CHAPTER 318: CHAPTER 9: TRACING THE SOURCE 2

This top-secret project has already brought incalculable catastrophic consequences to the whole world, and the subsequent harm is still expanding.

What to do?

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Half a month passed since the fire and explosion incident on the ’Ford’ aircraft carrier, and the United States media began to downplay it.

The disguised ’Harden’, Zhou Qingfeng, still hasn’t made a public appearance, silently returning to his office in the Ministry of Efficiency located in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, like a ghost.

Considering the violent reaction that might arise from executing the admiral, he prepared for a battle without smoke.

Betrayal of subordinates, allies turning against him, carefully set traps by law enforcement, even cold handcuffs and arrest warrants.

Yet, the return of ’Harden’ caused no stir, ignored by everyone.

The reason was simple and poignant: the bureaucratic system in Washington D.C. is experiencing a silent absenteeism of staff.

The Beta variant of the ’X Virus’ is like a chronic poison, ruthlessly torturing the unprotected population.

Once a civil servant falls ill, even if it’s a mild symptom, his colleagues would swiftly flee like avoiding plague, leaving the office vacant.

Healthcare workers bear the brunt, and their departure further exacerbates the collapse of the medical system, triggering a domino effect of mass personnel loss.

The Ministry of Efficiency was already short-handed, and after this wave of absenteeism, the office became increasingly empty, with the few remaining people appearing fatigued and bewildered.

Many employees simply chose to resign and then vanished completely.

Zhou Qingfeng stood silently in front of the massive floor-to-ceiling window of the office, gazing vacantly at the once-again desolate city roads outside.

The bustling streets now appeared exceptionally lonely, like a giant toy model that lost its vitality.

His prospective father-in-law Jeff Connally walked into the office like an agitated caged beast, muttering complaints: "I just went to the fourth and fifth floors, more than a third of the office doors are tightly shut. That’s too abnormal!"

The Eisenhower Executive Office Building, where the Ministry of Efficiency is located, is a magnificent granite structure dating back to the 19th century, standing grandly beside the White House, housing over five hundred offices.

Critical government departments such as the White House Office and the National Security Council operate here. However, because of widespread absenteeism, many departments have fallen into a half-paralyzed or completely stagnant state.

"I was just appointed as a senior advisor to the Ministry of Government Efficiency, and before I even started giving orders, the entire bureaucratic system seems about to collapse. Vic... Harden, where’s your secretary? Also missing?"

Jeff’s tone was filled with displeasure.

After finally squeezing into the core of power in the United States, he hadn’t had the chance to exert his authority, but the bureaucratic system was already on the verge of collapse, making him feel like his efforts were wasted.

Zhou Qingfeng shrugged, "Shanni is still receiving treatment in the hospital, and the temporary secretary I found has also taken leave. Even the key members beside me haven’t come to work; several are genuinely sick."

Currently, the most active ones around him are the ’Gray Shark’ and Xiao Jinlang, who are recklessly using the Ministry of Efficiency’s access to connect to the government database, greedily spying on various highly confidential sensitive information.

As for the massive absenteeism of bureaucrats and civil servants, it seems not to cause too much actual impact for now.

There are too many redundant personnel in the long-fat bureaucratic institutions, at worst, personnel could be transferred from non-core departments to fill the vacancies, making administrative efficiency rise instead of fall.

Jeff frowned and walked towards the corner liquor cabinet of the office, discovering dejectedly that it was empty, except for a few solitary bottles of mineral water.

"Victor, your non-drinking habit really dampens the mood! In those important social occasions, you’ll have no friends!"

Zhou Qingfeng chuckled: "Quite the opposite. When I clearly state that I don’t drink, I often am met with enthusiastic praise.

Everyone seems to find a kindred spirit, professing that drinking is of no benefit and making solemn vows to start quitting alcohol themselves."

"True enough, you’re already a big shot, you ought to be flattered by people." Jeff cautiously looked around, ensuring no one else was in the office, lowered his voice and asked:

"Victor, are you certain the business relations are totally smoothed out? The import ban on ’Electric Flight’ is really lifted?"

