Chapter 973: Terrifyingly Calm

He Yuzhu lifted his hand, and that rusty old landing ship vanished into thin air as if by magic.

He turned and jumped onto the patrol boat; he did not deliberately go back to find his own passenger ship, but simply slowed the patrol boat's speed, intentionally waiting for that cargo ship.

Things were calm and peaceful on his side, but a few hours later, the M Military headquarters exploded into chaos.

William stared at the latest battle report, the veins on his forehead bulging high.

Nearly ten hours had passed since the delegation went missing, and the plans the Staff Department had patted their chests to submit were still unable to even catch a shadow of the delegation when put into practice; now, to make matters worse, another reconnaissance plane had been lost.

William felt a tightness in his chest and almost wanted to smash the coffee cup on the table, but the moment he raised his hand, a warning from his Secretary flashed through his mind: "Sir, if you break anything else or assault a subordinate... you will be investigated, and your rivals are already eager to see you fail..."

William said indifferently, "I'm not afraid. George, doesn't your Staff Department have a smart kid? What's his name, Hunter? You hand this whole matter over to him; perhaps he can really make something happen. Go pass the order quickly," he said, waving his hand.

George found that his boss hadn't thrown anything at him this time, and he felt quite relieved; he replied "Yes" and turned to leave, as he didn't want to keep looking at the General's cold face.

In the Staff Department, George relayed William's instructions word for word.

The various staff officers looked at each other, their expressions complex.

After listening, Hunter was stunned for several seconds before becoming so excited he almost jumped up, his eyes shining as he looked at George, "The General... really said that?"

George nodded and said earnestly, "Absolutely true! The General has given the word to let the entire Staff Department cooperate with you, with one requirement—within forty-eight hours, ferret that group out!"

Hunter revealed an irrepressible excitement, "Don't worry, I'm going all out this time. If I don't dig them out, I, Hunter, will resign from the military. However, I need to obtain the authority to dispatch the Navy; relying on planes alone won't work..."

George said, "No problem, didn't the General say he has delegated all power to you?"

Hunter said, "Then at least send me 5 destroyers to intercept these 20 suspicious merchant ships."

George shook his head, "The ships we've identified are located in the waters 300 to 700 nautical miles east of Midway Atoll. Currently, we can only mobilize two Arleigh Burke-class destroyers that are on routine patrol... Even if the main force of destroyers from Guam rushes over at full speed, it will take more than twenty hours; distant water cannot quench a near thirst..."

Hunter said, "Then send these two destroyers to inspect these 20 suspicious cargo ships one by one. Just in case, send 4 destroyers to blockade the Mariana Trench on the north side of Guam, seal off all cargo ships, and inspect them one by one..."

George nodded, "Understood."

He Yuzhu had been sailing at a reduced speed for nearly ten hours, and no planes had come; he felt quite lucky, thinking that they had already crossed Midway Atoll and were far enough from the M Military garrison that those planes would not easily fly over.

Who would have thought that near midnight, his radar would start sounding an alarm; a warship was sailing in his direction.

He Yuzhu thought to himself: I was a bit afraid when you sent planes, mainly because you could suddenly open fire from a long distance, but I'm not afraid at all of big, slow things like warships.

He directly stored the patrol boat into his space and used Space-Time Shuttle to enter the ammunition depot of this Arleigh Burke-class destroyer. This time, he planted an exceptionally large amount of explosives—a full ten tons of High-explosive Explosives. He wanted to make these naval forces afraid from a psychological standpoint, to see if they dared to continue intercepting merchant ships.

After planting the explosives, He Yuzhu quickly traveled to a small island in the nearby waters.

This place was only a few kilometers away from that ship.

He pressed the detonation button.

"Boom!" A huge explosion sounded.

Crimson flames instantly tore through the hull, and the deafening roar shattered all the cabins.

The flames instantly engulfed the entire Burke-class ship, and more than three hundred officers and soldiers were buried in the sea of fire before they could react.

In a mere three minutes, this big guy sank directly to the seabed hundreds of meters deep.

On the sea surface, only burning oil sludge, foam, water-shattered canvas, life jackets, and broken wooden crates remained.

He Yuzhu released his patrol boat again and drifted on the sea surface, while he himself began to sleep; he really couldn't take it anymore after not sleeping for nearly a day and a night.

