Chapter 28: The Empire of Bloodshed

  Purov listened to the report from another trusted aide with a calm expression, shrugged his shoulders indifferently and said: "Ah ha, those Japanese who have been clamoring for Siberia to be incorporated into their country? No big deal, send someone to apologize to some departments in China, just say that we don't know those thugs who beat people up, they all ran away... Hmm, unfortunately, it's not in Russia, otherwise we would have directly silenced those Japanese and wouldn't be afraid of trouble."

  His several assistants nodded in unison, sighed, and one of them, who was comparable to Fattahrio, asked him: "Boss, what should we do? The Japanese embassy is strongly protesting, and if it's finally traced back to us, we'll lose face. We might even have to hand over someone to take the fall."

  Plov asked him: "How did the Chinese side respond?"

  The assistant smiled and said, "Chinese friends told the Japanese embassy that the people who attacked the tourists were a few street thugs who targeted their valuables, so they beat up those Japanese. Hmm, the Chinese told them that all of those thugs escaped, but the Chinese side will definitely strengthen security measures... Absolutely won't allow such things to happen again."

  Purov nodded and calmly said: "This is also a warning to us, calling Fatadio in."

  Fatah Dio walked in with an innocent face, his hands shaking as he waved them in the air, shouting: "Boss, this has nothing to do with me! The Chinese were hit by a camera and got angry, and it ended up like this. I don't know why they used such heavy hands either. Even the lightest one had 17 broken ribs."

  Plov glared at him fiercely and scolded: "Foolish Fatadio, I don't care how many Japanese he has killed. What I want to tell you is that the UK side will likely move soon. Although we can't actively contact London, you must pay attention to developments at all times. Do you understand? We've invested so much and planned for so long, we must get the maximum return on profit... As for Yi's side, just accompany them well this time. After all, we owe them a favor from last time. Once the UK matter is settled, try to minimize contact with him as much as possible. He's full of thorns, who knows when he'll cause big trouble."

  Fatahio recalled the scene where Yichun kicked the female tour guide with a calm expression, causing her spine to break and three different internal organs to rupture. He nodded repeatedly: "God, they are all cold-blooded madmen, I don't want to be sent to prison because of them... However, boss, 50% profit is too high for you."

  "Idiot, Fattadio, remember, as long as we're still alive, we can make more money. If it wasn't for Easy, we would've been done for a long time ago, and there wouldn't be the current glory. So 50% of the reward is still necessary, or else people will say we're too stingy." Plov didn't say another sentence: "At first, I was so excited that I agreed to give him 50% of the profit. If I go back on my word now, it'll definitely be a huge trouble. I don't want those people to come to my territory and drop bombs."

  A group of people have made up their minds, and Pu Luo concludes: "Recently it's been very tense on the Chinese side, everyone mustn't stir up trouble, they're having a grand occasion, and we wouldn't want to cause our friends any inconvenience, right? Just keep a close eye on things, huh?"

  Fatah and the others nodded in agreement. Prov stood up: "Alright, so this afternoon's schedule is to go to Shenyang and visit their aircraft production lines. Fatah, you stay in Beijing to communicate between both parties and pay attention to any news from the British side. Although those financial experts shouldn't make any mistakes, we need to be prepared for any unexpected situation, got it?"

  Fatadio nodded repeatedly, and didn't need Prov's reminder. This was a money-making business, after all. Fatadio would never be careless about things that could make him money.

  ××××××××××××××××××××××××

  With the Olympics still a while away, Yi Chen told Fattahdio: "I'm not in the mood, I just want to stay in the hotel and be lazy." Fattahdio seemed to understand his mood, probably thinking it was related to what happened on the Great Wall, so he didn't force Yi Chen to go out and have fun with him.

  Yi Chen slept soundly every day, and at night, he devoted himself to cultivating the acquired treasures. The two Flying Star Swords could be controlled freely, and the three Aggregation Rings had long been combined into one. With just a thought, it would become a triple-layered defensive shield. As for the Sky-Piercing Dart, although it had also been successfully cultivated, its power was too great, and Yi Chen had not yet found a place to experiment with it.

