Chapter 47: 042 Cyclone (8)
America's Great Commander Beilevin had already taken refuge in the secure bunker beneath the west wing of the White House. The official name for this place is the President's Emergency Operations Center. In times of great crisis in the United States, especially when Washington D.C.
might be threatened, the President would take shelter here and command the nation's affairs through the war situation system. There is also a tunnel leading to the outside world, so if the enemy were to attack, the President could escape and avoid disaster.
Right now, Beilevin was in a state of utter frenzy. He had at most two more months before he would be retiring with honors. As the first African-American President of the United States, he had waged wars and yet still managed to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
Even though he had almost no notable achievements and had been considered by some media as the worst Great Commander ever, Beilevin would still retire with a massive amount of wealth and fame, ready to thoroughly enjoy his life thereafter.
If it weren't for the aliens now.
"Mr. President, we have just received confirmation from the Department of Defense's Navy. In the past four hours, all Ohio Class Strategic Nuclear Submarines have lost contact with their home ports. If we connect this with the attacks on Anderson and other Air Force bases, it's likely the work of aliens," the White House Chief of Staff said with a grave expression.
"By losing all Ohio Class, we've effectively lost half of our nuclear warheads and our core nuclear strike capabilities. Even our strategic nuclear counterattack measures have been severely limited. Furthermore, considering how the aliens specifically targeted the airports housing B-2 bombers, we can infer that they are trying to destroy our nuclear forces," he continued.
Beilevin, scratching his head, asked, "Didn't our nuclear attack on the aliens fail? They shouldn't be too concerned about our nuclear forces. So why would they disarm most of our nuclear weapons?"
The Chief of Staff speculated, "We still don't know what the aliens are planning. Perhaps they are still wary of nuclear weapons. Maybe by disarming us, they want to weaken America's competitiveness and deterrent power on Earth, exposing us to the threat of other nuclear states."
Suddenly, the Chief of Staff's eyes lit up, realizing something, he spoke up immediately, "If that is the case, it could actually be a good thing for us. It would suggest that the aliens don't have plans for a full-scale invasion of Earth, and the existing national structures on the planet would likely be preserved."
It must be said that the Chief of Staff was very astute. Although his guess was not entirely accurate, it was somewhat in line with what Bai Zhongqi was thinking.
The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Morse, stepped forward, seizing the opportunity to stab at the disliked CIA, "The series of military actions by the aliens all occurred simultaneously with the escape of that female detainee from the CIA's custody. We have reason to believe that these attacks on America's military assets are likely a targeted retaliation by the aliens.
The methods employed by the CIA were extremely foolish, causing us unnecessary losses. Someone must be held accountable."
Beilevin glanced at Morse. In fact, the CIA's actions had been authorized by himself, and blaming the CIA at this point seemed pointless to Beilevin. The CIA had already botched the operation, losing many people, and dealing with CIA's responsible personnel wouldn't really help given that the events had already transpired.
Just as Beilevin was about to say something to boost morale, suddenly the underground bunker they were in began to shake violently.
"Is it an earthquake?" Beilevin asked, hugging the table in a nervous and unsightly manner, his face full of panic.
But the shaking lasted only a brief ten seconds before it stopped. Even though the bunker's contents were scattered everywhere and several people had been bumped and injured, it seemed nothing more followed.
Soon after, a Secret Service agent from the White House burst in with a face full of shock, "Mr. President, Mr. President... something big has happened outside."
Beilevin asked in surprise, "What on Earth happened? Was it damage caused by an earthquake?"
The agent shook his head vigorously, saying, "It's not an earthquake at all, it's aliens!"
Beilevin instinctively bent at the waist, as if trying to shrink under the table. The Chief of Staff moved quickly, pulling up the surveillance camera footage from outside the White House.
"My God—" the Chief of Staff's mouth opened, and then it couldn't close.
Beilevin hurried forward, taking three steps in two, and then his jaw dropped as well.
An over one hundred-meter-long nuclear submarine was now perfectly perpendicularly embedded on the lawn in front of the White House's main building. The submarine's bows were plunged into the ground up to its command tower, in a pit that was obviously freshly bored out.
The propeller of the submarine had been removed, and its whereabouts were unknown, while the rear was directly welded to a B-2 stealth bomber. The B-2 was also upside down, with its rearward facing wings pointing upwards. The two gigantic instruments of war, now joined together, resembled a massive postmodern sculpture.
Strangely enough, the design did bear a certain resemblance to China's Monument to the People's Heroes.
The massive "sculpture" even had a line of characters on its side, which Beilevin could recognize as seemingly Chinese, but he had no clue what it specifically said. Staff members in the White House who understood Chinese were immediately summoned.
The interpreter looked at the line of Chinese characters before him, his expression quite odd.
Beilevin grew impatient waiting and urged, "Come on, what does it say?"
The translator replied earnestly, "Everlasting friendship."
"What the fuck?" Beilevin couldn't help but curse, "You fuckers steal eighteen of our nuclear submarines and twenty stealth bombers from America, weld them into some freaky sculpture, and then write 'everlasting friendship' on it—is this some kind of sick joke for 'everlasting friendship'?"
Meanwhile, Bai Zhongqi returned to the Iridium Star, using the images transmitted by the dragonfly reconnaissance drones to look at the "piece of art" he had designed, feeling a growing admiration for himself. In the past, the French architect Eiffel, to symbolize Franco-American friendship, gifted the Statue of Liberty to America.
Today, Bai Zhongqi also offered a landmark structure to America, to represent the "special friendship" between the Iridium Star and the United States.
Bai Zhongqi had chosen not to use overly drastic means, nor to cause many casualties, in his retaliation. It was revenge for the Americans' petty actions and the kidnapping and torture of his beloved. At the same time, it was also the first step in the new vision Bai Zhongqi had outlined.
It was time for the people of Earth to hear the voice from the Iridium Star, and it was time to open up a broader horizon for this planet, overly obsessed with strife and chaos.