72: Chapter 72 Overwhelmed

For many, tonight was destined to be a sleepless night.

Whether they knew Chu Ge or not,

those who didn't know him would often involuntarily say, "Bro, that's awesome," and then go on to spam "666" for the big brother. As for those who did know him, surprise was likely the dominant reaction.

"Is this really the Chu Ge I know?"

Yu Le and Qu Min were among those who were incredibly shocked.

"Academician Chu? Lele, look, is this person... is he your Chu Ge?"

"Yes, I think so. His photo is out, and it's not like you haven't seen him before, right?"

"But I still feel like it's a bit unreal. Thinking about it now, it really was strange. Do you remember that helicopter at Panjiayuan Square and that old gentleman?"

"I remember. Perhaps he had already risen to fame back then?"

Yu Le's expression was a bit dazed. Later, Qu Min said a lot more to her, but she didn't say anything else. As for what she was thinking, Qu Min didn't know, and perhaps even Yu Le herself didn't know.

...

In a villa at Lido Garden in Shanghai,

After watching the news, Cao Changqing didn't speak for a long time. The members of the Cao family were mostly gathered in the hall, waiting for the backbone of this massive family to speak.

Among the young people of the Cao family, although Cao Bo was a bit arrogant and domineering, in Cao Changqing's heart, he was the most suitable and capable person to take over the Cao Group. But now, Cao Changqing regretted it. Why did he let Cao Bo work at the group?

"Dad, is the Academician Chu mentioned in the news the person that Cao Bo offended?"

"But, according to the family members who returned, that young man is a Senior Colonel. How did someone in the military system get involved with the Research Institute?"

"Looking at it now, no matter which side he is on, our Cao family has offended someone we shouldn't have. What are we going to do?"

Several of the older middle-aged men in the Cao family chimed in one after another, their words filled with anxiety and worry.

"Enough!"

Cao Changqing let out a long sigh!

"Things have reached this point, and there's nothing to regret anymore. Cao Bo is a member of my Cao family, so we should bear the consequences of the mistakes he made. It's just that, I'm afraid this is a consequence that our Cao family might not be able to bear!!!"

After finishing, Cao Changqing slowly stood up. Without paying any more attention to the others, he walked alone towards his bedroom, his hunched back disappearing behind the "creak" of the closing door.

Seeing that the old man had spoken, the rest of the Cao family didn't linger and left one after another. However, these usually arrogant Cao family members were likely all fearing for themselves, each planning their own escape routes.

Chu Ge usually didn't have time to watch the news, so he didn't know about the evening news.

However, after the news, first his parents, then relatives, friends, acquaintances, and strangers—anyone who had his number—it felt like they were all calling him or were on their way to call him.

His phone soon started to heat up.

Chu Ge later simply turned it off.

"Is this the treatment for being famous? It doesn't feel like much, it's actually more exhausting. Forget it, I'll just change my phone number tomorrow!"

Chu Ge shook his head, put his phone aside, pulled up the quilt, and wrapped himself in it. He didn't summon his good buddy tonight, and soon, he drifted off to sleep.

Chu Ge didn't understand that, in reality, this is human nature.

It was 9:00 AM at this time in the United States.

John Wilson had been a bit overwhelmed lately; the incident with the stealth reconnaissance aircraft had become known throughout the entire defense system.

He was first called in by his boss at the intelligence agency and lectured for an entire day, and later he was even dragged before the supreme commander to present the investigation report on this matter in person.

In short, he had lost face big time over this incident.

If it weren't for his previous achievements that made his superiors lenient, John Wilson felt he would have lost his job.

It wasn't just John who lost face; the US government also lost face this time, and they lost it in front of the whole world.

The Chinese authorities were tough. Option one: the stealth drone could be taken back, but they had to make a serious statement and apologize. Option two: you could pretend nothing happened, and we could too, but forget about the drone.

Those were the two options; no other suggestions were accepted.

Of course, this was a private negotiation between the higher-ups of both sides and had not been exposed to the whole world.

The US military and political leadership gathered for closed-door meetings for several days, and in the end, they reluctantly accepted the first option.

After all, even though the drone had crashed, it was still a massive amount of money. Another subtle point was that the Americans didn't believe that China could replicate their technology in such a short period of time.

Therefore, to avoid further complications, they finalized the first option as quickly as possible and continued to discuss arrangements like transport aircraft with the Chinese military.

The Americans were still just as confident.

In fact, the Chinese military hadn't actually done that. Chu Ge and the relevant experts had held a special meeting about it, and only after determining that the aircraft wouldn't be very useful in Chu Ge's future plans did they come up with the two options above.

Equipment innovation often leads to the need for corresponding changes in your operational and tactical theoretical outlines. In world military history, the emergence of new weapons overturning previous combat modes has been common.

Although China and the US had reached an agreement on the surface and shaken hands, privately, John Wilson knew his superiors wouldn't let this matter pass so easily.

Because the cause of the accident had not yet been determined—that is, the direct cause of the reconnaissance drone's crash.

John knew this was his only chance to redeem himself. If he couldn't find out, he would have a very ugly exit.

"Miller, how's the investigation going?"

"Oh, John, there's some progress. Through careful screening by the technical staff, they first ruled out missile attacks. Also, look at this photo—this is the last one taken by the drone. Although it's blurry, it's still different from the previous one."

"Just tell me the result. I'm not in the mood to listen to you explain it bit by bit right now!"

"After ruling out missile attacks, sonic waves, and electronic interference types of attacks, and combining this with the video data, we judge that it was a laser-type weapon system that caused the reconnaissance aircraft to crash."

After William Miller finished speaking, he took a deep breath.

"Of course, we still need to confirm the final conclusion based on the aircraft wreckage."

Miller added.

"Alright, I trust your judgment. The Chinese military has agreed to return the wreckage. Once it's transported back, I will apply for authorization for you to investigate it as a priority."

"Yes! But Boss, is China just sending it back to us like that?"

"Although the US has lost face this time, I think they probably don't have the confidence to crack the secrets of that aircraft in the short term, so it's just a favor they're doing for us. After all, tearing each other apart isn't good for anyone."

"Oh, Boss is right. By the way, John, have you watched today's news? Major global news agencies are broadcasting a news bulletin from the Chinese authorities."

"What?"

The overwhelmed John hadn't had time to watch those puppet shows lately.

"They have developed controlled nuclear fusion technology and have already put it into practical use."

"What? Say that again?"