286: Chapter 286 Retrieval at the Door

"Ding."

The elevator door opened in the underground control room of Jiangcheng. Lu Chen stepped out, pulled his hand from his jacket pocket, and tossed the red communication microphone directly onto the main console.

Da Biao followed behind, holding two large meat buns he had picked up from the cafeteria on the way, swallowing one in two bites.

Wei Jianguo was typing furiously at the console screen. Hearing footsteps, he turned his head abruptly; the bloodshot veins in his eyes were denser than before.

"Boss."

Wei Jianguo grabbed a handful of scattered blueprints from the table and strode over.

"That bunch of Russians and foreign engineers are damn useful. With Chekov leading the calculations, they managed to control the tolerance of Base No. 3 to the nanometer level in less than an hour. The production line is already fully operational."

Lu Chen pulled out the boss's chair and sat down, his gaze fixed on the screen in front.

"Any other problems?"

"A big one."

Wei Jianguo pressed his hands heavily on the desktop, his expression grim.

"We have enough manpower and the technology is working, but the Great Wall Dome is an electricity-guzzling beast. Once it's fully connected to the grid and ignited, the instantaneous power consumption will be an astronomical figure. The conventional nuclear reactors in Japan and South Korea that have already been drained dry aren't even enough to fill its gaps."

"What do you need?"

Wei Jianguo swallowed, his voice hurried.

"The highest purity weapons-grade enriched uranium, a large quantity. Only if we burn these deadly things like ordinary firewood can we support the high-maintenance shield of the Great Wall Dome."

Lu Chen didn't look at Wei Jianguo; his gaze passed over his shoulder and landed directly on the secondary screen on the right side of the wall.

On the screen hung a striking red bill—the depreciation and emotional distress fees he had issued to the Americans after physically erasing their stealth fighters and hypersonic missiles with space-based weapons.

The countdown had long since turned negative.

Lu Chen reached into his pocket, pulled out the chipped Casio watch, and lowered his head to check the time.

"Wu Dong."

"Yes."

Wu Dong immediately slid his chair to the main console.

"Has the money owed by Washington been settled?"

"Not a single cent."

Wu Dong placed his hands on the keyboard.

"Smith is busy laying bricks at our mine. The United States Department of Defense just appointed a new person two hours ago. The new acting Secretary of Defense is called Michael. They have unilaterally cut off all official communication channels with us, clearly intending to welch on the debt."

Da Biao sneered from the side, stuffing the remaining half of the meat bun into his mouth, chewing until his mouth was oily.

"These foreigners remember the taste of food but not the pain of a beating."

Da Biao clapped the flour off his hands.

"Boss, how about I take some people and make another trip?"

Lu Chen ignored Da Biao and tilted his chin at Wu Dong.

"Since they've changed to someone in charge, connect him and let him say a few words."

"Understood."

Wu Dong's ten fingers tapped rapidly on the mechanical keyboard. Code scrolled madly down the main console screen. Less than thirty seconds later, the anti-theft alarm sounded abruptly in the hall, only to be forcibly suppressed immediately after.

The large screen flickered twice, forcibly cutting to a clear surveillance feed.

On the screen was an extremely luxurious, completely enclosed metal room. A middle-aged man with blonde hair, wearing a high-end tailored suit, was sitting steadily on a leather sofa, holding a goblet.

Wu Dong glanced at the data tracking panel, his brows furrowing.

"Boss, the signal source isn't at The Pentagon. The coordinates are locked two hundred meters underground in the suburbs of Washington."

"What place is that?"

"The highest-level anti-nuclear doomsday bunker of the United States. It was originally designed to withstand direct hits from tens of millions of tons of nuclear explosions. The outer walls alone are eight meters thick, made of high-density lead plates and special reinforced concrete."

Lu Chen nodded, his expression calm.

Michael on the screen noticed the independent military monitor in front of him suddenly light up. He was stunned at first, but after seeing Lu Chen's calm face on the screen, he didn't panic; instead, he laughed out loud.

Michael held the wine glass, crossed his legs, and shook the red wine in his glass at the camera.

"Mr. Lu, I've heard so much about you."

Lu Chen watched him quietly.

"I only need three minutes. Settle the bill, and prepare five hundred tons of the highest purity weapons-grade enriched uranium for me, and this matter will be over."

Hearing this number, Michael threw his head back and laughed, laughing so hard that the wine almost spilled out.

"Mr. Lu, haven't you woken up yet?"

Michael put down the wine glass, leaned forward, his eyes full of mockery.

"Smith is a spineless fool, which is why you were able to get a grip on him. Your Aerospace Carrier is indeed powerful, but your trump card is already exposed."

Michael raised his hand and pointed upwards.

"Your mothership is currently parked in China on the other side of the Pacific Ocean, a full thirteen thousand kilometers away from me. It can't fly over here."

Lu Chen didn't speak, his fingers tapping rhythmically on the desktop.

Michael, thinking Lu Chen had nothing to say, laughed even more unscrupulously.

