Chapter 207: The Sixth Sense

Du Qiu’s idea was quite simple – his current strength was still insufficient for a complete confrontation with the United States, especially since the Sky Realm project was underway. This project was his main focus.

He had deliberately allowed the other party to blow up one of the industrial parks, which also gave him the opportunity to test out the new assassin and the Shang Dragon.

It can be said that everything was under his control.

As long as the two instigators are eliminated, and with the United States believing him to be dead, he estimates that there will be a period of calm.

With this, he can make the final push to mass-produce metallic hydrogen. Then the Sky Realm project will have a reliable source of energy.

Some powerful weapons will also have an energy guarantee.

For example, electromagnetic railguns that require enormous energy, are not supposed to be like the electromagnetic guns currently being developed by the two major countries, which have a short range, small power, and insufficient duration.

As for particle cannons and laser cannons, they definitely need strong energy supports.

Apart from the development of metallic hydrogen energy, there is also the selection and transportation of the first batch of citizens to the Sky Realm.

These people would need various secretive operations to be transferred to a base located in the Tanga Federation.

Such operations take time, and Du Qiu would certainly not choose such a time to confront the United States.

However, since he had already faced off against the United States, he definitely couldn’t let the U.S. feel comfortable, and the small maneuvers certainly couldn’t stop.

The deaths of the two GIA directors are something the Americans need to deal with, and they would appoint new people whose circumstances are yet to be seen.

In the end, Du Qiu glanced at Clark on the screen one last time and turned away from the matter, leaving the command hall for his laboratory.

In the United States’ Department of Defense command hall, Clark was sharing his suspicions with two generals.

Suddenly, he had the feeling of being watched, and he quickly looked around.

“Director Clark, what’s wrong?”

“I feel as if someone is monitoring us.” Clark said.

Vandiatte laughed and said, “This hall is definitely under surveillance, we are all being watched.”

Vandiatte’s explanation immediately dispelled Clark’s doubts.

His sixth sense often worked intermittently, sometimes proving astonishingly accurate, and sometimes making him do things that provoked laughter.

However, because his sixth sense had helped him avoid two accidents, he tended to trust it.

As time passed and dawn came in the Indian Ocean, the U.S. military dispatched more planes, and the first batch of ships also arrived.

The first batch of ships consisted of two minesweepers and one comprehensive supply ship, under the command of Edward, captain of the supply ship “Wichita.”

Edward had received new orders from headquarters to focus on searching two locations: One was the last known area where the B2 lost contact, and the other was where the nuclear submarine Terala detected the “submarine” disappearing the previous night.

He quickly noticed on the nautical chart that the two locations were not far from each other, about 30 kilometers apart.

Edward calculated that the B2 was likely not shot down when it lost contact, but had flown forward before being hit by a missile and crashed into the sea.

Thus, the position where the plane dropped into the sea might be close to where the “submarine” disappeared.

Even though the headquarters alerted that the area had been marked as a highly dangerous zone and that U.S. naval ships should approach with caution and enhance their search for abnormal sea surface conditions, Edward decided to take the risk. He did not believe that in today’s world, anyone would dare attack U.S. naval ships in broad daylight.

The incident involving the destroyer Graveley had been kept under wraps; only its incident location and the “submarine” disappearance point were treated as high-risk waters.

Edward arranged for a minesweeper to accompany the salvage vessel to the probable area of the B2’s crash, while he himself approached the “submarine” disappearance point with another minesweeper.

As they neared within two kilometers of the area, something indeed happened.

“Captain, we’ve lost contact with headquarters!”

Shocked, Edward immediately ordered the radio officer to contact the other minesweeper, only to find that communication was impossible. They then communicated through flag signals.

Apparently, the minesweeper had also lost contact with headquarters.

Edward picked up his binoculars and searched the calm sea carefully, with the sunlight shining on it and making it glitter.

“Order the fleet to pass through this high-risk area at maximum speed! Mark the position where we lost communication on the sea chart.”

