299: Chapter 299 A Two-Birds-With-One-Shot Scheme

Lu Chen was about to walk toward the teleportation array when his feet suddenly stopped.

He turned his head and looked at Wu Dong, who was sitting in front of the monitoring console.

"Old Zhou just mentioned arranging an ambulance," Lu Chen pulled out a pack of double happiness cigarettes, extracted one, and bit down on it. "Don't just sit there, add something to the mix."

Wu Dong's hands hovered over the mechanical keyboard.

"Boss, what should I add?"

"Draft an invitation letter and send it in the name of the Great Wall Dome Project General Command Center," Lu Chen lit his cigarette and exhaled a thick cloud of smoke. "For the recipients, list everyone who co-drafted that three-hundred-page document in the capital. Don't leave out a single name."

"What are we inviting them for?" Da Biao rubbed his bald head and leaned in. "To invite them to a funeral feast?"

"Invite them to visit," Lu Chen walked behind Wu Dong, looking at the black screen with green text. "Type the content exactly as I say: Bureau Chief Zhao Changlin encountered an unknown terrorist attack on his way to Jiangcheng and barely escaped with his life. Jiangcheng is deeply unsettled. To demonstrate the legitimacy of the project, we cordially invite all leaders to visit Jiangcheng before 12:00 PM tomorrow to guide security work and, incidentally, inspect the Great Wall Dome Project."

Wu Dong's fingers flew, and the keyboard clattered loudly.

"Boss, should I sign your name at the bottom?"

"Write 'Chenguang Holdings Security Department'," Lu Chen said calmly. "Add one last sentence: If they do not come, Jiangcheng has reason to suspect that certain comrades are colluding with overseas terrorist forces for mutual benefit, and Jiangcheng will unilaterally take defensive counter-measures."

Da Biao's eyes widened.

"Boss, this is too vicious. These old foxes value their lives. If you pin such a big label on them, will they dare to come?"

"Whether they come or not, they lose," Lu Chen tapped the edge of the monitor. "If they come, we'll let them watch those two old foreigners move bricks in the mining pit and see the blue light filling the sky; that will scare the wits out of them. If they don't come, the Old Chief will have enough of an excuse to directly dispatch the internal affairs department to investigate their family assets."

Wu Dong pressed the enter key, and the progress bar instantly filled up.

"Sent. Copied to the Old Chief's office."

The red secure line in the corner did not ring.

The Old Chief's side remained in tacit silence.

Lu Chen took his eyes off the screen and turned to walk toward the workshop.

"Let's go, let's see how Old Wei's toy is coming along."

Inside the No. 3 Heavy Assembly Workshop, sparks were flying, and huge mechanical arms were swinging back and forth in mid-air.

Wei Jianguo, wearing black goggles, was hunched over a ten-meter-long metal workbench. He held a marker in his hand and was frantically circling parts of a blueprint, surrounded by a dozen top engineers transferred from the Twelve Major Heavy Industry Bases.

Lu Chen strode inside; the noise in the workshop was deafening.

"Old Wei!"

Da Biao roared at the top of his lungs.

Wei Jianguo took off his goggles, wiped the machine oil from his forehead, and ran over quickly.

"Boss! The blueprint has been broken down. The design logic of this deep-sea submersible mining mothership is fucking wild! That ultrasonic silent cutting matrix doesn't need physical drills at all; the frequency it emits can directly disintegrate the molecular structure of the rock layers."

"When can it be launched?" Lu Chen ignored his comment.

"It's difficult!" Wei Jianguo slapped his thigh in anxiety. "The main hull of this mothership alone is the size of two basketball courts. It needs to withstand the pressure of a 2,500-meter deep-sea environment, requiring extremely rare special titanium alloy forging. We have enough materials in the warehouse, but to assemble it in forty-eight hours, the progress of Base Pit No. 1 will have to be halted by at least sixty percent!"

Lu Chen bit down on his cigarette filter.

"Stop it. Divert the computing power of 500,000 workers and dump it all into this mothership. Even if you have to dismantle and reorganize the production lines of all Twelve Major Heavy Industry Bases, forty-eight hours from now, I want to see this machine sitting perfectly in the submarine dock."

