Chapter 79: Too much bullying! (2/2)
Time often hardly flows when one is paying attention to leisure, but flies by rapidly when busy.
Three days passed quickly. Eden's medical equipment and its cooperation with Rhodes Island were made public, causing a huge uproar (軒然大波 - xuānrándàbō). Rhodes Island, the Oripathy hospital, announced its designated medical cooperation unit, and Eden's medical equipment became famous overnight in the medical field.
Countless orders and cooperation projects quickly flooded into Eden's current public website, guided by AI to Mayer's central processor, calculating relevant quotations and whether requirements were reasonable based on big data, and quickly reaching countless deals. Various funds once again flowed into Eden's account, then were quickly exchanged onto the wilderness of Rem Billiton. And all this, Wei Yenwu saw in his eyes, pained in his heart, so heartbroken he could hardly breathe.
Because of this deal, he inexplicably took a big blame (- became the scapegoat).
Everything in Lungmen couldn't escape Mayer's eyes, but similarly, it couldn't escape Wei Yenwu's eyes and ears either.
Especially when he saw container trucks bearing Eden's logo setting off in a convoy towards Rhodes Island, even if Wei Yenwu were a fool, he would know Eden and Rhodes Island had definitely reached some shady PY transaction (under-the-table deal). This promotion was premeditated; they definitely gained mutual benefits, and Wei Yenwu certainly didn't know about these benefits. This inexplicable feeling of being *** [censored in original, ] made Wei Yenwu feel somewhat uncomfortable.
And what made him feel even more depressed was, according to various data, the massive cash flow Lungmen handed over to Rhodes Island was almost entirely given to Eden, with not a cent left, even subsidizing a large sum. And Eden, having received such a large sum of money, turned around and bought a large pile of useless abandoned mine areas from Rem Billiton. Making Rem Billiton laugh so hard they almost couldn't sit still. Everyone knew Eden was a company particularly skilled at environmental protection; if others bought it, people would still wonder if it could cause problems, but if Eden bought it, it was foreseeable there would absolutely be no major issues.
Unless you caused some ecological disaster. But that's a joke; could your ecological disaster be bigger than a Catastrophe? Terra people, who have suffered so much from Catastrophes, have endured them; towards Eden's investment, the Rem Billiton local government welcomed it with open arms and feet ( idiom for enthusiastic welcome).
Moreover, the Rem Billiton government rather insidiously demarcated several areas on the borders of disputed territories with Raythean Industries, Umbrella Bio, and other countries to Eden. Eden accepted it all without any seeming objection. This, to some extent, even replaced the function of a border line; if they wanted to cause trouble, the first thing they would face would be the eyeing covetously Eden next door, not the Rem Billiton government itself. They also gained some space to develop their own strength.
But seeing this news, although others didn't think much of it, Wei Yenwu felt like vomiting blood. Eden should just work honestly in Lungmen, why meddle in other things for no reason? In the eyes of the outside world, Eden and Lungmen are tied together; I just finished boasting about an unbreakable alliance, and you pull this stunt?
If they can't beat Eden, can't they beat Lungmen? Eden disgusts people, and Lungmen takes the blame? What's the meaning of this?
But Lungmen was also too embarrassed to directly say they had no relationship with Eden. Wei Yenwu had no doubt that if he ever said that, other countries and organizations would definitely say 'okay okay okay, we believe you' verbally, then after investigating and confirming no relationship, they would backstab him and Lungmen.
No way around it, having power and influence means being able to do whatever you want. Wei Yenwu spent such a great price managing Lungmen, proceeding step by step with caution and stability, toiling for most of his life to build Lungmen into a centralized region with financial discourse power. But in terms of military strength, he still had to defer to others' expressions. Why should Eden, as soon as it appeared, steal all the limelight, being both capable and showy, treating the face of several national governments and organizations like a doormat, spitting on them and yet they still had to smile along?
Eden got its thrill, and Lungmen has to be screwed? Why? Just because we are weak?
