Godzilla Earth: Origin - Book 1: Chapter 24: Witnessing Humanity

“The whole world stands united in support of the Far East! Millions of laboring people are heading to the Far East, contributing to the construction of defensive lines.”

“Just yesterday, a total of 12 basic anti-Godzilla cannons were installed in the Hokkaido Metropolitan Area, Osaka Metropolitan Area, and Nagoya Metropolitan Area, the three major metropolitan areas of the Far East.”

“In the northern coastal regions of Australia, the construction of new defense lines has begun. Our Far East is no longer alone, standing in solidarity with the people of Australia.”

“In the coastal regions of Southeast Asia, the evacuation of the population has commenced. It has been reported that three days ago, Southeast Asia began evacuating the islands along the coast of the Philippines.”

“With the diligent efforts of three million support members across the three major regions worldwide, the Far East defensive barrier has been initially established, and we now have the strength to keep Godzilla at bay.”

“We have sufficient reason to believe that, under the leadership of the World Government, Godzilla will undoubtedly be defeated.”

The streets of Hokkaido were sparsely populated, devoid of the usual crowds and traffic.

No cars were driving on the lanes, with only the occasional maglev vehicle passing by.

The same applied to the streets, where people were scattered few and far between.

Most of the individuals on the streets were carrying large and small bags, indicating that they had made significant purchases.

“Thank you for your patronage.”

Exiting an unmanned store, Akizuki Ryō opened a projection screen and called for an unmanned taxi.

Entering his home address, he lay back in the taxi, closed his eyes, and pondered his actions over the past few days.

Uncle, as well as his in-laws and sister-in-law, had already been sent to East Asia. Ken, that young man, would surely take good care of them.

I heard he’s going to become my brother-in-law too, so he definitely won’t mistreat my in-laws. Now I have no worries.

The matters concerning the engineering team were mostly resolved by themselves, and the emergency department had been quiet for the past couple of days. Finally, he could take a break.

I heard that once all the anti-Godzilla cannons are fully operational, everyone except the military will go on vacation. But will Godzilla really awaken so late in the evening…

Considering the time, it’s getting close. The estimated time for Godzilla’s awakening by Professor Andrei and his team was tonight… So, tonight, will it wake up?

Can we truly defeat it this time?

“Passenger, you have arrived at the inputted address.”

The voice of the taxi sounded, and Akizuki Ryō got off the vehicle, carrying his purchased household items, and headed towards his apartment.

If Godzilla awakens today, can humanity truly defeat Godzilla?

Akizuki entered the elevator, still carrying his shopping.

Humanity possesses many powerful weapons.

For example, the anti-Godzilla cannons, nuclear bombs, the newly proposed satellite program, and the specialized warships designed to combat Godzilla. These are all the culmination of human technology, and Akizuki Ryō had no doubt that if they were truly deployed on the battlefield, they could inflict enormous damage on Godzilla.

But at least for today, they were completely unavailable.

Out of the 54 anti-Godzilla cannons that were supposed to cover the entire Far East, only 12 had been built. As for nuclear bomb production, it had been over a century since they were last manufactured, so even if the technology was simple, it would still take more than ten days to complete.

The satellite program was even further away, and the first batch of specialized warships designed to combat Godzilla had an undetermined arrival time.

If Godzilla were to awaken today, could humanity truly defeat or even kill Godzilla?

The industrial power of humanity was indeed great, but in the face of a mere ten days, manufacturing ten machines weighing millions of tons and requiring billions of kilowatt-hours was already pushing the limits.

There was no possibility of going any faster.

And relying solely on the power of these twelve anti-Godzilla cannons, could they truly defeat Godzilla?

Akizuki Ryō didn’t think so.

If they could ensure victory over Godzilla with just those cannons, there would be no need to plan for the construction of fifty-four of them.

If Godzilla were to awaken today as speculated, the entire Far East would be reduced to ashes.

But if it didn’t awaken…

He recalled the words Professor Andrei spoke a few days ago.

“Godzilla is undergoing infinite evolution.”

