Chapter 485 - 456: Secret Transport Mission

"On October 17, the Mei Army strongly condemned the African Union’s military actions near the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden, stating that it was a provocation against freedom and democracy."

"That afternoon, the Atlas Group publicly warned the African Union that the Mei Army might launch an attack within 24 hours."

"The Middle East Alliance stated that corporate intelligence is a joke, Atlas should stick to mining."

"On October 18, local residents saw a large number of naval ships passing through the Gulf of Aden with fighter jets appearing in the sky."

"The United Nations called for all parties to sit down and talk."

"Breaking news! The port of Bossosa was indiscriminately bombed, and the area has been reduced to ruins!"

"Mei Country’s first unmanned armored unit was air-dropped to Galov and has now occupied the area!"

"A UN envoy warned that the conflict between Non-American forces is escalating towards full-scale war..."

"Breaking! Breaking! The Mei Navy’s Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, the Truman, was sunk in the Somali Sea!!!"

Many people around the world thought this was just another case of international bullying, from initially condemning it to now being accustomed to it.

Since it can’t be stopped, what can be done?

But until these few lines popped up in the news, many people jumped out of their chairs and sofas—

Their office doors and internal phone lines popped open too!

The Mei Army lost nearly an entire carrier strike group!

Now, there was trouble, trouble in every sense of the word.

But choices were also multiplying.

Within a day, the situation dramatically changed.

Aircraft carriers were dispatched, fighter jets took off, and bombs were dropped.

From the videos that leaked out, the bombed Hobya Port had been reduced to ruins; you could spot corpses just a few steps away.

War correspondents tentatively walked forward, surrounded by the sounds of digging through debris.

Soldiers from the African Union, wearing exoskeletons and equipped with large excavation equipment, were dragging body after body from the rubble...

Some were corpses, some were alive, but a commonality was that many were severely mutilated.

Those who still had a chance to embrace and cry were undoubtedly the lucky ones, but those placed in the tent zones were unfortunate—

Children stared blankly at the rubble while adults’ tears continuously flowed.

The sea was aflame, with leaking fuel, debris, and other trash floating on it, mixing with human bodies.

This place was once a dirty and disorganized port, and now it was a bloody port.

"... This is Hobya Port, as you can see, this was once a small port city with a population of fifteen thousand.

To be precise, it might only be called a fishing village, which once possessed tranquility and natural scenery, now turned into ruins under brutality.

It is estimated that this round of bombing might have caused over 2000 deaths, with the exact numbers still being counted."

But in more densely populated Bossosa, the occupying forces have refused entry to war correspondents, and it’s said that the area is being attacked by completely automated war machines—"

I dare not imagine how dire the situation there might be because the African Union claims they have tried their best to prevent the Mei Army from landing here.

However, in the Bossosa and Galov area, only the loose Somali government offers resistance."

The reporter walked up to the ruins, where the camera captured two children and a man kneeling before different piles of rubble.

He hesitated for a moment before approaching the child.

But hesitated again, he did not speak, instead silently gesturing the camera to focus on a charred arm in the rubble.

"... We will continue to bring you updates on the local conflict, but... we hope to find a solution to the problem."

The live broadcast did not stop but continued touring the bombarded Hobya Port.

In Zhu Ya City, Captain Carter, who had just woken up, watched the last segment of the news, speechless.

The scene was no different from that of World War II.

She felt as if she were dreaming, having ended one war only to wake up still entrenched in another.

This time, her once allies had become enemies, and she couldn’t even see their personnel on the battlefield.

The camera captured a dusty black small hand, an entire arm perhaps only as long as her forearm.

"... Was I really frozen for decades?"

"I’m sorry, Captain, it seems like you have been knocked out of sense," Frank stood up from his hospital bed, flexing his arm—

He now had a set of new prosthetics, the second-generation prosthetic technology from the Atlas Group had been successfully installed on members of the Vortex Gang and, after resolving a few minor issues over several dozen hours of work, it was officially put to use here.

Carter turned her head and saw herself in the mirror.

Radiation and explosions had left terrible burns on her face to her neck, but the Atlas Group had repaired it with synthetic skin.

But it still felt strange.

"Sixty years... Humanity could only be at peace for sixty years? After uniting globally to win a war, there were only 60 years of peace?"

Lille, controlling a robot as it walked past, responded, "Actually, not even that long. The first shot after World War II was fired in Greece in 1946, marking the beginning of a civil war."

