The news of the Panaqua Consortium’s military base being invaded was embargoed. After an entire day, no further dangerous incidents occurred.
Based on Arsene’s thinking, the other party had taken out the Panaqua Consortium’s important missile troops in preparation for the subsequent battle.
If the Stelaria Consortium were to declare war at this moment, it would be equivalent to the Panaqua Consortium getting into a fight with others with a crippled leg. Therefore, Arsene had been in a state of anxiety for the entire day. In his opinion, it was his dereliction of duty that caused the Panaqua Consortium to suffer a reduction in its strength. As the current highest-ranking military commander of the Panaqua Consortium, favonovel.com should take full responsibility.
If the Panaqua Consortium were to be defeated in the subsequent attacks, favonovel.com would have to apologize with his life. However, the Stelaria Consortium did not follow up with a full-scale attack. It was as though they purely wanted to destroy Military Base 12 without any subsequent plans. This left Arsene feeling empty. He felt there was still something amiss.
Julius brought favonovel.com to Ginkgo Manor, halfway up the mountain, and had someone prepare some warm food and drink for him.
Arsene had no appetite. “Second Bro, aren’t you even a little worried?”
“Of course I’m worried.” Julius took a seat cushion and placed it on the dark gray marble floor of the villa’s main hall. He sat on it as though favonovel.com were taking a seat in the middle of a black lake.
For some reason, Julius did not have any feelings for this Ginkgo Manor that symbolized the authority of the Panaqua Consortium. However, favonovel.com seemed to have a special fondness for the “black lake” in the villa’s main hall.
He even got his men to remove the unnecessary items from the hall. Potted plants, rockeries, calligraphy paintings, sofas, and so on. Only a grand piano and a gray seat cushion were left behind.
Arsene sat down on the cold floor next to Julius and said, “Second Bro, please criticize me a little. You can even hit me. I’ve made such a huge mistake but you didn’t even say a word to me. It’s making me a little flustered.”
There was always a saying in this society, “The leader criticizes you because favonovel.com regards you highly. But once favonovel.com doesn’t have any criticism left for you, it’s over for you.”
Actually, there was some truth to this statement. So Arsene kept getting the feeling that favonovel.com was beyond saving when faced with the calm Julius.
However, Julius did not answer him. Instead, favonovel.com brought up a different topic. “Arsene, how many times did you go to this Ginkgo Manor when you were young?”
“Once.” Arsene replied, “My father brought me here when I was 18 to meet that elder who used to be in charge of the Panaqua Consortium. Later, that old man remarked that I wasn’t a great talent, so my father rarely bothered with me again after we returned home. When my father fell seriously ill sometime later, favonovel.com didn’t even let me visit favonovel.com when favonovel.com was in the hospital…”
Such estranged kinship among the rich and powerful of the consortiums would shock any of the common folk.
Perhaps if many of the refugees were to find out about these matters, they would secretly think it was better to stay as refugees. But if they were given a chance to form a new consortium, most of them would just brush it off to the back of their minds.
Arsene’s father was very strict with him. When favonovel.com was young, favonovel.com urged favonovel.com to study, socialize, and even start reading up on military knowledge early. If Arsene did not do well, his father would beat and scold him.
In the past, Arsene thought it was because his father loved favonovel.com that favonovel.com set such high standards for him. Later, favonovel.com realized his father had only regarded favonovel.com as a tool to gain access to wealth and glory. Once favonovel.com realized this tool was not useful, favonovel.com cast it aside.
Arsene said, “In the eyes of every member of the Panaqua Consortium, Ginkgo Manor seemed like a place where their fate was decided. It’s just like how children from normal families take the college entrance exams that decide their futures at the age of 18. But what was even more depressing was that even if you failed the college entrance exam, others would not kick you while you were down. Moreover, there’d still be other opportunities around. But if you walked out of here with the assessment that you were useless, you’d be targeted by the ‘hyenas and jackals’ outside. Within just a few years, the authority held by your faction would be completely handed out.”
