Chapter 65: Shocking All Factions!

United States, Foreign Liaison Office.

James Brant, the Director of Foreign Liaison, stretched lazily. Looking at the freshly processed documents in front of him, he rubbed his slightly sore eyes.

Today had been another busy day.

Turning his head to look out the window, he saw that night had long since fallen, with scattered lights illuminating the entire street. He raised a helpless eyebrow and reached up to touch the bridge of his high nose.

It was time to rest.

Standing up, he turned off the desk lamp and adjusted his suit.

Just as he was about to leave the office, planning to bid his colleagues farewell and head home,

Bang!

His assistant pushed open the office door ahead of him, wearing a grave expression as he said, "Mr. Brant, Igawa Izui, the Foreign Liaison Officer of the Shinzhao Nation, is on the phone. He says there is an extremely urgent matter that requires your immediate attention."

Brant frowned, nodding with a trace of displeasure. "Put the call through."

As the assistant left the office, Brant sank back into his chair.

His mood at the moment was terrible. Having finally finished all his work for the day, he had been looking forward to going home to spend some tender moments with his newly wedded supermodel wife, only to be interrupted by Igawa Izui of the Shinzhao Nation.

Yet, he temporarily suppressed his annoyance. After all, as a staunch supporter of the United States, the Shinzhao Nation always took its cues from Washington. Since the Shinzhao Nation had taken the initiative to make contact at this hour, it meant there was a high probability that something truly significant had occurred.

Therefore, he decided to listen first. Of course, if it turned out to be nothing of importance, he would not hesitate to give Igawa Izui a tongue-lashing.

Ring, ring.

Within a minute, the desk telephone rang.

He picked up the receiver and spoke into it with an authoritative voice, "This is the US Foreign Liaison Office, I am James Brant."

"Mr. Brant, this is Igawa Izui from the Shinzhao Nation. Thank you very much for taking my call," Igawa Izui greeted politely.

Brant nodded. "Mr. Igawa Izui, what you have to tell me better be worth me answering your call at this hour."

"I guarantee it is, Mr. Brant," Igawa Izui quickly explained, immediately continuing, "Just ten minutes ago, within the military garrison of the Nagasaki Port in our Shinzhao Nation, an F-22 fighter jet was suspected to have been detected!"

"An F-22 fighter jet?" Brant was momentarily stunned, his face written over with confusion.

As a primary combat aircraft currently in active service with the United States, F-22 fighter jets were extremely precious. Any mission that required the use of an F-22 would be known to him as the Director of Foreign Liaison.

After all, he needed to anticipate international public opinion and prepare responses based on deployed missions.

Yet, throughout the past month, he had received no notification from the US military, nor had he ever heard of any secret operations being conducted by them.

That shouldn't be possible.

"Can you confirm this? I haven't received any notification from the US military. Mr. Igawa Izui, if this turns out to be a false alarm, I don't think it will be good for either of us," Brant said coldly.

Igawa Izui swallowed hard, his tone extremely resolute. "Mr. Brant, this matter is absolutely authentic. The moment the F-22 fighter jet was detected, the relevant personnel at the Nagasaki military garrison sent us the visual footage and video files of the incident. After our identification, it is indeed an F-22 fighter jet!"

"Mr. Brant, the relevant video and image data have already been sent to you. Please take a look at them first," Igawa Izui added.

Hearing this, even though Brant harbored doubts, he decided to take a look anyway.

No matter how he thought about it, Igawa Izui and the Shinzhao Nation had no reason to deceive the United States. Of course, if it truly turned out that the Shinzhao Nation had made a mistake, he would certainly stick to his original stance.

As he opened his computer, the video and image files were transmitted over, exactly as Igawa Izui had claimed.

Clicking on the video footage, he was instantly taken aback.

Right there in the video, a fighter jet with an exterior completely identical to an F-22 could be seen flying high in the sky.

The radar detection data and other metrics sent by Igawa Izui were also detailed in the subsequent files, which noted that according to the feedback from the radar detection equipment, various data points indicated that it was unequivocally a genuine F-22 fighter jet.

Witnessing this, Brant was completely dumbfounded, crying out, "What? How could this be!"

Just as Igawa Izui had said, it was a US F-22 fighter jet.

But how was this possible? The United States had absolutely no plans to use F-22s for any missions recently. If there really were an active mission, he would definitely have been notified.

"Mr. Brant, the most crucial issue is that the final trajectory of this F-22 fighter jet is heading toward Kyushu!" Igawa Izui added another sentence.

