Chapter 127: A Cautious Approach
The strength of a nation can usually be measured by its organizational capacity.
As the most powerful country in the world today, and one that hasn't completely fallen into a supernatural era, America clearly possesses efficient organizational capacity.
Hours after Chris blasted a local textile factory—which was a major taxpayer and had special status—with a bolter, local government departments discovered the anomaly.
Then, a few more hours later, information on Chris and others was mostly collected and sent to the White House think tank.
It didn't end there; the think tank experts, looking at the information on Chris and others, conducted various verification tests to ensure the accuracy of the relevant intel.
Only then was a concise file compiled and placed on the President's desk.
This means that in the dozen or so hours from when Chris and others eliminated the Assassin Brotherhood to when Chris set off for the White House, the political head of America already knew some of their intelligence.
They also promptly placed them under high-level surveillance to ensure real-time tracking of their location.
So not long after Chris and others set off, the President at the White House received news of Chris's journey there.
"According to their travel speed, they can reach Washington D.C. in at most 24 hours. Should we intercept them in advance?"
Bush Jr., who was deep in thought, was startled by the Chief of Staff's words, and he quickly spoke up to stop him: "No! Until we confirm the identities of those two people from another world, we cannot show hostility."
Hearing the President's firm refusal, the Chief of Staff breathed a sigh of relief.
He was afraid the President might be confused and issue a stupid order due to his own ego.
That's why he spoke to probe, to gauge the President's general thinking.
After all, as long as the President wasn't being an idiot, their think tank still had a high probability of perfectly handling this special incident.
"Sir, since you don't advocate using force, then according to the advice of the think tank experts, we should now proactively pick them up to communicate with them as soon as possible and avoid any misunderstandings between both sides."
After confirming the President's thoughts, the Chief of Staff no longer held back and directly acted as a mouthpiece for the think tank.
Bush Jr.'s gaze swept over the Chief of Staff's earpiece, then he nodded and said: "Go ahead and do it. I'm not senile yet."
Seeing the determination shown by the President, the Chief of Staff called a secretary and then sent him out to arrange reception matters.
He himself, according to the think tank experts' advice, began to set up the White House.
After all, it was the first contact with people from another world; the scene might not be extremely grand, but it had to meet certain standards.
Of course, besides the protocol, the more crucial thing was that this matter had to be kept highly classified.
It was already impossible to keep it secret domestically; Washington D.C. was crawling with people, and besides those from their Republican Party, the Democratic Party also had tons of informants.
Bush Jr. could tell with his gut that the other side must also be very interested in this special contact.
But since this kind of thing happened on their watch, no matter how the situation developed, they definitely had to hold the biggest advantage.
Unless an unavoidable major war was about to break out, Bush Jr. had already decided that this incident could not be leaked in the slightest.
Especially not to let those troublemakers know, otherwise those bastards would definitely make a circus out of it.
While Bush Jr. was running drills with the think tank, Chris also discovered the team coming to pick them up.
"Whoa! What's going on? Why are there so many helicopters?"
Wesley stuck his head out of the car window, curiously looking at the helicopter fleet.
Fox's eyes flickered, and she already had a guess about the helicopters that suddenly appeared.
However, seeing Chris, who was calm and composed in the rearview mirror, Fox no longer worried unnecessarily.
With Chris's powerful physique, capable of leaping hundreds of yards, and that powerful bolter with unlimited ammo, Fox felt that even if this helicopter squad were ten times larger, it couldn't hurt them.
And Chris, by sensing the emotions of the armed personnel on the helicopters, had already confirmed these guys were indeed coming for them.
However, judging from their peaceful emotions, they clearly didn't intend to start a fight, so Chris didn't make any unusual moves and just watched the helicopters approach.
Wesley looked at the gestures made by the person on the helicopter and said curiously: "Huh? Are they telling us to pull over and stop?"
He hadn't figured out yet that these people were coming for them, and suddenly seeing them gesturing at him, he felt a bit confused.
Fox, who'd already guessed, turned to look at Chris, waiting for him to make the call.
"Pull over. It'll save you the trouble of driving."
Fox turned the steering wheel, slowly pulled over to the side of the road, and then everyone got out to wait for the helicopters to approach.
Looking at the ropes thrown down by the helicopters, Chris smiled knowingly.
"Are these guys trying to separate us to gather intel?"
Amidst the roaring noise, even though they were close, Wesley could barely hear what Chris was saying.
He looked at Chris nervously and asked: "So what should we do? Should we ride together?"
Chris handed Stewie to him and said loudly: "No need. You hold my little brother, just tell them whatever they ask, don't sweat it."
After speaking, Chris grabbed Fox, pushed off the ground, and leaped dozens of yards into the air, then grabbed the helicopter's frame and climbed in.
Looking at the few fully armed soldiers who were completely stunned, Chris smiled: "Let's go. Your boss must be getting antsy."
No one responded to Chris. They'd received orders before departure not to have any conflict with the target throughout the entire process, nor to have any communication with the target, not even eye contact.
So when Chris's gaze swept over everyone present, even though they all wore specialized tactical glasses and didn't make direct eye contact with Chris, they still looked away.
Chris, feeling slightly bored, leaned back and sat down. Fox, seeing this, sat silently beside Chris.
The surrounding soldiers tactfully moved, clearing plenty of space for Chris.
As Wesley, holding Stewie, climbed into another helicopter, the team quickly took off toward the nearest military base.
It was still too far from Washington D.C.; not to mention whether the helicopters could make it, just the speed alone seemed too slow.
So when Chris and others arrived at the military base, the base commander, with a serious expression, put them on a special plane. Just like the soldiers, there was no communication with Chris and his companions during the entire process.
Wesley looked at Chris sitting across from him and said like he was bragging: "Master, I didn't tell them anything."
Chris chuckled at this, then closed his eyes and entered a meditative state.
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