Sent to Africa

In the middle of the night, Senior Colonel Tian appeared before Kang De again.

The small meeting room in Building 18.

In front of Kang De was a basket of shrimp dumplings, a duck leg, a plate of rice noodle rolls, and a bowl of beef congee. Qin Mengjin sat beside him, sipping her coarse grain pumpkin congee. Across from them, Senior Colonel Tian ordered a roast duck rice. The chef, who was on call 24 hours a day, prepared this late-night snack as quickly as possible.

China people like to discuss business at the dinner table.

It was precisely based on this consideration and habit that, after Kang De extended the invitation, Senior Colonel Tian did not refuse, but readily ordered a late-night snack and enjoyed the culinary skills of Diaoyutai's top chef.

--Tonight might be very busy.

Kang De gently chewed the shrimp dumpling. Hot juice rolled inside the translucent skin. With a gentle bite, it exploded on his taste buds. The bouncy shrimp filling provided a delicious taste sensation between his lips and teeth. A warm sensation slid down his throat with each swallow, and he exhaled with satisfaction.

"Will this bother you?" he asked, "It's so late."

Senior Colonel Tian wiped the grease from his mouth with a handkerchief and said seriously, "In the future, if something like this happens, please don't hesitate to bother us a little longer."

The three of them laughed at the same time.

"Then let's get down to business." Seeing that Kang De Senior Colonel Tian was about to put down his cutlery, Kant raised his chopsticks slightly. "Don't be shy, let's talk while we eat. It's nothing serious, just gathering some grass and looking for rabbits."

"Whether it's a big deal or not, we need to know first what kind of rabbit it is, how fat it is, and how tasty it is."

Senior Colonel Tian smiled and said, "You mean the sunken Atlantis?"

Kang De nodded. "Hmm, it's somewhat similar, but I can't be completely sure. I don't know its exact location, but I do know clues and traces, such as general coordinates. What's certain is that there's something there, and something good... traces of Civilization, sunken ships, even a city..."

Senior Colonel Tian seemed to be deep in thought; he had already learned a little about the situation on his way here.

"Good stuff?" he said. "It's said there are over a million shipwrecks worldwide, a significant portion of which carry precious artifacts and antiques. Our South China Sea alone has over two thousand ancient merchant ships sunk. If you're interested, you can come and help bring our national treasures back to light..."

He assumed Kang De wanted to use his superpowers to do some shipwreck salvage work; young people, you know, like adventure, thrills, and maybe make some money on the side, that's normal. "The government will pay you for the salvage..."

Kang De waved his hand.

He laughed and said, "I know the rules. Antiques and cultural relics unearthed domestically must be handed over to the state, but those salvaged overseas are mine to sell however I want. Besides..."

Kang De put down his chopsticks, leaned forward, and lowered his voice. "Do you think Atlantis is just a myth, or an ordinary ancient Civilization that was blasted into the sea by a volcano?"

Senior Colonel Tian straightened up instantly. "You mean...?"

Kang De snapped his fingers and said quietly, "You should know what happened in Gambia, right? The insect hive deep underground in Zhuerban —that's not some naturally evolved species. This world hides many secrets, beyond scientific understanding, beyond common sense... This is the same."

Senior Colonel Tian took a deep breath and said in a deep voice, "Do you have any evidence?"

Kang De said calmly, "I said it."

The other person paused for a moment before understanding Kang De's meaning, then shook his head and said, "It's not that I don't trust you, it's just that this matter is of great importance. We at least need to know the cause and effect, such as where you learned about this."

Kang De shook his head and said, "I've already said it before, I have many secrets. Because of other entanglements, I don't want to talk about them, and I haven't figured out how to lie to you."

Senior Colonel Tian hesitated, "This... Underwater exploration, positioning, excavation, and operations require advanced manned submersibles, experienced technicians, and a mother ship that crosses half the globe to the Atlantic Ocean to coordinate supplies and consumption along the way, as well as subsequent construction and salvage work. Add to that sonar exploration and other technical means and equipment support, along with corresponding vessels, and the total expenditure will easily exceed one hundred million. We can't possibly..."

