The place where Hugh Jones encountered trouble was a small town called Winsberg, located in the mountains near the female camp of the Rhine Army.
In fact, this small town can no longer be found on many current maps because it was extremely remote, far from any main roads, and had been completely abandoned since the 1830s due to a plague.
Prior to this, after a thorough investigation of the entire Rhine Army camp, the military confirmed that there had been no large-scale cases of anemia, except in the female camp. After a search of the female camp, they found nothing and had planned to suppress the so-called vampire incident.
However, just before Hugh Jones encountered trouble, five soldiers who were hunting in the area around this abandoned town went missing.
After the incident, Colonel Ward, the commanding officer stationed in the area, sent a team to search the region and the abandoned town, but the result was that, aside from one soldier breaking his leg after attempting to climb a deteriorated staircase in a building, nothing was found.
With no other leads, Colonel Ward had no choice but to report the matter.
Coincidentally, Colonel Ward's superior, Major General Fletcher, was an associate of Hugh Jones.
When Hugh Jones arrived in Germany, during his exchanges with Major General Fletcher, he had learned about the possible appearance of vampires.
Hydra, as usual, was full of ambitious individuals, and immediately, Hugh Jones became curious about these legendary creatures.
After all, while vampires in legends have many weaknesses, there was one characteristic that particularly attracted someone like Hugh Jones—immortality.
So, Hugh Jones immediately instructed Major General Fletcher, who was in charge of the Rhine Army camp, to notify him if any discoveries were made regarding vampires, and not to report it for the time being.
As a result, the missing persons report from Colonel Ward was relayed to Hugh Jones through Major General Fletcher.
Hugh Jones keenly sensed that this disappearance might be an opportunity.
That very day, he requested a battalion of troops and heavy weapons from Major General Fletcher and set out to search for the small town.
The result was that they went there and never returned. One could say that the Hydra big shot certainly had guts.
This turned out to be a serious problem for Colonel Ward, who immediately reported it to Major General Fletcher.
When Josh's C-69 landed at the local military base, Major General Fletcher was preparing to organize a regiment of troops to personally head to the area where Hugh Jones had gone missing to carry out a rescue operation.
"Mr. Kane, losing one Mr. Jones is bad enough. If something happens to you too, General Eisenhower will execute me on the spot!" Major General Fletcher said irritably when he saw Joshua.
As for this so-called vampire incident, it was discovered by Josh's people, so Major General Fletcher was somewhat inclined to vent his frustration on him.
"General Fletcher, Mr. Jones' incident worries me more than it does you. But urgency alone doesn't solve the problem. If the other side really involves vampires, then, General, do you have any countermeasures prepared?" Despite Fletcher's harsh attitude, Josh didn't mind and instead countered.
"Hmph, regardless of whether this is truly a vampire issue or not, even if it is, I don't believe that thing could withstand machine guns and cannons!" Major General Fletcher snorted coldly.
"Heh, what if they are holding Mr. Jones hostage? Do you want to blow them all up along with him?" Josh scoffed in response.
Faced with Josh's sarcasm, Major General Fletcher was very angry but at a loss for how to counter.
Yes, with the overwhelming firepower of the U.S. military, Fletcher believed that even if vampires were behind this, they would have no reason to fear.
But the real issue at hand was not defeating possible monsters.
The priority right now was to figure out how to locate and rescue Hugh Jones.
"Since you say that, Mr. Kane, I assume you have a plan?" Major General Fletcher, calming down, asked Joshua.
"Indeed, I have an idea, but I need to confirm something first!" Joshua placed his hands in front of him, showing the ring on his left thumb, which represented the leader of the Council.
"You all leave!" At first, Major General Fletcher was confused, but upon seeing the ring on Joshua's thumb, he immediately ordered the officers in the room to leave.
"Hail Hydra!" After everyone left, Major General Fletcher stood at attention and quietly uttered the phrase.
No salute; that kind of thing was learned from the Red Skull and the little mustache, and other Hydra factions didn't engage in that.
Joshua was right: this general was one of his own.
"Hail Hydra!" Joshua nodded and softly returned the greeting.
"Apologies, sir, I didn't know. Mr. Jones never mentioned it!" Major General Fletcher apologized, realizing that as a direct subordinate of Hugh Jones, he had assumed that Joshua and Jones were just business partners, unaware that Joshua was also a Hydra leader.
"It's fine. You're not to blame for not knowing. Now, the immediate priority is to rescue Mr. Jones. He is too important to the organization. But I want to know, have you reported this matter?" Joshua asked.
"Not yet. This matter is too serious!" Major General Fletcher shook his head. He had been preparing to lead the troops personally to search, hoping to find Mr. Jones before the news of his disappearance spread.
"You did the right thing. Don't report it just yet. I intend to use some confidential organizational resources, so your task now is to assemble all the forces you can mobilize and seal off that area completely. Leave the rest to my people. Also, no one is allowed to leave that area without my orders. Can you do that?" Joshua inquired.
"I can do it!" Major General Fletcher nodded seriously.
At this point, all his hopes were placed on Josh.
If Hugh Jones wasn't found, not only would he be in trouble with the military, but the Council would also be furious.
"We'll head out now! Also, get me a few trucks with good concealment. I need to transport something from my plane," Joshua ordered.
"Yes, sir!" Upon hearing Josh's command, Major General Fletcher immediately went out to arrange tasks for his subordinates.
Half an hour later, a regiment of troops, under the personal command of Major General Fletcher, set off towards the area where the town of Winsberg was located.
Josh also led his team and followed along.
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