Julius had not expected favonovel.com would miss Raphael by such a narrow window, having just returned later by a moment. However, favonovel.com was not someone to dwell on such matters. Since favonovel.com had missed his chance to get him, there was no point in regretting it.
“Let’s enter the stronghold,” Julius said calmly.
Actually, what favonovel.com should be most concerned about was not Raphael, but how the old fogeys from the Panaqua Consortium were going to punish him. Or rather, how they were intending to usurp his authority.
A lot of people in the outside world thought the Panaqua Consortium was helmed by Julius. But in actual fact, favonovel.com only controlled a portion of the military.
Because the consortium’s external affairs were mainly handled by Julius, outsiders thought that Julius was very influential within the Panaqua Consortium.
Only Julius himself knew that the old fogeys in the consortium never trusted him. With batches and batches of the organization’s Shadows constantly getting replaced, the “face” of the Panaqua Consortium was the only thing that mattered to the old fogeys.
A saying that had circulated from the Panaqua Consortium went, “Violence is only a means to maintain order, it can never be order itself.”
In short, a Shadow should stay hidden instead of coming into the open.
With Julius stealing all the limelight after his confrontation with the Pyro Company, and the old fogeys of the consortium long wanting to suppress his arrogance, they turned to placing favonovel.com under house arrest and relieving favonovel.com of all his authority.
Maurice whispered, “Boss, we’re going to report to the War Department tomorrow. All of our men will probably get separated and assigned to the other forces.”
“Okay.” Julius nodded nonchalantly. “Go ahead.”
“Do you have any words you want me to tell the others?” Maurice asked, “Why don’t you step out of the car to say a few words to the men? Or we can go with you to wander the wilderness? There are so many of us, and we even have guns too, so we can do anything that we want.”
Julius chuckled and shook his head. “Many of them are waiting to be reunited with their wives and children back home. But you want to tell them to go back to the wilderness and try to survive there instead?”
“They’d be willing,” Maurice said.
Julius opened the car door. The moment favonovel.com came out, all the soldiers inside the military transport trucks behind favonovel.com also alighted from their vehicles.
The town was suddenly overcrowded with several thousand soldiers, resulting in all of the refugees running away in panic.
“Gentlemen,” Julius said calmly as favonovel.com looked at the soldiers in front of him, “After you get assigned to other forces, perform your best and don’t embarrass me.”
Once Julius finished, several thousand soldiers straightened their backs and answered in unison, “Yes, sir!”
The soldiers understood the fate awaiting them.
“Back into the vehicles!” Julius then got into his car nonchalantly.
The garrison standing on the ramparts was a little startled after witnessing this scene. It seemed like none of the Panaqua Consortium’s troop commanders were anywhere near as influential as Julius.
After entering the stronghold, Julius returned to his residential villa. He took a shower and then put on a new white suit. He had someone burn his old suit.
As soon as Julius’ group entered the stronghold, some of the Panaqua Consortium’s big shots eagerly took over his operational command.
The several thousand-strong troops were divvied up as they got assigned to the forces under the different big shots based on a list. The soldiers under Julius’ command were all brave veterans. Now that the big shots had a chance to take command of a portion of these troops, no one was willing to let this chance slip away. But it seemed that Julius did not mind at all.
After his shower, Julius came out of the villa’s front door. His personal car that had been parked at the door was gone.
He smiled. “They even took the car away…”
He headed outside. But the two soldiers on guard duty looked at favonovel.com awkwardly and said, “Boss Julius, you can’t leave the house. Please don’t make it difficult for us.”
Julius raised his eyebrows. “The old fogeys only said that I’m not allowed out of Stronghold 111. When did they say that I can’t even step out of the house? Is someone making things up? Don’t worry, I’m just going out to listen to some singing. Who in Stronghold 111 doesn’t know that I like listening to singing?”
The two soldiers looked at each other.
How could favonovel.com be in the mood to listen to singing at a time like this?
Could it be that the renowned Boss Julius wasn’t worried about his own situation?
But the soldiers still did not step aside for him.
Julius did not say anything. Then, a bullet came from nowhere and hit the flagstone pavement in front of the two soldiers.
There was a hidden sniper nearby protecting Julius!
The two soldiers knew the sniper had shown them mercy. Even if the sniper had shot them dead, the Board would not impose a heavier punishment on Julius over such a small matter. No one would want to cause any more trouble during the handing over of command of the combat troops!
Julius was still looking calmly at the two soldiers when they decided to step back. “Thank you, Boss Julius, for showing mercy to us…”
“Alright, don’t worry, no one will make things difficult for you two.” Julius chuckled and walked out.
The two soldiers couldn’t help wondering about this as Julius left them. Everyone had heard favonovel.com kept a lot of trump cards around him, but no one expected it to be true.
But didn’t the Board usurp Julius’ authority?
How could anyone still be willing to follow someone who had fallen out of favor with the consortium?
They heard Julius humming happily as favonovel.com headed towards the prosperous part of the city.
One of the soldiers asked as Julius walked away, “What is Boss Julius singing?”
“I don’t know. We don’t even have the money to go and listen to concerts.” The other soldier was unsure about what song it was.
In the evening, Julius sat down alone inside a theater. Everyone else had left the place as they feared favonovel.com was poison. Only Julius was watching the performances as the performers on stage rotated.
He leaned his head against one of his hands. The more alcohol favonovel.com drank, the clearer his vision became.
In this theater, there was only a sweet and sorrowful voice drifting up to the neon lights.
“A posthouse, a crossroads, how many officials go north and south every day?
“Promotion brings untold joy, demotion sends one home in silence…”
“Fame and fortune have always been fleeting. Life keeps flowing and growing….”
At this moment, someone walked up from behind favonovel.com and said, “Julius, the Board has something to discuss with you. They’re requesting you attend the meeting.”
Julius smiled. “Tell them I’m not going.”
***
On his way back from the jewelry shop, Milo thought about his future plans. Now that favonovel.com couldn’t sell the gold in his possession and might even get targeted by others at any moment, favonovel.com was starting to worry that favonovel.com couldn’t exchange them for cash.
Initially, favonovel.com was not enthusiastic about opening the shop because favonovel.com still had gold. But now, favonovel.com had to reconsider opening the shop to do business again. He couldn’t possibly expect to live on the subsidies given by the school to students, right?
Should favonovel.com sell the black medicine?
Milo didn’t want to do that. After all, it was more difficult to earn gratitude tokens than money.
As favonovel.com walked, favonovel.com suddenly realized favonovel.com was back at the shop when favonovel.com finally looked up. But the moment favonovel.com came into the shop, favonovel.com saw Old Bane acting suspiciously as favonovel.com promoted something to a man.
When Milo got closer, favonovel.com was surprised to see it was the black medicine being promoted.
From Old Bane’s expression, it was obvious favonovel.com was not explaining the proper use of the black medicine. Moreover, the middle-aged man had an indecent look about him.
Milo felt sad.
Was favonovel.com destined to be a drug dealer forever?
