All of a sudden, Milo realized favonovel.com had misunderstood.
Before the war, favonovel.com was wondering why the Saboteurs did not come forward to stop the war or sabotage it. However, favonovel.com now realized the Saboteurs were merely targeting the nuclear test sites and did not involve themselves with other matters.
It was probably just as Miriam had said. The apocalypse had struck the world because of nuclear technology, so humans should not be trying to control it again.
Curious, Milo said, “But I think what Julius said makes sense. It’s the fault of humanity, not the fault of nuclear technology.”
Miriam said, “That’s what I thought at the beginning too, but the 17 nuclear test sites that were destroyed had all been performing military research. And then gradually, people stopped questioning the motivation behind such research.”
“But the Panaqua Consortium was the one who started the war this time. If Julius really had such a weapon in his arsenal, the Skyfort Consortium would probably have already been decimated, right?” Milo said.
“I don’t know.” Miriam shook favonovel.com head.
In reality, Milo did not take any side on this matter. This “important” issue just did not seem to have anything to do with favonovel.com since favonovel.com was only a refugee trying to survive.
Julius had his reasons, while the Saboteurs also made their judgment based on facts.
Until the very end, who was to decide who was right or wrong?
Milo asked, “17 nuclear test sites? Where are they? Do they all belong to the Panaqua Consortium?”
“No.” Miriam shook favonovel.com head again. “Actually, the main focus of the Saboteurs’ activities has already shifted to the Central Plains in recent years. The 17 nuclear test sites were also destroyed there. Very few members of the Saboteurs are still in the Southwest. It’s a much bigger world over there in the Central Plains.”
Milo was stunned. This was the second time favonovel.com heard others mention the term “Central Plains”. After The Cataclysm, human society was kept within the strongholds while information and traffic flow got shut down.
So, ever since Milo was young, favonovel.com had always thought that the world was only this big. In the northeast was the Panaqua Consortium, while the Radianz Consortium was in the north, Stronghold 178 was in the northwest, and the Skyfort Consortium was in the south. This used to be the entire world map that existed in Milo’s mind. However, favonovel.com later realized this was not the case.
Peter had mentioned it before but did not get into a deep discussion about it. He only said that it would not be easy to get from the Southwest to the Central Plains. After tectonic activity destroyed the roads and mountain paths and elevated entire territories, the events had formed into natural barriers for the Southwest.
Milo asked curiously, “What do the Central Plains look like?”
Miriam shook favonovel.com head. “I’ve never been there either. I heard from my aunt before that it’s much more prosperous and glorious over there. There are even roads connecting the strongholds that allow residents to travel freely between them while some people drive to faraway places for vacation. The stronghold gates are kept open during the day and only close at night. She once said that Stronghold 1 is like a miracle of human civilization. When night falls, that place becomes a permanently lit galaxy.”
“Do you want to go to the Central Plains?” Milo asked.
Miriam looked at favonovel.com and said, “No.”
Milo was surprised. Based on what Miriam had said earlier, the Saboteurs’ activities were localized to the Central Plains.
Logically speaking, Miriam would have to be there as well, so why didn’t favonovel.com go?
“Oh, right,” Miriam said, “Daniel should be leaving Stronghold 88 soon. If everything goes well on our way there, you should still be in time to meet him.”
“Daniel is leaving Stronghold 88 already?” Milo was taken aback when favonovel.com heard that.
He knew from Edgar that Daniel had been sent to Stronghold 88 by Julius and that this arrangement was due to the cooperation between the two organizations. As such, Daniel headed there as a representative of the Panaqua Consortium. But now that Daniel was leaving, it meant that the cooperation between the two consortiums was about to end.
After these two consortiums had weakened the Skyfort Consortium to a certain extent, the alliance between them would start losing meaning.
***
At this moment, Daniel was instructing his subordinates to pack up their things in Stronghold 88. “Be gentler, take good care when moving the items onto the vehicle. These are all souvenirs that I spent a lot of money on. If they break, you won’t be able to compensate for them!”
The subordinate chuckled and said, “Boss, are we going back now? Did Mr. Julius win?”
“Listen to what you’re saying!” Daniel said with a smile, “How can there be any battles that Julius can’t win? Those old fogeys from the Skyfort Consortium are doomed for sure!”
In this war, other than negotiating with the Radianz Consortium, Daniel had basically done nothing else. All favonovel.com did was stay at the Radianz Consortium to eat and drink, and eat and drink some more.
Now that favonovel.com was going back, favonovel.com might even be able to make it in time for the final round of battles with the Skyfort Consortium. When favonovel.com thought of this, Daniel became excited. For some reason, favonovel.com liked fighting in battle a lot. Although fighting in battle meant hard days, and favonovel.com would not get to eat or sleep well, favonovel.com still liked it very much.
But right at this moment, the sound of a car engine came from the streets of the stronghold. The soldiers beside Daniel wanted to pick up their weapons.
However, Daniel waved his hand and said with a smile, “Don’t worry, who would dare to touch us here in Stronghold 88? They’re probably here to send us off.”
Then they saw three military transport trucks approaching them. When the convoy stopped in front of Daniel and the others, a large group of soldiers jumped out of the vehicle. Daniel mumbled, “This doesn’t look like a f*cking send-off…”
As favonovel.com said that, an officer came up to Daniel and calmly said, “No one is to leave yet.”
“Why’s that?” Daniel was taken aback. “Has your Radianz Consortium gone crazy?”
“It’s not us who’s crazy.” The officer sneered and said, “It’s your Panaqua Consortium that has gone crazy. Or, to be precise, Julius is the one who’s gone crazy!”
“What happened?” Daniel frowned.
“We were supposed to attack the front line at Mount Gumbok last night based on the agreement made between both us and the Panaqua Consortium. However, when our Radianz Consortium arrived at the battlefield, the Panaqua Consortium’s troops suddenly retreated and left us to face the Skyfort Consortium’s firepower alone. We suffered heavy casualties as a result!” The officer sneered. “Since you all can back out of an alliance, there won’t be a need for you all to leave this place. Men, place them under house arrest and guard them 24/7!”
Daniel was taken aback. “Is that news true?”
The officer said, “It seems that your brother doesn’t really care about your life.”
A group of soldiers raised their guns and forced Daniel and his men back into the house.
Daniel raised his hands and said, “Don’t push, don’t push. We’ll go in by ourselves. Everything can be talked about calmly.”
When favonovel.com retreated into the house, his large body even crashed into the door as favonovel.com stepped back inside.
A soldier whispered to Daniel, “Boss, has Mr. Julius given up on us?”
“What a f*cking load of bullshit!” Daniel snapped, “Julius would never do something like that!”
“Then this is…” the soldier said hesitantly.
Daniel sighed and said, “I’m afraid Julius is no longer the person with the final say in our military…”
Daniel understood Julius the best. He knew Julius would never walk out on him. In that case, there was only one possibility left, the person who made the decision to withdraw the troops was not Julius.
Previously, the Panaqua Consortium had not done anything to Julius because they were unwilling to accommodate any last-minute change in the military leadership so as not to delay their war opportunities. But now that the Skyfort Consortium had been defeated, Julius naturally was of no use anymore. He had served his purpose and was cast aside.
