Chapter 628: Decisive battle (2 in 1)
Translator: Radiant Translations Editor: Radiant Translations
Everyone higher up in the Federation knew that their intention of being open was just for show. After all, even the major powers that decided the future policies of the Federation were also subject to change. Therefore, Solomon had to keep his guard up. The right to enter the Holy Land was something he needed to obtain as quickly as possible. Although he had the Tutankhamun and Amazon empires as his collaborators in this matter, he couldn’t tell how long it would take before the Federation rewarded them with the go-ahead to enter the Holy Land.
“This matter is just a small greeting gift from me. Our empire hopes to deepen our ties with the Stuart Family.” Solomon said with a smile. “Furthermore, I really hope to be able to enter the Holy Land with Miss Carolyn. I also hope to have the opportunity to learn the culture and technology that the Federation pioneers. It will be an honour no gentleman will reject, to be able to serve Miss Carolyn in any way.”
Although Solomon’s modest manners made it hard for people to loathe him, Carolyn wasn’t an unscrupulous businesswoman, and would not allow him to look down on her. “Stop joking, your highness. It has been a pleasure working with you. In fact, I’m really curious about how you’re going to let Tianjing lose in a wholehearted manner.”
This definitely concerned a secret of the empire. In fact, they had hidden it extremely deeply. Although Carolyn had asked in an extremely graceful manner, she would immediately ignore Solomon’s earlier proposal if he rejected this, or was unable to garner sufficient confidence from her. At this moment, the most crucial factor was Solomon’s plans! She wanted to see what he had in mind before making a move!
This was a high-level gamble!
Naturally, Solomon was clear about this. Carolyn was not concerned about him personally. Instead, she was concerned about his dandelions (spies). This was an aspect in which the empires had an advantage over the Federation, as it was hard for the Federation to target the empires in this manner. This was especially true for the Kaiser Empire, as they were not as naive as the Tutankhamun Empire.
Solomon replied with a name, which instantly shocked Carolyn. Nevertheless, her silence represented her approval of his proposal. As she closed her Skylink, Carolyn suddenly realised that she had been underestimating the empire’s infiltration of the Federation. However, after looking at it from a different perspective, it might be a good thing in the end. By helping the Kaiser Empire, she would be able to balance the s.h.i.+ft in power within the Federation. This included the rise of the Mo Family, as they had not been abiding by the rules in recent days.
Having more bargaining chips was always a good thing, though restraint was definitely required in deciding when to use them.
The higher-ups were extremely satisfied with Solomon’s proposal, as there wouldn’t be any future implications resulting from its execution. In other words, it would not bring any trouble to Stuart even if the details were leaked. At most, the majority of the citizens would attribute it to “greed”. Any matter that could be solved by Solomon would not be of any issue. However, Carolyn was rather astute, to be able to pick up a few hidden details even when faced with his shocking proposal.
“The people of the Federation are really stupid.” Yi Nuo said, standing beside Solomon. He knew that Solomon had placed a lot of attention on Heaven’s Fate. Regardless of how Carolyn felt, Solomon had already planned to help Heaven’s Fate achieve victory. Not only that, he had made even deeper levels of arrangements to meet this end.
There were many reasons behind him choosing Heaven’s Fate. Other than this game of chess he was playing, there would still be the business to be made from this. The business would more than offset the losses he had incurred during the last transaction. With such a high payout, it would be too eye-catching if he were to set his sights on the unfavoured side. If he did so, and Tianjing was to win, there would definitely be investigations conducted to uncover the source behind this upset. On the contrary, making Heaven’s Fate win would not create too much of a problem for him.
On the aspect of scientific technology, the Federation was a dozen steps ahead of the Kaiser Empire. However, the economic game that the Federation was currently playing was basically the leftovers from the Rothschild Family that had later formed the Kaiser Empire. From the looks of it, it appeared that Solomon was making a loss in every single transaction he made with the Federation. However, in reality, he had earned all of them back from the Federation through black market deals. The losses he had sustained were just there as an act to let the Federation loosen their diligence towards him, while painting a false picture of equilibrium for the other 2 empires.