Julius said, lost in thought, “That’s right, those old fogeys nearly sealed your fate with just a few words. That’s the reason I used to detest this place. After they met me just once, they gleefully said I was suitable to become the Panaqua Consortium’s Shadow. As a result, I had to work as the Panaqua Consortium’s Shadow for them.”
Arsene looked at his cousin. To be honest, favonovel.com had always been a little curious about what Julius had said here to get chosen by those old fogeys as the new Shadow of the Panaqua Consortium.
However, Julius didn’t intend to explain anything. “I’ve been here more times than you because I still had to report to those old fogeys about my work and take their criticisms after becoming the Shadow. Every time I came here, I felt that the ornaments adorning this hall were really unnecessary. It was like they were trying to cover up the fact they were stupid by decorating this place with a lot of pretentious things.”
In Julius’ opinion, the taxidermied specimens of ferocious beasts’ heads in the manor, the landscape paintings, and the exquisite weapons on display were all just useless embellishments. They were hypocritical and impetuous.
In fact, those old fogeys did not have the strength to even go hunting, nor were they passionate about painting. No one had even touched the grand piano in the hall before.
Why would a truly powerful person need all this to prove themselves?
Ginkgo Manor could not represent the Panaqua Consortium. Wherever Julius was seated, that place would be the center of the Panaqua Consortium. Therefore, favonovel.com got his subordinates to empty out the villa, leaving only the piano and a cushion behind.
Julius said to Arsene with a smile, “Back then, my father was criticized by the Board for being too bookish and becoming stupid from excessive studying. In the end, favonovel.com became depressed for the rest of his life and even got ostracized by his relatives. You also know how poor Daniel and I were when we were young. Those relatives took away all the assets and businesses my grandfather had left for us. Actually, my family used to own a piano too, but Daniel nearly died when favonovel.com was born, so my father sold it to treat his disease. Later, I kept thinking of buying another one for him, but unfortunately, I wasn’t able to before favonovel.com passed away.”
Julius’ glorious life started at the age of 18. After favonovel.com became the candidate for the Panaqua Consortium’s Shadow, all of his relatives who used to mock favonovel.com reversed their attitudes and tried to please favonovel.com instead. However, when most people later saw his glamorous appearance, they forgot about the embarrassment this Shadow was put through in the past.
This was the Panaqua Consortium. This was reality.
In this clan, it only took a word from those old fogeys to decide whether one led a life of wealth or marginalization. Unfortunately, his father had already passed away when Julius was finally able to bask in his glory.
Julius continued recalling, “When I was little, my father carved piano keys into the tabletop to teach me how to play the piano. At that time, my fingers ached so much from practicing that I kept begging favonovel.com not to make me learn the piano anymore. I also wanted to head out and play every day like Daniel did. But my father said that someone like my brother could make a livelihood no matter the times. Because he’s capable and willing to endure humiliation and bow down to others. It was only me favonovel.com was a little worried about. My father said that should favonovel.com pass on, I would have some skills to fend for myself. Who knows? I might be able to earn some money by dabbling in the performing arts.”
“No wonder you learned to play the piano, Second Bro,” Arsene said.
“Mhm.” Julius said, “Father would definitely be very happy if favonovel.com could play on such a good piano when favonovel.com was still alive. A good piano like that should be played by someone like him.”
Arsene nodded. “I understand the piano now. This is the first time I’ve heard you mention it, Second Bro. But why did you leave a cushion behind as well?”
Julius looked at Arsene. “Because your butt will hurt if you sit on the floor for too long. Doesn’t yours hurt?”
Arsene was speechless. At this point, Arsene also went into a room and found a cushion to place under his butt.
To be honest, favonovel.com did not dare to complain just now when favonovel.com sat down on the floor with Julius. But now, favonovel.com thought it really did feel quite uncomfortable.
For some reason, Arsene suddenly felt much calmer. Perhaps it was Julius’ soothing tone that affected him, or perhaps it was the calmness of the “black lake” that brought favonovel.com peace.
