The White House, United States.
From the moment the Mysterious Maiden One took off, a deathly silence filled Albert's office.
"Morton, keep a close eye on that Mystic Maiden One!"
The moment the Mysterious Maiden No. 1 disappeared into the clouds, Albert, his face grim, sternly said to Morton in front of him, "If you lose her, you're fired!"
Morton's face turned slightly pale, and he reached up to wipe the cold sweat from his forehead.
Then, he hurriedly pulled his phone out of his pocket and dialed a number.
"Ocasio, listen up, this is an emergency! Get all of NASA's surveillance satellites moving! I need real-time information about the Xuan Nu-1 spacecraft that just took off from China!"
A female voice came through the microphone: "Director Morton? Are you sure you want to use all of NASA's surveillance satellites?"
"The losses this has caused..."
"Shut up!" Morton, seeing Albert's slightly sinister gaze, broke out in a cold sweat. "I'll take responsibility for any losses. Now, tell the staff to send me the detailed flight data of the Mysterious Maiden No. 1 immediately!"
Ocasio paused, momentarily stunned. "Mr. Morton, you are now..."
"Fxxk! The Presidential Office!"
Morton cursed and hung up the phone.
He then ran quickly to Albert's side and whispered, "Your Excellency, I need to use your computer."
Albert nodded grimly without saying a word.
A few minutes later, Morton let out a long sigh of relief: "Mr. President, the data has arrived."
It must be said that NASA's surveillance satellites are quite powerful.
On the computer in front of Albert, high-resolution images and flight data of the Xuan Nu-1 were displayed in full view!
As Albert watched the constantly updating, densely packed data above, his brows furrowed deeply.
He closed his eyes slightly and rubbed his temples. "Anthony, take a look at these data."
Anthony dared not disobey the president's order and immediately stepped forward to look at the computer screen on the desk.
The moment Anthony saw the data, his pupils constricted sharply, and he exclaimed in shock, "What?!"
"This, this is impossible!"
Anthony's reaction made Albert's heart sink.
This is not a good sign.
"What's going on?" Albert frowned, his voice low as he asked, "Is there something wrong with this data?"
Anthony swallowed hard, his blue pupils trembling slightly: "Its speed has reached Mach 5!"
Albert didn't quite grasp the significance of these figures: "Mach 5? What's wrong with Mach 5?"
Faced with Albert's somewhat naive question, Anthony gave a wry smile and said with a pale face, "Your Excellency, the top speed of American fighter jets is currently around Mach 3. In the event of an air battle, we might not even be able to see the enemy's rear end!"
Albert's breath hitched, but he waved his hand dismissively and said, "What about missiles? We can shoot them down with missiles!"
The bitterness in Anthony's eyes deepened: "That's where the problem lies."
"Except for some specific air-to-air missiles, most air-to-air missiles in the world currently have a speed of only around Mach 4."
"Our missiles can't even catch up with this plane."
"As for air-to-air missiles with higher speeds... Your Excellency, I'm not trying to be pessimistic, but air-to-air missiles with speeds below Mach 6 are basically useless against it."
"If Xia Guo is not lying, the range of this spaceplane, which uses nuclear fusion as its energy source, will far exceed our imagination."
"The missile's fuel... may not last as long as it."
Albert's face immediately turned as black as a large iron pot.
What's the point of playing this game?
Chase, but you can't catch up; wear it down, but you can't outlast it!
Just as the two fell silent, Morton's exclamation rang out from the side: "It, it's accelerating again!"
Upon hearing those words, Anthony's heart skipped a beat.
As Anthony watched the computer screen show the rate and height of the ascent rising sharply, his face turned ashen.
"Your Excellency, I think we don't need to discuss this further."
"This aircraft has now reached near-Earth orbit, and its speed is... approximately Mach 23, which is what we commonly refer to as the first cosmic velocity."
"I don't know where its limit is. At least, judging from the current situation, even our fastest-launching intercontinental ballistic missiles probably won't gain much advantage against it."
Albert didn't speak, he just stared intently at the computer screen in front of him.
As time went by, the speed of Xuan Nu No. 1 continued to increase, and its height also rose accordingly.
As the numbers on the computer screen continued to rise, the three men's expressions grew increasingly grim.
Albert's face was grim, and he didn't say a word.
On the screen, the numbers kilometer and Mach 30 (10.2 km/s) stung his eyes.
Even he knew what those two numbers meant.
Seeing the flight data of the Mystic Maiden No. 1 begin to decline, Albert slowly breathed a sigh of relief: "Anthony, where do you think the limit of this spaceplane is?"
“Hoo…” Anthony exhaled a deep breath, straightened up and said softly, “Your Excellency, this is no longer important.”
"You only need to understand one thing: from now on, the United States has lost air superiority over China."
Albert fell silent.
That's right.
In this situation, the extreme data of Xuan Nu No. 1 is no longer important.
Even if it manages to exceed the second cosmic velocity and travel to the moon, it will have nothing to do with the United States.
How should we defend against it?
After a long silence, Albert took a deep breath and asked softly.
Anthony's eyes were filled with bitterness as he slowly shook his head: "Your Excellency, we can't defend against it."
"Although it is unclear whether the Xuan Nu I is carrying weapons, based on its altitude, speed, and endurance, I can tell you with certainty that no country on Earth can resist its attack."
"If Xia Guo is willing, the White House could be reduced to ashes in a matter of minutes."
Upon hearing this, Albert's pupils constricted sharply.
Morton.
Albert said in a hoarse voice, "From now on, push forward the Pathfinder Project at all costs."
"Your Excellency the President?" Anthony exclaimed in surprise, then whispered a reminder, "At this time, we should no longer compete with the Xia Kingdom!"
"We have already lost our qualification for this competition!"
Albert closed his eyes slightly, then suddenly opened them, a hint of madness flashing in them.
"No, as long as we take over Mars first, the United States still has a chance to turn things around!"
"From this moment forward, suspend all unnecessary domestic expenditures and pour all funds into scientific research projects!"
"I don't believe it. With so many years of accumulated strength, we can't even beat the Xia Kingdom!"
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