Steam ships were divided into two types: the early wood-clad iron and the all-steel casting. The 12 'fire ships' sent by Cole were all the latter. Judging from the size of the hull, it was the peak of the steam era in the first half of the last century. For this reason, when Zhang Lisheng saw this general in the bunker of the human gathering place, he was in a very happy mood.
Unfortunately, Cole's expression was very solemn.
"Welcome back to the civilized world, Mr. Zhang. Please take a seat." In the underground base command room, the supreme commander of the US army stationed on Shrimp B1 Island sat behind a loose office chair and rubbed his brows tiredly as he pointed at the chair opposite his desk.
"Thank you, General." Zhang Lisheng smiled and sat opposite Cole before casually replying, "The dispute on the island has come to a perfect end. I thought you'd be as happy as I am, but I didn't expect it to be the opposite."
"Mr. Zhang, the reason why you're in a good mood is because you still don't know what has happened." Cole became silent for a while before crossing his fingers on the desk and looking at Zhang Lisheng with a deep frown. "A week ago, Arkansas, Colorado, Asia, and Kansas discovered new 'worlds' one after another.
The 'spatial door' leading to the four 'foreign worlds' coincidentally appeared in the city. Among them, a heavy cavalry unit similar to Earth's medieval era appeared in the 'door' in Colorado and attacked Denver, causing 337 deaths.
On top of that, the US is not alone. Countries around the world have also announced the discovery of new 'foreign world's gates' in recent days. The number has reached 37 so far.
How do you feel now after hearing these news? "
"Oh." Zhang Lisheng was stunned for a moment. Digesting the news that Cole told him, he replied calmly, "I feel mixed feelings, General. I'm happy that we Earthlings have more colonial targets.
I'm worried that we might become a colony or semi-colony of others if we encounter a powerful civilization. "
"You really have a very strong mind, Mr. Zhang.
Forget it, let's get back to the main topic. Can you really guarantee that the C1 tribe will never attack the humans on Shrimp B1 Island? "
"I can guarantee that, General." Zhang Lisheng's expression changed right away. Solemnly, he replied, "As the fake 'god' of that tribe, I know very well how much they revere our Earthlings' planes and missiles. To be honest, those aborigines are already scared stiff.
Coupled with the constraints of their tribal traditions, unless all of the Tudenan tribesmen went crazy overnight, they would never attack humans. "
"That's good, Mr. Zhang. Congratulations, you've won yourself a medal of honor. For an inactive soldier to receive such an honor, it can be said to be an exception among exceptions."
"Thank you, General, although I'm not too interested in getting medals.
To me, being able to study the foreign world's creatures on Shrimp B1 Island safely is the best reward. "
Upon hearing the young man's words, Cole suddenly smiled and said in a deep voice, "Your heart is not only on this island under our feet, Mr. Zhang …"
Zhang Lisheng's heart skipped a beat, but he remained calm and collected on the surface. His mind quickly turned as he shrugged. "A Shrimp B1 Island is indeed not enough to satisfy me, Sir General.
You're not a biologist, so you may not understand the difference between an island biosphere and a continental biosphere.
In the ocean, due to the separation of seawater, each island will form a unique 'biosphere.' Sometimes, two islands that are less than 100 miles apart will have completely different species. The Hawaiian Islands are the best example.
The research subjects that I have now are insignificant compared to the entire Shrimp World No. 2 … "
"So, you plan to launch a satellite on Shrimp B1 Island?"
"So you know about this?" Zhang Lisheng nodded. "That's right, General. With the full satellite map, I can guide the Tudenan people to other islands or even the mainland to establish separate settlements so that they can get in touch with more research materials.
I know that this is very risky, and perhaps you might think that I'm weird and incomprehensible, but personally, it's definitely worth it. "
"I've served as a military base commander in the Middle East before, and I've personally seen those young people in their teens and twenties from Arab sheikhs playing hide-and-seek with each other. Compared to them, you can be considered as a very normal young rich man." Cole shook his head. "Unfortunately, even though your idea is good, it will inevitably fail."
"Why? General? Why? Is it because you don't allow it?" Zhang Lisheng was stunned for a moment before asking curiously.
"Of course not! This is an island that has been signed by the president and handed over to the 'civilian' to develop. The garrison can't intervene in things like launching a satellite." Cole waved his hand.
"Then why can't my idea succeed? It's the government …"
"Stop making wild guesses, Mr. Zhang. Let me put it this way. When the Shrimp World No. 2 was discovered, even though the US had already done its best in the development of Shrimp World No. 1 and was unable to develop a new foreign world, the government still had the ability to use the secret funds in the military expenditure to launch a few satellites …"
"You mean, there are satellites above our heads now?" Zhang Lisheng's mouth widened as he blurted out.