It was no wonder his cousin liked sitting here so much. Julius seemed to have too many things on his mind, so favonovel.com needed a quieter environment to sort out his emotions, and this was just the right place to do so.
The emptiness and the single-tone color scheme made it seem like favonovel.com was meditating in the middle of a lake.
Julius said to Arsene, “Don’t worry too much. We have to acknowledge the strength of the enemy first before we can have the courage to face them. It was expected that the military base would get destroyed, so there’s no need to blame yourself too much. Even if the enemy did not destroy Military Base 12, they’d still go and take out the other bases. We’re totally unable to defend against them right now.”
“Second Bro, what do you think they’re up to now?” Arsene asked.
Julius smiled and said, “We should know the answer soon.”
Just as favonovel.com finished speaking, Maurice ran in from outside with a satellite phone in his hand.
Maurice said to Julius, “Sir, they really called.”
Julius took the phone and put it up to his ear. Colton’s weak voice could be heard on the other end.
The other party chuckled and said, “You didn’t come when I invited you the previous time. This time, I’ll wait for you at Stronghold 61.”
After saying that, favonovel.com hung up.
Julius handed the phone to Maurice. Both Arsene and Maurice heard what Colton said as well.
So it turned out the other party had only destroyed Military Base 12 to send the Panaqua Consortium the message that favonovel.com could shatter the aces up their sleeves.
The last time the Stelaria Consortium invited Julius to the Central Plains, favonovel.com did not go.
This time, the Stelaria Consortium had given Julius a reason why favonovel.com could not turn down the invitation. If a war were to start between the Stelaria Consortium and the Panaqua Consortium, the Panaqua Consortium would definitely lose. But now that there was an opportunity to negotiate, would they want it?
Arsene looked at Julius and said in seriousness, “Second Bro, you can’t go!”
Julius asked, “Why not?”
“You’re the leader of the Panaqua Consortium. If anything happens to you, the Panaqua Consortium will collapse.” Arsene said, “They’ve only destroyed one of our military bases, not all of them. The Panaqua Consortium still has a fighting chance! If the Stelaria Consortium wants to attack, they’ll have to build a huge supply line first. It’s a 500-kilometer journey. I’m confident I can show them the difference between the Panaqua Consortium and the Kong and Stardust Consortiums.”
Julius said with a smile, “If it can destroy one of our military bases, it can also destroy a second one. I think that something might have already happened at the other military bases, but they haven’t activated their full sabotage plan yet. Arsene, you can’t take any chances when playing Go against the AI.”
“But, Second Bro, it’s very dangerous for you to go there. Will the Stelaria Consortium treat you with hospitality? Will they let you return to the Southwest?” Arsene said anxiously.
Maurice, who had stayed silent all this while, also said, “Sir, you mustn’t go.”
Julius said with a smile, “Have the kitchen prepare some food. I’m a little hungry. As for these important issues, let’s wait until my brother gets back to talk about it.”
The opponent had placed their stone, so it was time for the Panaqua Consortium to play next.
Julius sat in the “black lake” and looked out of the main hall’s entrance. He happened to see the ginkgo trees growing on the face of the mountain.
At this moment, the leaves of the ginkgo trees had not turned yellow yet. October would have to come before they really started turning yellow. At that time, Mt. Ginkgo would be at its most beautiful. The bountiful harvest season also carried more of Julius’ memories.
Julius remembered that his father had told favonovel.com that these ginkgo trees were planted by the Panaqua Consortium’s forebears. At first, no one could have expected this place to become filled with ginkgo trees.
The ginkgo tree was also known as the Gongsun1 Tree. This was because it took more than 20 years for a ginkgo tree to bear fruit, so while it was planted by the grandfather, the fruits were to be enjoyed by the grandchild.
