Chapter 162 - 158: The Stage is in the East_1

"Hello... Hello?"

"Hello, may I speak to Mr. Masashi Okada? A man claiming to be your friend, Hasegawa Yuki, says he was caught by the sea patrol while trying to smuggle himself to Thailand on a boat. He wants to contact you before he is deported."

"What the...?"

Early in the morning, Xiao Okada received a call from someone claiming to be from the border security police, and then he heard that his close friend was caught by the Chinese sea patrol while trying to smuggle himself to Thailand from the South Sea?

What was Hasegawa Yuki going to do in Thailand? Look for ladyboys? And to smuggle himself?

For a moment, Xiao Okada didn’t know what to say, and after talking with the police for a while, he finally let this person claiming to be "Hasegawa Yuki" take the call, and then he heard a familiar voice.

"Okada, is that you, Okada? Get them to let me go, I’m here to join the organization!"

What the heck, join the organization!

Xiao Okada thought to himself that he hadn’t even joined any organization, so he first asked Hasegawa why, having a good job at Kawasaki Heavy Industries, he had tried to smuggle himself to Thailand.

"Thailand? I was coming to the mainland, you idiot... These snakeheads actually wanted to take me to Thailand? Luckily, the sea patrol found out... Okada, I saw what you said in the news, I can’t stand that place anymore. Aren’t you at New Yuan Company? They have an aviation business. Let me join, you know my capabilities. The failure of C2 isn’t our fault!"

"...I need to talk to the boss first, you wait,"

Okada hung up the phone and couldn’t believe it as he touched his chin.

He was just venting, and now someone actually chose to run away just like he did?

No way, right?

...

The engineer from Kawasaki Heavy Industries’ aviation department, Hasegawa Yuki, has now applied for political asylum. His qualification as a refugee is under review."

Three days after Xiao Okada’s declaration of his escape, the Foreign Affairs Ministry announced that an engineer from Island Country had applied for political asylum due to facing numerous unfair treatments at work.

After the media spread this astonishing news, Kawasaki Heavy Industries belatedly realized that they were missing an important and vigorous engineer.

In just one week, 15 aerospace researchers from the Island Country have defected to China?

What kind of shocking conspiracy lies behind this?

All sorts of conspiracy theories bubbled up. The Chinese public felt a surge in national pride, thinking the glory of the Celestial Empire was returning, while the Island Country was abuzz with speculation of a looming disaster, suspecting that the scientists had run away because they knew of an impending catastrophe.

However, the official response from China was very normal and calm: "This is just a typical international movement of personnel. Don’t overthink it, folks. We haven’t done anything."

It looked like they hadn’t done anything, but Xiao Okada and Hasegawa Yuki didn’t just fade into obscurity.

On May 20th, Hasegawa Yuki’s application for political asylum was approved. He obtained Chinese citizenship as a technical expert and completed his immigration.

Hasegawa Yuki couldn’t find any family records tracing back to ancestors from Yunnan, and he changed his name to Zhang Chuanyong.

After Lin Ju took Zhang Chuanyong into the research institute, he found out he was a B-level engineer, quite high-ranking. However, he didn’t stay with New Yuan but was preparing to be assigned to the newly formed Southwest Commercial Airlines to build passenger planes.

New Yuan’s own aviation department primarily handled design, or small-scale manufacturing, so keeping Zhang Chuanyong would have been somewhat wasteful.

The latter was somewhat disappointed about not being able to stay at the parent company, but he became excited upon discovering that he was involved with the C822, a regional wide-body airliner project.

This time, we can give Mitsubishi a thrashing!

It was well known for quite some time that the Island Country liked to keep a close eye on its neighbors’ activities.

If the space agency was working on manned spaceflight projects, they would follow suit;

If the 603 Institute developed a large transport aircraft, they would tinker with the C2;

When COMAC developed the C919, a regional wide-body aircraft, Mitsubishi immediately followed up with the MRJ project.

As long as China was doing something, the Island Country would immediately embark on the same projects, always eager for competition.

Originally, the C919 was noticeably behind the MRJ due to the majority of its parts needing to be imported, but then New Yuan Aeronautics’ power division stepped in, solving the critical issues of engines and avionics systems. Although the C822 was a latecomer, with New Yuan’s support the progress would clearly be swift.

Being the first wide-body regional aircraft in Asia, it was truly exciting to be part of this project.

As for why Zhang Chuanyong was not assigned to the C832 team, the reason was well known: the C832 was a special project, and whenever possible, COMAC aimed to keep the entire C832 team free of foreigners, including those of foreign descent, emphasizing an absolutely correct policy!

Zhang Chuanyong was fully aware of this and held no objections. Instead, he and Xiao Okada delivered a speech to the public that day:

"The stage for Asians is in the East."

The speech was completely public; apart from journalists and media, they also gathered many Islanders already in China.

Waving his arms with vigor, Zhang Chuanyong made a speech referred to by the Islander media as "the traitor’s lies":

"History has proven that to establish the glory of Asians, of the yellow race, we must rely on China, on its bountiful territory, on its splendid culture, on its free atmosphere, on its respect for knowledge and talent!

For top talents like Mr. Androff, going to the Island Country might mean having to wait until they’re eighty years old to witness a section chief’s last breath, then take over his position with an oxygen mask on, and then gradually reclaim the honor and achievements that had been wrested away.

When we look up at the sky, in the Island Country, we see suffocating overcast clouds, but standing here, even the air smells of freedom and ease.

The era that belongs to the people of Greater Asia is approaching, and it will only be realized here. Any Islander who is willing to contribute to the greatness of Greater Asia should spontaneously seek places where they can fully unleash their potential..."

Zhang Chuanyong delivered this impassioned speech in Japanese while Xiao Okada reiterated it in Chinese. The Islanders present were moved, and the Chinese media were flushed with embarrassment.

Suddenly using the adjectives formerly ascribed to America on themselves felt utterly shameful. Moreover, Zhang Chuanyong’s speech was full of adolescent fervor, and it seemed like the rhythm of a revolutionary song was faintly echoing in the background.

Yet, this seemingly juvenile speech caused a tremendous stir.

By May 23rd, the mass exodus of engineers from the Island Country had reached its climax, with seven key engineers being detained at the airport alone.

Among the seven, five were JAXA astronauts, and one was in charge of a crucial part of the H2A rocket—were they really thinking of fleeing in their fifties?

As for the lesser shrimp that got away, there were far too many to keep track of, potentially close to twenty-five.

Before the detained engineers were forcibly taken into custody at the airport, they shouted to the onlookers and cameras: "For the glory of Greater Asia! For freedom! China respects science, and I will surely go there!"

Seeing this, the Island Country’s public did not react with disdain. Instead, they felt a growing sympathy. Even the police officers were embarrassed as they lowered their heads throughout, escorting the engineers, who resembled warriors, into the police cars.