55: Chapter 55 America's Hidden Thoughts

System Big Brother finished the exchange with lightning speed.

Chu Ge scrambled up.

"What do you mean 'exchanged'? I was going to say nine exchanges aren't necessary, just three for now, you..."

"6,000,000! How many damn awesome master skills could that buy? And lifetime ones at that! Big Brother, I'm here pinching pennies, and you just go all-in."

"Stop playing dead. It's like this every time. Others get hyped when they get money, but you just disappear. You're the greediest system in the whole multiverse!"

...

Chu Ge ranted mindlessly for half an hour, but System Big Brother remained as steady as Mount Tai...

Below the dormitory building,

The distant streetlights flickered a few times. The weather was still a bit chilly, and a few suicidal little insects had come out early to chase the light.

By the window of Chu Ge's dorm, the shadow of a flailing fist was cast upon the screen.

The lights in the neighboring dorm suddenly went out.

The people of Huaxia had finished another busy day, living their real lives in their little homes, either being affectionate or bickering.

In America, it was exactly 7:00 AM.

On the banks of the Potomac River, the Pentagon's massive parking lot was slowly filling with cars.

John Wilson arrived at the Intelligence Department early; he was exceptionally excited today.

He leaned against the office door, holding a steaming cup of coffee, his eyes scanning several hot bombshells in the office as he calculated who to ask out next.

"Hi, Boss, you're in early today."

William Miller, carrying a brown briefcase, greeted his boss while pulling out his chair.

"Hi, William, you're looking sharp today, haha."

"Uh, whenever you talk like that, you must be in a good mood."

"Haha, you know why. Come, let's talk in my office."

John Wilson withdrew his gaze and slowly walked back to his seat. He picked up a few photos handed to him by a subordinate yesterday and squinted at them, not forgetting to take a sip of coffee every now and then.

"Boss, any more good news?"

After William pushed the door open and entered, he stood before the desk and adjusted his tie knot.

"The satellite reconnaissance photos of those mysterious buildings in Huaxia you mentioned last time."

John set the photos down and glanced at them. William quickly picked them up and began flipping through them one by one.

"From the photos, these five buildings are at least identical in appearance."

"Mm-hmm."

"Are there only these five? Calculated according to this scale... mm... they are circular buildings with a diameter of 50 meters."

"Only these five locations have been found for now. There might be others that haven't been discovered yet. See what else you can find from these photos?"

William Miller, holding the photos, shifted his weight and sat down, then began marking a map based on the coordinates of each photo.

The map was clearly a standard map of Huaxia.

"Although several locations don't seem to have any special features, look, Boss—ignoring the two buildings in the upper part, the three below seem to be arranged regularly, and the distance between them should be about the same. Mm, converted, it should be around 3,000 kilometers."

"There's definitely something more to this, but perhaps the mystery is about to be solved."

John stopped focusing on the maps and leaned back comfortably in his chair with his legs crossed.

"The destroyer USS Mustin and the electronic surveillance ship Victory will arrive in the eastern waters of Huaxia in... well, about 15 hours."

"Oh? Those 'young masters' have finally arrived."

William Miller curled his lip.

"Haha, I like what you call them. This time, they will conduct close-in reconnaissance about 160 nautical miles off the coast of Huaxia."

"The Huaxia Navy will definitely shadow them closely."

"So, they'll find a suitable opportunity to launch high-altitude stealth reconnaissance drones to scout and photograph these locations. The Victory is just a cover. Oh, William, what do they call that in Huaxia again?"

"Making a feint in the east while attacking in the west!"

"Right, right! Wow, when it comes to understanding Huaxia, you're the best, haha."

"But Boss, is that reconnaissance drone reliable? I hope it isn't discovered before it even enters Huaxia's borders."

"It should be fine. The military says this TIER 5 DarkStar Stealth Drone is Lockheed Martin's latest development. It's been tested against our own military radar and is very difficult to detect. It's the only one of its kind and is incredibly valuable. It took me a long time to convince those old geezers to lend it to us temporarily."

"And if something goes wrong? Boss, you won't be able to give them an explanation."

"If? You believe Huaxia has that kind of radar technology? Or do you think their military radar is more advanced than that of our great United States? To hell with that."

"That's good then. Let's hope they bring us good news tomorrow."

"YES!"

John Wilson snapped his fingers.

Somewhere in the Pacific Ocean, in the darkness of night, two gray warships plowed through the waves amidst high winds.

George Wells, captain of the destroyer USS Mustin, was in the bridge looking out through binoculars.

"Brown, another day of hellish weather. We're quite unlucky, having to push through the night on a night like this."

"Captain, regarding this 'Shadow' operation, what's Washington's angle? We've done close-in reconnaissance a few times before, but we never crossed their bottom line."

"You're asking me? Who am I supposed to ask? At a time like this, I should be comfortably soaking up the sun at home, yet I was temporarily reassigned here."

George put down his binoculars and picked up the coffee on the table.

"I'm just a bit worried. In the past, although we've had minor frictions with the Huaxia Navy, no one has dropped the pretense; we just cruised close to each other. But this time, we're sending a reconnaissance plane deep into their airspace. If something goes wrong, heavens, we're right at their doorstep. We'd be the first to suffer."

"Brown, that's not for you or me to worry about. If it really comes to that, there might be people more anxious than us, don't you think? Haha."

"The Captain is wise."

Meanwhile, the radar watchman, David, was dozing off when a sharp alarm suddenly blared in his headset. David was instantly awake, carefully identifying it.

Soon, he stood up abruptly.

"Report, Captain! The surface search radar has detected two warships 310 nautical miles to the northwest. No response from the phased-array IFF transponder."

"In that area, it's either Country R or the Huaxia Navy. And Country R's warships would have gone home to sleep by now. Brown, our old friends have come out early to greet us."

"Oh, my God, don't they ever sleep?"