Chapter 193: Dreaming of the Perfect Crime

Chinese Naval Base in Dalian.

A heavy, oppressive silence hung over the spacious conference room.

Everyone attending the emergency meeting fully understood just how serious and critical the situation was.

Vice Chairman Tang Guochang, who had been sitting with his eyes closed, deep in thought, finally broke the silence and spoke.

"Commander Wang, have you investigated the cause of the incident?"

"Yes, sir! Vice Chairman!"

Northern Fleet Commander Wang Dazhong answered in an extremely tense voice.

"As you know, the Chairman is taking a particularly keen interest in what happened here. I'm not saying this to frighten you, but if you conceal even a single detail, the Grim Reaper will come for your life."

"I will report only the facts that have been confirmed by the investigation."

"I understand, so hurry up and report."

"It has been established that the explosion at the weapons depot occurred yesterday at 11:30 p.m."

"And what do you believe allowed them to breach the weapons depot?"

That remained an unsolved mystery even to Commander Wang Dazhong.

The naval base covered an enormous area, so infiltrating the grounds themselves was not particularly difficult if someone was determined enough.

However, the weapons depot, where all manner of armaments were stored, was a completely different matter.

The weapons depot was a facility of the highest importance, so the military guarded it with two, sometimes even three, layers of security.

Moreover, surveillance cameras densely covered the roof at intervals of two to three meters.

The entrance doors were also fitted with state-of-the-art locking devices that could not be opened without knowing the password.

And yet the enemy had managed to approach the depot without being spotted by either the sentries or the surveillance cameras.

On top of that, they had bypassed the ultra-modern locks, entered the facility, and successfully planted a time bomb inside.

"My apologies, but I have absolutely no idea."

"Let's hear what the others think."

General Liu Dezhen, who was a member of the Triad, decided that his moment had finally come.

He had used Triad members to steal four torpedoes from the weapons depot.

The following night, in order to destroy the evidence, they had planted Composition H6 explosives in the weapons depot and on eight warships.

Recalling the instructions Vice Chairman Wei Chen had given him for just such a situation, he asked to speak.

"Vice Chairman, it appears there are people inside the naval base who colluded with the enemy."

"You're saying those bastards opened the depot doors for the enemy?"

"Otherwise, there is no way to explain how the weapons depot was breached."

"Hmm... Is that so?"

Vice Chairman Tang Guochang tilted his head doubtfully and asked Commander Wang Dazhong,

"What do you think of General Liu's opinion?"

"I share General Liu's opinion."

"How much time do you need?"

Vice Chairman Tang Guochang's question was, in fact, a direct order to track down and capture everyone who had colluded with the enemy.

Commander Wang Dazhong had only one option if he wanted to keep his life.

"Give me forty-eight hours."

"Forty-eight hours is too long. Arrest everyone who colluded with the enemy within twenty-four hours."

"It will be done."

"Still, was the weapons depot really destroyed by U.S. special forces?"

"To destroy the depot, they would have had to approach this area by submarine. And to land personnel ashore, the submarine would have needed to surface. However, no submarine was detected by radar."

Vice Chairman Tang Guochang stared at Commander Wang Dazhong with undisguised displeasure before turning to General Liu Dezhen.

"General Liu, what do you think of Commander Wang's assessment?"

"Without physical evidence, we cannot know for certain whether they were the ones who destroyed the depot. However, we cannot deny the fact that an enemy submarine appeared in these waters."

"Explain why you came to that conclusion."

"Because four of our submarines were attacked by torpedoes and sunk."

"Commander Wang, do you understand now why I'm looking at you like this?"

"Yes, sir! Vice Chairman!"

Commander Wang Dazhong's loud, fear-filled voice echoed throughout the conference room.

"Commander Wang, have you determined what caused the explosion at the weapons depot?"

"Because so many different types of weapons were stored there, we have not yet been able to determine the cause."

"And how much time do you require?"

"Give me twenty-four hours."

"Fine. Report how the warships and submarines were sunk."