"Understood!"

Wei Jianguo nodded heavily.

"I'll give it my all to build it for you."

"Da Biao."

Lu Chen turned his head.

"Here!"

"At the bottom of the two-thousand-meter-deep sea, the water pressure can crush steel plates directly," Lu Chen pointed at the armor on Da Biao's body. "Last time, at eight hundred meters, your joints froze up. This time, going to Northern Europe, those old money families will definitely have anti-submarine nets spread everywhere. Go to Warehouse No. 3 and pick up five hundred sets of backup deep-sea life-support suits. Equip the outer layer of the armor with anti-gravity buoyancy blocks."

Da Biao grinned, revealing his stark white teeth.

"Don't worry, Boss. Once the brothers put on the new equipment, I guarantee we'll tear those vampires' fortresses into scrap metal. We won't leave them a single piece of ore the size of a fingernail."

Lu Chen didn't say anything else and turned to leave the workshop.

The next morning at 10:00 AM, at Jiangcheng International Airport.

Outside, it was a raging storm, with the airport's searchlights sweeping back and forth through the curtain of rain.

Old Zhou was wearing a yellow rubber raincoat with his hands in his pockets, standing at the edge of the tarmac. Behind him, two old, dilapidated double-cab pickup trucks covered in mud splatters and cement dust were parked side by side.

Next to the pickup trucks were five ambulances with flashing blue and red lights. Several doctors in white coats stood in the rain, shivering from the cold.

"Supervisor Zhou, this rain is too heavy." An airport official approached and shouted.

"The special plane from the capital has deviated from its flight path and its wings are severely damaged. The control tower suggests they divert to a nearby city."

"No diversion allowed!" Old Zhou's face turned cold as he glared at the man.

"Tell the control tower that even if they die, they die on Jiangcheng's runway. Clear the runway and have them make an emergency landing."

A few minutes later, the dull thunder was mixed with the screeching roar of an engine.

A Boeing special plane, with thick black smoke pouring from its wings, plunged down from the clouds at a sharp landing angle.

Bang!

The landing gear slammed heavily onto the runway, sending standing water spraying dozens of meters into the air. The plane skidded wildly on the runway, its belly almost scraping the ground, creating blinding sparks, and the tires emitted a pungent, charred smell.

After skidding for a full two kilometers, the plane barely managed to stop at the end of the runway, with its right wing dragging directly on the ground.

The cabin door was kicked open with great force, and the inflatable slide popped out.

Two fully armed internal security agents carried Bureau Chief Zhao Changlin, and they slid down, tumbling and scrambling. The high-end Zhongshan suit on Bureau Chief Zhao Changlin was shredded into rags. As soon as he hit the ground, his legs gave way, and he fell to his knees in the oil-stained puddle, vomiting violently.

Minister Li Minghui of the Internal Affairs Department followed closely behind, his gold-rimmed glasses half-shattered, and his forehead covered in blood. The remaining thirty security agents were in a sorry state, their assault rifles all waterlogged.

Old Zhou waved his hand, and the two battered pickup trucks drove over directly, their tires splashing mud and water all over Bureau Chief Zhao Changlin.

Bureau Chief Zhao Changlin spat out some bile and lifted his head with difficulty.

Old Zhou walked up with a smile, pulled a copy of a document encased in a plastic sleeve from his coat, and handed it to Bureau Chief Zhao Changlin.

"Bureau Chief Zhao Changlin, you've had a hard journey."

Old Zhou raised his voice to drown out the sound of the rain.

"I am the logistics department supervisor of Chenguang Holdings. Entrusted by the boss, I am here specifically to take you to the Zero Observation Deck."

Bureau Chief Zhao Changlin pushed away the security agent beside him and stood up unsteadily. He stared fixedly at Old Zhou, his eyes bloodshot and filled with the terror and rage of someone who had just survived a disaster.

"Is Jiangcheng's air defense system dead?!"

Bureau Chief Zhao Changlin pointed at Old Zhou's nose and cursed loudly.

