Chapter 236 News from South America

Liu Jianguo looked at this intelligence officer, who was usually taciturn but now had eyes as sharp as knives, his mind still a bit dazed.

“News from South America?”

Liu Jianguo subconsciously repeated the phrase, his brow furrowed as he searched his mind for recent international events.

As a big shot in the military-industrial system, he followed a vast amount of news every day, from the fires of war in Middle East to the situation in the north, and even Africa's mineral resources; everything was within his scope of attention.

But South America—to be honest, besides football and beef, his focus on that region was relatively low.

After all, it was the backyard of the Ugly Country and was too far from the Eastern Country. Aside from normal trade, there wasn't much military interaction.

Furthermore, to be honest, he had recently been overwhelmed with dealing with that brat Li Jiajun's affairs; how could he have the mental energy for anything else?

“Are you talking about... Venezuela?”

Liu Jianguo asked tentatively, “I remember hearing in the news a while ago that things seemed quite chaotic over there. Was the Ugly Country stirring up trouble again?”

“It's more than just stirring up trouble.”

The intelligence officer, Xiao Zhang, shook his head, his tone becoming exceptionally serious, even carrying a hint of heaviness. “That was a war. Although there was no large-scale advancement of ground troops, it was a classic case of modern information warfare.”

As he spoke, he glanced around to ensure they were among their own. This was the warehouse of the Li Family Toy Factory; although its security was a bit lacking, since things had reached this point, there was no need to hide anything.

“Director Liu, you might have only focused on the headline news.”

Xiao Zhang took a deep breath and began to briefly introduce the background:

“Just a while ago, for reasons known to all—namely the issue of the oil settlement currency—Venezuela completely offended the Ugly Country.”

“You know the Ugly Country's hegemonic nature; they are the type who never take a loss.”

“So, they launched a comprehensive, multi-dimensional strike against Venezuela.”

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At this point, Xiao Zhang's voice dropped a few decibels, carrying a chilling edge:

“They didn't just use economic sanctions; they also launched full-scale cyberattacks and physical strikes.”

“According to our intelligence, the Ugly Country's special forces even infiltrated and directly captured their leader.”

“Moreover, to cut off Venezuela's domestic command communications and turn them into the deaf and blind...”

“The Ugly Country used Graphite bombs and Electromagnetic pulse weapons to surgically eliminate all ground communication base stations in Venezuela's capital, Caracas, as well as several key military strongholds.”

...

Liu Jianguo's brow twitched as he listened.

Even though he was in the military-industrial business, hearing about such blatant hegemonic behavior still made his blood boil with anger.

These methods were too dirty and too ruthless.

“Overnight, Venezuela's entire national communication network was completely paralyzed.”

Xiao Zhang continued, speaking quickly with a sense of urgency:

“Mobile phones had no signal, the internet was disconnected, and even the military's encrypted communication lines were interrupted because the relay stations were destroyed.”

“The entire country instantly fell into a state of paralysis as an information island.”

“The government couldn't issue orders, the army couldn't coordinate operations, and the public fell into a panic.”

“It could be said that at that time, Venezuela was completely at the mercy of the Ugly Country.”

Liu Jianguo nodded, his expression solemn.

He understood what an information island meant.

In modern warfare, losing information superiority is equivalent to losing air and sea superiority, and is perhaps even more severe.

It was basically a one-sided massacre.

“I know this,”

Liu Jianguo sighed. “Weak nations have no diplomacy; being backward means being beaten. This is an eternal truth.”

“But...”

He looked at Xiao Zhang in confusion. “What does this have to do with that kid Li Jiajun?”

“Could it be that this kid ran off to South America to help them repair base stations?”

“Even if he wanted to, it would be a drop in the bucket. Those base stations can't be restored in less than a few months or even years.”

Xiao Zhang did not directly answer Liu Jianguo's question.

A strange light suddenly flashed in his eyes—a look mixed with confusion, shock, and disbelief.

“However, Director Liu.”

Xiao Zhang's tone suddenly shifted, becoming increasingly solemn:

“Just when everyone thought Venezuela would yield because of this...”

“Something strange happened.”

“What?” Liu Jianguo subconsciously pressed.

“Just three days after their total network blackout.”

Xiao Zhang held up three fingers to emphasize:

“Only the third day.”

“Venezuela's key domestic departments, the core military command system, and even civilian networks in some regions...”

“Miraculously recovered!”

“Recovered?”

Liu Jianguo's eyes widened, his face full of disbelief. “How is that possible? Weren't the base stations all bombed? Weren't the fiber optic cables all cut?”

“What did they use to recover? Shouting?”

This completely violated physical common sense.

Building a communication network that covers an entire country requires massive amounts of capital, equipment, and time.

Three days?

Three days isn't even enough to clear the rubble.

“We thought it was impossible too.”

Xiao Zhang gave a bitter laugh and spread his hands:

“At the time, when we monitored the sudden recovery of Venezuela's communication signals, our first reaction was that the Ugly Country had let them off the hook, or that the Ugly Country had taken over their network.”

“However, we soon realized something was wrong.”

“Because those signals not only had an extremely high level of encryption, but their transmission speed was also incredibly fast, completely unaffected by the damage to ground infrastructure.”

“So, we and intelligence agencies around the world, including Big Mao and even the Ugly Country's intelligence agency that was stirring up trouble, were all frantically tracing the source of this mysterious signal.”