  After finishing his own affairs, Yi Chen called over Fei Li and four others, urging them to focus on their cultivation.

  Perhaps it was the effect of those few half-ripe jujubes, but within a short week, all four of them had entered the realm of the 28 Mansions Star Power, almost causing Yi Chen's eyeballs to drop out.

  Jester's body slightly trembled, the star power within him frantically absorbing the homogenous energy from his surroundings, transforming it into flames that radiated outward. Instantly, a layer of black flames enveloped Jester's entire body. Jester proudly said: "Boss, aren't we incredibly powerful now?"

  Yi Chen nodded and said: "Yes, it's very powerful... Damn, your star core is actually three times larger than when I just condensed mine. What else did you eat besides those red and green fruits?"

  Phil thought for a moment and said, "That old man gave each of us a pale green transparent bead with a faint fragrance, telling us to swallow it. At first, we didn't feel anything, but these past two days when we've been cultivating, our bodies have frequently had strong surges of star energy. As a result, without much effort, we've basically reached our current level."

  "Ah, that's the Tianxing Sect's secret treasure, the 'Juxing Dan'! Dammit, Tianfengzi really thinks highly of you guys. One pill can substitute for a hundred years of bitter cultivation, and with your innate talents being far superior to ordinary people, in just a few short days, you've actually risen a level... What green bead is that?"

  When the four of them were stunned, Yi Chen muttered to himself: "It's good, it's good, all four of them have reached the 28 Mansion Star Force? Hmm, that means they can start practicing the basic method of refining treasures. At least I don't have to worry about them having to carry these strange things around on the streets anymore. Uh, should be able to melt them into their bodies now?"

  Yì chén shǒu yī yǎng, liǎng dào bái sè jīng guāng shè xiàng le Fēi lì, liǎng dào hóng sè cháng hóng shè xiàng le Fēi ěr hé Gē ěr, liǎng dào hēi sè de pēn sǎ zhe diǎn diǎn yín guāng de jīng máng shè xiàng le Jié sī tè.

  Four people respectively gathered their energy, and these treasures had already fallen into their hands. Fei Li carefully felt the chill of the crystal ball and the small sword, and was overjoyed in her heart; Fei Er and Ge Er swung their long swords, making a few slashing poses, feeling mighty and laughing "heh heh heh"; Jie Si Te was like a bat, bringing up several residual images, swinging his two daggers to strike at the empty air, his eyes emitting a fierce glow, his blood-red tongue licking his lips fiercely, and smiling.

  "Give you three days, use your whole heart and soul, all the power to infuse these weapons, remember, with all your heart and mind, treat them as your best partner, most trustworthy friend, treat them as your father, mother and children, feel their inner soul, touch them, let them accept you... when you can store them in your body, the great achievement will be accomplished."

  Phil and Goll's weird eyes stared wide, with white eyeballs wrapped around a pair of black pupils, looking quite comical. The two looked at the huge treasure swords in their hands, putting this thing into the body? Is the boss joking?

  Yi Chen smiled silently, gesturing to the crowd to sit down cross-legged, and began to explain the necessary techniques one by one, containing the secret voice of the Tianxing Sect, directly imprinting the relevant incantations deeply into Feili's mind.

  ××××××××××××××××××××××

  "Dear Lisa, hello! It's been many days since we last met, I miss you terribly. Ever since that night in my ministerial office, after we spent a passionate night together, I have missed your pale skin, light blue eyes, golden long hair, captivating thighs and that towering bust, of course, as well as that most captivating ××××××. I terribly miss the moans you made under me, I terribly..."

  A guy who was drunk stumbled over, shook his head and said: "Chekhov, are you writing pornography? I can introduce a great website to you, the pay is very high, 10,000 words, if it's top-grade stuff, you can get $50 in royalties."

