Thomas remained silent for a long time on the other end of the phone.
"I would like to have an interview with you. I can come over."
Elder Zhou readily agreed and even asked Thomas when he planned to come.
After another moment of silence, he said, "I'll be there as soon as possible, probably very soon."
Please wait a moment.
After saying his last sentence, Thomas hung up the phone, watched the translator leave, and then looked at Carl beside him.
Carl overheard his conversation with Elder Zhou.
The middle-aged fat man was currently in a state of mental blankness; the overwhelming amount of information had completely confused him.
After a while, he asked Thomas, "Do we really want to join each other's plans?"
Thomas, deep in thought, said firmly, "If the intelligence is true, then we must join."
" Carl, arrange it immediately. Add another visit to my itinerary, the sooner the better, preferably tomorrow."
Carl immediately went to prepare, and just as he was about to leave, he was suddenly called back.
Thomas, standing behind him, hesitated and said, "You're responsible for keeping the contents of that phone call confidential, is that alright?"
"Including the purpose of my visit."
Carl paused, then nodded emphatically.
Soon, Carl returned to Thomas's office with the itinerary.
He has already made the arrangements.
We'll depart tomorrow during the day, and the meeting can begin immediately upon arrival.
Thomas, who was listening to the military report, smiled and thanked him.
Then they continued to receive military intelligence reports from the east and west coasts.
After nearly two hours of terrifying ordeal, the unidentified warplanes have now all withdrawn, and the danger in their country has been temporarily alleviated.
However, this does not mean the weather will clear up and the rain will stop.
Subsequent reconnaissance aircraft discovered a total of five blatant and undisguised fleets near the east and west coasts.
The fighter jets are gone, but the fleet remains.
What's even more frightening is that these fleets, like those fighter jets, can change positions at any time, and they can appear and disappear on the ocean from time to time.
A fleet that was originally in the Pacific Ocean might appear in the Atlantic Ocean an hour later...
Thomas could sense the general's unease as he listened to his report.
This is truly terrifying.
Alright.
Faced with an opponent who can teleport everyone, no matter how much they struggle, they can only be unilaterally defeated.
"Maintain a state of alert. This matter will be resolved soon. Also, do not provoke those fleets."
Despite knowing the origins of these fleets and aircraft, Thomas dared not let his troops lower their guard.
After hanging up the report call, the secretary sent in several more call requests.
Thomas looked and saw that they were all from his " Ark Alliance ".
Despite his headache, he still had to answer those calls.
Sure enough, the moment he answered the first phone call, the other end subtly inquired about his itinerary for tomorrow's visit.
Thomas knew it.
He suddenly added a visit to his schedule at this critical juncture, specifically a meeting with Zhou Jianhai, and he even took the initiative to go there himself...
With all these layers piled up, it makes one worry whether he's about to give in to Zhou Jianhai.
Some even asked directly whether the fighter jets surrounding them today were sent by Zhou Jianhai's side...
Thomas's attitude was no longer as humble as before when faced with questions from these allies; his answers were all the same: [The rest of the text is incomplete and likely refers to a specific type of question or response.]
"I know you're all very curious, but there are many things I don't know right now. I'll talk to you about them after my visit is over..."
After quickly dealing with the situation, Thomas thought he could finally rest, but then he received a new report—
Numerous videos have surfaced online showing unidentified warplanes using "black holes" to travel through time and space.
Thomas clutched his head, clearly suffering from a severe headache.
He randomly found a video and discovered that it was all filmed at sea, and the people filming were mostly people who went on sea vacations.
The video content consisted entirely of the Mutual Aid Society jets suddenly disappearing through a "black hole".
These videos have caused an uproar online.
Some say it's an alien invasion, some say it's a mirage, some say it's special effects, and others say it's an optical stealth fighter...
Even though no one guessed correctly, we can't let these videos continue to have such an impact.
Who knows what unexpected things might happen if other Ark Alliance notice?
Carl proposed a solution:
"We can quickly produce some similar videos, but with poor special effects, and release them in large quantities online."
The water was stirred up.
As long as they put a large number of obviously fake special effects videos online and suppress the traffic of these real videos, they can immediately change people's perceptions.
Thomas waved his hand, signaling Carl to hurry up and do it.
All he's focused on right now is tomorrow's meeting with Zhou Jianhai and the Mutual Aid Society.
Then, until midnight, Thomas continued to receive calls from various factions within his country.
Without exception, their purpose was to understand the reason for his sudden increase in visits.
Thomas brushed off all of these people.
He didn't want to talk about it, and no one else could really keep him in the country. Plus, with his deputy Carl providing cover, Thomas boarded his private jet the next day, seemingly discreetly but in reality under the spotlight.
Thomas arrived in the country in the morning.
In the dead of winter in February, Thomas, dressed smartly, stepped off the plane amidst the light snowfall.
This time, there were no flowers or many people to greet him. After a brief meeting with his embassy staff, he quietly got into the car that had come to pick him up, accompanied by his translator and bodyguards.
At Zhang Tianyuan's residence.
Elder Zhou and the others had arrived ahead of time and were chatting with Zhang Tianyuan about the arrangements after Thomas joined the Mutual Aid Society.
The conversation between the two sides continued until Thomas walked in through the door with his small team.
Welcome, welcome!
Elder Zhou stepped forward to shake hands and greet him.
Zhang Tianyuan also rose from his chair, politely sizing up this future leader who would prove to be competent.
Thomas was also secretly watching Zhang Tianyuan.
Although I don't know the details, the person sitting in the main seat in this room can only be one other than myself.
"Hello!"
Thomas came over to shake hands, clearly having practiced beforehand, and greeted him in standard Chinese.
It's just that he used a bit too much force, like a Japanese soldier.
Zhang Tianyuan responded politely, and then casually gestured for everyone to sit down.
Only then did Elder Zhou begin to introduce the identities of the three parties.
When Thomas heard that Zhang Tianyuan's identity was indeed as he had thought—a key figure in the Mutual Aid Society, and even its president— Thomas sighed inwardly.
Although he had guessed since yesterday that the leader of this Mutual Aid Society was most likely of the same nationality as Zhou Jianhai and his group.
But even after it was confirmed, I still couldn't help feeling disappointed...
ノ②З