Chapter 467 The Wind Rises!

A few hours later.

Inside a temporarily erected joint task force frontline command post somewhere in the Middle East.

The bright incandescent lights illuminated the tent, casting long shadows of the few people inside.

Outside, the night wind whipped up sand everywhere, constantly battering the military canvas and making a rustling sound.

Meanwhile, on the other side.

The commander of the Country A unit that had intercepted these machines—a bearded colonel from Country A—stood with his hands behind his back, in front of the captured wooden crates.

His gaze was fixed tightly on the spoils of war that had just been transported back from the canyon by the special forces.

An adjutant nearby walked over holding a cup of hot coffee, wanting to hand it to him.

The colonel waved his hand, refusing the refreshing drink.

Over the past few days, Country A's strike operations in this Middle East hotspot had been hitting wall after wall.

The higher-ups back home were applying pressure every day, demanding decent results to restore the superpower's face.

Yet, Hassan's militants were as slippery as loaches.

Faced with this predicament, the colonel desperately needed a major victory.

Looking at the crates in front of him, wrapped tightly in dustproof and waterproof tarpaulin,

he had originally thought that Hassan had used secret channels to acquire some secret machine that could change the course of the war.

"Hassan went to such great lengths to break down the supplies into smaller parts and disperse them into all sorts of inconspicuous vehicles."

"He was even willing to sacrifice several armed squads to provide cover."

"What's inside these crates is definitely some high-end, sophisticated military equipment of great importance!" This thought surfaced in his mind.

Perhaps it was some kind of new electronic jammer, or a precision radar component capable of threatening their air superiority.

As long as he could figure out the true nature of these supplies,

he would be able to follow the trail and deal Hassan a fatal blow.

Thinking of this, the colonel's breathing became a bit rapid.

The intelligence officers and technical personnel around him also gathered, the desire to earn merit gleaming in everyone's eyes.

The colonel turned his head, full of anticipation, and issued an order.

He ordered the soldiers to use crowbars to force the wooden crates open.

Two burly special forces soldiers immediately stepped forward.

They drew the steel crowbars from their tactical belts and thrust the flat ends into the gaps between the wooden planks.

"Heave!"

One of the soldiers shouted in a low voice.

The muscles in both of their arms bulged, and they pressed down hard.

Because the workers at Li Family Toy Factory had used a large number of reinforcing nails when packing this shipment to prevent damage during long-distance transport,

this invisibly deepened the Country A soldiers' misconception that "the inside must definitely be valuable military hardware."

As a result, accompanied by the sound of wood splintering,

"Crack—"

A teeth-gritting sound of wood tearing echoed inside the tent.

Several long iron nails were forcibly pulled out and fell onto the sandy ground.

The solid wooden lid on top was flipped over.

At that moment, all eyes, like spotlights, were cast simultaneously into the inside of the crate.

The intelligence officer even raised the high-precision scanner in his hand, ready to record the parameters of this military hardware at any moment.

However,

when they saw what was inside, the air in the entire tent instantly went quiet.

There was no metallic luster.

There were no complex integrated circuit boards.

What appeared before his eyes was not some anti-aircraft radar,

nor was it precision-guided weaponry.

There was only a thick layer of black shock-absorbing foam.

The smile on the colonel's face stiffened slightly; he walked up personally and tore away that layer of foam film.

He hadn't expected that it would actually just look like a few large, rounded robot vacuums with brushes!

The white plastic casing shone with a cheap luster under the incandescent lights.

On both sides of the chassis, two rows of rotating brushes used for cleaning were clearly visible.

An intelligence officer nearby swallowed hard, unable to believe his own eyes.

"Sir... this..."

The intelligence officer stammered, "This seems... to really be a civilian toy..."

He wouldn't give up and used the scanner to scan the machine a couple of times.

Apart from a few ordinary batteries and a few miniature drive motors, there was absolutely no reaction indicating any hazardous materials.

Looking at this harmless civilian junk,

the colonel felt that his intelligence had been severely insulted.

A nameless anger shot straight up his spine to the top of his head, causing his face to turn the color of liver.

To intercept this shipment, he had used precious satellite orbital maneuvering authorization.

He had dispatched armed helicopters and his most elite assault team.

He had even consumed a large amount of aviation fuel and ammunition.

As a result,

what they had made such a big fuss about and snatched back were just these few pieces of junk toys used for drawing on the floor and sweeping?

If this were written in a combat report and submitted to the higher-ups at the Pentagon,

those generals would probably laugh their heads off.

He would become an indelible disgrace to the entire military of Country A!

Fury completely consumed his reason.

He kicked the empty crate next to him, knocking it over.

"Bang!"

Accompanied by a loud noise, the wooden crate rolled a few times on the ground and crashed into a piece of communication equipment.

A few colorful instruction manuals for children's products scattered out from inside.

The soldiers around were so scared that they all took a step back in unison; no one dared to touch the bad luck at this moment.

He waved his fists angrily.

His knuckles cracked loudly.

He cursed, "Bastard, this guy Hassan is too cunning."

In the eyes of this colonel, this was definitely a diversion used by Hassan to consume their intelligence resources and interception forces!

The colonel paced back and forth, his mind beginning to fill in the tactical logic behind this.

"How could that old fox Hassan go to such great lengths to transport a pile of useless robot vacuums?"

"The opponent deliberately wrapped this pile of junk up tightly."

"Then, under the cover of night, he arranged for multiple convoys to carry out disguised transport with great fanfare."

"The goal was to be certain that our intelligence department would bite and not let go." This thought surfaced in his mind.

When their helicopters and special forces all pounced on these few fake targets,

the pressure on Hassan's defensive line would be drastically reduced.

Using a pile of worthless robot vacuums to attract their attention, thereby covering the transit of real high-value military hardware!

Having figured this out,

the colonel stopped pacing.

The colonel, who thought he had seen through Hassan's trick, had an incomparably cold look in his eyes.

The humiliation of being played was transformed into an even more intense murderous intent.

Since Hassan was going to such great lengths to provide cover, it meant that in some hidden corner they hadn't noticed yet,

those high-value targets in Hassan's hands—such as those elusive warplanes and heavy equipment—

were in a state of unguarded transfer!

This was a god-given opportunity to wipe them all out.

He absolutely could not waste any more time on these junk toys.

Then, he turned around and faced the intelligence officer and the adjutant in the tent.

He angrily ordered his men to continue expanding the reconnaissance range and to look for Hassan's remaining warplanes.

"Forget about this scrap metal!"

He pointed at the machines on the ground and ordered loudly.

"Immediately adjust the orbits of all reconnaissance satellites and dispatch all drone formations."

He strode to the huge long table hanging in the center of the tent.

He slammed his fist hard onto the tactical map.

This punch had great force, shaking the coffee cup on the table so it jumped up, and brown liquid splashed onto the edge of the map.

He roared, "Once you find them, bomb them hard for me."

"No need to ask for instructions, destroy the target as soon as you find it!"

"I want to make Hassan pay the price for his cleverness!"

The officers in the tent were shocked by this murderous aura and immediately straightened their posture.

At this moment, he still did not know that this order would make them pay a painful price in the days to come.

"Yes! Sir!"

The adjutant immediately took the order, turned around, and jogged toward the communication console.

The radio's indicator lights flashed rapidly.

Order after order rushed into the sky along with the radio waves.