NOVPUB
Chapter 638: 542
Right after the Mole and his crew were interrogated.
Tang Qing, who was fishing, saw the results of the interrogation. Besides obtaining nearly thirty million dollars in funds, the intelligence provided by Mole and Flying Fish was also quite interesting.
Not only did they crack several unsolved cases, but they also acquired some valuable intelligence that even the Command Room was unaware of.
For instance, the Mole mentioned that a small family in Egypt discovered a dynasty’s treasure a decade ago. The gold alone they acquired was no less than three hundred tons, besides countless other riches. The source of this information was a direct descendant of that family.
After that, the Mole personally killed him as he was the target of that mission.
That mission was clearly a power struggle within their family. Before the direct descendant died, he wanted the Mole to make this news public, to take revenge on his ruthless, ungrateful family.
However, the Mole didn’t do that, instead burying it in his heart, planning to blackmail the family if he ever ran out of money in the future.
But.
The Mole never got that chance.
Subsequently, in the investigation carried out by the Command Room, it turned out that this family did indeed sell nearly a hundred tons of gold over the past decade, under the disguise of several gold mines. Using their own auction house, they put many other valuable art pieces onto the market.
They realized a huge amount of cash and their business grew increasingly larger.
At present, their wealth ranks in the top twenty among families in Egypt.
If the information is accurate, it means that this family still has nearly two hundred tons of gold. The quantity is so large that Tang Qing has the impulse to order a robbery immediately. Of course, it’s just an impulse.
However, the most crucial piece of information was provided by Flying Fish.
That is, during a mission in South Africa, he inadvertently learned about a secret factory in Japan that stores ’yellowcake’.
Upon careful investigation by the Command Room.
It is found that the factory is a subsidiary of a US-listed mining company, which seems to be an oil refining company on the surface but is actually a company secretly mining uranium ore and refining ’yellowcake’.
’Yellowcake’.
It is a refined product of uranium ore. Due to the undeveloped refining process in the early stages, the refined product had a yellow color and was made into the shape of a cake, hence its name.
With improvements in refining technology, it now appears mainly in brown and black colors, but out of habit, people collectively refer to it as ’yellowcake’. It has a stable nature and is easy to store and transport. As long as it is sealed properly, it will not harm the human body. Of course, it should not come into direct contact with the skin or be inhaled into the lungs.
The international trade of nuclear raw materials generally takes the form of ’yellowcake’.
According to Flying Fish, the factory has been producing and storing ’yellowcake’ for Japan, transporting it to the next African country’s smelting factory for refining under the guise of oil, and ultimately storing it as various intermediate uranium-containing materials as needed.
To avoid any accidents.
The entire chain in Africa does not produce high-enriched uranium or weapons-grade enriched uranium, just low-enriched for power generation in nuclear power plants. The abundance is very low, but the spent fuel rods from the nuclear power plants are even more valuable than the new ones.
That’s because these spent fuel rods contain Plutonium-239, an important raw material for making atomic bombs, and Japan has all the processing technology and refining capabilities for it.
Therefore, Tang Qing was thinking about whether to rob it.
The scientists in the lab are still studying the ’Civilian Nuclear Power Plant Solution’ in depth, and it will probably take more than half a month to come up with a mature product plan. He has also been wondering where to get the nuclear fuel.
Although there are many merchants selling ’yellowcake’ in Africa, why spend money if it can be obtained for free? Robbing Japan’s resources, Tang Qing feels absolutely justified.
After considering for a while.
He had Little Two connect to Tang Yi’s image, and the next moment, the movie paused, and Tang Yi’s full body image appeared on the water surface five meters to the right of Tang Qing.
"Tang Yi, do we have any uranium mines?" Tang Qing asked.
"Commander, we have a small uranium mine in the eastern part of Tanzania, which belongs to a company in the Mining Union. There is no human habitation within a radius of twenty kilometers. The estimated reserves are around one hundred and fifty thousand tons. However, to achieve stable mining, it will take at least three months.
We have also discovered four unclaimed uranium mines in Africa. If needed, we will immediately develop a plan to secure them." Tang Yi replied.
Tang Qing nodded. One hundred and fifty thousand tons is the weight of the uranium ore, not the uranium itself. It’s not much. Even if it’s completely mined, it could only refine a few hundred kilograms of weapons-grade enriched uranium at most. If the quality of the ore is bad, this number will be even less.
As an important resource, uranium mines essentially belonged to the superpowers as soon as they were discovered. However, big mines have been mostly divided in the past decade, and what’s left are these small mines. Only then did the countries stop their frantic race to claim mines. Otherwise, unclaimed uranium mines would not be so easy to secure.
"Three months, that’s a bit long. For now, let’s not rush to claim those unclaimed uranium mines since there’s no short-term demand.
