Traveling Back to the 1960s: The Entire Internet Teaches Me How to Build Missiles

Ye Ling reported to his superiors and then relayed the negotiation terms of U-2 reconnaissance pilot Robert Hale through the chain of command, finally reaching Director Chen.

Shortly afterward, a telegram bearing the red seals of "Urgent" and "Top Secret" was delivered by the secretary and hurriedly handed to Ye Guoquan.

Director Xu of the Confidentiality Department summoned Zhou Yunxiao again to negotiate with the foreigner.

Zhou Yunxiao sat bewildered in the interrogation room chair. "How did it go? Did they really agree to the foreigner's demands? That's no small sum!"

Xu Rufeng rubbed his shoulders and chuckled.

"What are you thinking? Do you really think we have money to burn? Ye Ling said that the Three Gates have agreed, but it's not worth this price. If the foreigners can really bring a complete U-2, then we can negotiate the eight thousand taels."

"But now, after that bastard parachuted to safety, the U-2 is just a pile of debris. Although it has research value, we need to cut the price in half... Let's keep the price at 4000 taels and try our best to get the foreigners to surrender..."

Zhou Yunxiao responded with an "oh," and while waiting for Hale to be brought in, he pondered his next line of dialogue.

After spending some time with him, he had figured out Robert Hale's temperament: a cowardly, money-grubbing white man.

Judging from that magazine full of models, he might even have been a bit lecherous.

It shouldn't be difficult to persuade such a person to betray their beliefs and surrender to another civilization...

Next, a tug-of-war ensued between the two sides regarding the compensation.

Director Xu of the Confidential Office felt that even when they were fighting for positions at Changjin Lake, they had never been this difficult. Those damned foreigners were unwilling to suffer even the slightest loss!

Zhou Yunxiao, on the other hand, appealed to his emotions and reasoned with him, constantly explaining the pros and cons to him.

He even approved on behalf of Director Xu, agreeing to give Hale more freedom of movement, allowing him to go out for a one-hour walk every day under the supervision of guards.

Ultimately, the two parties negotiated the price down to three thousand taels of gold and signed a cooperation agreement.

Under Zhou Yunxiao's questioning, Hale revealed his true identity.

He admitted to being a lieutenant pilot in the United States, born in Rockingham County, Virginia. His parents and grandparents were local tobacco farmers and were of Scottish and Irish descent.

Hale also proudly told them that the famous Advantage brand cigarettes were made from tobacco leaves grown on their land.

Director Xu was quite curious. He had smoked Zhonghua and Daqianmen cigarettes before, but he didn't know what American cigarettes tasted like.

Hale himself was a passionate and devout Baptist who was not keen on joining the army, but the turbulent situation left him no choice. So, at his father's arrangement, he became a pilot and participated in several air battles at Midway and Iwo Jima.

Later, after the war, he was assigned to a base in Albany, Georgia, and signed a secret agreement to become a "strategic pilot".

Hale piloted a "strategic bomber" and underwent various flight training programs.

The rack is equipped with what is said to be the most powerful cutting-edge weapon in the world, and Hale's mission is to wait for notification from the base.

When their arrogant and rude Commander Eisen is forced to press the button and deliver the blackmail to the Iron Curtain's adversaries, he will precisely drop that cutting-edge weapon from his fighter jet.

At first, Hale didn't know what it was, but later he vaguely guessed that it was a cutting-edge weapon—an atomic weapon!

Robert Hale felt a chill run down his spine when he thought of the news reports in the newspapers. Such a dangerous thing had been dangling precariously on his rack many times!

So he decisively requested to retire from the military, unwilling to serve the base any longer.

Upon hearing this, Zhou Yunxiao and Director Xu's expressions turned serious.

The two exchanged a glance, curious about what their adversary behind the Iron Curtain was subtly referring to, but Hale was also unsure.

Hale said, "Once... I was just a hair's breadth away... perhaps a fraction of a percent of luck away, and I would have become another sinner after 'Princip.' Thankfully, that operation was canceled..."

Zhou Yunxiao continued, "What did you do after you retired?"

Robert Hale said:

"At the time, my wife Talulah was pregnant, so I worked everywhere to earn money, but nothing went well. I wanted to go back to my hometown to grow tobacco, but ever since that damn scientist published the article 'smoking causes cancer,' the market has been bad, and my parents weren't making much money at all. They also advised me to make other plans."

"Until one day, a guy who called himself Deputy Chief Richard called me and several other retired pilots together and claimed to be offering us a high-paying, non-military job opportunity."

Richard said the job was risky, but the rewards were substantial, and it was a contribution to the great United States. He said that working overseas for 18 months would earn him $2500 a month…

After listening to the translation, Director Xu frowned and said, "For such a small amount of money, you'd risk your life to fly a U-2 as a spy?"

Hale hung his head. "I had no choice but to do as you said."

Zhou Yunxiao then inquired about the amount of intelligence they had gathered while piloting the U-2.

Hale thought for a moment and said that he was only responsible for taking photos and did not know what was being analyzed from them, but the base had a huge, realistic map sand table.

When he was transferred to the Peshawar base six months ago, there were only a few hundred suspicious coordinates marked on the sand table.

"So now? How many were on board when you last took off in the U-2?"

Hale held up two fingers. "Approximately 20,000 suspicious coordinates!"

Zhou Yunxiao and Director Xu both gasped.

"Targets worth continuing to monitor will be marked with a white flag, targets that are highly suspicious will be marked with a yellow flag, and confirmed important targets will be marked with a red flag... The desert where you are hiding was recently turned red."

After Hel spilled all the information he had, Director Xu realized the seriousness of the situation and immediately went to report to Ye Ling.

Immediately afterwards, Ye Ling urged the two of them to recall the targets marked on the map.

After several busy days, Zhou Yunxiao was horrified as he stared at the densely packed circles on the map.

Lop Nur, the Golden Beach, and the Badain Desert have all received attention.

Hale even revealed that secret airdrops would be carried out every three to five months in areas undetectable by early warning radar.

What was airdropped was not supplies, but people.

Ye Ling took this matter very seriously and planned to join forces with Wu Dongquan of Jincheng to organize a large-scale anti-traitor operation.

The higher authorities also established a special task force, which immediately went to the base for investigation.

……

Time flies, day after day.

Before anyone knew it, the 15th UN General Assembly in October quietly began in New York.

At this time, the East's seat had not yet been restored, and it was isolated from the world's circle of friends, only able to watch the excitement.

As always, the elder brother engaged in heated arguments and even insults with the United States at the meeting.

The statements of the U-2 reconnaissance aircraft and pilot Hale have been basically compiled. The next step is to hand them over to the special task force, provide the charges to Big Brother, and let them "make a fuss over it."

After finishing his work that day, Zhou Yunxiao squatted on a stone bench outside and sunbathed with the viewers in his live stream.

Just as he was feeling utterly bored, a comment suddenly caught his attention.

[Xiao Zhou, relying solely on Sulian to exploit this situation is far from enough, and he might not even be willing to help us fight for our interests... It's better to rely on ourselves than on others. I think we can also take some initiative!]

Zhou Yunxiao replied lazily, "So, how do you plan to perform, boss?"

[Answerer, have you forgotten that a major event is about to happen in the United States this year?]

Upon hearing this, Zhou Yunxiao stood up abruptly from the stone stool.