CHAPTER 484: CHAPTER 482: DON’T BE NERVOUS, I’M JUST TAKING BACK MY OWN THINGS_1

In the conference room of Air Force One, cool lighting shone on the table. Nett, in a suit and tie, was discussing with the Secretary of State and staff how to force Braulio to return to New York.

Accomplishing this was no easy task, especially since Braulio was at the helm of Bloomberg News and resided in that redneck stronghold in Florida. Braulio gave Nett the feeling of a hedgehog’s back, seemingly prickly no matter where one started.

After much thought, he decided to launch a criminal investigation against the senior management of Bloomberg News, arresting them under the guise of an investigation to coerce Braulio into showing up. Alternatively, he could target Braulio’s family. His son had a notorious past: DUI, hit-and-run, drug abuse, and was suspected of making improper advances on an elderly person over sixty. These were not charges Nett had fabricated; they were recorded by the Federal Bureau of Investigation concerning Braulio’s second son. Even against Braulio himself, some legal charges could be brought.

Nett and the others were discussing how to set the trap when he suddenly put down his pen and turned to walk elsewhere. The Secretary of State and the staff were not surprised by this but signaled a staff member to follow and watch over him to prevent the president from accidentally falling and drowning in the bathroom.

"Let’s do it this way."

Even without Nett present, the Secretary of State finalized the plan.

DING-A-LING, the phone on the table rang.

Considering Nett’s current state, the Secretary of State picked up the phone directly and said, "Hello."

The person on the other end didn’t find it strange that it wasn’t the president who answered. The President answering four out of ten calls to Air Force One was already a good probability. The other six times, someone else answered. It could be said that in allowing his subordinates free rein, Nett was more tolerant than any previous president. He wouldn’t even notice if a staff member skipped work for a few days.

"Mr. Secretary of State, we’ve just intercepted a call from Florida, originating from Braulio’s estate. It said that Shadow Soldiers with red eyes dragged Braulio and a group of bodyguards into the shadows on the ground. Since then, Braulio has not emerged, and it’s been about half an hour."

"Is that so?"

The Secretary of State’s expression grew serious. They were just preparing to coerce Braulio back to New York.

Yet, he had already been kidnapped by people from a Different World at his Florida estate. How did those people find out Braulio’s location?

If one were to search online, Braulio’s Florida estate shouldn’t be among the publicly listed properties.

An insider? Or was it through some special means?

Between these two conclusions, he was more inclined to believe an insider had revealed Braulio’s whereabouts.

If it were the latter, then an online search wouldn’t have been necessary, which also indicated that these Shadow Soldiers truly belonged to a clearly stratified race or nation.

This was a very serious situation. Unlike previous incidents involving a single individual, this was a group.

What could their purpose be in taking Braulio? Were they interested in using the media power of Bloomberg News to publicize themselves, or did they want to obtain confidential intelligence about high-level American officials through him?

If that were the case, it would have been more straightforward for them to approach us directly.

The Secretary of State furrowed his brows, unable to grasp the other party’s intentions but clear on what he needed to do.

If the enemy emerged from shadows, then the arrangements on Air Force One must be changed. They needed to make the shadows as faint as possible, aiming for the effect found in large stadiums or even with shadowless lights.

The troops would also need to be equipped with weapons utilizing intense light.

It was unclear if this would be effective, but considering the enemy used shadows, this was the best solution he could devise.

After long deliberation, he exhaled and said, "Keep monitoring."

"Yes." After getting the response, the Secretary of State hung up and, massaging his temples, said, "Don’t think about that anymore. Braulio has been captured. Arrange for the lighting setup on Air Force One to be changed to minimize shadows. In half an hour, we’ll convene to discuss the situation in the Middle East."

At the mention of this issue, the Secretary of State felt another headache. Just when they were seeking stability, some people wanted to take a radical approach and start a war.

The nation founded on the Bible wanted to initiate a war of extermination to forcibly seize the promised land.

However, he wasn’t fond of their idea, as fighting that war would bring no benefit to the United States.

They needed to invest more funds and energy into the Noah’s Ark project; they were already seeking peaceful resolutions for current wars.

Yet, some within the military-industrial complex craved war.

Previously, this craving was based on profit and the desire to balance the books.

The military’s bad debts weren’t a recent problem; they couldn’t be settled without a war.

Now, beyond profit and balancing the books, an intense religious factor had been added.

They wanted to achieve so-called ’redemption’ through an apocalyptic war.

If this were in the era just after the Cold War, he might indeed have chosen to support them and initiate such an apocalyptic war.

At that time, the United States possessed overwhelming power, capable of looking down on everyone else; an apocalyptic war could have been an opportunity.