  Chekhov sneered: "Do I have the skill to write pornography? Am I so destitute that I must rely on those 50 dollars to survive? Let me tell you, the most wonderful thing in the world is about to happen. I will impersonate the British Chancellor of the Exchequer, use his mailbox, and send it through the internal network to a little girl... Of course, I will post this letter on their internal electronic bulletin board."

  A group of young rascals cheered up, gathered in front of Chekhov's computer, and started making suggestions: "Hey, hey, Chekhov, add a description of this pose..." "Write about Viagra, just say that the minister used it..."

  Under the crazy brain of a group of geniuses, this yellow water-soaked 'love letter' was sent out by Chekhov. At that time, there were still three days before the official opening of the Beijing Summer Olympics, and less than an hour before Britain announced its intention to join the Eurozone and start exchanging pounds and euros in some areas.

  This 'love letter' quickly reached its destination according to Chekhov's plan. A beautiful female employee in the Ministry of Finance fainted on the spot after seeing the letter, and her colleagues gathered around her. When they dispersed, a strange look had already appeared in their eyes. Several male employees, fearing that something was amiss, made a phone call, speaking softly and secretly asking: "Hello, is this the editorial department of The Sun? I'm telling you, we have big news here... Oh dear, you can log on to our Ministry of Finance's electronic bulletin board, the URL is..."

  The UK, including Sky TV and more than 50% of the European continent's TV channels, were all connected to a platform in front of Buckingham Palace. The British government and royal family members, some EU finance ministers, several congratulatory national leaders stood on the platform, dressed up, solemn, dignified, or finally adding an adjective: "dressed up like a monkey".

  At noon on August 12, the British Prime Minister who insisted on increasing troops to turbulent Iraq and Afghanistan, Mr. Brown, who had luckily escaped from one political crisis after another, walked solemnly to the podium, facing hundreds of microphones on the stage, loudly reading out a document: "In order to strengthen exchanges between Britain and European allies, promote European economic development, promote the improvement of the world's economic level, make Europe and even the whole world more prosperous and strong, the British government has decided that from today, August 9th, 2008 at noon, we will officially join the Euro system."

  Then, there was a long-winded speech about what kind of social benefits Britain's entry into the Euro system would bring, how many job opportunities it would increase, what kind of diplomatic achievements it would attain, and what kind of impact it would have on human evolution, world peace, and so on.

  The camera panned across many video channels, connecting to stock trading venues in cities such as London and Manchester, where people were engaged in complex and tedious operations, starting to release some stocks' acquisition rights and other inexplicable things.

  The chubby British Chancellor walked onto the stage, smiling and said: "We will first open up heavy metal processing, mining import and export, non-ferrous metal import and export...and so on and so forth." Then came a long string of professional jargon, all to prove that after opening up these areas, how many people in Britain would benefit and what good things Europe would get.

  "Countless French and German spectators sneered: 'You British have always wanted to be the boss of Europe, now that you see we're not hanging on your every word, after so long with your own economic blockade and no improvement, you want to join the Euro system to boost your economy? Hypocritical Brits... Hmph.'"

  Prince Charles, oh no, now he is His Majesty the King, walked up with a smile and said: "Under the leadership of our new royal family, under the joint efforts of our great British people, Britain will have a brilliant future, we will restore the glory of the ×××× era, we will regain the brilliance of the ×××× era, we will rebuild a great country like the ×××× era."

  After a fart, King Charles shouted loudly: "God save the great British Empire, long live the great British Empire."

  It was still very moving, many of the dignified British old men present took out their white handkerchiefs and began to wipe away tears from the corners of their eyes, loudly shouting: "Long live the great British Empire, long live His Majesty the King, long live, long live, long long live."

  If it weren't for the Minister of Finance suddenly fainting less than two meters behind His Majesty the King, this ceremony would have been grand, solemn and majestic. In fact, the Minister of Finance had just seen a high-ranking secretary bring in a printed document, but as he was overweight with cerebral thrombosis, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and recently showed some tendency towards diabetes, the minister fell forward, his head landing right between the King's legs. The startled King panicked and pushed the podium away with one hand.

