With the conditions settled, the remaining tasks could naturally be handed over to Tianshu.
Su Yi, on the other hand, found himself with free time.
Originally, he had planned to take a vacation on Penglai Island for a few days, taking advantage of its recent renovation and his newfound leisure.
But unfortunately, as soon as he returned to the island, before Su Yi had even settled down, Tianshu informed him of some very bad news.
"Sir, we've encountered some trouble."
"An international cargo ship that had just entered the Honghai waters was carrying supplies we needed, so I contacted the buyers and sellers behind the merchant ship and purchased all the materials through an overprice acquisition."
"The procurement process went smoothly, but now this ship has run into some problems."
"What kind of problem?" Su Yi, who was about to go downstairs to fish, put down his fishing gear.
Anything Tianshu specifically came to him about was never simple, and he couldn't afford to not take it seriously.
"They encountered pirates? Specifically, the infamous Suo Country pirates on Blue Star. Six hours after I reached an agreement with the buyers and sellers behind the merchant ship and paid for the goods and shipping, this ship, on its way back to Penglai Island, passed through Suo Country waters and was subsequently seized by pirates."
"The ship belongs to Kyushu Shipping, and the cargo it was transporting consisted of industrial semi-finished products sold by Kyushu to the Ōuzhou Alliance. For Suo Country, which lacks an industrial base, these goods themselves have no value. Under normal circumstances, their ultimate goal in hijacking a merchant ship would be to demand ransom. Therefore, they usually wouldn't touch such giant Ocean-going freighters; they would only detain the people."
"But this time, after seizing the merchant ship, they not only didn't immediately demand any ransom from Kyushu Shipping Group, but instead, after detaining the crew, they sailed the freighter into a port in Suo Country. Not only did they detain the people, but they also seized the ship itself. This behavior is quite abnormal, and combined with the overly coincidental timing, I believe their objective is more than just robbery; it's highly likely they were instructed by someone behind the scenes."
Su Yi frowned as he listened:
"Can you find any traces of them being instructed by someone through the network?"
"No, sir," Tianshu immediately replied.
"Previous manipulations of online public opinion may have already attracted the attention of some forces. This time, they left almost no trace on the network; they must have controlled all of this through offline actions."
There are only a few countries and forces in the world capable of remotely controlling these pirates to do such things offline.
The range of suspects immediately narrowed.
"Have they not demanded a ransom yet?"
"Not yet. Currently, Kyushu Shipping Group is already in contact with them, but the results are not optimistic."
"Then don't worry about it for now; let the Kyushu people handle the contact," Su Yi waved his hand.
Kyushu Official has certainly encountered such matters before, and their experience in handling them is far greater than his.
Let the professionals handle professional matters.
"I speculate their target should be Tianyu Group. If Kyushu goes to negotiate, I'm afraid it will be difficult to get any ideal results," Tianshu reminded.
"Additionally, the supplies loaded on this ship are currently urgently needed by us. The expansion of Penglai Island's industrial zone cannot be done without these materials. If they cannot arrive at Penglai Island port within three days, it is highly likely to delay the planned Magic World military aid program."
"Of course, there's another solution. That is for you, Sir, to personally make a trip and transport the materials from the origin using your portable space."
Upon hearing this, Su Yi's gaze narrowed involuntarily. After a moment of contemplation, he suddenly let out a sarcastic chuckle:
"It seems those White-headed Eagle still haven't given up their wicked intentions."
Connecting all the clues, it wasn't difficult to guess that the White-headed Eagle and the North Ocean Pact were behind this matter.
In such a short time, without using network means, only these traditional Western powers could control those pirates.
As for the purpose of these people, that was also very easy to guess.
It was nothing more than using these pirates to provoke Tianyu Group as a scapegoat, forcing Tianyu Group to use force to retrieve its goods and rescue the kidnapped crew.
After all, although Suo Country has been in a state of anarchy for decades, it is still nominally a sovereign state.
Even if they reject all conditions proposed by Kyushu, Kyushu cannot truly disregard international implications and sail warships across the Ocean to brutally attack pirates.
Ultimately, if Tianyu Group wanted to resolve this matter quickly, it would have to take action itself.
As long as they took action, they could assess the combat power of those Power Armors and exoskeletons.
Given Tianyu Group's current development momentum, once these Western countries determine that Power Armor and exoskeletons can be dealt with, they will undoubtedly launch a war against Penglai Island without hesitation.
They have too many reasons to start a war. They haven't completely torn off the facade yet, primarily because they are uncertain about Tianyu Group's true strength and dare not act rashly.
Understanding these key points, Su Yi immediately said to Tianshu:
"You directly use the channels of major social media to tell those pirates."
"If this ship cannot set sail again within three hours, they will bear the consequences."
"Yes, Sir!"
Tianshu said no more and immediately used Tianyu Group's official accounts on all social platforms worldwide to announce the news of the merchant ship being hijacked by pirates.
At the same time, he posted Su Yi's demand.
Under its controlled push, in less than an hour, this news had successfully spread throughout the world, instantly causing a huge stir.
Pirate hijacking of merchant ships is not really news worldwide.
It's just that in the past, when such incidents occurred, whether it was official governments or the hijacked shipping companies, they all adopted a low-key approach, not publicizing it widely.
Even so, Suo Country pirates are notorious worldwide; almost everyone has heard of them.
This time, however, directly announcing the news of the hijacked merchant ship to the whole world, and so brazenly demanding that the freighter set sail again within three hours—not just release the people, but make the freighter set sail—
Such brazenness, showing no regard for the pirates whatsoever, was a first.
It immediately caused an uproar.
After all, no matter what you say, Suo Country is nominally a country. They've already taken the goods back to their own territory. If you don't obediently pay the ransom, are you really going to send troops to fight them directly?
Then the matter would no longer be simply fighting pirates, but an invasion.
This is also why, for so many years, various countries have been plagued by these pirates but have never been able to do anything about them or eradicate the problem.
Fighting pirates and fighting on the territory of a sovereign state are completely different matters.
...