Chapter 586: Within Strike Range
Translator: Min Editor: Caron_
Reston and Eric didn’t know what tricks Jiang Chen was planning. They exchanged glances before looking back at Jiang Chen, waiting for him to continue. The F representative, Tate, narrowed his eyes and repeatedly played with the bottle in his hands, hoping to find something odd.
Just as he squeezed on the cork and was about to sniff it, Jiang Chen spoke again.
“I don’t suggest you do that.”
Tate stopped mid-action and glared at Jiang Chen.
“Why not?”
“That’s the pathogen extract from the zombies; we refer to it as the T virus.”
Just as Jiang Chen’s words dropped, Tate dropped the bottle in his hand, terrified. The thumb-sized bottle smashed onto the table with a “clang” and the bottle spun two times. Reston and Eric’s expressions didn’t look too great either. They subconsciously moved back.
“Mr. Jiang Chen, I need an explanation.” Reston looked at Jiang Chen sternly. “Your careless actions will be viewed as an act of aggression against the UA. We will—”
“Aren’t we negotiating today?” Jiang Chen interrupted Reston and opened his hands. “But from the start of negotiations until now, I haven’t seen any sincerity. I’ve only seen you flexing.”
“I understand flexing is an important part of negotiations since peace can only be achieved through force.” Jiang Chen raised his fingers and gently tapped on the phone screen on the table. “Please allow me to demonstrate our power.”
When the red button was pressed, the circular missile silo hatch opened hundreds of kilometers below the west Pacific Ocean, exposing the fearsome Dolphin-10 Intercontinental Ballistic Missile.
The propulsion ring around the side walls of the missile suddenly created a large number of bubbles, pushing the missile to a depth of 100 meters. Afterward, it split the propulsion ring and separated it from the missile. At the same time, the missile’s engine ignited while accompanied by thick smoke, leaving the ocean sea far below as it galloped toward the blue sky.
The engine stalled when it reached the near-Earth orbit. The Dolphin-10 followed the Earth’s own orbit to pass across the Pacific, cross Honduras, and float across the Caribbean. The engine reignited again and the missile began to fall back toward the Earth.
Like a meteor crashing down from the sky, the missile directly hit a desolated island in the north Atlantic Ocean.
Flames instantly erupted. The debris of the explosion, along with rocks, instantly splashed across the sky. The shockwaves of the explosion swept through the sea surface near the island and even smoothened the violent waves.
A drop of cold sweat rolled down from Reston’s forehead and dropped onto his sleeve.
Tate was completely dumbfounded, unable to accept the reality played out on the phone. Eric was silent as he stared at the ceiling.
“It must be a lie.” Tate squeezed out this sentence with a trembling voice as he put on a tough act.
Reston and the United Nations observer both looked at Jiang Chen attempting to spot a sign on his face, but they were disappointed to discover that there was only calmness.
“I heard that the UA satellites are scattered across the world. If you don’t believe me, just see for yourself.” Jiang Chen sunk into his chair and said casually while inviting them to find out the truth for themselves. “The location of the strike is on the phone.”
“Our satellites aren’t broad enough to monitor the North Atlantic Ocean,” Reston said while staring into Jiang Chen’s eyes.
“Then send people to make observations? They should at least find out the explosion impact rating.” Jiang Chen rolled his eyes.
Reston didn’t say anything. He was waiting for a call from the Stan aircraft carrier.
If a missile soared through the entire Pacific Ocean and Central America, it was impossible to not have been captured by UA’s satellites. From the missile’s trajectory, the missile should’ve gone through near-Earth orbit. If it climbed to the altitude of the near-Earth orbit, it should’ve been captured by the military base when it entered the stratosphere.
Jiang Chen knew what he was waiting for, so he didn’t speak. Instead, he picked up his phone and started playing games.
Tate looked agitated because he thought he and his country were being ignored completely. Although Reston was helping him, the conversation revolved around UA and Xin from start to finish. He didn’t view him as important at all nor did he ask about F’s opinion. The feeling of being neglected stabled his heart like a dagger.
But Santos, on the contrary, looked calm. The revolutionary leader, born as a bandit, didn’t mind his opinion being ignored on the negotiation table. He only cared about one thing – his decades-long political pursuit would finally become a reality in his hands.
Half an hour passed, and Reston couldn’t sit around any longer. He glanced at the watch, took a deep breath, and stood up.
“I need to make a phone call.”
“No problem. You should’ve called a long time ago.” Jiang Chen played with his phone while responding nonchalantly.
Reston glanced at Jiang Chen and stepped outside with his satellite phone.
When he called the aircraft carrier, Captain Huffman immediately asked about the result of negotiations. If negotiations were unsuccessful, they would act accordingly and advance a few more kilometers toward Xin’s waters.
But Reston was smiling bitterly.
From Huffman’s words, he immediately understood that aside from himself, no UA citizens noticed the missile that flew across their backyards. After reporting the situation to Huffman, Reston hung up the phone, leaned on the wall outside the conference room, and lit himself a cigar.
His head was a mess because the lunatic who didn’t play by the rules disrupted his plan. He just wanted to calm down and recollect his thoughts during a smoke break.
Half an hour passed. This time, it didn’t come from an aircraft carrier but from the Capital.
A few minutes ago, a fighter jet equipped with cameras took off from a domestic military base and arrived in the airspace above the small island. From the image taken, the island looked like it was struck not long ago…
Although no one wanted to accept this, the reality was clear to everyone.
Xin… No, Celestial Trade, possessed global strike abilities.
Reston silently put his phone back and returned to the conference room.
“That took a while.” Jiang Chen put down his phone. His fingers were drawing circles on the table, and he smiled at Reston back in his seat.
“Do you think one ICBM can threaten us? How many ICBMs do you think UA possesses?” Reston said with a menacing expression.
“What about this, then? It isn’t too difficult to extract this from the zombies.” Jiang Chen picked up the bottle dropped by Tate and placed it squarely on the table. “Do you want to test the interception abilities of your missile defense system? For your little friend thousands of kilometers away?”
Reston’s pupils drastically constricted. Tate’s expression also froze.
“It’s against international law to use biological weapons – you sure you want to do that?” Reston’s Adam’s apple bobbed up and down with unease. He placed his palms on the table.
He thought a lunatic was standing in front of him.
“Don’t joke around. Do you promise UA won’t use nuclear weapons in the face of survival? We’re just imitating what you do. If you send out your forces, I will send out an ICBM. Either we are peaceful together, or we die together!” Jiang Chen emotionlessly replied to Reston’s stare and enunciated the last sentence word by word.
Within striking range, no one could safely stay away from this mess.