"It has been established that they stole Composition H6 from the weapons depot and planted it beneath the ships' keels. As General Liu already mentioned, the submarines were sunk by torpedo attacks."

"If we recover the torpedo fragments and examine them, we should be able to identify the enemy."

"The thing is..."

Vice Chairman Tang Guochang noticed Commander Wang Dazhong faltering and immediately sensed that something was wrong.

"Report what you know. Now."

"The torpedoes were manufactured in our country..."

"What?!"

Genuinely shocked, Vice Chairman Tang Guochang cut off Commander Wang Dazhong's report with a shout.

At that moment, the spacious conference room once again fell into profound silence.

Trying to suppress the anger surging through him, Vice Chairman Tang Guochang abruptly rose from his seat and walked over to the window.

He folded his arms across his chest, stared at the distant sea, and sank into thought.

Everyone attending the meeting could only stare anxiously at his back.

After quite some time, he finally brought his emotions under control, returned to his seat, and spoke.

"Commander Wang, am I supposed to understand this as one of our submarines attacking our own submarines?"

"None of our submarines were conducting exercises in Dalian's waters last night."

"So a ghost attacked our submarines?"

"......"

Commander Wang Dazhong fell silent as though he had no answer to give.

"Speak, General Liu."

"If the launch tubes were modified slightly, it would be possible to fire other types of torpedoes from them."

"You're saying they stole our torpedoes and attacked the submarines with them to make it look like we shot ourselves?"

"That possibility is not particularly small."

"I agree with General Liu's opinion."

"I also support General Liu..."

Everyone attending the emergency meeting agreed with General Liu Dezhen's assessment.

Vice Chairman Tang Guochang once again cast a hard look at Commander Wang Dazhong before speaking.

"General Liu, who do you think was behind the attack on our submarines?"

General Liu Dezhen decided that the decisive moment had arrived.

Depending on his answer, the entire situation could change dramatically.

"I suspect North Korea."

"North Korea?"

"North Korea's economic situation is currently terrible. Kim Jonghun asked our country for assistance, but I heard rumors that the Chairman refused him."

"The Chairman refused Kim Jonghun because of Russia. I don't need to explain what that's about, do I?"

It meant that North Korea's growing closeness with Russia had struck a nerve with President Xi Jinping.

"Of course not."

"Even so, how could the North Koreans have devastated a naval base?"

"North Korean special forces could have reached this place overland. Furthermore, North Korean submarines use torpedoes exported by our country."

"Hmm... That makes sense. But how could they have infiltrated the weapons depot?"

"If I were in their position, I would simply bribe the soldiers stationed here."

"Those bastards!"

A vicious curse burst from Vice Chairman Tang Guochang's mouth as rage overwhelmed him.

General Liu Dezhen, on the other hand, inwardly breathed a sigh of relief.

He had successfully made North Korea the culprit responsible for reducing the naval base to ruins.

Of course, there were still those who disagreed with him.

"Vice Chairman, I don't believe North Korea is responsible."

"Explain why you think so."

"Because North Korea gains nothing from destroying our naval base."

"Why would they gain nothing? At the very least, they cheered Kim Jonghun up."

Brrrrr—

At that moment, Vice Chairman Tang Guochang's phone, lying on the table, began vibrating.

After checking the caller's name, he furrowed his brows in confusion.

And no wonder.

The caller was none other than Deputy Secretary Zhang Jinan.

"Deputy Secretary Zhang, what happened at this hour?"

[Vice Chairman Tang, do you have something against me?]

"Why are you suddenly saying that?"

[The cargo ship Silver Crystal, owned by Eastern Shipping, sank twenty kilometers from the Port of Yantai.]

Only then did Vice Chairman Tang Guochang begin to understand what this was about.

Deputy Secretary Zhang Jinan believed that one of his country's warships had attacked and sunk Silver Crystal.

He needed to clear up that misunderstanding immediately.

"Couldn't it have sunk because of an engine failure?"

