Darkstone Code

Chapter 671 - 0668 The ship is gone

The Legislator declined Mr. Lynch and Mr. Truman’s offer to see him off, leaving alone.

Just as he said at the dinner table, the current timeline is very delicate, with the election approaching and the public’s attention highly concentrated, any small matter can be magnified into big trouble.

This is also a good time to bring down some political opponents before the new President takes office; any public opinion being swayed during this period will be particularly powerful, and all politicians must handle it cautiously.

He will not give this project a green light just because his son designed the aircraft’s blueprint and became Lynch’s partner. He must combine real situations to make comprehensive considerations before giving his opinion—an impartial, neutral opinion without any vested interest.

This is his persistence and bottom line as a Member of Parliament, which is moving.

After seeing the Legislator off, Truman and Lynch stood on the restaurant’s balcony overlooking the entire Bupen, both feeling somewhat emotional, and neither spoke for a while.

After several minutes passed, Mr. Truman finally sighed, "Are you really willing to do this?", he chuckled, "That’s fifteen million!"

Lynch retorted, "Is it too late to ask me now?"

They exchanged glances and laughed.

The money Lynch brought out to establish this company wasn’t just to smooth out interests with the Legislator, but also to satisfy some interests of the Military’s high officials.

Soldiers are also people, and Generals are even more so; they’re not just soldiers, but also children, husbands, and fathers.

Everyone not only wishes well for themselves but also for their families. Some of their family members are placed in various military-industrial enterprises or fields related to the Military.

Some have expressed dissatisfaction about this, but the special nature of the army leaves no outlet for these complaints.

If you’re truly dissatisfied with these arrangements, you could take those soldiers to a military court.

If Lynch wants all parties to be satisfied, he cannot be stingy about the shares he holds, which equate to money.

Taking out fifteen million to give away demonstrates the boldness that shocked Mr. Truman, hence such a question.

"When we oppose a certain system, everyone under that system becomes our enemy. That’s not a smart choice."

Lynch spoke as he earnestly discussed some of his thoughts; the core of their group now comprised him and Mr. Truman.

There must be no misunderstandings between the two; otherwise, their small group would not last long.

Mr. Truman took out cigarettes, giving one to Lynch. After they both leaned in to light their cigarettes, Lynch continued, "It’s like dealing with a corrupt, bribed official; your enemy should only be him, not the entire group of officials."

"If you act that way, you’ll become the enemy of everyone, just like your recent encounter, where almost all consortiums expressed dissatisfaction with your actions. Even if you beat one or two, there will be a third, a fourth, and more."

"Our goal is not to oppose the entire system, but to gradually hollow it out without alerting the group!"

"In this process, we can’t merely stay detached but must also integrate into this group, becoming like them. Only then will they watch us bite each other rather than unite against ’external pressure’."

"The Military will become our biggest ally, and they indeed need more political allies!"

Whether it’s the Military or those politicians in Congress, they are deliberately avoiding each other. It’s definitely not newsworthy for politicians and the Military to collude, yet both sides need to cooperate.

Lynch here is not the first point, nor the last, nor even the only point; he merely provides more conveniences for the Military and those Legislators in Congress.

Mr. Truman pressed his hands on the railing on the edge of the balcony. He slightly bent over, gazing at the bustling Bupen. After a while, he asked a question, "Can we win this war?"

"We must win!"

In the next few days, one young person after another in the Federation suddenly proved their excellent capabilities in certain aspects, such as new engines or breakthroughs in materials. These young people started appearing in the corners of some newspapers.

Sometimes the Federation’s media are very bold; they even dare to expose the President’s scandals.

But sometimes they are very timid, never daring to casually publish content connected to some Legislators or the Military.

Just when people celebrated the endless emergence of young scientists in the Federation, ships loaded with the latest model engines already set sail, with the first batch of twelve generator sets crossing the Eperlier Strait and bound for the Amelia Region.

The bidding in Amelia had also concluded, unsurprisingly, with Lynch-led Federation merchants completely losing to Gafura merchants in this bid.

To most people around the world, this news is nothing but perfectly normal; in project bidding, there are winners and losers, which is entirely normal.

Only those who truly participate in these events know what these mean.

