Extreme germ phobia

Chapter 213 The Voice of a Relative

The freckled-faced man proudly raised his head, turned around and ordered, "Get me a motorhome, and quickly!"

The henchmen readily agreed and hurriedly ran off.

The freckled man glanced at Ou Yang and thought to himself, "A bunch of bumpkins, do you even know how much a bike like the one Zhu Ge has costs?"

Zhu Yiming moved closer to Ou Yang and asked, "What's this kid's background?"

“He’s probably a second-generation rich kid,” Ou Yang said. “We don’t need to worry about that. It’s a good thing that he’s willing to follow the rules.”

Amid the pandemic, robbery, murder, and theft have become rampant, with various forces acting with impunity and committing all sorts of evil deeds.

The freckled-faced man was surrounded by a group of hangers-on, clearly not an ordinary person. If this kid were to resort to underhanded tactics, the trio of small, weak men might not be able to withstand him.

From this perspective, although freckled faces may seem a bit arrogant, they are not inherently bad.

Zhu Yiming nodded thoughtfully, finding Ou Yang's analysis quite reasonable: "What if he uses underhanded tactics?"

Ou Yang shrugged: "There's nothing we can do. We'll figure out how to get revenge later!"

Seeing the two of them whispering to each other, the freckled-faced man impatiently pointed at the truck: "Hurry up and pack your things, I can't wait."

Ouyang nodded readily: "No problem!"

He first ran into the flea market, exchanged for several large travel bags, then dragged Zhu and Jiang onto the car. They changed out of their snow combat uniforms and then rummaged around in the car, finding all the loose ammunition they had hidden and stuffing it into the two large travel bags.

Ouyang tried lifting it; it was a bit heavy, but still manageable.

Zhu Yiming offered to pick up the other bag, but almost strained his back before even lifting it: "Wow, this is so heavy! Let's switch!"

He thought Ouyang's was lighter, but when he tried it, he still couldn't lift it.

Zhu Yiming's face burned: "No way, you're a pervert! Where did you get that much strength?"

Ou Yang picked up a travel bag, clicking his tongue and saying, "What a waste. Here's a piece of advice: try not to bother Fifth Sister in the future."

Zhu Yiming gritted his teeth: "What are you saying!"

He glanced at Jiang Yuwei subconsciously: "Don't listen to his nonsense!"

Jiang Yuwei gave a forced smile. "It's alright, troubling Fifth Sister occasionally is good for your health."

Zhu Yiming's vision went black. Had this couple made a plan? They must have!

Ouyang got off the bus, threw his travel bag on the ground, then got back on and took another bag off.

As a result, the travel bag couldn't withstand the weight and, just before landing, it ripped open with a hiss, revealing seven or eight guns and a bunch of fully loaded magazines.

The onlookers gasped in shock. Had these three Asians robbed the gun shop?

Then look at the two men and one woman who got off the car. Each of them had a Remington rifle, and all the rifles had been relegated to the sidelines.

The freckled face twitched at the corner of its mouth, looking a little embarrassed.

What's the meaning of these three specifically switching to shotguns suitable for close combat? Are they wary of me?

Ou Yang pointed to the SUV behind the car: "Could you please find me a place to drive this car out?"

"No need for all that trouble." The freckled-faced man waved his hand. "Send a few people!"

A group of people suddenly surrounded them and hurriedly lifted the SUV off the road.

The power of many is embodied in this moment.

At the same time, several Americans, including Curly, drove up in several RVs.

There are Type A, Type B, and Type C, as well as a large trailer.

After carefully inspecting the vehicle's condition, Ou Yang and Zhu Yiming chose a B-type vehicle with a somewhat dilapidated exterior without hesitation.

This car is relatively low-key and doesn't attract much attention.

The two exchanged keys, and the freckled man excitedly ordered his men, "Clean up my treasure immediately, and be quick!"

A dozen or so Americans immediately sprang into action.

Ou Yang gave a shout and immediately drove the RV away, with Zhu Yiming following behind in his SUV.

The two vehicles left Kamed one after the other, stopping only when they reached a deserted place, where they transferred all the food from the SUV to the RV.

Zhu Yiming couldn't help but sigh, "This is only possible in the US. In China, where would you find so many RVs?"

After transferring the supplies, Ouyang did not immediately return to Kamed. Instead, he took out his phone, turned it on, and eagerly dialed home.

But instead of the familiar dial tone, the receiver played a voice message indicating that the call could not be connected.

Ou Yang picked up the phone in surprise. The prefix 011, followed by the country code, then the area code and the phone number, were all correct.

