Arknights, but the family has fallen again

Ott stood up, took a step forward, and asked, "Since we are going to build a new urban area, which company will be the contractor?"

Intoxicated, Chesper snorted, "Worse than Mieszko. It's Gale."

In the original world, Gale Industries was responsible for the construction of Zwonek's land. For a long time, Gale Industries had been colluding with the military and political circles of Zwonek, interfering in everything, both necessary and unnecessary.

If you've ever gotten your foot bruised by a roadside stone in this area, don't doubt it was Gale Industries. That stone must have fallen from a truck when they were bulldozing other villages.

"Did you see Gale's machinery on your way to Xiantan Village?" Chesper's eyes were hazy. "Did you see those...jubilant farmers?"

"They're so happy now... Soon, they'll use the money from Gale Industries to buy land and happily move into the city..."

Chesper opened his throat and poured down the entire bottle of sweet wine very roughly.

"Uncle!" Lin Guang put down his wine glass and was about to stop him.

The sweet wine splattered all over the knight's robe.

Outside the window, the sky had turned completely dark. The office light shone on Chesper's head, burying his face in shadow.

"They happily...went from a Pegasus' stomach into Kuranta's stomach."

It's hard to say, at Casimir's level of abstraction, whether the feudal lords were more murderous or the capitalists were more ruthless in sucking blood. But persuading, instigating, deceiving, and even threatening the peasants into selling their feudal land to the capitalists and going to the city to work, thus enjoying the benefits of both?

It is undoubtedly rotten to the core.

Knight Kuranta laughed at himself.

"Lin Guang... Lin Guang... Do you know what the worst thing is!?"

It’s bad. Others want to see this Lin Guang or that Lin Guang, but why do you want to see that Lin Guang or this Lin Guang?

Since he had stood up in anticipation, Ott helped Chesper before the light came on. "Calm down, you're talking to Margaret."

Chesper looked at Margaret Linguang painfully and reached out to Mainna Linguang in the capital: "Linguang! It was me who made all this happen! It was me!"

He slumped back dejectedly.

Whatever he had intended to do, drinking the wine in front of the other Lin Guang had indeed blew up the dam of emotions that had been accumulating for a long time.

"Excuse me...everyone." In an instant, stubble grew on the corners of the man's mouth. Chesper pulled up the corners of his mouth: "I lost my composure a little."

To Ott's relief, Amiya poured a cup of black tea for Chesper without waiting for his prompting.

"Casimir-style black tea, sweet and sour, just right for sobering up." Otto threw a lemon slice into the cup and pushed it to Chesper.

"Thank you." His voice was a little dry.

The lethal dose of sweet black tea mixed with the fresh sourness brought Chesper's thoughts back on track.

Looking at Lin Guang's eyes, Chesper whispered, "Ask if you want to... Never mind, I'll just tell you straight away."

There was a blazing fire in his eyes: "For decades, the Knights have colluded with all kinds of powerful people and wealthy people, taking a share of their crimes."

About six or seven years ago, Marek, the young man who had just walked out of the office, sold all of his family's farmland in Leishi Village near Zwonek to Gale Industries at a suspiciously low price under the auspices of the Knights. In exchange for various benefits from Gale Industries, he obtained these benefits.

And this kind of power-for-money transaction... has become the norm in the Knights Templar.

"Not just business, nobility, even..." Looking at Margaret's gentle face, Chesper sighed: "No, nothing."

Even the entire State Council, the Supervisory Commission - the entire Casimir rulers are inseparable from this dirty and bloody exploitation.

What is even more shameful is that after they have taken all the blame, they still use a few scapegoats to whitewash themselves.

Chesper's lover was one such scapegoat.

But what's the point of telling this to Margaret, who is being exiled?

Before meeting Lin Guang, Chesper had other plans for Rhodes Island. However, wine doesn't intoxicate... it intoxicates itself. After years spent in the Knights Templar, Chesper still remembers that afternoon as a ranger, fighting for justice alongside Mainna.

Kuranta half-closed his eyes, resisting the effects of the alcohol, and reconsidered:

Although Margaret worked for this company, but... the matter was done.