Naturally, he would definitely need to pay attention towards the methods used to accomplish his goals, as he couldn’t allow the Federation to catch wind of it. Fortunately, there were endless conflicts and struggles going on within the higher-ups of the Federation, and even the black market wasn’t united. There were countless struggles, hidden or open, between the backers of the black market, the Zhao and Gui Families. What’s more, the Federation citizens were still unable to get rid of the stereotype that the empire citizens were all brutes. All of these factors had given him a sufficiently big chance to achieve his goals.
At this moment, he had revealed a single dandelion, which doesn’t amount to anything for him. Furthermore, this reveal had allowed him to obtain even greater benefits. Gaining access to the Holy Land was something he needed to obtain, as the 3 great empires had been coveting the secrets within for a very long time. Not only that, the struggles between the Federation and the 3 great empires had already risen to a higher level. In the past, the Federation was always the one that held absolute power. However, although the Federation was still setting the rules in regards to the entry into the Holy Lands, those rules were fixed, and there was still room for them to take advantage of those rules. Although the empires would definitely be in the inferior position, would this even matter to the powerful citizens of the empires?
Solomon started to feel that this game was getting more and more interesting. From what Yi Nuo could feel, the prince was already unable to control himself from personally partic.i.p.ating in the grand plan. Ah, he was really hungry…
…
There would always be a calm before the storm. Although the various parties were coveting the same things, an enacting their hidden plans and strategies, the few days before the CHF finals were relatively peaceful, unlike the many incidents happening earlier on. The undercurrents were flowing strongly right beneath the surface.
The various forms of publicity and media promotion streamlined the many discussions and debates, pus.h.i.+ng the CHF atmosphere to its highest point!
An unprecedented collision at the apex!
The strongest aristocratic family against the strongest black horse!
The super instructor against the king of the commoners!
The hot topic of discussion among all of the citizens, and the object of antic.i.p.ation for many people! It was as though the entire Federation was waiting for the most majestic of holidays, with antic.i.p.ation, excitement and impatience filling the world! Finally, the day of the finals had arrived!
Heaven’s Fate squadron VS Tianjing squadron!
The finals were slated to start at 2 pm. However, since the night before, there were already countless people forming a long queue to enter the Stuart’s Dimensional Arena Stadium. The majority had not even bought any tickets! The ticket prices for the finals had already been inflated to sky-high prices, and were deemed to be even rarer than striking lottery. Nevertheless, all of the people present were still filled with incomparable fervour and pa.s.sion as they arrived at the venue of the finals! Despite only being able to stand outside of the stadium, they felt absolutely no regret queuing for the sake of being able to stand this close to this upcoming finals!
By the time the afternoon came, the atmosphere within the Stuart Dimensional Arena Stadium was already extraordinarily lively. The voices of the commentators, Ruo Zhi and Chen Yu’er, continued to ring out from the speakers, while footage of the spectacular moments displayed by the Heaven’s Fate and Tianjing squadrons in the earlier stages of the CHF was continuously played on the various large screens within the stadium. Mixed in within those playbacks were countless advertis.e.m.e.nts, with every few seconds of airtime now costing a sky-high price. Nevertheless, the subsidiary businesses for the various great families showed no restraint in their attention for this finals, as the basic rules of business still had to be abided to. With such a good platform for advertis.e.m.e.nt, no one was willing to let this chance slip out of their hands. Naturally, the Federation’s prosperity and Stuart’s wealth would definitely incite more yearning and wors.h.i.+p in the hearts of those empire citizens.
The pa.s.sionate voices of the audience rang out for miles, while the chaotic noise of cheers, roars and shouts came together, threatening to blow the stadium’s roof off its hinges!
“All Mouthy King! Overlooks the Heavens!”
