London—Night City—City Hall

"Oh?"

John Carpenter, the Foreign Secretary, had just sat down in his office when he picked up the newspaper on the desk, surprised by the headline.

"Miles was bombed by missiles in Night City? Unbelievable, who could have done this?"

This is the President of the United States; who would be so bold?

Aren't they afraid of consequences?

Though New America lags somewhat behind, its Military Technology company is still one of the top three defense contractors in the world. Doing something like this is akin to dragging both parties' reputations through the mud—it would be odd not to retaliate.

Carpenter was stunned by the audacity of the act, and began speculating about the mastermind behind it.

He continued reading down the page, and an incredulous feeling arose.

"Cuba? What's going on?"

Carpenter looked up and asked his secretary, Fletcher.

"What year is it now? Is it 1962?"

"Ahem..."

Fletcher felt a bit embarrassed; he certainly understood what Carpenter meant.

"Sir, it's 2076 now."

"Thank goodness... I thought I'd returned to the Cuban Missile Crisis era. Thank heavens at least this time Cuba didn't fire nuclear missiles, and fortunately Miles survived."

Carpenter wiped the sweat from his forehead. If Miles had died because of this, it would have meant weeks of overtime and long-haul flights, which would be unbearable for an elderly man.

"But why would the Cubans do this?"

He looked at Fletcher, already having a rough guess in his mind.

"There must be someone orchestrating this, right?"

"....."

Fletcher didn't answer, just stared at his shoelaces.

Carpenter got the hint, adjusted his glasses.

"Uh... is it the European Community?... It couldn't be Soviet Petrochemical, right? Wait, I remember they were investigated in Night City not long ago for something, and the company mentioned in the paper was the one that got bombed. Heaven... did the Soviet Union order Cuba to launch missiles to attack the United States? Am I dreaming?"

Though the complexity was beyond his expectation, Carpenter quickly realized that as the Foreign Secretary, he would inevitably have to address this issue at a press conference.

At the very least, he had to condemn those drug cartel groups in Cuba, even if it was just lip service, and if possible, further complicate things for the Soviet Union.

They even smuggled low-end cyberware into the European Community without sharing the profits—it was truly unforgivable.

"Fletcher, you go..."

As Carpenter stood up to instruct Fletcher to arrange the press conference and materials, Fletcher quickly stopped him.

"Sir, regarding this issue, I think it's best for us to remain silent."

"Remain silent?"

Carpenter was baffled. Soviet Petrochemical orchestrated Cuba to bomb New America; it seemed like the perfect moment for the United Kingdom to get involved. Why would the secretary suggest silence?

But they had worked together for over a year, and such camaraderie meant Carpenter could sense his thoughts.

He promptly sat back down, probing.

"This attack was launched by Soviet Petrochemical remotely controlling the Cubans, right?"

Fletcher pulled out a chair and sat across from Carpenter, intertwining his fingers on the table.

"It should be."

"Your 'it should be' is...."

"For security reasons, Minister, I cannot say more."

As Fletcher spoke, he averted his eyes, avoiding Carpenter's gaze.

Upon hearing the word 'security,' Carpenter immediately realized something, sat upright, took off his glasses, and his tone grew cautious.

"Are you saying... MI6?"

Fletcher coughed into his fist at the corner of his mouth.

"Cough... cough..."

His expression was so troubled that Carpenter was completely confused.

"What does that mean?"

It's just MI6, and he was the Foreign Secretary; surely he could at least mention it.

Fletcher responded earnestly.

"We do not acknowledge the existence of MI6."

"Nonsense."

Carpenter looked at Fletcher as if he were an idiot.

"Who on earth doesn't know we have MI6?"

"Even so, we still cannot acknowledge it because not everyone in this room has been vetted.... to us, Cuba is top secret."

"What?"

Carpenter was taken aback by this information.

A small island nation in the middle of North and South America, how did it get tangled with them, the United Kingdom?

"Cuba, us?"

"Due to some historical reasons."

Historical reasons... It's well-known that when small countries have territorial disputes, ethnic conflicts, or national fragmentation issues, if you look it up online, it always leads back to the United Kingdom.

"So Soviet Petrochemical knew about this...."

Carpenter stopped halfway through the question, quickly covering his mouth.

Isn't this obvious? It was MI6's doing; could there be anything the Soviet Union didn't know?

What MI6 knew, the KGB knew as well.

The Kremlin even had knowledge of British Foreign Office secrets unknown to the British Prime Minister.

"Heaven...."

Carpenter was dazed; Miles had now declared war on Cuba because of this incident. But it seemed that they had quite a connection in Cuba. If a war really broke out, the United Kingdom would definitely encounter many troubles.

So those damned Soviets did it on purpose, wanting to drag them down with them.

The missile model seemed to be produced by Military Technology after all.

Perhaps New America and Miles also did this deliberately, intending to use Cuba as a focal point to eliminate the UK's influence in Latin America.

"We must prevent this from happening. At least it shouldn't turn into a hot war, Fletcher, we must do something."

——————

The Heavy Heart Bar was one of the few buildings in Dog Town that didn't need to be torn down and rebuilt, because it was a 'necessity' for too many people. Even in the future, underground smuggling operations in Dog Town would need a place to discuss business and rest. Therefore, even though the place was quite noisy now due to construction all over the Taiping Continent, the regulars might be staying away temporarily, but its basic operations were still maintained.