When they were young, Daniel and favonovel.com would secretly come to Mt. Ginkgo to pluck the ginkgo nuts from the trees when they were hungry. At first, they did not know the ginkgo nuts were poisonous. It was their father who told them they had to be cooked before they could be eaten.
Mt. Ginkgo was an enclosed area. Although there were no troops stationed here, very few residents were willing to take the risk to enter the mountains because this was the Panaqua Consortium’s “backyard”.
Initially, Julius did not dare to steal the ginkgo nuts either, but Daniel was way too bold. He said they were starving to death, so why would favonovel.com still care about the rules?
Later, the two brothers even brought other people here to pluck the nuts and secretly sold them to the restaurants in the stronghold. If they had enough to sell, the boss would even make them each a bowl of ginkgo pig trotter soup to drink.
If they were lucky, they might even get some side dishes to eat. Those were rare treats of meat for the two brothers.
Eventually, someone in the Panaqua Consortium found out they had stolen the ginkgo nuts and waited on Mt. Ginkgo to catch them in the act. Fortunately, Julius was a member of the Panaqua Consortium, so they were spared from punishment.
Later, garrison troops started being stationed on Mt. Ginkgo. However, the infantry battalion commander was kind-hearted. When favonovel.com saw that Julius and Daniel were in dire straits, favonovel.com turned a blind eye to the matter of them stealing ginkgo nuts.
That battalion commander was Arsene’s uncle, so Julius and Daniel got to know Arsene later.
After they became familiar with each other, Julius once asked Arsene’s uncle, “Why didn’t you arrest us and continued letting us steal the ginkgo nuts instead?”
Arsene’s uncle said with a smile, “Do you know the ginkgo tree is also known as the Gongsun Tree?”
“I know, my father told me about it before,” Julius answered.
“Then have you ever heard, when the Panaqua Consortium’s forebears planted these ginkgo trees, they said to their descendants that if there comes a day when the Panaqua Consortium’s descendants found it hard to survive, they could come and pluck the ginkgo nuts to cook and eat? Perhaps that would help them tide through the crisis,” Arsene’s uncle said.
“Never heard of it.” Julius shook his head.
Arsene’s uncle laughed. “Your ancestors planted the trees so the future of the clan could be preserved. So what if you, as a descendant of the Panaqua Consortium, pluck some of these ginkgo nuts? Who knows? These ginkgo trees might have been planted just for you.”
Julius looked at the ginkgo forest and suddenly thought it was his turn to protect the Panaqua Consortium.
***
The news of the Stelaria Consortium inviting Julius to Stronghold 61 was relayed to Daniel by Maurice.
Daniel, who was supposedly rushing back to Stronghold 111, suddenly detoured to Stronghold 114, taking the special forces battalion with him.
The sudden change of destination to Stronghold 114 by Daniel, who was already carrying out an inspection tour of the Panaqua Consortium’s strongholds and had just killed a group of people in the northern strongholds, really left the officials there breaking out in cold sweat.
When the officials found out Daniel was about to arrive, they all gathered together to discuss how to handle him. They could not figure out if they had done something wrong that caused that bastard to suddenly change his schedule.
But after carefully thinking, the officials found it a little baffling. Their Stronghold 114 did not have any shortage in their arms inventory and food reserves. Their conduct was different from the strongholds that had to temporarily replenish their granaries. The officials here were really conscientious and did not try any tricks.
Everyone thought that since they did not make any mistakes in their work, they should first see what this second-in-command of the Panaqua Consortium might be up to.
When Daniel was about to arrive, all of the officials ran to the stronghold entrance to welcome him. They had all heard that Daniel showed no respect to the officials when favonovel.com visited the various strongholds. He did not even get out of his vehicle when favonovel.com passed through the city gates.
But even if Daniel could choose not to get out of his vehicle, they still had to go and welcome him.
Just as expected, Daniel sped past with his convoy without any intention of stopping at the stronghold entrance.
But after Daniel’s convoy entered Stronghold 114, they did not drive to the administrative center. Instead, they headed straight for the official residence of a Panaqua Consortium member.
