Chapter 35 A serious but utterly nonsensical string of nonsense

Ugly Country, Virginia, The Pentagon.

Inside a top-secret war room, the atmosphere was heavy as iron. The cold air conditioning breeze blew silently, but it could not disperse the heat and shock in everyone's hearts.

Sitting around the long conference table was a group of figures capable of making any nation in the world tremble. The Secretary of Defense, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and heads from the sea, land, air, and space forces, as well as the Central Intelligence Agency. Every single one of them carried shining stars on their shoulders, and every decision they made could stir up bloodshed on the other side of the globe.

At the head of the conference room, on a massive display wall composed of countless small screens, high-definition images and videos transmitted from the Middle East battlefield were playing on a loop.

Burning tank wreckage, twisted armored vehicles, and charred corpses everywhere... Every frame was like a silent slap, fiercely striking the faces of those who controlled the world's most powerful military.

A technical Expert from DARPA stood in front of the screen, suppressing the turmoil within, and reported in a tone that tried to keep as objective as possible while containing his shock.

"... According to the preliminary analysis sent back from the front line by Mike, it can be confirmed that the attack was launched by a type of ultra-small, suicide drone swarm we have never seen before."

"They have demonstrated a 'decentralized collaborative combat' capability far exceeding all of our current drone systems. Gentlemen, please allow me to explain what this means." The Expert took a deep breath, seemingly trying to calm his own emotions.

"This means that this drone swarm has no master unit, or rather, every unit can be a master unit. In an instant, without relying on any central server, they can complete the sharing of battlefield information and autonomously coordinate to assign attack targets in the most optimized way. Our 'Predators' and 'Reapers' are like primitives needing telephone lines compared to them. This means that all our existing electromagnetic interference methods are... basically ineffective against them."

"What's even more terrifying is their attack pattern, which is precise, lethal, and possesses a kind of... restrained intelligence. Based on the analysis of the armor fragments, they can accurately hit the weakest top part of the merkava, and can also precisely adjust their explosive power according to the target, such as a command vehicle or a regular troop carrier, to cause maximum damage with minimum cost. This is an idealized attack model we have only discussed in theoretical simulations."

The Expert paused his report, switched the screen, and a high-definition photo, magnified countless times, appeared on the big screen.

It was a palm-sized plastic cover plate stained with sand.

"This is the only relatively complete piece of attack weapon wreckage we found at the scene. It has clear lettering on it."

On the screen, the laser-etched text was conspicuously marked with a red circle — "Li's Toy Factory", and the line of square characters below — "Li Family Toy Factory".

The conference room fell into a deathly silence.

The generals looked at each other, their faces full of confusion and absurdity.

"A toy factory?"

A toy factory manufactured a super weapon capable of annihilating their ally's most elite armored brigade in an instant?

This sounded even more absurd than the worst Hollywood science fiction movie script.

"Bullshit!"

A thunderous roar broke the silence of the conference room.

An old hawkish General wearing a Marine Corps uniform with four stars on his shoulders slammed the table and stood up abruptly. His face, which looked incredibly resolute from years of exposure to the wind and sun, was now flushed with anger.

"Technology surpassing ours? From a toy factory?" He pointed at the logo on the screen, roaring with spittle flying, "This is definitely a conspiracy by the Chinese! How dare they sell this level of weapon to the terrorist organizations in Middle East! Are they crazy? Do they want to start World War III?!"

The General's roar seemed to ignite a powder keg. The anger of all the hawkish generals in the conference room was instantly ignited.

"This is an act of war!"

"We must immediately issue the sternest warning to the Eastern Country!"

...

The Secretary of Defense was a gloomy-looking white-haired man. He did not immediately state his position, but instead cast his gaze toward a seat at the end of the conference table.

"Mr. Jensen," he asked in a low voice, "You are the person here who understands the Eastern Country the best. What do you think about this Li Family Toy Factory?"

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The person called upon was an advisor with white hair and beard, wearing a well-tailored suit and gold-rimmed glasses. His name was Edward Jensen, a very famous "Eastern Country Expert" scholar in the Ugly Country, who had provided consulting services to major think tanks and government departments for years. His life experience was built on interpreting Eastern culture and writing related books, allowing him to thrive in high society.

Hearing the Secretary of Defense call his name, Jensen adjusted his glasses slowly and deliberately, a deep smile of having everything under control appearing on his face. He knew this was the best moment to demonstrate his value.

He cleared his throat, waited until everyone's eyes were focused on him, and then spoke with feigned profundity:

"Gentlemen, to understand our opponents, we cannot just look at the surface of the problem. Chinese, are a nation extremely adept at 'strategic deception.' This name precisely confirms this point."

He stood up, walked slowly to the screen, and pointed at the square characters, like a professor teaching in a classroom.

"Li Family, this is a surname, representing its ownership. Factory, is a factory. These are all very simple. The key to the problem lies in the two characters for 'Toy' in the middle."

Jensen deliberately paused, enjoying the focused gaze of the generals.

"In English, the meaning of 'Toy' is very simple. But in the context of the Chinese, especially in this sensitive military field, every word can contain multiple meanings. The first character, 'Wan' ( Play), literally means 'Play,' but it can be extended to mean toying with, teasing, or even contempt. And the second character, 'Ju' ( Tool), means tool or implement; in a military context, it refers to equipment or weapons."

He pushed up his glasses, and a cold light reflected off his lenses.

"So, gentlemen, please allow me to provide you with a more accurate translation that better aligns with Eastern strategic thinking. This name is absolutely not some Li Family Toy Factory."

He spoke word by word, with an incredibly certain tone, announcing his "astonishing discovery":

"This is a codename filled with the arrogance and contempt unique to Easterners. Its true meaning should be — The Ace Military Factory That Toys With You!"

"Or, to be more blunt — Produced by the Li family, a killing tool born specifically to toy with you!"

"This is a naked provocation! They are using this name to tell us that they can use what we perceive as toys to destroy our steel torrent that we are most proud of! This is a contempt that comes from the marrow of their bones!"

(Li Jiajun: I'm not, I didn't, you are talking total nonsense)

This "professional" yet absurd interpretation caused the entire conference room to instantly erupt.

...

"Damn it!"

"How dare they humiliate us like this!"

The face of the Marine Corps General from before had turned the color of a pig's liver, and he felt his blood burning. If his previous anger was only because of technological backwardness, then now, this anger had escalated into the ultimate humiliation of being insulted right to his face by the enemy!

After hearing Jensen's analysis, the Secretary of Defense's face had turned extremely livid.

He slammed his fist onto the heavy conference table, emitting a dull, thunderous sound that made the entire conference room tremble.

"I don't care what kind of factory it's called!" He said, suppressing his rage, squeezing out every word through his teeth, "Immediately initiate the highest level of emergency administrative procedures! I want to sanction this Li Family Toy Factory."