[T/N: The roughly two-month delay happened because of some serious family health issues.
First, my mother had to be hospitalized after her blood sugar shot up to around 480, along with very high blood pressure over 200. Her condition was serious enough that she had to stay in the hospital for about two weeks and needed constant care.
Not long after that, my brother suddenly developed paralysis in his hand, fell off his chair, and had fits. We rushed him to the hospital, where doctors found blood clots in the blood vessels connecting the brain to hand movement. His blood sugar was around 450 and his blood pressure was about 180. Because of the severity of his condition, he had to stay in the ICU for a week, followed by another week in the regular hospital ward.
Now, both of them are fine but need constant supervision to make sure there is no relapse.
With these back-to-back emergencies, I missed a lot of work time. Because of that, I couldn't update the novels, which led to the delay.]
[Chapter 542: The Solution]
After all, Bill Clinton had been marked with his Soul Slave Mark, making it impossible for him to refuse any of Linton's orders.
Once he hung up Linton's call, he wiped the cold sweat from his brow and immediately picked up the phone again, unleashing a torrent of curses at National Security Advisor Thomas Donilon. He sternly demanded that by the start of work tomorrow morning, Thomas must deliver a full security assessment report on Linton's upcoming trip.
He also instructed Leon Panetta to cancel all his scheduled appointments for the next morning and to notify the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Commerce, and the National Security Advisor to meet in his office to discuss Linton's trip and the related security arrangements.
Under his pressure, Thomas convened the security assessment team for an all-night work session. They barely managed to finalize the report by the start of the next workday.
According to their comprehensive evaluation, Linton's foreign trip didn't pose any major risks. The primary concerns boiled down to three points.
The first risk was a potential airplane accident. Linton was flying directly on his private jet, so the greatest danger was the flight crew. As long as thorough background checks were done to ensure none of the crew members could be compromised or collude with foreign agents, that risk would be effectively eliminated.
The second risk was the possibility that Columbian or Hong Kong authorities might detain Linton, secretly imprison him, or declare him missing or harmed. Everyone acknowledged that the chance of this was slim, yet given Linton's possession of the formulas to produce the Vitality and Beauty Pills, which involved huge stakes, the risk -- however small -- still existed. After all, what if it happened?
The third risk concerned safety inside Columbia or Hong Kong itself. If the White House successfully arranged for two bodyguards and secured permission for them to carry firearms domestically through diplomatic channels, this risk would be negligible.
After several strong cups of coffee, Thomas stayed alert and joined the small, high-level meeting personally chaired by President Clinton. The topic was how to guarantee Linton's itinerary in South Columbia would be 100% secure.
The main focus was how to prevent the second risk highlighted in the report.
Remarkably, after in-depth discussions, the group quickly reached consensus and drafted a preliminary plan everyone agreed upon.
Immediately, the State Department and the Commerce Department sprung into action, communicating urgently with their counterparts. By evening, they finalized a complete plan, though some details would need further tweaking the next day. The scheduled trip on the 20th was well on track.
...
At 8 p.m. Los Angeles time on the 18th -- 11 p.m. Washington time -- Linton received a call from President Clinton. All arrangements had been settled, and he was set to depart on the 20th as planned.
However, for safety's sake, the White House had devised a special secure travel plan. Linton was asked to fully cooperate.
To ensure his protection, the Commerce Department had assembled a high-level business delegation led personally by Secretary of Commerce Mickey Kantor. The delegation's trip would last 14 days.
Linton and his entourage were added to the delegation's roster and would travel together on the White House-arranged chartered plane.
Upon arrival, Linton could separate from the delegation and move freely, but he was required to have two Secret Service agents accompany him at all times. At the end of his trip, he was to rendezvous with the delegation at their agreed time and place to return to Washington on the same plane.
With the Commerce Secretary personally leading the delegation, the other side would be unlikely to cause any serious diplomatic incidents by taking hostile action against Linton. Combined with the White House's control over the aircraft, nearly all risks were effectively neutralized.
...
After hearing Clinton's rundown, Linton felt it was an overreaction -- completely unnecessary -- yet he didn't want to refuse, so he readily agreed.
He then instructed his assistant Li Xiaoran to coordinate with Secretary Mickey Kantor on the travel details.
For this trip, Linton was traveling with only four people: Aunt Kelly, assistant Xiaoran, and two bodyguards, Danny and Kurt.
When members of his harem heard about his plans, many expressed strong desires to join, even Winnie showed keen interest.
But his main mission was to gain merit energy by visiting all charity-funded road and school construction sites, officially claiming it was a quality inspection tour.
If he brought a swarm of beautiful women along, the locals' deep appreciation and goodwill might sour, diminishing the merit he hoped to gain.
That would be a loss he couldn't afford -- he'd regret it forever.
More importantly, he had already promised Xu Qing they would travel together soon, so bringing a harem would complicate matters and harm that relationship.
If he had to pick one woman, Winnie might have been the best choice, since he intended to give Xiaoran some vacation to reunite with family after they arrived in Hong Kong.
That way, Winnie could accompany him openly and even pose as an assistant, avoiding unnecessary rumors.
But just bringing Winnie would upset the others, so to dodge tensions, he decided not to bring anyone besides those essential.
To make up for it, he promised everyone that he would stay at the farm throughout August after returning, inviting them to vacation together there.
That very evening, Linton hosted a unique and spectacular farewell party with Winnie, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Michelle Reis, big darling Jennifer, Naomi Watts, Izumi Sakai, and Akina Nakamori.