  If it wasn't for the Sun's exclusive revelation of the Chancellor's affair, Britain's entry into the Eurozone would have been a smooth ride. The fainting of a minister is not a big deal and can be easily glossed over with any excuse. But since the tabloids have exposed it, and some bored people have captured the image from the electronic bulletin board and posted it on hundreds of famous European forums, everything has started to get lively...

  Innumerable media outlets are not diligently investigating whether Minister Mr. is being wronged, but rather desperately questioning the government: "Is it that every day you go to work and make love with your female subordinates? Can you guarantee the smooth progress of the plan by joining the euro system according to your ability?"

  Fatah and his team of hackers and financial experts under him couldn't help but laugh at Chekhov's prank. But soon, one of them discovered something interesting: "Ahah, dear, the British government's network monitoring power seems to have weakened a lot, are they all chasing after the origin of that love letter?"

  "Alright, now's our chance, let's get moving."

  A middle-aged man with three short mustaches, very stylish, smiled and nodded, tapping on his laptop for a while, smiling and saying: "Dear partners, the door of the British government's treasury is now open, it's our turn to go in and get some gold."

  A group of people shouted in unison and then started mobilizing after notifying Chekhov and others by email online.

  The steel mill registered by Yi Chen, as well as the mining import and export company registered in Manchester and London, respectively, have been listed on the market. With these two accounts as the entrance, a batch of funds has secretly flowed in, followed by rumors unfavorable to the British government, and the market has begun to fluctuate slightly.

  ××××××××××××××××××××

  Three days later, Yi Chen and others sat in the VIP seat next to the rostrum, watching the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games.

  Several leaders' speeches gave Yichen a very good impression of them, nothing flowery, just simple words, a little congratulation, a little expectation, followed by a grand and magnificent opening ceremony. Compared to the British government's empty rituals, the difference in style is probably also a reflection of the historical accumulation of the two countries.

  Europe's television media were almost entirely focused on the Olympics, and Britain became a temporary island in international communication, with most people not paying attention to what was happening there.

  The British government originally wanted to take advantage of the opening of the Chinese Olympics, allowing the Olympics to attract most people's attention, and letting their own system transition in a calm atmosphere. Now, they have largely achieved their goal.

  The opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics was a spectacular scene that people still talked about with relish years later, and also made the opening ceremonies of subsequent Olympic Games pale in comparison.

  The reason is that Sun Ke and others released an explanation to the outside: "Last night's silver light was in the experimental holographic scene, preparing for the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games."

  They gave such an explanation, so at the opening ceremony, it was necessary to come again. As a result, tens of thousands of special forces surrounded the wilderness, prohibiting anyone from entering or leaving, and hundreds of monks started making trouble inside.

  At the moment of the opening ceremony, a silver column with a diameter of ten miles shot up into the sky, and huge silver stars fell from the horizon with long tails of flame. A series of melodious "ding-dong" sounds came from the horizon, making people feel dizzy. A golden dragon swirled back and forth in the silver light, amidst a shower of flowers, accompanied by a loud dragon's roar that shook the sky and earth. The emblem of this Olympic Games appeared inside the silver column, shining with thousands of rays of light, surrounded by more than ten smaller silver dragons swirling around it.

  Yi Chen's chin almost hit the floor, the "Gathering Star Array" of the Tianxing Sect, the "Golden Dragon Protection" of the Daode Sect, the "Scattered Flower Escape Armor" of the Dunjia Sect, plus the combined efforts of more than a dozen other sects, had such an astonishing effect that it left all the actors on stage stunned.

  "The explanation given externally is: 'This is a large-scale laser holographic projection technology invented by Chinese science and technology personnel after long-term efforts. This shows...'"

  It is said that after the opening of the Olympic Games, intelligence personnel from more than 30 countries intentionally or unintentionally wandered around the wilderness, but they couldn't find anything. The United States, on the other hand, invested over $10 billion in an attempt to develop a similar device within a few years.

