was living off welfare, sitting at home playing games all day without going on dates or planning to learn new skills.
What made him happiest was the birth of the Star Alliance. Fabio was a supporter of the Star Alliance. He didn't care about political issues. With the emergence of the Star Alliance, Spain became a part of it, and he started to receive citizen supplies and basic income. The money he received allowed him to consume more things, and what pleased him most was that although most game companies had gone out of business, many games became cheaper, and virtual reality games emerged, offering more thrilling and novel experiences.
Fabio thought the appearance of the Star Alliance might be the best thing in his life.
Today, he hadn't seen the cloud giant because he was playing his nimble thief in the game, following a few guildmates to farm a dungeon. After finishing the dungeon and during their casual chat, they saw the video of the cloud giant—he watched it directly in the game.
Then the world chat in the game started to be flooded with panic-inducing messages—anyone who hadn't worked for three months could be drafted, and their gaming days were over.
This made Fabio feel afraid.
A guild Mage said to the group, "My friend in Madrid is organizing a protest. They're opposing the centralist rule of the Star Alliance government, campaigning for democracy and demanding civil liberties. I think the best thing we can do is all join in."
Fabio was no fool. He said, "Oppose the government? That's not a good idea. The current Star Alliance government is not the silly old Spanish government. They're very strong, and no one can say for sure what they might do to the protesters. After all, the customs of the Iridium Star people are quite different from ours, aren't they?"
The Mage looked at Fabio with frustration and asked, "So do we all have to join the Universe Army? That means certain death. In the last war, nearly nine thousand people died, and many who were injured ended up with bionic limbs. It's terrifying. The Star Alliance has now provoked two other civilizations as powerful, if not more powerful, than Teizene. If we go to war, it's akin to walking into the grave."
A female Beast Tamer in the guild mocked, "We fight in the guild every day, shouting for the Alliance and Horde and whatnot, but when it comes to real war, you're all too scared to fight? I think the skills I've trained in the game aren't bad. If the aliens really invade us, I'll go and beat them to a pulp."
The Mage blushed but retorted, "If you're so resolved, why don't you join the army?"
The female player was momentarily speechless, her gaze shifting as she said, "There are so many soldiers already, they won't miss one more."
Turning back to Fabio, the Mage said, "I don't care about politics, whether it's the Star Alliance or the Spanish monarchy ruling, it doesn't make much of a difference to me. But being conscripted to die, that's something I absolutely refuse to do. I'm not planning to oppose the Star Alliance, or even care if Bai wants to be Emperor. But forced conscription, I strongly disagree with. There are others protesting right now, and we need to join them, to voice our demands and force the Star Alliance to face our requests and abolish such an unreasonable decree."
Fabio stammered, "But if we really are defeated by the three enslavers, Earth might truly be at risk of destruction."
The Mage said dismissively, "If the sky falls, the tall ones will hold it up. Such a big matter is unrelated to us ordinary people. Besides, isn't the Iridium Star Chancellor constantly creating Bionic Humans so that we can avoid human casualties? We should be fighting a war without soldiers—despite the advanced technology, they still want us to go and die, which is idiotic. We must demand the government stop this."
Fabio was persuaded by the Mage. He said, "Then let's do it. We can't all really go and serve in the army. I know we should defend Earth, but this isn't something someone like me should be doing. With technology so advanced, we should just be idling away—why must we be forced to work?"
The Mage wholeheartedly agreed with Fabio's sentiment, "Fabio, you're absolutely right. Let's see how many people in our guild are ready to protest. Even if we don't go to Madrid, we can do something in our hometown, like making a banner or projecting a holographic image."
Bai Zhongqi, who popularized the holographic function of smartphones, would never have imagined that the device everyone held in their hands would save the protesters a lot of trouble at this time. They could write some text or even make a quick doodle to form a holographic image. As a crowd wielded their phones, all sorts of slogans could be seen—a sight that at first glance seemed impressively imposing.