Chapter 3627

At this moment, Wu Bolin was still sitting cross-legged in meditation inside the snow vehicle.

He was still gathering his strength for the over two hundred members of the American McMurdo Antarctic Research Station, unaware that at this very moment, the Pentagon was already jointly discussing counter-insurgency measures with Japan's Ministry of Defense.

Currently, he was still about two days' drive away from McMurdo Station.

After confirming that the Japanese Antarctic Research Team members were indeed engaging in treasonous activities, the Pentagon, aside from reminding its own few research station teams to be cautious of the Japanese, showed no particularly proactive response otherwise.

On the contrary, Japan's Ministry of Defense, upon learning of the confirmation, had an extremely strong will to survive and only wanted to do its utmost to resolve the issue in the shortest possible time to prevent the situation from spreading.

After the Pentagon and Japan's Ministry of Defense discussed the matter for one day, the Pentagon's responsible official gave Japan's Ministry of Defense an initial counter-insurgency plan.

In the video conference, the other party said: "Our idea is for Japan's Ministry of Defense to dispatch a negotiation team, boarding our specially modified LC-130 Hercules transport aircraft of the United States, flying directly to Antarctica to meet face-to-face with the defecting Japanese research team members, on one hand to ascertain the specific situation, and on the other hand to stabilize the other party through negotiation, ideally persuading them to surrender and then directly bringing them back to a U. S. military base for interrogation."

Upon hearing this, the responsible official of Japan's Ministry of Defense felt this method was too unreliable, and thus said: "Actually, we would prefer to urgently deploy one hundred special forces troops and six specialized combat armored infantry vehicles to the Antarctic continent to directly apprehend these people and forcibly bring them back to Japan."

The Pentagon's responsible official shook his head: "That's impossible. According to the Antarctic Treaty, no country is allowed to conduct military activities in Antarctica, not even military exercises are permitted."

The Japan Ministry of Defense official gave an embarrassed laugh and retorted: "But, sir, after all you represent the United States—these treaties, the United States has absolutely no need to observe them!"

The Pentagon's responsible official firmly said: "We cannot bear the stigma of conducting military operations in Antarctica, so the best approach is for you to dispatch unarmed personnel for counter-insurgency."

After saying that, he also reminded the other party: "Although your research team members have all committed treason, they certainly have no weapons either; facing a group of unarmed personnel, we have absolutely no need to dispatch troops."

Japan's Ministry of Defense was then left with no alternative.

Mainly because the current weather allows only a few aircraft models to fly to Antarctica and land smoothly on the ice sheet.

Japan itself has none, so it can only rely on the United States.

The United States feels that this matter offers no profit to be gained, and whether counter-insurgency succeeds or not has little relevance to itself, so it is not particularly invested in this affair itself.

If they were to dispatch troops for this matter, provoking the Antarctic Treaty, in their view it would not be worth it.

Japan's Ministry of Defense had no choice but to temporarily dispatch twenty negotiation experts, psychological experts, and legal advisors to form a persuasion-and-surrender team, then board a flight to the U. S. military base in South America.

After all, they must rely on American aircraft to reach Antarctica.

When they had flown for twenty hours and arrived at the U. S. military base, Wu Bolin's distance to the American McMurdo Antarctic Research Station was already not far.

Along with the persuasion team arriving at the U. S. military base, there was also a senior official from Japan's Ministry of Defense named Watanabe Gorō.

Watanabe Gorō's task was to convince the Americans, before the Hercules transport aircraft took off for Antarctica, to dispatch a portion of the Navy SEALs to accompany the team, in preparation for emergencies.

However, Watanabe Gorō exhausted his arguments before the U. S. military official, who merely replied: "Sorry, Mr. Watanabe, the Pentagon has clearly instructed that no armed personnel may be taken to Antarctica; even the U. S. military pilots assisting us in transporting the persuasion team are not permitted to carry sidearms while flying."