At this point, Xiao Zhang paused.

His gaze swept over everyone present, finally landing on the innocent-looking Li Jiajun.

“After several days of round-the-clock tracking and triangulation.”

“All evidence pointed to one possibility.”

Xiao Zhang took a deep breath and slowly uttered a few words:

“They had connected to a low Earth orbit satellite network.”

“What we commonly call Starlink.”

The so-called Starlink is actually a system that provides global internet coverage by deploying thousands of small satellites in low Earth orbit to form a massive constellation. You can simply understand it as hanging countless super Wi-Fi routers in space. Its core advantage lies in its ability to communicate directly with ground user terminals, completely bypassing the need for complex ground base stations and fiber optic cables. Thus, whether in deep forests, the vast ocean, or war-torn disaster zones like Venezuela where base stations were destroyed, as long as you have a terminal and satellites overhead, you can get online. This thing is essentially a dimensional reduction strike against traditional ground communication networks.

“Starlink?”

Liu Jianguo couldn't help but suck in a breath of cold air when he heard this word.

As a military-industrial big shot, he naturally knew the strategic significance of this technology.

That is the high ground in space that the entire world is currently scrambling for.

“Musk's Starlink?”

Liu Jianguo asked subconsciously.

In his understanding, the only person currently capable of operating such a large-scale low Earth orbit satellite constellation was Musk, known as Silicon Valley's Iron Man.

Moreover, the Ugly Country had always been supporting Musk's Starlink project, and on certain battlefields, Starlink had already demonstrated terrifying military support capabilities.

“Could it be that Musk turned traitor? Backstabbed the Ugly Country government?”

Liu Jianguo's imagination ran wild, thinking the plot was getting a bit surreal.

However.

Xiao Zhang shook his head.

A trace of absurdity and disbelief appeared in his eyes, as if he were telling a story that even he himself found hard to believe.

“At first, we all thought so.”

Xiao Zhang said in a low voice, “After all, besides Musk, who else has this capability?”

“But!”

Xiao Zhang emphasized his words, his tone as sharp as a blade:

“Through the continuous tracking and deep decryption by our Special Front, we discovered a shocking fact.”

“This ghost network that suddenly appeared over Venezuela—its encryption protocols and signal characteristics are completely different from Musk's Starlink!”

“Completely different?” Liu Jianguo was stunned.

“Yes, completely different.”

Xiao Zhang nodded, his eyes shining with awe for that unknown technology:

“It uses a Dynamic frequency hopping technology we've never seen before, and its signal transmission efficiency is at least thirty percent higher than Musk's Starlink!”

“It's more advanced, more efficient, and more... untraceable.”

“We utilized our top-tier Computing centers to try and crack its source, but every time it was like spinning in a maze.”

“This is definitely not Musk's technical route.”

“One could even say that this is next-generation technology, half a generation ahead of the current Starlink!”

At this point, Xiao Zhang's voice became somewhat dry.

“Director Liu, can you imagine?”

“On this Earth, besides Musk and the projects we are using the entire nation's strength to catch up with, there is actually an unknown force that has quietly deployed such a network in space.”

“Moreover, it can provide nearly perfect communication support to their enemies right under the Ugly Country's nose.”

“We couldn't figure out who else in this world besides Musk could achieve this.”

“It's just... it's just...”

“I don't even know how to describe it.”

Liu Jianguo's scalp felt numb as he listened.

He felt like he was listening to a science fiction novel.

More advanced than Starlink?

More efficient?

Untraceable?

Which country developed this black technology?

Big Mao?

Impossible; Big Mao's current electronic technology is quite lagging.

Then who?

Could it be aliens?

“We remained puzzled for a long time, even suspecting at one point if there was something wrong with our monitoring equipment.”

Xiao Zhang sighed, the expression on his face becoming extremely complex.

It was the sudden realization of finding the last piece of a puzzle after being confused for so long, yet mixed with the extreme shock of 'how could it be him?'

“Until.”

Xiao Zhang turned around, no longer looking at Liu Jianguo.

His sharp eyes once again locked onto Li Jiajun, who was holding his phone with an innocent 'I'm just a bystander' expression.

That look was like seeing an alien who had just stepped out of a UFO.

“Until we followed you and came here.”

Xiao Zhang's voice rang out eerily, echoing in the quiet warehouse:

“Until just now, when I heard him say with my own ears, 'use our family's network.'”

This final sentence was like the last domino, crashing heavily into Liu Jianguo's heart.

All the clues were linked together at this moment.

The network blackout in Venezuela.

The mysterious signal that suddenly recovered.

The satellite network more advanced than Musk's.

And Li Jiajun's mysterious phone call in Spanish.

As well as that nonchalant phrase: 'use our family's network.'

Liu Jianguo stared blankly at Li Jiajun, his mouth wide open, a clicking sound coming from his throat, unable to utter a complete sentence for a long time.

He felt his worldview collapsing and simultaneously restructuring.

This... this, this, this.

Could the mastermind the whole world was looking for...

The mysterious force that wove a great web in space and slapped the Ugly Country hard...

Be this toy-selling kid in front of him?

Liu Jianguo felt his head spinning, a sense of speechlessness in his heart, and he even felt like crying.

This is too damn ridiculous!

You're a toy factory; why aren't you making toys properly? Why did you go into space to weave a web?

And you wove it even better than the professionals?

You're really going against the heavens!