162: Chapter 162 Fishing Boat Sets Sail

Commander Xue nodded with satisfaction: "You, young man, are quite good; you know how to handle things with discretion."

On the surface, it appeared that Zhang Wei gained nothing, even paying for the resources and labor to salvage for free. But in reality, he had won big.

What was the biggest difficulty in salvaging artifacts? Naturally, it was the patrols in the maritime area and the harassment from neighboring countries' ships.

If the company operated under the banner of civil-military cooperation, they could eventually arrange for a warship to provide escort. From then on, he would be able to travel unimpeded throughout the entire South China Sea.

"Go back and wait for news. I will report this to the central authorities. The power struggle between major nations is not that simple."

Commander Xue discussed some details with Zhang Wei, then prepared to see him off. Zhang Wei was only responsible for the salvage. The other aspects were the main points that needed to be carefully studied.

Two weeks passed. During this time, Zhang Wei also took the time to complete a few intelligence missions. His account balance had increased by quite a bit of RMB.

"Hello, I am Chen Dong from the Military Region Staff Department. For the next period of time, I will be responsible for the liaison between here and the Military Region."

At a corner of the pier, an officer with a tall, upright figure was shaking hands with Zhang Wei. Behind him followed a squad of the People's Liberation Army.

Looking at the two bars and one star on the other's shoulder, Zhang Wei felt a bit envious of that handsome military uniform. He understood the military's caution; this operation could even trigger a war, so no amount of caution was excessive.

At this moment, two brand-new fishing boats were docked at the pier behind them. These were new ships that Tang Liansheng had used his connections to purchase from a shipping magnate in Hong Kong.

The ships were equipped with advanced radar and underwater sonar systems. Their displacement could even reach the level of coast guard vessels.

"You are too polite, Staff Officer Chen. To avoid wasting time, let's talk on the way."

Everyone boarded the ship. The pier had already received notification, and the ships immediately obtained permission to depart from port.

After boarding, Chen Dong did not interfere with the crew's operations, but instead took over the satellite communication system.

"Zero One, Zero One, this is young man. I have departed from port. Expected to arrive at the designated Location in two hours."

The radio replied quickly: "Zero One understood. young man, begin operations immediately upon arriving at the Location."

"young man understood."

Zhang Wei really couldn't help but be curious: "Staff Officer Chen, what does this 'young man' mean? Does the military have such code words?"

Chen Dong's smile stiffened slightly: "The temporary code name for our two fishing boats at headquarters is young man. It is said that the Commander-in-Chief chose it himself."

"So, since everyone got used to calling me young man, they just decided to use it as the code name?"

Zhang Wei was speechless. He hadn't expected Commander Xue to have such a playful side.

Two hours passed quickly. The fishing boats finally arrived above the unmanned nuclear submarine. The crew were all skilled hands recruited from various places. They began to nimbly drop anchors to secure the position. The salvage platform also began to be assembled.

Meanwhile, at the Camilo Osias Naval Base, Major Mike ran into the commander's office, panting heavily: "It's a disaster! Radar scans just now detected two unidentified ships above the unmanned nuclear submarine. Satellite imagery shows they are likely two large salvage ships."

"What!" Lieutenant General Jericho jumped up from his chair instantly: "Could the Chinese be salvaging the yacht that crashed a few days ago?"

"Considering that our experiment no. 1 has always maintained a silent posture, we cannot rule out this possibility."

Lieutenant General Jericho frowned deeply. After repeatedly simulating the situation in his mind, he spoke slowly: "Regardless of the purpose of these two ships, wake up the remote control system immediately. Perform a self-check on experiment no. 1 while maintaining silence."

"Yes!" Major Mike hurried away. Lieutenant General Jericho already had a bad premonition. Were the Chinese really using two large salvage ships just for a yacht?

He hurried to the combat command room. Soon, his heart sank to the bottom. At this moment, the operator could no longer contact experiment no. 1. He tried a few more times, unwilling to give up, but the result was still like a stone sinking into the sea.

Lieutenant General Jericho completely abandoned any wishful thinking. What he didn't know was that just a week ago, a Coast Guard Ship, under the guise of investigating the accident site, had secretly dropped many signal jammers underwater. At the same time, it also released a huge net-like substance.

This net spread out underwater, covering an area the size of four football fields. It sank to the Location of the unmanned nuclear submarine and directly covered the hull, forming a signal barrier.

The Pretty Country's radar didn't take it seriously. And because the unmanned nuclear submarine had entered silent mode, it did not report this information back to headquarters.

"Order the Zeus nuclear submarine to set sail immediately. Be ready to launch torpedoes at any time."

"Order the Seventh Fleet stationed at the Okinawa base to enter combat status, and depart from port immediately after assembly."

"Order the Enterprise aircraft carrier strike group in Guam to enter combat status immediately, head west, and have carrier-based aircraft prepare with live ammunition."

As each order was issued, the entire base descended into chaos.

Lieutenant General Jericho stared at the combat map expressionlessly, but his trembling hands betrayed his inner turmoil. Now, a secret rescue was impossible. The only way was to destroy experiment no. 1 with torpedoes before the Chinese could. If necessary, they would even have to use aircraft carrier fighter missiles to destroy the salvage ships to delay the opponent's progress.

If this went wrong, it could very likely trigger a war between the two countries, and might even become the fuse for World War III.

"Commander, a call from the Pentagon."

Jericho took the phone: "Respected Mr. President, hello. Everything is under control now. The nuclear submarine and our warships are fully capable of handling this destruction operation. I guarantee that the Chinese won't even get a single piece of wreckage."

Even without absolute certainty, he couldn't show weakness in front of his leader. Jericho appeared full of confidence.

But the other side of the phone was silent for a moment, which directly extinguished the fighting spirit he had just ignited. "Cancel all military operations immediately. We will resolve this matter through diplomatic means."

Jericho was stunned; he couldn't believe what he had heard. Diplomatic resolution? Wasn't that just bowing down to the Chinese?

"Mr. President, please reconsider carefully. Our soldiers can definitely complete the mission." Jericho suppressed his surprise, still fighting for the opportunity to engage.

"To hell with engaging! You idiot!" The President suddenly started roaring.

"Do you know that two Chinese aircraft carrier strike groups have already arrived in the South China Sea? Do you know that the missile units along the coasts of Location Province and F Province are already deployed? When your submarines and warships get there, besides getting beaten, what else can they do? You tell me, what else can they do?"

The President vented his anger wantonly. It wasn't just the frustration of being unable to use force. One had to know that experiment no. 1 was a massive project that cost over a hundred billion dollars. If it were destroyed by his own people, how would he answer to the big bosses behind him?

Lieutenant General Jericho was completely dumbfounded. He realized a terrifying fact: experiment no. 1 might have been exposed much earlier than they had anticipated. The fishing boats and the collision incident were very likely all smoke screens by the Chinese.