Chapter 64: Chapter 60: Official Statement

The ship does not dock;

The people do not leave the ship.

It seems that the Japan Cabinet Government does not intend to let the tourists disembark for the time being!

Indeed.

After all, the Platinum Star Cruise Ship is not a Japanese vessel. From the perspective of international law, Japan is not actually obligated to handle the infectious disease incident. The obligation should be borne by the country to which the ship belongs: the United Kingdom;

Moreover, half of the tourists on board are non-Japanese. From a practical point of view, if tourists are rashly allowed to disembark and the virus leaks onto the mainland, the Cabinet Government would probably be harshly criticized by its own citizens.

In the previous round, Ito Meiyu precisely utilized this point to create public opinion and cause panic, forcing the South Korean Government not to allow the cruise ship to dock.

But on the cruise ship, tourists facing the virus, chemical defense soldiers, and gun barrels would also experience fear.

A few foreign tourists finally couldn’t suppress their urge and argued about wanting to disembark, but the chemical defense soldiers stopped them directly and, after their warnings failed, took strong measures.

A tall soldier reassured the crowd with a loudspeaker.

He stated that until the situation was thoroughly investigated, no one was allowed to disembark the ship temporarily.

Once the cruise ship was under the control of the chemical defense unit.

Gu Ji recounted the infection situation to the tall soldier while giving out the relevant control instructions.

Military execution is indeed the strongest. It took them only a dozen minutes to have all tourists return to their cabins for medical screening.

Seeing this scene, Gu Ji could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

With government and military intervention, the spread of the infection could be controlled quickly.

And such a large-scale action by the Cabinet Government similarly alarmed the Japanese citizens on land.

The news media, sensing an opportunity, swarmed in and surrounded the area outside the quarantine ribbons tightly. Through photos and video footage sent by tourists on the cruise ship, the news of the “Platinum Star Cruise Ship being attacked by a terrifying virus” quickly took the top spot on Japan’s online trending lists.

Reporters also conducted live broadcasts on-site, passionately explaining and analyzing this crisis, with Japan’s largest public media NHK having the most viewers.

Indeed, this media outlet was quite capable, not only acquiring photos of the chemical defense unit sealing off the ship but also obtaining videos of Gu Ji subduing Ito Meiyu and commanding the control operations.

[Oh my God! It looks pretty serious inside the cruise ship!]

[My friend said the virus had already spread inside, and apparently many people have died!]

[Severely punish the attackers!]

[That woman organizing the control is so cool, but why is she speaking English?]

[I really hope the government won’t let these tourists disembark. I don’t want to get infected by the virus!]

…

Gu Ji was also browsing the public opinion commentary.

Sure enough, some people, worried that the virus would spread to the mainland, refused to allow the tourists to disembark, and even many locals in Yokohama were preparing to petition the Cabinet Government collectively.

Of course, many tourists’ relatives were eager for the government to transport them to hospitals for isolation and treatment, as continuing to stay on the cruise ship posed too high a risk of infection.

For a while, the two sides were in endless argument.

At this time, several black Toyota Alphard cars arrived from a distance. Amidst media photographers, government high-ranking officials in suits got out of the cars one after another.

Journalists instantly flocked to the leading middle-aged official with graying hair and tortoiseshell-colored glasses, bombarding him with questions.

The middle-aged official first bowed in apology and then, in a low voice, spoke: “As circulated in the media, the Platinum Star Cruise Ship was subjected to a bioterrorism attack at 9 AM. The Counterterrorism Intelligence Department had previously received interception intelligence from code: 7472 force and has successfully captured the two main perpetrators, recovering most of the virus vials. However, some of the virus has still leaked.”

“But please don’t worry; the 7472 force members quickly initiated a Level I response to control the spread when the attack occurred. According to the Police Headquarters’ investigation, this virus originates from the Hokkaido University Microbiology Research…”

Listening to this unbelievably familiar voice, it was the Minister of the Japan Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare: Tanamura Katsushin!

The cruise ship virus incident had caused a massive public uproar, and the Japan Cabinet Government had to publicly provide an explanation to reassure the populace, with the key to resolving this incident tied to the intelligence provided by Gu Ji!

The result was that the code 7472 was brought to public attention.

NHK reporters picked up on this topic instantly: “Minister Tanamura, is the code 7472 an internal intelligence force of Japan, and which department does it belong to?”

“Minister of Health, can you provide more details about the 7472 force!”

…

Not only the media reporters, but even the live-streaming Japanese netizens were hotly discussing, with bullet screens scrolling furiously:

[Code 7472 force is amazing! It even acted faster than the counter-terrorism intelligence unit!]

[It sounds pretty mysterious!]

[Hahaha, the nation is getting stronger again!]

[Are we not wasting too many taxpayer resources with so many intelligence departments?]

[As long as people feel safe, it’s a good department!]

…

Facing the reporters’ pressing questions, Tanamura Katsushin pursed his lips:

“The code: 7472 force is not part of Japan; they are a unit specializing in crisis management, counterterrorism, and special tasks. They participated in the resolution of the Ethiopian airport attack incident half a month ago. We are currently in a good cooperation state, so we hope people can trust us!”

Originally excited and thrilled, the Japanese netizens were instantly disappointed upon hearing Tanamura Katsushin’s statement.

However, many were still intrigued by this mysterious unit, especially since the Laird Airport attack case was a hot news topic in the past fortnight, causing an international stir, and it was indeed this unit that resolved it.

After watching the interview with Tanamura Katsushin, Gu Ji couldn’t help but admire the secretary public relations team behind him.

With just a few words, they linked him and the Japan Cabinet Government together, making it seem like the two parties had a close “brotherly” relationship.

However, this official press release also served to cement the identity of “code 7472” for him.

In the future, if he needed assistance with identity, at least he wouldn’t have to make things up on the fly.

With the identity of “code 7472,” the chemical defense troops, medical staff, police, etc., looked at Gu Ji differently from before, making it easier to command.

Through the combined efforts of everyone, the first batch of close contacts, totaling 23 individuals, and secondary contacts numbering 69, were quickly identified. According to Gu Ji’s instructions, they were placed in batches in cleaned cabins for centralized medical isolation and observation.

“The incubation period for this virus is 1 to 3 days. Pay special attention to Nakamura Hiro, as he is the only patient who directly ingested the virus.”

While Gu Ji was explaining details to Dr. Matsushima and the chemical defense team, Watanabe Yoshi called again.

This time, even the tone was more polite: “I understand that the 7472 unit to which you belong cooperates with the U.S. FBI for intelligence exchange. May I ask what you would like us to provide this time?”

Gu Ji squinted slightly:

“It’s quite simple. I just need the complete background investigations of Ito Meiyu, Ishiguro Yonezawa, and the cruise manager Morioka!”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep