Chapter 48: Playing with Fire

  On July 13th, global attention once again focused on the war-torn South Asian subcontinent.

  At 8 am New Delhi time, as millions of Indians were leaving their homes to start another busy day at work and in life, Santos announced through India's national television that Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi, along with Army Commander Vohra and Navy Commander Das who accompanied them, had been killed in a blast while reviewing troops in Ludhiana.

  Thereafter, Santos issued a strongly worded, resolute and fiery "Letter to the Indian Nation" as the President of the Grand Old Party, Prime Minister of the Provisional Government of India and core member of the Gandhi-Nehru family, calling on the people of India to unite, work together and jointly resist foreign enemies. Finally, Santos also vowed in the name of the Gandhi-Nehru family that he would severely punish the perpetrators at all costs.

  Throughout the morning, all major Indian television channels were repeatedly broadcasting Santos' "Letter to the Indian People".

  As the official mouthpiece of India, Doordarshan not only carried extensive coverage of Santos' speech but also repeatedly telecast footage of Rajiv Gandhi's assassination and utilized news breaks to give detailed accounts of Rajiv Gandhi's biography, the illustrious history of the Nehru-Gandhi family, Mahatma Gandhi's immense contribution to India's independence struggle as well as footage of Rajiv Gandhi's assassination.

  Like a spark from a powder keg, the nationalist sentiment suppressed in the hearts of Indian people was ignited instantly.

  At 9 am, hundreds of thousands of people spontaneously took to the streets of New Delhi.

  Through the coffee shop's window glass, Li Cunxun could clearly see the angry expressions of the demonstrating crowd.

  After the procession crowd walked away, Li Cunxun went to the counter and bought a few fast food meals, leaving the coffee shop. Outside was still chaotic, several emotionally excited young people dragged a middle-aged man dressed as a Muslim onto the street, frantically beating the innocent with fists, feet, and sticks. As he walked into the alley next door, Li Cunxun heard the sound of miserable cries coming from behind him.

  The demonstration march is evolving into a riot and chaos as lawless elements join in, the situation will soon be out of control.

  Fifteen minutes later, Li Cunxun walked into the underground garage of a high-rise building and went straight to the Ford van parked in the corner.

  After knocking for a while, the car door opened from inside.

  "What's the situation outside?" The agent who helped Li Cunxun interrogate Angelina glanced around before letting Li Cunxun get on the car.

  "It's worse than we expected." After closing the car door, Li Cunxun looked at the other three people in the car and asked, "How prepared are you?"

  "It'll be ready soon, at most five minutes."

  Three technicians took over the breakfast handed by Li Cunxun and continued to be busy.

  The technician on the right is listening to wireless communications of New Delhi police, the middle one is trying to hack into the network of New Delhi Municipal Traffic Control Centre and the innermost technician is handling audio and video information.

  "Got it!" The technician in the middle clapped his hands and picked up a paper cup with hot coffee. "Now, more than a thousand traffic surveillance cameras in New Delhi are under our control."

  "The focus is on the embassy district in the south and the Muslim residential area in the north, as well as Chinatown." Li Cunxun opened the ventilation system inside the car and then pulled out a cigarette. "After obtaining the image data, upload it to the portal website and the official websites of various news agencies as soon as possible."

  "Old Li, the police have started taking action." The technician on the left turned around, "It's the Jama Mosque in the north, the fire department has also been dispatched."

  "Picture!" Li Cunxun furrowed his brow.

  The technician in the middle immediately took control of a nearby traffic surveillance camera and displayed the images on the big screen.

  Thousands of emotionally charged young people surrounded the Jama Masjid, clashing with riot police who had arrived ahead of time. As more and more people rushed to the scene, some began hurling bricks, stones and glass bottles at the mosque.

  "Look at the Molotov cocktail, it's a Molotov cocktail."

  On the screen, several young people with black cloths covering their faces threw gasoline-filled and ignited glass bottles at the Jama Masjid mosque. The isolation belt set up by the riot police was torn open, and the emotionally agitated protesters surged towards the Jama Masjid mosque like a flood under the instigation of the thugs.

  "Have you recorded it?"

  "It's all recorded, and we're doing some technical processing now."

  "Brother Li, the demonstrators have surged into Chinatown."

  "Give me the picture!" Li Cunxun's right hand, holding a cigarette, trembled slightly.

  When Chinatown appeared on the screen, except for the innermost technician who was still working hard, the other four people were stunned.

  Tens of thousands of rioters flooded into Chinatown, with dozens of police unable to control the situation.

  As the first Chinese-owned store was smashed by rioters, more and more stores and restaurants were attacked. The situation quickly got out of control, after smashing the stores, the rioters began to loot goods, beat up Chinese people, and even set fire to the stores.

  "Look quickly, what are they doing? Damn it, they're worse than beasts!"

  The technician in the middle was about to switch scenes when Li Cunxun pressed down on his shoulder.

  On the screen, a group of thugs dragged a Chinese woman onto the street and began to publicly humiliate her. Finally, one thug poured gasoline on the woman who had already lost consciousness.

