57: Don’t be impatient, let the bullets fly for a while!

The incident happened suddenly; the shipboard firefighters couldn't respond in time.

Thick smoke blotted out the sky. By the time fire-extinguishing foam sprayed from the fire pump nozzles, the four Raptor fighter jets had been burned down to nothing but steel frames.

Lying on a stretcher, William was rapidly thinking of a solution, while the American Aircraft Carrier Commander was already flying into a rage.

"Damn Locke Dongde · Niuding Group scum, where is their representative? Catch him! Bring him to me!"

"General, the accident is under investigation. We have no authority to arrest any law-abiding citizen," the ship's staff officer reminded him.

The Aircraft Carrier Commander retorted angrily: "Four Raptor fighter jets burned down to iron frames, 21 crew members dead, 17 severely injured, 7 missing, and you're telling me I can't arrest him?"

"If not for naval law restrictions, I would kick his ass hard with my pointed leather shoes, shove a Magnum barrel into his stinking mouth, and blow that pig's brains out!"

The ship's staff officer whispered: "General, Mr. William is a Vice President of the Locke Dongde · Niuding Group and has close ties with the leaders at the Pentagon."

"Now! Immediately! Right now! Get that pig over here!"

The Aircraft Carrier Commander was furious, and the staff officer shrank his head and immediately went to find someone.

But William was extremely cunning. After receiving simple bandaging and treatment, he immediately boarded a rescue helicopter and flew away from the aircraft carrier.

Sitting securely in the helicopter cabin, William immediately called the President.

"President, the aircraft carrier's arresting gear snapped on the spot. This matter..."

"You already know? What do we do now?"

"What did you say? I bear full responsibility? Are you kidding? It was your plan to source from a third party in the first place."

"You took 30 million in kickbacks; if I recall correctly, it was the Tom Cruise Foundation, right?"

"Put away your little schemes. If the Pentagon really starts investigating, none of us will be able to escape."

William hung up the phone angrily. The assistant beside him advised: "Mr. William, we should save ourselves now."

"Save ourselves? Once the Pentagon discovers we sourced the arresting gear from Dragon Xia and resold it to the Navy at a 10x markup, they will wipe out my entire family."

Having spent years in the arms industry, William had seen too many arms dealers who "committed suicide" by shooting themselves in the back eight times.

His blonde, blue-eyed mistress had just given birth to a pair of beautiful daughters for him, and he didn't want to die yet.

"We can frame the Dragon Xia Navy."

"Frame them? Tell me more."

"Just say the aircraft carrier's arresting gear was tampered with by Dragon Xia Navy spies, then embellish the story. You know, being anti-Dragon Xia is politically correct in our country."

"Your Groundhog brain is actually quite smart. Let's do that."

William called the President again, and after some conversation, he smiled.

The Little Chicken aircraft carrier accident was immediately covered up by the US Navy and the Department of Defense.

However, the omnipotent reporters still caught a whiff of it. A Post reporter found William's assistant overnight.

"I don't know about the situation you're talking about." The assistant remained tight-lipped.

The reporter calmly slipped over a gold card: "I heard you like playing golf. Perhaps you'll like this gold card."

The assistant took the gold card and muttered: "The Central Park golf course isn't exactly close to where I am."

"Your car is parked downstairs. Here are the keys."

The reporter handed over the gold key to a Cadillac. Only then did the assistant smile and say: "What do you want to know? Sit down and talk."

In the world of the US, there is nothing that money cannot pry open.

If it can't be pried open, it just means you didn't pay enough!

"I heard the Little Chicken aircraft carrier had an accident. I wonder if you..."

"I was an eyewitness to this incident. There was thick smoke everywhere, and the scene was extremely tragic."

The assistant said only one sentence, and the reporter's breathing instantly quickened.

Thick smoke? Did the aircraft carrier catch fire? Or did the carrier-based aircraft have a problem?

"What exactly happened?"

"Locke Dongde · Niuding Group has strict management regulations. I must keep secrets for our clients."

"This card has 500,000 USD in it. If you..."

The assistant smiled and accepted it: "Whatever you do, don't tell anyone else. The propulsion system of the Navy's latest generation Raptor fighter jet had a problem, causing the arresting gear to snap..."

"What? The new generation Raptor fighter jet had a problem? That's impossible, right? It's said that the R&D cost for Raytheon Company was 20 billion USD."

The reporter was astonished. This was big news, something money couldn't buy.

If the Post could publish the report first, the Post's influence in the media sphere would further increase.

"We aren't discussing possibilities, only the facts I saw with my own eyes. The Little Chicken aircraft carrier will dock at the naval shipyard for repairs tomorrow morning. I think you should go there to find your answers," the assistant said, covering his mouth and whispering.

Upon hearing this, the reporter didn't even have time to thank him before grabbing his camera and leaving.

In news, timeliness is everything. He wanted to break the big story as quickly as possible.

The moment the reporter left, William appeared from the partition.

"Mr. William, how was my performance?" the assistant asked excitedly.

William smiled: "Your expression was too exaggerated, and the way you reached for the money wasn't greedy enough."

To cover up the issues with the Locke Dongde · Niuding Group's arresting gear, William and his superior came up with two countermeasures.

The first was to shift the blame, and the second was to stir up public opinion.

They would attribute the carrier-based aircraft test accident to the Raptor fighter jet itself, smearing Raytheon Company while guiding the media to report indiscriminately.

As long as the momentum of public opinion was built up, everyone would ignore the mistakes of the Locke Dongde · Niuding Group.

When the time came, they would bribe the Pentagon's accident investigators and work on the jury, and the glory of the Locke Dongde · Niuding Group would continue.

The Little Chicken aircraft carrier accident was temporarily covered up, while near the Japan island, which faces Dragon Xia across the sea...

The deck of the Izumo quasi-aircraft carrier was packed with guests who had come to observe the ceremony, as well as the carrier's crew.

Kameda looked at the Shinshin fighter jet flying across the sky with immense pride, and the observing Minister of Defense and the Foreign Minister nodded frequently.

But the next second, disaster struck suddenly.

The arresting gear snapped, and the Shinshin fighter jet plunged headlong into the crowd of observers.

Blood flowed like a river, and flesh and gore flew everywhere.

Kameda was struck by the fighter jet's tail fin and was seriously injured on the spot.

But many more guests and Self-Defense Force cannon fodder were not as lucky as him and died on the spot.

Two rescue helicopters mounted with water cannons took off in an emergency, but in the panic, they collided, exploded on the spot, and crushed more than a dozen people to death.

The accident lasted for three whole hours before it was quelled. The Aircraft Carrier Commander made a preliminary count.

The accident resulted in 73 deaths on the spot, 41 deaths from severe injuries that could not be treated, 103 people seriously injured, and 24 missing.

5 Shinshin fighter jets were destroyed, 2 rescue helicopters were destroyed, and 4 tractors were destroyed.

The Japan Navy evaluated this accident as the greatest loss since World War II. Kameda, who was seriously injured and in a coma in the hospital, was taken into custody, and all members of the international trading company responsible for procuring the aircraft carrier's arresting gear were taken away for investigation.

And the mastermind behind all of this, Lu Shenwei, was currently feeling the gentle sea breeze, holding barbecue in his left hand and a liquid bomb in his right, feeling quite comfortable.

"Little Lu, it's been a few days. Is there still no movement from the US and Japan?"

Lu Shenwei looked at the sea and said confidently: "Don't rush, let the bullets fly for a while."