Chapter 29 The US's Taunt
On the other side of the ocean, in a brightly lit white building.
The air here is filled with the aroma of expensive cigars and freshly ground coffee, a world apart from the earthy smell of the Gobi Desert.
Several blond, blue-eyed men in sharp suits were sitting around a huge round table, looking at a piece of intelligence in their hands.
"Gentlemen, take a look at this."
A portly intelligence chief tossed a few blurry satellite photos onto the table, his tone laced with mockery.
"Our reconnaissance satellites detected an unusual energy fluctuation in that ancient Eastern country, in that northwestern desert where even food is scarce."
The photo shows a gray Gobi Desert with a tiny bright spot in the middle. If you don't look closely, you might mistake it for an overexposed flaw.
"Energy fluctuations?"
Another man wearing gold-rimmed glasses picked up his coffee, took a sip, and had a disdainful smile on his lips.
"Could it be that those rabbits were trying to make steel using some rudimentary method and ended up blowing up the furnace?"
These words were met with a burst of laughter in the conference room.
Everyone knows what the situation is like in that distant Eastern country now.
Having just experienced several years of natural disasters, the people have even gnawed off the tree bark, and I heard they are still tightening their belts to pay off their debts.
With these conditions, what kind of high technology can be developed?
Stop joking.
The intelligence chief flicked off his cigar ash, his face full of arrogance.
"Our analysts think so too."
"Although that energy peak was a bit high, even exceeding the range of conventional explosives, given their underdeveloped industrial base, it could absolutely not have been rocket fuel or a nuclear test."
"At most, it's just a large firework that accidentally went off."
The man with the gold-rimmed glasses pushed up his glasses and took out a newly printed newspaper from his briefcase.
That was the Times, the newspaper with the largest circulation in their country.
The front page featured a huge satirical cartoon.
The painting depicts a skinny rabbit wearing a tattered cotton-padded jacket, sticking its rear end out and trying to jump to the moon.
As a result, he was pulled down by gravity halfway through the jump, fell flat on his face, and knocked out two of his front teeth.
The accompanying text read in large print: "A rabbit that wants to go to the moon? It'd be better to think about how to fill its stomach first!"
“Look at this, gentlemen.”
The man with the gold-rimmed glasses smugly waved his newspaper.
"That's our assessment of them."
"A group of whimsical farmers, trying to build a spaceship with just hoes?"
"This is absolutely the biggest joke of the century!"
Another burst of shrill laughter erupted in the conference room.
They laughed unrestrainedly, laughing so hard they were doubled over.
In their eyes, that great Eastern power was a synonym for backwardness, forever stuck in the mud, and utterly unworthy of looking up at the stars.
...
Meanwhile, at Base 091.
The atmosphere in Commander Zhang's office was so oppressive that it was hard to breathe.
The foreign-language newspaper, obtained through special channels, was spread out on the table.
Although separated by thousands of miles, the mockery in that cartoon was like a resounding slap in the face to everyone present.
Commander Zhang sat in his chair, his face ashen, the veins on his forehead throbbing.
His large hands, accustomed to handling guns, gripped the corner of the table tightly, his knuckles turning white.
"This is outrageous!"
"This is absolutely outrageous!"
Commander Zhang slammed his hand on the table, making the teacup lids bounce wildly.
"These foreign devils, eating steak and drinking red wine, think they're God?"
"They say we're farmers? They say we're delusional?"
"When I was beating them to a pulp on the battlefield, why didn't they call me a farmer?!"
The staff officers and veteran experts standing in the room all had their heads down, their eyes red-rimmed, and their fists clenched so tightly they cracked.
People point fingers at them and call them poor and backward.
This feeling is a hundred times worse than starvation.
Chen Zhiyuan stood aside, looking at the cartoon, his anger rising.
But he felt more sorrow than anything else.
If you fall behind, you will be attacked; if you fall behind, you will be criticized.
This is an eternal truth.
If you want to shut someone up, just shouting won't work; you have to show them the real deal!
In this deathly silence.
The office door was pushed open a crack.
A little head peeked in cautiously.
It was Zhao Di.
Today she was wearing that altered green military uniform, with two little buns in her hair, and holding a half-eaten carrot (a snack awarded by the system).
"Grandpa, what are you doing?"
Zhao Di ran in with her short legs, sensing that something was wrong in the room.
Everyone had a stern face, as if someone owed them money.