“w.a.n.g Zhong, Grai, the invincible king explosion!”
The All Mouthy King fans in the audience had long started their crazed chanting. During his rise to fame, despite facing off against various kinds of experts, All Mouthy King had never once tasted defeat! This was more than sufficient to inspire the crazed confidence of his fans.
However, the Heaven’s Fate and Mo Wen’s staunch supporters were also not willing to show any weakness, as Mo Wen was probably the only existence out there who could rival All Mouthy King in terms of fame and reputation. Despite how ma.s.sive the coverage of All Mouthy King was on the various forms of media, Mo Wen was frankly not far off from him. Being an instructor of the Mechanized Battalion, possessing a calm disposition, with an ever-present warm smile, as well as an easy-going nature where he would never put on any airs. These traits had caused this “Blind King” to reach levels of fame akin to a scorching sun within the Federation. Most importantly, he had never once met any opponent that required him to tear off his blindfold!
He had gained fame before All Mouthy King, yet maintained the composure deserving of a peerless expert. However, this time, his display was as shockingly astonis.h.i.+ng as w.a.n.g Zhong. Compared to the might of the Mo Family, the reason behind Tianjing’s attractiveness, was due to their statuses. Tianjing really held the superior position in this aspect. Despite that, Mo Wen and the Mo School had garnered the praises of countless people. This was the background the Mo Family always had, though their eruption during the CHF had caused people to feel that all the other schools of martial arts couldn’t be held on the same level as the Mo School.
Mankind wors.h.i.+pped experts, especially those that possessed depth. At this instant, Mo Wen had fulfilled those criteria!
“The Mo School’s invincibility will dominate the heavens!”
“The strongest of all, Mo Wen, will beat up Tianjing!”
The crazed brother King fans, as well as the countless staunch Heaven’s Fate and Mo Wen supporters, had taken over the entire stadium, filling it up with their mad shouts and roars. In fact, their roars had proceeded to fill up every corner of Stuart City, as well as the other cities and the entire Federation! Every single person out there was waiting for this unimaginably big match to start. There had never been a CHF like this! One could imagine the amount of antic.i.p.ation it required for those robot-faced Federation citizens, who represented freedom and democracy, yet faced huge amounts of pressure, to obtain a chance to let all of their emotions loose!
This night was bound to turn wild!
Through the hard, overnight work of hundreds of people from the Stuart engineer brigade, the potholes and damages left over from the earlier match had all been repaired. Stuart clearly had made sufficient preparations in these aspects, though people would never imagine that it was done so for them, and not just for the sake of appearances.
At this moment, the ma.s.sive CHF trophy, sculpted out of a gigantic crystal, stood tall within the VIP podium of the stadium. Under illumination, it radiated with a spectacular glow, turning it into the core of the entire stadium!
This trophy was constructed purely out of dimensional crystal, and was known as the most extravagant trophy ever created for the CHF. An ordinary person might not have even heard of the material used to create it, while the officials did not bother to specifically give a breakdown of its construction. Nevertheless, those people with more in-depth knowledge would know the value of such dimensional crystals. Without talking about the rich prices, just the materials used in this trophy would cause many first-cla.s.s aristocratic families to drool in greed. From this, one could infer the level of honour and glory this trophy represented, as well as the price the Federation had paid to manufacture it. This time, they hoped to let this CHF become an event recorded in the history books. Therefore, the various great families, as well as the Parliament, were not stingy with their offerings. Naturally, all of them hoped for ma.s.sive returns in the end.
At this moment, the Speaker of the Federation, leaders of the various great families, elders of the Inst.i.tute of sciences, generals, marshals and commanders-in-chief of the various armed forces, VIPs from the empires stood within the VIP podium which housed the trophy… there were so many frequently-mentioned big shots in the Skylink that were present. Even many of the elders that they had never heard before had all graced this stadium, creating a magnificent scene for everyone watching.
