In the federal army, ranks above those of company and field grades are the general grades, which are distinguished by the number of stars on their shoulders. The most famous five-star admiral is that man who likes to have a smoking pipe in his mouth. Appearing before Luo An and the others, he looks to be in his fifties, with a stern face and a single star on his shoulder, ranking as a Quasi-General. According to Eastern ranking systems, he is roughly equivalent to a division advisor or deputy commander, assisting the division commander in commanding a division and overseeing the planning and coordination of the division's operations. Seeing him approach, Chenier and Michelle, although not in the military system, still subconsciously put away their guns and stood up straight with serious faces. Sobian, on the ground, is greatly shocked. Initially lying there in a state of abandonment, he now looks utterly confused, instinctively propping himself up from the ground, attempting to stand up. The Quasi-General, escorted by a group of soldiers, walked up to the few of them. He didn't pay attention to Chenier and Michelle, nor did he look at Sobian on the ground; he stared straight at Luo An and said without expression: "Are you Luo An Greenwood?" "Yes, Mr. Quasi-General." Luo An nodded respectfully without being subservient, not knowing the other party's name, so he could only address him by his military rank. Then he pointed at Sobian on the ground and said: "This is the culprit who stole the nuclear warhead." The Quasi-General nodded without speaking and casually waved his hand. A group of soldiers immediately surged forward, pulling Sobian up from the ground and firmly restraining him. Just as a soldier was about to stuff something into Sobian's mouth, Sobian hurriedly ducked and turned towards Luo An, shouting loudly: "I succeeded, didn't I? The nuclear warhead has exploded, hasn't it? I succeeded!" Sobian was so agitated that his voice broke. The Quasi-General frowned slightly, turned to look at him, and said coldly: "That nuclear warhead will not explode. Take him away!" The Quasi-General addressed Sobian with the first part of his statement, while the latter part was directed to the soldiers. Upon hearing this, Sobian began struggling violently, his face turning red with anger, desperately trying to understand what had happened. The soldiers beside him didn't bother with words and simply stuffed something resembling a rag into his mouth to prevent Sobian from biting his tongue, then pulled him briskly towards the distant helicopter. Hearing the Quasi-General's words, Chenier and Michelle also showed confusion, turning their gazes to Luo An. Luo An smiled and explained: "I'm not entirely sure of the specifics myself. I only know that the detonation mechanism inside the nuclear warhead has been damaged." The chemistry and physics principles behind the nuclear bomb are too complex; Luo An hasn't studied them in depth, which is almost equivalent to no knowledge at all. However, Luo An is somewhat clear on the process of bomb detonation, which involves triggering the actual explosive component through a detonation device. From a macro perspective, the process of a nuclear warhead exploding is not too dissimilar from that of an ordinary bomb. Michelle blinked, some familiarity with the theoretical principles behind nuclear bombs showing in her eyes, while Chenier caught onto another issue: "How do you know about this?" "I made a phone call last night." Looking at the Apache helicopter gradually taking off in the distance, Luo An said with a smile: "I managed to get in touch with the deputy minister of the Ministry of Defense." Last night, while waiting for the helicopter, Chenier and Reesi took a short rest back to back. Worried that Sobian had already transferred the nuclear warhead and that they were powerless to act, Luo An decided to seek help for interception. The FBI couldn't provide much help in this regard. Not because Vireness was unhelpful, but because the FBI's work is primarily with simple explosives such as TNT and plastic bombs. Nuclear warheads are far beyond the FBI's Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) capabilities. They can identify and even disarm it, but lack the capacity to handle potential nuclear radiation. The organizations capable of dealing with nuclear warheads are only military ones. Right from the start, Luo An had taken out his phone to call Vireness, hoping she could get in touch with the military. For some reason, the military was giving Vireness the runaround, leaving her shaking with rage but utterly helpless. Luo An thought about the situation for a moment and then took out his phone to make another call. This time, he was contacting the fox-faced female journalist Louise, whose father was a deputy minister in the Federation's Ministry of Defense. After hearing Luo An's brief description, there was a long silence on the other end of the deputy minister's phone before he spoke again a few minutes later. The deputy minister told Luo An that the nuclear warheads wouldn't explode and said that the troops in Texas would be ready to deal with the nuclear warhead. Luo An just needed to lead his team to capture Sobian and pin down the exact location of the nuclear warhead. That was why Luo An remained calm when Sobian was arrogantly shouting and yelling; Mona had already sent out the message, and the military would send someone to deal with that train. After Luo An's explanation, Chenier and Michelle's confusion didn't diminish; instead, it increased, such as what exactly was going on with the military faction that was giving Vireness the runaround. Luo An couldn't answer; he hadn't sorted out this matter himself. Since the Quasi-General hadn't left yet, he exchanged a few pleasantries with him and then asked about that situation. "You did very well with this nuclear warhead incident, Group Leader Greenwood." The Quasi-General patted Luo An's arm with an expressionless face as he praised: "Now, there are very few outstanding young people like you, even in the military." Luo An, whose "Emotional Perception" detected the other's friendly attitude and sincerity in his words, calmly accepted the praise. As for the remark about a dwindling number of excellent talents in the Federation Army, he remained noncommittal. As the political correctness movement became more vigorous, there would inevitably be a surge of individuals belonging to one of the 97 different genders in the Federation Army. With the involvement of individuals from the LGBTQIAPKDXREW+ community, the army would certainly not lack for excellent talents in the future. Not dwelling on this, Luo An steered the conversation back to the main topic and inquired about the military faction that had been giving Vireness the roundabout. The Quasi-General checked his phone and, without answering Luo An's question, said: "The nuclear warhead has been successfully dealt with, it didn't explode, and there has been no radiation leakage; it's very well-preserved. Group Leader Greenwood, let my men assist with treating your wounds, then take you to the nearby city to rest." Seeing that the other party didn't respond, Chenier and Michelle, who had been listening silently, furrowed their brows. Luo An and the Quasi-General exchanged looks for a few seconds before Luo An smiled and accepted: "Then, thank you very much, Mister Quasi-General." The Quasi-General nodded without a word and gestured for a captain to come over and have his soldiers help Luo An's group. Reesi was still at the previous large rock, cautiously guarding Sobian's subordinates who had been stunned and injured by the explosions. The Quasi-General also sent people to take all of them into custody, and Reesi, along with Luo An's group, rode on to the nearby city. Arriving smoothly at Austin City, the capital of Texas, everyone rested for a while. Winslow had also returned from Colorado and joined the group, sharing his experiences: "... Captain Josrey finally breached the farm and was about to leave when a new group of military forces appeared and directly took Captain Josrey away." In the private dining room of the restaurant, Reesi bit into a large chunk of lamb chop, then turned her head to guess at Luo An's conjecture: "Could this be another factional dispute within the military forces?" Follow current novels on novel✶fire.net Such incidents were not uncommon within the Federation Army, after all, where there were people, there were factions, let alone the many arms enterprises, some Congressmen, and even within the Federation's military-industrial complex, there were a ton of contradictions due to different divisions of interests. Luo An picked up a piece of beef and stuffed it into his mouth, talking while eating: "Let's not meddle in the internal affairs of the military. This case is closed for us; let's eat something and have a good rest tonight. Tomorrow, we'll return to Washington." Everyone nodded, and as they began to eat, Luo An's action suddenly halted, and he looked up at Winslow to ask: "Winslow, did you let the person in the SUV go?" "Person? What person?"