50s: Starting with a storage ring

Chapter 365 The Missile's Journey Home

The RGM-84 Harpoon is only a little over 4 meters long; even after removing the warhead and the bottom engine, it's only a little over 3 meters long.

Disassembling one or three harpoons only takes a few minutes. After disassembling and putting them back into the space, it's time for that big guy.

The UGM-96A (Trident) is 1.8 meters in diameter, 10.39 meters long, and weighs 30 tons.

This big guy looks short and stout in space, with an antenna on his head, which is obviously the fairing cap.

Be careful when disassembling this thing; the warhead is radioactive, and the material of the warhead cannot completely block the penetration of nuclear radiation.

On his way here, he made a special trip through the electronics street and swiped a Geiger counter from a warehouse belonging to an instrument dealer.

It's a pity I didn't see any anti-radiation clothing, otherwise, he would definitely get one for himself.

That's nuclear radiation! Apart from the residents of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, very few ordinary people have been lucky enough to encounter it.

With everything ready, Sun Zhiwei stood in a corner of the cave. After releasing the trident, his first action was to cut off the missile's internal power supply.

Regardless of whether this thing was sending out signals, just to be on the safe side, he still had to cut off its power immediately to prevent it from being discovered.

At this moment, Sun Zhiwei stood at the tail of the missile, far away from the warhead. He was genuinely afraid, since the space ring couldn't be used as a radiation protection suit.

He casually tossed the Geiger counter onto the bullet's head and waited a while before retrieving it to check the data.

It's alright, 0.3 millisieverts (mSv), which is within a safe range, but we can't stay any longer; we must start disassembling immediately.

This 10-meter-long missile body is also assembled; it can be disassembled into seven parts.

These are the first-stage engine, interstage transition section, second-stage engine, interstage transition section, instrument compartment, and third-stage engine, fairing, and fairing end cap.

Sun Zhiwei disassembled this thing only for easier transportation, so he wouldn't disassemble it too finely.

His first task was to remove the warhead and immediately store it in his storage space; the rest could be dealt with gradually.

Finally, the trident was roughly divided into four sections according to length, each section being 2-3 meters long and weighing only a few tons.

This was still within his manageable range; anything heavier would be difficult. Just disassembling this behemoth took him more than an hour.

After dismantling, all the sections were stored in the space, and he then re-buried the underground cavity.

In the following period, Sun Zhiwei waited for a response from China while collecting materials to prepare for securing the disassembled missile body inside the box.

On the third day, a telegram arrived from China, stating that since there were no ships available near Tokyo that could provide both secrecy and security, a ship had to be temporarily dispatched from Hong Kong to pick up the goods.

It will take another 3 days to get from Hong Kong Island to Tokyo, so there is plenty of time.

Sun Zhiwei stayed at Mount Fuji for another day before returning to Tokyo.

Upon returning to Tokyo, instead of staying in a hotel, he rented a small cruise ship at the port and began exploring the area near the sea lanes.

Two days later, he saw the agreed-upon ship arrive at the port, but he did not go to make contact with it.

As agreed, the cargo ship will dock normally to unload and load cargo, and then immediately depart to return.

Two more days passed before the cargo ship carrying the goods finally departed from the container terminal, where Sun Zhiwei was already waiting on the shipping route.

Upon spotting the cargo ship, he piloted his cruise ship alongside it, keeping a distance of several dozen meters, for several minutes before finally parting ways. In those brief few minutes, he had already switched five containers on the upper deck of the cargo ship with missile components that he had packaged himself.

Then, at sea, he sent a telegram back to the intelligence office, which only reported the numbers of the five containers.

With everything completed, Sun Zhiwei left Tokyo the following day on a flight to Washington.

Just as he boarded the plane, the cargo ship responsible for receiving the goods happened to pass through the East China Sea.

The cargo ship suddenly turned right here, accelerated towards the Zhoushan Islands, and quickly unloaded 5 containers at a secluded small dock.

Subsequently, the cargo ship turned around, accelerated back onto the channel, and continued its journey to Hong Kong Island.

On that day, ten military heavy trucks departed from the Zhoushan base, heading northwest, and eventually disappeared into the vast Gobi Desert.

On the morning of January 22, 1979, Sun Zhiwei returned to his home in Georgetown.

In the afternoon, after sending Lao Han a message to go home, he stepped into his bar and was immediately warmly welcomed by Belinda.

He was away for too long this time, and many customers were getting impatient. A large group of customers were waiting for him to come back so they could appraise the antiques they considered valuable.

Although Norman Simmons can also issue certificates of authenticity, the authority of Norman's certificates is incomparable to that of James' certificates.

Many long-time customers are willing to wait a month for Sun Zhiwei to return so he can personally appraise their treasures.

So, Sun Zhiwei, who had originally planned to rest for a few days, had no choice but to continue working like a beast of burden under Belinda's endless resentment.

Because of the backlog of business, he had to work overtime. It took him three days to complete all the scheduled assessments.

The authentication itself doesn't take him much time; the main effort is in making the authentication certificate.

Although Belinda and two assistants did most of the work, such as taking photos, he was still responsible for signing each certificate of authenticity.

The certificate of authenticity is worth $2, the photo and service are worth $5, and his signature is worth $90.

As his reputation in the industry grows, Sun Zhiwei's appraisals are being recognized by more and more collectors.

Sun Zhiwei is already considering whether to raise the price of his appraisal certificates.

Those who are willing to trust him bring in antiques worth at least tens of thousands of dollars for authentication. These clients simply don't care about the cost of the authentication certificate.

What else was there to consider? Raise the price. He then informed Belinda that, starting the next day, the cost of her authentication certificates would be increased to $500 each.

Belinda and her two assistants' service fees also increased accordingly, from $5 to $10 per serving.

This is no small amount of money; just a few dozen servings a month would earn more than the wages of two laborers.

Upon hearing the news, the three girls' eyes lit up; they wished they could tie Sun Zhiwei to the shop and make him work there every day.

Even appraiser Norman was pleased, because Sun Zhiwei's appraisal fees had increased, and some clients who were reluctant to pay more would definitely switch to him for appraisals, thus increasing his business volume accordingly.

By the time he finished his work at the shop, it was already the end of the month.

When he finally had some free time, he remembered the five containers of fertilizer that he had stored in his spatial storage when he switched the containers in Tokyo.

(End of this chapter)