Chapter 324: The President's Fury
The military operation, specially approved by the President, completely failed in a rather “spectacular” fashion.
Unexpectedly, the other side of the ocean was so unyielding this time. Those deep-state scoundrels who had sworn to him, claiming the other side wouldn't dare to resist, that their cowardly nature was deeply ingrained in their genes, now one by one denied ever saying such things.
They, in turn, accused the President of being too reckless, lacking consideration in his actions, and devoid of political astuteness.
“The early warning aircraft and submarine involved in the operation have both lost contact. This time, even traditional radio can't reach them,” the Director of Intelligence said to the President, who had a furrowed brow and a mouth twisted into an inverted V-shape, his hands clasped behind his back like a schoolchild.
“Our initial plan is to conceal the truth from the public, first telling the media that an early warning aircraft unfortunately crashed into the sea today due to human error during training; then, in about a week, we'll announce the submarine's accident, fabricating a different incident location.”
“As for the period in between, we'll say the submarine was undergoing training, strictly maintaining radio silence—this should prevent the public from connecting the two incidents.”
“Do you think the media and the public are as stupid as you are?”
The President was very displeased, drawing a few circles in the air with his finger.
“Do you think a week is a long time? As long as these two incidents happen in the same month, they will definitely be linked by the media! Especially by those conspiracy theory self-media, buzzing around like flies!”
Thump!
“Absolutely idiotic!”
He slammed the table in anger.
“We all know who did this, can't we find any evidence? How am I supposed to explain this to the media!?”
“Actually, there is some! Before the incident, ground observation stations detected infrared signals entering the atmosphere. At the time, they were classified as meteorites due to their high speed, but now it seems…”
“You mean—impossible!”
The President leaned back in his chair, then leaned forward, lowering his voice.
“Did Hua Nation really develop a space fighter? Are those photos online real, not the highly realistic wooden models you told me about before?”
“I'm afraid it's not a 1:1 model. Intelligence got it wrong!”
The Secretary of Defense nodded with difficulty.
“No way. Counting from when the ‘Star Sea’ game appeared, how many months has it been?”
“Long before ‘Star Sea’ appeared, Hua Nation's military research and development speed had already reached three times ours!” the Secretary of State said. “And now, with their economy undergoing a major transformation, their military R&D speed has probably reached five times or more!”
“I don't think it would be that fast,” the Secretary of Defense offered a different opinion, “but it certainly warrants attention.”
“Although we still haven't obtained photos or videos of Hua Nation's space fighter test flights, we must assume they have already produced one to two technology demonstrators.”
“These technology demonstrators might have some serious quality and combat issues, and in terms of flight altitude and speed, they might not be able to rival a true space fighter, but they are ultimately the prototype of the next-generation air combat platform.”
“I think it could potentially threaten the aerial dominance of our F35 fighter jets in the future.”
The President stared at his Secretary of Defense for a long time without speaking.
Oh God, please have mercy on this old man!
I really chose a bunch of useless advisors!
That prejudice, that arrogance, that willful blindness and distortion of facts, made him, as the boss, unable to bear looking at it, feeling a wave of nausea!
These nonsensical words were originally fabricated to deceive allies and international public opinion.
Now, it's backfired, and they've actually managed to deceive themselves first!
Five times the speed?
Can we produce our own space fighter within two years? If we can even get the PowerPoint done in two years, I'd thank the heavens, okay!?
Isn't this pure self-deception?
You say they're prototypes? With serious combat issues? Just a prototype?
This thing intercepted 10 missiles within 10 minutes, annihilated our most advanced early warning aircraft, and even sank a nuclear submarine along the way…
This means it already possesses all-weather combat capabilities including anti-missile, air defense, surface strike, and even underwater target strike!
Terrifying!
You're telling me this is a “prototype”?
I think you're the “prototype” of a Homo sapiens!
You're a brain-damaged unfortunate!
“You might as well bury your head in the sand and shout that the country across the Pacific doesn't exist,” the President said to the Secretary of Defense, irritated.
“Isn't that what we're doing right now?!”
The Secretary of Defense's temper flared.
“All those achievements they've made recently, the media reports and speculations, the big discussions on the internet, the sneering from third-world countries—which one have we responded to directly? It's been a month since the official news of commercial fusion power came out, haven't we been playing dead, pretending not to see it!?”
Is this a mutiny?
The other officials nearby looked at him in surprise, not daring to breathe.
“Can that be the same!?”
The President slammed the table hard and stood up.
“Who am I doing this for! Answer me! Isn't it for my country? To uphold Milligan's international prestige?!”
“And you? You're trying to paralyze the entire nation, do you understand!? Are you a commie spy or not? Don't think I don't know, you just want to peddle those expensive, crappy weapons to the military and take commissions from it!”
“I'm a commie spy?!”
The Secretary of Defense strongly disagreed.
But regarding the commissions, he didn't seem to argue much.
“Then you're a Star Fury of the Rus Empire! At least I didn't issue a cryptocurrency named after myself, swindling all citizens of their hard-earned money!!”
“Get out!! Get out of my sight! Immediately, right now!!”
The Secretary of Defense slammed the door shut, apparently not planning to return for dinner.
The President drank a Diet Coke to calm his nerves, soothing the heart rate elevated by his rage.
“In any case, we absolutely cannot admit that today's early warning aircraft and submarine were shot down by Hua Nation's space fighter! That would be tantamount to official endorsement, acknowledging that their military strength is already far superior to Milligan's!”