“Yes, sir.”

They immediately informed the following minesweeper via flag signals and sailed at the highest speed of 25 knots. After two hours of straight-line sailing, they finally regained electromagnetic signals.

When their information was reported to headquarters, that area was promptly marked on the sea chart as an electromagnetic signal shielding zone.

Soon, more U.S. naval ships would arrive to completely map out this electromagnetic signal shielding area.

New communication experts had arrived in the command hall at the Department of Defense. Clark, seeing the bustling hall, knew that he would not be needed for the time being.

After two consecutive nights without sleep, the strain was taking a toll on his body.

“General, the situation seems to have stabilized for now. I need to go back and get some rest,” Clark told General Vandiatte.

“Be careful when driving,” Vandiatte said, looking at Clark’s tired face and reminding him.

Everyone felt somewhat depressed about the car accident involving Director Sandy the previous evening.

“Don’t worry, I’m an experienced driver.”

Clark drove away from the Department of Defense building, heading back to his residence.

After returning to the country and working for the GIA in the capital, he rented an apartment.

Clark’s own home was in New Castle City; his son and family also lived in New Castle City. That’s why, during the recent visit by the “Iron Curtain” delegation from Tang Country, he took the opportunity to take his granddaughter to the amusement park.

It was early morning, and the roads were not busy.

As Clark drove, as he was about to cross an intersection, he suddenly experienced an inexplicable sense of panic.

This was the highest alert of his sixth sense, the same feeling that had saved him from death on two previous occasions.

Without hesitation, Clark slammed on the brakes and swiftly shifted into reverse, hitting the gas to rapidly back up the car.

Just as Clark’s car left that spot, a sedan charged sideways and crashed into a nearby curb, then rolled several times before coming to a stop.

Clark’s heart pounded rapidly; had he not quickly backed away, the car would surely have crashed near his driver’s seat.

Given the speed of that car, it was highly likely he would have been instantly killed.

Clark hadn’t realized that his car was still reversing and, in a momentary lapse, kept his foot pressed on the gas pedal.

Then, that panicky sixth sense suddenly triggered again!

Startled, Clark only then noticed he was rapidly reversing!

He quickly eased off the gas, pressed the brake, switched from reverse to drive, and stepped on the gas again.

This time, it was a bit too late.

A blaring horn sounded.

Unbeknownst to him, a large truck had approached from behind and was now accelerating towards Clark’s car.

Clark was too slow; his car had barely stopped from reversing and had not yet regained speed when it was hit directly by the large truck!

The car was knocked sideways by the truck and then hit a roadside lamp post.

The lamp post came down with a crash, landing on the car and deforming it severely.

The violent impact caused all the airbags to deploy and Clark got stuck in the twisted car, completely unable to move.

Gasping for breath, Clark hoped for passersby to come to his rescue.

He had not anticipated that his sixth sense would trigger twice so rapidly; regrettably, the second time it occurred, there was too little time to complete all the necessary actions.

Fortunately, he had stopped the vehicle; otherwise, if he had continued reversing at high speed and collided head-on with the accelerating truck, the impact force would likely have caused serious injury, if not death.

But just as Clark breathed a sigh of relief, that alarming sixth sense flared up once again!

Damn, what would happen this time?

In the next second, he knew.

A burnt smell wafted over, mingled with the scent of gasoline.

The tank had been damaged in the collision, and now something was on fire.

Clark panicked inside; he desperately tried to move his body and pushed at the car door with his one free hand, struggling to crawl out.

Then he saw the flames rise fiercely and rapidly encircle him.

In the moments before his death, Clark again felt as if he were being watched.

Concentrating, he finally noticed the source of the feeling; it was a small beetle on the windshield.

When the flames engulfed him, Clark suddenly understood.

The beetle took flight, circling the burning sedan until passersby arrived and extinguished the fire with fire extinguishers.

However, by then, Clark had become a charred corpse.