Chapter 325: Our Aircraft Carrier, It Just Sank Like That?

"I repeat once again," Arlov wiped the cold sweat from his forehead,

"Long Country used a missile developed by themselves to sink the enemy's aircraft carrier from 300 kilometers away! Our intelligence department knew nothing about this! We..."

"We thought they couldn't build it." Professor Medford took over the conversation with a wry smile, "It seems we all underestimated them."

"Can anyone explain to me how on earth they managed to do it?"

Deputy Chief Gromov's voice was as cold as the Siberian wind,

"A country that was still worrying about steel production just a few years ago suddenly built a weapon capable of sinking an enemy aircraft carrier?"

Silence. A deathly silence.

"Integrated Circuit." Kuznev finally broke the silence,

"It must be that their Integrated Circuit Technology has achieved a breakthrough. Our intelligence shows that Long Country has indeed made unusually rapid progress in this area, but no one could have imagined they had advanced to this extent..."

"That Li Mingyuan." Popov suddenly said, "Everything started with that Li Mingyuan. Graphite Bomb, Integrated Circuit, and now anti-ship missiles... He is like a genius who appeared out of thin air, holding the blueprints for all future technology."

"What are you implying?" Gromov narrowed his eyes.

"I don't know, but this isn't normal." Popov shook his head, "No one can create so many cutting-edge technologies in such a short time, unless..."

"Unless he knew about these technologies long ago." Kuznev took over, a flash of alertness in his eyes, "But how is that possible?"

Another silence fell in the conference room.

"Never mind how it's possible, the facts are already before us." Gromov finally concluded,

"We must re-evaluate Long Country's technical strength and strategic position. Immediately send a delegation of the highest level to restart negotiations with Long Country. This time, whatever they want, we give it to them!"

"Deputy Chief!" Popov exclaimed in shock, "You cannot..."

"I can, and I must do so." Gromov said coldly,

"Unless you want to see Long Country and Di Guo join forces, in which case we will face a true nightmare. Remember, the enemy of an enemy is a friend, and technology... technology can be stolen slowly."

In the capital of Di Guo, an emergency meeting was being held inside the Presidential Palace.

"I cannot believe this is all true." The President rubbed his temples wearily,

"'Yeqi', our most advanced aircraft carrier, just sank like that?"

"Yes, sir." The Military Representative replied heavily, "And 'Victory' has also been severely damaged; it is expected to be unable to return to combat capability within half a year."

"Where on earth did the Long Country people get this kind of weapon?" The President asked, his voice tinged with fear,

"As far as I know, even we don't have anti-ship missiles with such a long range!"

The Intelligence Director shook his head, "We were kept completely in the dark. All intelligence indicated that Long Country's technical level was far behind ours; they couldn't possibly..."

"But they did it!" The President slammed the table, "And not just once! First, the Graphite Bomb turned our tanks into scrap metal, and now this missile sinks our aircraft carrier! What exactly is wrong with our intelligence system?"

No one dared to answer this question.

"We must retaliate immediately!" A high-ranking official of the Hawks suddenly stood up,

"I suggest launching a large-scale air strike on Long Country's mainland immediately to destroy their military industrial bases and research centers, especially the location of that person named Li Mingyuan!"

"With what aircraft?" The calm faction of the Military asked with a wry smile, "With the aircraft carrier beaten like that, who would dare to approach the Long Country coast? Do you want to send more pilots to their deaths?"

"Then use long-range Bombers! Take off from inland bases!" The Hawks official roared.

"And then what?" The calm faction shook his head,

"Our Bombers have no fighter escorts and will be beaten to pieces by Long Country's Anti-aircraft System. Furthermore, who can guarantee that Long Country doesn't have more weapons we don't know about?"

"Then... then use the unconventional strike plan!" The Hawks official gritted his teeth, "Use Mushroom weapons! Destroy them completely!"

An uproar broke out in the conference room.

"Enough!" The President stood up abruptly, his eyes sharp,

"Absolutely no rash actions! The current situation is that either we can completely destroy Long Country, or we will fail completely! There is no middle ground! And before confirming we can achieve the former, any reckless action could lead to catastrophic consequences!"

He looked around, his voice low and firm,

"Immediately activate diplomatic channels and send a proposal for ceasefire negotiations to Long Country. At the same time, the intelligence department must investigate the source of their technology with all its might!"

At the Long Country Wajiaobu, a diplomatic note from Di Guo had just arrived.

"They want to negotiate?" Chen Ming looked at the document in surprise, "Bombing our rear yesterday, and demanding peace talks today?"

"Yes, the price of an aircraft carrier." The Minister of Foreign Affairs smiled, "It seems our 'Thunderstrike-1' really taught them a profound lesson."

Chen Ming read the contents of the note carefully and couldn't help but frown,

"The tone is much more polite, but it still carries a sense of unwillingness. Especially this passage: 'Hope Long Country will consider the global strategic balance and not excessively expand the scale of the conflict'—it's a naked threat."

"Threats mixed with fear." The Minister of Foreign Affairs said meaningfully, "They are afraid we have more weapons they don't know about."

"Then are we going to accept the negotiations?"

"Of course." The Minister of Foreign Affairs nodded, "But we will make the decision after Chief Engineer Li's report on his new project is finished. I heard he has another new invention."

Chen Ming was a bit curious, "More powerful than 'Thunderstrike-1'?"

The Minister of Foreign Affairs smiled mysteriously, "Who knows."

The capital, Military Department building.

Li Mingyuan stood in the center of the conference room, facing a room full of high-ranking generals and government officials, yet he felt unusually calm.

"Comrades," Li Mingyuan got straight to the point, "The success of 'Thunderstrike-1' is just the beginning. What I want to introduce to you today is a new technical concept that may completely change our country's industrial production methods."

He took a roll of design drawings out of his briefcase and carefully spread them out on the conference table.

These were the detailed design drawings he had rushed to finish without closing his eyes for three days and three nights, densely covered with various mechanical structures, circuit diagrams, and calculation parameters.

The high-level leaders gathered around, staring curiously at these complex drawings, but they were completely confused.

"What is this?" Minister Zhang couldn't help but ask, "It looks like some kind of mechanical arm?"

"That's right, this is called an industrial robot." Li Mingyuan explained, pointing to various parts of the drawing with his finger,

"This is the base, this is the main arm, this is the secondary arm, this is the end effector, which is the 'hand'..."