Chapter 812 - This Game Is Too Realistic

Chapter 812: The Daily Affairs of the Alliance's Foreign Department The next morning. The Alliance Building was bustling as usual. Especially the office area of the foreign affairs department. Ever since the CommUnit opened up electronic currency settlement channels for member states, new faces have been arriving here every day, "reporting" and inquiring whether their own settlements could also be connected to the system. After all, most currencies issued by survivor settlements in the wasteland lack any real circulation value. Take, for instance, the Red and Blue Notes from the Red River Alliance. If people could exchange their money for Silver Coins, Cr, Dinars, or even Golden Lion Coins and Camels from the Sunset Province, or the Xilan Coins from the Boros Province, it would be wonderful. Although economic cooperation isn't the foreign affairs department's primary task, establishing diplomatic relations is, after all, a prerequisite for collaboration. If in the past the Alliance needed to proactively reach out to other settlements in the wasteland, promoting themselves to outsiders, after the conclusion of the Battle of Paradise, this dynamic has completely reversed—now, settlements from the wasteland proactively approach the River Valley Province to seek out the Alliance. In a way, Chu Guang is indeed fulfilling his earlier promise—Dawn City is becoming an ideal city in a different form. Though not as luxurious as the latter's facilities, even survivors who have not settled in this city, or never been here, can benefit from its prosperity. And this is a quality the ideal city does not possess. As usual, Alliance Foreign Minister Cheng Yan arrived at his office just in time for work and casually tossed the intelligence reports sent by the guards' regiment into a drawer. Soon enough, he expected to need those documents. As he anticipated, shortly after he settled at his desk, before even warming his chair, hurried footsteps echoed down the hallway outside, barging in through the door. With the footsteps came a coarse voice— "Minister Cheng, I need to know what's going on with your trains!" The visitor was none other than Captain Bennow of the Valrant Legion, stationed as an envoy to the Alliance. His angered, dark-rimmed eyes suggested a restless night, yet perhaps fearing a missed chance, he decided to visit as soon as Cheng started his day. Cheng wasn't surprised by Bennow's arrival; rather, if he hadn't shown up, Cheng would be curious about what new tricks the Valrants were pulling. Giving his secretary a dismissive look to busy herself elsewhere, Cheng leaned back leisurely in his chair, calmly addressing the fuming ambassador now towering over his desk. "Dear Captain Bennow, what has happened to upset you so?" Seeing Cheng's feigned ignorance, Bennow's eyes narrowed to slits, glaring at the nonchalant minister. "I received news that last night you reloaded military supplies meant for our personnel in Bister Town back onto the train." "I've heard about it," Cheng Yan nodded with a concerned expression, "Apparently, our trains have been repaired." "Repaired? The issue isn't about repairs!" Bennow was nearly shouting, finger inches away from pointing accusingly, "Don't tell me all your drivers got drunk on the same day! Why are your trains all heading the opposite direction?" He leaned over the desk, emphasizing each word. "Aren't you the ones who most uphold contracts? This isn’t what we agreed upon in the contract; you’d better have an explanation!" "An explanation..." Cheng chuckled, pulling open a desk drawer and tossing a file onto the desk. "Then perhaps Captain Bennow could first explain these materials to me." Seeing the file, Bennow's heart sank, realizing the worst had come to pass. He had an inkling of the file's contents, but feigned ignorance by calmly opening it. Contained inside were drone photos, as well as a thumb-sized hard drive. Watching Bennow's furrowed brow, Cheng's lips curled into an almost imperceptible smile, placing a holographic pen from Ideal City gently on the desk. "The hard drive contains recordings and footage regarding how armaments from the Weifu Wasteland were transported to the Boros Province. You can take it back for further examination; I have plenty of copies... or I can play it for you right here." "No need." The photos alone formed a complete chain of evidence; playing the hard drive contents would only add insult to injury. Having torn away pretenses, Bennow no longer concealed his feelings, tossing the file back on Cheng's desk. Truth be told, Cheng admired the man's resilience. Despite his underhanded actions being exposed face-to-face, Bennow's expression of resolve never wavered. In terms of audacity, if Valrants claimed second place, no one would dare claim first. "This is our weaponry, and where we send it is our business! You have no right to interfere!" Having predicted this response, Cheng spread his hands, mimicking Bennow's tone. "As are the railways ours, and where we send trains is our business, so why are you complaining to me?" "You!" Bennow's eyes widened, fists shaking, yet restrained himself from pounding the desk, quelling his rage. The stockpiles of arms at Weifu Wasteland were astronomical in number, and even with the Alliance's logistical support lines, it took half a year to transport them. If he were left to handle it himself, it would be near impossible! Otherwise, they wouldn't have needed to borrow the Alliance's railways in the first place! Moreover, keeping them stored in the wasteland indefinitely wasn’t viable—issues of weapon maintenance aside, the cost of renting warehouses was significant. Not to mention, without relocating the weapons, ten legions couldn't return home, demanding further logistical expenses. Although the Legion required a garrison presence in the Maritime Province, one legion would suffice; stationing more was unnecessary. Crucially, these munitions weren't from the civil authority's dilapidated stock but assets of the Eastern Legion! The Eastern Legion didn't provide these at no cost but expected them to apply military pressure on the Alliance, forcing them to make concessions