But times had changed. The United States no longer had the absolute confidence to boast it could defeat any country on Earth. Forcibly starting an apocalyptic war would very likely lead to failure.

The risks were too great—so great that he didn’t want to take them, preferring to stick to the Noah’s Ark project.

So he had to keep the Bible Country in check; he absolutely could not let it stir up trouble in the Middle East.

Thinking about these matters, the Secretary of State felt he didn’t have enough brain cells to cope with all the major international incidents and the issues concerning the Different World.

All sorts of issues jumbled together, occasionally making him feel powerless.

His body was no longer young; he couldn’t face every challenge with boundless energy.

Now, even if he had the fighting spirit and willpower, his body would quickly protest. He had to rely on his young staff for ideas.

What the Secretary of State called ’rest time’ was the time he reserved for himself. He couldn’t continuously immerse himself in one major event after another; he needed brief periods of rest, like having a cup of coffee or some cake and sweets to relax his mind and body.

As the Secretary of State chewed on his cake, his mind involuntarily pondered: What could be the agenda of the first large-scale organization to emerge from the Different World? How large is its scale?

He was deeply concerned that their side wouldn’t be able to resist an invasion launched from the shadows.

He also thought it was necessary to disclose this easily deducible intelligence to other nations.

He pressed his secretary’s bell.

「In Adachi District, Ayase.」

Emerging from the shadows in the villa’s living room, Aozawa didn’t summon any Shadow Soldiers. The shadows at his feet swirled like water carrying fallen leaves, propelling him toward the bedroom.

He picked up his phone to check for messages; there were only messages from Miss and Iroha.

Aozawa opened Miss’s message first: "It’s Monday again~"

After that sentence was a meaningful fox smiley emoticon.

"Indeed," Aozawa replied, and then asked, "Are you reading?"

The moment he sent it, he switched to Iroha’s message.

"Good morning, Aozawa~"

Below was a photo taken in the mirror. In it, Ayatsuki Ayaka gave a thumbs-up with her left hand, pressing against her all-natural, silicone-free chest. The shape was quite invigorating to behold.

Aozawa sighed inwardly.

Through the phone screen, Iroha became exceptionally bold, always managing to send photos that stirred his blood. It wasn’t so easy to get her to do such things face-to-face, unless they were playing the King’s Game. Or riding a roller coaster. He really wanted to ride one again.

A pair of warm little hands flashed through his mind. He quickly replied, "Good morning, Iroha. Thanks to you, I’m full of energy today too. Want to go out and have some fun?"

He put down his phone.

If there was no reply after a while, it meant they were both busy and unavailable.

Aozawa didn’t wait any longer. He assembled dozens of Shadow Soldiers. He wanted to see if, by giving them orders based on information he already knew, the Shadow Soldiers would go straight to the target or if they would need to search for it.

Aozawa commanded, "Retrieve the meteorite that leveled Mount Fuji and bring it back to the Shadow World."

The dozens of Shadow Soldiers quickly sank into the ground—not into the superficial layer of the ordinary world, but diving directly into the deepest depths of the Shadow World, becoming undetectable from the surface.

Seeing this, Aozawa quickly submerged himself into the Shadow World to track the Shadow Soldiers.

He discovered that if he tasked the Shadow Soldiers with something he knew about, they seemed capable of heading directly to the location.

It seems that for places I know, these Shadow Soldiers don’t need to ask anyone else, Aozawa thought.

The Shadow Soldiers arrived at the military base on Mount Fuji. The last major conflict had made the security here more stringent. Not only did they have interior defenses, but the exterior was also patrolled by armored vehicles 24/7 to prevent another enemy breach of the base. Barriers, surveillance, and drone defenses were also set up around the perimeter.

Such tight security was useless against the Shadow Soldiers because, in this world, no technology could defend against an assault launched from shadows.

Shadow Soldiers sneaked into the base, swiftly rising from the shadow cast by the meteorite on the ground. They grabbed the meteorite, trying to drag it down. Clearly, the meteorite’s vast size was too much for just dozens of Shadow Soldiers to drag down; the shadow portals they could open were too small.

A soldier patrolling nearby noticed something was amiss and shouted, "Hey, who are you guys?"

Seeing this unfold, Aozawa immediately assisted from the shadows.

The meteorite’s shadow abruptly spread wide. Then, like plastic wrap, it lifted from the ground and precisely enveloped the meteorite’s surface, separating the experts and researchers from the meteorite.

Following this, the meteorite began to sink slowly into the ground. The soldiers were left dumbstruck, watching as the massive meteorite was completely devoured by the shadow. The experts and researchers, their heads momentarily covered by the shadow as it formed a curtain over the meteorite, stood on the ground, equally stunned.