Watanabe Gorō lamented: "Sir, this is also somewhat too inhumane—the success rate of the persuasion team is not high; if it fails, they can only retreat, and we will then have no recourse against those traitors."

The U. S. military official pushed up his sunglasses, smiled, and said: "Mr. Watanabe, not dispatching a single soldier or a single bullet to Antarctica is the bottom line of the United States military; we still hope you can understand."

After saying that, he stood up, spoke coldly: "The aircraft will take off in one hour; Mr. Watanabe, you may prepare to board."

Watanabe Gorō had no choice but to stand up and slowly walk out of the meeting room.

On the airfield runway, the aircraft whose landing gear had been modified into a hybrid of wheels and skis was already conducting its final pre-takeoff checks, and the persuasion team dispatched by Japan had also begun preparing to board.

According to the plan, they would land directly on the ice sheet fifty kilometers from the Japanese research station; the transport aircraft, besides carrying these twenty people, would also transport two unarmed snow vehicles for their use, so at this moment the transport personnel were pushing the snow vehicles into the aircraft cabin and securing them with modular fixed base plates.

Watanabe Gorō and his assistant came together to the rear of the aircraft, waiting with the persuasion team for the equipment to be secured before boarding.

At this moment, Kikuchi Kōhei, who was traveling together with Wu Bolin toward McMurdo Station, said to Wu Bolin: "Master, we will reach the American McMurdo Antarctic Research Station in another three hours."

"Very well." Wu Bolin nodded slightly and instructed: "As long as we can enter smoothly, everything will be fine."

……

The staff of McMurdo Antarctic Research Station had already received the Pentagon's warning and were aware of the defection of the Japanese research team.

Although they were unarmed personnel, having mastered various cutting-edge technologies, their radar systems were now operating at maximum power 24 hours a day, constantly on guard against everything around them.

When Wu Bolin's convoy was detected by their radar, they immediately became alert and, via radio, called out: "This is McMurdo Antarctic Research Station; please, approaching vehicle, state your nationality, number of personnel, and purpose."

Kikuchi Kōhei jumped in fright—this damn thing, we still have dozens of kilometers to go, how did they detect us? In the middle of winter, could the radar possibly be at full blast?

He immediately reported to Wu Bolin: "Master, those Americans are demanding we identify ourselves and state our purpose—what do you think we should do?"

Wu Bolin said lightly: "In polar regions, when you come into contact with foreign research teams, what is the most common reason given?"

Kikuchi Kōhei said: "Probably needing rescue, right? Everyone in Antarctica is still quite friendly."

Wu Bolin nodded: "OK, then just tell them we need rescue."

Kikuchi Kōhei immediately followed Wu Bolin's instruction and informed them that he was from the Japanese research team, that due to insufficient vehicle supplies and a malfunction, he was seeking assistance from the American research team.

The American research team members, on high alert, wondered: Why has the treasonous Japanese research team come running to us?

They therefore immediately reported the matter to the Pentagon.

……

Watanabe Gorō and his subordinates had already all boarded the transport aircraft.

Conditions inside the transport aircraft were very basic—everyone had only the foldable small stools at the edges to sit on, while the middle was entirely occupied by modular transport rails and fastening fixtures; the two snow vehicles were at this moment fixed in the center of the cabin.

Just as everyone thought the aircraft was about to close its doors and prepare for takeoff, U. S. Air Force personnel suddenly rushed in, unlocked the two snow vehicles from their fixed rails, and moved them outside the cabin.

Immediately afterward, nearly a hundred fully armed assault troops boarded the aircraft.

Next, the two snow vehicles that had been pushed aside were replaced by four all-terrain armored infantry vehicles.

These soldiers, each with stern expressions and silent, made Watanabe Gorō quite astonished.

At this very moment, the previous U. S. military base official stepped forward.

Watanabe Gorō hurriedly asked: "Commander sir, what exactly is going on here?"

The U. S. polar official, with a stern expression, said: "We are going to support Antarctica!"

Watanabe Gorō exclaimed in astonishment: "Not dispatching a single soldier?! —!"