The bigshots in the VIP podium were engaged in rather friendly conversations, causing the atmosphere to appear rather harmonious and amicable. Even those rival influences were now engaged in merry conversations with one another, creating a scene of harmony. The image of aristocratic families present in the hearts of the Federation citizens seemed to get blurred upon seeing this scene. Their breadth of mind and sight of the bigger picture were clearly things that no ordinary people could stand up to.
Contrary to the laymen in the audience, they were more interested in the showdown between Mo Wen and w.a.n.g Zhong than the final victor of the match, as those 2 were truly too outstanding. In fact, they had been judged by many people as figures who would eventually influence the entire world! This really was an extremely high starting point for them.
Today, they would inevitably collide against each other, as their expert mentality would hold supreme, and they wouldn’t play tricks or evade a fight just for the sake of achieving victory in this match. There were many elders who were even joking about making “small bets”. Naturally, their “small bets” were generally not on the level that could be subst.i.tuted by money.
Both Mo Wen and w.a.n.g Zhong were eye-catching in their own right. The bigshots favoured Mo Wen slightly more than w.a.n.g Zhong, though they silently held greater regard for w.a.n.g Zhong. This was because Mo Wen was part of the Mo Family, while w.a.n.g Zhong was not a part of any power or influence. After this match, both of them, regardless of their victory or loss, would definitely receive countless invitations from the various powers and influences.
Just like what the old Potter had predicted, the Gui and Zhao Families did not make any moves against w.a.n.g Zhong. Copperfield wasn’t the only influence protecting him, all of the bigshots have focused their attention onto him. Therefore, any action that anyone took would be easily revealed to everyone. The basic rules of the Federation couldn’t be broken. The only way for the Gui and Zhao Family to take action would be to avoid getting caught, as they would definitely suffer if they were caught. The other families would not show mercy, and would definitely use this chance to cause severe bleeding for those 2 great families, something that those 2 would not like to see.
Being the leader of the Zhao Family, Zhao Dingtian was currently having a merry conversation with a bigshot from the armed forces. However, from time to time, his gaze would always sweep towards the large screens showcasing w.a.n.g Zhong’s astonis.h.i.+ng performances, while a sliver of hatred would subsequently flash across his eyes.
This wasn’t a hatred towards w.a.n.g Zhong. It would show a lack of foresight if he, as the leader of the Zhao Family, held a personal grudge with that much importance. Now, the Zhao Family was basically incapable of holding on to their position as one of the 10 great families. This matter had caused Zhao Dingtian to hate that wastrel Zhao Zimo. The latter had really been too rampant with that petty-mindedness of his, causing the Zhao Family to completely lose the qualifications to bring an expert with that high potential into the family. It was because Zhao Zimo had left matters half-finished that had incited the greatest hatred in Zhao Dingtian. It was a small matter whether Zhao Zimo lived or died, though it was a slight pity that Zhao Yilong had died. Furthermore, the most crucial point was that the Zhao Family had discovered Zhao Zimo’s involvement in that incident. He had used the potential transference technique to pull all of Zhao Yilong’s talents into his own body. Although the Zhao Family didn’t condemn viciousness, that was basically a stupid move to make for a loser. Finally, he had even taken action personally for the sake of gaining ties with the Gui Family, only to die in the process! What incurable stupidity!
Beneath the world of the bigshots were the partic.i.p.ant viewing gallery, which was also filled with a star-studded lineup. Carolyn, Vladimir, Gui Xinying, Divian, Karl, Pomo, Bobo Torres… there were too many all-too-familiar stars present here.
Compared to the peaceful atmosphere in the VIP podium, the emotions radiating from these heaven-gifted sons and daughters were much more complicated. Before the start of the CHF, all of them yearned for the prospect of being one of the 2 squadrons to stand in the finals. However, at this moment, all of them could only be onlookers. It would definitely untrue to say that none of them had feelings of regret squirming within their hearts.