  "Old Li, we can still make it if we hurry..."

  "No way!" Li Cunxun turned his head to look at his partner. "Our mission is to collect evidence, let the whole world know about India's atrocities, and let everyone know about the tragic incident that happened in New Delhi. Upload the image data to all major websites immediately, we will leave in 15 minutes."

  Three technicians were busy again, Li Cunxun patted his partner's shoulder and got off the car first.

  "Old Li, are we going to just stand by and do nothing?" His partner also immediately got out of the car and closed the door.

  "What can we do?" Li Cunxun lit another cigarette, "What we can do is to publicize the crimes of Indian rioters at the fastest speed and let the international community put pressure on the Indian government. Only in this way can we protect other compatriots and enable more compatriots to escape disaster."

  After finishing speaking, Li Cunxun handed the cigarette he had taken two puffs of to his partner. "Immediately send back the message, and later you bring everyone away from New Delhi."

  "Where are you going?"

  "Up there, I've been assigned a new mission and I won't be returning to Pakistan with you guys." Li Cunxun patted his partner's shoulder. "We can't save one person, but we can save more people. When you understand this principle, you'll be able to carry out missions alone."

  Fifteen minutes later, the van left the underground garage.

  Thousands of miles away, Pan Yunsheng received the news and immediately rushed to the Yuan Shoufu.

  "I've already seen the news on the website." As he walked over, Ji Youguo's footsteps seemed very heavy. "These, were all arranged by you?"

  Pan Yunsheng nodded, he didn't want to exaggerate the Military Intelligence Bureau's merits. Such merits weren't worth boasting about either.

  "Things are hard to predict!" Ji Youguo sighed and sat down, saying, "Although the riot occurred in New Delhi, it was the blood of Chinese sons and daughters that flowed. Such a result is what I least wanted to see and least expected to happen. Originally, we had been trying our best to avoid such a situation, but we had to step by step walk towards disaster."

  "Lao Ji, this is also not your fault." Pan Yunsheng found that Yuan Shou's mentality had undergone a great change.

  Ji Youguo smiled and shook his head. "In any case, the disaster has already occurred, and no compensation can bring back our unfortunate fellow citizens who have perished, let alone heal the wounds in our hearts."

  "We must take action as soon as possible to prevent the disaster from spreading further."

  "You arrived just as I was considering this issue." Ji Youguo picked up a cigarette, "But before we make a decision, we must know the opponent's intentions."

  "What's the opponent's intention?" Pan Yunsheng furrowed his brow.

  "If riots were to happen in Indonesia, I wouldn't be surprised." After lighting a cigarette, Ji Youguo, the head of the Intelligence Bureau, took a glance and said, "India is an ethnic group very similar to ours, enduring and never resorting to violence unless absolutely necessary. Without someone fanning the flames from behind, without someone pushing the waves from behind, do you think Indian civilians would deal with our compatriots in such a cruel way, using such bloody means?"

  Pan Yunsheng was taken aback, and Yuan Shou's one sentence had hit the nail on the head.

  "Santos is playing with fire, and those who play with fire will get burned." Ji Youguo stood up again, "As a politician, Santos should know that national sentiment is only a means, not an end. National sentiment cannot help India achieve its ultimate victory, but instead will lead India into the quagmire of war. Once his goal is achieved, Santos will definitely declare a ceasefire. Now, he lacks one condition, a necessary condition for a ceasefire."

  Pan Yunsheng thought for a moment and said: "What can be a decent reason for India to withdraw from the war?"

  Ji Youguo nodded slightly, stroking his chin in thought for a moment before saying: "The US-led Western countries will use the form of sanctions against both warring parties to provide Santos with this reason, and they will take action soon."

  "This is also a good choice for us."

  "No, the problem can't be viewed that way." Ji Youguo immediately shook his head. "The US provoked the Indo-Pakistani War and then actively mediated a peace, playing both the good cop and the bad cop, reaping all the benefits. Is there such a good thing in this world? If we don't come up with some strategy, I'm afraid it won't be long before we're dragged into the next war and pay an even heavier price."

  "You're saying......" Pan Yunsheng was shocked in his heart, he felt the chill of killing aura emanating from the leader.

  "Even if we can't thoroughly defeat India in this war, we must make it clear to India and all Western countries through this war that the Republic will not be bullied or slaughtered at will." Ji Youguo stopped in his tracks and turned around. "War is not something you can start on a whim and stop on a whim. Those who initiate war must be severely punished. Go back and prepare, send the evidence to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. I'll personally make arrangements with Huang Guowei, it's time for the Foreign Minister to show his face."

  Pan Yunsheng immediately stood up and bid farewell, he knew that Yuan Shou had to switch from defense to offense.

  After seeing off the head of Military Intelligence Bureau, Ji Youguo made a phone call to Huang Guowei.

  Before this, the Republic had been dealing with India in a passive way. From now on, the Republic will take an active and initiative approach to strike against India.

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