He tried again, but still nothing changed.

Zhu Yiming and Jiang Yuwei were the same; all three of them looked extremely pale.

We tried talking to each other again, and this time everything worked!
Ouyang suddenly realized that he had only asked for communication and data, and hadn't mentioned international calls, and immediately regretted it.

He immediately dialed customer service and requested that the international long-distance calling function be enabled.

Ou Yang was prepared for no one to answer the phone, but to his surprise, the call was answered after only a few rings.

After listening carefully to Ouyang's request, the other party replied in an extremely formulaic manner: "I'm sorry, all external communications in the United States, including telephone and internet, have been cut off. All communication products can only be used within the United States. You cannot make calls to other regions or access websites in other regions."

After saying that, the other party hung up the phone.

Ou Yang was struck dumb: "If I can't make international calls, what the hell am I supposed to do with this thing?"

Undeterred, Zhu and Jiang separately dialed customer service, only to receive the exact same answer.

"Do you think this was the US actively cutting off external communications, or was it a coordinated effort by outsiders to block communications from the US?" Jiang Yuwei asked with a worried expression.

“I think it’s an outside conspiracy to block communications in the US,” Ou Yang said. “The squeaky wheel gets the grease. With the US in such a mess, the Americans would love for the whole world to know what’s going on here. Why would they actively block communications?”

Zhu Yiming didn't speak, but opened his browser and entered the keywords to search for news. He quickly found the answer: "It was indeed a joint effort by the outside world to block it."

He then clicked on the extended links, which led to news reports about the US Palace's protests against information censorship, various parties joining forces to block information about the Americas, and information control in a certain part of the United States.

One of the comments caught Zhu Yiming's attention, and he immediately read aloud a sentence from it: "Today, the United States is isolated from the outside world in terms of communication, transportation, and trade. Although it is still on Earth, it has been completely cut off from other regions. We must rely on our own strength to overcome the epidemic..."

Hearing this, all three felt heavy-hearted.

Ou Yang whispered, "If the whole world abandons the United States, will the US, in a desperate move, try to drag the whole world down with it?"

The Militia possesses the world's largest nuclear arsenal, the world's most advanced... possibly the most advanced equipment system in the world, and the most combat-experienced military.

If the US decides to launch an attack on the world, the consequences will be unimaginable!
"Probably not." Zhu Yiming continued clicking on the extended link, "That comment just now was alarmist. Look here, just a few days ago, a major Eastern power provided the United States with a low-interest loan in the form of anti-epidemic supplies, amounting to... 40 billion US dollars!"

Ou Yang clicked his tongue, his mind a bit of a mess: "The Americans themselves don't even use US dollars anymore, and we're lending the US $40 billion? I find this all so surreal." "I also feel something's not right, but forgive my ignorance, I really can't see through the inside story."

The two men stared at Jiang Yuwei, who protested, "Why are you looking at me? I'm a medical student, not a finance student!"

Well, none of the three of them are experts, so they definitely can't figure out the inside story on their own.

Ouyang tried to analyze it with his limited knowledge: "You see, all along, the US has been using the dollar to harvest the world, right?"

"That's how it is." Zhu Yiming was definitely a qualified straight man.

Jiang Yuwei was completely bewildered: "How do we harvest them?"

"It's about international settlements. If more people use US dollars, can the US issue more US dollars?"

Jiang Yuwei blinked and nodded thoughtfully.

Ou Yang continued, "In recent years, it seems that some kind of local currency settlement has started, but the US dollar was pegged to gold in its early years and to oil in recent years. International settlements are still mostly conducted in US dollars, and the foreign exchange reserves of various countries are also in US dollars. Once the US dollar depreciates too much, foreign exchange reserves will become a pile of worthless paper, so countries will definitely not allow the US dollar to depreciate too much!"

Zhu Yiming suddenly said, "Isn't this just using the rice knife to hold the whole world hostage?"

“That’s exactly it,” Ouyang said. “If the dollar depreciates significantly, a financial crisis will definitely follow.”

"That 40 billion is quite a lot."

"Many countries' gold reserves are also in the hands of the US. If they really get desperate... Hmph, it would be strange if the US didn't misappropriate them!" Ouyang absolutely dared not overestimate the US's moral standards.

"No, isn't this ridiculous? Why keep our own gold reserves in the US?" Zhu Yiming was completely baffled. "Aren't we afraid the US will default on their debts?"

“They’ve already renege on their promise,” Ouyang said. “The Indians wanted to ship the gold back, but the Americans refused.”