Wei Yenwu raged impotently for a good while, but still recognized reality.
Otherwise? He was just weak.
Eden was strong, so it dared to purchase those disputed land plots against everyone's pressure and accusations, while other organizations didn't even dare fart. Lungmen was weak, so it could only borrow the tiger's skin of Eden and Li Lin to put on a brave front ( lit. "fox borrows tiger's might"); even buying a piece of land would get cursed by others, even secretly tripped up.
Otherwise, what else could be done? Tell Eden, don't do this, we will die if you do this? Not to mention whether Wei Yenwu could swallow his pride, just with Mayer's bad temper, if he dared to go in, Mayer would dare to throw him out. Last time Lord Spencer suffered a setback, he was secretly pleased, but now it was his turn to suffer a setback; Wei Yenwu really felt like he had eaten shit, yet didn't dare to speak out loud, fearing his own problems would be discovered.
"All problems depend on strength… How much wealth you can possess depends on how much strength you have…"
Looking at Eden's demarcation on the map, Wei Yenwu's heart was almost dripping blood and tears.
Rem Billiton really went all out to shift blame and stir up trouble between parties; a sum of money that wasn't much for the entire country actually allowed Lungmen to obtain a huge territory of about ten thousand square kilometers. This territory was located on a mountain range, spanning the entire disputed zone between Rem Billiton and other organizations. The entire terrain was a deceptive landscape, easy to attack but hard to defend; for Rem Billiton, it was fundamentally a mess. Probably Rem Billiton would be very willing to sell it off even at a loss by subsidizing it.
And quite coincidentally, these territories could all be connected with the areas Eden previously purchased in Rem Billiton. Several mountain tops and canyons had Eden's iconic pure white buildings, and the surrounding areas were also visibly improving. Although there were no permanent settlements, some people had moved in to live.
These surroundings were all foreseeable business opportunities, but because Lungmen funded Eden, he couldn't even extend his claws over.
He had mentioned in a conference call that he could provide interest-free loans to help Rem Billiton establish trade strongholds, only to receive sarcastic remarks and cold laughter from other large organizations; that kind of contempt and deep-seated disdain truly made Wei Yenwu increasingly furious.
"But it's not all bad… At least, if we take the blame for Eden, it can also make the outside world acknowledge our mutual relationship with Eden. This way, we still have a certain degree of operational space. If we purely engage in commerce, those people have no reason to intercept. Lungmen can still make a lot of money from this. This way, we can have more capital to establish more businesses…"
But what's the use of having** [censored in original, ] money? In the end, isn't it still snatched away by those robbers?!
In the eyes of those truly strong individuals, and those powerful forces, what difference is there between Lungmen LMD and Lungmen's economic system, and shit? He could only rely on Li Lin and Eden to borrow the tiger's might; if this continued, sooner or later Lungmen would become Eden's vassal, or rather, an external appendage.
A snake swallowing an elephant is correct, but that's based on the elephant being unable to resist. Lungmen's true strength lies in the Lungmen economic system Wei Yenwu single-handedly built; no one understood this better than him. But the intentional or unintentional suppression by various major powers made Wei Yenwu's mood increasingly uncomfortable. Even funding the Death Worshippers, such a crude Oripathy criminal organization, others could still stick a foot in; what else could he do?
What can money do? What's the use of money? Money without power to maintain it is as worthless as scrap.
"Lungmen must have its own complete education system."
"Lungmen must have a violent institution completely belonging to Lungmen."
"Lungmen must also grow up under the hostility of others."
Looking at the long, narrow area Eden had carved out on the map and the surrounding disputed territories, then thinking about the various suggestive phone calls and insulting remarks he had received from inside and outside these past few days, Wei Yenwu deeply exhaled, wiping away his ideals.
"For those jackals, win-win cooperation is just an excuse when they can't swallow me whole. I should have realized this long ago, but I always held a sliver of illusion about their methods. I thought they wouldn't do such ugly things; in fact, I was wrong. Facing a child holding a gold brick, robbers will not have compassion; they will only beat the child to death with a stick, then take the gold brick away."
