Chapter 177: Combat Robot

At the United States GIA headquarters.

“Imanka, you have let me down.”

After reading the report, the smile on the face of Clark, the director of the Tang Country affairs bureau, had vanished.

Imanka defended, “I know the outcome is less than ideal, but Lagia’s residence just happened to encounter a wildfire. As you know, there have been too many wildfires lately, and there’s nothing we can do.”

Indeed, on Blue Star, no one knew what was happening in recent years. The Amazon rainforest burned, Australia burned, and every year in the United States, several massive wildfires were inevitable.

Lagia’s residence, which was in a secluded location near a wooded area, was suddenly engulfed by a wildfire that burned everything to the ground.

Along with Lagia’s residence, many nearby homes were destroyed by the spreading fire.

“What disappoints me is that your people arrived at Lagia’s residence two days too late, and your people in Israel are investigating the attacks themselves,” the director continued.

“Director, Masad in Israel refused to tell us about some of the operations being carried out by their head in East Africa, Shaban, which is why this happened,” Imanka explained gloomily.

“That’s exactly my disappointment. As the head of the investigation team, aren’t you supposed to find intelligence from other sources? Without Masad’s information, couldn’t you check with our own African affairs section?”

Clark’s tone became stricter as he gave Imanka a sharp look from behind his reading glasses.

Imanka immediately bowed her head and said, “I’m sorry, director, I really didn’t consider it thoroughly.”

Clark saw Imanka admit her error and his expression softened. “As an intelligence officer, the most important qualities are attentiveness and thorough thinking. You must verify and compare information from multiple angles for any situation. Only then will the answers emerge on their own. And only by doing so can you avoid being misled by information from one source and arriving at the wrong conclusion.”

“Yes, director, I understand,” Imanka replied.

“I’ll give you another week to see if there are any areas you haven’t investigated before. Complete the related materials.”

“Okay, I’ll get right on it.”

As Imanka turned to leave, Clark suddenly asked, “Was Du Qiu once your ex-boyfriend?”

Imanka’s footsteps halted, and her heart quivered.

Recently, Dream Technology had suddenly overturned the IT industry in the United States, and the whole nation was discussing and criticizing Dream Technology.

As its founder, Du Qiu was naturally singled out and berated once more.

After all, Du Qiu was burdened with multiple crimes pressed onto him by the United States, and the American public had given him a nickname: “The Terrifying Tycoon”!

The term “terrifying” had a dual meaning: it implied Du Qiu was a terrorist in the eyes of the United States and also that his earning speed was frightening.

Turning around, Imanka said calmly, “That’s something from many years ago. There are no longer any feelings between us.”

Clark smiled and said, “Is that so? Then why did you call him when Lagia was pursuing him?”

Imanka quickly explained, “At that time, I did not know Lagia was taking action. He had completely kept it from me. I merely saw news of Du Qiu coming to the United States and called him as a friend. I’ve already filed an explanatory report about this afterward.”

“Does Du Qiu still have feelings for you?” asked Clark.

Imanka shook her head. “No, I’ve been to Magic City and met him. He showed no interest in me whatsoever.”

Clark looked at Imanka, fell silent for a bit, and then suddenly said, “You must still have feelings for him. Didn’t you help him get in touch with Alf Corporation to sell the environmentally-friendly waste disposal equipment produced by Dream Technology?”

Clark tapped his forehead, feigning a sudden recollection, “Just the intermediary fee alone earned you three million US dollars. That was a profitable deal.”

Imanka hurriedly defended, “Director, when I was undercover at Natural Force, I had good relations with these environmental equipment companies. I saw the excellent effect of the waste disposal equipment Du Qiu’s company produced, so I took the opportunity to make this deal. I swear, it was just business, and I truly have no feelings for him anymore.”

Clark stared at Imanka and said slowly, “Actually, I would be pleased if you did have feelings for him because then you might be a suitable bait.”

“Ah, director, are you going to pursue Du Qiu?”

“Each crime that we in the United States have attributed to Du Qiu warrants an action by the GIA. Do you know why I stopped the pursuit actions before?”

Imanka shook her head.

Clark looked at Imanka. “Start thinking and then give me an answer.”

Imanka was taken aback, then began pondering deeply. After some time, she ventured, “For one, you had just taken office at the time and needed to stabilize the situation within the bureau. Secondly, the director believed that intelligence on the overall situation of Tang Country was more important and required concentration of efforts to face it.”

Clark smiled and said, “Hmm, you still have some cleverness in you. Now, tell me why I want to pursue him again.”

