Rich, Rhine Metal; poor, Rhine Steel. 75

Chapter 75 GBT! (Second Update!)
June 4, 2024

Chapter 75 GBT! (Second Update!)

Back in the ward, Michel looked at the open window and started considering whether he should jump out of it.

Meanwhile, the Mossad special investigation team arrived at the front lines.

Under the guidance of relevant personnel, team leader Ramo Ellis met with the front-line commander-in-chief, Ragnar.

Upon meeting, Ragnar greeted Ellis’s mother with an overly friendly, almost sickeningly sweet greeting. It was the kind of greeting that implied a desire to help Ellis, almost like a newly acquired brother.

Listening to the profuse insincere flattery, Ellis remained calm. Only after the man had exhausted his supply of sycophantic words did Ellis slowly pull out a handkerchief and wipe the spittle from his face.

The entire action was elegant, natural, and utterly nonchalant.

After wiping his face and discarding the handkerchief, Ellis kept his face impassive and said coldly, “According to the information provided by various hospitals,”

“In this operation, over ten days, a total of 543 people in the attacking forces were killed, and 231 were seriously wounded or disabled.”

“Rounding up, that’s practically a thousand casualties.”

“I want to know how you, the commander-in-chief, managed to lead such a disastrous battle?”

“Heh—” Ragnar scoffed, unconcerned. “Is that so? I heard the Ministry of Defence, according to the latest regulations, says these people aren’t classified as dead.”

“How come, when it comes to you, they suddenly become casualties, and you’re looking for trouble with me?”

“Besides, you guys were the ones collecting pre-battle intelligence.”

“Can you tell me where those damned Arabs got their weapons?”

“They had rockets like they were free.”

“They practically abandoned their rifles.”

“Those bastards even used rockets against infantry, you know? I saw with my own eyes a veteran soldier hit by eight rockets! Blown out of his cover alive! He landed on the ground, and then another rocket hit him!”

“Not even tanks get that kind of treatment!”

His lengthy complaints did not resonate with Ellis. After the commander finished speaking, Ellis impassively asked, “Where are the weapon remnants?”

“This way.” Pointing with his hand, Ragnar led the way.

Soon, the two were in a large tent, examining the collected weapon remnants.

These remnants were neatly arranged on a long table, categorized by location of discovery, time of discovery, and the extent of damage caused.

Ellis stood before the remnants.

After studying them for a while, he took a pair of anti-static gloves from his companion and put them on.

He carefully picked up the remnants, using cotton swabs to gently wipe away the remaining explosive residue.

This is the most common method for tracing weapons.

Military explosives are standard products, but there will be slight variations depending on the blending ratios used by different manufacturers.

These minute differences can be used for tracing their origin.

After extracting traces of explosives from all the remnants, he began analyzing their origins.

After meticulous examination, he finally found a strange term on one of the remnants:

GB/T.

He carefully copied the three letters onto his notebook and stared at them, lost in thought.

He searched his memory, but he couldn’t match those three initial letters to any famous international arms manufacturer.

After racking his brain, he came to a conclusion: this abbreviation wasn’t an arms manufacturer’s abbreviation.

It was very likely an abbreviation for the type of rocket itself.

Weapon name…

GB/T…

Global Ballistic Transport.

An awkward term suddenly popped into his head, and once it appeared, he couldn’t shake it off.

Global Ballistic Transport.

This term is exclusive to intercontinental ballistic missiles, and there’s an even more exclusive term associated with it—Nuclear.

Nuclear.

Appearing on this 150mm rocket.

Is this the name of the rocket? Or does the manufacturer of this rocket have global delivery capabilities?

With doubts in his mind, he continued searching the fragments and soon found another relatively intact piece.

There were a few characters on it.

Rheinmetall!

The instant he saw these Chinese characters, an incongruous name, accompanied by a primal fear, made the seasoned intelligence officer shudder.

Rheinmetall GmbH.

“MD,” he cursed, then turned to examine the 105mm rocket remnants.

It was clearly an imitation of the Soviet PG7VR, and the workmanship was very refined.

Apart from the cheap-looking paint on the outside, it was definitely a product of a world-class arms manufacturer.

Was it that arms manufacturer?

And how did the Palestinians get in touch with them?

That was the main question.

The latest novel is first published on [website name redacted].

With a direction for his investigation, Ellis immediately took his leave; he needed to find out how the Palestinians contacted this arms manufacturer as quickly as possible.

He had to find everyone on this line and kill them all.

His intuition told him that if he didn’t find this line quickly, there would be countless more troubles.

After categorizing and packing the weapon remnants, Ellis and his team raced towards Tel Aviv.

Time was of the essence.

……

On the other side, Lin Yu was guiding Jalim through the 200mm rocket launcher manufacturing workshop.

Suddenly, without any warning, he felt a tickle in his nose and quickly inhaled twice.

He sneezed three times in a row.

Achoo! Achoo! Achoo!

He slowly steadied himself, a thoughtful look on his face.

Three sneezes in a row definitely meant someone was thinking about him, and not in a good way; they were wishing him dead.

After thinking for a while, he couldn’t figure out who had such a deep grudge against him. Shaking his head, he dismissed the thought, turned to Jalim, and asked:

“What were you saying just now?”

Jalim was staring at the steel pipe. Hearing this, he turned his head, pointed at the text on the steel pipe, and asked back:

“Why is ‘GB/T’ printed on this steel pipe, followed by a string of numbers? Isn’t this making things easy for people to find fault?”

“That’s exactly the point.” Explaining his reasons, Lin Yu came to the steel pipe and pointed at the text on it.

“DN200 hot-dip galvanized seamless steel pipe, that’s the name of this pipe.”

“GB/T 8163-1999 is the standard. GB stands for national standard, and T means recommended for use. In our country, GB is the baseline; above this baseline, stricter professional standards can be used.”

“8163 is the number of this standard, and 1999 is the year it was promulgated. If there’s a later updated version, you only need to change this date.”

“The manufacturer is Rheinmetall Group. If you were in a foreign country—no, in any other country—and you saw this name on a weapon, and you happened to understand both Chinese and English, who would you think of?”

“Rheinmetall!” Jalim answered without hesitation, blurting out a name both were familiar with.

The difference was that they usually used the English name, not the Chinese characters.

After a moment’s thought, Jalim understood Lin Yu’s meaning.

Why would any arms manufacturer print this kind of information on a rocket? It’s a waste of time, increases costs, and makes it easy to be found out.

But they did it anyway.

This clearly tells everyone that this is a pipe for transporting water or oil.

You can’t even use this excuse?

Running his finger along the steel pipe, Jalim slowly turned his head and asked, “Can we test it?”

“Yes!” Lin Yu nodded, immediately adding, “But it’ll cost extra!”

(End of Chapter)

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