Tang Yi, first conduct thorough investigation on the factory, figure out how much ’yellowcake’ is there. If it’s enough for our use, immediately create a plan. If it’s not enough, we’ll figure a way to contact other sellers to make up for the shortage." Tang Qing ordered.
"Yes, Commander." Tang Yi answered.
As much as Tang Qing would like to rob everything, that’s too ostentatious. If several cases of nuclear raw materials being robbed pop up, it would attract the attention of all countries, not to mention the International Atomic Energy Agency isn’t something to be trifled with.
Now that he hasn’t grown into a towering tree, he sees no need to challenge the nerves of various nations.
Now that the ’heavy nuclear fission technology’ has come out in the mall, whether ’controlled nuclear fusion’ technology will appear in the future is uncertain. If that were the case, these uranium mines would become chicken ribs—they would serve no purpose.
As for the Egyptian family that found the treasure, Tang Qing has no plans to seize it at this moment. Let it be a ’reserve’. Leave it there for now, and dig it up to fill the hunger when needed in the future. 𝑛𝘰𝑣𝘱𝑢𝑏.𝘤𝑜𝘮
Meanwhile.
Tang Qing discovered another way to make money, which was to hunt for various treasures that had not been excavated.
"Tang Yi, immediately set up several specialized squads to search for these treasures recorded in various countries but have disappeared. I give you permission to use the satellite for scanning," Tang Qing ordered.
The satellites in the sky could penetrate twenty meters beneath the earth’s surface for material detection, just like last time at the villa, even the firearms in the basement were known to the satellite, which model they were. The satellite was a treasure-hunting tool, but it was limited to shallow treasures. For deeper ones underground, even the quantum satellite was powerless.
Once the underground treasures were almost found, he would think about building ships to search in the sea.
Tang Yi immediately set off.
The projection disappeared.
Tang Qing continued to watch a movie while fishing. This time he played an old film "Landmine War". Tang Qing found it quite interesting. To make it a bit ’modern’, he had Little Two process this black and white film peppered with snowflakes into a color high-definition film.
It was a bit disharmonious.
But Tang Qing was still engrossed in it.
Close to dawn.
Tang Qing ended his fishing trip and also finished handling the company’s affairs. Looking at the abundant harvest in the bucket, he directly took it back to the room and handed it over to the fighter, preparing for a full fish feast at noon.
Standing in the living room.
Looking at the rising sun outside the window, the sky filled with morning glow, Tang Qing was in a good mood. Everything was developing in the predicted direction. This time, the territory was the first time to show its tusks in front of the world.
It was another beautiful day filled with infinite possibilities.
However, for certain individuals, this might be the last sun they would see in their lives. No, those from America and Africa could see the sun one more time, but never mind them.
After looking for a while, guessing that Lin Jiaxue was about to wake up, Tang Qing quickly returned to the room, lay on the bed, holding Lin Jiaxue’s delicate body, he couldn’t help but become eager. What’s he waiting for?
Early in the morning.
He couldn’t waste this beautiful morning glow.
An hour later.
After finishing the battle, Tang Qing still wanted more, but if he didn’t get up now, he would be late. Lin Jiaxue was really a bit tired, Tang Qing could only eagerly help her with washing up and dressing.
After breakfast.
The two walked towards school.
At the same time.
The United States.
San Francisco.
At the top floor of a three-story building, although it was nearing evening here, there were still quite a few people bustling about inside. This was the headquarters of ’Venomous Python’, responsible for their global mission scheduling and distribution. They change the office location every six months.
Director Leon stood behind an employee, arms folded, frowning.
’Mole’s squad had lost contact for ten hours. Not only was communication cut off, but even the location device had no response. His heart slowly sank. This situation had occurred before, but half of those times their people were captured or killed.
"Director, ’Mole’ and his team have been out of contact for ten full hours. There must be a jamming device there, we are unable to receive information or perform satellite positioning," the technician sitting on the chair reported.
Leon said nothing.
He lowered his head and pondered for a while.
"Keep sending requests, I’ll report to the boss immediately." After Leon said this, he turned and walked towards his office. He dialed a satellite phone. Soon, the call was connected.
Leon directly said, "Boss, ’Mole’ and his team have lost contact."
"When did it happen?" A voice of an elderly man came from the other end.
"Ten hours ago, ever since they entered Ling’s territory, they lost contact. Mole has no reason to betray and destroy his equipment," Leon analyzed.
There was silence on the other end for a moment, then slowly said, "Well, let’s wait then. If there is still no news in twenty-four hours, send someone else over there to check."
"Yes, boss."
He hung up the call.
Both sides fell into thought.
But they weren’t overly worried. Even if they died, they can simply be replaced. The key was whether the mission could be completed. That was what truly mattered.