Kang De smiled and said, "I signed an agreement with five countries to excavate the deep well of the Zombie Nest in Zhuerban. The price is eight billion US dollars, and part of the payment has already been deposited into AWSL Company's account. If the countries don't trust my information channels, then we can find another way to cooperate."

"Consider it as me paying to hire the relevant personnel and equipment to accompany me on this Atlantic Ocean raiding expedition. I'll cover all expenses, including rent and commissions, all according to top international standards. If we come up empty-handed, consider it as throwing my money into the Atlantic Ocean. If we do manage to retrieve it..."

He gave a half-smile, "If the country wants it, it has to pay for it."

"--Moreover, you decide how much it costs to rent equipment and personnel—it's a fixed price. And how much to sell the unearthed treasures for—that's up to me—also a fixed price."

Looking into Kang De's eyes, Senior Colonel Tian recalled a conclusion drawn from the other's character profile.

--Extremely vengeful.

He could easily imagine that if the state was truly uninterested in Kang De's proposal for cooperation, as he claimed, and instead provided personnel and equipment to accompany him on an expedition to the Atlantic Ocean, and actually retrieved some extremely valuable artifacts—at that point, how much would the state charge Kang De for renting the equipment and personnel? Kang De would probably have to sell each retrieved artifact back to him at ten times the price.

Another option is to ignore it—not be interested in Kang De's cooperation proposal, nor agree to Kang De's leasing request. After all, the relevant equipment and personnel have tasks to complete, and the schedule is quite tight. There is no need to spend ten or twenty days to sail to the Atlantic Ocean to explore the sea.

But this was undoubtedly the most foolish decision.

Because China is not the only country in the world that possesses marine exploration and deep-sea operation technologies.

Senior Colonel Tian was a shrewd man; after thinking it over, he clearly distinguished the advantages and disadvantages.

Then he realized with dismay that the country had no reason to refuse.

He gave a wry smile and said, "It seems we have no other choice."

Kang De smiled and said, "Trust me, you're guaranteed to make a profit in this."

His original plan was to make an agreement with the state that whatever he unearthed would be shared equally with the state, or the state would purchase it and the research results would be shared. If nothing was found, he would pay a series of fees such as rental fees, usage fees, and depreciation fees. However, this idea was rejected by the Parrot.

Malegith told him that when dealing with a country, you can't be so easygoing; you have to be assertive and take the initiative. This has nothing to do with patriotism; it's about the result, not the process.

--nailed it.

He breathed a sigh of relief.

When he and his Parrot discovered that some kind of Yilan-Tai'er relic power might exist beneath the depths of the Broken Isles, tomb raiding became the only answer. After all, the Protoss had already provided the answer, and archaeology could advance technology.

But the problem lies in the difficulty of tomb raiding.

On land, the ruins are easy to deal with; even those buried deep underground, Kang De could use the Power of the Fire Thief to crush them all the way down. But those submerged in the deep sea, even the Parrot has no good way to deal with them. The deep ocean is extremely dark, cold, and has immense pressure, limiting visibility and movement. Even a peerless powerhouse like Malegith cannot move freely underwater.

After much deliberation, there's only one solution left.

Continue to fleece socialism.

The plan is to return to Earth, find a nation, falsely claim that traces of an ancient advanced Civilization have been discovered near the Romanche Trench in the Atlantic Ocean, and invite the nation's resources to join them in the investigation.

After lobbying the country to agree, they first coaxed the equipment and personnel to Zhuerban.

Let's try out the White Mist World for free first.

--That's the brilliance of the location.

If you say the ruins are in the East China Sea, and point to any random place, the government will look at it and say, "We've cleared this place so many times, and we've even laid mines there. There's no such thing here. Are you trying to fool me?"

If it were the Romanche Trench in the Atlantic Ocean, it would be much easier to explain, since that place is difficult to survey completely, and the data from various countries is incomplete, making it easier for Kang De to manipulate the data.

