The Wolf of Los Angeles.

Mosul, West Asia.

An old Lada car drove through the ochre-colored city, its frame creaking and groaning as it traversed the potholed roads, as if it might fall apart at any moment.

The car carried five people, including the driver. They all had large beards and wore headscarves. They carried AK series rifles and imitation rifles, and looked extremely fierce.

Upon arriving at the city's outskirts, Walid, whose beard was slightly graying, pulled down his turban and pointed ahead, saying, "We're here."

As the Lada braked, the four men, excluding the driver, got out of the car and rushed forward with automatic rifles in hand.

Walid took the lead, kicking open the wooden door and firing a burst of gunfire into the room.

The window next to them was also smashed, and another gunman opened fire.

Walid rushed to the side of a cabinet to make way for his two teammates behind him.

Four AKs roared simultaneously, the sound of bullets shattering things clattering together.

The mud walls of the houses were riddled with holes by powerful rifle bullets.

Walid, having kept half a magazine full of bullets, shouted, "Stop! Stop!"

There were many armed forces here, but only a few were well-trained. The other three did not stop until they emptied their magazines.

Walid made a gesture to remain vigilant, quickly stepped forward and glanced inside; both people in the room were already dead.

"Retreat! Retreat!" He turned and left.

The other three quickly followed, ran to the car, and Walid shouted, "Let's go!"

The driver floored the accelerator, and the Lada's exhaust pipe emitted a plume of black smoke. The car rattled and banged, and it seemed as if rust was falling to the ground.

Fortunately, the vehicle did not break down, and the vehicle was successfully evacuated from Mosul.

Returning to the dilapidated village where the stronghold was located, Walid carried his replica AK, entered a courtyard, handed the gun to a man wearing a headscarf at the gate, and bowed before going inside.

A bearded man sat on the gleaming wool carpet. Seeing him enter, he asked, "Is the matter settled?"

Walid said, "Both targets have been eliminated by my men!"

The bearded man nodded, took out a metal badge, and tossed it to Walid: "Your captaincy is officially confirmed today."

"Okay." Walid took it, and seeing that the bearded man had no further instructions, he turned and left the house.

He retrieved his gun, found his four direct subordinates, gave them instructions, and headed towards his residence.

Along the way, many acquaintances greeted Walid.

Walid joined the organization a few months ago and performed exceptionally well, so he was promoted to captain and will inevitably become a key figure in the future.

The young Dabach followed, and when no one was around, he asked, "Captain, what's the situation up there?"

Walid said, "There are no specific tasks for now. Let's try to climb to a higher position here."

Dabach, quick-witted, said, "It seems we need to do things from a higher level."

Walid nodded, glanced back at the people in the village, and said, "With only a few hundred people, we can't accomplish anything significant for now."

Dabach chuckled softly and said, "We were one of the core members in the early stages."

The two belonged to the same squad and quickly entered the same courtyard, refusing to mention what had just happened again.

Walid went into the house, sat by the window, and took out a tattered wallet. In the photo slot, there was a picture of a boy.

This is a photo of his son, who is currently studying in the United States at an excellent international private school. He doesn't have to worry about tuition, living expenses, or other daily costs.

The higher authorities will handle this matter head-on.

Before embarking on this mission, Walid had a video call with his son in Türkiye. His son was doing very well in the United States, just like the children from good families in Hollywood movies.

This kind of life was something he never dared to dream of before.

Now, my son has arrived at the beacon of humanity, and the future looks bright.

With this in mind, Walid roused himself, went outside into the yard, and loudly called out his team of more than 20 members, demanding that they begin training.

Although some people complained in secret, there was discipline here, and they could only follow orders.

Walid knew very well that only by leading his team to make a name for themselves could he gain a higher position in the organization and even have some say, thereby influencing the decisions of the big boss.

Others share the same idea, and several teams are undergoing rigorous training.

Walid didn't know how many people had been sent over, nor did he know if any of his own people were among those leading the squads.

What he had to do was to pave a future for his son.