Zhu Yiming was about to ask why, but Jiang Yuwei interrupted him, "What about us?"

“I don’t know.” Ou Yang shook his head helplessly. “There must be deeper considerations at home, otherwise they wouldn’t have entrusted the gold to Lao Mi. But the specific reasons are beyond our comprehension.”

As he spoke, he tried to log into his account on his phone to retrieve the data from his other device, but it was no use; he couldn't log in at all.

It's not surprising. Servers from local brands are definitely located in the local area, so it's normal not to be able to contact them.

Ou Yang sighed and started downloading commonly used software, which went smoothly this time.

But he couldn't log into his account either, so he couldn't contact his family, which made Ouyang furious and he really wanted to flip the table to vent his anger.

Zhu Yiming commented dejectedly, "So, of all the phones we got back, only the three of us can actually make calls?"

He thought that Jiang Yuwei might be able to contact other people since she had been staying here for a long time, but considering the situation in Brown Bear City, he knew that even if Jiang Yuwei had a few acquaintances, he didn't know what the outcome would be.

Even if he's heartless, he wouldn't stoop to reopening old wounds.

Zhu Yiming always felt that Jiang Yuwei was very calculating, a completely different type from himself.

Ou Yang suddenly remembered his experience at the airport: "There's a number I can try."

Zhu Yiming didn't understand: "Where is the number from?"

Ouyang unlocked his phone and, at the place where he was born, pressed five numbers: 12308!

Zhu and Jiang stared at Ou Yang's phone, a complex mix of emotions welling up inside them.

There was worry, fear, and also anticipation.

The phone was answered after only one ring, and a clear, standard Mandarin voice came through the receiver: "Hello, this is the Consular Protection Hotline of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs!"

Ouyang was instantly moved to tears, unable to contain his excitement.

Before dialing the number, he had no extra thoughts, treating it as just an ordinary call. But the moment the call connected, he suddenly realized that this was not a simple communication; it meant that he was reconnecting with his motherland and his parents who were on the other side of the world!

This...this...this is the voice of a loved one!
Zhu Yiming was even more excited than Ou Yang: "Speak up, speak up!"

Jiang Yuwei stared blankly at the phone, then suddenly snatched it away: "Who are you?"

"Hello!" The voice on the other end sounded puzzled. "This is the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' consular protection hotline!"

"No way!" Jiang Yuwei squeezed out the words through gritted teeth and hung up the phone without hesitation.

Ou Yang and Zhu Yiming were both dumbfounded.

"What are you doing?" Zhu Yiming could hardly believe it was real. He wished he could crack open this woman's skull to see what was inside.

Ou Yang was equally puzzled: "Are you alright?"

Jiang Yuwei sneered: "Ou Yang, how did you get this phone number?"

Ou Yang was completely confused, but still explained, "I saw it in a text message sent by the embassy on the day the epidemic broke out."

"And you?" she asked Zhu Yiming again.

“Same!” Zhu Yiming said.

Jiang Yuwei waved the phone: "12308, 12306, 12345, you've all called these numbers, right?"

Ou Yang and Zhu Yiming were both stunned, their minds churning as if something was about to burst forth.

Jiang Yuwei continued: "The correct way to dial this number is +86, 10, 12308!"

The two men froze, unable to believe it was true.

Clinging to his last glimmer of hope, Ouyang asked with difficulty, "Isn't this the embassy's phone number?"

Jiang Yuwei retorted, "Who told you this was the embassy's phone number?"

Ouyang was completely devastated.

Both he and Zhu Yiming were tourists and had never considered calling the foreign affairs hotline. They genuinely didn't know whether the number was in China or abroad.

I hadn't noticed it before, but now that I think about it, numbers starting with 123 are exactly the public service phone numbers in China, aren't they?

Jiang Yuwei continued, "All of America's external communications have been cut off. At a time like this, how can you still get through on this phone? Who do you think is on the other end?"

Ou Yang and Zhu Yiming both fell silent. They both knew that the most likely explanation was that someone was impersonating one of their own.

Zhu Yiming asked, "What about the embassy's phone number? Do you know the embassy's phone number?"

Jiang Yuwei sighed: "I've written it all down on my phone."

"Search online, hurry up, search online!" Zhu Yiming immediately entered the keywords and quickly found the results.

"I'll call! I'll call!" Ou Yang quickly pressed the number and dialed the phone.

The call was answered after only one ring, and a familiar voice came through the receiver: "You're the one who called the protection hotline earlier, right, from the Dongda Embassy in the US?"

Upon hearing this, all three of them changed color.

(End of this chapter)