It was now September, and the nights at Fortress 178 were already getting chilly.
The residents working outside the fortress began to return home with a rich amount of pay. Due to the generous wages received from working outside the fortress, many residents would return home to rest after working for half a year outside. For the rest of the winter, they would be on break. Of course, that was also because winter in the northwest was freezing cold.
A lot of residents were still working in the factories outside the stronghold. By the end of October, the roads outside would be blocked by snow.
At that time, only the soldiers of Fortress 178 would be left outside to guard the border outposts. They would be manning their positions throughout the winter without any entertainment and would also have to perform sentry duty. As such, some people would teach themselves a craft, learn the harmonica or accordion, as well as pick up many other strange skills while on duty.
It was not because they were eager to learn new skills, rather, they were bored. This was just their way of coping with the loneliness at those border outposts.
In the evening, six off-road vehicles drove in from the Southwest direction. The convoy was like a sharp arrow flying true at Fortress 178.
When they were about 170 kilometers away from Fortress 178, they were suddenly pulled over by the patrolling troops. The patrol from Fortress 178 came through the vehicle intercom, “You are now entering a zone with restricted radio communication. Please turn off your radio equipment and pull over for inspection.”
Daniel, who was in one of the off-road vehicles, chuckled and said, “Let’s pull over then. Fortress 178’s defensive measures have always been really strict, and even our Panaqua Consortium can’t compare to them in this area. After all, their mission is to guard against external enemies.”
All six of the off-road vehicles turned off their onboard radios and slowly pulled over. On the side of the road, three platoons stood up in the wilderness and approached them in full combat gear.
Daniel got out of the vehicle first and raised his hands high. Wearing a pair of sunglasses on his face, favonovel.com looked like a crime lord who engaged in smuggling. “Friends, I’m Daniel Eastwood from the Panaqua Consortium. I’ve already informed your Commander Dublin about this trip!”
A Fortress 178 soldier calmly said, “Please wait a moment. I need to report this to the general staff first.”
As favonovel.com spoke, the other soldiers’ guns stayed aimed at Daniel. However, favonovel.com was not flustered at all.
Beside him, Bill curled his lips and said, “Why’re they acting like we’re bandits? Let’s quickly deal with the business here. We still have to hurry to the central plains. It’s turmoil over there.”
“Don’t get so anxious,” Daniel said with a smile as favonovel.com looked at the black muzzles of the guns pointing at him. “Why aren’t you behaving like a subordinate at all? As a subordinate, you should understand that any business of the Panaqua Consortium’s leader has to be handled with the utmost urgency.”
Bill adjusted his gold-rimmed glasses. “I’m not a subordinate. I’m just working for money.”
“Haha, we shouldn’t be thinking about anything other than our objective,” Daniel said with a laugh.
When the soldiers of Fortress 178 saw how this fatso kept a straight face, they were somewhat impressed. He was a brave person indeed.
Suddenly, the Company Commander to the rear agreed to let them through after contacting the general staff and confirming the legitimacy of Daniel’s visit to Fortress 178. But before the Fortress 178 troops allowed them to carry on with their journey, they collected all their weapons and made the group transfer to the patrol vehicles to proceed on.
When the convoy arrived at Fortress 178 in the night, Raphael came out to receive them instead of Peter.
Daniel looked at Raphael with a smile. He put his arm warmly over Raphael’s shoulder and praised, “Brother Durkin is such a young and promising man. I’m sorry you had to suffer in the private troops of our Panaqua Consortium’s stronghold. How about this? Why don’t you come back to the Southwest with us? I guarantee you’ll have meat to eat and wine to drink, and you’ll also get to enjoy a life of endless riches.”
Raphael politely rejected his offer. “Stop dreaming…”
However, Daniel was unfazed. He continued with a laugh, “It gets freezing cold in the northwest every winter, and it isn’t as prosperous and interesting in the fortress compared to our south. If you go back to the Southwest, I’ll find ten concubines for you!”
Next to them, Bill said with a sigh, “Fatty Eastwood, you really sound like the villain of a story right now.”