“Because Dream Technology poses a threat to our national IT industry, Du Qiu has become a part of the Tang Country’s overall situation.”

Clark clapped his hands gently as a warm smile spread across his face.

“Well taught!”

Clark then requested that Imanka’s investigation team include the mission to capture Du Qiu, and to reassess his whereabouts.

Imanka internally struggled but calmly accepted the order.

After Imanka left Clark’s office, Clark coughed twice.

A person emerged from the resting room behind him.

“Director, do you trust Imanka to capture Du Qiu?”

“Stark, have your team continue its existing work and keep a close watch on Imanka. I believe she will lead you to Du Qiu.”

The man who walked to the front of Clark was Stark, the squad leader who had originally pursued Du Qiu in Las Vegas.

“Director, as always, you are astute!” Stark praised first, then said, “But I think I can capture him on my own this time. Tang Country has a saying, ‘The net of heaven has large meshes, but it lets nothing through.’ Imanka probably can’t imagine that Lagia set the intelligence to automatically send to me.”

“Don’t be complacent, since Du Qiu has changed his face and identity, he must be highly cautious. Don’t let your people act yet. Let Imanka stir up the situation first.”

“Yes, director, we’ll execute everything according to your plan.”

On this day, Yu Donghua, the CEO of Wisdom Technology, and Liu Yaofeng of Dream Technology arrived together at a military base in Magic City.

They had received a notification that someone from the military wanted to meet with them.

As a subsidiary of Dream Technology, Xingguang Precision had military production tasks and naturally, there was a military representative arranged by the military.

The two were guided by this military representative to the base.

Liu Yaofeng was the most excited, bombarding the military representative with questions, “Representative Li, who wants to meet us this time? Can you give us a hint?”

Representative Li was a solemn soldier. He said seriously, “When you meet the commander, you’ll naturally know.”

Liu Yaofeng wanted to inquire further, but Yu Donghua held him back saying, “Liu Yaofeng, be quiet. Don’t make it difficult for Representative Li.”

Upon arriving at the base and being led to a meeting room, soon after, they heard footsteps.

They both stood up at once and saw a middle-aged military officer with three gold stars on his shoulder epaulets walk in through the door.

Liu Yaofeng was startled; this man was indeed a high-ranking officer.

“Don’t be formal, gentlemen. Have a seat, please!” the commander greeted them, followed by several military attendants, all of whom held at least the rank of colonel.

Liu Yaofeng’s palms began to sweat. He had not anticipated such a high-level meeting.

Although he had met with high-ranking officials in the past year as the president of Dream Technology, he had never interacted with senior military officers.

He sneakily glanced at Yu Donghua and noticed that he was nervously rubbing his plump hands on his trousers.

After everyone was seated, the commander introduced himself, “My surname is Fang, just call me Minister Fang.

Today I’ve taken the liberty to have you two come here, and I apologize for any inconvenience.”

Yu Donghua quickly responded, “Minister Fang, you are being too courteous. If I may ask… why have you invited us here?”

Minister Fang glanced at a military person beside him and said, “Director Ding, please brief them on the situation.”

Director Ding, wearing a pair of black glasses with a dark complexion, gave off an aura somewhat reminiscent of Judge Bao.

“Just give me a moment to set up the projector, and I’ll show you a video,” said Director Ding.

He was quick in action, powering up the hefty military-grade laptop and starting a video projection.

The two held their breath as the video displayed a mountainous area, and a small convoy composed of three vehicles, including two Humvee military trucks and one large military truck covered in canvas, was traveling along a mountain road.

Clearly, it was an American military convoy, and it looked like they were in the Persia mountains.

The sudden outbreak of combat confirmed their guess, as many Persian soldiers emerged from both sides of the road and launched an attack on the small convoy.

Given the power balance, the likelihood of this small convoy being annihilated was almost certain.

Even if the middle truck was filled with American soldiers, there were only a few dozen of them at best, and the people in the two Humvees at the front and rear pushed their numbers to just under a hundred.

The Persian soldiers, however, easily numbered close to two hundred by a rough count. They had eight mortars and shoulder-fired rocket launchers among other heavy weapons.

Of course, if the American troops called for air support, they might be able to hold on, but that depended on when the air support would arrive.

The Persian soldiers’ attack was ferocious; the precision mortar strikes were devastating. Just two rounds of firing had set the truck ablaze, and the lead Humvee was hit directly by artillery and burst into flames.

When Liu and Yu thought that the fight would soon be over, a towering figure suddenly burst out from the fire in the middle military truck.