Chapter 1399: Collect Money From Both Sides
Jiang Chen sat in the office, looked at the warm sunlight from outside the window, and suddenly spoke.
“Zheng.”
“Is something wrong?”
“In w.a.n.ghai, it normally snows by October?”
Zheng Shanhe was taken aback for a moment, and after he thought about it carefully, it seemed that this was indeed the case.
Since he just arrived in North America, he really didn’t notice this detail. It was already mid-October and it seemed unreasonable for the first snow to have not arrived yet.
“Could it be the climate?” Zheng Shanhe asked.
“Impossible. Nuclear winter should be a global phenomenon,” Jiang Chen shook his head. “And even if we disregard nuclear winter, due to the influence of the Pacific Rim monsoon, the climate phenomenon that occurs west of the Rocky Mountains will be very likely brought to the other side of the Pacific Ocean by the monsoon.”
The reason why this problem suddenly came to mind was mainly that during a video call with Sun Jiao and the others yesterday, Jiang Chen discovered that it was already snowing in w.a.n.ghai.
At that time, Sun Jiao pointed the camera towards the sky outside the window, and the white snow, under the action of the gravitons, slowly retreated towards the horizon along the edge of the Holy s.h.i.+eld like ripples.
The Holy s.h.i.+eld was indeed the leader in the urban defense system. In the nuclear winter, the Holy s.h.i.+eld system played a pivotal role. Most of the temperature-carrying medium was blocked from the barrier formed by the graviton. The only heat loss was due to the gas exchange and the heat radiation from the inside to the outside, and the s.h.i.+eld almost trapped the glimpse of fall from escaping.
The orange s.h.i.+eld was like a greenhouse that divided the inside and outside of the city into two distinct worlds. People inside the s.h.i.+eld couldn’t feel the cold of previous years at all. Jiang Chen was also quite relieved .
The problem that had plagued the development of NAC has finally been perfectly solved.
For survivors living in the wasteland, snowfall was simply a disaster. Not only because of fuel shortages, mutants hibernating, lack of materials, as well as other issues, the snowfall that pa.s.sed through the radioactive dust itself carried a decent amount of radiation. Every winter, the consumption of anti-radiation materials and iodine was quite significant.
In the video, Sun Jiao told Jiang Chen some good news. According to the statistics of the Administration Department, there were a lot of survivors in w.a.n.ghai this winter; most of them were merchants from Shangjing and the south, and mercenaries who came with the merchants.
After the winter, most people would choose to stay, and NAC would welcome a new wave of immigration. With the bonus of population growth, the military government’s new round of expansion plan for the Sixth Street could also start ahead of schedule.
Withdrawing his gaze from the window, Jiang Chen temporarily set aside the climate issue and turned his attention to the report in his hand.
The progress over these last two days was quite amazing.
After investigating the mud crab breeding base, his guards found the abandoned cargo s.h.i.+p that was stranded on the sh.o.r.e, and a memorandum of action backed up in a knight EP terminal, confirming that the colony was carrying out a mission against the mud crabs. During the mission, they found containers inside the cargo s.h.i.+p with abnormal radiation values.
These containers were put together with containers full of toys, and the toys were all Disney dolls without exception, and the outside of the container was written with a big letter D in black paint.
The clues were beginning to connect.
Then, as long as they could trace the source of these containers, they could definitely find something. It was not difficult to determine the destination of these containers. Whether it was the port authority or the s.h.i.+pping company, they would all have backup data for these containers.
Just then, the signal light of the watch flickered and interrupted Jiang Chen’s thoughts.
When he pressed the b.u.t.ton, the screen flashed, and the picture changed to the front entrance of the colony. The guard on duty at the door saluted and reported.
“There is a scavenger named Gris outside. He claims to be hired by you and has returned.”
“Let him in,” Jiang Chen said immediately.
“Yes!”
Soon, Gris was let in.
Accompanied by two recruits, he was taken to the governor’s office.
“Where is the person?” Jiang Chen asked as he looked at Gris standing alone.
“I tried to find him,” Gris said, “but he is not on the West Coast.”
“So, you got nothing?” Jiang Chen asked with an indescribable smile.
When Gris realized that the rich employer’s tone did not seem pleased, he did not try to sell the story further, and quickly added, “It’s too much to say nothing. Although I didn’t find him, I have found his whereabouts in the West Coast area! After he left Chinatown, he took about 20 subordinates into the desert along the highway from California to Nevada. They suffered heavy losses on the way, not only did they encounter mutant scorpions, but they also ran into a tribe of cannibals…”
“So, you mean, he is dead?” Jiang Chen asked.
“No, it’s the opposite.” Gris shook his head vigorously. “He is very likely to be alive, and with the last few men, he changed his path to bypa.s.s the Las Vegas suburbs and Hoover Dam, and headed for the Grand Canyon.”
“Why is he going to the Grand Canyon?”
“Rumors, just rumors!” Gris said immediately, “I heard it in the tavern in Liberty City a long time ago, saying that a concentration camp was built in the Grand Canyon before the war by NATO to detain those Pan-Asian immigrants accused of espionage. But the truth is that there is no concentration camp there, and those Pan-Asian immigrants did not commit any crimes. Instead, they were forcibly conscripted to the Grand Canyon by NATO Strategic Weapons Force to build a secret military facility!”
“What facility?” Jiang Chen frowned.
“No one knows!” Gris shook his head. “Maybe it’s some superweapon? Or it could be the military base of the NATO Missile Force? No one will go to the Grand Canyon. Almost half of the Death Claws in Nevada and Utah will go there to lay their cubs. It’s not the Grand Canyon, but the Death Valley there!”
Jiang Chen touched his chin while he was lost in thoughts.
The office fell silent for a while and Gris gulped while his mind was nervously tense.
After a long time, he tried to ask.
“What do you… think about my reward.”
“Oh, sorry, I almost forgot about that.”
Jiang Chen smiled, opened the drawer, took out a box of bottle caps, and slapped it on the table.
Gris was overjoyed when he heard the crisp clanks. He took the bottle cap box and repeatedly thanked Jiang Chen. After he obtained Jiang Chen’s permission, he exited the office.
As soon as the office door was closed, the smile on Jiang Chen’s face gradually turned cold.
He looked at Zheng Shanhe next to him and directly ordered.
“Get a team to follow him.”
“Do you suspect there’s a problem?” Zheng Shanhe’s eyes suddenly sharpened.
“It’s weird if there’s no problem.” Jiang Chen’s eyes narrowed.
He had already gone outside of California and still dared to come back without finding Blood Axe. And the most important point Jiang Chen did not understand was how he could learn the whereabouts of Blood Axe so clearly. With such limited information, even if Sherlock Holmes was here, he would probably be blinded and confused on where to start.
There was only one possibility. An “informer” directly told him the information that could not be investigated.
And this person, most likely, was the man behind the abduction of the colonial residents!
“I’m going now!” Without wasting a second, Zheng Shanhe immediately walked out.
“Remember to find a few people with strong anti-reconnaissance ability and who are familiar with this area. Those mercenaries should have experts in this area. Don’t be stingy with compensation.” Jiang Chen reminded his captain when he walked out.
The office door closed again, and this time Jiang Chen was left alone in the room.
He got up and walked to the window. When he saw the hurried figure outside, a sneer gradually appeared.
You dare to collect money from both sides?
I hope you don’t regret your decision.