83: Chapter 83 Rainforest Passage

"You've seen the news about controlled nuclear fusion, right? I need all the information on the person specifically in charge of leading this project. This task doesn't require too much effort; just have the people there investigate it first. I need to aggregate the preliminary information before planning the next steps."

John Wilson considered this for a moment before continuing.

"Operation Paver is your main task in the near future, Joey. Don't underestimate them; haven't we suffered enough losses at their hands?"

"John, I understand. I'll arrange the best personnel. Wait for my good news. Also..."

Joey made a gesture.

"The operational funds have been wired to your account. Go ahead, head back overnight."

"Alright, please call me Mr. Superman from now on, haha."

Joey smiled helplessly and stood up to leave. His drink was still there on the table, full.

John Wilson glanced at the glass of wine, silently pulled a few bills from his wallet, pressed them under the glass, and stood up to leave.

Chu Ge had spent the whole day running around construction sites. Following Academician Chen's arrangements, the preliminary supporting projects for the aerospace carrier had already begun one after another.

However, the core dock had not yet started construction, as it required Chu Ge's blueprint data for matching.

Academician Chen's intention was for Chu Ge to prioritize helping the engineers design the main section of the dock and set everything else aside for the time being. This season was perfect for starting the dock construction. With 24-hour work shifts, there shouldn't be any delays.

As for China's previous shipyards, they certainly couldn't build an aerospace carrier. Perhaps they could assist with individual small sections or subsystems, but they were powerless when it came to the main sections of the aerospace carrier.

Chu Ge had no choice but to organize a portion of the data first and then work on-site with the engineers building the dock, following the blueprints based on that data.

However, the process went well, and Chu Ge didn't feel there was anything difficult to advance. This was China's advantage: in terms of infrastructure, as long as you had the blueprints and a reasonable plan, they could build anything for you with guaranteed quality and quantity.

Chu Ge had been repeating this routine for the past few days: analyzing data and drawing blueprints at night, and rushing to construction sites during the day to verify data with the engineers, determining the layout of the dock, the tonnage of the overhead cranes, the building area of the main factory, and so on.

After the planning was completed, a lot of construction machinery was moved onto the site overnight.

Often, when Chu Ge visited yesterday, the construction site was still empty, but when he went again today, it was already dusty everywhere. They would start construction as soon as a part was planned, and everyone was going full throttle to do their part.

Every time Chu Ge saw this scene, he wanted to raise his arms and cheer, but after thinking about it, he lowered his arms again.

The last time he did that, he had to rinse his mouth with two bottles of water when he got back.

While China was in the midst of a bustling construction boom, Joey's side hadn't stopped either. Today, his entire team had gathered.

Deep in the dense jungle of a lawless zone somewhere in Southeast Asia, several bamboo houses were hidden.

Inside one of the houses, several mercenaries dressed like special forces were sitting around looking at a map.

"My opinion is to take this tropical rainforest passage. Although there are many minefields in there, with the help of local drug dealers, it shouldn't be a big problem."

The person speaking was a white man with the nickname "Fox Shadow," a former US Navy SEAL. After retiring, he was recommended to join the Delta mercenary company. During his service, he was particularly good at offensive operations, retreat route planning, and intelligence analysis, with outstanding on-the-spot adaptability. He had organized dozens of infiltration and assassination operations in various countries, never failing once, and was considered quite famous among mercenaries.

"I also agree with Fox Shadow's proposal. The Wakhan Corridor is indeed closer to the other destination, but it's all desert and Gobi, bare and very easy to be exposed. We can abandon this route."

The small man with the nickname "Monkey" winked at "Fox Shadow." He was responsible for electronic information processing, including drone reconnaissance, photography, network infiltration, and managing communications for this special operations team.

"Alright, since you two have said so, we will prepare around this rainforest passage. I do know a few drug lord leaders here, so getting a map from them shouldn't be a problem."

Joey made the final decision, then turned and beckoned to several burly men smoking outside the door.

"After you set off, follow Fox Shadow's arrangements for all actions. He is quite familiar with this area, and you aren't strangers to it either. I just want to tell everyone that your opponents this time are not the small fry you've dealt with before. Take care of yourselves. Once you enter Chinese territory, do not act without authorization. There will be someone meeting you there. As for the payment, I have already wired it into your accounts in advance."

"I will wait here for your triumphant return. You check your equipment first; I'll be right back."

After Joey finished speaking, he picked up a black case on the table and walked out.

"Fox Shadow, what does he mean by 'do not act without authorization'? Does he mean we're just sneaking in and sneaking out this time? That's no fun, is it?"

The burly man picked up the MK48 Mod 0 machine gun in his hand, and with a "click," casually snapped an ammunition box onto the machine gun's feed port, then removed it again. The 1000mm-long machine gun looked like child's play in his hands.

The burly man, nicknamed "Black Bear," weighed 260 jin and stood 185 cm tall. Standing in front of "Monkey," he looked like a wall.

He was the team's machine gunner and demolitionist, having previously served in the Delta special forces. Heavy fire support, demolition, and mine laying were all his specialties.

"China is different from the countries we've operated in before. They have a very powerful state apparatus. If you don't want us to be hunted by thousands of special forces, you'd better behave yourself."

"Fox Shadow" was more aligned with Joey regarding the stance on this operation. Although he had never clashed with the Chinese military, he had heard about the encounters of some of his peers; that country was not very friendly toward mercenaries like them.

"Monkey, go outside and drag those two guys down from the trees. Why do I feel like they are the ones who should be called monkeys? We aren't in Chinese territory, so there's no need for a guard."

"Alright, boss."

"Monkey" ran out, and after some shouting, led two people in. Both of them were wearing camouflage suits. The man nicknamed "Xiao Ge Zi" was holding an MK20 SSR sniper support rifle, while the one nicknamed "Big Guy" was holding an M24 sniper rifle. After they came in, they threw their camouflage suits aside and jumped around on the spot.

This combination of guns was the standard configuration for US special operations, usually involving two people: one primary sniper and one support observer.

"Hey, Fox Shadow, sorry, professional habit. I don't really like staying in this, uh, spacious place."

"I know your quirks. I called you down to let you know that we've decided to take the rainforest passage. We'll set off in a while, so fill your stomachs first. Once we enter there, there won't be any conditions for you to eat hot food."

"Understood. You know we never care about those things. The two of us only care about our money and our sniper targets, haha."

These retired special forces soldiers had worked together more than once or twice. Soon, they were back to their usual routine: mocking each other, eating, and chatting about the women of this country...