Chapter 570 - 558 Prelude

The significant reason why the reconstruction work has been unable to begin is that this project is really no ordinary undertaking...

Since 1869, the last major expansion of the Soul Summoning Society ended in 1970, and both its architectural scale and complexity are quite considerable.

Setting aside the highly controversial question of the purpose of reconstruction, the costs are exceedingly difficult to bear.

The Island Country authorities are still troubled by the accident at Haneda International Airport, and even if they could divert the victim assistance funds, resuming normal operations at the airport is of the utmost urgency; with the added losses during the repair process, there’s just no extra funding for the Soul Summoning Society’s reconstruction.

What’s more amusing is that, no matter how the fire appears to have been man-made, the official stance has remained consistent that the cause of the fire was aging wiring, otherwise they couldn’t explain the dereliction of duty by so many security personnel.

If they were to directly admit the fire was caused by human intervention, regardless of whether they could catch the mastermind, the authorities would have to face the tremendous pressure from the public first and foremost.

So far, the only one held responsible is the Soul Summoning Society’s circuit maintenance manager, a sixty-something electrician who tearfully bowed continuously to the media and then there was no further follow-up.

Nakayama Juji first came here, of course, to declare to the media that he would still push forward with the reconstruction project; at least he hasn’t resigned yet.

But the media, having finally caught an opportunity, weren’t willing to let him off that easily, and their concern wasn’t the Soul Summoning Society, but the highly active Futo Controlled District.

Starting from 3 days ago, the IAEA issued an official notification demanding an "unmanned control measure" for a month, planning to evacuate all the residents remaining in the Controlled District by December 10th.

This undoubtedly sends a very clear signal to the outside world: the IAEA is about to take cleanup action.

And indeed that was the case, as Nakayama Juji received internal notification that the IAEA had already drafted a basic plan:

From December 15th to 20th, focus on cleaning up core 1 and core 2; from the 20th to the 25th, clean up all remaining atmospheric radiation.

Following the completion of the cleanup actions, the IAEA will assess the effectiveness and maintain a 1-year observation window. If the results are good, they will gradually transfer control of the district; if not, they will continue cleaning up.

The three contractors who will undertake the cleanup work have already been decided, and the one ranked first is a company called "Gravitational Space Technology".

A Land Self-Defense Force Member took a look at their provided cleanup equipment and immediately recognized it as the DF15C.

Civil aerospace company’s East Wind 15C... The Land Self-Defense Force Member, anyway, reluctantly acknowledged that it was cleanup equipment, then left the headache to Nakayama Juji to deal with.

While the IAEA could initially ignore Nakayama Juji’s lackadaisical protests during the preparatory setup, they now needed his public declaration to more convincingly carry out the cleanup, so one can only imagine the pressure he now faces.

"Mr. Nakayama Juji, will you allow the IAEA to use nuclear missiles to attack Fukushima?"

"How do you view the military aircraft of five countries stationed in the Controlled District? Does this indicate..."

"..."

Sharp questions from the reporters made Nakayama Juji’s scalp tingle. Seeing the crowd pressing closer, he simply closed his eyes, his body began twitching uncontrollably, and he fell straight backwards.

The surrounding bodyguards immediately encircled him, cutting off the crowd, and hastily ran toward the direction of the motorcade.

...

Futaba District.

Tian Zhan, wearing the orange uniform of a rescue team, was leading his people to check if there were any remaining residents in every household, when he saw several figures in white uniforms approaching.

Zhang Meng quickly pulled off the mask over his head, and his brisk actions also exposed his identity.

Although he’s ostensibly a field surveyor from the Gravity Space Technology Company, no one takes that seriously.

"Captain... can you get those sticky plasters to back off a bit? They follow us everywhere, and they’re setting up monitoring equipment right under our noses. This is... this is..."

Seeing Zhang Meng’s impatient expression, Tian Zhan knew what had happened and glanced over at the personnel with different insignias not far away.

Whether for positioning or attack, the reactor cores that have sunk deep underground are not ideal targets, which is entirely different from the predetermined targets of ground drilling bombs.

Previously, the greatest concern was the depth of sinking, but after all, the soil here isn’t made of super high-grade concrete and steel like a super bunker, and ground drilling bombs can handle plain soil without a problem, computer simulations have left a significant margin for error.

The biggest challenge is actually precision; the accuracy range of East Wind 15C is between 15 and 70 meters, which can be reduced to within 10 meters with prior detailed surveying, which is already extremely high for a ballistic missile.

But underground, if the error is also that large, then there’s a risk of incomplete cleanup; one should not underestimate the soil’s, especially the deep soil’s, ability to attenuate power, the effectiveness of the hydrogen bomb cleanup depends on full reaction.

The domestic team responsible for exploration thoroughly entered the radiation zone to take measurements and then watched as other rescue teams followed behind setting up presumed monitoring equipment.

This time, the three types of cleanup tools are all ordinarily very secretive military weapons that are difficult to access. Naturally, there is an opportunity for close observation and as many setups as possible are laid out.

Moreover, the reasoning at this time is very sound, so everyone is deploying monitoring devices all over the blast zone, making it quite a lively scene.

But it’s very uncomfortable when one becomes the object of attention, and now Zhang Meng has even learned to subconsciously turn his back to people.

"Zhang... Director Zhang, let them do whatever they want. We still have to ensure that our mission is completed smoothly. Do you think we need further calibration this time?"

Zhang Meng shook his head, "No need, we have already completely obtained the exact location and trajectory of core 1. Before the 30th, there’s no need for further exploration, all the preparations that can be made have been completed.

Ah, Captain Tian, the motive behind the Edo Electric Power Company building this power station was not pure at all, so it serves them right that this mess has happened."

Tian Zhan chuckled twice in response:

"Whatever their purpose might be, they’ll probably think twice after this month."

"That’s true. It’s just a matter of when that Nakayama will loosen up. The old guy only knows how to fake illness. He used to rant about cooperating with us on manned missions and there’s no more news from him, he even gave up on the moon landing plan. What are they even plotting?"

"Waffling just shows they lack confidence in their own capabilities. Actually..."

Perhaps recalling past events, Tian Zhan paused for a moment before saying:

"In the past, we generally thought they were just restrained, and once unleashed, they could quickly catch up and surpass us, but the past few years have shown it’s not as simple as that."

Zhang Meng: "They aren’t even as good as India. I heard their Gagan Yan 2 Spacecraft was even completed ahead of schedule. Modi said they plan to carry out a manned launch in the first half of next year. Russia has really provided technology."