Moreover, the Romanche Trench is located in the middle of West Africa and Brazil, relatively close to Zhuerban. Zhu'erban Port, which is now nominally owned by Kang De, naturally became the only designated stop for the expedition fleet.

The arrangement was so perfect, so completely devoid of any artificiality.

As for the state mobilizing a large army, running around doing a lot of work, only to find nothing— Kang De certainly wouldn't allow that to happen.

When cooperating with the country now, the most important thing is credibility. We need to let the country know that the name "Kang De" will always shine brightly, that if there are supernatural relics, there are supernatural relics, and that the country will be involved in making money together whenever something good happens. Once this authority and trust are established, everything will be much easier in the future, to the point that we can benefit from the country's power for free while the country shouts "Kang De!"

In the Parrot's words, "If he wants a transcendental relic, why don't we just get him one?"

As for how to do it...

The former Phoenix King Malegith, said, "When I was a kid, I led my henchmen in several brawls and sank quite a few ships. I still remember the places where we fought. You can get the submersible, we'll go there, take a few shipwrecks, dismantle the overly advanced technology, and dump the rest there... If you think they're too new, I also remember the war records from my dad's and my grandpa's time. Let's go look for them, we're bound to find something."

This is incredibly flashy, and it's definitely an antique.

Furthermore, by taking advantage of the time difference between the two worlds, after obtaining the submersible, one can leisurely travel to the other world to acquire some ancient artifacts and secretly release them into the Atlantic Ocean —in short, it will definitely bring great benefits to the nation.

Having made his decision, he smiled and asked, "When do we begin?"

Senior Colonel Tian shook his head and said, "It's not that simple. We need to mobilize personnel, ships, and equipment; invite experts from the Deep Sea Science Research Center to provide guidance and develop a plan; we need to mobilize resources; we need to sign confidentiality agreements. Not to mention anything else, just getting our ships to West Africa will take at least twenty days..."

Kang De thought for a moment, "I can help with the ship. Our people can fly to Zhuerban, and I'll deliver the ship, submersible, and equipment directly to the Zhu'erban Port..."

You can easily get something for free, or even secretly do some tampering—for example, have Horus sneak onto the ship first to learn the techniques and operations; this is a delicate task.

"We need to look into this."

Senior Colonel Tian shrugged. "Sometimes going too fast and getting targeted by the American Empire isn't so pleasant."

Zhuerban is currently hosting observer groups and military forces from five countries. If a submersible mother ship were to suddenly appear out of nowhere, it would inevitably attract attention, and China's naval power projection in the Atlantic Ocean is still quite weak.

"It's alright, let's move quickly and find the ruins before they can react."

Kang De laughed and said, "The nation only needs to be responsible for exploration, searching, and locating. I just need to know the exact location, and then I can use my space capabilities to bring them directly back home. Even if the American Empire sends an aircraft carrier battle group to search, they won't be able to find anything on our ships."

"Furthermore, they cannot search our ships, or even get close."

He said this with a peculiar smile, "Because the weather forecast will also tell them that the weather ahead is abnormal and it's best not to get close, otherwise the plastic worms will be blown into the sea."

Senior Colonel Tian looked at Kang De with a somewhat complicated expression.

Kang De looked back at him, his gaze open and composed.

I'll give you a definite answer tomorrow, and a detailed plan the day after.

This is what Senior Colonel Tian told Kang De when they parted.

"I know you've been spending time with your childhood friends these past few days," he said, shaking Kang De's hand. "When you have some free time, could you help us discipline those troublemakers?"

This was originally Senior Colonel Tian's intention in bringing these extraordinary individuals over that day: to sign the Patriots' Covenant and ask Kang De to intimidate these intellectually declining and problematic extraordinary individuals. However, to everyone's surprise, Kang De demonstrated a future and possibility that could almost change the course of science and technology. So the priorities changed. These extraordinary individuals could go wherever they wanted, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences came first.

In the last two or three days, the higher-ups probably figured Kang De had been annoyed by the scientists' questions, and the scientists had learned enough to digest and prove their points for a while. Now it's the turn of the troublemakers.

Kang De paused for a moment, then suddenly realized, "That Su Zhuangzhuang?"

