Starting from South America, speeding through the world

Chapter 204 Global Silence
The screams stopped abruptly, as if they had been abruptly cut off.

Tamara sat frozen on the ground, her hands bracing against the cold floor.

She doesn't know him.

The man in front of me was wearing a protective suit, with a mask covering most of his face.

His eyebrows were sparse, his eyelids were puffy, yet his whole body exuded a coldness that was completely inconsistent with his gentle appearance.

But he was not one of those staff members who forced her to read a script or pushed her into the water.

It's not like those interrogators who bow their heads to take notes and say, "Madam, we're just asking routine questions."

"Who...who are you?" Tamara asked in a trembling voice. "Outside...what happened outside?"

"Can we go?" Zhou Yi asked.

The voice was very nasal, lacking any extra emotion.

Tamara paused for a second, instinctively trying to nod, but her neck seemed to be stuck.

"What do you mean? 'Leave' means you're here to deal with me? They...they said they wouldn't touch me today."

Her breathing became rapid, and her eyes began to wander.

“We’re here to rescue you,” the CIA woman said.

Tamara was stunned for a full two seconds.

".What?"

"We've come to take you away."

These words made her freeze, and then she shook her head frantically.

"No, you're lying. I don't believe you."

“They change their story every day, saying I will be released, saying they will arrange a meeting with reporters, and saying McCain wants to see me. They have said it many times.”

"You are not one of them."

"But you're not someone I know either."

Her speech became faster and faster until finally no one could understand what she was saying.

"You were wearing a mask and those kinds of clothes, how did you get in? Who are you?"

"What evidence do you have? You want me to go with you, then say I tried to escape, and then film it and send it to the media? You've been playing this game for ages! I'm not going, so do whatever you want!"

Zhou Yi stared at her incessant chatter, his fingers itching slightly.

The CIA woman rolled her eyes and spoke impatiently:
"Either stand up and walk yourself, or you'll be knocked unconscious and dragged out."

"Choose."

Tamara was still gasping for breath, coughing like a bellows in her throat.

"Threats, still threats. Aren't you even going to change your lines?"

"casual."

The woman turned around and gestured behind her, and the tall man immediately walked forward.

Seeing this, Tamara finally moved.

"and many more!"

She shouted and struggled to her feet, her legs trembling so much she could barely support her body.

"Wait a minute... I can do it myself."

No one urged them on, but no one offered any help either.

A few seconds later, Tamara managed to take her first step.

My steps were unsteady, like walking on cotton, but I was definitely moving forward.

Zhou Yi quickly followed, and the group arrived in the corridor.

Tamara turned back for one last look at the cell.

The gray walls were dirty, damp, and stained with blood.

She seemed to want to say something; her lips moved twice before she finally managed to squeeze out a sound:

"There's still one person left."

"She's here too."

“Natalie, Natalie Watts.”

"She was arrested at the same time as me, right next door, if she's still alive."

"They didn't say they were going to get rid of her, but I didn't know."

Tamara didn't say anything more, but simply closed her eyes in anguish.

Zhou Yi walked in the direction the woman was pointing.

The electronic lock on the door also failed.

He gripped the handle and tried to push it.

"Click."

The door opened.

It was quiet inside.

Step inside, your footsteps landing on the ground.

In an instant, a rope made of coarse cloth was looped around it.

Zhou Yi reacted extremely quickly.

He didn't dodge; instead, he lowered his shoulder and stepped sideways with his left foot, lifting the other person off the ground.

Natalie was slammed against the door frame, but her grip didn't loosen; she gritted her teeth and continued to tighten the constriction.

Zhou Yi sighed and pressed his right arm against her carotid artery, forming a stable angle with her collarbone.

Then, tuck your elbows in and engage your shoulders and back.

The woman suddenly couldn't breathe, and her movements gradually became weak and powerless. "Don't struggle," Zhou Yi whispered, "It's me, John."