---
The next afternoon, Linton, Aunt Kelly, assistant Xiaoran, and bodyguards Danny and Kurt flew into Washington, where they were warmly greeted by Secretary Mickey Kantor.
Both sides engaged in lively discussions on the itinerary, enjoying a genuinely pleasant exchange.
Mickey Kantor lowered his stance, fully aware of his role. The big, high-profile delegation to Hong Kong was strictly for Linton's security and whimsy.
He had his own ambitions -- rarely did he get a chance to befriend someone the White House revolved around.
He intended to seize this opportunity to establish a solid connection with Linton. Building this relationship promised unparalleled influence.
Mickey Kantor knew his core task was to guarantee Linton's safety. Though he'd dearly love to shadow Linton throughout, he recognized Linton's nature wouldn't permit it.
After friendly talks, Mickey Kantor fully agreed that Linton could act independently once in Hong Kong, arranging a specific meeting time and place for returning together.
Linton agreed, insisting that the two Secret Service agents -- Steve and Hanst -- accompany him at all times.
Thanks to the State Department's efforts, Steve and Hanst had obtained domestic firearm permits from both South Columbia and China.
With their protection and domestic support, any threats were unlikely.
Mickey Kantor requested, in Linton's presence, that if Steve or Hanst encountered danger, they notify Mickey Kantor immediately; even if no danger occurred, they were to report safe every evening.
---
That night, Mickey Kantor hosted Linton and introduced him to other senior executives in the party.
The Commerce Department had clearly invested effort. Though the trip lasted just two days and the delegation's true purpose was protecting Linton, the group they assembled was genuinely impressive.
Seven top companies were sending executives. Looking at the list, Linton recognized these names instantly -- well-known enterprises heavily featured in his own investment funds.
Among them were Yahoo's CEO Jerry Yang, Cisco's President Robin Michael, Compaq's President Tim Walton, Dell's CEO Hoffman Ridge, KFC's COO Kester Walker, General Motors' COO Hank Mitch, and Pepsi's CEO Ollix Willis.
Seeing Linton, these executives expressed pleasant surprise and eagerly greeted him, exchanging views on the Hong Kong trip.
Linton sensed that with China's booming economy and expanding market size, the opportunity was irresistible for major American corporations.
Spurred by the Commerce Department, all parties were mobilizing to investigate the market first-hand and plan next steps.
Take Yahoo, for example. Though barely over two years old, its growth had been explosive, unlike traditional businesses. It had rapidly established roots in the U.S., Europe, and Japan, becoming the global leader in portal websites.
Linton believed China, with the world's largest population, would surely be the next big internet market. Yahoo needed to get in early.
So upon the Commerce Department's invitation, Jerry responded promptly by coming himself.
Walmart, relying on a "quality at low cost" model supported by scaling procurement and logistics enhanced with information technology, had become the retail giant in the U.S. and Europe.
Seeing China's huge population and retail potential, Walmart had been planning to enter the Chinese market for some time, making this trip perfectly aligned with their interests.
As he listened, Linton realized all these companies except General Motors shared a vibrant spirit of market expansion, international vision, and operated in sunrise industries.
With America's global dominance as a backdrop, their continued growth seemed highly likely.
He considered notifying Winnie to enhance monitoring of these companies and to increase stock purchases on the secondary market.
General Motors, however, had been losing ground domestically to Japanese and German competitors and lacked viable countermeasures. Moreover, during the conversation, he discovered that COO Hank Mitch was far less ambitious and enterprising than the leaders of the other companies.
The enthusiasm from computer and internet firms about China's market signaled that the first wave of China's internet boom was imminent. Investing in a China-focused internet venture capital fund was becoming a must.
...
During the dinner, Jerry Yang found a chance to speak privately with Linton, thanking him for his ongoing trust and support.
Linton's fund was Yahoo's third-largest shareholder, yet he never meddled, instead offering full backing to Jerry's management team.
Jerry also praised the explosive traffic boost from Linton's recent media stir, which had catalyzed Yahoo's soaring stock price.
Since its April IPO, Yahoo's market value had surged from $1 billion to $2.6 billion in just three months, largely thanks to the traffic Linton brought.
Jerry also thanked Bella Miller -- Online Publicity Department Manager -- for proposing the brilliant idea of a celebrity message board.
The new software module based on this was in final development, expected to launch within a week.
Jerry was certain this would boost Yahoo's traffic hugely, driving the stock even higher.
He promised that Yahoo would do everything possible to promote the popularity of Linton's associated stars within the message boards, helping with publicity, traffic direction, and exposure.
After this groundwork, Jerry timidly revealed his true purpose: he hoped Linton would grant him priority to purchase a bottle of the 8-million-dollar Vitality Pill.
Though Yahoo's skyrocketing stock price had made him a multi-millionaire worth over 550 million dollars, with his 21% share, in reality, with his income, he couldn't afford the $8 million.
Having amassed vast wealth, at least on paper, he naturally craved the pill's miraculous effects.
Previously, he arranged people to buy the pills for him but couldn't get his hands on one, but now traveling with Linton presented the perfect opportunity.
Linton readily agreed. After all, as Yahoo's major shareholder, the healthier and sharper Jerry was, the better Yahoo's prospects and his investment returns.
...
That night, in the presidential suite of the Willard InterContinental Hotel in Washington, Hillary quietly slipped in.
She expressed concern about Linton's safety during the trip while also offering to do her best to serve him.
The moonlight was beautiful, and so were their movements...
*****
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