Chapter 113: Funding Ablaze

"Damnable—to destroy the Statue of Liberty during my watch, no way! This kind of behavior deserves strong condemnation!"

Achuan fumed, slammed the table hard, and pulled out his phone as if it were second nature.

Seeing this, Achuan's close confidants knew—ninety-nine times out of a hundred, Achuan was about to tweet.

Nearly every time something major happened, whether domestic or abroad, he always had to tweet some commentary.

"This isn't just slapping our face, it's slapping America's face too…"

Achuan muttered on, righteous indignation filling him as he opened his phone, tapped into the Twitter app, and pressed the on-screen keys, his slicked-back golden hair quivering with each tap.

He had only typed half the words, only gotten as far as the part denouncing, when his aide spoke up and told Achuan the truth behind the collapse of the Statue of Liberty.

The contents were laid out.

Achuan, who had been about to tweet a denunciation piece and prepare to curse heaven and earth, froze. His confidants wore strange expressions, as if they'd seen a ghost, and instinctively glanced at the calendar on the desk.

April Fools' Day was still half a year away—how could an April Fools' prank be starting now?

Immediately after.

The aide turned on the TV for Achuan and the others to watch the news, explaining the situation and the online discourse as they watched.

Silence.

The conference room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop—even the rustle of hair was audible.

"You're kidding me. Me ordering the bomb drop was already unbelievable enough, but this f**king thing is even more miraculous than what I did."

Achuan cursed out loud—everyone present was a confidant anyway, and he too could relax, no different from an ordinary person.

The aide said nothing, because at the time he had felt much the same.

At that moment, a confidant at the side whispered "saliva," his face changed, and he sprang up with a whoosh.

"Allah? God? That's not impossible—have you forgotten? The recent business in Japan. Although Japan has always been unwilling to share things, after our series of sanctions, didn't they also loosen up, share some information, and let our researchers in to study?"

Light flared in everyone's eyes, and they all jolted upright.

As Japan's sugar daddy, America naturally knew what was happening in Japan.

These past days, America had not been shy about pressuring Japan, demanding to study Japan's supernatural matters—after all, supernatural research could change a nation's future standing in the world.

Accustomed to sitting at the top, America naturally did not want anyone riding above them, wanting to keep every advantageous resource in its own hands.

Because of this, America had been in close contact with Japan lately, and after a series of sanctions and pressure releases, Japan had no choice but to give in.

So America knew far more about what was happening in Japan than other countries, privy to more secrets.

"You mean the conclusion our researchers and Japan's researchers analyzed together—about the authenticity of mythological supernatural beings?" someone asked aloud.

The former nodded: "Right. Researchers from both sides have judged that, since Japan's mythological ghosts and monsters exist,

then the mythological ghosts and monsters of other countries aren't necessarily fictional—they might be real too.

Allah and God, as two of the world's most famous mythological figures, have a high probability of truly existing. Following that netizen's analysis, it's not impossible that Allah and God were negotiating."

The words fell.

A flash of inspiration.

The confidant hurriedly spoke, his expression anxious:

"Saliva! We must recover that glob of saliva and let the Keyan Force study it. If it's really the saliva of God or Allah, then it's supernatural divine power! Maybe we can obtain divine power from it, which will help us push the supernatural program forward."

"Right, right, right!" Achuan's eyes lit up. He no longer planned to tweet, picked up the phone and called New York City, insisting that New York City surround the Statue of Liberty and not let anyone else get that glob of saliva.

At this moment.

America, for the sake of a glob of saliva, mobilized massive manpower and resources, bustling about, just short of deploying the military.

Achuan's eyes gleamed with excitement. He rubbed his hands together, exclaiming that heaven was helping him.

This was a perfect opportunity to cement his re-election—as long as that glob of saliva could be secured, whether or not anything could be researched from it, as long as it was confirmed to be from a deity, that would do. This would become America's first contact with deities and the supernatural, and he would go down in history.

Because he was the one in power who ordered the acquisition and study of the saliva, the credit would be his greatest.

Even if the saliva wasn't from a deity, it didn't matter—after all, the fact that the saliva smashed down the Statue of Liberty was enough to prove the saliva was extraordinary.