At most, it would be a case of creating cards from the void to coerce Rhodes Island, turning into deception or a transaction.

"Dr. Ott, to be frank, I need your help—Rhodes Island's help."

Otto sat back down next to Amiya, and the little rabbit knowingly pushed his teacup towards him.

"As I was saying..."

"The guest should follow the host's wishes. Since you are in Casimir, you might as well try the flavor of Casimir."

So sweet!

very sour!

You Terra Poles!

What the hell is this drink!?

Otto kept a cold face.

Amiya grabbed Otto's hand, and Otto understood and shared the "pain" with Amiya.

Chesper widened his wandering eyes.

You've been waiting for me here from the beginning! ?

What is Casimir flavor?

Trading power for money, using any means necessary! Suck out the marrow and suck out the bones, peel off the skin and pull out the tendons!

"...It seems I underestimated Rhodes Island."

Ott felt that half of his tongue was already useless, so he simply moved the thread to Amiya and began to control her body remotely: "We are just a pharmaceutical company, not big to begin with, how can you underestimate us?"

Lin Guang just felt that his brain was not enough:

what's the situation?

what happened?

Wasn't Uncle Chesper drunk just now?

Why are there Da Qiao and Xiao Qiao again?

"A group of bounty hunters, led by brothers 'Yellow Smoke' and 'Fire Lungs,' are wreaking havoc around Zwonek. They're resorting to looting, kidnapping, and direct threats to force farmers to voluntarily sell their land," Chesper said. "While the evidence we have isn't sufficient to bring them to justice, it's enough to convince my own conscience: Gale Industries."

Who? Bounty Hunter and Gale Industries.

Where? Around Zwonek.

"How many to kill?"

"……what?"

Ott changed the subject and said, "How?"

"...Dr. Ott, aren't you being a bit extreme?" Chesper said with difficulty. "Although this isn't Cavalleriaki, directly targeting members of the Chamber of Commerce still carries enormous legal risks... Moreover, as far as I know, your company is still planning to visit Cavalleriaki..."

"Casimir's law doesn't speak for failed companies."

"Ahem..." Chesper wanted to agree, but he didn't want to reveal his true plan in front of such a smart and aggressive person.

"Just take care of the bounty hunters, let's talk about the reward!"

Chapter 296: Pi! He's an experienced card player! Back off!

Watching Margaret Linguang and Otto leave together, Chesper's depressed face became even gloomier.

The ribbon-cutting ceremony is about half a year away. Originally, I just wanted to use Rhodes Island to suppress the increasingly rampant Gale Industries and prevent Zvonek from being too conspicuous!

But has this attracted another man-eating beast?

Allowing Rhodes Island to set up free clinics in the countryside and helping them establish offices in the city... sounds easy, but under Ott's men, opening this door is equivalent to completely replacing Gale Industries' position!

Chesper sighed.

It's okay in the city, but once an institution like Rhodes Island takes root in the countryside, it's impossible to eradicate it...

He quickly convinced himself and consoled himself:

Even if Rhodes Island occupies the countryside for a while, it is worth it!

As long as... a war between Casimir and Letania is successfully started, then Casimir will be forced to reform!

Only war... can remove Casimir's disgusting stench!

Under the moonlight, Lin Guang followed behind all the way.

It wasn't until she arrived in front of the ship that she suddenly realized something and asked, "Uncle Chesper, is he trying to cause trouble for us?"

Ott glanced at her: "Yes and no. Amiya?"

The little rabbit turned around, facing the two of them, and walked backwards while explaining, "Mr. Chesper needs some external help to deal with some problems, but he is unwilling or unable to contribute any resources. On this basis..."

Amiya looked at Lin Guang hesitantly, then asked, "Miss Lin Guang, how long has it been since the last Laika War?"

"Thirty... no, closer to forty years."

"It's been two generations," Amiya pointed out. "Zvonek has profited too much from border trade, and the city bureaucrats now absolutely loathe anyone talking about war. The Zvonek bureaucrats didn't originally mean for us to stay away."

