"Rewind the footage!"
Inside the underground conference room at the Pentagon, the footage on the large screen immediately played back.
Dozens of antiaircraft missiles hovered in front of Lucian.
The next second, the missiles reversed course together, and flames engulfed the air defense positions. Countless pieces of metal rose into the sky, spinning at high speed amid lightning, before finally forming a tornado hundreds of meters tall that swept straight through the center of the air base.
Communications towers, fortifications, tanks, underground bunkers.
All gone.
When the footage reached the major general holding up a megaphone to surrender, the muscles in the secretary of the Army's face twitched twice.
That was no ordinary military installation.
That was America's Air Force Joint Base!
"Stop."
The image froze at the moment Lucian raised his hand and pressed the metal tornado down.
Secretary of the Army Hawk turned toward the videoconference screen.
"Mr. President, please order a nuclear strike immediately."
Several people around the conference table looked at him at once.
He tugged at his tie, his palm still pressed against the tabletop.
"That area has already been completely destroyed. Send up bombers carrying tactical nuclear weapons, or use intercontinental missiles directly."
"We cannot let him live. He's trampling our military! He's grinding America's face into the dirt!"
He had to die. If a Supe-and a Chinese American at that-could single-handedly flatten a United States military base and still walk away unscathed, the Pentagon's authority would become a complete joke. Who would approve their military funding after that? Who would still respect this uniform?
"Is your head full of dog shit?" the secretary of the Navy sneered from across the table.
Hawk whipped his head around. "What did you say?"
"Launch nuclear weapons?"
The secretary of the Navy tossed the documents in his