Chapter 1069: Leave it to the Professional
Translator: _Min_ Editor: Caron_
White phosphorus munitions, petrol bombs—all options were tried to no avail. Even the flamethrower was useless.
In addition to incendiary munitions, the British tried other things. For example, pesticides, strong acids, strong bases, or even chemical weapons. These weapons definitely wouldn’t be considered humane normally speaking, but against insects, it was another story. Regrettably, those bugs weren’t afraid of chemical weapons, and nothing changed with the spores.
Also, the British considered launching larger incendiary munitions, which could, in theory, burn all the air in the infected area, but the Finnish government wasn’t happy. If the incendiary munitions got any bigger, the 50-meter isolation belt certainly wouldn’t be effective. If there was a forest fire, then the loss would be severe!
They were in the Arctic Circle, and the ancient pine forest was in the tundra! Every tree was a living fossil! In order to release incendiary bombs, trees that were cut already agonized the Finns. What’s more, the British couldn’t guarantee that the bigger bombs wouldn’t be “frozen” by the strange spores.
Those evil things could even wrap up the atomized gasoline!
It was fine if they didn’t use it. It was a great chance to flex their muscles to their future younger brother, a chance to demonstrate the power of the big NATO family. The British Ministry of Defence made a decision, and the dispatched commander didn’t take it seriously either. Two mechanized companies, a total of 40 “Ajax” armored vehicles, and more than 300 infantries wearing chemical protective suits followed.
The combat plan was very simple: eliminate all the mutants in the infected area within ten minutes, suppress the entrance within 20 minutes, and send special forces into the underground bunker to remove the source of infection. The soldiers wearing chemical protective suits didn’t realize the danger of the task. Instead, they joked in front of the media reporters during their interviews, saying that if the nest appeared in London, the firefighters alone could take care of the issue.
The emergence of the nest attracted worldwide attention, and this interview was also broadcast live worldwide.
Inside the same conference room, the satellite map on the big screen was replaced by a live broadcast of a Russian TV reporter interviewing British soldiers in the Paltamo region.
Originally, Jiang Chen didn’t want to watch the news with the Russians because he could already guess what the final result would be. However, the National Defense Minister Sergei personally invited him and it was difficult to reject his invitation, so he came.
To be honest, a group of senior officials quietly watching news felt weird.
“Are you sure they can’t handle it?” Sergei looked at Jiang Chen and asked somewhat incredulously, “I don’t mean to gloat, but it’s very important for Russia’s national defense strategy. If the British succeed, we will have a thousand more kilometers to defend.”
“Let’s wait.”
Leaning in his chair, Jiang Chen glanced at the confident British soldier on the screen and grinned.
London firefighters?
Even if you sent Chinese city enforcement forces, Japanese high school students, and American hobos, they wouldn’t do a damn thing! (1)
With the departure of the army, the image on the TV moved. The reporter gave a close-up of the forty armored vehicles and quickly switched to coverage in the air. The helicopter followed the mechanized forces and watched them rushing into the infected area covered by the turbid spores.
Because of his confidence behind this “de-bugging” plan, the British commander, under the guidance of the Ministry of National Defense, made an exception to open some insensitive combat communications to reporters to demonstrate the combat effectiveness of NATO. As for the combat video, it wasn’t made public due to the sensitive information.
“This is the 12th Company. We’ve reached the target area, and no abnormalities have been found.”
“Mutants spotted. Open safeties and fire freely.”
The intensive gunshots and the roars of mutants lasted for two minutes.
The senior Russian officials sitting in front of the screen, especially the Russian National Defense Minister, gradually had expressions that looked more and more excited. They were all senior members of the military. Just by listening to the sounds, they knew that the situation wasn’t pleasant.
“…we’re fighting the mutants! They have too many people, but our firepower is superior—”
“SH*T! They’re too fast! Fu*k! Infantry! RETREAT! I repeat, Infantry! RETREAT! Charis! Are you crazy, take your people and move back… buzz—”
The communication was cut off. It was clear that the British commander realized that the contents were no longer suitable for broadcast to the media.
Only the flashing sparks in the turbid fog could depict the tragedy on screen.
The meeting room was silent, and the Russian military all stared at each other.
No one expected this result. No one thought that a mechanized unit would lose to mutants… except for one person.
Jiang Chen.