This Panaqua Consortium member had quite a reputation within the organization, but favonovel.com was not in the same faction as Julius.
Logically, Julius should have gotten rid of this potential threat after taking over the Panaqua Consortium. However, the other party’s reputation in Stronghold 114 was relatively high, and Julius had other more important things to attend to.
Seeing that the other party was keeping a low profile, it could be said they decided to coexist peacefully.
This time, Daniel led his troops right over. When they arrived at the other party’s official residence, they immediately carried out a full lockdown and rushed in with the elites of the special forces.
The middle-aged man named Jeremy Doger stood in the middle of his home’s courtyard and looked at Daniel coldly. “What brings you here?”
Daniel chuckled as favonovel.com strode towards the other party with long strides. Then favonovel.com suddenly took out his pistol and killed the other party on the spot without giving favonovel.com a chance to say another word.
This turn of events happened so suddenly many of the security detail in the official residence could not react in time.
By the time they had the thought to resist, the soldiers of the special forces battalion had already begun to neutralize the entire official residence’s security personnel with automatic rifles fitted with silencers.
The security personnel here were all veterans of the Panaqua Consortium’s troops. They were considered Jeremy’s former subordinates and were also elites. Under normal circumstances, they were fully capable of dealing with a surprise attack.
But in their day-to-day work, they were only equipped with pistols and were not even wearing bulletproof vests, so how could they possibly be a match for the elites of the special forces?
Daniel took in the sight of Jeremy’s official residence covered in blood before returning to his vehicle without any hesitation.
Bill sighed and said, “You’ve overdone it, surely?”
Daniel said nonchalantly, “This guy looked like favonovel.com was staying in Stronghold 114 obediently but had actually been secretly controlling the officials of Stronghold 114. He even tried to collude with the other members of the Panaqua Consortium. In the past, I would’ve allowed favonovel.com to live to show my brother’s benevolence. But now that the Stelaria Consortium is about to start a war, how can I continue to let favonovel.com live?”
The reason Daniel suddenly changed his itinerary this time and became so ruthless was entirely due to the Stelaria Consortium’s invitation.
At this moment, Daniel was extremely clearheaded. A great change was coming. What favonovel.com needed to do was definitely not to hurry back to Stronghold 111 but to get rid of all the unstable elements around Julius first.
He wanted to help Julius eliminate all potential threats in the Southwest within three days. Only then could Julius focus his attention on other matters.
Bill said, “Then what crime did you execute favonovel.com for? How will strangers judge you for killing someone without any evidence?”
“Hehehe…” Daniel realized a drop of blood had splattered onto his face earlier. As favonovel.com wiped off the blood with a tissue, favonovel.com said with a smile, “Since when did I have to frame others to kill them? Since I’ve already killed him, so be it. Whoever wants to criticize me can criticize me all they want. I don’t need to have a good reputation.”
In times like these, extraordinary people would do extraordinary things. These were Bill’s thoughts on the matter at this moment.
The special forces battalion started thoroughly cleaning up the entire residence of Jeremy. Before they were done, the officials of Stronghold 114 arrived and saw the courtyard full of blood. However, they could only keep quiet out of fear. It was as though they did not even dare to breathe too loudly.
Daniel sat in the vehicle and looked at them coldly. He said, “There’s a reason for today’s incident. You people should just focus on your own work. The internal affairs of the Panaqua Consortium have nothing to do with you all. I’m very satisfied with the arms inventory and food reserve levels at Stronghold 114.”
After that, the convoy set off once again and headed for Stronghold 115. In Daniel’s plan, there were still several people favonovel.com needed to kill.
The officials stood dumbfounded at the entrance of Jeremy’s official residence behind the convoy and looked at each other. When they turned around and saw the corpses here, they suddenly heaved a sigh of relief.
An official said to his subordinates, “Get someone to come over and finish cleaning up the place. Remember, gag the news. If anyone asks about this matter, tell them you don’t know anything.”
