A brief silence.
The highest-ranking official in the United States waved his hand.
He finally made the final decision.
"Relevant security departments, quickly verify this audio to ensure there are no mistakes..."
At this moment.
What verification was needed for the audio?
It was definitely ironclad, absolutely genuine audio.
However.
This highest-ranking official was merely going through the motions, both for the high-ranking officials present and to signal his attitude to Lieutenant General Tommy—
[This matter was caused by your illegitimate son, Bruce, Lieutenant General Tommy, so you must bear this burden yourself!]
[Since Meng Hao has already escaped, it proves that this genius must have had complete confidence... Meng Hao is highly likely to be recaptured.]
[Once Meng Hao leaves the control of the United States, Lieutenant General Tommy's previous schemes, open and covert, will be exposed, and nothing will be hidden. This highest-ranking official is psychologically prepared for the United States to be attacked in terms of credibility.]
[And at this time, a scapegoat is needed, and that would naturally be Lieutenant General Tommy.]
In politics and the arena of fame and fortune, there is never any such thing as face or sentiment.
The highest-ranking official in the United States then turned his gaze to Lieutenant General Tommy.
He sighed.
"Lieutenant General Tommy, until the matter is completely clarified, you will be suspended from your post. Let's clarify the situation first..."
"Also, immediately arrest Bruce. If Meng Hao has indeed returned to Great Xia, we need to give Great Xia, India, and even the whole world an explanation..."
And this explanation.
Would naturally be Bruce.
And his biological father, Lieutenant General Tommy.
Lieutenant General Tommy, who had spent his life commanding authority and constantly calculating others, felt his body go weak and his head spin.
This time.
He was finished.
Just as Charles had predicted.
Lieutenant General Tommy.
This immensely powerful figure had ultimately died by the hands of his illegitimate son.
Timing.
Fortune.
Fate.
...
Great Xia.
Capital.
Old Man Ouyang looked at the report from the front lines, his brow deeply furrowed.
"What's going on?"
"What is the United States doing?"
"It looks like children playing house."
Wasn't it like children playing house?
A joint military exercise costing hundreds of billions of US dollars.
The result was that the participating countries were acting independently.
"It seems they are searching for something."
A high-ranking official took over from Old Man Ouyang and said.
Searching for what?
What was more important than a military exercise at this juncture?
Could it be?
Old Man Ouyang's eyes lit up, and he then burst into laughter.
"I understand, I understand."
"It must be something that kid Meng Hao has cooked up."
Huh?
It has something to do with Meng Hao?
All eyes turned to Old Man Ouyang.
"Elder, have you received any news?"
Old Man Ouyang shook his head.
"Of course, I haven't received any news, but I can deduce that Meng Hao has definitely escaped, and the United States is desperately looking for him."
"Moreover, this kid might have stolen a submarine... even if he built a submarine himself, I would consider it normal."
"However, for safety reasons, he must have adopted a silent communication method."
Indeed.
There were thousands of Western Alliance ships led by the United States floating on the sea.
If Meng Hao accidentally exposed his location.
It was not impossible for the United States to adopt a desperate measure and intentionally put Meng Hao to death.
Therefore.
The best course of action at the moment was not to search for Meng Hao's whereabouts unless he contacted them proactively.
"No matter where Meng Hao is now, what can be affirmed is that he is definitely safe."
"Now, what we need to do is to disrupt the actions of the United States... regardless of whether they are searching for Meng Hao, even if they are salvaging underwater goldfish, we must not let them succeed."
"Transmit my orders, continue the dual-carrier fleet's military exercise, and advance into the heart of the US fleet!"
...
It is unknown whether Old Man Ouyang submitted his speculation to the highest decision-making body of Great Xia.
In any case.
The establishment of Great Xia's financial circle, which was originally planned to be low-key by the official side, was now high-profile and vigorously underway.
And this time.
It was being planned and constructed openly to all netizens worldwide.
It was as if to say, "We are openly challenging your US dollar hegemony, come and try to destroy us if you dare."
Strangely enough.
The United States.
Remained completely silent.
It seemed to be letting Great Xia establish its financial circle without any intention of suppressing or interfering.
...
Almost simultaneously.
The Great Xia dual-carrier fleet, which had been at a considerable distance from the US joint military exercise fleet, suddenly sailed into the US joint military exercise.
They even conducted live-fire exercises, flying very close to US ships and aircraft.
This made netizens worldwide cheer enthusiastically.
Before.
The joint fleet of the United States and several other countries seemed to be searching for something.
Their main focus was not on military exercises.
Apart from symbolic cannon fire, there were no major moves.
Well.
To be precise, it wasn't that there were no major moves.
At least.
Collisions between ships and aircraft, resulting in quite a few combat losses.
But.
With the addition of Great Xia's dual-carrier fleet to the "joint military exercise" and their live-fire drills.
While netizens worldwide were cheering, they also held their breath.
"Damn, Great Xia's ships are firing at such close range!"
"My God, look at that missile, its tail flame just grazed the phased-array radar!"
"Is that Great Xia's J-20 fighter jet? It's flying right alongside, incredibly impressive."
...
Amidst the global netizens' fervent discussions.
Meng Hao, seated at the control console, was eating canned food.
More than ten days had passed since he escaped from the Australian Research Center's military base.
For safety reasons, he had maintained signal silence.
At the very least, he would not surface until he reached the coastal waters of Great Xia.
For nearly half a month.
His stored green vegetables were almost all gone.
The only relatively fresh ingredients he could eat now were the various fish in the deep sea.
However.
No matter how fresh seafood was, one would get tired of eating it after a while.
After nearly half a month of underwater navigation, Meng Hao was even experiencing discomfort when going to the toilet.
He ate a few remaining cans of peas, muttering to himself.
"Big green vegetables, big Chinese cabbage, watery radishes..."
"When I get ashore, I won't touch any meat for half a month..."
"I really want to eat some vegetables, oh even canned vegetables would be fine. I was out of my mind earlier, why did I store so much canned meat..."