A sales call? Impossible, this is a confidential line!
Smith Lumon frowned, gesturing to his subordinates to trace the signal source while stalling, "We don't accept junk here, it depends on what you're selling!"
"Dongming Grass, Qinglan Leaf, Liegu Flower! Remit one million US dollars to this account as a deposit, and someone will contact you then."
After speaking, the phone on the other end was directly hung up.
Smith Lumon held his phone, staring intently at the technician, "How's the situation?"
"Sorry, sir!" The technician bowed his head deeply. "The time was too short, and this phone number was specially encrypted. We can only confirm that the call came from within Long Country."
Upon hearing this, Smith Lumon fell into thought.
Why would someone use an encrypted number to call him, and what did they want?
A million US dollars was a considerable sum for an ordinary person, but not for the MIS (Ministry of Internal Security).
However, if this person was a scammer and the money disappeared after being transferred, the MIS would lose face, and he couldn't bear that responsibility.
After quickly weighing the pros and cons, Smith Lumon decisively chose to pass the buck. He put on a stern face, making a very serious expression.
"You continue to investigate. I will report this matter to the Great Leader for him to make a decision."
As Smith Lumon headed to the conference room to report to the President of Beautiful Country, his subordinate reminded him that while monitoring Sakura Country, they discovered they had also received a similar call.
Immediately after, Commonwealth Country, Germany, Italy...
All the allies that Beautiful Country was monitoring also received similar calls.
"Mr. President," Smith Lumon summarized all the intelligence and reported it to the President of Beautiful Country, lowering his gaze, "What are our next steps? Should we transfer the money?"
The President said without hesitation, "This kind of thing isn't something that comes from the top. Given the usual conduct of Long Country officials, they wouldn't do something like this. This must be some lower-level official trying to make a quick buck."
"I've been wondering how to deal with the medicinal herbs Long Country collected before. Go ahead and buy them, transfer ten million directly to show our sincerity!"
"But," Smith Lumon hesitated, "what if they take the money and run?"
The President didn't speak, but simply raised his hand and made a horizontal cutting motion across his neck.
Smith Lumon understood the President's meaning and silently noted it down before pausing.
"There's one more thing, Mr. President. Other countries are very likely to compete with us for this batch of medicinal materials. Should we coordinate with them in advance and agree on a division?"
"Indeed, we need to coordinate in advance. Although we're not short of money, we can't be an easy mark," the President tapped the desk a few times, looking out the window at the darkened Statue of Liberty.
"Smith, tell the other countries that I want this shipment, and they should obediently get out of the way..."
Leaders of Commonwealth Country, Germany, Italy, Sakura Country, and others, upon hearing the President of Beautiful Country's request, outwardly agreed readily, but in secret, they all transferred one million US dollars to the mysterious person.
Beautiful Country was the strongest now, and the Western countries followed its lead, but no one was willing to remain a subordinate forever. They were all sharpening their knives in secret, accumulating strength, waiting to overthrow Beautiful Country and become number one in the world.
As countries schemed against each other, the mysterious person navigated through them, leveraging their interactions to successfully sell the three types of herbs, whose prices had already multiplied nearly a hundredfold, at an even steeper markup.
Before the Western countries could rejoice, Yi Wenliu suddenly held a press conference.
"Considering that everyone's physique is different and the reasons for muscle and ligament damage vary, for better treatment, I have specially developed twelve new types of ligament repair agents to target different situations."
Following this, Yi Wenliu, citing the reason of preventing injuries due to drug allergies, announced the raw materials for all twelve ligament repair agents.
She wasn't revealing the formula. After all, with the current level of technology, analyzing the ingredients of a drug was very easy.
However, the dosage of these ingredients and the processing methods were the keys to determining a drug's efficacy.
The leaders of the Western countries meticulously reviewed the ingredient list for these twelve ligament repair agents ten times, but failed to find Dongming Grass, Qinglan Leaf, and Liegu Flower, their faces instantly turning extremely pale.
They had spared no expense to hoard these three types of herbs, intending to suppress Long Country, prevent them from using these medicines to dominate the market, earn significant foreign exchange, and profit greatly from breach of contract penalties.
Now, not only had their original plan failed, they couldn't suppress Long Country's development or earn breach of contract penalties.
The Dongming Grass, Qinglan Leaf, and Liegu Flower were all stuck in their hands.
With losses in the tens of billions, no one wanted to take responsibility. They were all frantically making excuses, trying to shift the blame to others and become scapegoats...
For a time, the Western countries were in chaos!
Meanwhile, at the Dragon Country's underground L2 secret laboratory.
Jing Mingqiu was sitting on the newly completed, oversized "Skyrocket" (竄天猴), admiring the new dance prepared for him by Mò Ruixue and Jīng Róu. Suddenly, he heard applause.
Immediately after, the highest leader's aged and steady voice rang out, "Good, very good! You dance beautifully. Our country's dance has successors. It looks like the next Dragon Country Lotus Award will be yours!"
"Great Leader, you flatter us!" Mò Ruixue quickly denied, "We're just dancing for fun, far from the Lotus Award."
This was not Mò Ruixue being humble. The Dragon Country Lotus Award might sound like an obscure award, but in reality, after the national regulation of artistic awards, it was the only nationwide professional dance art award retained, signifying the highest achievement in professional dance art in Dragon Country.
The highest leader chuckled, "As the saying goes, heroes emerge from the youth. Young people should be more confident. Look at Mingqiu, he's about the same age as you, but his achievements have already surpassed many older veterans..."
After a brief exchange of pleasantries, the highest leader began to get down to business. He first briefly explained the entire plan and then looked up at Jing Mingqiu.
"Mingqiu, the plan was a great success. The countries are in disarray now, and their attention won't be focused on you for the time being. You can leave."
"However, for your safety, I suggest you participate in the military exercises tomorrow or the day after, and do so as the creator of the Skyrocket."
Hearing this, Jīng Róu was a bit confused. She obediently raised her hand and asked, "Huh? Great Leader, if we want safety and to avoid attention, shouldn't we be more low-key and not steal the spotlight?"
"No, no, no," the highest leader explained patiently. "Mingqiu has always been in the spotlight. If he suddenly becomes low-key now, it will actually attract attention."
Jīng Róu raised her small hand again, "I see. I have another question. Why go through so much trouble to sell the goods to other countries? Can't we just sell them directly?"