“If it doesn’t awaken, will it continue to grow stronger? That is also unknown.”

Godzilla, a monster capable of infinite evolution.

“Ding.”

The elevator arrived.

Carrying his belongings, Akizuki Ryō walked out of the elevator and immediately noticed a suspicious figure with long hair lurking in front of his home.

“Hey, what are you doing here?”

Upon seeing this mysterious figure, Akizuki Ryō shouted out.

Startled by his shout, the figure with long hair stumbled backward and fell to the ground.

“What on earth are you doing? Aren’t you from the neighboring house?”

Approaching closer, Akizuki Ryō realized that the mysterious figure was actually a fairly attractive girl.

And, most importantly, he knew this girl.

“Please, Mr. Akizuki, please help me.”

The girl with long hair suddenly reached out and grabbed Akizuki Ryō’s leg.

…

“So, you’ve been all alone for these past two weeks, right?”

“Yes! Yes!”

In the living room of Akizuki Ryō’s house, he helplessly watched the girl in front of him gobbling down food and couldn’t find the words to drive her away.

Her name is Chihana Suzune, a graduate student in the Engineering Department at the University of Tokyo. Her parents used to be executives in a multinational corporation.

But that was all in the past.

During Godzilla’s first landing over ten days ago, her parents were in Glafada Mone in Greece.

Naturally, she became an orphan.

She felt saddened and despairing about this, temporarily withdrawing from her studies at the university to go home and handle her parents’ affairs.

But before she could even react, Godzilla made its second landing.

This second landing disrupted everyone’s plans.

Tokyo was destroyed by Godzilla, and everyone knew that the Far East was no longer safe.

People were fleeing the Far East in a frantic rush, with everyone except the military and the construction teams supported by the world trying to escape. The lower levels of the metropolitan governments were quickly emptied, leaving behind only a few “nail households” who couldn’t or didn’t want to leave, even if it meant risking their lives.

Rin was one of them, but she didn’t want to stay; she simply couldn’t leave. The reason was simple: she had run out of money. Godzilla’s landing interrupted the transition of her inheritance from her parents, leaving her without a penny from their accounts.

She was left with only the money in her own account. However, her parents were frugal and only provided her with a modest weekly allowance. After returning home from school, she realized that the remaining money would barely sustain her at home, let alone allow her to travel to unfamiliar territory in East Asia.

Unable to leave, she was forced to stay at home. But her funds continued to dwindle until two days ago when she couldn’t even afford to buy food.

Furthermore, the network restrictions imposed after Godzilla’s landing blocked all unofficial remote channels, and even online transactions could only be conducted through face-to-face scanning or official banking apps. Face-to-face transactions were out of the question, and as for the banking app… some of her documents had expired, so she could only receive money but not spend it. This left her without even the opportunity to become an online beggar.

She was essentially on the verge of starving to death in her own home until she recognized her neighbor on television as a high-ranking official. Filled with anxiety, she ran over, seeking help.

Akiyama did indeed offer her assistance. He personally cooked a meal for her, allowing her to eat to her heart’s content. But this was only a temporary solution. He couldn’t possibly continue to support her indefinitely. Ultimately, she needed to go to a lower-level government facility where normal operations were still possible and claim the inheritance left by her parents.

So, after finishing her meal, Akiyama asked her to bring out her phone and transferred 10,000 yen to her through scanning:

“This is 10,000 yen. This money should be enough for you to live in East Asia until the inheritance procedures are completed.”

“Thank you so much! Thank you so much!”

Rin kept bowing and expressing her gratitude to him repeatedly. After helping him with all the household chores, she left.

The living room felt empty with just Akiyama alone. After watching the news for a while, he gradually fell asleep on his couch.

“Ring, ring, ring, ring, ring…!!”

“Hmm! Huh! Huh!…”

Startled from his deep sleep, Akiyama abruptly woke up to the piercing sound of his phone ringing along with the alarm outside. He looked at the caller ID on his phone while listening to the alarms from outside.

He knew that the worst-case scenario had occurred.

March 30, 2208, 21:07.

Godzilla awakens for the third time.