Since they neglected their anti-armor abilities because they were fighting bugs, he wasn’t surprised that the British lost. The only thing he was curious about now was how many armored vehicles could retreat intact.
As for the infantry, they were probably chewed down to the bone.
“There was a little accident in the nest while clearing it up. The following is a story from…” On the screen, the reporter’s expression was slightly awkward.
At this point, the aerial coverage of the military base was gone.
Just then, Jiang Chen’s watch shook.
“Let me take a call,” Jiang Chen quietly whispered to Sergei sitting next to him, got up and walked out of the meeting room.
The call was from the Presidential Palace of Finland.
He didn’t need to guess the reason.
Jiang Chen went to the window, opened the holographic screen, and pressed the button.
The call was connected, and the other side didn’t speak right away.
The silence lasted for two seconds, the atmosphere was a little subtle, and the other side finally began the conversation.
“…Ummm, the British aren’t doing it anymore.”
Just as he expected, a regular army wasn’t a mercenary force, and every life in peacetime was very expensive. Two companies were lost in the infected area without even touching the underground bunker, and Great Britain was rattled now.
“Oh.”
“The Americans said they need to observe for a while longer, but the area covered by spores is spreading. Now, the 50-meter-wide isolation zone has been covered.”
When Jiang Chen heard the words of the President of Finland, it didn’t come as a shock.
The killed British soldiers were equivalent to providing the nest with easy-to-absorb organic matter. Animal bodies, including humans, were easier to breed spores compared to wood and insects. Only two companies were swallowed, yet the nest had already begun to diffuse more spores.
From this point of view, the nest was similar to Carmen.
With his speculations validated, Jiang Chen’s confidence in resolving this problem increased. But then, he didn’t rush to offer a solution. Obviously, the other side was asking for help. If he was too eager, that would be nice to them!
At the start, I was going to resolve this issue for you for free, but you were unhappy. Now you’re begging me?
“Mhmm.” Adjusting his tone, Jiang Chen said nonchalantly, “Just be straightforward.”
“How about… you take care of it?” the Finnish President asked mildly.
Jiang Chen pretended to hesitate for a moment, then he slowly spoke.
“Now the infected area has increased. Even the United Kingdom’s mechanized brigade can’t deal with it. I’m afraid it will be difficult. Do you want to try carpet bombing? Although the spores can stop flames, there’s no way the spores can stop high-explosive bombs?”
“We tried it earlier and it didn’t work. The spores secreted at a much higher speed than the spores that were removed, and the bombs even blew the spores farther.” The Finnish president smiled bitterly. “How about this, let’s be straightforward. You’re a businessman, so give me a price.”
With a smile, Jiang Chen pleasantly said, “300 million New Xin dollars.”
Hearing this number, the Finnish president’s eyebrows twitched.
“…can it be cheaper?”
The exchange rate of Xin New dollars wasn’t low. The euro had recently depreciated, and it was impossible unless he used the Finnish National Defense Force’s annual procurement budget.
“If you can’t afford to pay, we can also consider another payment method. For example, Arrow’s assets in Finland are packaged and sold to us. Of course, we can only offer 300 million Xin New dollars for their assets after what happened. Believe me—this is already a fair price, and it is definitely much higher than the valuation from the bank.” Jiang Chen wickedly laughed in his mind.
Although Arrow was his old rival, the mercenaries didn’t have a grudge against him.
After the incident, Arrow was bound to go bankrupt because of the high penalty issued by the Finnish government. If Arrow, which was registered in Finland, was acquired, more than 20,000 experienced veterans would become great assets to Celestial Trade. As long as they were trained and offered more benefits, these people would soon swear their allegiance to their new boss.
The management could be completely disbanded. The grassroots soldiers would be reorganized after screening. The weapons and equipment could be packaged and sold to Africa. As for the remaining two refugee camps, they could be kept there for the time being. With appropriate methods, they could be used as bargaining chips to discuss conditions with the EU.
As for the two military bases associated with the refugee camps, he also had great uses for them.
The Finnish president reluctantly nodded.
“Deal.”
Jiang Chen smiled and nodded.
“Great.”
“When will your people arrive? We might not be able to wait for long…”
“It won’t take so long,” Jiang Chen looked at the time on the holographic screen. “Give me five hours. By the way, notify the British army for me. Tell them they can pack things up and go home. Let the professional deal with this.”
(1) Famous in the Chinese online community, mocking the behavior of these groups of people.