"You need to understand the current situation. You have indeed pushed the whole world very hard, but you've overreached. The United States will never compromise with terrorists for even a cent. The bill you issued is just waste paper to me."

Da Biao took a step forward, pointing at the screen and cursing.

"Don't be arrogant, you foreigner! Do you believe that in ten minutes I'll be standing right in front of you and twisting your head off to kick like a ball?"

"Ten minutes?"

Michael didn't even raise his eyelids.

"Rude monkey, do you know what kind of place this is?"

"Two hundred meters underground, eight-meter-thick explosion-proof layers, a full set of independent ecological systems."

Michael turned his head to stare at the camera.

"That broken ship of yours that can fly in the sky can't come down. Those genetically mutated freaks you have that only know how to recklessly hack people can't even chip off a layer of my wall."

"Boss, he is starting the physical isolation gate of the bunker. He intends to completely downgrade the bunker's electronic equipment to offline operation."

Michael on the screen strode toward the bunker's main control cabinet. He pulled open the explosion-proof iron door of the control cabinet and grabbed the thick bundle of external optical cables inside with both hands.

"Your hacking technology is indeed very strong, strong enough to hack directly into my private channel, but so what?"

Michael pulled with both hands.

"Snap."

Several main optical cables were forcibly ripped out from the wall interface by him.

The picture began to show severe flickering and dense static.

"To prevent a lunatic who doesn't follow the rules like you, we were long prepared to cut off all physical connections. Now, this bunker has no external signals that can connect. It has completely become a physical isolated island."

Michael stared at the camera, which was about to lose connection, and sneered.

"I don't acknowledge the bill. That five hundred tons of enriched uranium is stored in the basement of The Pentagon's strategic arsenal."

Michael pointed at Lu Chen through the screen.

"If you have the guts, bring your aircraft carrier two hundred meters underground to get it."

"Zzzzt."

With one last piercing electrical sound, the main screen went completely black.

The signal was abruptly cut off.

There was silence in the control room.

Wei Jianguo grabbed his sparse hair and slapped the table in anger.

"Those grandsons! They calculated that our mothership is too big to enter the basement, so they've started acting like turtles hiding in their shells! With eight-meter-thick anti-nuclear armor, unless we really use our main guns to blast our way down, we can't crack that turtle shell at all."

Wu Dong was also trying to re-establish the connection rapidly, but after a dozen seconds, he let go of the mouse dejectedly.

"Boss, the physical network disconnection is very thorough. All network ports are locked, and even the power transmission lines have high-dimensional magnetic shielding. We can't break in at all."

Da Biao punched the metal wall, leaving a shallow dent.

"Boss, give me a team. Even if I have to dig with my hands, I'll dig through those two hundred meters of dirt for him!"

Lu Chen sat in the chair without any extra movement. He was not angry, nor was he as exasperated as Wei Jianguo.

He took out the transparent plastic lighter from his pocket in a leisurely manner.

"Click."

A blue-red flame shot up.

Lu Chen lit the double happiness cigarette, took a big drag, and slowly exhaled the blue-white smoke from his mouth and nose.

Amidst the swirling smoke, a light blue system panel unfolded directly before Lu Chen's retinas.

The tech points balance had now skyrocketed to a shocking number. The full-scale operation of millions of workers and thousands of top scholars had completely pushed output into the highest multiplier, insane crit mode.

Lu Chen's gaze swept across the dense list of blueprints in the mall, accurately locking onto the special consumable items column.

He looked at the flashing icon priced at three billion tech points.

"[Spatial Warp Beacon (Limit Removed Version): Can ignore any physical barriers, depth distance, mass, and magnetic field interference. Forcibly locks onto known three-dimensional coordinates and opens a hundred-meter-level spatial channel. No physical base guidance required.]"

Lu Chen's finger, holding the cigarette, tapped the air.

"Ding."

A crisp deduction notification sounded in his mind.

"Three billion."

Lu Chen looked at the diamond-shaped metal object emitting a dark golden flow of light that appeared out of thin air in his palm, and tossed it twice.

"Buying his life, I'd say he's profited."

Lu Chen threw the metal object onto the main console and turned to look at Da Biao.

"Da Biao."

"Here!"

Da Biao immediately straightened his back, his face full of fighting spirit.

"Have the five hundred Cangqiong Mecha taken to the Arctic Ocean earlier been repaired?"

"Replaced the spare hydraulic hoses and new batteries, and the blades have been sharpened too. They can move at any time!"

Lu Chen nodded, took a puff of his cigarette, and swept his gaze toward the black screen on the large display.

"Go and get the brothers assembled."

Lu Chen's voice was very flat, with no hint of killing intent.

"Since he thinks two hundred meters underground is very safe, we'll go down personally and deliver a big gift to him."

Lu Chen pressed the half-smoked cigarette hard into the ashtray, stood up, and pulled the zipper of his old black jacket.

"By the way, go to the armory of The Pentagon and empty out what we need."

Lu Chen paused.

"This time when visiting someone else's home, be quick and nimble with your hands and feet."