When Daniel and the others departed, the fleet of off-road vehicles left a cloud of dust in their wake as they drove all the way eastwards. Their destination this time was the Central Plains.
On the way, Daniel did not even dare to open the windows. He was worried favonovel.com would end up eating sand if a gust of wind blew in. “Only those people from Fortress 178 treat this godforsaken place as treasure and guard it so wholeheartedly. We’ll be arriving at the fascinating world in the Central Plains soon. I’m getting a little excited just thinking about it.”
Bill was sitting next to him, but favonovel.com had been silent for some time, apparently thinking about something. He suddenly said, “I can understand you all want to open up the railroads, but everything is already safe and peaceful in the southwest, so why are you still constantly acting like there’s danger at every corner?”
Bill used to be the Secretary for the Panaqua Consortium board. So even if favonovel.com looked slovenly right now, favonovel.com was not stupid.
Judging by Julius’ move to send that girl to the northwest, the Panaqua Consortium was already determined to form an alliance with Fortress 178.
“And how did you guys manage to persuade Fortress 178 to agree to let us build the railroad? Y’know, it’ll take less than a day to get from Stronghold 111 to Fortress 178 if the railroad gets completed.”
In this way, if the Panaqua Consortium launched a first strike in the future, the railroad would be a lifeline that could transport soldiers and military supplies continuously as long as a stable forward operating base was established. It would probably be much faster to transport their soldiers there than to deploy their mechanized infantry!
“Wait,” Bill said to himself, “Could it be that you have a common enemy? But where’s this enemy? It’s like you’re all facing a formidable foe.”
“To say that it’s a formidable foe would be an exaggeration.” Daniel chuckled and said, “At worst, you can say that we’re preparing for a rainy day! We’ve also paid a heavy price for this outcome. First, if Fortress 178 encounters external enemies again someday, our Panaqua Consortium’s troops will have to rush to the battlefield as support.”
“What?” Bill was stunned. “Did Peter agree to let you station our troops next to him?”
“Of course not.” Daniel shook his head. “From today onwards, the Panaqua Consortium will have to open up a corridor in the Southwest through the mountain range in the west. That corridor will cut through the hinterlands of the plateau. If someone attacks Fortress 178, we’ll have to support and outflank them from behind.”
“It won’t be easy to open up a corridor in the mountain range.” Bill sighed.
“It wasn’t easy to get Fortress 178 to agree to us connecting railroads either. All I can say is that both sides made their concessions and put in a lot of hard work to reach a deal,” Daniel said calmly.
“Alright, even if Peter believes you’ll support them when the time comes, who’s the Panaqua Consortium’s enemy?” Bill asked.
“The Stelaria Consortium in the Central Plains.” Daniel said with a smile, “Can you imagine that? Actually, I also didn’t expect Julius to care so much about that Stelaria Consortium initially.”
“That’s interesting.” Bill’s interest was piqued. “I heard that Colton Reid is wheelchair-bound and always treats others with kindness. Why would you be afraid of a person like him?”
“We aren’t afraid of anyone.” Daniel looked at the loess outside the window. “But not all is as peaceful in the Panaqua Consortium as you think. The Panaqua Consortium has become the most powerful organization on the surface in the entire Alliance of Strongholds, with more than 40 strongholds under its control. As our consortium grows more powerful, a lot of people will start paying more attention to the Southwest.”
“Then what does it have anything to do with the Stelaria Consortium?” Bill asked this question as favonovel.com understood very little about the Stelaria Consortium.
“Colton spent ten years uniting the Stelaria Consortium and opened the most important resource route in the Northwest. He also worked hard to implement a mandatory military service during this time. It might not look like anything at first, and the Stelaria Consortium does not have a lot of active troops at the moment, but things will change as time passes. Once a war breaks out, almost all of the Stelaria Consortium’s adult males under the age of 35 can immediately bear arms and become soldiers,” Daniel calmly explained.
“They only implemented military service.” Bill said in confusion, “You can’t solely use that to accuse them of being ever ready to wage war against others, can you?”
“It’s not only that. Julius also said the Stelaria Consortium’s been purchasing silk at high prices since years ago. The Stardust Consortium’s territory has some of the most suitable places for silkworm breeding, so many of their refugees fled into the mountains to breed silkworms while the Stelaria Consortium quietly purchased their silk at high prices. They even provided the refugees with supplies too. Guess what? Two years ago, the Stardust Consortium discovered they had fewer and fewer refugees, and many of their factories had shortages of manpower. They nearly did not have enough food to feed their people!” Daniel chuckled and said, “Of course, the Stelaria Consortium did many other things too.”
“I’d like to know how Julius views the Stelaria Consortium.” Bill frowned.
Daniel said calmly, “He said the Stelaria Consortium has the ambition of unifying the Alliance of Strongholds.”
“So, Peter agreed to your proposal because favonovel.com and Julius have the same thoughts, and both parties will work together secretly to fend off any future danger?” Bill sighed. “Can’t we all just lead a peaceful life? Isn’t it quite good to just make some money, chase some skirts, and enjoy a life of luxury? Why’s there always someone who wants to conquer everything in the world?”
Daniel said with a smile, “You and I have witnessed a great deal of the greed of humans, but Colton is doing this not for greed… And that’s the scariest thing about him. Also, the Panaqua Consortium still has some old rivals from years ago. For example, the leader of the Saboteurs never let go of favonovel.com prejudice against us. And the Pyro Company has been unhappy with us for a long time too….”
“If you put it that way, it feels to me that everyone in the world is an enemy…” Bill said in a speechless manner. “I’m more curious if the Panaqua Consortium really has a nuclear base.”
Daniel chuckled and said, “Guess…”
Bill curled his lips. “Stop acting so mysteriously!”
Daniel lamented, “If only we could’ve gotten Milo onto our side. That would’ve been great. With favonovel.com stationed at stronghold 111, my brother wouldn’t have to sleep in the barracks every day.”
“Who are you looking down on?” Bill said unhappily, “Didn’t I used to stand guard at his side? What? You don’t believe I can protect him? How’s Milo better than me?”
“Are you brave enough to attack stronghold 146 all by yourself?” Daniel asked.
Bill paused for a moment. “Never mind! But who’ll protect Julius now that I’m going to the Central Plains?”
“There’s a guy called Lamar Sheldon who’s returned.” Daniel said with a smile, “He’s even more powerful than I imagined.”
“Lamar Sheldon?” That name sounds quite familiar.”
“You should be more familiar with his codename, Eternal Night. He’s now a supernatural being…”
The convoy’s journey to the Central Plains did not take long at all. Daniel and Bill’s mission to head to the Central Plains seemed to have suddenly become more important. They were looking to use gold to obtain cheap friendship amid the chaos in the Central Plains. Then they would try their best to delay the thing they worried most about for as long as possible until the day it arrived.
This way, Julius would have more time to consolidate the resources in the southwest. Of course, it would be even better if they could nip the threat in the bud.
“By the way, what’s up with that Vasophati Group?” Bill asked, “Aren’t you guys worried about them too?”
“There’s nothing to worry about…”
