White House.
President's Office.
Ever since FBI Director Mueller went in, the presidential aide seated outside the office could occasionally hear a man behind the door flying into a rage.
"What the hell are you idiots even good for?!"
Standing before the president, Director Mueller held his breath and nervously admitted his mistake. "This was our failure... We expected those people to make a move, but we didn't expect them to act so quickly."
While seeing the people of Hua Nation suffer losses was certainly gratifying, the White House absolutely did not want something like this to happen at such a critical moment.
Negotiations over the International Lunar Hadron Collider were still ongoing. They had gone to great lengths to use diplomatic means to win over a group of allies, intending to pressure Hua Nation over the Budget Committee and secure greater powers beyond budget approval for the national committees responsible for reviewing the budget.
Yet now, their entire plan had been thrown into disarray.
Because news of the cyberattack had broken, not only had their allies cast astonished looks their way, but many wavering neutral nations had also begun to doubt whether the Americans genuinely wanted to participate in this international project.
Perhaps the Americans merely wanted to stir up trouble at the conference? Perhaps they had never come with any intention of cooperating?
Anyone would have such doubts.
After all, Hua Nation was a challenger to America's dominance in space, and relations between the two sides had never been particularly harmonious...
Just then, the phone on the desk rang.
The president took a deep breath, walked over, glanced at the caller ID, and directly turned on the speakerphone.
As soon as the call connected, Director Carson's voice came through.
"It's me."
"I know it's you. Get to the