Free Web NovelChapter 250: Strategic Meeting
— White House - Situation Room —
24 hours after Natchez was attacked, President Jonah Crump sat at the long conference table, facing the large screen at the end of the room that compiled the situation from the beginning until now.
"Okay, we finally drove it back to the river. The question is, what do we know about this oversized snake? How can we kill it without turning half of Mississippi and part of Louisiana into a fallout zone?"
The four-star general, General Hammond J. Thompson, reached for the remote and turned on the screen.
The screen began playing footage recorded from soldiers’ body cameras, showing the battle between the National Guard, federal forces, and the Kaiju known as the Leviathan.
The recording showed countless attacks striking the Leviathan. Whether artillery shells, rockets, missiles, or ordinary bullets, every attack was blocked by a blue shield-like barrier that appeared whenever it was hit.
The general paused the video at one of those moments.
"As you can see, Mr. President, this thing seems to have some kind of shield, like something we’d usually see in a Hollywood sci-fi film. But..." He unpaused the video and let it continue.
The footage showed the shield finally going down after taking several more hits. A rocket fired from an attack helicopter then struck the Leviathan squarely in the body.
But once the smoke cleared, there was no visible injury. There was only a slight burn mark before the Leviathan retreated back into the Mississippi River, where the pillar of light anomaly had first been witnessed.
"After the shield went down, it immediately retreated to the river. We estimate that’s where its nest is. From what we’ve gathered, we are capable of bringing its shield down, but we’ll need much heavier bombardment this time," General Hammond concluded.
The president let out a sigh.
"Hammond, it took five hours, the entire arsenal of the Mississippi National Guard, countless lives lost, and hundreds of millions of dollars in damages just to bring that shield down."
"From my point of view, that’s not effective enough. Do we have heavier firepower other than the nuclear option?" he asked his Secretary of Defense.
"Mr. President, we have the XDDG-2, the experimental railgun destroyer. If it’s this thing, I think it could bring the monster’s shield down within a few hits."
"How many of those do we have?" the president asked.
"Err... just one, sir," the Secretary of Defense said awkwardly.
The president’s face darkened, but he didn’t say anything. Instead, General Hammond spoke.
"This thing... The Leviathan is quite intelligent. The moment it’s hit by something that can genuinely threaten it, it immediately counters. I don’t know the exact specifications of that toy, but I bet rapid fire isn’t one of its features, is it?"
The Secretary of Defense fell silent before thinking of another possibility.
"Mr. President, we still have the Rod of God program..."
The moment those words came out, the president rubbed his temples.
"Charlie, I said I don’t want to use the nuclear option, but that doesn’t mean I want our country to suffer a foreign policy disaster either. Do you really think we should use it?"
President Jonah felt like he was about to have an aneurysm.
The Rod of God program was a top-secret military space station that the previous president had secretly approved under the cover of tracking space debris.
In reality, it was a military platform capable of dropping a tungsten rod from low orbit with extreme precision. It was so accurate that it could hit a golf ball from orbit with a single strike.
But using it would bring disaster. It would be the complete suicide of his political career.
China, Russia, the UN, and every major power on the planet would hound both him and the United States with all kinds of f*ckery for decades.
"For God’s sake, do we know anything more about this oversized snake? Its weaknesses, how it behaves, what it fears, its prey, how to bait it? Anything?" the President complained loudly as he waved his hand for everyone in the room to see just how frustrated he was.
At this time, a pale old hand was raised. The President looked at the owner of that hand and saw a white-haired Asian man in his fifties or sixties.
"You! Err..." The President gestured toward the old man while trying to look at the nameplate on the table to see who he was.
"I’m Dr. Chenguang Xu, from Peking University. Comparative Mythology & Folklore Studies, and Archaeology," said the middle-aged Asian man.
"Comparative Mythology & Folklore Studies? Come on, don’t tell me this thing came straight out of some Chinese fairy tale?"
One of the military staff mocked him, but Dr. Xu merely smiled. This was not the first time he had been mocked because of his field of study.
The President, who was already frustrated, immediately vented.
"If you can’t give anything constructive, then get the f*ck out of here. Door’s over there, thank you!"