  Yi Chen and others were watching the Olympic table tennis match. When the top four men's singles and women's singles were once again dominated by Chinese players, the audience in the stands burst into proud laughter... Yi Chen couldn't help but laugh happily, especially when a Chinese player knocked out an American boxer with one punch on the boxing field and won the heavyweight championship.

  China's gold medals are increasing one by one, the people of the whole country are overjoyed and infatuated, with a dazed expression on their faces as they watch Chinese athletes step onto the podium, the national anthem that can never be heard too many times rings out again and again.

  While leaders of various countries are secretly concerned about what is happening on the other side of the globe, in the northwest of the European continent, on those islands.

  It is unknown why, and it cannot be investigated how those funds entered the British financial market, everything seems normal, but someone must have been manipulating in secret, the British government has already lost over 30 billion US dollars.

  Along with the constant emergence of scandals, full of twists and turns, on the internet, the British government's credibility has been slipping step by step. The numerous scandals surrounding the new King and Prime Minister have left them at their wit's end. Even the turmoil in the financial markets can't arouse people's interest anymore; what they're concerned about is whether there will be even more shocking scandals tomorrow.

  The British government was being bled dry by these behind-the-scenes snipers, and they couldn't find out where the trouble was coming from. The two companies registered under Yidun were on the verge of bankruptcy due to financial turmoil, and the management of the steel mill was desperately trying to contact Yidun, but Yidun was watching the diving event at the Olympics and had turned off his phone in respect for the athletes.

  The British government had to seek help from its European allies, but all it got was a lukewarm response: "We are deeply concerned about the current situation in your country and will closely monitor further developments." But what they were really thinking was: "You Brits have a nearly closed market anyway, and those people are just crazy about speculating on the exchange rates of the pound and euro. Once your exchange rate fluctuates, they'll attack you again in the stock market. We don't want to get involved in this mess, it's not our problem. Besides, if you Brits become weaker, it will only benefit us, so why bother helping you?"

  The Americans were quite concerned about the appeal of their closest ally, and after some unknown backroom deal, the US government invested in entering the UK financial market. However, the chaos was getting bigger and bigger, with many speculators rushing in at the news. After the small amount of funds invested by the US government was swallowed up, the Americans, who were used to being faithless, disappeared without a trace. The quantum fund was the first to charge in and start circling the land.

  More disturbing things happened in the UK, under Cain's instruction, batches of fake credit cards appeared on the streets of the UK, these exquisite fake credit cards could not be identified at all, and a large amount of funds disappeared.

  Chekhov and his gang began to launch a crazy attack on the British banking system, such as transferring funds from A to B, Chekhov diverted part of the funds and transferred them to C... Such things made the British government even more embroiled in trouble.

  Later, St Paul's Cathedral in the western suburbs of London was suddenly attacked by a group of unidentified thugs one night. The thugs used powerful artillery and almost flattened the entire church. More than 100 Vatican followers were killed by large-caliber snipers. Under pressure from the Vatican, the British government withdrew another batch of security forces that were already stretched to the limit.

  These followers were the first batch from the Vatican, who came to wipe out the dark council's forces in England. Who would have thought that they were ambushed by mercenaries controlled by the Dark Council? The Vatican was furious but didn't have enough confidence and didn't dare to mobilize a large number of people again.

  Everything is evolving slowly, Fattah's subordinates are very skilled, they took away a batch of funds and rested for a while, waited for the opportunity to make another move, never continuously bleeding heavily, which also guaranteed their safety.

  A dozen or so self-proclaimed members of a world-renowned organization, claiming to be answering the call of Uncle Ben, arrived in Britain and set off several car bombs in central London, causing chaos.

  If it's said that the sniping on the financial market is still secretly stabbing Britain with small knives, then those other things are giving the British government a few more heavy stabs, and the situation is slowly unfolding in this chaotic state...

  Yi Chen looked at the newspaper and said with a hint of sarcasm, "What a stark contrast indeed. On one hand, the whole nation is in a state of jubilation and festivity, while on the other hand, it's all doom and gloom, with people's hearts in disarray... Ah, London must be a paradise for scoundrels these days..."