[According to eyewitnesses, there was a massive explosion aboard the ship, after which it began sinking.]

"Why would one of our warships attack Silver Crystal?"

[That area was declared a combat zone, so all vessels were prohibited from sailing through it. However, I insisted on sending Silver Crystal through anyway. The Navy deliberately sank it to express its displeasure with the measures I took, didn't it?]

"Haa!"

Vice Chairman Tang Guochang let out a heavy sigh at the absurdity of the situation.

[What do you have to say about that, Vice Chairman Tang?]

"That isn't even worth answering, so I'm hanging up."

Click.

After unilaterally ending the call, Vice Chairman Tang Guochang gave Commander Wang Dazhong an order.

"They say Eastern Shipping's cargo ship Silver Crystal sank after a torpedo attack. Investigate the cause of the sinking as quickly as possible!"

***

Meanwhile.

I was having a leisurely conversation with Vice Chairman Wei Chen.

"Vice Chairman Wei, are you aware of the Chinese military's movements?"

"Vice Chairman Tang Guochang is personally investigating the cause of the incident on-site."

"So the situation really is that serious?"

"I think so too. By the way, do you think Vice Chairman Tang will fall for this trick?"

I had given Vice Chairman Wei Chen a hint so that he could direct all suspicion toward North Korea.

"To keep his position, Vice Chairman Tang will make sure he has a scapegoat. Considering all the circumstances, North Korea is perfect for the role. Even if he doesn't believe it himself, there's nothing to worry about."

"What do you mean, there's nothing to worry about?"

"He understands perfectly well that pinning everything on the United States would be far too risky."

"That's true... Now that I think about it, you're right."

"You said there was something important you wanted to discuss with me. I'm listening."

"As you know, Chief Cha, we deserve most of the credit for reducing the naval base to ruins."

"On that point, I completely agree with you, Vice Chairman Wei."

"As compensation, our Triad would like to reenter the U.S. market."

Vice Chairman Wei Chen was indirectly hinting that he wanted to resume supplying drugs to the United States.

Naturally, I opposed his plan.

"President Douglas is mobilizing the military to eliminate drug distribution syndicates. Given that, the U.S. government isn't going to grant your request."

"Then what kind of compensation should we ask for?"

"Why does the Triad want to enter the United States again? Isn't it because of money? That's why I'm saying you should ask for monetary compensation."

"How much should we ask for?"

"Director Griffin said he'd fill your pockets to the brim. How about a nice round sum of two billion dollars?"

"Would they really pay that much?"

Doubt was evident in Vice Chairman Wei Chen's question.

But I had cards of my own to play, so I wasn't worried in the slightest.

"Triad members sank eight warships. If we estimate the construction cost of each vessel at two hundred fifty million dollars, that comes to exactly two billion dollars. And on top of that, the weapons depot was destroyed."

Knock, knock, knock.

At that moment, after a knock at the office door, Chief Secretary Kang Inhan, Director Lee Menghong, and Director Pan Kai entered.

After waiting for the three of them to sit down on the sofa, Vice Chairman Wei Chen spoke impatiently.

"Director Pan, report the appraisal results. Quickly."

"After examining the golden Buddha statue with nondestructive testing equipment, we confirmed that it is 99.999% pure gold."

"Hahahahaha!"

Vice Chairman Wei Chen burst into hearty, booming laughter.

Once his laughter subsided, Director Pan Kai continued his report.

"The golden Buddha statue weighs 2.52 tons. Whether it qualifies as cultural property will have to be determined separately, but we believe it does not."

"And why do you think that?"

"If it were cultural property, the Buddha statue would inevitably have at least a few minor scratches. However, the surface of the golden statue isn't even tarnished and looks far too smooth."

"I see what you mean. Chief Cha, what are you planning to do with the golden Buddha statue?"

Naturally, I intended to sell it to Vice Chairman Wei Chen, but I had absolutely no desire to haggle over the price right now.

"I'm exhausted, so how about we discuss that tomorrow?"