"No, there are no satellites in the space orbit of Shrimp World No. 2." Cole shook his head with a strange expression. "It's speculated that all the satellites launched have been shattered by the high-mass magnetic meteorite fragments floating in the orbit. Most of them exploded together with the missiles, and only one satellite could barely be considered as a successful launch. Unfortunately, it was destroyed after only taking a photo.
At that time, due to the reason that the continuous launch of satellites always failed, the military even sacrificed a young female scientist for the sake of research … "
"Is that so?" Zhang Lisheng became silent for a long time before muttering.
"That's the truth." Cole opened the drawer of his desk with a blank expression and took out a 4K Gospel with a high-precision satellite map printed on it before flicking it in front of Zhang Lisheng. "This is the only photo sent back by the only military reconnaissance satellite that was successfully launched.
This is not some high-level confidential information, so it shouldn't be difficult for you to get your hands on it. For this reason, I'll give this piece of paper to you, Mr. Zhang. "
The map that Cole gave Zhang Lisheng was a 120-degree, colorful fan-shaped satellite map. There was only a sesame-sized black dot marked with a name on it, which was Shrimp B1 Island. However, with this mark, it was enough to complete the positioning.
This map was indeed not some confidential information, but when the US general, who had a hawkish military attitude when they first met, suddenly made such an overly friendly gesture, it still caused the young man's eyes to widen in surprise. "Sir General, this satellite map is indeed very important to me, but y-you …"
"Don't get me wrong, Mr. Zhang. I just want to make this map more meaningful," Cole said in a hoarse voice. "Don't you understand yet? Tens of thousands of people have died, and now, a new foreign world has appeared. Shrimp B1 Island is already destined to not return to the past.
The most likely fate of the human gathering place on this island in the future is to become a military observation post. The army stationed there will at most be a mixed brigade, and the remaining residents will be scientists like you who have a different brain compared to others.
The government will retreat most of the army to the New York military base to guard the portal of Shrimp World No. 2. In this way, the mobility of the army will be greatly increased … You won't understand these military considerations.
You won't understand these military considerations, but in short, the US government will completely give up on Shrimp B1 Island. The map I gave you will soon become a waste paper that will be sealed in a file bag and be released as an ordinary secret 20 years later.
This secret will not attract anyone's interest at all after it's made public. I'm giving it to you so that at least, its existence will become a little meaningful. "
"Just because of this reason?"
"Isn't this enough?"
Zhang Lisheng shrugged. Even though he was still suspicious, he no longer said anything. Carefully folding the 4K paper on the desk, he put it into his pocket and raised his head to look at Cole. Suddenly, a light bulb went off in his head as he blurted out, "Sir General, don't tell me that the scientist who sacrificed herself to launch the satellite has anything to do with you?"
"Her name is Laura Corian."
"Oh, I'm sorry, General …"
"It's alright, Mr. Zhang. My sister sacrificed herself for the country, and I feel very honored.
That's right, I need to write a detailed report to the Department of Defense on how the garrison troops on Shrimp B1 Island will cooperate with your action to complete the devastating blow against the hostile natives on the island. I want to ask you to help me improve some of the details of the ground attack involving the C1 tribe. Can you do that? "
"Of course, General!" Zhang Lisheng, who still had to pretend to feel guilty after receiving benefits from Cole, could only nod his head again and again. After spending nearly two hours, he helped the highest field commander of the US army on Shrimp B1 Island to complete his action report in detail. After that, unable to shirk his responsibility, he took an armed helicopter and flew directly to Washington State.
On the morning of the third day, in a white classic British-style palace on Pennsylvania Avenue NW in the Lombia District, the young man met the man who was known as the leader of the western free world for the first time and accepted his medal.
The ceremony was simple but solemn. In a small auditorium in the White House, accompanied by the music of "The Star-Spangled Banner Never Fall", Zhang Lisheng and four to five professional officers who were dressed in neat military uniforms with large colorful rectangular ribbons sewn on their chests, looking like they had outstanding military merits, hugged the president of the United States and were personally put on their medals by the president.
Due to the continuous emergence of the four foreign world's gates in the US, President Rand appeared to be very tired and busy. Even though he exchanged a few more words with Zhang Lisheng when he shook hands with him, he did not take the time to meet this young billionaire alone before letting him out of the White House. It was apparent that just as Cole had speculated, the Shrimp World No. 2 was no longer important to the US now.
Zhang Lisheng's magical performance there had also become so devalued that it was no longer worth paying attention to.
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