He pointed toward the exit, effectively shutting up the man who had mocked Dr. Xu. The man slowly walked out under the strange gazes of his coworkers.
"Okay, Dr. Xu, you may continue. What do you have in mind?" asked the President.
"Thank you for your kindness, Mr. President," Dr. Xu said before continuing.
"As you know, this... Leviathan has many features of a Flood Dragon, or Jiaolong (蛟龙), from Chinese mythology. Traditionally, a Jiaolong has no horns, four feet with four claws each, and a face resembling a tiger or camel."
"But this thing looks like a serpent to us, and it also has horns..." General Hammond interrupted.
"That’s the problem, General. This... Leviathan appears to be a Flood Dragon that evolved from a serpent. With horns already present, it seems to be on the verge of evolving into a true dragon."
"A true dragon?" the President repeated.
"Yes, Mr. President. Once it evolves into a true dragon, it will become significantly more powerful. According to the folklore I’ve studied, Flood Dragons possess the power to summon rain clouds, cause floods, and have poisonous saliva."
"But from what we’ve seen in the recordings, it can wield lightning and call down thunder. This indicates that it is close to its ascension into a true dragon. And once it transforms into a true dragon... we’ll have a much greater problem," said Dr. Xu.
"What kind of problem?" the Secretary of Defense asked.
"Dragons can fly, control the weather at will, wield lightning and thunder, and possess divine authority. If all of that proves true, even nuclear weapons might not be enough to kill it," Dr. Xu replied.
"Got it." General Hammond nodded. "We need to kill it ASAP."
"Do you know how to kill it? Any weaknesses?" asked the President.
"According to the old texts, it is said:
’Iron and filthy objects can suppress it, preventing it from moving, as if imprisoned. Jiaolong fear golden sounds and drums. During the summer months, farmers make golden sounds to drive them away. If a Jiaolong rises and creates waves, seeing fire and hearing the sound of golden drums will force the waters to retreat. Jiaolong fear fire at night. On summer nights when rain continues, hang a lantern on a high pole to ward off Jiaolong.’"
After Dr. Xu recited the passage, the people in the meeting room looked at one another.
"Filthy objects? Does that mean it fears poop?"
"Golden sounds? What the hell is that?"
The murmurs continued, and the President seemed equally confused, so he finally spoke.
"Doctor, I appreciate your input, but could you please make it easier for us to understand? We are not experts in folklore or mythology."
"Ah, my apologies."
Dr. Xu adjusted his glasses before continuing.
"’Iron and filthy objects can suppress it, preventing it from moving, as if imprisoned.’
This means chains or objects made of iron can restrain it. However, since it is already halfway to becoming a true dragon, the effect may be diminished. What I am certain of is that it cannot tolerate impure environments. Rotten food, human or animal excrement, rotten blood, and corpses would make it unwilling to remain in such places."
He continued.
"’During the summer months, farmers make golden sounds to drive them away. If a Jiaolong rises and creates waves, seeing fire and hearing the sound of golden drums will force the waters to retreat.’
This means Jiaolong dislike loud sounds. Explosions, for example. You might even use sonic weapons to drive it out of the water and onto land. If the texts are accurate, sonic weapons may even weaken it." free𝑤ebnovel.com
He then raised another finger.
"’Jiaolong fear fire at night. On summer nights when rain continues, hang a lantern on a high pole to ward off Jiaolong.’
This suggests a weakness toward sudden flashes of light or intense heat. I believe your military possesses weapons capable of exploiting that."
"And most importantly, Jiaolong rely heavily on water. Once separated from water, they become significantly weaker."
Dr. Xu finished his explanation and slowly sat back down.
General Hammond thought for a moment before speaking.
"We need to create a kill zone, then drive it out of the water and into that kill zone. Use sonic weapons or dump industrial waste into the river."
The Chief Secretary immediately interrupted.
"If you do that, you’ll destroy the ecosystem. We could use animal feces instead. Don’t we have plenty of ranches in Mississippi and Tennessee? We could buy tons of animal manure and dump it right onto that damn dragon’s head. It should be much easier to clean up afterward."
Several people around the table paused.
"Damn... this is the first time I’ve heard of sh*t being used to save a country!" General Hammond joked.