"Why didn't you intercept the missile?! We almost died at sea! Where is Lu Chen?! Tell him to get out here and see me!"

The smile on Old Zhou's face vanished instantly, and he tucked the document back into his coat.

"Bureau Chief Zhao Changlin, your special plane was on a top-secret route and did not notify the Jiangcheng Air Defense Command beforehand," Old Zhou's tone turned cold. "How could we dare to open fire on a domestic flight? Besides, you landed safely, didn't you?"

"Insolent!"

Minister Li Minghui rushed over, clutching his bleeding forehead.

"We are carrying an official red-headed document! We represent the capital to take over all of Jiangcheng's accounts! Lu Chen is avoiding us and sends you, a logistics worker, to humiliate us? Immediately mobilize the local garrison and seal off the Great Wall Project Command Center!"

Upon hearing this, the thirty security agents simultaneously pulled their gun bolts, the sound of metal friction particularly piercing in the rain.

Old Zhou didn't even move.

The waterproof tarps on the back of the two pickup trucks were suddenly flipped open.

Twelve Death Squad Soldiers wearing dark black Hellhound Mark III Exoskeleton heavy armor stood up directly from the truck beds. Rainwater pelted against their cold armor, splashing into mists, and the dark muzzles of their heavy electromagnetic rifles were pointed directly at the security agents on the ground.

Da Biao, wearing heavy armor, jumped down from the roof of the first pickup truck.

His heavy metal body landed on the asphalt road with a muffled boom, and the ground instantly cracked.

He shoved Old Zhou aside and walked up to Bureau Chief Zhao Changlin. His visor slid open automatically, revealing Da Biao's face, which was covered in thick flesh.

"Seal us off?"

Da Biao suddenly extended his thick mechanical arm, grabbed Bureau Chief Zhao Changlin by the collar, and lifted him into mid-air.

Bureau Chief Zhao Changlin's feet left the ground, and he struggled frantically, his face turning purple. The security agents nearby were about to raise their guns, but the muzzles of the twelve mechs surrounding them were instantly pressed against their foreheads.

"You dare commit lynching!"

Minister Li Minghui backed away in fear, falling hard into a puddle.

Da Biao didn't pay him any attention and leaned in close to Bureau Chief Zhao Changlin.

"Holding a piece of scrap paper, you really think you're some kind of big shot," Da Biao said. "The missile didn't kill you, so you're lucky. In our boss's eyes, you're not even worth a fart."

Having said that, Da Biao tossed Bureau Chief Zhao Changlin into the oil-stained truck bed of the pickup.

"Get your asses in the truck, all of you!"

Da Biao scanned the remaining cabinet officials.

"The boss is waiting for you at the Zero Observation Deck. The ambulance is following behind. If anyone doesn't want to breathe anymore, feel free to switch cars."

Bureau Chief Zhao Changlin rolled twice in the truck bed, covered in mud. He scrambled up, trying to speak, but Da Biao closed his visor and slapped the car door. The pickup truck's engine roared, and it sped off in the direction of Base Pit No. 1.

Minister Li Minghui and the others scrambled onto the second pickup truck. The thirty security agents were disarmed by the Death Squad Soldiers and shoved into the ambulance.

The convoy sped through the torrential rain, passed through the outer perimeter, and headed straight for the underground entrance.

The Zero Observation Deck was located on a special glass walkway overhanging directly above Base Pit No. 1. The radiation shielding doors here were fully open, and below was that huge, blindingly radiant energy base. The deafening mechanical roar and the sense of oppression emitted by the three-million-ton Aerospace Carrier chassis were enough to cause a mental breakdown in ordinary people.

The pickup truck stopped at the entrance of the walkway.

Old Zhou pushed open the car door and made a gesture of invitation toward Bureau Chief Zhao Changlin, who was shivering uncontrollably in the truck bed.

"Bureau Chief Zhao Changlin, Minister Li Minghui."

Old Zhou resumed his slick, mercenary smile.

"Walk down this path. Our boss has prepared a good show. After watching this show, you can decide whether you still want to take out that official red-headed document and read it."