When Commander Zhang saw Zhao Di arrive, he quickly suppressed his anger and forced a smile that looked worse than a grimace.
"Zhaodi is here. Grandpa is... looking at a magazine."
He instinctively wanted to put the newspaper away, not wanting his child to see such a distressing thing.
But Zhao Di had sharp eyes and immediately spotted the large, colorful piece of paper on the table.
Wow, drawing!
Zhao Di curiously leaned over and stood on tiptoe to look at the table.
She didn't recognize the winding foreign characters, but she could understand the paintings.
The rabbit in the painting is drawn particularly ugly.
He was skinny, with a missing front tooth, and he was lying on the ground crying. He looked extremely pitiful.
Zhao Di's little mouth immediately pursed.
"Grandpa, this painting isn't very good."
Why is this rabbit crying?
Who knocked it down?
Commander Zhang sighed, patted Zhao Di's little head, and his voice was a little hoarse.
"No one pushed it; it's the person who painted it who's bad."
They laughed at the rabbit for being incompetent, for not being able to jump high, and for not having enough to eat.
Upon hearing this, Zhao Di frowned deeply.
She's now the base's "little money goddess," and she can't stand hearing people say they're not getting enough to eat.
Moreover, she felt that the rabbit was like her father, or Grandpa Chen, or every uncle and aunt in the base.
Although they were dressed in tattered clothes, they were all working very hard.
Why should we be laughed at?
"snort!"
Zhao Di slammed the carrot in her hand onto the table, her little face puffed up with anger.
"That artist is a big bad guy!"
"The rabbit didn't fall down!"
"The fairy uncle said that rabbits are the most powerful!"
"Rabbits can grow big steamed buns and make big firecrackers!"
Zhao Di pointed to the eagle image on the newspaper that symbolized the U.S. military and shouted in her childish voice.
"Once I finish making my big firecracker, I'll blow this bastard's butt open!"
"So that it will never dare to laugh at rabbits again!"
Upon hearing this, the adults in the room were all stunned.
Exploding into a flower?
How come that word is so satisfying to use?!
The system was frantically cheering in Zhao Di's mind.
[Well said, host!]
This system gives you a million thumbs up!
What a load of bull! The US is nothing but a paper tiger!
[Dare to mock the host of this system? I think it's asking for trouble!]
[Host, stop talking the talk!]
Let's go back and make a big fuss, and show these country bumpkins who've never seen anything like this before!
Commander Zhang looked at the little girl in front of him who wasn't even as tall as the table.
Looking at her big, bright eyes that were sparkling with anger.
Suddenly, I felt much better, as if the anger I had been holding in had subsided.
yes.
We have Zhaodi.
We have this indomitable spirit.
What's there to be afraid of?!
"good!"
Commander Zhang suddenly stood up, picked up Zhao Di, and kissed her hard.
"Zhao Di is right!"
"We're going to blow its butt open!"
"Relay my orders!"
Commander Zhang turned his head, and his expression instantly turned murderous, revealing the steely resolve of a soldier.
"Notify the missile brigade, notify the research department!"
"Speed up that 'big firecracker' plan!"
"Never mind the difficulties, never mind the conditions!"
"I'm going to get this missile up and running as quickly as possible!"
"I want to send this missile across the ocean, flying over the heads of those foreign devils and making a circle!"
"Let them see if our rabbit can really fly!"
The staff officers inside the room stood at attention and saluted in unison, their shouts deafening.
"yes!"
The sound was so loud it looked like it was going to blow the roof off.
Zhao Di was startled by the scene and huddled in Commander Zhang's arms, blinking her eyes.
"Grandpa, are we really going to blow up our butts?"
"Then...should we put some itching powder on it?"
Commander Zhang laughed heartily, almost to the point of tears.
"Apply it! You have to apply it!"
"We're not only going to blow it up, we're going to make it itch so badly it's rolling on the ground!"
This moment.
Above Base 091, it seemed as if an invisible flame was burning.
That was the anger that followed humiliation.
It is also an ambition that is about to erupt.
Meanwhile, those people on the other side of the ocean are still drinking coffee and mocking China's backwardness.
They had no idea.
Because of a few innocent words spoken by a three-year-old child.
Because of a satirical cartoon.
A sleeping dragon is being fully awakened.
The "remote control" that awakens the dragon is held in the hand of a little girl who is munching on a carrot.
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