Lin Guang was shocked: "So, Uncle Chesper has actually been causing trouble for a long time?"

To be exact, half of it has been found.

The warrior knight who arrived upon entry was Chesper's masterpiece. Faced with a foreigner who had shown no signs of strength, the bureaucrats, under his pressure, imposed numerous obstacles on Rhodes Island's entry.

On that day, Chesper's plan might have been to completely shut out Rhodes Island, then appear with a gentle face, using entry as a bargaining chip to ask Rhodes Island for help.

This tactic is called Void Card Creation. It first creates problems for the target, forcing them to negotiate. Then, at the negotiation table, it exchanges terms, demanding certain things from the opponent. However, in this process, the bargaining chips traded are the very troubles it has created for the opponent.

The most extreme case is when a robber exchanges the target's life for property.

"If it weren't for you, he would probably find an excuse tomorrow to pick up a few important Leitanians on this ship and put them in jail." Ott shook his head.

The plan was good, but something went wrong at the first step, and we had to keep patching it.

Ott went straight in and brought in the incoming light, saving Chesper the effort of continuing to patch up.

Lin Guang pursed his lips and said dejectedly: "Uncle Chesper is now..."

"He is either a skilled politician or a naive politician," Ott commented.

Seeing Lin Guang's ears twitch and his expression of surprise, he added, "That's not a compliment to him."

This crude method might be considered delicate among the rough-hewn knights, but if one wanted to use it to pull off any serious scheme... one could only hope to exploit the "speed of the world's martial arts" and bully the speed of information flow.

"Chesber's methods are too rigid, old-fashioned, and too bloody. While they might yield good results in a single incident, his underlying thinking will make us new enemies." Ott warned Amiya, "Have you seen any counterexamples? Remember them."

The little rabbit nodded quickly, but she was still walking backwards and was about to fall if she was not careful.

Lin Guang was quick to pull Amiya back and said with a smile, "Only at times like this do I think you're a child."

"Sister Lin Guang! I'm not a child!" She puffed her cheeks.

After releasing the pressure, Lin Guang asked, "Is that bounty hunter true?"

Ott nodded. "The expansion of Zwonek's urban area means an increase in the city's population, which also means an increase in the consumption of staple food and cash crops."

That would require more arable land.

"Gale Industries is a giant corporation that thrives on monopolizing everything. They enjoy monopolizing both upstream and downstream operations: they build urban plots, employ infected workers, and sell protective equipment; they increase urban consumer populations and seize farmland. For such a company, hiring thugs is far more cost-effective."

The gate slowly opened, and a ray of light pierced through the darkness and hit the eyes of the three people.

But Ott's words were incredibly dark. "In fact, Lin Guang, I'm curious: with the speculative profits from cash crops soaring, will the Casimir Corporation use the cultivated land to produce staple food or cash crops?"

Lin Guang returned to the ship he had been away from for a long time, but a chill ran down his spine. "W-what?"

She thought it was carrots.

"Either way, there's a way to profit," Ott said. "But for Gale Industries, manually creating famine is far beyond their capabilities. So, for now, let's assume... whether it's plantation plots or farmland outside the city, Zwonek has devoted a large amount of area to cash crop production."

Cash crops are not just speculative props like "Roma Billiton carrots", but also include avocados, cauliflowers, greens, cabbage, tobacco, sugarcane, cotton, oilseeds, lemons and other crops with different "economic" attributes in different fields.

Compared to foolishly growing staple crops on urban land, even growing ordinary fruits and vegetables would be more profitable. If one specialized in selling tropical fruits to cold-zone countries, as Che City was currently doing, one could make a fortune.

"Not all cash crops are edible, Lin Guang. Even for those that are edible, there is an inherent logic behind them not becoming staple food."

"Thankfully, transportation in Zwonek is quite convenient. Even if something goes wrong, this mobile city can still reach the next base and obtain supplies thanks to its inventory and transportation network."

It is quite convenient in peacetime.

Ott suddenly jumped up and said, "In this game of smart people, everyone thinks they are smart enough to find the next fool."