Natalie's eyes widened, her reaction delayed by half a second.

He froze instantly.

The next second—

The restraints were lifted.

Natalie swayed, her legs felt weak, and she almost fell to the ground.

"John."

She looked up in surprise, only to find a completely unfamiliar face before her.

The hope in his eyes was extinguished, replaced by chill and vigilance.

"You...you're not."

Natalie instinctively took a half step back, her hand reaching for her waist, even though there was nothing there.

"Don't flirt with her," came the CIA woman's voice from nearby. "Time to go."

Zhou Yi didn't turn around, but simply raised her hand to make a "received" gesture, then said in a low voice:
Look here.

As soon as he finished speaking, a thought flashed through his mind, and a pistol appeared out of thin air.

Seeing this, Natalie had no further doubts.

"What's wrong with you?" she asked.

"Disguise," Zhou Yi replied succinctly, "I haven't had time to deal with the ones on my face yet."
-
Ten minutes ago.

Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska.

Major Lambert was preparing to receive the next round of OPLAN data when suddenly—

The COP terminal on the wall was refreshing rapidly, and alarms were popping up frequently.

The lower infrared sensor curve suddenly changed, the signal first returned to zero, and then rebounded rapidly.

"What's going on?" He frowned and took two steps forward.

Images transmitted from the SBIRS satellite are projected onto the main screen.

A radiating heat source waveform is spreading outward from the core area of ​​Washington.

Coordinates: 38.889°N, 77.009°W.

That is
Lambert's brain buzzed.

“Cut into infrared.” His eyelids twitched uncontrollably.

No one moved.

“MWIR! Hurry!” This time, Lambert shouted it out directly.

The technician was startled and pressed the switch button.

In the image, the core high-temperature mass is located below the Earth's surface.

It exhibits a deeply buried diffusion structure with asymmetrical peripheral rupture.

The thermal intensity far exceeds that of a conventional explosion, the convection signal is extremely weak, and the radiation boundary expands rapidly.

Lambert's Adam's apple bobbed up and down, and he felt weak in the limbs.

He looked to his right with difficulty.

The colonel had just been called to a briefing and hadn't returned yet.

Now, I am the supreme commander on this standby.

“Initiate the NUDET confirmation process.” Lambert began with difficulty, still clinging to a sliver of hope: “We have a case… an underground nuclear release—”

However, before he could finish speaking, the SACCS next to him lit up.

In an instant, alarms came in like a flood, overwhelming everyone.

——No ACK from NCA primary terminal
——EAM uplink timeout
——MILSTAR path 1: no response
—NMCC handshake negative
——Alt-NCA: not responding
——MILSTAR path 2 retry initiated. Status: FAIL
After reading the words on it, the sergeant's face turned ashen, as if he were dead.

“...We...we lost.” At this moment, he could no longer speak.

At the same time, a large number of requests came from various intercontinental missile brigades, airborne early warning and control nodes, and underwater platforms.

"Request that the pre-authorized strike protocol be executed in accordance with Appendix C."

"It is recommended to enable the backup command chain."

"Distributed C2 situation conditions are met, request execution."

The disaster that occurred during the exercise has officially struck.

This time, there was no room for luck.

It's all over.

Lambert stood frozen in place.

One second, two seconds.

He slowly bent over, pressing his forehead against the telephone, as if he were praying, or as if he was about to vomit.

At the third second, Lambert pressed the button.

Nobody knows what he's thinking.

From that moment on, the Offutt Command Center began operating independently.

All cross-theater communications, ISR data streams, and strategic command channels were forcibly cut off.

The base is completely isolated from the outside world.

And on this isolated island, there is only silence.

Deathly silence.

　This chapter cannot fully reproduce the actual U.S. military's active-duty combat readiness system in detail, and some procedures have been simplified. Please forgive me, dear readers.

　　(P.S.: The original manuscript is gone (╯-_-)╯┴—┴)
　　
　
(End of this chapter)