on "spoils of war" and related issues to secure technology related to "Gestalt Entities" held by the Torch Church. Now, having transported only one-sixth before the Alliance discovered their intentions, five-sixths of their arms were detained within Alliance territory. This endeavor clearly went awry! Sweat beaded on Bennow's brow as he lowered his head after a moment of hesitation. "Mr. Cheng, we admit there were missteps on our part, and I assure you it won’t happen again." "That's not the point. You've breached our agreement," Cheng sternly stared at Bennow, continuing seriously, "If I recall correctly, our contract specified these arms were to be transported to Eastern Legion territories, with us handling transport from Jinchuan Province to western Sunset Province." "Yes..." "But now these munitions veered southward in the eastern Great Desert instead of crossing it." Watching Bennow’s stiff expression, Cheng smirked, "If you interpret adherence to contracts as us strictly following agreements while you can arbitrarily renegotiate written terms, I'm afraid that's regrettable." "Hold on... I know we didn't handle this well, but I hope we can resolve this. You wouldn’t want so many arms and troops stranded within Alliance borders, right?" Bennow's tone unintentionally carried a hint of menace. He had reason to feel emboldened. After all, tens of thousands of troops, plus triple the ammunition, constituted a formidable force anywhere on the wasteland. However, Cheng narrowed his eyes at this remark. "What do you mean?" "I mean no harm, just concerned about potential mishaps." Watching Cheng's narrowed eyes, Bennow remained undeterred as he spoke. "The Eastern Legion isn't as agreeable as we are. You've detained a lot of their munitions and stranded soldiers. Do you think they'll let this slide?" Cheng Yan raised an eyebrow slightly. "Oh? And what might they do if they don't let it slide?" "What might they do?" Bennow laughed incredulously, "How can you ask such a foolish question—" "I think if you haven't learned your lesson, you might want to try again," Cheng stood up from behind his desk, locking eyes with Bennow, and continued in a cold tone, "I'd like to see whether those tens of thousands of troops in our territory can turn the sky upside down." Despite Bennow's angry glare and seemingly ready to explode, he restrained himself in the end. Cooperation with the Alliance on CommUnit-related topics was set by the marshal's strategy. As the Alliance ambassador, Bennow had some decision-making authority, but he couldn't change the overarching strategy as a mere captain. Besides, he was a captain of the civil service group. The proponents of eastward expansion were already extinct; few in the upper echelon of the Eastern Legion supported expansion east of the Great Desert—no one would support his madness. "We'll see." His simmering anger turned into a parting threat as Bennow shot Cheng a last glare before storming out. "We'll see, then." Listening to the door slam shut, Cheng chuckled faintly, tossing the file back into the drawer, and then dialed Chu Guang, who was far in the southern sea. Upon the call connecting, he immediately reported, "Mr. Administrator, the Legion's envoy just visited." Chu Guang promptly asked, "What did they say?" Cheng continued, "Bennow expressed dissatisfaction with our side but took no substantive actions. After all, they breached the contract first. Canceling the transport contract was perfectly justified." After a pause, Cheng seriously added, "But nonetheless, knowing the Legion, I doubt they'll let this go—I advise not to push them too hard." Though he exhibited a hard-line stance with Bennow, it was mere diplomatic posturing. The Legion is notoriously known to bully the meek; any show of weakness invites exploitation—just like the Empire. In truth, like Bennow, Cheng didn't favor pushing things to the extreme. As Captain Bennow mentioned, the Eastern Legion's logistical capacity makes it impossible to retrieve all the detained munitions. Those are enough to arm thirty divisions. Cornering them might result in them offloading them cheaply to raiders in the eastern provinces, potentially sparking another "Bone Gnawing Chaos." Given the Legion's nature, such a development was entirely plausible. Hearing Cheng's unspoken concerns, Chu Guang remained unfazed, smiling lightly. "I'm not intending to corner them, but they need to face consequences. As for your concerns... don't worry, I know what's going on." From the start, the situation was clear: the Eastern Legion wanted to leverage the clerical faction in Kaiyuan City to pressure the Alliance, and the clerical faction aimed to use the Legion's arms to further its agenda. Their collaboration wasn't inherently flawed, but impatience undid them. The moment the conditions on the front line escalated with tanks appearing, the Magnas government recognized the issue and complained to the Alliance. With the clerical faction's blunder, the Alliance promptly terminated the transportation agreement per contract terms, inadvertently affecting the Eastern Legion's repatriation plans for its munitions. Bennow was likely vexed, pondering how to explain this debacle to the Eastern Legion. Chu Guang was also curious about the Legion's internal handling of the situation. Based on Pangolin's intelligence, the four major Legions were significantly stronger than Kaiyuan City's clerical faction, leaving little chance for the Eastern Legion to swallow this affront quietly. Even though Chu Guang seemed unfazed, Cheng grew anxious at the seemingly indifferent tone, hesitant to ignore the severity, and asked, "What if they sell the munitions locally?" Chu Guang responded succinctly, "No 'if' about it; they've already started." Cheng blinked in surprise. "Already... started?" "Yes, since last week or so. And our people were the intermediaries." Amused by the astonished tone, Chu Guang calmly continued, "So, there's no need to worry. Apart from their singular deceitful success, they've always operated under our watch." "They just haven't realized it." Reality interrupted further writing, so today's installment is shorter—my apologies! To be continued...