Chapter 710 - Messy Situation
Ayesha called Jiang Chen back to the modern world through the Fourth Dimensional Messenger on the EP.
He never thought that after being only gone for a while, the world would change dramatically.
First was news from Ghost Agents in Nippon.
There was a T virus outbreak in Yoto, the entire Shinagawa area was quarantined, and more than 100,000 people were infected. The Defense Forces sent in 5,000 combat units to Yoto. At the same time, the UA troops stationed in Nippon also dispatched five Osprey helicopters, dropped a company of Marines, and went to Shinagawa to carry out rescue activities.
It was also in this incident that Tanaka’s face appeared on a big screen in Ginza, marking his first public appearance.
“Good afternoon, my name is Tanaka.”
“You may not be familiar with my name, but it doesn’t matter. You must’ve heard of the virus I developed.”
“You don’t have to try to understand the motives behind my action. If you really want to get to the bottom, it’s probably war.”
“Yes, this is war.”
“Human civilization will usher the dawn without hypocrisy and sin. Look forward to the day Kurofune arrives.”
“I wish you the best of luck.”
Although Tanaka called his actions “war,” the world media still categorized the attack as an “act of terrorism” and referred to it as the Asian version of the September 11 incident. The Defense Force and the UA military in Nippon took control of the situation immediately. They used barbed wire to create a quarantine zone and evacuated survivors from the area.
However, the tens of thousands of casualties still cast a shadow on the country and the entire world.
Similar incidents had occurred in the past. In March 1995, a certain evil organization in Nippon released sarin gas in the Metro, causing heavy casualties. However, compared to the number of casualties of the T virus leak, the ’95 event was nothing in comparison.
“We express deep sorrow for the crisis that occurred in Nippon. We strongly condemn the use of biological and chemical weapons against unarmed civilians!”
“This is a global disaster. To the nine citizens who died in the virus incident… Our Seals will provide you with an explanation.”
“The Kremlin has issued a national warrant for arrest. If Tanaka or the Kurofune appears in Russia…”
“France…”
“…”
However, on the third day of the T virus incident in Yoto, the town north of Hudur in Somalia attracted the attention of the entire world.
Overnight, 987 villagers and 45 militants all died of unnatural causes.
The cause of death was the T virus!
No, to be precise, it was the improved version of the T virus.
The local military forces dispatched troops to the target village immediately after hearing gunfire and explosions. However, this group apparently underestimated the combat effectiveness of the zombies. They directly drove Toyota pickup trucks with their machine guns and rammed inside.
If they were ordinary zombies, perhaps they could be easily suppressed by more than a dozen guns, but these zombies were mutated.
In particular, this type of zombie, whose muscles were swollen and tumor-like, could directly knock over a pickup from the side, and these militiamen realized their sloppy behavior had struck the hornet’s nest.
The thirty militias who rushed into the village became food. The warlords who controlled the Belvedere area immediately sent a regiment of troops to block the desert north of Hudur and set up checkpoints in the distance. Soldiers were sent to evacuate villagers from the area.
However, they obviously weren’t effective.
Within two days, the zombies spread to neighboring areas and turned villages with populations of at least five thousand into places of the living-dead.
However, the problematic part was that the village viral outbreak was located on the border between Somalia and Ethiopia and was an area with disputed borders. Because of the chaotic political situation in Somalia, the warlords didn’t seek help from the United Nations. They stupidly chose to block the news, which pitted them against neighboring Ethiopia.
It wasn’t until the third day of the incident that Ethiopia received news from a town on its side. “Strange” people were crossing the border from Somalia, and they opened their mouths to bite people…
Fortunately, the Ethiopian military dispatched the forces of a division immediately and even used armored vehicles and tanks to keep the zombies out of their borders.
At the same time, Ethiopia sought help from the United Nations.
It was precisely because of these political tensions that despite the simultaneous outbreak of the T virus in Yoto, the virus incident in Somalia wasn’t known to the world until three days later.
…
New Moon Island, Celestial Trade Military Base. Garrett stood at Jiang Chen’s desk. His face was both embarrassed and anxious. The Ghost Agent who stood next to him, code-named Ghost Bird, originally named Penny, was also considered an experienced agent.
However, the mission took a surprising turn.
“What happened in Somalia? Garrett, you go first.” Jiang Chen’s finger tapped on the table and he didn’t have the most pleasant expression.
“We set up a capture plan, but Tanaka wasn’t in the salt factory… The T virus found in the salt factory was only 11 kilograms,” Garrett said with his back straight.
Jiang Chen looked at Penny.
Penny’s expression was a bit more awkward, because the intelligence was collected by the Ghost Agent, and they had received credible news from their informant. Tanaka had been in the salt factory for several days and there were at least three trucks driving into the village each day. He took the tea leaves smuggled from Ethiopia.
Yet on the day of the mission, Tanaka disappeared?
Also gone were the virus-raising materials and viruses made by Tanaka in the past few days.
“Sorry.”
“Hundreds of kilograms of virus extracts are missing, and there are nearly 100 tons of viral raw materials missing. What do you think I want to hear from you?” Jiang Chen stared into Penny’s eyes and took a deep breath, but he didn’t continue to make things difficult for her.
At the same time, Jiang Chen’s watch vibrated.
He previously told Jean to monitor news on the Internet about the T virus. Now that she was calling him, it was probably regarding this very reason.
“You can go first,” Jiang Chen dismissed the two of them as he took the call.
“Roger!”
Garrett and Penny sighed in relief, looked at each other and turned around.
After the office door was closed, Jiang Chen pressed down on the watch and Jean’s holographic image appeared beside his hand.
“New news.”
“What news?”
“The Belvedere Regional Army refused to execute the request signed by the Somali authorities regarding the UA military’s takeover of the affected area and threatened to withdraw all checkpoints set up outside the infected zone if the UA military forcibly entered the infected area and allowed zombies to proliferate to the entire region of Somalia.”
“Well, that fool is playing with fire then?”
Not everyone had the capital to use the virus as a bargaining chip. The Belvedere regional warlords obviously overestimated their fighting power. After the events in Yoto, they still dared to act so recklessly; it was like they were trying to be the enemy of the whole world!
Jean’s next words confirmed Jiang Chen’s speculations.
“Two hours ago, the United Nations passed a war resolution. Six F-18 Hornets took off from the UA military base in the Gulf of Aden, and they also deployed 12 Osprey transport aircrafts.”