The World's Richest Man: Start with the Daily Intelligence System

161: Chapter 161 Jericho’s Fury”Notify the Pentagon; I need to know exactly what happened in this sea area!” Vice Admiral Jericho roared at his subordinates.

He had been living in fear for the past half month. He had originally thought those dozen or so fishing boats would leave today.

As it turned out, the other party inexplicably refused to leave. They even used radar to scan the area below at irregular intervals every day.

Although civilian-grade radar could not identify an unmanned submarine with a special surface coating, having it happen every now and then had nearly given him a nervous breakdown over the last two days.

Seeing that the other party was about to leave, just now, the unmanned nuclear submarine’s radar detected military shipborne radar signals in the sea area above. This was clearly not something a civilian fishing boat could be equipped with. Soon, the radar identified at least three Coast Guard Ships active on the surface. For a moment, the entire base was in chaos.

”Report! experiment no. 1 has entered silent mode; all external detection equipment has been shut down. Remote control has been temporarily cut off.”

”Report! The Zeus nuclear submarine has left port and will reach the high seas location nearest to the incident in two hours.”

”Report! The USS Enterprise carrier strike group is in the preparation stage. It is expected to depart from Guam in two days.”

As one command after another was funneled into the Camilo Osias Naval Base, the command center was a hive of activity.

Vice Admiral Jericho smoked silently. The topography of the nearby waters and the military strength of both sides intertwined in his mind. He ran the simulations over and over, but the outcome always made him furrow his brows.

Pretty Country currently lacked the capacity for a full-scale war, especially one at China’s doorstep. That left only one path: secretly destroying the unmanned submarine. But the simulation results still pointed to failure.

At this moment, a staff officer walked to his side and whispered a reminder: ”Your Excellency Commander, the Secretary of Defense is on the line.”

Jericho opened his eyes. ”Respected Excellency, this is Jericho. Yes, we are also waiting for the satellite reconnaissance results. Understood. I will certainly find a way to complete the mission.”

”That lapdog of the politicians!” Hanging up the phone, Jericho slammed his hand on the table, breathing heavily. He was currently at the center of the storm; if the rescue operation failed, he would be the perfect candidate for a scapegoat.

”Commander, the satellite report is out. You should probably see this immediately.” Major Mike walked quickly into the headquarters.

Jericho quickly took the document and breathed a sigh of relief after reading it twice. The report detailed the entire process from Qiluola leading the ships out of port, to the chase with the Coast Guard Ships, and finally the collision with the yacht.

”From the intelligence, this appears to be a case of intentional harm. We have already sent an inquiry to the Philippines government.”

Soon, Qiluola’s detailed information and his motive for the action were cleared up. Everything seemed perfectly reasonable.

”Notify those damned South Sea monkeys to cooperate with China and handle this quietly. Do not let the heat of the incident escalate.”

Vice Admiral Jericho muttered curses. He always felt the entire incident revealed a slight sense of discordance, but the facts left him with no room for rebuttal. This made his nerves increasingly irritable.

”Orders! experiment no. 1 is to maintain silent mode. All units that have left port are to return.”

Unless absolutely necessary, he did not want to give up the world’s only unmanned nuclear submarine. In any case, there were no people inside the submarine, so there was no need to worry about oxygen, water, or food shortages. Now, he was the side that could afford to wait.

In contrast to the relaxed Jericho, Zhang Wei appeared somewhat nervous at this time. He followed behind Zhu Zhendong with some unease. Sentries with live ammunition stood on both sides of the long, narrow corridor. Their resolute faces gave off a chilling aura of sternness.

”Hello, President Zhu. The Chief is already waiting for you in the office.” An orderly stood at the end of the corridor. Seeing Zhu Zhendong, he exchanged a few pleasantries before leading the group into the inner room and knocking on the door.

”Come in.”

The door opened, and Zhang Wei looked up. There wasn’t much decoration in the spacious office. A row of bookshelves lined the walls on both sides, and a huge topographic map of South China hung on the wall.

There was a set of cloth sofas for guests near the door. An office desk was placed by the window.

Compared to the clean room, the desk was piled with various documents and books. There was even a cigarette butt that hadn’t been completely extinguished in the ashtray. At this moment, an old man looked up toward the door.

”It’s been a while. Have you failed to quit smoking once again, Old Master?” Zhu Zhendong pulled Zhang Wei along and plopped down on the sofa. The orderly poured tea for the two and then left the office.

”As one gets older, one must take things slowly. I’ll definitely quit before I die anyway.” Commander Xue stood up, extinguished the cigarette butt, and sat down in front of the two. He then curiously sized up the young man before him.

”Are you the young man Little Zhu mentioned? You’ve caused quite a stir in Hainan; I’ve even heard about it here.”

Zhang Wei quickly stood up and bowed. ”Hello, Chief. My name is Zhang Wei.”

He couldn’t help but be solemn. Zhang Wei was currently inside the headquarters of the Guanghai Military Region, one of China’s four major military regions. And the man before him was the Commander-in-Chief of the military region, Old Master Xue. Military affairs in Hainan were all under the jurisdiction of the Guanghai Military Region.

”Don’t be so stiff, young man. Anyone Little Zhu brings isn’t an outsider.” Commander Xue motioned for Zhang Wei to sit. ”Tell me, what is your purpose for seeking me out?”

Zhang Wei sat upright and recounted the matter of the Pretty Country’s unmanned nuclear submarine in detail.

”Given the current situation, Pretty Country will likely have to continue playing the coward. They probably don’t know that we already have all the information. We can take advantage of this time gap,” Zhang Wei suggested.

”Cough, cough, cough!” Commander Xue hadn’t taken it seriously at first. He was looking down and drinking tea, but when he heard that the unmanned nuclear submarine Pretty Country developed was sunk right at his doorstep, a mouthful of water got stuck in his windpipe, causing him to choke badly.

”young man, this is no joking matter.” Commander Xue turned serious, narrowing his eyes at Zhang Wei. Like an old bear that had just woken up from hibernation, an invisible pressure suddenly enveloped Zhang Wei’s entire body.

Fortunately, Zhu Zhendong spoke up at this time: ”Don’t go scaring the kid for no reason. If he wets himself, it’ll be your office that suffers.”

He then sighed. ”I was just as shocked as you when I first heard him say it, but Zhang Wei is a very reliable kid. He would never speak nonsense about such a major matter.”

Only then did Commander Xue withdraw his gaze. ”Speak then. young man, what are your thoughts and requirements?”

Zhang Wei gave a sheepish laugh. ”As expected, nothing escapes your keen eyes. I’ve partnered with Old Master Tang of Tang Sheng Culture to open a salvage company.

Currently, two ships and a salvage platform are already docked at Haikou. Speed is of the essence. My idea is whether this salvage operation could be handed over to us. Of course, we would need the cooperation of the Southern Fleet.”

”Oh? You mean Tang Liansheng?”

Seeing the other party nod in confirmation, Commander Xue raised an eyebrow. ”The salvage work can be handed to you, but young man, once this unmanned nuclear submarine is brought up, it must be nationalized. You won’t get any benefits from it.”

Zhang Wei put on an impassioned look. ”You must be joking, Old Master. I still understand the principles of country and family. Our company will pay for this salvage operation entirely out of our own pockets. We won’t take a single cent from the government.”