The originally active Federation merchants began to restrain themselves, and Gafura merchants grew rampant again, even planning to break Lynch’s value.

They are actively contacting countries with strong armies, hoping to obtain some military assistance through political alliances or hiring.

It must be said that the Governor of Amelia has ideas. If this plan succeeds, then this region and even the nation could shake off Lynch’s influence — Lynch’s impact on the Gafura Imperial Family and this region is built on his people being able to quickly resolve those anti-government armed groups.

Before this, even though the Gafura people suffered multiple defeats, they were unwilling to admit their army was useless.

Now, they are facing this issue squarely, inviting allies to resolve it is far better than handing over interests to those Federation people like Lynch.

When it comes down to it, they are still furious because Gafura lost to the Federation in the naval battle.

Just when it seemed Lynch’s arrogance was about to be suppressed, the news that Governor Sedel of Amelia awaited wasn’t the arrival of the generator set but that the cargo ship was missing.

"What’s going on?" Governor Sedel couldn’t believe his ears when he received the news. "It’s a day’s journey; even if the cargo ship is slow, it should arrive in two days. Why hasn’t there been any news until now?"

For two whole days, no Federation cargo ship arrived; the cargo ship seemed to have disappeared into thin air.

The Federation side was also very curious. Logically, the cargo ship should have sent a reply upon arriving at Amelia’s port, but after waiting two days, there was no news, leaving people puzzled.

Governor Sedel’s subordinates knew nothing, so he could only hope his son knew something.

Then he made a phone call, and two minutes later, Soron picked it up.

"Where has the ship arrived?" he asked straightforwardly, without any nonsense.

"I’m not sure either; an investigation is underway. It might have... something to do with pirates."

"Pirates?" Governor Sedel laughed immediately, but the laughter was filled with rage at being fooled. "Are you an idiot, or do you think I’m an idiot?"

"This route can’t have pirates; now the pirates worldwide know to stay away from the vicinity of the Federation. You’re talking about pirates to me?"

Since the Federation won the naval battle against Gafura, pirates in the East Ocean near the west basically disappeared, and no one would risk offending both Gafura and the Federation by doing anything along this route.

So, when Governor Sedel heard it was the work of pirates, he was furious, as if being treated like a child playing games.

Soron chuckled dryly twice, "The rescue ships from the Federation have already set out; if nothing goes wrong, there will soon be news."

"How soon is soon?"

"...I don’t know."

After hanging up the phone, Governor Sedel quickly calmed down. His first thought was Lynch, which made him feel tricky. He didn’t know how Lynch accomplished it, but he had this feeling that it was definitely related to Lynch.

But now the problem isn’t only the missing ship trouble; what made him feel bothered was the hefty penalty in the contract.

He couldn’t pay the penalty amounting to nine billion Federation Sol. This money might even affect his status.

It sounds ridiculous, but this is the reality: money and reputation are both lost. The Emperor will surely be furious; now the only thing to do isn’t finding those ships, but shirking responsibility.

He picked up the phone again and dialed Soron’s number; as soon as the call connected, he lowered his voice a bit, "Remember, you must assert your position to everyone. We signed an installation contract with the Federation; transportation is not our responsibility, and we do not acknowledge any transportation issues..."

Soron responded quickly, "You mean... the Federation people might shift the responsibility to us?"

"Think about it; I even suspect that the Federation themselves might have driven the ship away. They don’t need to pay anything to get nine billion in compensation; this is not impossible. Lynch might even have worked with them to set a trap."

"Don’t use Gafura’s mindset to speculate on those profit-driven Federation people; they dared to impeach the President for interests. Remember what I said, under no circumstances should we take on responsibility we don’t have to!"

"Everything has nothing to do with us; you can pay attention but absolutely mustn’t state your position..."

The disappearance of a cargo ship quickly attracted close attention from two major nations, even Emperor Gafura inquired about this matter.

If not for fearing misunderstandings, they would have wanted to send warships to the Eperlier Strait to search for the missing cargo ship.

It’s important to know that, at this moment, those advanced generator sets hadn’t installed destructive shells, which means they could be opened without damage to master the Federation’s technology!

Sitting in the study, Governor Sedel frowned as he looked into the distance; shadows covered the sky, and it was about to rain.