“This is absolutely not allowed!”
He shouted at the remaining advisors.
“Milligan rules the world through the financial hegemony brought by the dollar! And the dollar's hegemony must be built upon a military myth! Otherwise, who would trust your currency's credit?!”
The room fell silent.
What's the point of saying this now? After a long pause, someone finally broke the silence.
“So, what exactly should we do now?”
“We need to quickly announce to the outside world that Milligan's own space fighter is currently under smooth development,” the President issued another important directive. “At least three different versions of the PowerPoint presentation are needed; find someone to do it now!”
With that, he flopped back into his seat.
“Perhaps early retirement is a good option—”
The President let out a long sigh and looked up.
“Do you think I'll be Milligan's last President?”
The advisors exchanged glances, no one daring to answer the question.
At least he's the unluckiest one.
At the same time, on the special flight,
“Comrades!”
The captain's voice came through the intercom.
“I can now tell you with excitement and pride that all missiles launched at us have been intercepted, the threat is cleared, and we are safe!”
“Hooray!!!”
Ye Xing cheered, roaring and fully releasing all his emotions.
If he weren't still strapped in with his seatbelt, he would have loved to do several sprints up and down the cabin.
“Come on, Yankees! Aren't you arrogant?! Come again!!”
Song Xue, a former Yankee, also clapped excitedly.
“That's great…”
Finally, she could relax and rest.
Three hours later, the flight arrived near Hokkaido.
“Look!”
Ye Xing, who had almost fallen asleep, rubbed his eyes and looked out the window in the direction Song Xue was pointing, seeing an escort formation composed of four J20s and one Y20 aerial refueling aircraft.
He turned to look the other way and found an identical setup outside the window.
“This is… so grand—”
An indescribable sense of security welled up in Ye Xing's heart.
He knew that the last “hurdle,” the airspace near Nihong, was also secured!
Currently, no other force would dare to harbor ill intentions towards this aircraft.
Whoosh!
Suddenly, accompanied by the whistling wind, five more fighter jets descended from the higher blue sky and joined the J20 fighter formation.
They were massive in size and imposing in presence. From the shape of their nozzles, it was clear they were equipped with two different types of engines.
Ye Xing could tell that one was a high-performance variable-cycle jet engine for atmospheric flight, while the other was a rocket engine for ex-atmospheric use!
Tears almost welled up in his eyes.
Now, he finally knew who had protected him.
“Black Smoke that old geezer actually didn't lie to me—our first-generation space fighter really has gone into space—”
Finally, at 3 PM Eastern Eight Time, after 15 hours of flight and crossing thirteen thousand kilometers, the special flight successfully arrived in Youzhou.
The liaison personnel welcomed Dr. Song Xue's arrival with a brief yet enthusiastic ceremony.
“We've prepared an expert apartment for you at Wudaokou University, and Youzhou University has also prepared one in advance. You can go wherever you like!”
“Thank you!”
Song Xue bowed in thanks.
“But you really don't need to trouble yourselves. I'd like to find my own place, if that's okay?”
The liaison personnel paused.
“Of course, you can! However, Youzhou is a very large and complex city. We're afraid you might get lost.”
Song Xue smiled sweetly.
“It's okay. I only left here 10 years ago. I still have basic living skills.”
“Huh?”
Ye Xing, standing nearby, looked surprised.
“May I ask, Song Xue, how old are you?”
“26, why? Don't I look it?”
“You do look it. But, don't most people finish their PhDs closer to 30? And your level as a research director in real life…”
“I skipped a grade in primary school and junior high, entered MIT at 16, spent 6 years on my bachelor's, master's, and doctorate, and have been working for over 4 years now.”
“As long as you put in a little effort, getting a small management position shouldn't be too difficult, right?”
“Haha—a little effort, huh—” Ye Xing laughed awkwardly, “My monkey evolution isn't quite complete; I'm easily surprised. Please excuse my ignorance!”
“Hahahaha!”
The people around them chuckled kindly.
“You're not bad either!”
A comrade in a black jacket stepped forward and shook Ye Xing's hand vigorously.
“Before you departed, we considered all possible outcomes and prepared various countermeasures! As it turns out, you performed even better than our most optimistic expectations! This trip was truly hard work!”
“Just serving the people!” Ye Xing was quite embarrassed, unsure what to say.
In the evening,
Song Xue followed the real estate agent into a seemingly ordinary six-story slab building.
“The environment here is especially good, the rent is also reasonable, and most importantly, the residents are high-quality, mostly retired teachers from nearby schools.”
The agent introduced while turning the key to open the door.
Song Xue walked in and looked around.
“The earliest residents left some furniture, and when the house was sold to the later landlord, most of it wasn't replaced, so it's a bit old now. If you need, I can have him buy you new ones.”
“This is fine, this room.”
Song Xue nodded to the agent.
“Ah? You mean you've already decided? Don't you need to look at the bedrooms and bathrooms? Of course, they're all quite clean…” “No need.”
Song Xue walked towards an old leather sofa in the living room.
The agent saw her reach into the gap between the backrest and the cushion, pulling out a doll she had hidden there 10 years ago before going to Milligan.
The setting sun streamed in through the window.
In a golden glow, Song Xue smiled, held the doll to her face, and gently swayed it.
“I used to live here. Now, I'm finally home.”