An employee of Lockheed Martin opened their boxes and Xia Lei saw an FGM-148 Javelin, a mortar, sniper rifles, assault rifles, and grenade launcher. The grenade launcher was Lockheed Martin’s newest air-explosive grenade launcher, the XM25. It had a range of 50 to 2,000 metres and was very powerful. The American troops nicknamed it “The Punisher” because it was deadly to targets even when they were hidden behind cover — the king of street fights.
Xia Lei’s attention was drawn to the XM25 as soon as he saw it. His left eye looked it over, then looked through it, and looked closely at it. All the images of the XM25’s structure, parts, system, measurements and so on were sent to his brain.
This entire process ended quickly, and a faint smile appeared on his lips. His Thunder Horse Group would have a grenade launcher better than the XM25 soon enough.
Xia Lei stopped using his eye and said with a laugh, “What’s this? Is this a test or a competition?”
“Mr Xia,” said Beryl. “Are you worried about something, perhaps?”
“What should I be worried about? No, I just want to know what’s going on here,” said Xia Lei calmly.
“Do you Chinese all like it like this?” Beryl looked at Xia Lei and challenge and scorn flashed in her eyes.
Xia Lei wrinkled his brow. “What do you mean by that?”
“To borrow a saying of yours — acting like you’re at a loss when you know perfectly well what’s going on,” said Beryl. “The French government has cancelled a large order of the FGM-148 Javelin, and the UAE and Saudi Arabia have also made similar cancellations, all in favour of purchasing Thunder Horse Group’s Hellhound One-soldier cannon. I am here to see just how powerful Thunder Horse Group’s Hellhound is. Is it so great that the Javelin cannot match up to it?”
So this was what was going on.
No wonder Lockheed Martin had brought these weapons here. They wanted to compare products with Thunder Horse Group, and see which one of them would wind up the victor. THey wanted to understand the capabilities of the weapons of Thunder Horse Group, and also pressure their opponent while they were at it. Thunder Horse Group had entered the market as a dark horse, and some international big-names could not hold back from taking action any longer.
“Our weapons are excellent, and they have high price-to-performance too. It’s normal for clients to choose our products. ANy normal person would be willing to buy high quality low-priced good compared to brand-name goods,” said Xia Lei.
A small sneer appeared on Beryl’s lips. “I’ve interacted with lots of Chinese people. The impression they’ve given me is that they always like to exaggerate. I hope you are not one of these people, Mr Xia.”
These words of hers made Xia Lei feel uncomfortable.
*
If it was a fight with words she wanted, a fight with words she would get.
“I’ve interacted with lots of Japanese people. Some were friendly and kind, but some think they’re really great and above everyone else. It’s actually just a manifestation of their narrow-mindedness and inferiority complex. They don’t like others having things which are better than theirs, and don’t like seeing others having better lives than them. Am I right, Miss Bai? I hope you are not this type of Japanese person. Oh, right, are you Japanese or American?”
“My surname is not Bai!”
“I got it.” A smile of ridicule came to Xia Lei’s lips. “So are you American or Japanese? Is this question so hard to answer?”
“Mr Xia, is this how you treat women?” Beryl shot him a cold glare.
“Good manners and respect are reserved for certain people. If you think I’m not being polite to you, go ahead and think what you want. I don’t care what you feel about it. But, I’d like to remind you that you have to first learn to respect others to get respect from others,” said Xia Lei evenly.
“You…” Steam seemed ready to burst from the top of Beryl’s head.
Jacqueline Eva drew close to Xia Lei’s ear and said softly, “She’s an American-born citizen and goes by American laws. But she is also Japanese because of her father.”
Xia Lei nodded and thought to himself, ‘This woman sure has a unique background. She could become the main assistant to the CEO of Lockheed Martin, most likely due to her father’s status. And Hattori Masao appearing here is probably to observe the capabilities of my weapons, then try to make something good after that, huh?’
A French person in casual clothing shot Jacqueline Eva a look.
She turned to Xia Lei and said, “We may begin, Mr Xia.”