One must understand, when Japan's supernatural incidents occurred, America attached great importance, not letting slip anything related to the supernatural. Something as extraordinary as saliva was very likely supernatural or divine in nature—America definitely wouldn't let it go.

Even if Achuan didn't give the order, other high-level officials would have ordered the collection of the saliva.

And.

America would definitely burn through research funding, investing at least hundreds of millions or billions to study this glob of saliva.

Unfortunately, they were doomed to have their investment go down the drain.

Kamikawa Mitsu had no goodwill toward America—how could he give them a chance to research the supernatural?

The saliva was just a very ordinary glob of saliva manufactured by the system—ordinary to the extreme.

America pouring massive funding into research could only be burning money for nothing. No matter how much funding they burned, they couldn't possibly research anything out of it—at most they'd prove that this was just a glob of saliva.

"I wonder how much manpower and resources America will spend in the future researching this glob of saliva."

Having returned home to spy on America's movements, Kamikawa Mitsu brewed a cup of tea, and as he sipped, shifted his gaze toward Japan's side, changing his surveillance target.

……

Tokyo, Japan—the Supernatural Response Department.

"This…"

Yoshimura Murakichi and Tian Wu were dumbfounded, standing there in a daze.

A few hours earlier, they had received a text command from Director Takahashi. Although they found it absurd, they still followed the order and inspected the sky, but came up empty. No choice—the sky from Japan to America was so long, how could they find a single glob of saliva?

Not finding it didn't mean there was nothing to be done—they ordered personnel to closely monitor developments on America's side.

Director Takahashi wanted them to monitor the sky from Japan to America to find a glob of saliva—eight or nine times out of ten the matter was related to America, so they changed their approach: while searching for the saliva, they also kept an eye on America.

As it turned out, they really did get extraordinary information.

America's Statue of Liberty was suspected to have been smashed down by a glob of saliva.

"Holy sh*t! This is really saliva? Not some new-tech ultra-long-range liquid missile?" Yoshimura Murakichi asked, face full of astonishment.

Tian Wu's eyelids twitched wildly: "Right now I just want to know what this ball of saliva actually is. Director Takahashi said it's saliva, so it must have been spat out by a person, and a supernatural one at that. So I'm dying of curiosity—what kind of supernatural being would spit saliva from Japan all the way at the Statue of Liberty in America…"

The two exchanged a glance, hearts pounding with dread.

Don't think about it, don't think about it—the more you think, the scarier it gets.

Without a second word, the two quickly sent the information they had learned to Director Takahashi.

……

Tsuchimikado Family, Aichi Prefecture, Japan.

The great hall was calm. Abe Ontake-maro listened quietly with great interest as Professor Beishan lectured on history, while the others sat ramrod-straight, attending on the side.

At this moment.

A text message arrived. Seeing it was from the Supernatural Response Department, Director Takahashi excused himself to the restroom to check his phone.

Too eager to know about the saliva matter, he had only risen and taken a single step when he smoothly tapped open the text.

"I!!!"

Director Takahashi reacted fast—the instant he blurted out that first syllable he clamped a hand over his mouth, but his voice was like a speaker suddenly cranked to maximum, blasting through the great hall and drawing sidelong glances from everyone.

"Did something happen?" The Foreign Minister's heart clenched, and at the same time Tsuchimikado Kenji and the others looked over.

Everyone had seen Director Takahashi send a message earlier.

Without looking at the others, Director Takahashi stared fixedly at Abe Ontake-maro and asked hoarsely.

"Master Abe, was it you who spat the Statue of Liberty to bits?"

"Pfft!"

In an instant, everyone felt their hearts stop, and the tea they were drinking sprayed straight out.

The Statue of Liberty??

Seems like there's only one thing in the whole world called the Statue of Liberty…

Hiss!

In other words, Master Abe's saliva crossed the Pacific and blew up the Statue of Liberty in America? Holy crap!!

Tsuchimikado Kenji and the others could no longer keep their composure, their hearts so shocked they burst out cursing.

"Yes."

Abe Ontake-maro smiled casually, blunt and unreserved.

As he spoke, he waved his hand with a grin.

"Relax, I spat very accurately—won't hurt anyone, no need to get so worked up. Even if someone did get hurt, it's no big deal; if they die, they die. If America wants to make trouble, tell them that was my doing, and let them come find me."

……