On the other side, a burly 30-year-old man with a short beard shouted, "Haven't you all eaten? Even Jewish prostitutes are stronger than you. Are you even weaker than Jewish whores?"

A group of young Arabs, brainwashed by extremist ideologies, started yelling.

The two teams ran past each other from the village entrance. The burly man and Walid exchanged glances, both confirming that they were not people they knew in Africa.

The two teams gradually drifted apart.

…………

Inglewood, Los Angeles.

Pierce Madden, the chairman of the Osmond Charitable Foundation, accompanied Hawke on a walk around campus.

The principal, who was originally supposed to be accompanying them, had already been sent away to a distant place.

From the moment his security team suffered casualties in the attack on Africa, Hawke instructed his charitable foundation to invest heavily in a private school with a strong faculty and excellent facilities.

After several years, the foundation gained full control of this private school that integrates primary and secondary education and hired outstanding international teachers at high salaries.

As we all know, public school teachers are government employees, and the teachers' union is one of the largest organizations in the United States. They definitely deserve some credit for the current state of happy education in the United States.

Pierce explained to Hawke, "The teachers we hire are very responsible, they are very strict with their studies, the curriculum is rich and interesting, and the school has already made a good reputation."

Hawke nodded slightly and walked towards the playground where a physical education class was being held.

The skin color of the students on the playground is very characteristic of Los Angeles, with a large number of Latino children, as well as white, black and Arab children, etc.

Among the first few who died in the war in Africa, some of their younger siblings went on to attend university.

They all received crucial letters of recommendation and were awarded scholarships by a dedicated foundation.

Many skilled employees at Hurricane Company and Butterfly Security Company have proactively sent their children to Los Angeles for education to avoid any worries about their future.

Therefore, these people rarely become traitors.

Hawke watched the children playing football for a while and said, "Some people are fighting and dying for us. Their families must be taken care of, understand?"

Pierce was involved in too many of Hawke's secrets, and there was no way he could get off the ship. He decisively replied, "They're protecting me too. I know what to do."

Hawke may not have much of a conscience, but he's genuinely doing these things. He understands the relationship between fish and water very well.

The two walked back and met up with the principal and Edward who were waiting behind them. Hawke said, "If you have any problems, you can contact Miles directly, or call Edward."

The principal said, "My greatest responsibility in this position is to help students thrive."

Hawke didn't say much and went to visit other parts of the school.

The school's facilities have just been upgraded in the last two years and can be considered top-notch even in the entire Los Angeles area.

At noon, Hawke also had lunch in the student cafeteria.

Regardless, his display of such importance will make his subordinates work much more diligently.

In the afternoon, California Governor Brian Kemp, who was in Los Angeles to promote a project, also visited the school to demonstrate the importance he places on education.

Pierce had already made arrangements and communicated with the governor's team. The relevant footage would be filmed and sent to Africa and South America, so that people could see their children in America being able to communicate face-to-face with the governor.

Over the years, he has traveled to many countries and regions overseas, especially Africa and South America, where people truly regard America as a paradise.

But the people who live here won't tell them in the media or in Hollywood movies that money is paradise.

Brian's schedule was very tight. He stayed at the school for more than an hour, interacted with a group of children of different skin colors, and then left with Hawke.

The next destination is a West Coast technology company.

Brian glanced at the teachers and students seeing the students off at the school gate and said to Hawke, "This trick should work well, right?"

Hawke simply said, "You've taken care of their worries, protected their family interests, and tied them closely to mine. Anyone who stands against me is their enemy."

For those who have read that book, these are all very common methods.

Brian understood this perfectly: "That's a good idea. I'll have the Ferguson family's security company look into it later."

Hawke thought for a moment and then said, "This method will definitely have problems in the long run, but overall the advantages outweigh the disadvantages."

He laughed: "Once you become president, none of these will be problems anymore."

Brian's goal now is the White House.

Upon arriving at West Coast Technology Company and visiting the satellite center and drone showroom, Henderson quietly told Hawke some good news.

