159: Chapter 159 The True Colors Are Revealed

Da Biao tucked the piece of cardboard, which shimmered with a dark red halo, into his jacket. He didn't ask for the reason, turning instead to wave at the security team.

"Get to work. Call the excavators in," Da Biao roared at the top of his lungs.

Lu Chen turned around, hands shoved into the pockets of his old jacket, and walked back to the main office building.

New York, The Pentagon's top-secret underground strategic conference room.

A top-secret report with a black border was slammed heavily into the center of the oval long table.

The top hawk general, Harvey, had an ashen face. He gripped the glass water cup on the table. With a crisp cracking sound, the cup shattered, and glass shards pierced his palm, but he didn't even frown.

"The Morgan Consortium has been fully acquired. The Red Devil squad has been completely wiped out," Harvey slammed his bloody hand onto the table. "They dared to develop this level of micro-nuclear fusion right under our noses. This already constitutes a lethal threat to global security."

The Chief of Staff, wearing gold-rimmed glasses, replied coldly from the side: "They have crossed the line. Stop all financial intervention methods. Initiate the ultimate physical deterrence immediately."

Harvey pressed the red dedicated line button on the table. "Order the Okinawa base. The 7th Fleet is to set sail immediately. Two 100,000-ton nuclear-powered aircraft carrier strike groups are to enter the edge of the East China Sea international waters. Level 1 combat alert status is to be normalized."

"Contact The White House. Get our twelve allies on board. Issue a technical control sanction order for Jiangcheng within half an hour," Harvey said with a chilling tone. "Cut off all of China's maritime shipping trade routes. Force them to hand over the core data for the micro-fusion and the Lithography Machine."

9:00 AM. Jiangcheng, Chenguang Factory office.

Lu Chen sat in a peeling swivel chair.

The office door was pushed open roughly. The Colonel strode in and locked the door behind him.

The Colonel held an urgent telegram stamped with a top-secret red seal. His face was so gloomy it looked like it could drip water.

"Factory Director Lu," the Colonel walked to the desk, his voice hoarse, "The other side has completely torn off the mask."

Lu Chen leaned back in his chair. He didn't take the document.

"Speak," Lu Chen spat out a single word.

"The US 7th Fleet has mobilized. Two nuclear-powered aircraft carrier strike groups, fully loaded with live-ammunition fighter jets, are pressing towards our international waters warning line," the Colonel pressed his hands against the edge of the desk. "Twelve countries have jointly issued a sanction order. All our ocean-going freighters have been intercepted. The three major coastal ports have shut down directly. They threaten that if we don't hand over the micro-fusion data, they will blockade maritime shipping indefinitely."

Anger burned in the Colonel's eyes. He had been a soldier for half his life, and he hated this kind of naked hegemonic oppression the most. "The economic artery has been locked. If we keep dragging this out, the domestic market will run into trouble."

Lu Chen's expression didn't change. His gaze fell on the photocopied blueprint that Old Zhou had flattened on the corner of the table.

He pulled out a transparent plastic lighter from his pocket. Click.

He lit a double happiness cigarette.

Lu Chen took a drag and blew out a blue-white smoke ring. "They're desperate," he flicked the ash, "As expected. You can't reason with these bandits; they only recognize fists."

The Colonel was stunned. He thought Lu Chen would panic, even if just for a second. But all he saw was absolute relaxation.

Lu Chen grabbed the walkie-talkie on the desk and pressed the call button.

"Old Zhou."

"Brother. I'm supervising the work at Site No. 6," Old Zhou's heavy breathing and the roar of excavators came through the walkie-talkie.

"Notify the eighteen building material factories that were merged yesterday. Start full production," Lu Chen said calmly. "Load all the special alloy materials in the warehouse onto trucks. Don't worry about those bullshit maritime sanctions outside. Just dump everything onto that three-thousand-acre plot of land in the north of the city for me."

"Alright. I'll get right on it," Old Zhou didn't even ask.

Lu Chen threw down the walkie-talkie.

Wei Jianguo scrambled into the office at this moment. He was gripping the blueprint that Da Biao had copied for him earlier.

Wei Jianguo was covered in mud and water. He was sweating profusely from anxiety and kicked over the trash can nearby.

"Boss. This job can't be done," Wei Jianguo slammed the blueprint onto the table in front of Lu Chen.

