Marvel Magic Case Files

Chapter 1187 Current Standards (Second Update)

"What is this?"

"A gift," Diana Lister said.

She shoved the gift box into the jaw-dropping assistant's hands, then loosened her hair, spread her arms, and lay down on the office's guest sofa, appearing completely isolated from the outside world. The poor assistant could only clutch the heavy gift, curling up as much as possible, and trying to move to the other armchair. Before doing so, the assistant had tentatively touched her wrist to confirm that Diana Lister was simply resting with her eyes closed and not had died from overwork.

"But this is a gift from the Imperial Guard, which means it's a gift from the Emperor to you." The assistant asked softly, "What's inside? Do you have a personal friendship with the Emperor?"

"If you were in my position, you would have one too," Diana Lister replied with her eyes closed. She had transformed from the college girl who would scream in terror at the sight of a chainsaw sword into a seasoned administrator, and her assistant was now her former self. "As for what the gift is, I don't know."

The timing of these gifts is not fixed; sometimes they are given to thank her for her hard work, and sometimes they are simply a necessary courtesy on holidays. Moreover, the value of the gifts is completely unpredictable; sometimes it is a DVD of a classic TV series, sometimes it is expensive jewelry, and sometimes it is even a weapon.

"Why don't you open it and take a look? I'll allow you to experience the surprise."

"Oh! How thoughtful!" The assistant exclaimed with delight upon opening the gift, "A bottle of perfume!"

"That must be a mark from the Emperor's own alchemy workshop. It's very expensive, and not many people in the world own it." Diana opened her eyes, picked up the perfume bottle, glanced at it, and had her assistant put it in the display case facing the drawing room. Then she took the thick stack of documents on the table, placed them under her head, closed her eyes again, and fell fast asleep.

The documents she used as a pillow were a very important set of documents, representing some of the industrial standard agreements that the Martian foundry and the Immortal City had handed over to Wakanda. These included evaluation standards for various types and applications of high-strength, quick-drying concrete, standard operating procedures for road and bridge reinforcement, new freight transport network access codes, access codes for the entire territory's network defense protocol, fiber optic production standards and evaluation standards, and so on.

Limited by its economic strength, the scope of previous infrastructure construction was confined to the directly administered provinces of Latvinia. Now, with the comprehensive cooperation reached with Wakanda, large-scale infrastructure construction that can meet the Emperor's needs has begun. Although Wakanda's industry can easily integrate with Latvinia's technological level, the completely different existing standards still require the Wakandas to spend time studying them and cannot be simply copied.

However, these technologies are not much different from those used by Wakanda today, and the staff from the Hahnburg research base can easily adapt. The Wakanda also provides technical support to the Martian foundry and the Immortal City in the form of technology exchange and patent fees. Even though the patent period of up to 100 years is slightly cheaper, it still allows Hahnburg to make a fortune.

The Wakanda delegation stayed in Latvinia for a full two weeks, with new agreements and collaborations being reached almost every day.

Just as with the Immortal City's initial cooperation with Wakanda, the Latvinian Emperor consistently kept Wakanda's technological exchanges on the periphery. The core of technological exchange remained with the Immortal City and the Martian Foundry, ensuring that Wakanda's industrial lifeline was not in the hands of others while preventing it from influencing domestic politics. During the final week of the visit, Latvinian wines, cosmetics, fish, rubber, and wheat, and Wakanda's minerals, gems, fruits, and animal products—agricultural, fishing, and hunting commodities—were the main focus of the trade. For the first time, Wakanda's commercial nobility, previously excluded from industrial trade, experienced the immense profits that foreign trade could bring.

As a symbol of international relations and personal friendship, the Wakanda royal family presented the Latvian emperor with a crown adorned with numerous exquisite jewels, far surpassing the British Imperial State Crown in its opulence. Unsurprisingly, this crown ended up in a museum rather than a castle. However, it sparked Latvian curiosity about Wakanda's wealth, naturally leading to increased people-to-people exchanges and tourism between the two countries. As Wakanda's first open destination, Latvian tour groups were even allowed to visit the Golden City, and the Latvian capital promptly organized an official delegation to Wakanda.

It can be said that the visit ultimately resulted in a satisfactory outcome for everyone. Even T'Challa, thanks to the substantial profits from these transactions, temporarily forgot about the impact of the previous coup and comfortably enjoyed his short vacation in Latvinia. Like Wakanda, Latvinia refused to join the global trade system, opting instead for a completely new framework led by Latvinia itself. This resulted in the capitalist-dominated global trade system being sidelined, and popular settlement currencies such as the US dollar and the euro being completely bypassed. Furthermore, given Latvinia's strategic geographical location controlling the lifeline of Europe's power supply, the Western media have been relentlessly condemning the visit since the Wakanda delegation arrived.

Initially, they described the exchanges between Latvinia and Wakanda as a "desperate choice under international diplomatic predicament," implying that Latvinia had no friends in the international community and could only establish diplomatic relations with African third-world countries to legitimize its rule. However, after Wakanda demonstrated its technological strength, they claimed that this behavior of bypassing the global international trade system was "disregarding the interests of all mankind" and "technological oligarchy," calling on Wakanda to open up international exchanges, "recognize reality," and "uphold the interests of the free world." They then proposed economic sanctions against Latvinia and Wakanda for their "rule-breaking behavior."

Following the First War of Expansion, hundreds of sanctions were imposed on Latvia, most of which were later lifted under pressure from the Latvian Emperor, who presented a threat "far exceeding that of nuclear weapons." Perhaps the Latvian Emperor's expressed willingness to maintain order was perceived as a sign of weakness by elected European parliamentarians, and even knowing who was behind it, Latvia still cut off electricity supplies to the EU's Eastern European regions and freight routes to the EU's Black Sea and Mediterranean.

While ocean-going freighters can now pass through the Suez Canal and the Black Sea straits, they cannot transport goods to Europe. A large amount of commercial activity is affected by geopolitics. During Wakanda's state visit alone, industrial electricity costs in Europe rose by 10%, and crude oil prices continued to climb. No matter how much the idiots below shout slogans, politicians and the financial magnates behind them absolutely cannot afford to lose money. The smarter politicians know they cannot use force to pressure Latvia, since the nominal state of war between NATO and Latvia has not ended, and NATO cannot come up with effective means to deal with any attacks from Latvia. All sanctions against Latvia are easily perceived as acts of war, and acts of war will only invite a decapitation strike known as "wiping out the whole family."

Therefore, as long as Latvia does not launch an expansionist expedition into Western Europe, all politicians will try their best to maintain a superficial peace with Latvia to ensure that they and the financial groups behind them can continue to make money. The emperor and the regent are also happy to see this situation. Latvia does not need to increase administrative costs and fiscal expenditures in places where it has little need. For example, the merger proposal initiated by Modova, which has always wanted to annex Romania, was ruthlessly rejected by Regent Victor von Doum. This is because Latvia does not need a poor country with an extremely weak industrial base to increase fiscal expenditures, but it does need a country as a geopolitical buffer to prevent the entire country from deviating from the emperor's plans.

As the state visit to Wakanda came to an end, Latvinia had entered a new phase.

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(End of this chapter)