Chapter 278 - 278: Full-scale Mobilization

「East Japan.」

The heads of the major zaibatsu may have played bunker boy for a while, but they quickly began discussing the current situation over their internal landlines.

This was especially true for the few zaibatsu Patriarchs hiding in underground shelters in the Edogawa District.

Akio Toyota's expression was grim. "According to feedback from our business investigators in Xing Island, it's estimated that the Malacca Strait will take several months to reopen to traffic."

Yamazaki Nagatomi gritted his teeth. "Bastards! Now we have to detour through the Sunda Strait, Lombok Strait, and Wangkasi Strait in Java. That adds over 2,700 kilometers to the journey..."

Global energy and food prices were already soaring because of the war in Kyiv. And while East Japan's oil and natural gas contracts were long-term, the shipping costs were not.

After all, East Japan primarily relies on its own shipping companies, and fuel costs for oil tankers and LNG carriers were already on the rise.

This was just making a bad situation worse.

A sudden 2,700-kilometer increase to the shipping route.

America was practically screwing over its own children.

Suzuki Tatsuro looked at everyone's expressions and suggested, "What if we increase our oil and natural gas imports from Lucia?"

"Heh... How about you go talk to America about that?" Akio Toyota replied with a dry laugh.

Suzuki Tatsuro immediately deflated.

America was fuming right now. Increasing imports from Lucia at a time like this would be asking to "commit suicide" by getting shot seven times in the back a few days later.

Mitsui Fushige also looked conflicted. Although the major zaibatsu of East Japan were dependent on America, it didn't mean America would take care of them forever.

After the war in Kyiv began this year, they had sensed America's intention to raise oil and gas prices to fleece Europe.

Although East Japan and South Korea weren't the primary targets, they would definitely be caught in the crossfire.

They still had some long-term contracts. The original plan was to just wait for their "daddy" to eat its fill, then grit their teeth and bear it.

But now, it looked like they were going to hemorrhage money.

With every ship's journey extended by over 2,700 kilometers, they would have to pay the extra fuel costs out of their own pockets.

The other two major economies in East Asia faced the same plight. The sudden explosion in transportation costs was agonizing.

...

「Hongsawaddy.」

The two pipelines that had previously transported oil and natural gas to their northern neighbor had been acquired by the United Group for three billion jin-yuan and were now converted for internal use.

Li Xingchen, who had already returned to Rongcheng, was probably kicking himself right now.

Too bad there's no medicine for regret in this world.

The atmosphere in Yangon, which had been extremely tense, changed completely today. The entire city was filled with laughter, merriment, and passionate cheers.

The abandoned employees of foreign companies still in Yangon cursed their head offices a hundred times over. Many hadn't known what was happening, while others had been deceived into staying.

Take Park Seong-gi of Samsung Heavy Industries, for example. He had previously thought his supervisor valued him, promoting him to be the interim general manager of the Samsung Heavy Industries Hongsawaddy Branch.

It wasn't until he watched the international news this morning that it finally dawned on him: he was just a sacrificial pawn.

He ate and drank his fill at a restaurant, venting his anger while also cheering along with the locals around him.

Suddenly, he saw Hongsawaddy Television broadcast an emergency notice.

[To counter the threat of invasion from America, Hongsawaddy will enter a Level 2 state of combat readiness, effective immediately. All registered militia members, please report to your designated agency to receive your weapons...]

"Registered militia? Hongsawaddy has a militia?" Park Seong-gi looked confused.

His colleagues next to him were also very surprised.

After all, they had been working in Hongsawaddy for over two years and had never heard of any militia.

But all the New Humans understood.

The so-called militia were, in fact, the New Humans. Only New Humans possessed the militia skill, which they acquired through corresponding combat subroutines.

Currently, the Homo Sapiens Company's Hongsawaddy Branch had about 6.32 million New Human employees, accounting for 12% of the total staff in Hongsawaddy. The vast majority of them were young adults.

Every New Human employee was provided with weapons and equipment, a joint effort by the External Security Division and the Internal Affairs Division. Their armaments were all stored in the local branch's base city.

After finishing their meal, Park Seong-gi and his colleagues walked out of the restaurant and saw pedestrians wearing bulletproof vests and camouflage, carrying tactical backpacks and slinging assault rifles over their backs.

A very high proportion of the people were fully armed, walking through the streets and alleys in groups of three to five.

*GULP...* Park Seong-gi was terrified.

Even though nearly all eligible young men in South Korea had to serve in the military, they didn't actually have the weapon stockpiles to arm the entire population.

Now, in just over an hour, Yangon had produced streets full of fully armed militia. Their weapon reserves were clearly more than sufficient.

In fact, it wasn't just Hongsawaddy. The Homo Sapiens Company branches in Luzon, Siam, and Ceylon were simultaneously activating and arming their New Human employees.

The Luzon Branch had an even larger number of New Human employees, reaching 17.36 million. The Siam Branch had 2.13 million, and the Ceylon Branch had the fewest, with only 460,000.

But the total number was terrifying, exceeding 26 million.

And this was without even mobilizing the New Human employees from the Java and Malaysia Branches, or the natural-born employees at any of the branches.

Although the militia wasn't integrated into the regular security forces and was only formed into garrison regiments, the scale was already immense.

Since the three regions had not shut down the internet or banned foreign tourists, a large number of tourists were still present in their various cities.

Therefore, the massive troop mobilization in Hongsawaddy, Luzon, and Siam naturally couldn't be hidden from other powers.

The Homo Sapiens Company had no intention of hiding it either. They brazenly armed these militia members, letting their New Human employees commute to and from work with their weapons and in their combat uniforms.

「Xing Island.」

Inside Changi Base.

Tom felt like dying. He never imagined that Luzon, Siam, and Hongsawaddy could have developed nuclear bombs right under his nose. He knew his career as the Southeast Asian Black Ship Governor was over.

But headquarters had no time to relieve him of his post right now, so he did his best to gather intelligence.

Tom, who hadn't even eaten lunch yet, turned deathly pale after reading the latest intelligence reports.

'Wang Defa... Do they want to start a world war?'

A militia equivalent to nearly one-tenth of the population, and a fully armed one at that. The numbers would be over twenty million.

Tom quickly reported the news to headquarters.

Black Ship Headquarters, in turn, rapidly relayed the message to the City of the Council and the Pentagon.

A conference room in the Pentagon.

Reid Van, who was in the middle of dinner, nearly choked. His face flushed red. "Are they insane? Do they want an all-out war with us?"

Mark William, Edward, and the others also saw the urgent report.

"A full mobilization?" Edward felt a migraine coming on and quickly tried to calm himself.

Mark William was more composed. "Don't worry. So what if they have tens of millions of militia? They can't swim across the Pacific Ocean. They're probably just trying to blackmail us."

Edward thought for a moment before cautiously reminding them, "We can't rule out the possibility that they're making a desperate, all-or-nothing gamble. After all, if they can mobilize such a massive force, it might mean they've prepared enough nuclear fallout shelters."

This was exactly what the United States Army generals couldn't be sure of.

If the other side was for real, they would be in big trouble.

The United Nations meeting had ended abruptly four hours ago.

Now, America was stalling for time, pulling in several other major powers to arrange talks in Xiangjiang.

The Pentagon's mission was to find a way to locate that super-submarine and rescue the Fifth and Seventh Fleets as quickly as possible.

But judging by the current situation...

Mark William was already realizing that things probably wouldn't go as they had hoped.