I painted an aircraft carrier on the courtyard house for Dongda University.

The next day

The atmosphere in the circular conference room of the Pentagon in the United States was somber.

Five-star general Mike sat at the head of the table with a stern expression. The two sides of the conference table were clearly divided: one side was full of people in crisp military uniforms, while the other side was full of people in civilian clothes. Even around the conference table, there were many people listening in.

He slammed his fist on the table and roared, "Five days! The President and the Secretary of Defense gave you a full five days, and you couldn't even confirm this much information? I absolutely refuse to believe that such an advanced fighter jet, those sieve-like design bureaus of Canada, wouldn't have leaked even a single word!"

At this moment, a middle-aged officer sitting below suddenly stood up and said cautiously, "Sir, I feel something is amiss. The plane's flight area was clearly on the border of Xia, and that location is extremely far from the mainland of Da'e. Theoretically, ordinary fighter jets couldn't reach that area. Do you think it's possible that this plane doesn't belong to Da'e, but to Xia?"

"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!"

Mike retorted without hesitation, his tone full of disdain, "How could a country like Xia, besides using human lives to fill the gaps left by war, possibly build such advanced fighter jets?"

No sooner had he finished speaking than the conference room door was suddenly pushed open from the outside, and an officer with a look of great anxiety stumbled in.

Mike was already furious, and when he saw someone barging in so disrespectfully, he turned green with rage.

"Reporting, sir, the seventh ship..." the officer who rushed in said urgently, but was interrupted before he could finish speaking.

"Get out!"

Mike roared angrily, his face turning ashen, giving the other party no chance to explain.

The officer's expression grew increasingly grave. After a few seconds of hesitation, he forced himself to try again: "Sir, it's an urgent message from the Seventh Fleet!"

Seeing that he dared to disobey his orders, Mike felt his authority had been offended and roared, "As an officer of the world's most powerful nation, even if the sky were to fall, you can't be this flustered! Don't you have any semblance of a military officer? Huh? Get out!"

The officer hesitated for a moment, then had no choice but to turn around and prepare to leave.

"etc!"

Mike suddenly spoke, his tone flat, "You just said something about the Seventh Fleet?"

Upon hearing this, the officer, as if grasping at a straw, immediately turned and shouted, "The Seventh Fleet just reported that the aircraft carrier USS Ranger, the guided-missile destroyer USS Art, and the destroyer USS Koakei lost contact one after another about 120 nautical miles northeast of Taiwan. The news was confirmed by six ships within a 100-kilometer radius; all three ships instantly lost radar and IFF (Identification Friend or Foe) signals. The Seventh Fleet subsequently dispatched multiple aircraft to search the area where the three ships lost contact, but to no avail!"

These words were like a thunderclap out of nowhere, and the conference room instantly fell into a deathly silence.

Everyone turned their attention to Mike, whose face was stiff, and they all secretly admired him: the five-star general is indeed calm and composed. He can remain so calm in the face of such a change. He truly deserves the title of "the eternal five-star general".

But this exclamation didn't last more than a few seconds. Mike, sitting in the first seat, had his facial muscles twitch violently, and his expression quickly turned ferocious.

He pointed at the officer who entered with an incredulous look on his face, and cursed, "Fuck you! You must be kidding me! This can't be, this absolutely can't be..."

Suddenly, as if he had just realized something, Mike's face contorted into a rage, and he roared, "It's the Goose! It must have been the Goose! They used a super submarine to ambush us! This is a declaration of war! A declaration of war against our beautiful country! They've gone mad, they want to start a full-scale war with us..." A string of vulgarities poured out of his mouth, interspersed with indistinct curses.

After a five-minute-long, highly charged rant, he gradually calmed down and, with a serious expression, ordered, "Immediately dispatch all available warships of the Seventh Fleet to thoroughly investigate what happened. Request cooperation from Taiwan. How could three warships suddenly lose contact?"

"There's definitely something seriously wrong here. The Great Goose's warships usually don't go to that area. Could it be that Xia Kingdom has really developed something extraordinary? No, we must take this seriously. We must find the rat hiding in the shadows. Xia Kingdom, I want to see if you're the ones causing this trouble!"

At this moment, a young officer standing in the corner, whose rank was only colonel, suddenly raised his hand in a serious salute and said loudly, "Sir, there is something I think might be related to this matter, and I feel I need to report it to you."

Logically speaking, at a meeting of this level, it wouldn't be his place to speak. However, Mike was too lazy to say much at this point, so he raised his hand and waved for him to speak quickly.

"Reporting to the commander, after a year-long intelligence investigation by our department, together with intelligence personnel from Xiao Rizi and Taiwan, we have discovered that since about a year ago, there have been significant adjustments and relocations of various experts and technicians in Xia Kingdom's light and heavy industries."

"Recently, we have received several intelligence reports, some of which indicate that the research and development speed of several factories in Xia Kingdom in recent months has been astonishing. For example, a newly established gun factory in the northeast of Xia Kingdom completed the research and development of five special guns in less than four months. Another example is an auto parts factory that designed and manufactured agricultural vehicles, motorcycles, jeeps and even heavy-duty trucks in just six months."

"Even more astonishing is that a steel rolling mill has overcome the technical challenge of a 30-ton oxygen top-blown converter. Keep in mind that before this, Xia Guo's industrial level hadn't even fully mastered open-hearth furnaces! Now they have begun to promote oxygen top-blown converters throughout Xia Guo. It is understood that these factories have several top-level experts with extremely mysterious identities."

Upon hearing this, Mike's expression changed drastically. He stared intently at the colonel and demanded sharply, "Why wasn't this situation reported sooner? These factories must be destroyed immediately. We cannot allow this Eastern lion to awaken again!"

The colonel shook his head and said in a deep voice, "No, sir. I'm not reporting this to you to ask you to simply deal with these few factories. In a very short period of time, hundreds or even thousands of heavily guarded factories and research bases have appeared in China. The factories I just reported that have already made their research results public are among the ones with the most basic security measures."

"Therefore, I am deeply worried about this. China has been providing aid to China for no less than five years, but in the past, the number of aid personnel publicly announced each year was only a thousand. To put it bluntly, China's aid over the past 10 years cannot keep up with China's development in the last six months! Just think how many of China's top engineers are needed to support such an exaggerated rate of development in China's military and even industrial sectors?"

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