Before dusk had arrived, the war was over.
The soldiers that entered the council building found Cao Jinsong’s body in the chamber.
His temple was bleeding, and he held a pistol in his hand. When defeat was inevitable, this old man chose to suicide.
Seeing that their boss died, the soldiers all dropped their weapons in hand and surrendered.
The Crimson Chamber of Commerce’s flag was dragged down by the soldiers who climbed onto the top of the building and was thrown into a pile of flame.
“Died? He got off easy.” Zhao Chenwu cursed while he limped beside Jiang Chen. His leg got shot. Although the wound has already been treated, he was still constricted by it.
At that time, the two of them walked side by side in the hallway of the council building.
There were only five people left out of the ten. A meeting was called.
There was so much needed to be discussed.
“Thank you so much. This way, without your people, Cao Jinsong, would have already succeeded. I’ll do my best to say good things about you on the council.” Zhao Chenwu smiled.
“Don’t worry about it. As to good things… I think I can gain it by myself like before?”
Zhao Chenwu’s feet stopped. His smile froze on his face.
Jiang Chen laughed, pushed open the door to the chamber, and walked inside.
…
Because that roundtable had been smashed, Jiang Chen ordered the soldiers to drag a long table from elsewhere.
The five council members sat on either side. However, Jiang Chen shamelessly sat at the head of the table.
Seeing Jiang Chen’s move, Zhao Chenwu seemed to know what he wanted to do. He let out a sigh and didn’t say anything.
But the other four council members didn’t take it so well. If it were not for the two soldiers holding rifles and wearing kinetic skeletons, they probably would have jumped up and expressed their dissatisfaction.
“For the tragedy that occur here, I express my condolences.”
Hearing Jiang Chen’s words, the council members all cursed in their minds.
There was not a trace of condolence on his face.
“But life must continue. Since everyone here is really busy, let’s get things started.”
Jiang Chen shrugged and said with a smile.
“I agree. The cleaning of the radiation materials in the inner circle, as well as rebuilding, must commence soon.” A tall council member nodded. His name was Kong Zhe, the owner of Double-headed Bull Chamber of Commerce. Although he just received communication from the front line that his trap card – the Landbird Armor was destroyed by the Crimson Chamber of Commerce Wanderer tank, still 30 something soldiers managed to survive as they began to retreat towards the Sixth Street.
“I consent.”
“I agree.”
Zhao Chenwu didn’t say anything, but from his expression, he looked desolate.
In this civil war, he suffered the most loss among all council members. Two spider tanks, 20 power armors, Disaster-32 cruise missile, as well as great soldiers. Now the only remaining force for the Zhao Corporation was the five power armors and 5- soldiers sent to the outskirts of the city to build a defense line.
“First, we should hear some good news.” Jiang Chen took out a graphene card from his pocket and put it on the table. “This is what we found on that old fox’s body, the information recorded, the declaration of war was from three years ago. Also, because of their internal conflict, their plan to invade the east fell through.”
All the council members let out a sigh of relief.
After going through the tragic civil war, if the Northern Alliance area attacked, without two to three years to rebuild, they had no odds of winning.
“This is great news. In this case, the defense can be put aside for now.” A council member with a beer belly wiped the sweat from his forehead. His name was Fan Chen. He operated the largest construction company at Sixth Street, the metal shell company’s owner.
Because of his weak force to begin with, in the civil war, his force suffered the smallest lost, but he had the most direct economic loss.
The west side of the Inner Circle was turned into shambles by the nuclear bomb. As the biggest real estate owner of the Sixth Street, his direct loss was as high as two million crystals.
But he certainly didn’t look too remorseful, because being able to survive was always the best case scenario.
“That’s right. Moving the soldiers back from the frontline would also help to stabilize the situation of the Sixth Street. As to what is happening in the Inner Circle, the mercenaries and bandits who depend on the Sixth Street are starting to become unsettled. We must restore the authority of the Group of Ten council and control the situation,” Kong Zhe said sternly.
“Don’t worry about that, my people have already controlled the situation in the Outer Circle. After sending a 10kg level bomb to a small mercenary force attempting to take advantage of the situation, everyone seemed to have calmed down.” Jiang Chen shrugged.
The chamber was suddenly silenced. It was so quiet that if a needle dropped onto the ground, it would be clearly heard.
“Speaking of this, could your helicopter be flown away now…” After moments of silence, Kong Zhe difficulty squeezed those words out.
“To stabilize the situation, my helicopter will conduct routine air patrol. Trust me, this is for your own benefit.” Jiang Chen smiled.
“Our soldiers will be back. As long as we restart the council, the situation will quickly be stabilized… Oh, let’s talk about your compensation. The Sixth Street treasury will pay fifty thousand crystals as compensation for your assistance.” Fan Chen’s expression looked rather awkward, but he still squeezed a smile and proposed in a small voice.
“Fifty thousand? Are you pitying a hobo?” Jiang Chen couldn’t help but laugh.
“Then what does Mr. Jiang think?” Kong Zhe’s expression turned cold.
“Nothing, I just want to take away what I deserve.” Jiang Chen with a casual expression leaned against the chair, with fingers crossed, “For example, this council building. Since I got it back from Cao Jinsong, shouldn’t it belong to me?”
“This is crazy. You can’t do that!” A council member stood up and furiously stared at Jiang Chen.
“No one will listen to your order.”
“With just two hundred something people, don’t you think your appetite is too big?”
Jiang Chen patiently waited for these furious council members to express their frustration, then he coughed lightly.
When everyone looked in his direction, Jiang Chen slowly spoke out.
“But you don’t have a choice, isn’t that right?”
Everyone was suddenly speechless.
“My people are outside, with two at the door now.” Jiang Chen’s chin pointed towards the two soldiers at the door. The two soldiers with rifles immediately saluted him and continued to stand on guard.
“But you don’t even know how many of your soldiers are alive.”
“The anti-air control center of the Sixth Street has been occupied by us. My helicopter can easily make any disagreeing voice shut up.”
“I am not negotiating with you; I am only declaring the facts.”
“From now on, this is my territory.”
“I will use my way to bring stability here.”