He felt like he had only slept for a few minutes before waking up, startled by the sound of those Fighter Jets.

He Yuzhu turned on the radar and discovered that those Fighter Jets were attacking several cargo ships.

Over a dozen missiles exploded toward those cargo ships; those cargo ships had no anti-aircraft capabilities and instantly burst into flames.

He Yuzhu secretly rejoiced that his boat and the delegation's cargo ship had not been bombed.

It seemed that his destruction of that Arleigh Burke-class cruiser had truly provoked the M Military, causing them to lose their basic rationality.

He Yuzhu began to contact the delegation's cargo ship, telling them to slow down, and he himself quickly rushed over.

William was furious and said to George, "We will immediately send a large number of fighter jets to bomb those merchant ships. Don't let a single one within six hundred nautical miles of our warships go."

Secretary of the Navy Richard advised, "General, that won't do. We have already sunk five cargo ships, including those from Greece, the Netherlands, and Sisha... They have already joined together to issue strong protests to us. There are over seventy large cargo ships within six hundred nautical miles of the sunken Arleigh Burke-class cruiser; doing this will cause public outrage... and also pollute the environment."

Hunter hurriedly interrupted, "General, it's not that I'm not trying my best, it's that the enemy is truly elusive... I'm afraid they might also bomb the Guam military base; if that happens, we will completely lose our combat capability."

"They wouldn't dare!" William said.

"General, there is nothing they wouldn't dare to do," Richard said.

William slammed the table hard.

His Secretary hurriedly protected the items on top of it.

Hunter thought for a moment and said, "General, I have a way. After the cargo ships pass Wake Island, they will definitely pass through the Mariana Trench on the north side of Guam, regardless of whether they are heading to Japan, the Philippines, or Hong Kong. Therefore, no matter which cargo ship the enemy is on, they must pass through here. We can mobilize troops from Guam to directly blockade the Western Pacific; I don't believe the enemy can break through our blockade."

William nodded, "Then do as you say."

He Yuzhu had been sailing peacefully for several days, and there wasn't even a ghost of a shadow on the sea surface; no warships came, and no planes came, so quiet that it made one's heart crawl.

The more he pondered, the more he felt something was wrong; it was too smooth, unnaturally smooth.

This dead silence was even more chilling than a radar alarm—the Americans were not the type to shrink back after suffering a loss.

He decided not to waste time and had to hurry back to the passenger ship to discuss it with everyone.

When the patrol boat pulled up to the passenger ship's gangway, the group was very surprised and asked one question after another.

"Factory Director He?" Director Li stared, "What about that landing ship? Was it blown up?"

He Yuzhu pretended to have a mournful face and said, "If the radar hadn't warned me in advance, I would be at the bottom of the sea feeding the fish right now. That M Military is like a pack of madmen, bombing every ship they see. I reckon at least several hundred innocent sailors were blasted to the seabed by them without even knowing what was going on."

Director Li cursed fiercely, "These insane bastards, they're really not human!"

He Yuzhu sneered, "But they shouldn't think they'll get off easy; I took out an Arleigh Burke-class cruiser, and not a single one of the hundreds of people on board survived."

Bureau Chief Sun also crawled out of the cabin at this moment. After hearing He Yuzhu's introduction, he still asked with some worry, "Factory Director He, you came back specifically, is there something wrong?"

He Yuzhu walked two steps into the cabin and lowered his voice, "I've been thinking, even the reconnaissance planes haven't come for several days; it's not right. The Americans suffered such a big loss, how could they not make a sound? There must be a trap inside, so I had to come back to consult with you all."

Bureau Chief Sun paced back and forth on the deck, tapping his fingers on the railing, before finally speaking, "I've been flying this trans-Pacific route for over ten years. If they aren't sending planes to check us, it's nine out of ten that they've changed their tactics—I suspect they must be setting up a checkpoint at the Mariana Trench. That sea area is our only path; cargo ships coming from the Pacific, no matter where they are going, must pass through there. It's very convenient for them to take off from various bases in Guam and Wake Island to verify us; they don't need to run around the whole Pacific."

After listening, He Yuzhu's face darkened, and he nodded, "According to what you say, we will be blocked sooner or later. Charging through by force definitely won't work; we must find a way to break out. We can't just wait for them to spread their net and catch us all in one go."