"The White House Office of Science and Technology reported that some of Tom Emmer's high-tech development plans have been approved by Congress, including the drone subsidy program we were pushing for."

Henderson explained, "The maximum subsidy can be as high as 15% per unit."

"That's definitely good news," Hawke said. "Great! The drone market is going to grow rapidly. Will the production capacity there be able to keep up?"

Henderson said with a smile, "We've communicated with them, and it's not a problem at all. They even told us that we could double our production capacity."

The imported drones are all OEM products, and their costs and after-sales maintenance are incomparable to those of American companies.

Most importantly, the quality of the exported goods is in no way inferior.

Brian asked, "In which areas are they primarily used right now?"

Henderson explained, "In agriculture, for example, drones spraying pesticides are far more accurate and cheaper than traditional fixed-wing aircraft; in firefighting, they can penetrate deep into fire scenes and even use fire extinguishing bombs on high-rise buildings; in forest patrol and protection, they can improve work efficiency by more than ten times..."

As for other personal uses, the applications are even more extensive.

Another point is that, after two years of production development, the failure rate of drones manufactured on the other side of the Pacific under OEM agreements is far lower than that of drones manufactured in the United States.

The latter has a failure rate nearly three times that of the former.

Hawke did a lot of work in the early stages, and some things were quietly progressing and gradually bearing fruit.

The West Coast drone's biggest competitor in the civilian market has recently hired an entire team of Indians to design its latest drone's core software, thanks to the efforts of several North American Indian-origin organizations, including the Mutual Aid Society of India and the Indian Business Association.

There are more and more Indian "high-level talents" in Silicon Valley, and the mainstream American media are using all sorts of methods to promote Indians. Even in the remote livestock industry of the International Development Agency, the bizarre phenomenon of "India hype" has emerged.

It's as if the only paradises in the world, besides the United States, are India.

Hawke then had Henderson invite the Indian Abhishek to Los Angeles again, and through the Indian Mutual Aid Association, he secretly leaked some information to various Indian organizations in North America.

…………

As part of the new president's high-tech development plan, the drone market subsidy program is not aimed at just one brand on the West Coast, but at the entire civilian drone market across the United States.

Machine Science currently holds the second-largest market share in the emerging drone market, second only to West Coast Technologies.

Spurred by favorable policies from the White House, Machine Sciences is preparing to launch a series of new products to compete with the West Coast.

Therefore, based on recommendations from various parties, they hired a brand-new core control software design team.

Arjun, an Indian, became the chief engineer.

At the test flight field of Machine Science, Arjun and his test flight team are conducting final adjustments to several new drones before test flights.

Several of the company's senior executives are not very technically proficient, but they can see the most intuitive aspects of drones.

This thing, once created, is ultimately meant to fly in the sky.

"Number One is ready!"

English with a curry accent came through the walkie-talkie.

Arjun immediately gave the order: "Number One, lift off!"

A large quadcopter drone slowly ascends into the air amidst the airflow.

The professional pilot immediately took off and flew the aircraft to the target area.

But halfway through the flight, the drone suddenly started shaking, and like an Indian helicopter preparing to rappel, it fell to the ground without warning and shattered into pieces.

Ah-Jung's face looked rather grim; how could she fail right from the start?

However, he was quite confident in his team's capabilities, stating frankly, "It's normal for test flights to fail; don't let it affect you. Prepare for the second drone."

The second one is also a rotary-wing drone, but it is smaller than the first one and its functions are not quite the same.

After the drone took off, it still experienced some shaking during flight, but the operator was quite experienced and successfully flew the drone back and landed it on the ground.

“Excellent, we have succeeded.” Arjun was even more confident: “Number three, get ready.”

But No. 3 was very uncooperative, crashing as soon as it took off.

Of the dozen or so drone models that were subsequently test-flown, nearly a third failed.

This outcome left the executives of Machine Science Corporation quite embarrassed.

The failure rate is far too high.

They studied drones from the West Coast, which were cheaper, more robust, and less prone to malfunctions. (End of Chapter)