I Have A Dual World Seal

Chapter 1122: Chapter 1121: Unmasking the Mastermind

When Lei Zhiyun came to again, he was already in a hospital in Toronto.

"Damn!"

The first thing out of his mouth was a curse. Lei Zhiyun shot up in bed, his eyes full of terror.

"Mr. Lei, you’re awake?"

The door of the private ward was pushed open, and two Hua Country men in suits rushed in.

"The hell?"

In Lei Zhiyun’s mind it was still that military Humvee slamming into him head-on. Cold sweat beaded on his forehead. He looked at the two men who’d rushed in, then at the spotless white ward and the quiet surroundings, and for a moment he had no idea whether what happened before was a dream, or whether he was in a dream now.

"Who are you? Where am I?" Lei Zhiyun asked blankly.

"Mr. Lei, you suddenly went missing yesterday morning. We couldn’t reach you by phone. After the staff reported it, we cooperated with the Maple Country police to conduct a large-scale search. Near midnight yesterday, we found you unconscious on the lakeshore outside Toronto, along with Mr. Wang Zhiyi and Mr. Qi Yong," one of them said.

"Huh?" Lei Zhiyun was completely dumbfounded. So everything he experienced yesterday was real?

"Mr. Lei, we already did a full-body exam on you overnight. You’re fine now, please rest assured," the other one said.

"Oh, oh, sure, I’m fine." Lei Zhiyun nodded dully.

"You... what did you experience yesterday?" the man on the left asked. "When we found the three of you, you were all soaked through, like someone had thrown you into the lake?"

"Yesterday I..." Lei Zhiyun’s mind was foggy, like he was still in a dream.

"Please rest first, there’s no rush. We’ll contact the relevant people, and we can talk after you’ve rested," the man on the right said hurriedly.

"Oh, oh." Lei Zhiyun nodded, then suddenly seemed to remember something and quickly asked, "Yesterday, in the Lighthouse Country, was there a military base that got hit by a tornado cluster?"

"Hm?"

The two men looked at each other, not understanding why Lei Zhiyun suddenly asked that. The incident had indeed made front-page headlines around the world, but what did it have to do with him?

"Yes, there was. According to reports, a National Guard base in Rochester, New York State, in the Lighthouse Country, was struck by the largest tornado cluster in history. It happened to be right on the path of several tornadoes and suffered devastating losses."

"Hiss—" Lei Zhiyun sucked in a sharp breath.

"Mr. Lei, what’s wrong?"

Lei Zhiyun said with lingering fear, "Yesterday, I was there."

"What!?" The two men were shocked in unison.

"My last memory is being swept up into the sky by the tornado," Lei Zhiyun went on.

"Huh!?" The two men were utterly stunned.

...

[Tornado Cluster Hits National Guard, A Wake-up Call on Global Weather Changes]

"At around 5 p.m. yesterday, several massive tornado clusters suddenly formed near the Rochester base of the New York State National Guard.

According to meteorological satellite data, these tornadoes were concentrated within a three-kilometer radius, numbering twelve in total. The diameter of the lower funnel exceeded one hundred meters, with core wind speeds reaching 200 to 300 meters per second. The tops joined together into a single mass, shrouding dozens of kilometers around.

The tornado cluster formed south of the base, passed over the base at its peak intensity, then continued north for nearly ten kilometers, destroying all buildings, highways, farmlands, and forests along the way, entered Lake Ontario to the north, and then gradually dissipated over the lake.

This is the seventh tornado disaster in our country this year, and also the largest tornado cluster disaster in history. A New York State National Guard lieutenant general held a press conference, stating that the base’s direct losses amounted to 700 million US Dollars: five helicopters, eighteen tanks and armored vehicles, and over a hundred sets of various large-scale special military equipment.

Because the incident happened suddenly and personnel had no time to take shelter, and because the tornado cluster’s coverage area was too large and the base population dense, casualties were extremely heavy. Currently, the known death toll stands at 258, with 1,129 people missing.

This is the greatest loss our military has ever suffered in a natural disaster. The White House decided this morning to fly the flag at half-mast in mourning.

As global temperatures continue to rise, tsunamis, hurricanes, earthquakes, hailstorms, and tornadoes are occurring more frequently, in greater numbers, with increasing strength and a broader swath of destruction.

We need to take global climate change seriously and remain vigilant, elevate environmental protection to a higher priority, limit the use of fossil fuels, and control carbon dioxide emissions..."

...

While Lei Zhiyun was waking up in Toronto and the Lighthouse Country was broadcasting reports of yesterday’s tornado catastrophe, Lu Zheng and Lin Wan had already arrived at an industrial park on the outskirts of San Francisco, California.

Harry Precision Instruments Industrial Park.

This was also the company that masterminded the kidnapping of Lei Zhiyun.

Because of business competition and conflicts with domestic companies, they leveraged their connections in the FBI, mobilized manpower to kidnap the three of them, and tried to obtain R&D data and business lists from a certain enterprise back in Hua Country.

"Never heard of them. Didn’t think they’d have that kind of pull," Lu Zheng said evenly.

"Other than those few biggest ones, how many have you actually heard of?" Lin Wan asked.

"Not... not many." Lu Zheng shook his head.

"The Lighthouse Country has a lot of power centers. Beyond the White House and the Pentagon we always hear about, the Department of Commerce, Department of Justice, Department of Energy, Department of Homeland Security, and so on all hold their own powers, with their own circles of interest groups around them."

Lin Wan said calmly, "Not to mention anything else, just the companies that cooperate with the Pentagon number in the tens of thousands."

"Damn."

"According to intel, this Harry Group goes through the Department of Justice. The FBI just so happens to be under the DOJ’s jurisdiction, so they’re basically family—makes things easier," Lin Wan said.

"I see." Lu Zheng nodded. "Being able to so ’coincidentally’ grab the chance when the three of them were in a meeting together to snatch them... looks like they’re paying very close attention to the company Leizi works for, huh?"

Lin Wan shook her head. "No, I suspect the fact that the three of them were invited together in the first place was this company’s doing."

"Not impossible." Lu Zheng raised an eyebrow, then said with a strange tone, "Kidnapping foreign experts isn’t the kind of call just anyone can make, right?"

"Of course." Lin Wan nodded with a cold smile. "At the very least, the chairman definitely knew. The CEO is just a high-level wage slave—he doesn’t have that kind of clout or coordination ability."

"But he can’t just walk away either. One at a time—let’s collect a bit of interest first." Lu Zheng nodded, as if it were only natural. "We’ve already had a tornado. Now if a California wildfire breaks out too, that’d still be perfectly normal, wouldn’t it?"

Lin Wan curled her lip. "Except California wildfires usually happen in the dry autumn and winter seasons."

Lu Zheng shrugged. "But the environment’s getting worse and worse. Wildfires starting early is totally reasonable, don’t you think?"