Encounter at the Airport with a Superstar
At nine o'clock the next morning, Ian Song appeared at Flame City International Airport, carrying nothing but a black travel bag.
He mentally reviewed the contents of that red encrypted dossier: twenty days ago, at 9 p.m. Flame City time, the Explorer-9 Satellite captured images of an unidentified flying object crashing in the Colorado Desert, United States.
Explorer-9 is the Yanhuang Republic’s most advanced satellite, so the images of the crash were exceptionally clear.
The crashed object was oval-shaped, resembling a flying saucer, with a diameter of about fifty meters. Because of this, the Yanhuang military suspected it was most likely an alien spacecraft.
In recent years, aliens have been a particularly hot topic.
Alien civilizations are synonymous with high technology and power—especially in American sci-fi movies, where aliens are regular guests.
Rumors have long circulated that the United States once obtained the wreckage of an alien spaceship, which led to the creation of the mysterious Area 51. Supposedly, this is how America managed to leap ahead and become the world’s top superpower in just a few decades.
Now, with another alien craft crashing in America, if they get their hands on it, their tech level will probably jump again. Not only does the Yanhuang Republic not want to see that happen, but other countries wouldn’t want the U.S. to get even stronger either.
So, under military orders, covert agents stationed in the U.S. risked exposure and death to investigate the exact location of the crashed ship.
After making tremendous sacrifices, the agents managed to pinpoint the general area of the crash.
Why only the general area?
Because the entire zone had already been sealed off by the CIA and U.S. military. Not even a fly could get in. Agents and intelligence personnel from various countries suffered heavy casualties trying to probe the area.
After this information was relayed back home, the military, with approval from the Head of State, dispatched another batch of top agents to infiltrate the locked-down area.
Unfortunately, the Americans were already fully prepared.
Out of Yanhuang’s forty-one elite agents, thirty-six were confirmed dead, and five are missing, their fate unknown.
Every elite agent had made huge contributions to the country—each one was a national treasure.
The loss of forty-one elite agents dealt a heavy blow to Yanhuang, crippling its U.S. intelligence network. Of course, their sacrifice wasn’t in vain: one agent managed to send back a photo through secret channels.
In the photo, the outline of the oval-shaped craft was faintly visible, with a group of American scientists trying to crack its secrets.
But after sending the photo, that agent was tracked down by the CIA and fatally shot during the arrest.
Sending more top agents from home to carry out this mission is now unrealistic. First, Yanhuang agents aren’t familiar with the U.S.—that would seriously hinder their actions. Second, the CIA has ramped up border checks, so any new agents would probably get caught as soon as they arrived.