Frank laughed instinctively upon hearing this––though it was somewhat hellish, he still laughed out loud.

"Boss, you make it sound like the first gunshot at Lexington..."

There was no laughter in Carter’s mood—60 years? 1 year!

"Frank, your physical condition isn’t a major concern, just some radiation damage. I’ve amputated the limbs most severely affected by the radiation. Although there is some residual radiation in your internal circulation, it’s not too significant.

You should be fine with regular medical checks, but try not to stay too close to your wife and kids for prolonged periods once you’re back home,"

After finishing his explanation, Lille turned towards Carter: "You... there’s nothing much wrong with you."

The radiation mainly came from radioactive dust at the Mkuju River mine, which was severe for ordinary people. However, miraculously, Carter, with her Super Soldier physique, had metabolized some of the radiation.

During the days she was unconscious, the radiation around her had notably decreased, and the isotopes in her blood were also changing...

This meant that although a Super Soldier could still potentially be overwhelmed by a high dose of radiation, as long as they didn’t die, they could continuously metabolize radioactive material.

Carter muttered to herself, "I didn’t expect to wake up to such a world.

I thought we had defended the world’s freedom and safety, that our descendants would create a beautiful world, one...

where children don’t have to live in fear, choosing who they want to become."

"It’s hard to say," Frank shrugged, "but in the United States, they still have to worry about school shootings, and if they go to college, they worry about how to repay their student loans, then it’s houses, and how their own next generation will face these issues..."

Carter was somewhat bewildered. She did not fully understand Frank’s words, but she grasped the meaning within them.

Even without the current war, many issues impeded the arrival of this "beautiful world."

"But first, the war at hand is what we need to worry about the most. Listen, I need your help to expedite the transport of something."

The African Union was at a disadvantage due to insufficient industrial capabilities, something Lille couldn’t solve overnight.

That being said, achieving so much equipment in such a short timeline was already extraordinary, and would’ve been impossible if not for brain-computer interfaces and Skill Chips, which significantly reduced the cost of manual training.

The energy issue always needed a solution: Africa could no longer import oil from the outside world. Even if Lille could replace fossil fuels with nuclear and renewable energy, oil as an industrial raw material still had a significant demand.

This territory wasn’t devoid of oil; it was just meant for industrialization. Using it as a raw material was adequate, but for energy, other methods had to be considered.

The material issue had to be resolved—

Carter and Frank looked at the tabletop, where a fragmented shield lay.

The inherent appearance of Vibranium resembled a lustrous and high-strength steel, but at this moment, some fragments were tainted with strange colors, like the sea contaminated with oil.

Carter noticed that the shield was incomplete.

"We’ve dug as much as we could, but a small piece is still missing.

I need you to rush this back here, it might give us some breakthroughs in materials science."

Lille had many insights on the energy issue but no long-term solution—

except for nuclear fusion.

Lille had tried every available nuclear fusion solution, achieving temporary positive output, but the problem remained: no material could withstand the high temperatures and pressure produced by fusion for an extended period.

But the universal material was right here.

"Let’s win this war."

Lille tapped on the blackboard, and a projector displayed an oddly shaped ship––

[Name: Secret Transport Ship "Vibranium"]

[Description: Small as a yacht, fitted with a small reactor, capable of crossing oceans.]

[Special layers will provide radar stealth effects; in certain conditions, built-in armor plates will pop out to seal the structure of the ship.]

[The armor plates carry liquid crystal camouflage taken from the "Eclipse" Cyber Prosthetics design, slightly insufficient for large vehicle stealth, but enough to deceive from a long range, especially disruptive to satellite imaging.]

[The ship is fitted with an experimental tri-environment propulsion engine; however, the hovering propulsion effect is limited by the power system, and prolonged use is not recommended.]

[Note: Please do not take off directly from the ocean to avoid overheating of the power system.]

[Development Laboratories: Advanced Mechanical Laboratory, Advanced Materials Laboratory]

[Developers: Lille, Dr. Otto, Dr. Tums]

[Reward Technology Points: 1000]

[Current Technology Points: 15500]

"Listen carefully now, this ship is specially designed for transport, capable of avoiding radar and direct optical imaging devices, in other words, a certain level of invisibility.

If necessary, it can even take off—though theoretically possible, I hope you won’t need to use this feature."