Zhou Qingfeng nodded, calmly and confidently replied: "The obstacles from the Department of Justice have also been removed, my arrest warrant has been revoked, and the bank accounts have resumed normal use."

"Wow!" Jeff sighed longingly, his shrewd eyes fixed on Zhou Qingfeng, as if he needed to re-evaluate this young man.

He prided himself on his courage, known for being ruthless in the investment field. However, since meeting this young man, he realized what true audacity really means.

"So, next you can freely use that hundreds of billions of US Dollars in funds..."

Zhou Qingfeng interrupted: "It’s meaningless. When money reaches a certain amount, it’s just a number. Especially now, the pandemic hasn’t ended..."

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As soon as the topic of ’pandemic’ arose, the phone on the office desk rang, it was a call from the White House’s Chief of Staff, "Harden, the Vice President is looking for you, come to the Oval Office."

Jeff loved the feeling of approaching the center of power, seeing Zhou Qingfeng hanging up the phone with a tense face, eagerly asked: "What’s happened?"

"Vice President is looking for me, don’t know why?" Zhou Qingfeng got up and headed out, taking a car to the nearby White House.

The Chief of Staff personally came out to meet him, surprisingly discovered this ’senior official’ was all alone, "Harden, where’s your assistant?"

"Sick, no one to replace at the moment." Zhou Qingfeng replied.

The Chief of Staff ’oh’ed, whispered: "Yes, things have been terrible lately, many positions see absenteeism. There’s quite a few sick staff here at the White House, including the Vice President himself..."

Zhou Qingfeng looked surprisingly at the Chief of Staff, thinking: "Vice President is sick, when did this happen?" Then reconsidered, "No, probably the Vice President recovered before notifying me."

Entering the Oval Office, the countryman Vice President indeed had a weary look of fatigue, obviously had been sick for a few days, only recently improved condition to meet confidantes once more.

In terms of this pattern of knowing, ’Harden’ belonged to the less trusted yet must be relied upon batch among the Vice President’s confidantes.

Previously, the original strain of ’X Virus’ didn’t do much to most people within the White House, the greatest achievement being knocking out the President, haven’t seen him since.

As the original strain evolved into the ’Beta’ form, vaccines became useless, the number it knocked down rose exponentially, even the Vice President was affected.

"Harden, how’s your health?" The countryman asked weakly.

"Not bad, still pretty good." Zhou Qingfeng belongs to the virus coexistence immune-boosted group, "But several around me have fallen."

"Even more fallen on my side." The countryman lacked the energy for lengthy pleasantries, directly pushed forward the material he had, "We must end this terrible situation, otherwise the country will be doomed."

Zhou Qingfeng stepped forward, picked up the document from the desk, discovered it was a simple dossier of a man in military uniform. He casually flipped through a few pages, immediately noticed the familiar "X" project logo in the upper right corner.

The countryman angrily said: "Wayne Herbert, Major General of the Army, expert in health and epidemic prevention. This guy has a virus research project, constantly claiming it’s safe.

But obviously, this guy botched it, things already escalated to the point of threatening national security. We must stop him."

Zhou Qingfeng quickly finished flipping through the dossier, asked: "Where’s this person currently?"

"No idea, the Department of Defense claims they are arresting him, to bring him to a military tribunal. FBI is also investigating him, but currently, not only can’t catch him, even don’t know where his team members are. Someone is definitely covering for him."

Only when himself unlucky, does one know the bitterness.

Speaking of the initiator, the countryman slammed the desk a few times, showing immense anger and resentment.

Zhou Qingfeng put away the dossier, asked: "Do you want me to investigate this person?"

"Yes." The countryman solemnly replied, "I do not trust the military’s investigation department, nor have much faith in the FBI.

Harden, I hope you also participate in the investigation, find this person as soon as possible, and end the pandemic quickly."

Zhou Qingfeng simply ’hmm’ed, his eyes again glanced at the dossier in his hand, inwardly lowly growled: "Old bastard, so your name is Wayne Herbert, finally you crashed into my hands."