"I always value my wealth greatly and try to invest it in various industries, expecting them to blossom and bear fruit. But what's the use of that? They won't remember Wei Yenwu, only the major organizations. They also won't remember Lungmen, only Umbrella, Raythean Industries, Kazimierz, Columbia. And Lungmen doesn't even deserve a name. Although Lungmen LMD has stabilized the current economic system, becoming a financial center and price exchange area, but the current peace is so fragile; when the world order collapses, can Lungmen still properly be a financial center? Impossible."
"Without a stable international order, a financial center is just a joke. Lungmen in the flames of war will quickly collapse and disintegrate, and capitals and families will take their heirlooms and run to those safe places. And Lungmen, as a mobile city, will also quickly be annihilated in the storm."
So can't rely on others anymore; Eden is a support now, but supports can fall, people can run.
After inexplicably taking a big blame, Wei Yenwu also abandoned his wishful thinking. Although Li Lin was easy to talk to and Eden didn't meddle in affairs, the connection between these two meant they also wouldn't care about Lungmen's thoughts. Did that huge White Tower ask for Wei Yenwu's opinion when it grew upwards? Although it would file a report after growing, would he dare not sign it? Li Lin didn't mind these things, but Mayer was crystal clear about such matters in her heart.
She, the Machine Queen, just didn't want to manage these things, not that she couldn't. Otherwise, could those distributed processors operate out of thin air? They just, as strong individuals, walked forward on their own, not caring at all about how many ants they crushed. This style of disregard was what pained people the most.
Eden had a total of two people, one Li Lin, one Mayer; they were both strong individuals who disregarded others, so Lungmen was the one who could take the blame.
Forced to sign several humiliating treaties, although not a major bloodletting, this humiliation was deeply etched in Wei Yenwu's heart.
"…You need to rest. You haven't slept much these three days."
"No, I just saw the truth clearly."
Feeling the warmth of the woman closest to him, Wei Yenwu closed his eyes.
"This truth is painful. Because I finally discovered that all the suffering and compromise in this world are because I myself am not strong enough."
"You are already very formidable, Wei Yenwu." Lady Fumizuki behind him caressed the man's spine and comforted softly: "Pulling the war-torn, devastated (lit. "thousand sores, hundred holes") world back into such a prosperous state, letting the entire Lungmen radiate vitality, you are already one of the most outstanding leaders in this world…"
"But I am not the most outstanding. I am not yet the only one. In those people's eyes, I am just a puppet fat sheep to be slaughtered at will. I've worked so hard, for so long, maintained balance, humbled myself , wanting to maintain all this, yet in their eyes, I am just a fat sheep. And Lungmen is the food they raise. Now everyone is hungry, the food is right there, only some small thorns around, will you eat it or not? Yes, everyone will."
"Don't think like that…"
"So I can only choose the last resort. Don't we still retain many of the original manuscripts? Gather some document restoration personnel, and some Originium Arts users who can analyze components and restore substances, restore those damaged documents. Restore as much as can be restored."
I didn't want to use all that initially… You forced me.
This world, if it's survival of the fittest , then so be it.
Recalling those few archive fragments that were sealed up after hearing the news, Wei Yenwu took a deep breath and made up his mind. With current technology and Originium Arts, restoring eighty percent of the original appearance from a few fragments wasn't too difficult. What was mainly needed was money.
And Lungmen happened not to lack money.
As for what was recorded on them, whether it could accomplish some earth-shattering great undertaking, whether it would cause some extremely terrifying event, he didn't care.
"You will eventually pay the price for your actions…"
Lazarus File, possessing them, it's not just you.
Since you don't want to play nicely anymore, then let's all stop playing.
Squinting at those extortion treaties from other organizations placed on the desktop, Wei Yenwu took a deep breath and slowly closed his eyes.