"Our fleet has been driven back again..."
"Send more men! Deploy the fishing boats too! Those three islands are too strategically important—we can't possibly give them up!"
"We can't get up there, not at all." Someone said hoarsely, "Their warships are circling the islands, coast guard vessels have sealed off the shoreline, and nearby fishing boats rushed over after hearing the news. The islands have already been surrounded so tightly that not even water could leak through."
"Then go to war!"
"They've already activated their fire-control radar. If we dare fire the first shot, they definitely won't show mercy."
"...How dare they?"
Inside a secret command center, civilian and military officials sat together, watching the PPT slides changing across the big screen. Some were anxious, some furious, some grave, some terrified, but above all, their faces were filled with boundless shock.
Someone rapped on the table. "Can you figure out what the key issue is?"
"The key issue isn't whether those three islands have been occupied by us or by them. The key issue is how those three islands appeared overnight!"
"And one of those three islands resembles an eight-sided Han sword unique to the North, one resembles the Taiji diagram of a native Northern sect, and the other resembles the Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox from Northern mythology. Don't you think that's far too much of a coincidence?"
"Think about the information Lighthouse Country revealed to us. Think about the North's Red Chess River Project!"
The group, on the verge of madness, could not help looking at one another. At last, someone calmed down. "No way... could it be..."
"Report!"
Just then, the confidential secretary burst urgently into the conference room, handed a USB drive to the meeting chair, and said, "Latest news: there are more than just the three islands