"What's going on?" Lu Chen bit on the cigarette butt.

"You asked me to build this chassis," Wei Jianguo pointed at the inverted triangular metal structure at the bottom of the blueprint, his hand trembling. "The compressive strength and toughness parameters marked on this are simply anti-human. This is not a standard that any alloy currently on Earth can achieve."

Lu Chen looked at Wei Jianguo.

"Can't Song Changming's quantum steel furnace handle it?" Lu Chen asked.

"No," Wei Jianguo shook his head vigorously. "The furnace temperature is high enough, but the material's molecular arrangement structure can't be achieved. If we force materials into the furnace for casting, forget about producing a finished product, it would explode on the spot. It would blow up half of Underground Level 3."

The Colonel understood. He clenched his fists. Materials science had always been China's weakness. Now, with aircraft carriers pressing the border outside, they couldn't even manage the materials to build a base inside. This was simply a dead end.

Lu Chen flicked away the ash. He moved his consciousness.

A bright blue system panel instantly unfolded on his retina.

The data bar at the very top was jumping frantically. The 100,000 new low-level workers from yesterday, fed and having received their resettlement fees, had their loyalty locked firmly at the maximum value of 100. This terrifying group data base, after the midnight settlement, directly triggered a phased critical hit.

[Cash pool balance: 100,000,000,000 yuan.]

A full ten billion in cash.

[tech points balance: 5,300,000 points.]

Lu Chen smiled coldly. He directly swiped open the system's hidden advanced tech mall interface.

He typed "smelting materials" into the search bar. A line of merchandise emitting a faint blue light popped up.

[Micro-restructuring Smelting Additive: Price 10 billion/ton. Add to any conventional molten steel to forcibly reorganize molecular arrangement, generating starship-grade armor material. Absolutely solid.]

Lu Chen didn't even blink. His finger tapped the exchange button in the air.

[Ding. Exchange successful. 10 billion in funds have been deducted.]

[Materials have materialized in the dust-free warehouse No. 3 on Underground Level 3.]

Old Zhou happened to push the door open to report on the building material factories. He habitually glanced down at the tablet in his arms, which was connected to the factory's invisible financial hub.

"Brother, the eighteen factories are all..." Old Zhou's words stuck in his throat.

He widened his eyes. The astronomical number on the screen, which had just surged into the double digits due to the system settlement, instantly cleared to zero in 0.1 seconds.

Ten billion in cash. It vanished without even making a splash.

Old Zhou's heart raced. He opened his mouth.

Lu Chen raised his hand, interrupting Old Zhou.

"Old man Wei," Lu Chen looked at Wei Jianguo.

"Yes," Wei Jianguo wiped his sweat.

"Take some people to Underground Level 3, to dust-free warehouse No. 3," Lu Chen said in a flat tone. "There is a batch of blue-glowing powder additives inside. Add them to the molten steel in the quantum furnace at a ratio of one to one thousand. Then open the furnace and cast the chassis directly."

Wei Jianguo stood frozen. "Just adding some powder can change the molecular structure?" He had studied metallurgy his whole life and had never heard of such an absurd thing.

"Go do it," Lu Chen said only two words.

Wei Jianguo shivered. He didn't dare to say anything else, grabbed the blueprint, and ran out.

Lu Chen stood up. He reached out and stubbed out the cigarette butt in the ashtray.

He walked to the floor-to-ceiling window. He kicked the chair that was blocking his way.

The Colonel stood behind him to the side.

"Factory Director Lu. This sanction..." the Colonel began.

Lu Chen pulled open the office door.

"Old Zhou," Lu Chen didn't even turn his head.

"Brother. I'm listening," Old Zhou quickly straightened his back.

"Tell Da Biao to personally oversee the progress. Before dark today, I want all obstacles cleared from that three-thousand-acre plot of land," Lu Chen strode across the threshold. "Since those two aircraft carriers like to loiter at our doorstep, let them see clearly."

Lu Chen paused.

"Today, I will turn the Americans' iron turtles into scrap metal."

High above the East China Sea warning line of China.

Clouds were thick. Four F35 stealth fighter jets bearing the Stars and Stripes pierced through the clouds.

The sharp roar of engines tore through the sky. Live ammunition was mounted under the wings. They circled unscrupulously, hugging the edge of the territorial waters.

On the sea surface below, two massive steel islands were cutting through the waves, slowly approaching.