Marvel Magic Case Files

Chapter 898 Power Struggle (Second Update)

Salomon wrote about two thousand words and then tossed the computer aside.

First, he didn't like writing on a tablet; he preferred the feel of typing on a keyboard. Second, he believed a person should only write two thousand words a day; writing too much was a symptom of genetic mutation and something to be wary of. Third, he was on vacation today, and one shouldn't work on vacation. Although he initially couldn't resist picking up the computer, he quickly reflected on his actions and resolutely stuck to his decision to take the day off. But none of these were the most important reasons. The most important reason was that a slender, pale arm was draped over his shoulder. "We've missed lunch and dinner, darling," Salomon exclaimed, eyes wide. "It's been a whole day!"

"You know what the ending will be, my dear. It's happened more than once. During your adult vacation, it was more intense, more passionate than ever before." Bayonetta narrowed her eyes, her fingertips lightly tracing the sorcerer's skin from top to bottom, as light as a feather. She said in a cheerful tone, "Although you did quite well today, I've only lost consciousness a few times. I'm still far from it!"

“My lord, I need you to look at this document.” Stephanie hesitated, looking at the sorcerer slumped in his office chair. Salomon had started dozing off at the beginning of the day's work, and was unusually listless. “What’s wrong with you?” she asked. “Should we call for medical personnel?”

"No, no, I just didn't sleep well." Salomon rubbed his eyes and carefully examined the document. "This is an application. A request to use divination magic to determine genetic suitability. It was submitted by you and Maya Hansen?" he said. "Do you really think this will be useful?"

"At least we can quickly locate genetically compatible individuals and obtain information about populations with the same genetic sequence." Stephanie shrugged. "While I don't know the Guard's modification process, I do know that each Guard's modification is unique. You need test subjects with similar genetic sequences but unsuitable physical conditions; otherwise, you wouldn't have requested cloning experiments before modification. If you allow us to do this, the Guard's modification experiments will be significantly shortened."

The sorcerer sighed deeply, seemingly weighing the pros and cons.

"Agreed." He stamped the document with his personal seal, and then Stephanie, as if on cue, handed him the next one. "Every document is a test of my humanity, Stephanie," he said. "And this is another kind of suffering I have to endure."

"This is the pain you must endure to achieve your ideals, Salomon." Stephanie addressed him by his first name without hesitation, her demeanor shifting abruptly from head of the Interior Department and Salomon's private secretary to his friend. She bent down and helped Salomon open the manila envelope of the document, saying earnestly, "I've never heard of anyone who wields supreme power living a good life."

“I know, I was just grumbling a little. Do you think my career is any good? Okay, let’s take a look at these three hundred pages of documents… damn it, and there’s an appendix. Hmm… is this the Mafia’s ledger and network of connections?” Salomon looked at Stephanie suspiciously. “Did Constantine allow you to do this?”

"He borrowed some clerks from me, permanently. But unfortunately, all of them were trained by me," Stephanie said calmly. "I won't allow anything in this organization to be outside your purview, my lord. Whether you delegate power to Constantine and his future Guard comrades or not, I will. And no one is better at manipulating administrative systems than Hydra. If we're fast enough, we'll have the choice of who becomes the next Italian prime minister. Controlling a country is essential for our business, isn't it?"

Stephanie spoke with considerable enthusiasm and pride.

While the document touched upon the power struggle between the Imperial Guard and the Ministry of the Interior, the root cause was that Stephanie felt the Immortal City's power was currently insufficient. A nation, even one like Italy, was the stage for the Immortal City to truly shine. With Italy, many things in the Immortal City would become much easier—Salomon saw through her thinking immediately, realizing she had fallen into Hydra's mindset again: parasitism, corruption, incitement of rebellion, and ultimately, revealing her true colors. Her thinking wasn't entirely wrong; the methods used by the World Financial Consortium, the Military-Industrial Complex, and a series of large and small clandestine business alliances to control capitalist countries were not significantly different from Hydra's. Stephanie's previous role was to use the Immortal City's power to control these groups and quietly replace them.

When the Immortal City needs to step into the limelight, the early planning can save a lot of effort.

However, this was ultimately power through transfer, and Stephanie's ambition could not tolerate her remaining in the background.

"Patience, I think Mr. Gideon Malik understands the importance of patience," Salomon said. "You should learn from your father, Stephanie. Remember how I convinced the Malik family? Money is just numbers, votes are just bargaining chips for pandering and backroom deals; true power is steel and fire. That's why the Malik family has always pursued the Inhuman God, Stephanie. Focus your efforts on supporting the army; the army is the foundation of everything."

Seeing the Hydra Woman's face growing increasingly grim, Salomon spoke up at the opportune moment, "However, your suggestion isn't entirely unfeasible. In fact, controlling a nation to serve the Immortal City is a perfectly valid thing to do, it's just that we can't be the ones to do it. Use the old method, don't involve anyone or anything in the Immortal City, support both the ruling party and the opposition, stir up public conflict—it's slow but steady. Feminism, environmental protection, human rights, LGBTQIADK, and so on, there are so many issues for those fools to choose from. Anyway, these foolish things shouldn't exist after the alien invasion, and those who believe in these foolish things should be the first to die. Think of John D. Rockefeller; back then, the Rockefeller family's reputation wasn't good, we can't afford that kind of reputation now."

"You mean, you agree?"

"Call Constantine over; we need to discuss this together." The sorcerer lowered his head to continue flipping through the documents, but he knew Stephanie had clenched her fists, ready for a debate. "Don't be so belligerent," he said. "Since Constantine dared to recruit the clerk you trained into the Mafia to handle finances, it means he agreed to your actions. Don't forget, I modified his brain; I know his intelligence level very well. He's not only my bodyguard but also my advisor."

"Looks like someone's going to lose their job in the future." The Hydra's daughter, like a steam-belching locomotive, tossed her long, brown-gold hair and, with the help of gears and machinery, forcefully pushed open the oak door adorned with alloy steel plates and embossed carvings, striding out of the office. She was so angry that the sorority homunculi guarding the door thought something terrible had happened inside.

"It's nothing, she's just a little competitive." Salomon explained to the somewhat dim-witted android on duty today, "If you'd like, please go have a cup of tea. I'm safe here. Really, I'm not lying. The Royal Guard will be here to relieve you soon."

Please vote for me!

(End of this chapter)