When he first arrived at Diaoyutai, his comrades from the military who came to visit him brought with them several extraordinary individuals who had the most typical problems and the most serious ideological decline.

Su Zhuangzhuang, who has a smug, materialistic look and is indulging in pleasure; Li Xiaojie, who is materialistic, extravagant, and a fanatical fan of celebrities; and Song Xuejun, a middle-aged man with a smiling bracelet.

Besides these, there were three handsome People's Liberation Army comrades, but the female comrade seemed rather fierce, the officer named Chai Ming's eyes didn't seem very calm and reliable, and the comrade named Lu Zhengxuan looked the most dignified and resolute, but judging from Senior Colonel Tian's expression, he was most worried about this one...

"I'll keep a close eye on them when I have time."

He thought for a moment and said, "By the way, I already know about Su Zhuangzhuang and Li Xiaojie's problem. What about Comrade Song Xuejun? He seems quite normal."

Senior Colonel Tian shook his head and said, "Him... he does seem quite normal, but, how should I put it, this comrade often expresses unfounded prejudice and hatred towards the country in private and on social media, believes some illogical rumors, and has a fairytale-like yearning and idealization of Western countries..."

"..."

Kang De exclaimed in astonishment, "Eating the state's food and receiving the benefits of superhumans, and then betraying the state?"

Senior Colonel Tian sighed and nodded, "But he hasn't done anything outrageous or broken the law. We can't just execute him because of his dissenting opinions, can we?"

"The organization talked to him, gave him training, and taught him classes. He behaved very well and was very sincere, but while he agreed on the surface, he showed a completely different face behind closed doors..."

... Grass.

Kang De was both amused and annoyed. "This awakening of extraordinary abilities really doesn't discriminate against anyone."

He didn't notice that after hearing those words, Senior Colonel Tian's eyes flickered slightly, as if he wanted to say something, but he forcibly held back.

"I have a general understanding of the specifics."

Kang De considered that he would stay on Earth for a while to wait for the submersible to be in place, and take the opportunity to make arrangements for AWSL Company so that Earth's resources could better support the other world.

Taking some time during this period to deal with these pathetic domestic superhumans is a relaxing and enjoyable experience, since fighting elves, dragons, and Star Palace all day long is quite tiring.

Playing a little bit of "battle" with weaker opponents can be good for your mental and physical well-being.

He asked gently, "What are your specific requirements?"

"..." Senior Colonel Tian said in a subtle tone, "... At least be more upright in your thinking and more normal in your lifestyle? After all, they are valuable talents, and they haven't made any major mistakes..."

Kang De nodded readily. "I understand."

He thought for a moment, then asked, "Are these three comrades burdened with heavy tasks? Are they busy with work?"

Senior Colonel Tian immediately replied, "Not at all. Their main job is to support the research tasks of various research institutes, but as you know, current research resources have been diverted to deciphering the principles of Spiritual Runes. That's the focus right now, so their workload has been greatly reduced..."

Kang De clapped his hands and said, "That's good then. In my opinion, these comrades are blinded by the rich material rewards of the motherland and the dazzling world of the Capital. People can't always be immersed in their comfort zone. They need to open their eyes to the world and go out and explore. As you know, I have my own businesses and careers in Comora and Moyani. I also intend to establish a school for extraordinary individuals in Zhuerban to cultivate outstanding, politically sound, and professionally competent extraordinary talents for all countries. Therefore..."

"Send them to Africa, I'll teach them a lesson."

Senior Colonel Tian exclaimed in surprise, "This..."

Kang De snapped his fingers, "Without further ado, let them set off tonight."

"They might be reluctant... after all, it's so sudden..."

"That's wonderful," Kang De said kindly. "Give me the address, and I'll go and persuade them myself."

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PS1: Today I looked into the United Kingdom pirate tradition, including what they did to us, in ancient times, the past and present, as well as what they did to the world, even to their own country, personally, nationally... I was really angry today. I will incorporate the specific plots into the book. Many of the plots that appear in the following story are based on real events, which I will point out at the end of the chapter.