A Strange Request

"Mr. Segawa, if the Amaterasu team did whatever it took, how long could they delay the release of this information?"

Kurogane Taimei's question came rather abruptly, and Segawa Takeshi was momentarily dazed again.

But as the highest-ranking official in the Neon intelligence community, Segawa Takeshi was far sharper than most.

It didn't take long for a glimmer of understanding to appear in his eyes.

"Chief Cabinet Secretary, are you suggesting that..."

Kurogane Taimei nodded readily, confirming it.

"That's right. If the Amaterasu team can buy us some time, we might have a chance to grab a few pieces of the pie from the Chinese."

"After all, they don't know yet that Across the sea has discovered the information about the Bear's nuclear missile launch sites. If we can quickly reach some kind of trade agreement with them, I don't think making a 20% profit would be a problem."

"Of course, this is only my idea. Whether it's feasible depends on how long the Amaterasu team can delay things."

With that,

Kurogane Taimei looked at Segawa Takeshi expectantly.

It had probably been a few months ago.

Huaxia had imported a batch of crude oil through several channels. Since the deal involved an interest-free loan from Neon, Kurogane Taimei had learned about it as well.

Huaxia had only struck its first oil well in Karamay seven years earlier. The Songji No. 3 Well in Daqing had only begun producing oil three years ago. Although Huaxia now had Daqing, a world-class oil field, it was still in the relatively early stages of exploration and development.

According to estimates from various parties,

Huaxia probably wouldn't be capable of officially extracting oil from Daqing until the end of next year. Until then, it would need to import most of its oil.

At present, Huaxia's dependence