Suddenly, a buzzing sound echoed in Brant's mind, leaving his brain completely blank. His gaze trembled uncontrollably as he stared blankly at the computer screen.

The final trajectory of this F-22 fighter jet was heading toward Kyushu?

That was even more impossible!

If it were an operation targeting a certain country, it would be an enormous, highly critical event within the entire US military apparatus. Once such a military operation truly existed, leave alone him, even commanders ranking higher than him might not necessarily know the inside story.

That being said, if such a military operation were indeed underway, how could they possibly dispatch only a single F-22 fighter jet?

Furthermore, during its flight, this F-22 had not activated its stealth mode. Without stealth enabled, this F-22 would likely be detected by the adversary's radar equipment before it even approached the airspace of the Eastern seas, prompting warnings, interceptions, and other countermeasures.

Although the subsequent events remained unknown, even using his heels to think, he knew that such a scenario sounded utterly absurd.

"I understand."

Brant quickly hung up the phone. Without a moment's hesitation, he immediately dialed the number of the top military brass of the United States.

Before long, the call was connected.

Brant went straight to the point, "General Wells, does the military have any secret operations today? Have we dispatched an F-22 fighter jet toward the Kyushu airspace?"

On the other end of the line, General Wells's tone turned peculiar as he let out a cold laugh. "Brant, what crazy talk is this? If we really had an operation of that magnitude, I imagine you'd already be writing your external press release."

"Oh, no, you'd have already finished writing the corresponding draft and be making final revisions."

Faced with Wells's mockery, Brant didn't care at all. Instead, he said urgently, "Here is the situation, General Wells. The Foreign Liaison Officer of the Shinzhao Nation, Igawa Izui, just informed me that radar detection equipment at their Nagasaki military garrison detected an F-22 fighter jet flying over international waters, which ultimately headed toward the airspace above Kyushu!"

"What?" Wells emitted a similar note of confusion, saying incredulously, "Brant, are you sure the Shinzhao Nation isn't lying? We wouldn't dispatch an F-22 over there, especially when there are no military operations currently underway, and certainly not just one."

"That's right, I find it very strange as well, but Igawa Izui provided me with some video and image data. From these materials, it is indeed a genuine F-22 fighter jet," Brant said.

He paused for a moment before continuing, "Though it's hard to believe, this is indeed the reality. I think you need to check whether all F-22 fighter jets across every military district are still accounted for."

"Also, check if the F-22s currently on external missions are experiencing any anomalies. Under the current circumstances, if anyone provokes a crisis, it bodes ill for us."

Wells fell silent for a full ten seconds before finally saying, "Alright, I understand, Brant."

With that, Wells hung up the phone.

Brant sat at his desk, feeling rather restless and anxious.

As the Director of Foreign Liaison, he was always on edge regarding matters of this nature. After all, if a deployed F-22 had somehow flown into the airspace above Kyushu due to some unknown reason, the trouble would be monumental.

At a time when the geopolitical situation was delicate and tense, any minor incident could ignite a more violent conflict, sending public opinion into another frenzy.

Most importantly, if they provoked a crisis and turned out to be the instigating party—the ones in the wrong—even if they could resort to shamelessness or concoct excuses, the fundamental logic would still severely damage the image of the United States.

Unless absolutely forced, he would not easily resort to handling matters this way.

Therefore, the best immediate solution was to investigate the truth behind this, suppress the matter as much as possible, control the situation, and prevent any further escalation.

Amidst a long and anxious wait, Brant glanced periodically at the clock on the wall. Watching the hands crawl forward, he felt an even greater urge to receive a call from General Wells.

A full five minutes passed.

Ring, ring.

The telephone rang once more.

Without a second thought, Brant picked up the receiver.

Over the line came Wells's gruff and authoritative voice: "I have just checked with all military bases. They report no records of any F-22 fighter jets deploying. I've already ordered them to conduct a thorough investigation."

"As for the F-22s currently on external missions, preliminary inquiries show no instances of any aircraft leaving formation. Of course, it's possible the information hasn't been fully verified yet, but I suspect this is likely the final outcome."

Hearing this,

Brant was stunned. "General Wells, doesn't that defy logic? If there are no F-22s deployed from our bases, what on earth is the origin of the F-22 that appeared near the Shinzhao Nation and flew toward Kyushu?"

"That I do not know, but the results of my investigation here are what they are. Of course, if there are any newer developments later, I will notify the President immediately. Brant, I think you'd better first find out from the Shinzhao Nation side whether they have any further video evidence to prove that this F-22 fighter jet actually exists."

Wells's tone grew increasingly heavy, tinged with a hint of impatience.