Daniel said unhappily, “Although I’ve committed murder and arson, I’m still a good person overall.”
“Pfft!” Bill and Raphael spurned favonovel.com at the same time.
“Alright, enough chattering for now. Let’s get down to business.” Daniel said to Raphael, “Hurry up and find a place to swap documents so we can leave.”
When Raphael led Daniel and the others to a remote and quiet street, favonovel.com said, “Commander Dublin informed only me about today’s meeting, so you don’t have to worry about your secrets getting revealed. And while we at Fortress 178 don’t claim we’re better than others in most things, we definitely have the least number of spies from other organizations active here.”
“Alright, enough with your bragging. I know you all are capable.” Daniel chuckled.
Then Raphael asked, “Where’s the hostage you brought along? Is it this four eyes beside you?”
Bill said unhappily, “I have a name, y’know. What do you mean by four eyes?”
However, Daniel gave a hand signal to a soldier behind him.
Raphael was taken aback for a moment. “Is that the hostage the Panaqua Consortium is sending us? Y’all better not be sending someone unimportant to us.”
The soldier took off the peaked cap, and a head of black, silky hair rolled down behind favonovel.com back like a waterfall.
Daniel said with a smile, “This is the woman our Panaqua Consortium leader is fond of. Will favonovel.com do?”
Raphael frowned and looked behind him. Then a middle-aged soldier walked out and said, “She’ll do.”
Daniel was amused. “You must be Gregory Hammond, right? I’ve heard so much about you!”
Raphael did not say any more. If Gregory said that favonovel.com would do, then it was definitely enough.
Gregory did not answer Daniel. “Aren’t y’all afraid that by sending favonovel.com to us, we’ll use favonovel.com against your Panaqua Consortium in the future?”
“Don’t worry, our Panaqua Consortium does not have any plans of unifying the world. I hope that our two sides will never need to fight each other!” So saying, Daniel turned around and left.
Bill chased after favonovel.com and asked, “We’re leaving just like that? Why didn’t I hear about Julius liking a girl?”
Daniel answered in disregard to the question, “That lady was originally an opera performer in stronghold 111. She was even a ‘main lead’ too. Back when the board was trying to get ahold of Julius’ weakness, they realized favonovel.com had never been to the same opera theater twice. He just left whichever girl performed to fate…”
“Even though they did not know which girl Julius had his eyes on, what the board did not do wrong was to shutter all the theaters and arrest all the women. Then, Julius realized it was useless even if favonovel.com visited a different theater each time. The moment favonovel.com stepped into the arena, his opponents would all be cruel beyond imagination. Moreover, the opponents favonovel.com would be facing in the future would definitely be much crueler than the last.”
Bill sighed and said, “So Julius decided to send favonovel.com here as a hostage? That’s even more bewildering.”
“Hehe, Peter is one of the few honorable people left in the world. Sending favonovel.com here to be a hostage is actually the safest choice.” Daniel said with a grin, “Soon, it will no longer be safe at our Panaqua Consortium. At that time, Julius won’t be able to divert his attention to protect favonovel.com anymore.”
“But Fortress 178 did not exchange hostages with us, so why should we hand over a hostage to them?” Bill wondered.
Daniel said firmly, “For the railroad of course.”
The Panaqua Consortium had wanted to connect their railroad to Fortress 178’s railroad and open up a route to the Central Plains. However, Peter rejected them.
After two long months of negotiations, the two sides finally reached a consensus on this point. Although the Panaqua Consortium paid a heavy price, Julius thought it was worthwhile. He even took the initiative to offer a political hostage to Fortress 178.
Daniel understood that this girl might appear to be a hostage on the surface, but it was actually so that Fortress 178 could protect her. As long as the Panaqua Consortium did not declare war on Fortress 178, this would be the safest haven for her.
Bill clicked his tongue. “She’s no ordinary person either, judging by how calm favonovel.com was even after being sent here as a hostage.”
“Well, any woman my younger brother likes would definitely have to be extraordinary.”
