Hogwarts: From Selling White Peppers to Becoming a God

Chapter 351 What kind of international community is this?

The defense minister frowned. "Don't beat around the bush, just get to the point."

"First, the USS McCain's hijacking incident. This is really too incredible. The USS McCain was not at shore at the time, so the enemy could only board the ship from the air and underwater. But the Aegis system is enough to detect a baseball-sized object within 160 kilometers. No one can parachute in the air without being detected. Moreover, there should have been soldiers on duty on the deck of the ship at the time. It was daytime and the weather was clear. If someone had parachuted, they would not have been able to miss it."

"The McCain's sonar system is also sufficient to ensure its safety underwater."

"However, the USS McCain was still hacked. Unless everyone in command center had gone mad, or the enemy was really a superhuman as they reported, there is only one explanation: they were subjected to all-round, all-frequency signal jamming, and the enemy carried out a boarding operation right under their noses without them noticing."

"Who can do that?" the defense minister asked.

The Arleigh Burke-class destroyers are the most advanced destroyers in the United States. The USS McCain and USS Lamecchi have only been on the market for two years. They are equipped with the world's most advanced radar early warning system at the time—the Aegis system, and are also specially equipped with electronic warfare and anti-jamming enhancement components. Who in the world can silently and stealthily destroy such a high-tech warship?

"Could it be... the Soviet Union?" the Defense Minister pondered. "What was the second thing you mentioned?"

"At 9:45, British ships were hit by torpedoes," the intelligence officer reported. "Immediately after HMS McCain was torpedoed, British ships were hit by torpedoes. But at that time, our battle orders had not yet been issued. Who fired this torpedo?"

"The Lamecchi still had the option of fleeing the battlefield and had no reason to attack the British fleet. If the attack was launched by the McCain, it would either mean that they violated fleet command and launched an attack on the Allies without authorization, or it would mean that the McCain might no longer have any of our men on board."

"The latter is more likely."

"Furthermore, the message sent by the HMS McCann as it sank... they said they had found the source of the jamming, yet they launched Tomahawk missiles into the UK and France... Unless the jamming originated from the UK or France, their actions seem more like an attempt to provoke conflict between our country and the UK and France."

The Defense Minister's eyes lit up. "You mean, this was orchestrated by the Soviet Union, an event that instigated war between us and our allies?"

"Or there are two other possibilities: one is that it was done by terrorists within the UK, and the other is that it was done by the French."

"But it's hard to explain the other side's interference capabilities in the former case. Throughout the entire incident, our unknown enemy demonstrated a very strong information interference capability, which is not something ordinary terrorists could do. As for the French, I can't find any motive for doing it."

Therefore, only the Soviets are possible.

"Perhaps one of their submarines was lurking nearby at the time."

"I see." The Minister of Defense breathed a sigh of relief.

This is a very plausible reason, and also a very politically correct one.

Isn't it only natural for Soviet citizens to support Britain and the United States?

Two years ago, the Soviet Union was on the verge of collapse, but for some reason it recovered and even seems to have gradually stabilized recently. This has left him overwhelmed with problems every day, but it has also saved him the excuse of raising military spending.

Don't you see that huge threat standing there?

Anyway, if a bad thing can't be pinned on someone else, and it's blamed on the Soviet Union, there's a high probability that no one will object.

"Do we have any evidence?" the Defense Minister asked again.

Not yet.

"Continue the investigation," the Defense Secretary said. "Especially the USS McCann. Also, investigate the landing site in France. One Tomahawk missile landed in London, and I wouldn't be surprised if the other landed in Paris, but why would it land in an uninhabited area?"

"Is that really a no-man's-land? Go check it out and see what's there."

……

France, the "no man's land" - Orusburg.

The castle, which had a history of over a hundred years, has been reduced to ruins.

At this moment, seven or eight wizards are working hard to search and rescue on the ruins.

They are Aurors from the French Ministry of Magic.

"It's horrible." A middle-aged bald man came to the ruins and patted the back of a young man who was vomiting, causing the latter to gag violently again. "Go ahead and throw up. You'll get used to it after you throw up a lot."

"Emil," a stern-faced wizard stood before the ruins, noticing the other man, "you should be setting up a Muggle exorcism spell. Isn't that what the Disaster Management Division does? Why are you still here?"

"We can't cast spells," the bald man said. "You also need to leave as soon as possible; the Muggle investigators will be here soon."

"Get them out of here, there are still people here who haven't been rescued."

“There’s no one left, Henry,” Emil said. “This place was destroyed by a Muggle bomb. That bomb blew the castle to smithereens. Unless someone can be turned into mincemeat and cooked alive, there’s no one left alive here.”

The Auror captain named Henry glared at him fiercely. "Is this funny to you?! The Wizarding Union is holding a meeting here, with a full 130 members in attendance! That's more than half of the Wizarding Union's members!"

Emil pursed his lips. "You have relatives here?"

"Putain! Emil! Do you even understand what's happening here?!"

"They all died in France. How will the international community view us now?"

Emil shrugged. "You're worried about that? If all these people are dead, what kind of international community will there be?"

The Auror captain was stunned and speechless for a moment.

"Alright, Henry, get your men out of here. Muggles know there's a bomb here, they'll send people over. I can't cast a forgetting spell on thousands of people."

"What do we do here?"

"What else can we do? Let's burn it first, and then I'll go to the Muggle president and see if there's any way to cover this up."

……

"Putain! Emil!" In the presidential office, Emil was given a thorough dressing-down by the equally bald Muggle president across from him.

"A missile flew from the English Channel to the Anjou region, more than 300 kilometers away! It could be seen by 10,000 radars around the world. How can I cooperate with you to cover up something like that?"

"Not missiles, Mr. President, it's those corpses..."

"If your 'will-o'-the-wisp' can burn those corpses clean, that would be best, the place should be a woodland, a no-man's land! You'd better really turn it into a desolate wasteland."

"It's difficult, sir, it's covered with bricks..."

"Then you need to give me a reason why American missiles had to travel over 300 kilometers to kill these people? Who are they? Should I tell the whole world that they are wizards? Is this a vendetta from the wizarding world? And how can they control American warships and American missiles?"

"Putain!"

President François was furious at the thought. "Damn it, don't even think about using any forgetting spells on me! You need to give me an explanation!"

"Give us half a day, Mr. President. Just half a day is enough for us to clean up the scene."

François glared at him.

Half a day? The Americans have already made seven phone calls to the Élysée Palace!

However, it seems that this is the only way to do it.

"This is the last time!" François gritted his teeth. "I'm warning you, wizards! This is the last time you'll cause me trouble! Don't let me see you again! And don't even mention anything about sanctioning foreign companies or restricting trade again!"

"This is our country! This is our country! Don't point fingers at me! If you're going to hide, then hide somewhere no one can see you!"

"Get out! Get out! Hide in a corner and never come out again!"

(End of this chapter)