Xia Lei walked to the boxes with “Thunder Horse Group” printed on them and opened all of them up. One box held the Hellhound, one contained the XL2500, one contained the Gust, and the remaining two held the ammunition needed for the testing. The box containing the bullets for the XL2500 and the Gust was fairly small.
A Lookheed Martin employee walked over with a Javelin. He cut straight to the chase. “Mr Xia, the targets are the tank and land fortifications 2,000 metres away. Would you like to go first, or should I?”
Xia Lei glanced at the target area and saw a scrap-tank 2,000 metres away. There were also land fortifications made with reinforced concrete, looking like some sort of bunker from the World War II era. Around the bunker were human-shaped targets, meant for the testing of the damage dealt by the cannon. Xia Lei’s confidence was boosted by what he saw.
“How about you go first, Mr Xia?” said the Lockheed Martin employee.
Xia Lei then said, “You are using anti-tank missiles to compete with my Hellhound One-soldier Cannon. You guys sure are being professional.” He raised his voice. “A guided anti-tank missile’s market price is about 100,000 USD, and our Hellhound is just 50,000 USD. It comes equipped with ten shells on top of that. Us becoming the preferred choice in the market is not a coincidence, but inevitable.”
“Mr Xia, an item being cheap does not mean that it is good. You’d better show us what your Hellhound is capable of. Don’t say big words and end up making a fool of yourself,” said Beryl rudely.
Xia Lei could not be bothered to argue with her. He put on earmuffs and took out an armour-piercing missile and loaded it. He then aimed at that scrap-tank and pressed the button. There was a boom and a hole opened up in the scrap-tank almost 1.5 seconds later with a great explosion of smoke and flames!
The group of Frenchmen, and the soldiers of the French Foreign Legion were gobsmacked. A missile like this would become the exterminator of tanks and land fortifications if brought onto the battlefield!
Hattori Mei was also thunderstruck, and she stared dumbly at Xia Lei and the Hellhound One-soldier Cannon on his shoulder. This weapon was simple to operate, had a range of 2,000 metres, was powerful and priced low — who was going to buy anti-tank missiles with this around!
The Javelin and Dow were American’s two main anti-tank missile products. They were popular across the globe, and in great demand in several countries — real earners for America. But now, the great monopoly enjoyed by the Javelin and Dow was being challenged with the appearance of the Hellhound on the market!
Beryl was shell-shocked but she shows no surprise on her face. She glanced at her father, Hattori Masao, and father and daughter spoke with their eyes.
Boom! Xia Lei fired a second shot while the onlookers were still in shock.
Booom! A huge pit appeared in the land fortifications 2,000 metres away. The surrounding human-shaped targets were also destroyed, turned to tatters. If that had been a troop of soldiers, not one of them would have been able to stand up and fight again.
It was so quiet one could hear a pin drop.
The impression the Hellhound gave was not that of a one-soldier cannon… It was practically a shoulder-carry tank! On top of that, this tank didn’t need fuel, can cross streets and climb stairs, and crawl through grass. Enemies could not defend against this!
Xia Lei unequipped the Hellhound after firing it twice and casually threw it into the box. He picked up the XL2500 sniper rifle next, loaded, raised it and aimed at the furthest target.
“That’s impossible!” said an officer of the French Foreign Legion. “That target is 2,500 metres away. No one has ever hit it!”
He had just finished his sentence when the XL500 sniper rifle let out a small roar.
No one could see if Xia Lei had hit the target or not because it was too far away.
But just three seconds later, an officer holding a pair of binoculars suddenly cried out in surprise, “My God! He’s hit that target — and in the bullseye too!”
The quiet spell was immediately broken.
The Lockheed Martin employees who were handling the Javelin all stared dumbly at Xia Lei. They didn’t know what to do next.
“The XL2500 has been field tested long ago. It is the world’s best sniper rifle. Not happy about it? Well then, just hit that target over there before you get back to me on that.” Xia Lei casually tossed the XL2500 back in the box, then picked up the Gust assault rifle.
These Frenchmen wanted to see the capabilities of Thunder Horse Group’s weapons, huh?
He was going to expand their horizons!
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